In 1943, an exhibition opened in Moscow dedicated to the St. George's Night Uprising, which had taken place in the Estonian duchy of the Danish kingdom in 1343-1345. Throughout the Second World War, the uprising remained a central element in the propaganda directed at the Estonians fighting in the Red Army, as its remembrance was recalled in various media from leaflets and visual images to fiction and popular history writing.

The sources covering the uprising itself are no less problematic, affording only a very general insight into the course of events that took place in present-day northern Estonia and Saaremaa (Ger. Ösel), while leaving the socio-political background and reasons behind the rebellion largely unexplained. The uprising started on the night of 23 April 1343 in Harjumaa (Ger. Harrien), where the rebels burned down the estates of the nobility, as well as churches and the Padise (Ger. Padis) monastery. Thereafter, their army gathered near Tallinn (Ger. Reval). The unrest also spread into Läänemaa (Ger. Wiek), where the rebels attacked the nobility and then gathered to besiege Haapsalu (Ger. Hapsal). However, it was not the Danish authorities, but the neighbouring Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order, led by its master, Burchard von Dreileben (r. 1340-1345), that reacted quickly to the revolt. The Order moved its army northwards and organized negotiations between the leading figures of the uprising and the Order on 4 May in the castle of Paide (Ger. Weissenstein). The peace talks failed and the envoys of the rebels were killed, although this escalation of violence does not lend itself to easy explanation. Military encounters between the rebels and the Order followed shortly after, leading to the defeat of the rebels on 14 May near Tallinn. Thereafter, the Order also suppressed the revolt in Läänemaa. Thereby the uprising was put to an end before the arrival of the Swedish and the Russian forces, with whom the rebels had sought allegiance, although the details of these alliances are not known. The Swedish troops, led by the bailiffs of Turku (Swe. Åbo) and Vyborg, arrived in Tallinn on 18-19 May, just a few days after the defeat of the rebels.