Life in Estonia would have been so very different had the Soviets been defeated in 1944. More families would have remained intact, there wouldn't have been such a drop in the standard of living, and there would be no ugly Soviet tower blocks that mar the landscape. 50 years of Soviet occupation is a long time and thank goodness it's all over. My grandparents generation longed for independence to be restored. Sadly, not everyone lived to see it.