The political strategy of the Baltic countries played a paramount rule in the break up of the USSR. Moreover, it was above all the restoration of Baltic independence that finally gave real substance to the concept of Baltic regional identity, in so far as the re-emergence of independent Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was the catalyst for the re-drawing of the security architecture of the entire Baltic region. That reality in turn demands a re-evaluation of the influence of so-called small states in the international system, as well as recognition yet again of the major contribution of the Baltic peoples in winning over European opinion to their cause.