Quick answer: The short version: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are three separate countries with three unrelated languages between them, they were independent well before the Soviet era, and the terrain is flat, not mountainous.
“The Baltics” gets used as shorthand for one interchangeable region, which does a disservice to three countries that don’t share a language, an ethnic history, or even the same idea of what came before Soviet rule. Here is what usually gets assumed – and what is actually true.
Assumption 1: They’re basically one country
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are three separate, independent nations with three different capitals, currencies of their own history, and governments. Grouping them as “the Baltics” is a geographic convenience, not a cultural one.
Assumption 2: The languages are all related
Latvian and Lithuanian are cousins – both Baltic languages, though not mutually intelligible. Estonian is something else entirely: a Uralic, Finnic language closely related to Finnish and completely unrelated to its two neighbours. An Estonian and a Latvian speaker cannot understand each other any more than an English speaker and a Hungarian speaker could.
Assumption 3: They were always Soviet territory
All three countries first became independent in 1918, after the Russian Empire’s collapse. The Soviet occupation that most people picture ran from 1940 to 1991 – a real and difficult chapter, but an interruption of independence rather than the region’s natural state.
Assumption 4: The terrain is mountainous
It is some of the flattest ground in Europe. Estonia’s highest point, Suur Munamägi (“Great Egg Hill”), tops out at about 318 metres – roughly the height of London’s Shard. All three countries are among the small handful in Europe with no peak over 600 metres.
Assumption 5: They’re ethnically Slavic
Latvians and Lithuanians are Baltic peoples, a distinct ethno-linguistic group; Estonians are Finnic, closely tied to Finland. Neither group is Slavic, despite the region’s Soviet-era association with Eastern Europe more broadly.
Assumption 6: They’re still catching up economically
All three have used the euro for over a decade (Estonia since 2011, Latvia since 2014, Lithuania since 2015), sit inside the EU and Schengen area, and Estonia in particular is one of the most digitised governments in the world, running national elections and company registration entirely online.