Union of Bessarabia with Romania

On April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, Bessarabia proclaimed union with the Kingdom of Romania.

Governorate of Bessarabia

Main article: Bessarabia Governorate

The 1812 Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empires provided for the Russian annexation the eastern half of the territory of the Principality of Moldavia, including Khotyn and Budjak (Southern Bessarabia). At first, the Russians used the name "Oblast of Moldova and Bessarabia", allowing a large degree of autonomy, but in 1828 suspended the self-administration and called it Guberniya of Bessarabia, or simply Bessarabia. While the northeastern part of Moldavia, called Bukovina, was similarly annexed by the Habsburg Empire, the western part of Moldavia remained an autonomous principality, and in 1859, united with Wallachia to form the Kingdom of Romania. In 1856, the Treaty of Paris saw two out of nine counties of Bessarabia, Cahul and Ismail, returned to Moldavia, but in 1878, the Treaty of Berlin saw the Kingdom of Romania returning them to the Russian Empire.

Upon annexation, Romanian population of Bessarabia was predominant. The colonization of the region in the 19th century lead to a large increase in the Russian, Ukrainian, Lipovan, and Cossack population in the region; this together with a large influx of Bulgarian immigrants, saw an increase of the Slavic population to more than a fifth of the total population by 1920. With the settling of other nationals such as Gagauz, Jews, and Germans, the proportion of the Romanian population decreased from cca. 90% to 64% during the course of the century. The Tsarist policy in Bessarabia was in part aimed at denationalization of the Romanian element by forbidding after the 1860s education and Mass in Romanian. However, the effect was an extremely low literacy rate (in 1897 approx. 18% for males, approx. 4% for females) rather than a denationalization. Some Romanian historians claimed that a strong sentiment of frustration and resentment to the Russian control had started to appear before the beginning of the World War I.

Moldavian Democratic Republic

Main articles: Sfatul Ţării and Moldavian Democratic Republic

World War I brought in a rise in political and cultural (national) awareness of the locals, as 300,000 Bessarabians enrolled in the Russian Army formed in 1917, within bigger units several "Moldavian Soldiers' Committees". Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Bessarabia elected its own parliament, Sfatul Ţării (October-November 1917), which opened on December 3 [O.S. November 21] 1917, proclaimed the Moldavian Democratic Republic (December 15 [O.S. December 2] 1917), formed its government (December 21 [O.S. December 8] 1917), proclaimed independence from Russia (February 6 [O.S. January 24] 1918).

The Union Act

On April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, Sfatul Ţării decided with 86 votes for, 3 against and 36 abstaining, towards the union with the Kingdom of Romania, conditional upon the fulfillment of the agrarian reform, local autonomy, and respect for universal human rights.

The county councils of Bălţi, Soroca and Orhei were the earliest to ask for unification with the Kingdom of Romania, and on April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, Sfatul Ţării voted in favour of the union, with the following conditions:

1. Sfatul Ţării would undertake an agrarian reform, which would be accepted by the Romanian Government.
2. Bessarabia would remain autonomous, with its own diet, Sfatul Ţării, elected democratically
3. Sfatul Ţării would vote for local budgets, control the councils of zemstvos and cities, and name the local administration
4. Conscription would be done on a territorial basis
5. Local laws and the form of administration could be changed only with the approval of local representatives
6. The rights of minorities had to be respected
7. Two Bessarabian representatives would be part of the Romanian government
8. Bessarabia would send to the Romanian Parliament a number of representatives equal to the proportion of its population
9. All elections must involve a direct, equal, secret, and universal vote
10. Freedom of speech and of belief must be guaranteed in the constitution
11. All individuals who had committed felonies for political reasons during the revolution would be amnestied.

Greater Romania

Main article: Greater Romania

Bessarabia in yellow and Bukovina in grey, as a parts of Kingdom of Romania. Note: the region past the Dniester river was a part of Romania only briefly, during World War II

Romanian stamp commemorating 10 years of the Union

There were 86 votes for, 3 votes against and 36 deputies abstained. The first condition for agrarian reform was debated and approved in November 1918, and following this, Sfatul Ţării voted a motion which removed all the other conditions, trusting that Romania would be a democratic country. This vote has been judged illegitimate, since there was no quorum: only 44 of the 125 members took part in it (all voted "for"). The Romanian government rejected most of these 11 points (conditions), which would cause later much discontent in this new province of Romania, Bessarabia.

The historian Bernard Newman, who traveled by bike in the whole of Greater Romania, claimed there is little doubt that the vote represented the prevailing wish in Bessarabia and that the events leading to the unification indicate there was no question of a "seizure", but a voluntary act on the part of its people.

In the autum of 1919, general election were held in Bessarabia in order to vote 90 deputies and 35 senators in the Romanian Parliament - The Constituent Assembly. The elected ratified on 20 December 1919, along with their colleagues from the other historic provinces, the unification acts that had been approved by Sfatul Ţării and the National Congresses in Transylvania and Bukovina.

During the peace talks between the Great Powers and Romania, on 1 February 1919, David Lloyd George talked with Ion I. C. Brătianu and after the withdrawal of the Bucharest's delegation leader the British prime-minister proposed that Romania's claims be analyzed by a territorial commission that would examine historical, ethnographic, geographic, strategic, but not political facts. The Territorial Commission on Romanian Affairs was formed an it represented the scene were the representatives of the Big Four presented their proposals and decided Romanian's territorial future. The commission was formed by Clive Day and Charles Seymour – USA, Sir Eyre Crowe and Alan Leeper – Great Britain, André Tardieu and Guy Laroche – France and Giacomo De Martino and Count Luigi Vannutelli-Rey – Italy. During the debates the only issue related to Romania that the representatives all agreed upon since the beginning of Commissions's work was Bessarabia and it was decided that it should belong to Romania. However, the United States refused to sign the Treaty on the grounds that Russia was not represented at the Conference. The newly-communist Russia did not recognize the Romanian rule over Bessarabia, a stand that was tacitly accepted by many other countries such as the United States.

The union was recognized by the United Kingdom, France and Italy in the Treaty of Paris (1920), which nevertheless did not come into force as Japan, one of the signatories, failed to ratify it. The newly-communist Russia was not represented as a party at the treaty conference. A mutual treaty between the Soviets and Romania was not signed due to the former's claims over Bessarabia. In the Kellogg-Briand Treaty of 1928 and the Treaty of London of July 1933, the Soviet Union and Romania have subscribed to the principle of non-violent resolution of territorial disputes. Transnistria, at the time part of the Ukrainian SSR, itself part of the USSR, was formed into the Moldavian ASSR (1924–1940) after the failure of the Tatarbunar uprising.

The land reform, settled by Sfatul Ţării in 1918-1919, resulted in a rise of a middle class, as the rural population of the region represented 80%. Together with peace and favorable economic circumstances, it produced a small economic boom, which allowed the region to catch up technologically with the rest of Europe. A lawful land reform, promoted by the majority of the political leadership of Bessarabia in 1918, as opposed to an irregular expropriation of property, promoted by the pro-Soviet elements, was more appealing to the local farmers, and is at least partly responsible for the consent the peasantry has given to the intelligentsia's plans for building a unified state for all Romanians. The literacy rate grew to over 40% by 1930; however, the region still remained lagging in the aspect of education. In an attempt to alienate the Bessarabian ethnic minorities from the Russian influence, the Romanian authorities have allowed education in any language desired; with time, while Romanian replaced Russian in cities, the authorities sought to reduce the number of ethnic minority education and attract them into Romanian classes.

Soviet occupation

Main article: Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina

The status-quo was changed 22 years later, when, as a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (Article 4 of the Secret Annex to the Treaty), Nazi Germany yielded Bessarabia to the Soviet Union. On June 26, 1940, Romania received an ultimatum from the Soviet Union, demanding the evacuation of the Romanian military and administration from Bessarabia and from the northern part of Bukovina, with an implied threat of invasion in the event of noncompliance. Under pressure from Moscow and Berlin, the Romanian administration and the army were forced to retreat from Bessarabia as well from Northern Bukovina to avoid war. On June 28, 1940, these territories were occupied by the Soviet Union. During the retreat, the Romanian Army was attacked by the Soviet Army, which entered Bessarabia before the Romanian administration finished retreating. Some 42,876 Romanian soldiers and officers were unaccounted for after the retreat.

The southern and northern parts, which had just over 1/2 ethnic minorities (Ukrainians, Bessarabian Bulgarians, Bessarabian Germans, Lipovans), were transferred to the Ukrainian SSR as Izmail Oblast and as part of Chernivtsi Oblast. At the same time, the Moldavian ASSR, where ethnic Romanians were a plurality, was disbanded, and just under 1/2 of its territory was joined with the remaining territory of Bessarabia to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, coterminous with the present-day Moldova. Although Soviet troops were forced out in 1941 by the invasion of Axis forces, and Romania re-established its administration, the Soviet Union reconquered and reannexed the area in February-August 1944.

The official Soviet policy (1940–1941, 1944–1989) also stated that Romanian and Moldovan were two different languages and, to emphasize the distinction, Moldovan was written using a special Cyrillic alphabet (the Moldovan alphabet) derived from the Russian alphabet – unlike Romanian, written with its own version of the Latin alphabet.

See also

1998: Moldovan stamp commemorating 80 years of the Union

• Movement for the unification of Romania and Moldova
• Romanian-Moldovan relations
• Greater Romania