Greater Romania: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 22:27, 22 May 2014

Historical regions of the Kingdom of Romania (1918–1940), often identified with the ideal of "Greater Romania"

Greater Romania (Romanian: România Mare) is a pan-nationalist^[1] and irredentist idea, whose main goal is the creation of a nation-state which would incorporate all Romanian speakers.^[2]^[3] ^[4]^[5]^[6] The term is also strongly associated with the Kingdom of Romania between 1918 and 1940, often considered the realization of the pan-Romanian goal. In 1918, after the incorporation of Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia, the Romanian state reached its largest peacetime geographical extent ever(295,049 km²). Nowadays, the concept serves a guiding principle for the unification of Romania and Moldova.

The idea is comparable to other similar conceptions such as Greek Megali Idea, Großdeutschland, Greater Hungary, Greater Bulgaria, Greater Serbia, Greater Albania, as well as Greater Catalonia.^[7]^[8]

Ideology

The theme of national identity had been always a key concern for Romanian culture and politics.^[9] The Romanian ideology is a cocktail of "ancient post-colonial apprehension, of apocalyptic fears and recent historical vulnerabilities together with traditionalist arrogance and youthful, snobbish or revengeful provocation" (Erwin Kessler) and a typical example of ethnocentric nationalism.^[10] The concept of "Greater Romania" shows similarities to the idea of national state.^[11] The Romanian territorial claims were based on "primordial racial modalities", the essential goal of them was to unify the biologically defined Romanians.^[12] The nation-building based on the French model became an all time priority especially in the interwar and the Communist periods.^[13]

Evolution

Before World War I

The union of Michael the Brave, who ruled over the three principalities with Romanian population (Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia) for a short period of time,^[14] was viewed in later periods as the precursor of a modern Romania, a thesis which was argued with noted intensity by Nicolae Bălcescu. This theory became a point of reference for nationalists, as well as a catalyst for various Romanian forces to achieve a single Romanian state.^[15]

The Romanian revolution in 1848 already carried the seeds of the national dream of a unified and united Romania,^[4] though the "idea of unification" had been known from earlier works of Naum Ramniceanu (1802) and Ioan Budai-Deleanu (1804).^[14] The concept owes its life to Dumitru Bratianu, who introduced the term "Greater Romania" in 1852.^[14] The first step in re-unifying Romanians was to establish The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859,^[16] which became known as Romania since the 1866 Constitution and turned into a Kingdom in 1881, after gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire. However, before the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, the elite of the Transylvanian Romanians did not support the concept of "Greater Romania", instead they wanted only equality with the other nations in Transylvania.^[4] The concept became a political reality when, in 1881, the Romanian National Party of Transylvania gathered Romanians on a common political platform to fight together for Transylvania's autonomy.^[14] According to Livezeanu the creation of Greater Romania with "a unifying concept of nationhood" started to evolve in the late 1910s.^[13] The Word War One played a crucial part in the development of Romanian national consciousness.

The national is something biological-political; it is the unitary self-awareness of an independent organism, in the struggle for existence with other organisms and employing for defense even the animal form of struggle that is war. (…) The culture of a nation is born from the clash of foreign ideological influences… with the creative national instinct.
— Vasile Pârvan^[10]

^[relevant?]

Interwar Romania

The concept of "Greater Romania" materialized as a geopolitical reality after the First World War.^[11] Romania gained control over Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania. The borders established by the treaties concluding the war did not change until 1940. The resulting state, often referred to as "România Mare" or, alternatively, as Romanian: România Întregită (roughly translated in English as "Romania Made Whole," or "Entire Romania"), was seen as the 'true', whole Romanian state, or, as Tom Gallagher states, the "Holy Grail of Romanian nationalism".^[17] Its constitution, proclaimed in 1923, "largely ignored the new ethnic and cultural realities".^[18]

The Romanian ideology changed due to the demographic, cultural and social alterations, however the nationalist desire for a homogeneous Romanian state conflicted with the multiethnic, multicultural truth of Greater Romania.^[3] The ideological rewriting of the role of "spiritual victimization", turning it into "spiritual police", was a radical and challenging task for the Romanian intellectuals because they had to entirely revise the national identity and the destiny of the Romanian nation.^[10] In accordance with this view, Livezeanu states that the Great Union created a "deeply fragmented" interwar Romania where the determination of national identity met with great difficulties mainly because of the effects of the hundred years of political separation.^[19] Due to the inability of the government to solve the problems of the Transylvanian Romanians' integration and the effects of the worldwide economic depression "the population gradually lost its faith in the democratic conception of Greater Romania".^[20]

Territorial changes

Bessarabia

Bessarabia declared its sovereignty as the Moldavian Democratic Republic in 1917 by the newly formed "Council of the Country" ("Sfatul Țării") The state was faced with the disorderly retreat through its territory of Russian troops from disbanded units. In January 1918, the "Sfatul Ţării" called on Romanian troops to protect the province from the Bolsheviks who were spreading the Russian Revolution.^[21]^[22]^[23] After declaring independence from Russia on 24 January 1918, the "Sfatul Ţării" voted for union with Romania on 9 April 1918. Of the 138 deputies in the council, 86 voted for union, 3 against, 36 abstained (mostly the deputies representing minorities, 36% of the population at the time) ^[24] and 13 were not present. The United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan recognized the incorporation of Bessarabia through the Treaty of Paris. The United States and the Soviet Union however refused to do so, the latter maintaining a claim to the territory for the whole interwar period. Furthermore, Japan failed to ratify the treaty, which therefore never entered into force.

Bukovina

In Bukovina, after being occuppied by the Romanian Army,^[25]^[26] a National Council voted for union with Romania. While the Romanian, German, and Polish deputies unanimously voted for union,^[27] the Ukrainian deputies (representing 38% of the population according to the 1910 Austrian census)^[28] and Jewish deputies did not attend the council.^[27]

Transylvania

Transylvania (the last of the three regions to join) joined Romania by the "Proclamation of Union" of Alba Iulia adopted by the Deputies of the Romanians of Transylvania, and supported one month later by the vote of the Deputies of the Saxons of Transylvania.^[29] The Hungarian-speakers of Transylvania, about 32% at the time (including a large Hungarian-speaking Jewish community), and the Germans of Banat did not elect deputies upon the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, since they were considered represented by the Budapest government of Hungary.

World War II losses

In 1940, the Romanian state agreed to cede Bessarabia to the Soviet Union, as provided for by the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between the Soviet Union and Germany. It also lost Northern Bukovina and the Herța region, which were not mentioned in the pact, to the Soviet Union. It lost Northern Transylvania to Hungary, through the Second Vienna Award, and the Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria by the Treaty of Craiova. In the course of World War II, Romania, which was allied with the Axis Powers, took back Bessarabia and made further territorial gains at the expense of the Soviet Union: Transnistria, western Yedisan and western Novorossiya (literally New Russia).

These territories were lost again when the tide of the war turned. After the war, Romania regained the Transylvanian territories lost to Hungary, but not territory lost to Bulgaria or the Soviet Union. In 1948 a treaty between the Soviet Union and Soviet-occupied Communist Romania also provided for the transfer of four uninhabited islands to the Soviet Union, three in the Danube Delta and Snake Island in the Black Sea.

After World War II

After the war, the concept was interpreted as "obsolete" because of the Romanian defeat.^[30] However, even the Communist politicians between 1944 and 1947 plainly supported the re-establishment of Greater Romania.^[31] Gheorghe Apostol's reminiscence strengthens the view for the nationalist argument of the Communists at the negotiations with Stalin about the future of Northern Transylvania.^[19] In contrast with this view, Romsics quotes Valter Roman, one of the heads of the Romanian Communist Party, as writing in his memo of April 1944: "the two parts of Transylvania should be reunited as an independent state."^[32]

The Romanian Communist politicians' behavior were depicted as nationalist, and this circumstance brought about the concept of National Communism,^[31] which amalgamated elements of Stalinism and Fascism.^[33] According to Trond Gilberg the regime needed the strongly nationalist attitude because of the social, economic and political challenges.^[31] After the retreat of the Soviet troops from Romania in 1958, the national ideology was reborn, however it raises questions about its reconcilability with internationalist Stalinism.^[19] Nicolae Ceaușescu fancied the idea that the creation of Greater Romania was the fruit of the end of the nation-formation process.

The setting up of the (Romanian) unitary national state six and a half decades ago was a brilliant historic victory of the long heroic struggle of the masses for creating the Romanian nation and the coming true of the age old dream of all Romanians to live in unity within the borders of the same country, in one free and independent state.
— Ceaușescu, 1983^[19]

Recent developments

The fall of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and the economic downturn accompanying it led to a resurgence of nationalism in the region. Romania and Moldova, state comprising the bulk of Bessarabia which had become independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, confronted with their eastern neighbor, Ukraine. Bucharest and Chișinău announced territorial claims on Ukrainian lands (on parts of Chernivtsi and Odessa regions).^[34] Bulgaria surmised that the concept of Greater Romania stood behind Romanian foreign policy toward Moldova therefore expressed concerns about possible developments on Dobruja.^[6]

In 1992, the issue on unification of Moldova and Romania was negotiated between Romanian and Moldovan governments and they wanted to achieve it until the end of the year.^[35] However, the "unionists" lost their dominance in Moldova in the middle of the year.^[35] Bucharest admitted the existence of the two Romanian states (Romania and Moldova) and defined priorities in reference to this matter: "the creation of a common cultural space; the creation of an economically integrated zone; and gradual political integration".^[6] The Moldovan Snegur government became more pragmatic and realized that the nationalist propaganda from Bucharest did not help their aims especially on the problem of "Soviet annexed Bessarabia".^[6] The Romanian organizations ignored the result of the Moldovan referendum on independence because the referendum did not ask Romanians in Romania.^[6] Romanian politicians blamed Russia and the Moldovan regime that unification became unreal.^[6] According to Ozhiganov the armed conflict in Moldova was thanked to the Romanian ethnic nationalism, otherwise due to "the attempt to create a unitary, ethnic state with power concentrated in the hands of ethnic nationalists in what was actually a multiethnic society."^[6]

Bucharest's behavior toward Ukraine did not change until 1997 when Romanian politicians realized that resolving border disputes were a precondition for NATO membership.^[36]

Present-day Romanian extremists (such as members of PRM) aim to take possession of territories of northern Bukovina and Bessarabia.^[37]^[38] These regions currently belong to Ukraine and Moldova.^[37] The Russian presence and the tense political situation in Moldova also inflame the demands of extremist Romanians.^[37] Nevertheless, radicals make territorial demands on Hungary too.^[37] The Great Romania Party (Partidul România Mare – PRM) is an emblematic representative of the aforesaid concept, though the conception is fostered also by other right-wing groups (e.g. the organisation of the New Right –Noua Dreaptă with paramilitary inclinations^{[dubious – discuss]}).^[37]^[39]

References and notes

^ Peter Truscott, Russia First: Breaking with the West, I.B.Tauris, 1997, p. 72
^ "The Romanian Holocaust in Memory and Commemoration, The Jewish fate during World War II in postwar commemoration". University of Amsterdam. 2012. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
^ ^a ^b Irina Livezeanu, Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building & Ethnic Struggle, 1918-1930, Cornell University Press, 2000, p. 4 and p. 302
^ ^a ^b ^c Ivan T. Berend, History Derailed: Central and Eastern Europe in the Long Nineteenth Century, University of California Press, 2013,p. 112 and p. 252
^ Lavinia Stan, Lucian Turcescu, Religion and Politics in Post-Communist Romania, Oxford University Press, 2007 p. 53
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Alekseĭ Georgievich Arbatov, Managing Conflict in the Former Soviet Union: Russian and American Perspectives, MIT Press, 1997, pp. 202-204
^ Giuseppe Motta, Less than Nations: Central-Eastern European Minorities after WWI, Volume 1 , Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013, p. 11
^ Klaus Roth, Ulf Brunnbauer, Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Part 1, LIT Verlag Münster, 2008, p. 52
^ Michael D. Kennedy, Envisioning Eastern Europe: Postcommunist Cultural Studies, University of Michigan Press, 1994, p. 121
^ ^a ^b ^c "Ideas And Ideology In Interwar Romania". www.icr.ro. 2007. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
^ ^a ^b Petre Berteanu, Romanian nationalism and political communication: Greater Romania Party (Partidul Romania Mare), a case-study, In: Jaroslav Hroch, David Hollan, George F. McLean, National, Cultural, and Ethnic Identities: Harmony Beyond Conflict, CRVP, 1998, pp. 161-176
^ Aristotle Kallis, Genocide and Fascism: The Eliminationist Drive in Fascist Europe, Routledge, 2008,p. 75
^ ^a ^b Tristan James Mabry, John McGarry, Margaret Moore, Brendan O'Leary, Divided Nations and European Integration, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013, p. 113 and p. 117
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Juliana Geran Pilon, The Bloody Flag: Post-Communist Nationalism in Eastern Europe : Spotlight on Romania , Transaction Publishers, 1982, p. 56
^ Giurescu, Constantin C. (2007) [1935]. Istoria Românilor. Bucharest: Editura All., p. 211–13.
^ Pablo Cardona, Michael J. Morley, Manager-Subordinate Trust in Different Cultures, Routledge, 2013, p. 119
^ Gallagher, Tom (2005). Modern Romania: the end of communism, the failure of democratic reform, and the theft of a nation. New York: New York University Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-8147-3172-4.
^ Keith Hitchins, A Concise History of Romania, Cambridge University Press, 2014, p. 183, ISBN 9781107782709
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Konrad Hugo Jarausch, Thomas Lindenberger, Annelie Ramsbrock, Conflicted Memories: Europeanizing Contemporary Histories, Berghahn Books, 2007, pp. 39-42
^ "Siebenbürgen ohne Siebenbürger?". University of Vienna. 2013. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
^ Ion Nistor, Istoria Basarabiei, Cernăuți, 1923, reprinted Chișinău, Cartea Moldovenească, 1991 and Humanitas, Bucharest, 1991. ISBN 973-28-0283-9
^ Charles Upson Clark, Bessarabia: Russia and Roumania on the Black Sea
^ Pantelimon Halippa, Anatolie Moraru, Testament pentru urmași, Munich, 1967, reprinted Chișinău, Hyperion, 1991, p. 143
^ Results of the 1897 Russian Census at demoscope.ru: Молдавский и румынский: 469,852; 451067; total population--"Moldavian and Romanian: 920,919 people",
^ Volodymyr Kubijovyč, Arkadii Zhukovsky, Bukovyna, in "Encyclopedia of Ukraine", Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2001
^ Sherman David Spector, "Rumania at the Paris Peace Conference: A Study of the Diplomacy of Ioan I. C. Brătianu", Bookman Associates, 1962, p. 70
^ ^a ^b Irina Livezeanu (2000). Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918–1930. Cornell University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-8014-8688-3.
^ Donald Peckham, Christina Bratt Paulston, "Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe"), Multilingual Matters, 1998, p. 190
^ Dennis P. Hupchick (1995). Conflict and chaos in Eastern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-312-12116-7.
^ Bernard A. Cook, Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Taylor & Francis, 2001, p. 1074
^ ^a ^b ^c Paul Roe, Ethnic Violence and the Societal Security Dilemma, Routledge, 2004, p. 128
^ Ignác Romsics, The Paris Peace Treaty of 1947, In: Storia & Diplomazia Rassegna dell’Archivio Storico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri, 2013, p. 18
^ Costica Bradatan, Serguei Oushakine, In Marx's Shadow: Knowledge, Power, and Intellectuals in Eastern Europe and Russia, Lexington Books, 2010, p. 225
^ Bohdan Nahaylo, The Ukrainian Resurgence,C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 1999, pp. 408-409
^ ^a ^b "Ideas And Ideology In Interwar Romania" (PDF). University of Southern California. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
^ Marta Dyczok, Ukraine: Movement Without Change, Change Without Movement, Routledge, 2013, p. 108
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "The Extreme Right in Eastern Europe and Territorial Issues". www.cepsr.com. 2009. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
^ "THE EXTREME RIGHT IN CONTEMPORARY ROMANIA" (PDF). http://library.fes.de/. 2012. Retrieved 2014-05-11. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
^ Uwe Backes, Patrick Moreau, The Extreme Right in Europe: Current Trends and Perspectives, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011, p. 276

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Other uses|România Mare (disambiguation){{!}}România Mare}}
+[[File:GreaterRomaniaHistoricRegions.png|thumb|right|250px|Historical regions of the Kingdom of Romania (1918–1940), often identified with the ideal of "Greater Romania"]]
-[[Image:Romania 1930 counties.500px.svg|thumb|200px|Detailed administrative map of Romania in 1930]]
-'''Greater Romania''' ({{lang-ro|România Mare}}) usually refers to the territory of the [[Kingdom of Romania]] between 1919 and 1940. The term "Greater Romania" can also refer to a nationalist concept.<ref name="Holocaust en Genocide Studies
-">{{cite web|url=http://dare.uva.nl/document/478015 |title=The Romanian Holocaust in Memory and Commemoration, The Jewish fate during World War II in postwar commemoration |publisher=University of Amsterdam |date=2012 |accessdate=2014-05-21}}</ref><ref name="Livezeanu">Irina Livezeanu, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5ysbpAyJjoAC&pg=PA4&dq=%22concept+of+Greater+Romania%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NkxrU-y7DoSeO6TXgNAF&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22concept%20of%20Greater%20Romania%22&f=false Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building & Ethnic Struggle, 1918-1930], Cornell University Press, 2000, p. 4 and p. 302</ref><ref name="Berteanu"/>
+'''Greater Romania''' ({{lang-ro|România Mare}}) is a [[Pan-nationalism|pan-nationalist]]<ref>Peter Truscott, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2xYGaod3prIC&pg=PA79&dq=%22Riding+to+power+on+a+wave+of+pan-Romanianism%22+%22concept+of+a+united+Greater+Romania%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MHN8U5nDA5OM7AaStYGIBg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Riding%20to%20power%20on%20a%20wave%20of%20pan-Romanianism%22%20%22concept%20of%20a%20united%20Greater%20Romania%22&f=false Russia First: Breaking with the West], I.B.Tauris, 1997, p. 72</ref> and [[irredentist]] idea, whose main goal is the creation of a nation-state which would incorporate all Romanian speakers.<ref name="Holocaust en Genocide Studies">{{cite web|url=http://dare.uva.nl/document/478015 |title=The Romanian Holocaust in Memory and Commemoration, The Jewish fate during World War II in postwar commemoration |publisher=University of Amsterdam |date=2012 |accessdate=2014-05-21}}</ref><ref name="Livezeanu">Irina Livezeanu, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5ysbpAyJjoAC&pg=PA4&dq=%22concept+of+Greater+Romania%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NkxrU-y7DoSeO6TXgNAF&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22concept%20of%20Greater%20Romania%22&f=false Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building & Ethnic Struggle, 1918-1930], Cornell University Press, 2000, p. 4 and p. 302</ref>
-==Name==
+<ref name="Ivan T. Berend"/><ref>Lavinia Stan,  Lucian Turcescu, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NBgXdOqWMN8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Religion+and+Politics+in+Post-Communist+Romania&hl=en&sa=X&ei=H7VsU8HqPMamPaTEgegL&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Religion%20and%20Politics%20in%20Post-Communist%20Romania&f=false Religion and Politics in Post-Communist Romania], Oxford University Press, 2007 p. 53</ref><ref name="Arbatov"/> The term is also strongly associated with the [[Kingdom of Romania]] between 1918 and 1940, often considered the realization of the pan-Romanian goal. In 1918, after the incorporation of [[Transylvania]], [[Bukovina]] and [[Bessarabia]], the Romanian state reached its largest peacetime geographical extent ever(295,049&nbsp;km²). Nowadays, the concept serves a guiding principle for the [[Unification of Romania and Moldova|unification of Romania and Moldova]].
-The original [[Romanian language|Romanian]] term, ''"România Mare",'' or ''Great Romania'', carried [[irredentism|irredentist]] overtones, used in the sense of ''re-integration'' of the territories that shared Romanian language and culture. The term became more common after the [[Treaty of Versailles]], when the attachment of Transylvania to the Kingdom of Romania occurred as a result of the Treaty of Trianon. An alternative name for "România Mare", coined at the same time, was in the Romanian language "România Întregită" (roughly translated in English as "Romania Made Whole," or "Entire Romania"). "România Mare" was seen (and is also now seen by the great majority of the Romanian people, both at home and abroad) as the 'true', ''whole'' Romanian state, or, as Tom Gallagher states, the "[[Holy Grail]] of [[National awakening of Romania|Romanian nationalism]]".<ref name= "Gallagher" >{{cite book |author=Gallagher, Tom | title= Modern Romania: the end of communism, the failure of democratic reform, and the theft of a nation | publisher= [[New York University Press]] | location=New York |year= 2005 | pages= 28 | isbn= 0-8147-3172-4 | oclc= | doi=}}</ref>
-==The concept of Greater Romania==
 [[File:Steagul de la Darniţa.svg|thumb|right|170px|''"Long Live Greater Romania"'', reconstruction of the ''"Darniţa Banner"'', designed in 1917]]
-The concept of Greater Romania (Romanian: România Mare) is a [[Pan-nationalism|pan-nationalist]]<ref>Peter Truscott, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2xYGaod3prIC&pg=PA79&dq=%22Riding+to+power+on+a+wave+of+pan-Romanianism%22+%22concept+of+a+united+Greater+Romania%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MHN8U5nDA5OM7AaStYGIBg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Riding%20to%20power%20on%20a%20wave%20of%20pan-Romanianism%22%20%22concept%20of%20a%20united%20Greater%20Romania%22&f=false Russia First: Breaking with the West], I.B.Tauris, 1997, p. 72</ref> and [[irredentist]] idea. Its main goal is the (re)creation of a ''"Greater Romania"'' which would incorporate all Romanian speakers.<ref name="Holocaust en Genocide Studies
-"/><ref name="Livezeanu"/><ref name="Ivan T. Berend"/><ref>Lavinia Stan,  Lucian Turcescu, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NBgXdOqWMN8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Religion+and+Politics+in+Post-Communist+Romania&hl=en&sa=X&ei=H7VsU8HqPMamPaTEgegL&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Religion%20and%20Politics%20in%20Post-Communist%20Romania&f=false Religion and Politics in Post-Communist Romania], Oxford University Press, 2007 p. 53</ref><ref name="Arbatov"/>{{OR|date=May 2014}} It is also a guiding principle for the [[Unification of Romania and Moldova|unification of Romania and Moldova]].
 The idea is comparable to other similar conceptions such as [[Megali Idea|Greek Megali Idea]], [[Großdeutschland]], [[Greater Hungary (political concept)|Greater Hungary]], [[Greater Bulgaria]], [[Greater Serbia]], [[Greater Albania]], as well as [[Països Catalans|Greater Catalonia]].<ref>Giuseppe Motta, [http://www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/59407 Less than Nations:  Central-Eastern European Minorities after WWI,  Volume 1 ], Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013, p. 11</ref><ref>Klaus Roth, Ulf Brunnbauer, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6RveDmHbIv8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Region,+Regional+Identity+and+Regionalism+in+Southeastern+Europe,+Part+1&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0fV1U5XmIsPAPLGOgYAO&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Region%2C%20Regional%20Identity%20and%20Regionalism%20in%20Southeastern%20Europe%2C%20Part%201&f=false Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Part 1], LIT Verlag Münster, 2008, p. 52</ref>
-===Ideology===
+==Ideology==
 The theme of national identity had been always a key concern for Romanian culture and politics.<ref>Michael D. Kennedy, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2LARJQCOxEoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Envisioning+Eastern+Europe:+Postcommunist+Cultural+Studies&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MjNxU8i_N9LA7Ab-mYCIAg&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Envisioning%20Eastern%20Europe%3A%20Postcommunist%20Cultural%20Studies&f=false Envisioning Eastern Europe: Postcommunist Cultural Studies], University of Michigan Press, 1994, p. 121</ref> The Romanian ideology is a cocktail of ''"ancient post-colonial apprehension, of apocalyptic fears and recent historical vulnerabilities together with traditionalist arrogance and youthful, snobbish or revengeful provocation" (Erwin Kessler)'' and a typical example of ethnocentric nationalism.<ref name="icr"/> The concept of "Greater Romania" shows similarities to the idea of national state.<ref name="Berteanu">Petre Berteanu, Romanian nationalism and political communication: Greater Romania Party (Partidul Romania Mare), a case-study, In: Jaroslav Hroch, David Hollan, George F. McLean, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ziOsTiZe_qAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=National,+Cultural,+and+Ethnic+Identities:+Harmony+Beyond+Conflict&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Pl1rU6ehK4TvPM_ggbAK&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=National%2C%20Cultural%2C%20and%20Ethnic%20Identities%3A%20Harmony%20Beyond%20Conflict&f=false National, Cultural, and Ethnic Identities: Harmony Beyond Conflict], CRVP, 1998, pp. 161-176</ref> The Romanian territorial claims were based on ''"primordial racial modalities"'', the essential goal of them was to unify the biologically defined Romanians.<ref>Aristotle Kallis, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=o4rJ3ZiC8x4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Genocide+and+Fascism:+The+Eliminationist+Drive+in+Fascist+Europe&hl=en&sa=X&ei=j7dsU_PYNsbZPcudgJAB&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Genocide%20and%20Fascism%3A%20The%20Eliminationist%20Drive%20in%20Fascist%20Europe&f=false Genocide and Fascism: The Eliminationist Drive in Fascist Europe], Routledge, 2008,p. 75</ref> The nation-building based on the French model became an all time priority especially in the interwar and the Communist periods.<ref name="divided nations"/>
+==Evolution==
-===History of the concept===
+===Before World War I===
-{{See also|National awakening of Romania|Unification of Romania and Moldova}}
+{{See also|National awakening of Romania}}
+[[Image:Rumânia văzută de Cezar Bolliac.jpg|thumb|250px|Hypothetical map of Romania (1855). Author: [[Cezar Bolliac]]]]
+[[Image:Romanians before WW1.jpg|thumb|250px|Territories inhabited by Romanians before the territorial acquisitions from 1918.]]
 The union of [[Michael the Brave]], who ruled over the three principalities with Romanian population ([[Wallachia]], [[Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711)|Transylvania]] and [[Moldavia]]) for a short period of time,<ref name="Juliana Geran Pilon"/> was viewed in later periods as the precursor of a modern [[Romania]], a thesis which was argued with noted intensity by [[Nicolae Bălcescu]]. This theory became a point of reference for [[Romantic nationalism|nationalists]], as well as a catalyst for various Romanian forces to achieve a single Romanian state.<ref>{{cite book | last = Giurescu | first = Constantin C. | authorlink = Constantin C. Giurescu | author2 = | title = Istoria Românilor | origyear = 1935 | year = 2007 | location = Bucharest | publisher = Editura All | isbn = | oclc = }}, p. 211–13.</ref>
 The [[Wallachian Revolution of 1848|Romanian revolution]] in 1848 already carried the seeds of the national dream of a unified and united Romania,<ref name="Ivan T. Berend"/> though the "idea of unification" had been known from earlier works of Naum Ramniceanu (1802) and Ioan Budai-Deleanu (1804).<ref name="Juliana Geran Pilon">Juliana Geran Pilon, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ArBoYKAPZgwC&pg=PA56&dq=%22Greater+Romania%22+concept&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MIRxU4KXBcj98QXarYG4Ag&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=%22Greater%20Romania%22%20concept&f=false The Bloody Flag: Post-Communist Nationalism in Eastern Europe : Spotlight on Romania ], Transaction Publishers, 1982, p. 56</ref> The concept owes its life to [[Dumitru Bratianu]], who introduced the term "Greater Romania" in 1852.<ref name="Juliana Geran Pilon"/> The first step in re-unifying Romanians was to establish [[United Principalities|The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia]] in 1859,<ref>Pablo Cardona, Michael J. Morley, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gLI-jWm2lRsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Manager-Subordinate+Trust+in+Different+Cultures&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YblwU-jZMMu8PcyIgcgH&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Manager-Subordinate%20Trust%20in%20Different%20Cultures&f=false Manager-Subordinate Trust in Different Cultures], Routledge, 2013, p. 119</ref> which became known as Romania since the [[1866 Constitution of Romania|1866 Constitution]] and turned into a [[Kingdom of Romania|Kingdom]] in 1881, after gaining [[Romanian War of Independence|independence]] from the [[Ottoman Empire]]. However, before the [[Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867|Austro-Hungarian Compromise]], the elite of the Transylvanian Romanians did not support the concept of "Greater Romania", instead they wanted only equality with the other nations in Transylvania.<ref name="Ivan T. Berend">Ivan T. Berend, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=a9csmhIT_BQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=History+Derailed:+Central+and+Eastern+Europe+in+the+Long+Nineteenth+Century&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4shsU-7SAcOVPKjVgZAH&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=History%20Derailed%3A%20Central%20and%20Eastern%20Europe%20in%20the%20Long%20Nineteenth%20Century&f=false History Derailed: Central and Eastern Europe in the Long Nineteenth Century], University of California Press, 2013,p. 112 and p. 252</ref> The concept became a political reality when, in 1881, the Romanian National Party of Transylvania gathered Romanians on a common political platform to fight together for Transylvania's autonomy.<ref name="Juliana Geran Pilon"/> According to Livezeanu the creation of Greater Romania with ''"a unifying concept of nationhood"'' started to evolve in the late 1910s.<ref name="divided nations">Tristan James Mabry, John McGarry, Margaret Moore, Brendan O'Leary, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PFCbBW18yU4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Divided+Nations+and+European+Integration&hl=en&sa=X&ei=c51qU_2MBcWOO7HagfAM&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Divided%20Nations%20and%20European%20Integration&f=false Divided Nations and European Integration], University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013, p. 113 and p. 117 </ref> The Word War One played a crucial part in the development of Romanian national consciousness.{{Quote|''The national is something biological-political; it is the unitary self-awareness of an independent organism, in the struggle for existence with other organisms and employing for defense even the animal form of struggle that is war. (…) The culture of a nation is born from the clash of foreign ideological influences… with the creative national instinct.''|[[Vasile Pârvan]]<ref name="icr">{{cite web|url=http://www.icr.ro/bucharest/identity-and-destiny-ideas-and-ideology-in-interwar-romania-29-2007/ideas-and-ideology-in-interwar-romania.html |title=Ideas And Ideology In Interwar Romania|publisher=www.icr.ro |date=2007 |accessdate=2014-05-11}}</ref>}}{{Relevance-inline}}
+===Interwar Romania===
-[[File:The_Ethnological_map_by_Elisee_Reclus.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Ethnic map of interwar Romania]]
+[[Image:Romania 1930 ethnic map EN.png|thumb|250px|Ethnic map of interwar Romania (1930)]]
-The concept of ''"Greater Romania"'' materialized as a geopolitical reality after the [[First World War]].<ref name="Berteanu"/> Romania gained control over [[Bessarabia]], [[Bukovina]] and [[Transylvania]]. The Romanian ideology changed due to the demographic, cultural and social alterations, however the nationalist desire for a homogeneous Romanian state conflicted with the multiethnic, multicultural truth of Greater Romania.<ref name="Livezeanu"/> The ideological rewriting of the role of ''"spiritual victimization"'', turning it into ''"spiritual police''", was a radical and challenging task for the Romanian intellectuals because they had to entirely revise the national identity and the destiny of the Romanian nation.<ref name="icr"/> In accordance with this view, Livezeanu states that the [[Union of Transylvania with Romania|Great Union]] created a ''"deeply fragmented"'' interwar Romania where the determination of national identity met with great difficulties mainly because of the effects of the hundred years of political separation.<ref name="Conflicted Memories">Konrad Hugo Jarausch, Thomas Lindenberger, Annelie Ramsbrock, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=k6rwRi-5UqQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Conflicted+Memories:+Europeanizing+Contemporary+Histories&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kbZ5U5eDHceyPPzSgLAH&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Conflicted%20Memories%3A%20Europeanizing%20Contemporary%20Histories&f=false Conflicted Memories: Europeanizing Contemporary Histories], Berghahn Books, 2007, pp. 39-42</ref> Due to the inability of the government  to solve the problems of the Transylvanian Romanians' integration and the effects of the [[Great Depression|worldwide economic depression]] ''"the population gradually lost its faith in the democratic conception of Greater Romania"''.<ref name="Kührer-Wielach, Florian">{{cite web|url=http://othes.univie.ac.at/28458/ |title=Siebenbürgen ohne Siebenbürger? |publisher=University of Vienna |date=2013 |accessdate=2014-05-11}}</ref>
+The concept of ''"Greater Romania"'' materialized as a geopolitical reality after the [[First World War]].<ref name="Berteanu"/> Romania gained control over [[Bessarabia]], [[Bukovina]] and [[Transylvania]]. The borders established by the treaties concluding the war did not change until 1940. The resulting state, often referred to as "România Mare" or, alternatively, as {{lang-ro|România Întregită}} (roughly translated in English as "Romania Made Whole," or "Entire Romania"), was seen as the 'true', ''whole'' Romanian state, or, as Tom Gallagher states, the "[[Holy Grail]] of [[National awakening of Romania|Romanian nationalism]]".<ref name= "Gallagher" >{{cite book |author=Gallagher, Tom | title= Modern Romania: the end of communism, the failure of democratic reform, and the theft of a nation | publisher= [[New York University Press]] | location=New York |year= 2005 | pages= 28 | isbn= 0-8147-3172-4 | oclc= | doi=}}</ref> Its constitution, proclaimed in 1923, "largely ignored the new ethnic and cultural realities".<ref name="Hitchins">Keith Hitchins, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=j1ytAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=A+Concise+History+of+Romania++By+Keith+Hitchins&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bJZqU7vUCOWuyQHRwYDoBA&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=A%20Concise%20History%20of%20Romania%20%20By%20Keith%20Hitchins&f=false A Concise History of Romania], Cambridge University Press, 2014, p. 183, ISBN 9781107782709 </ref>
+The Romanian ideology changed due to the demographic, cultural and social alterations, however the nationalist desire for a homogeneous Romanian state conflicted with the multiethnic, multicultural truth of Greater Romania.<ref name="Livezeanu"/> The ideological rewriting of the role of ''"spiritual victimization"'', turning it into ''"spiritual police''", was a radical and challenging task for the Romanian intellectuals because they had to entirely revise the national identity and the destiny of the Romanian nation.<ref name="icr"/> In accordance with this view, Livezeanu states that the [[Union of Transylvania with Romania|Great Union]] created a ''"deeply fragmented"'' interwar Romania where the determination of national identity met with great difficulties mainly because of the effects of the hundred years of political separation.<ref name="Conflicted Memories">Konrad Hugo Jarausch, Thomas Lindenberger, Annelie Ramsbrock, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=k6rwRi-5UqQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Conflicted+Memories:+Europeanizing+Contemporary+Histories&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kbZ5U5eDHceyPPzSgLAH&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Conflicted%20Memories%3A%20Europeanizing%20Contemporary%20Histories&f=false Conflicted Memories: Europeanizing Contemporary Histories], Berghahn Books, 2007, pp. 39-42</ref> Due to the inability of the government  to solve the problems of the Transylvanian Romanians' integration and the effects of the [[Great Depression|worldwide economic depression]] ''"the population gradually lost its faith in the democratic conception of Greater Romania"''.<ref name="Kührer-Wielach, Florian">{{cite web|url=http://othes.univie.ac.at/28458/ |title=Siebenbürgen ohne Siebenbürger? |publisher=University of Vienna |date=2013 |accessdate=2014-05-11}}</ref>
+====Territorial changes====
+[[File:The_Ethnological_map_by_Elisee_Reclus.jpg|thumb|250px|Ethnic map of interwar Romania]]
+=====Bessarabia=====
+{{Main|Union of Bessarabia with Romania}}
+{{See also|Tatarbunary Uprising}}
+Bessarabia declared its sovereignty as the [[Moldavian Democratic Republic]] in 1917 by the newly formed "Council of the Country" ("[[Sfatul Țării]]") The state was faced with the disorderly retreat through its territory of [[Russia]]n troops from disbanded units. In January 1918, the "Sfatul Ţării" called on Romanian troops to protect the province from the [[Bolshevik]]s who were spreading the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]].<ref>[[Ion Nistor]], ''Istoria Basarabiei'', Cernăuți, 1923, reprinted Chișinău, Cartea Moldovenească, 1991  and [[Humanitas publishing house|Humanitas]], Bucharest, 1991. ISBN 973-28-0283-9</ref><ref>Charles Upson Clark, [http://depts.washington.edu/cartah/text_archive/clark/toc_pag.shtml Bessarabia: Russia and Roumania on the Black Sea]</ref><ref>Pantelimon Halippa, Anatolie Moraru, ''Testament pentru urmași'', Munich, 1967, reprinted Chișinău, Hyperion, 1991, p. 143</ref> After declaring independence from Russia on 24 January 1918, the "Sfatul Ţării" voted for union with Romania on 9 April 1918.  Of the 138 deputies in the council, 86 voted for union, 3 against, 36 abstained (mostly the deputies representing minorities, 36% of the population at the time) <ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97.php?reg=31 Results of the 1897 Russian Census at demoscope.ru: Молдавский и румынский:  469,852; 451067; total population--"Moldavian and Romanian: 920,919 people",]</ref> and 13 were not present. The [[United Kingdom]], [[France]], [[Italy]] and [[Japan]] recognized the incorporation of Bessarabia through the [[Treaty of Paris (1920)|Treaty of Paris]]. The [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]] however refused to do so, the latter maintaining a claim to the territory for the whole interwar period. Furthermore, Japan failed to ratify the treaty, which therefore never entered into force.
+=====Bukovina=====
-==History of interwar Romania==
+In Bukovina, after being occuppied by the Romanian Army,<ref>Volodymyr Kubijovyč, Arkadii Zhukovsky, [http://encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages\B\U\Bukovyna.htm Bukovyna], in "Encyclopedia of Ukraine", Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2001</ref><ref>Sherman David Spector, "Rumania at the Paris Peace Conference: A Study of the Diplomacy of Ioan I. C. Brătianu", Bookman Associates, 1962, p. 70</ref> a National Council voted for union with Romania. While the Romanian, German, and Polish deputies unanimously voted for union,<ref name="Livezeanu2000"/> the Ukrainian deputies (representing 38% of the population according to the 1910 Austrian census)<ref>Donald Peckham, Christina Bratt Paulston, "Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe"), Multilingual Matters, 1998, p. 190</ref> and Jewish deputies did not attend the council.<ref name="Livezeanu2000">{{cite book|author=[[Irina Livezeanu]]|title=Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918–1930|year=2000|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-8688-3|page=59}}</ref>
-[[File:GreaterRomaniaHistoricRegions.png|thumb|right|200px|Historical regions of the Kingdom of Romania (1918–1940)]]
-At the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], the [[Romanian Old Kingdom]] received territories of [[Bessarabia]], [[Transylvania]] and [[Bukovina]]. It was the largest geographical extent of the Romanian state and its largest peacetime extent ever (295,049&nbsp;km²).
-===Proclamations for unification===
-{{Main|Union of Bessarabia with Romania|Union of Transylvania with Romania}}
-Bessarabia declared its sovereignty as the [[Moldavian Democratic Republic]] in 1917 by the newly formed "Council of the Country" ("[[Sfatul Țării]]") The state was faced with the disorderly retreat through its territory of [[Russia]]n troops from disbanded units. In January 1918, the "Sfatul Ţării" called on Romanian troops to protect the province from the [[Bolshevik]]s who were spreading the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]].<ref>[[Ion Nistor]], ''Istoria Basarabiei'', Cernăuți, 1923, reprinted Chișinău, Cartea Moldovenească, 1991  and [[Humanitas publishing house|Humanitas]], Bucharest, 1991. ISBN 973-28-0283-9</ref><ref>Charles Upson Clark, [http://depts.washington.edu/cartah/text_archive/clark/toc_pag.shtml Bessarabia: Russia and Roumania on the Black Sea]</ref><ref>Pantelimon Halippa, Anatolie Moraru, ''Testament pentru urmași'', Munich, 1967, reprinted Chișinău, Hyperion, 1991, p. 143</ref> After declaring independence from Russia on 24 January 1918, the "Sfatul Ţării" voted for union with Romania on 9 April 1918.  Of the 138 deputies in the council, 86 voted for union, 3 against, 36 abstained (mostly the deputies representing minorities, 36% of the population at the time) <ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97.php?reg=31 Results of the 1897 Russian Census at demoscope.ru: Молдавский и румынский:  469,852; 451067; total population--"Moldavian and Romanian: 920,919 people",]</ref> and 13 were not present.
+=====Transylvania=====
-Transylvania (the last of the three regions to join) joined Romania by the "Proclamation of Union" of [[Alba Iulia]] adopted by the Deputies of the Romanians of Transylvania, and supported one month later by the vote of the Deputies of the [[Transylvanian Saxons|Saxons of Transylvania]].<ref name="Hupchick1995">{{cite book|author=Dennis P. Hupchick|title=Conflict and chaos in Eastern Europe|year=1995|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-312-12116-7|page=83}}</ref> The Hungarian-speakers of Transylvania, about 32% at the time (including a large Hungarian-speaking Jewish community), and the Germans of [[Banat]] did not elect deputies upon the dissolution of [[Austria-Hungary]], since they were considered represented by the [[Budapest]] government of Hungary.
+{{Main|Union of Transylvania with Romania}}{{See also|Hungarian-Romanian War of 1919}}
+Transylvania (the last of the three regions to join) joined Romania by the "Proclamation of Union" of [[Alba Iulia]] adopted by the Deputies of the Romanians of Transylvania, and supported one month later by the vote of the Deputies of the [[Transylvanian Saxons|Saxons of Transylvania]].<ref name="Hupchick1995">{{cite book|author=Dennis P. Hupchick|title=Conflict and chaos in Eastern Europe|year=1995|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-312-12116-7|page=83}}</ref> The Hungarian-speakers of Transylvania, about 32% at the time (including a large Hungarian-speaking Jewish community), and the Germans of [[Banat]] did not elect deputies upon the dissolution of [[Austria-Hungary]], since they were considered represented by the [[Budapest]] government of Hungary.
-In Bukovina, after being occuppied by the Romanian Army,<ref>Volodymyr Kubijovyč, Arkadii Zhukovsky, [http://encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages\B\U\Bukovyna.htm Bukovyna], in "Encyclopedia of Ukraine", Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2001</ref><ref>Sherman David Spector, "Rumania at the Paris Peace Conference: A Study of the Diplomacy of Ioan I. C. Brătianu", Bookman Associates, 1962, p. 70</ref> a National Council voted for union with Romania. While the Romanian, German, and Polish deputies unanimously voted for union,<ref name="Livezeanu2000"/> the Ukrainian deputies (representing 38% of the population according to the 1910 Austrian census)<ref>Donald Peckham, Christina Bratt Paulston, "Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe"), Multilingual Matters, 1998, p. 190</ref> and Jewish deputies did not attend the council.<ref name="Livezeanu2000">{{cite book|author=[[Irina Livezeanu]]|title=Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918–1930|year=2000|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-8688-3|page=59}}</ref>
+=====World War II losses=====
-Romania's borders established by the treaties of World War One, did not change until 1940. In the latter year it lost Bessarabia to the [[Soviet Union]], as provided for by the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact]] between the Soviet Union and [[Germany]]. It also lost Northern Bukovina and the [[Herța region]], which were not mentioned in the pact, to the Soviet Union. It lost [[Northern Transylvania]] to Hungary, through the [[Second Vienna Award]], and the "Cadrilater" to Bulgaria by the [[Treaty of Craiova]]. In the course of World War II, Romania, which was allied with the [[Axis Powers]], took back Bessarabia and made further territorial gains at the expense of the Soviet Union: [[Transnistria (World War II)|Transnistria]], western [[Yedisan]] and western [[Novorossiya]] (literally New Russia). Its constitution, proclaimed in 1923, "largely ignored the new ethnic and cultural realities".<ref name="Hitchins">Keith Hitchins, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=j1ytAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=A+Concise+History+of+Romania++By+Keith+Hitchins&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bJZqU7vUCOWuyQHRwYDoBA&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=A%20Concise%20History%20of%20Romania%20%20By%20Keith%20Hitchins&f=false A Concise History of Romania], Cambridge University Press, 2014, p. 183, ISBN 9781107782709 </ref>
+{{Main|Romania during World War II}}
+In 1940, the Romanian state agreed to cede Bessarabia to the [[Soviet Union]], as provided for by the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact]] between the Soviet Union and [[Germany]]. It also lost Northern Bukovina and the [[Herța region]], which were not mentioned in the pact, to the Soviet Union. It lost [[Northern Transylvania]] to Hungary, through the [[Second Vienna Award]], and the Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria by the [[Treaty of Craiova]]. In the course of World War II, Romania, which was allied with the [[Axis Powers]], took back Bessarabia and made further territorial gains at the expense of the Soviet Union: [[Transnistria (World War II)|Transnistria]], western [[Yedisan]] and western [[Novorossiya]] (literally New Russia).
 These territories were lost again when the tide of the war turned. After the war, Romania regained the Transylvanian territories lost to Hungary, but not territory lost to Bulgaria or the Soviet Union. In 1948 a treaty between the Soviet Union and Soviet-occupied [[Communist Romania]] also provided for the transfer of four uninhabited islands to the Soviet Union, three in the [[Danube Delta]] and [[Snake Island (Black Sea)|Snake Island]] in the [[Black Sea]].
-===International treaties===
+===After World War II===
+{{See also|National Communism in Romania}}
-The union of the regions of Transylvania, [[Maramureș]], [[Crișana]] and Banat with the [[Romanian Old Kingdom]] was ratified in 1920 by the [[Treaty of Trianon]] which recognised Romanian sovereignty over these regions and settled the border between the independent Republic of [[Hungary]] and the Kingdom of Romania. The union of Bukovina and Bessarabia with Romania was ratified in 1920 by the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. Romania had also recently acquired the [[Southern Dobruja]] territory called the "Cadrilater" ("Quadrilateral") from [[Bulgaria]] as a result of its victory in the [[Second Balkan War]] in 1913.
+After the war, the concept was interpreted as "obsolete" because of the Romanian defeat.<ref>Bernard A. Cook, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hafLHZgZtt4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Europe+Since+1945:+An+Encyclopedia,+Volume+2&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Br5vU_v_I4LOOOnugIAP&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Europe%20Since%201945%3A%20An%20Encyclopedia%2C%20Volume%202&f=false Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia, Volume 2], Taylor & Francis, 2001, p. 1074</ref> However, even the Communist politicians between 1944 and 1947 plainly supported the re-establishment of Greater Romania.<ref name="Roe"/> [[Gheorghe Apostol]]'s reminiscence strengthens the view for the nationalist argument of the Communists at the negotiations with Stalin about the future of Northern Transylvania.<ref name="Conflicted Memories"/> In contrast with this view, Romsics quotes [[Valter Roman]], one of the heads of the Romanian Communist Party, as writing in his memo of April 1944: ''"the two parts of Transylvania should be reunited as an independent state."''<ref>Ignác Romsics, The Paris Peace Treaty of 1947, In: [http://www.bv.ipzs.it/bv-pdf/0061/MOD-VP-13-01-017_1924_1.pdf Storia & Diplomazia Rassegna dell’Archivio Storico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri], 2013, p. 18</ref>
-==Post-1940 evolution==
-During the [[Romania in World War II|Second World War]] Romania's borders changed repeatedly. At first, it lost Bessarabia, [[Northern Transylvania]], [[Southern Dobruja]] and [[Northern Bukovina]], then (re)took control of territories of Bessarabia, Bukovina and [[Transnistria Governorate|Transnistria]]. After the war, the concept was interpreted as "obsolete" because of the Romanian defeat.<ref>Bernard A. Cook, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hafLHZgZtt4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Europe+Since+1945:+An+Encyclopedia,+Volume+2&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Br5vU_v_I4LOOOnugIAP&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Europe%20Since%201945%3A%20An%20Encyclopedia%2C%20Volume%202&f=false Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia, Volume 2], Taylor & Francis, 2001, p. 1074</ref> However, even the Communist politicians between 1944 and 1947 plainly supported the re-establishment of Greater Romania.<ref name="Roe"/> [[Gheorghe Apostol]]'s reminiscence strengthens the view for the nationalist argument of the Communists at the negotiations with Stalin about the future of Northern Transylvania.<ref name="Conflicted Memories"/> In contrast with this view, Romsics quotes [[Valter Roman]], one of the heads of the Romanian Communist Party, as writing in his memo of April 1944: ''"the two parts of Transylvania should be reunited as an independent state."''<ref>Ignác Romsics, The Paris Peace Treaty of 1947, In: [http://www.bv.ipzs.it/bv-pdf/0061/MOD-VP-13-01-017_1924_1.pdf Storia & Diplomazia Rassegna dell’Archivio Storico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri], 2013, p. 18</ref>
 The Romanian Communist politicians' behavior were depicted as nationalist, and this circumstance brought about the concept of [[National Communism in Romania|National Communism]],<ref name="Roe"/> which amalgamated elements of [[Stalinism]] and [[Fascism]].<ref>Costica Bradatan, Serguei Oushakine, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cK9H35gDSz4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=In+Marx%27s+Shadow:+Knowledge,+Power,+and+Intellectuals+in+Eastern+Europe+and+Russia&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UDhxU8XjDsm57AbF7oHoCw&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=In%20Marx's%20Shadow%3A%20Knowledge%2C%20Power%2C%20and%20Intellectuals%20in%20Eastern%20Europe%20and%20Russia&f=false In Marx's Shadow: Knowledge, Power, and Intellectuals in Eastern Europe and Russia], Lexington Books, 2010, p. 225</ref> According to Trond Gilberg the regime needed the strongly nationalist attitude because of the social, economic and political challenges.<ref name="Roe">Paul Roe, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rxGAAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR1&dq=Ethnic+Violence+and+the+Societal+Security+Dilemma&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rtFsU-mQK4uT0AWbhIEw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Ethnic%20Violence%20and%20the%20Societal%20Security%20Dilemma&f=false Ethnic Violence and the Societal Security Dilemma], Routledge, 2004, p. 128</ref> After the retreat of the [[Soviet]] troops from Romania in 1958, the national ideology was reborn, however it raises questions about its reconcilability with [[Internationalism|internationalist]] Stalinism.<ref name="Conflicted Memories"/> [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] fancied the idea that the creation of Greater Romania was the fruit of the end of the nation-formation process.{{Quote|''The setting up of the (Romanian) unitary national state six and a half decades ago was a brilliant historic victory of the long heroic struggle of the masses for creating the Romanian nation and the coming true of the age old dream of all Romanians to live in unity within the borders of the same country, in one free and independent state.''|Ceaușescu, 1983<ref name="Conflicted Memories"/> }}
+===Recent developments===
-Significant groups of Romanians could not become part of the Romanian state and did not participate in the modern nation-building process.<ref name="divided nations"/> These groups became subjects of assimilation in the neighboring countries (Serbia, Hungary or Ukraine) or took part in different nation-state projects (as in the [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic]]).<ref name="divided nations"/>
+{{See also|Unification of Romania and Moldova}}
-After the fall of Communism, in 1991, Romania and Moldova confronted with their eastern neighbor, [[Ukraine]]. Bucharest and [[Chișinău]] announced territorial claims on Ukrainian lands (on parts of [[Chernivtsi Oblast|Chernivtsi]] and [[Odessa Oblast|Odessa]] regions).<ref>Bohdan Nahaylo, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iPCPxwubpYUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Ukrainian+Resurgence&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xvN5U4jhMtSM7AbIroDoBw&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Ukrainian%20Resurgence&f=false The Ukrainian Resurgence],C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 1999, pp. 408-409</ref> [[Bulgaria]] surmised that the concept of Greater Romania stood behind Romanian foreign policy toward Moldova therefore expressed concerns about possible developments on [[Dobruja]].<ref name="Arbatov"/>
 [[Image:Noua dreapta sticker constanta.jpg|right|thumb|170px|A [[sticker]] of the [[Noua Dreaptă|New Right]], displaying the [[Celtic cross]] and the words ''national identity, spiritual revolution''.]]
+The fall of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and the economic downturn accompanying it led to a resurgence of nationalism in the region. Romania and Moldova, state comprising the bulk of Bessarabia which had become independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, confronted with their eastern neighbor, [[Ukraine]]. Bucharest and [[Chișinău]] announced territorial claims on Ukrainian lands (on parts of [[Chernivtsi Oblast|Chernivtsi]] and [[Odessa Oblast|Odessa]] regions).<ref>Bohdan Nahaylo, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iPCPxwubpYUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Ukrainian+Resurgence&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xvN5U4jhMtSM7AbIroDoBw&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Ukrainian%20Resurgence&f=false The Ukrainian Resurgence],C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 1999, pp. 408-409</ref> [[Bulgaria]] surmised that the concept of Greater Romania stood behind Romanian foreign policy toward Moldova therefore expressed concerns about possible developments on [[Dobruja]].<ref name="Arbatov"/>
 In 1992, the issue on unification of [[Moldova]] and Romania was negotiated between Romanian and Moldovan governments and they wanted to achieve it until the end of the year.<ref name="Moldova - Narrative"/> However, the "unionists" lost their dominance in Moldova in the middle of the year.<ref name="Moldova - Narrative">{{cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/ir/cews/database/Moldova/moldova.pdf |title=Ideas And Ideology In Interwar Romania|publisher=University of Southern California|date= |accessdate=2014-05-19}}</ref> [[Bucharest]] admitted the existence of the two Romanian states (Romania and Moldova) and defined priorities in reference to this matter: ''"the creation of a common cultural space; the creation of an economically integrated zone; and gradual political integration"''.<ref name="Arbatov">Alekseĭ Georgievich Arbatov, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ArKtx7XsMHAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Managing+Conflict+in+the+Former+Soviet+Union:+Russian+and+American+Perspectives&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Tfh5U8iTHYe4O8fFgegJ&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Managing%20Conflict%20in%20the%20Former%20Soviet%20Union%3A%20Russian%20and%20American%20Perspectives&f=false Managing Conflict in the Former Soviet Union: Russian and American Perspectives], MIT Press, 1997, pp. 202-204</ref> The Moldovan [[Mircea Snegur|Snegur]] government became more pragmatic and realized that the nationalist propaganda from Bucharest did not help their aims especially on the problem of "Soviet annexed Bessarabia".<ref name="Arbatov"/> The Romanian organizations ignored the result of the [[Moldovan referendum, 1994|Moldovan referendum on independence]] because the referendum did not ask Romanians in Romania.<ref name="Arbatov"/> Romanian politicians blamed [[Russia]] and the Moldovan regime that unification became unreal.<ref name="Arbatov"/> According to Ozhiganov the armed conflict in Moldova was thanked to the Romanian ethnic nationalism, otherwise due to ''"the attempt to create a unitary, ethnic state with power concentrated in the hands of ethnic nationalists in what was actually a multiethnic society."''<ref name="Arbatov"/>
@@ Line 63: / Line 64: @@
 Present-day Romanian extremists (such as members of [[Great Romania Party|PRM]]) aim to take possession of territories of northern [[Bukovina]] and [[Bessarabia]].<ref name="Miroslav Mares"/><ref name="Radu Cinpoes">{{cite web|url=http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id-moe/09408.pdf |title=THE EXTREME RIGHT IN CONTEMPORARY ROMANIA|publisher=http://library.fes.de/ |date=2012 |accessdate=2014-05-11}}</ref>  These regions currently belong to Ukraine and Moldova.<ref name="Miroslav Mares">{{cite web|url=http://www.cepsr.com/clanek.php?ID=367 |title=The Extreme Right in Eastern Europe and Territorial Issues|publisher=www.cepsr.com |date=2009 |accessdate=2014-05-11}}</ref> The Russian presence and the tense political situation in Moldova also inflame the demands of extremist Romanians.<ref name="Miroslav Mares"/>  Nevertheless, radicals make territorial demands on Hungary too.<ref name="Miroslav Mares"/> The [[Great Romania Party]] (Partidul România Mare – PRM) is an emblematic representative of the aforesaid concept, though the conception is fostered also by other right-wing groups (e.g. the organisation of the New Right –[[Noua Dreaptă]] with paramilitary inclinations{{Dubious |reason=I never heard that they would have guns, many are just football ultras|date=May 2014}}).<ref name="Miroslav Mares"/><ref>Uwe Backes, Patrick Moreau, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uMkEZnJQHksC&pg=PA276&dq=%22Noua+Dreapt%C4%83%22+%22paramilitary%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=j4tyU_e2BIeO0AXxn4DwCw&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Noua%20Dreapt%C4%83%22%20%22paramilitary%22&f=false The Extreme Right in Europe: Current Trends and Perspectives], Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011, p. 276 </ref>
-==Maps==
-<gallery>
-File:Romanians before WW1.jpg|Territories inhabited by Romanians before the territorial acquisitions from 1918.
-File:Romania 1930 ethnic map EN.png|Ethnic map of interwar Romania (1930)
-File:RomaniaBorderHistoryAnnimation_1859-2010.gif|Timeline of the borders of Romania between 1859–2010
-File:Rumânia văzută de Cezar Bolliac.jpg|Hypothetical map of Romania (1855). Author: [[Cezar Bolliac]]
-</gallery>
 ==See also==
 {{Portal|Romania|Moldova}}
-*[[Movement for unification of Romania and Moldova]]
 *[[List of Romanians who were born outside present-day Romania]]
-*[[Greater Romania]]
-*[[Unification of Romania and Moldova]]
 *[[Moldovenism]]
 *[[Romanianization]]
-*[[Hungarian-Romanian War of 1919]]
-*[[Tatarbunary Uprising]]
 *[[Little Entente]]
@@ Line 99: / Line 88: @@
 }}
 * Suveica, Svetlana, Bessarabia in the First Interwar Decade (1918–1928): Modernization by Means of Reforms, Chișinau: Pontos, 2010, 360 p. (Romanian)ISBN 978-9975-51-070-7.
-==External links==
-*[http://www.the-map-as-history.com/demos/tome03/index.php Video with the redrawing of the borders after the First World War]
 {{Irredentism}}
@@ Line 116: / Line 102: @@
 [[Category:Romania–Soviet Union relations]]
 [[Category:Irredentism|Romania]]
-[[Category:Greater Romania]]
-[[Category:Nationalism]]
-[[Category:Pan-nationalism]]
 [[Category:Politics of Romania]]
-[[Category:Political movements]]
-[[Category:Romanian nationalism]]
 {{Link FA|es}}

v t e Irredentism
Africa	Azawagh East African Federation Kongo Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Western Sahara Somalia South Africa
North America	Canada Guatemala Mexico United States movement for the annexation of Canada Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Martin
South America	Argentina Gran La Plata Bolivia Acre and Pando Chile Tricontinental Colombia Jaén and Maynas Ecuador Peru Bolivia Suriname
Western Asia	Armenia Artsakh Javakheti Western Armenia Assyria Azerbaijan Western Azerbaijan Southern Azerbaijan Lezgistan Cyprus Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan Iranian Kurdistan Turkish Kurdistan Syrian Kurdistan Iran Iraq Kuwait Israel Lebanon Palestine Saudi Arabia Syria Hatay Turkey Cyprus Pan-Turkism Yemen
Southern Asia	India Nepal Pashtunistan Tamil Nadu
Central Asia	Tajikistan
Eastern and Southeastern Asia	Cambodia China Diaoyu Taiwan Korea Daemado Gando Nokdundo Indonesia Malaysia Japan Chishima Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere Takeshima Mongolia Philippines Sabah Thailand Timor Vietnam
Central and Eastern Europe	Belarus Belastok Region Vilnius Region Smolensk Governorate Czechoslovakia Carpathian Ruthenia Kłodzko Hungary Moldova Bessarabia Ossetia North Ossetia South Ossetia Poland Kresy Trans-Olza Danzig Western Borderlands Romania Moldova Russia Slovenia Ukraine
Southern Europe	Albania Kosovo North Macedonia Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Bosnia Galicia Greece Cyprus Italy Corfu Corsica Dalmatia Istria Italian Grisons Malta Nice Savoy Ticino North Macedonia Serbia Kosovo Republika Srpska Spain Gibraltar Portugal Yugoslavia
Northern Europe	Denmark Finland Karelia Iceland Latvia Abrene Ruhnu Lithuania Norway Sweden
Western Europe	Belgium Celtics South Tyrol and Austria France Wallonia Germany Austria Annexation of Austria Greater Germanic Reich Lebensraum Ireland Netherlands Switzerland
Oceania	Australia Kiribati Papua New Guinea Samoa Vanuatu
Related concepts: Border changes since 1914 · Partitionism · Reunification · Revanchism · Revisionism · Rump state

v t e Pan-nationalist concepts
Ideas	Pan-Africanism Pan-Americanism Pan-Arabism Pan-Asianism Berberism Pan-Caucasianism Pan-Celticism Czechoslovakism Pan-Finnicism Pan-Germanism Eurasianism Pan-European nationalism Panhispanism Pan-Iberism Pan-Indianism Pan-Iranism Pan-Latinism Mediterraneanism Pan-Mongolism Pan-Oceanianism Scandinavism Pan-Serbism Pan-Slavism Rattachism Pan-Tatarism [ru; tt] Turanism Pan-Turkism Yugoslavism
Territorial concepts	Greater Albania Basque Country Greater Bosnia British unionism Bulgarian irredentism Greater Cambodia Caribbean Antilles Catalan Countries Celtic union Gran Colombia Greater China Greater Croatia Eritrean national identity nationalism Ethiopian national identity nationalism Greater Finland Galicia irredenta Greater Hungary Greater India Greater Indonesia Greater Iran Greater Iraq Greater Israel Greater Italy Greater Mauritania Greater Mexico Greater Moldova Greater Morocco Greater Netherlands Greater Norway Greater Palestine Greater Poland Greater Portugal [pt] Greater Romania Greater Russia Greater Serbia Greater Somalia Greater Spain Greater Syria Greater Ukraine Greater Vietnam Greater Yugoslavia Megali Idea (Greece) Kurdistan Occitania Padanian nationalism Patria Grande Tamazgha Misak-ı Millî (Turkey) United Armenia United Ireland United Macedonia Whole Azerbaijan Turan
Pan-ethnic groups	Latinos, Hispanic peoples Habesha peoples