The ancestors of today’s Latvians first appeared in what is now Latvia around 2000 bc. Beginning in the 13th century, Latvia was successively dominated by Germany, Poland, and Russia. German Crusaders began the forcible conversion of the Baltic peoples to Christianity early in the 13th century. By 1290 the Livonian Order of the Teutonic Knights, a German crusading order, had completed its conquest of Latvia, which along with southern Estonia was then known as Livonia. The Baltic coast was a prized possession for its trade opportunities, and in an attempt to conquer it, Russian tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Ivan the Terrible) attacked Livonia in 1558, thereby instigating the Livonian War.

During the crusading period, German—or, more precisely, Saxon—overseas expansion reached the eastern shores of the Baltic. Because the people occupying the coast of Latvia were the Livs, the German invaders called the country Livland, a name rendered in Latin as Livonia. In the mid-12th century, German merchants from Lübeck and Bremen were visiting the estuary of the Western Dvina; these visits were followed by the arrival of German missionaries. Meinhard, a monk from Holstein, landed there in 1180 and was named bishop of Üxküll (Ikškile) in 1186. The third bishop, Albert of Buxhoevden, with Pope Innocent III's permission, founded the Order of the Brothers of the Sword in 1202. Before they merged in 1237 with the Knights of the Teutonic Order, they had conquered all the Latvian tribal kingdoms.

Although serfdom in Latvia—prevalent since German domination—was abolished by the Russians in the early 19th century, German and Russian landowners in Latvia continued to hold political power. Despite this, the Latvians came together to form political and cultural associations, and a Latvian independence movement arose. In 1917 Russia’s monarchy was overthrown in the February Revolution (see Russian Revolutions of 1917). Political destabilization accompanying the Russian Civil War that followed the revolution gave the Latvians their desired opportunity, and in November 1918, just after the end of World War I, Latvia proclaimed itself an independent republic. By February 1919, however, Latvia was overrun by Red Army troops of Soviet Russia, led by the Bolsheviks (later Communists), who sought to establish a Soviet regime. A newly formed Latvian army, with some assistance from German army units still in the country, drove back the Bolshevik forces. The German army then supported a coup d’état against the Latvian government, replacing it with one controlled by Baltic Germans. Aided by Estonian troops, Latvian forces successfully overthrew the Baltic German government. The independent nationalist Latvian government was reinstalled in early July, although Red Army troops were not completely expelled until January 1920. In August a Latvian-Russian treaty stipulated that Russia would respect Latvia’s sovereignty.