Which capital city was known as Reval until 1918?

The capital city known as Reval until 1918 was Tallinn, Estonia.

Reval was the historical German and English name for the city now called Tallinn. The name became associated with the Danish conquest of 1219 and remained widely used in German, Swedish, Russian, and other international contexts for centuries. Estonian speakers used forms related to Tallinna, which gradually became the standard national name.

After Estonia declared independence in 1918, Reval and the Russian form Revel were progressively replaced in international usage by the Estonian name. The form Tallinn became established in the early 20th century and is now the universally recognized English name. The city is Estonia’s largest urban centre and sits on the Gulf of Finland, across the water from Helsinki.

A common mix-up is confusing Reval with Riga, another historic Baltic city whose older names include Rīga and Riga rather than Reval. Tallinn’s remarkably preserved medieval Old Town also reflects its long history as a Hanseatic trading centre.