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A landscape develops through the interaction of natural factors and human economic activities, and accordingly is influenced by changes in the economic, political and social spheres. The article examines changes in settlement in Zvārde Parish during the 20th century and the reflection in the landscape of the activities of the USSR’s armed forces and the military legacy. Zvārde Parish was the location of one of the Soviet armed forces’ largest military training grounds in Latvia: a former bombing range. This rural area was relatively densely populated in the early 20th century, with a landscape dominated by managed farmland surrounding individual farmsteads, separated by clumps of forest, roads and lakes. Along with the establishment of the military range, the residents were forced to abandon their homes, and the military exercises lasting several decades completely interrupted farming as well as all other peacetime economic activities. Forest developed in the abandoned areas, along with meadows and fields overgrown with scrub. Nowadays, agricultural land has been established only in limited areas. A significant part of the former bombing range is nowadays taken up by protected natural areas. At the present day the parish is sparsely populated, except for its north-western part, which was located outside of the range. The half-collapsed military facilities preserve visual evidence of the former training ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]