Romanian military intervention in Bessarabia
Romanian military intervention in Bessarabia | |||||||
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Part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War | |||||||
Romanian general Ernest Broșteanu in Bessarabia during 1918 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Kingdom of Romania German Empire Austria-Hungary |
(Feb.) Odesa Committee for the Salvation of Bessarabia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ernest Broșteanu Dmitry Shcherbachev |
Anatol Popa ]
Grigore Borisov Anatoli Zhelezniakov Mikhail Muravyov Petr Lazarev Vasile Rudiev † Ivan Krivorukov Alexander Schmidt[1] | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
800-1,000 Transylvanian volunteers c. 50,000 Romanian regular troops Danube Flotilla |
c. 6,000 in Chișinău over 1,000 in Bălți c. 1,000 in Vâlcov c. 2,000 in Akkerman 3 infantry regiments 1 infantry battalion 2 hussar regiments 2 cavalry regiments 2 cavalry squadrons 1 railroad battalion 1 artillery brigade 1 machine-gun company 1 automobile company several Red Guards detachments 500 Romanian volunteers several military vessels | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
c. 150 killed c. 2,100 captured 2 floating batteries captured | >1,500-2,000 killed |
The Romanian military intervention in Bessarabia took place between 19 January and 8 March (
On 19 January, the Bolshevik Frontotdel took hold of Chișinău, only to lose it to a second Romanian offensive on 26 January. On 29 January, Romanian troops besieged Bender; after much bitter fighting the defenders retreated from the city on 2 February. In northern Bessarabia, Romanian troops seized Bălți on 5 February. On 14 February, Vladimir Lenin appointed Mikhail Muravyov as the commander of the Bessarabia and Transnistria Front, reinforcing it with 3,000 soldiers. Muravyov went on a counter-offensive, achieving a number of victories, however his gains were erased when the Central Powers launched a large scale offensive against the Bolsheviks. In the south, Bolshevik sailors continued to control parts of the Budjak until early March, before retreating to Odesa.
Romania used the opportunity to break armistice negotiations with the Bolsheviks and occupy the last Bessarabian territories not under its control. On 6 February, Sfatul Țării, the Moldavian Democratic Republic's parliament, declared the country's independence. On 9 April 1918, the Moldavian Democratic Republic united with Romania.
Background
In 1812, as a result of the
During World War I, in 1916–1917, Romania and Russia fought as allies, and during the winter of 1916/1917 the Russian command directed the 35th Infantry and 15th Cavalry divisions to the Romanian front in order to forestall the country's complete occupation. The southern part of Romania (72% of its territory) had already been occupied by the Central Powers, with the capital itself, Bucharest, having fallen on 4 December 1916. Romanian and Russian troops successfully defended against the German offensive, and the front was stabilized by mid-August 1917.[8]: 15 In the meantime, news of the February Revolution which overthrew the Russian Tsar had reached Bessarabia. The first local soviet was created in Bender/Tighina on 21 March 1917, and by May 1917 soviets had been created in all district of Bessarabia. Concurrently, during the spring of 1917 peasants began dividing the land among themselves.[8]: 20–21 The National Moldavian Party (NMP) was also created during the second part of March 1917, attracting primarily landowners. Gaining the support of the Romanian government, the party agitated for the introduction of Moldovan language in state institutions, solving the agrarian problem only in the interest of Moldavians, and gradually promoted a union with Romania. Though national polarization had emerged among the soldiers of the Russian army, the NMP failed to impose its goals on the various organizations emerging in the context of the revolutions: the April Provincial Congress of Public Teachers decided that both Moldavian and Russian should be used in education, while the First Provincial Peasants' Congress (3-5 June 1917) decided to transfer all land in public ownership, demanded equal treatment for all national groups, and decided for autonomy within Russia. Describing the situation, NMP politicians Grigore Cazacliu and Ion Văluță stated "the Moldavian people consider us their enemies".[8]: 21–22 The party failed to gain popularity among the Bessarabians who voted in November 1917, in the Bessarabia electoral district, for the Russian Constituent Assembly elections, and received only 2.3 percent of the vote.[7]: 161–163 [8]: 31 However, three of the five deputies representing the Soviet of Deputies of the Peasants, led by Ion Inculet and Pantelimon Erhan, and also including Teodor Cojocaru, elected to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly, which obtained 36.7% of the votes in the November 1917 elections in the Bessarabia Electoral District, out of the 13 elected from the province, eventually supported Bessarabia's union with Romania on March 27/April 9, 1918.[9]
Besides the marauding and violence by deserters, usual in regions near the front line such as Bessarabia, the February Revolution further eroded discipline among Russian soldiers, resulting in a surge in the number of deserters; instances of brigandage and looting multiplied.
According to Ion Giurcă, the overthrow of the Russian Provisional Government in Petrograd in October 1917 (also known as the October Revolution) and the seizure of power in Russia by the Bolsheviks led to disorganization and indiscipline in the Russian Army on the Eastern Front.[15] On 5 December [O.S. 22 November] 1917, Soviet Russia signed in Brest-Litovsk a complete ceasefire with the Central Powers, calling for a peace without annexations and indemnities, and ordering its troops to stop fighting in view of an armistice with the Central Powers.[8]: 25 Dmitry Shcherbachev, the head of the Russian troops on the Romanian Front, refused to comply with the Soviet Government's orders. Under these conditions, two opposing groups emerged in the local Russian armies: one that recognized the new Bolshevik leadership in Petrograd, determined to leave the front, and a second group under the command of general Shcherbachev, which sought to continue the war; disputes and armed confrontations soon erupted between the two groups.[16] Despite Romanian military support, Shcherbachev, who according to van Meurs had become a "commander without an army", failed to subdue the local Bolshevik committee and ultimately agreed to sign an armistice with the Germans.[10]: 61 Consequently, Romania and Russians under Shcherbachev signed an armistice in Focșani on 9 December [O.S. 26 November] 1917, six days before the armistice between Russia and the Central Powers.[8]: 25–26
Following the Bolshevik
In the meantime, various soviets had emerged around Bessarabia, many of them controlled by Mensheviks, Esers, and Bundists, and initially without Bolshevik influences. The soviets and Sfatul Țării recognized each other, and the Esers and Peasant's Soviet had received seats in the assembly.[10]: 61 Both the Petrograd Soviet and the Council of People's Commissars recognized the new Moldavian Republic, its Assembly and government.[3]: 34 Conversely, several of local soviets also recognized Vladimir Lenin's government, and until mid-December the local soviets became "Bolshevized".[10]: 61
Mikhail Meltyukhov claims that, on 21 November, the Romanian ambassador in London indicated to the British leadership that the Romanian army was ready to participate in the struggle against the Soviets, and two days later the US president promised support for Romanian territorial claims in exchange for participation in an anti-Soviet intervention. Shcherbachev also agreed to transfer to Romania Russian weapons, ammunition and food supplies in exchange of 16 million rubles; part of these resources were to be transferred to General Alexey Kaledin, recognized by the Entente as the legitimate Russian representative.[8]: 26–27
While retreating from Romanian territory, groups of Russian soldiers and even whole units also started committing various acts of violence and robberies, resulting in a series of confrontations with the Romanian army in
Mikhail Meltyukhov notes that Romanian intervention was requested by Shcherbachev after the Bolsheviks under Semyon Roshal, with the support of the Socola garrison, announced they had seized power on the Romanian Front on 16 December.[8]: 27 After failed negotiations in Iași, Ukrainian troops and four Romanian regiments arrested the Bolshevik negotiation team on 21 December, shot Roshal, dissolved the revolutionary committee and disarmed troops loyal to it. Dorin Dobrincu points out that, arriving from Petrograd with the mission to take control of the Revolutionary Military Committee of the Romanian Front, Roshal tried, with the help of some Bolshevik soldiers, to arrest General Shcherbachev; the general was saved by his Ukrainian guards and the intervention of the French and Romanian officers. According to Dobrincu, after being detained by the Romanians, Roshal ended up in "unclear conditions" in the hands of the anti-Bolshevik Russians; his body was later found near a railway line, possibly after being shot by "his Russian political and ideological opponents".[19] The following days, the Romanians disarmed all Russian troops deemed "unreliable", and, according to Meltyukhov, severed Russian access to food depots and interned Russian servicemen in concentration camps.[8]: 27–28 On the morning of 22 December [O.S. 9 December] 1917, the Romanian troops, with the help of Ukrainian soldiers loyal to General Shcherbachev, surrounded the Russian garrison at Socola and disarmed it. According to Dobrincu, no casualties were reported in this incident, and all 3,000 Russian soldiers were put on trains and sent across the Prut. Romanian troops in other settlements across Moldavia followed suit, however in several places their actions led to armed confrontation.[19] According to Mitrasca, the Russian troops fleeing from Romanians passed through Bessarabia, robbing and pillaging.[3]: 35 Meltyukhov however claims that, in order to justify its actions, the Romanian government propaganda began alleging that Russian troops had been perpetrating robberies and pogroms.[8]: 27–28
The actions of the Romanian troops "for the enthronement of the order" in the Romanian territory were categorized by the Soviet Government as "criminal", being followed by ultimatum notes which, according to Vasile Tutula, had the character of a declaration of war.[16] The Commissar of Foreign Affairs, Leon Trotsky, reproached the Romanian representative in Petrograd, Constantin Diamandy, for interfering in Russia's internal affairs, while Diamandy replied Romanian actions were police measures against devastation by the Russian troops.[19]
Prelude
The first Romanian forays in Bessarabia began in mid December (on 14 December [O.S. 1 December] 1917 according to some sources)[20]: 20 [21] when a small detachment took over the village of Leova, purportedly in order to protect the grain stores. This caused indignation among locals, which believed the troops came "to take away the gains of the revolution". Following a rally organized by the local soviet, the Romanian troops were repulsed, losing one officer (captain Popilian)[21] and two soldiers.[8]: 29–30 [14]: 368 [7]: 166 A member of the Cahul supply commission informed the Sfatul Țării that Romanian troops had intervened after he had requested to Shcherbachev a military guard for the local depots, however the Romanians were attacked by local armed bands.[22] On 21 December the Romanians sent a two-regiment strong retaliatory expedition, occupied Leova, and, under treat of shooting every tenth local, demanded that the leaders of the local Soviet be surrendered. All four members of the soviet's executive committee, headed by I. Nestrat, were summarily tried and consequently shot, as they were deemed responsible for the earlier Romanian casualties.[8]: 29–30 [14]: 368 [21]
Further forays took place throughout December: on the 20th Romanian troops surrounded Pogănești, Sărata-Răzeși and Voinescu and began shooting the locals, prompting Chițan, president of the Mingir committee, to telegraph Chișinău to ask for urgent military assistance; similar Romanian actions took place two days later in Cărpineni and surrounding villages.[14]: 368 On 23 December 1917, Britain and France signed a secret agreement delineating their spheres of influences within the Russian Empire. Bessarabia and other Russian territories north of the Black Sea coast fell within the French ambit.[8]: 27 Determined to combat the Central Powers and Russian forces hostile to its interests, the head of the French military mission in Iași, General Henri Mathias Berthelot, began pressuring Romania to occupy Bessarabia.[7]: 166
The state of insecurity in Bessarabia, determined by robberies and riots committed by retreating Russian troops, as well as Bolshevik claims to power over the region, determined some of the Moldavian leaders to ask for help from the Romanian state,[11] however not for a Romanian occupation, as it happened later.[10]: 63 On 26 December, the Bolsheviks took control of the Bessarabian railways, the Moldavian troops refusing to take actions against them in spite of the decision of Sfatul Țării. At the latter's request, Shcherbachev ordered parts of the 7th Cavalry and 61st Infantry divisions to head towards Bessarabia, however, his troops also refused to comply. In the meantime, the peasant faction of Sfatul Țării decided to send 3 representative to Petrograd to request support against a possible Romanian intervention.[8]: 30–31 On 27–28 December [O.S. 14–15 December] 1917, Vladimir Cristi and Ion Pelivan, members of the Moldavian legislative council Sfatul Țării and of the government, paid a visit to Iași, to present the situation from Bessarabia to the Romanian government.[15] Following the discussions, on 4 January 1918 [O.S. 22 December 1917], Sfatul Țării decided to grant powers to the Moldavian government, respectively to request military aid from the Allied Powers.[11] On the same day, Erhan, Pelivan, and Cristi sent a secret telegram to the Romanian Minister of War requesting the urgent sending to Chișinău of a Transylvanian regiment (made up of former Austro-Hungarian prisoners of Romanian ethnicity) located in Kyiv.[23]: 286 Another request came from the Moldavian Committee in Kyiv, which, following information received from the representative of Sfatul Țării on the critical situation in Bessarabia, also requested the Romanian government in Iași to send Romanian troops to Bessarabia, immediately.[15] Still on 4 January, the Soviet government in Petrograd ordered Russian troops to retreat from Romanian territory towards Bessarabia, opposing with force any Romanian attempt to stop them,[8]: 29 while the Council of Directors addressed the French military attaché in Chișinău, requesting instructors for its troops.[8]: 31
The socialist bloc and the block of national minorities in Sfatul Țării were categorically against the arrival of the Romanian troops, indicating that this could be the first step to the military occupation of the region, posing a threat to all the political and social gains of the revolution.[14]: 369 In response to the rumours of a Romanian intervention, several organizations across Bessarabia issued protests, including the Briceni soviet of workers' and soldiers' deputies, the fourth Congress of peasants' deputies in Hotin district, the second Congress of peasants' deputies in Bălți district, the meeting of the Bessarabian delegates to the second Congress of the Rumcherod, the Central Military Commissariat of Internal Affairs, the soldiers of the 1st Moldavian Regiment, the 129th Moldavian air battery and the detachment of Bessarabian sailors in Sevastopol.[14]: 370 The limited Romanian armed intervention in Leova in early December, as well as the actions taken to disarm retreating Bolshevik troops in Romanian territory prompted strong protests by the Soviet Government. Romania's failure to reply to the protests ultimately led Lenin to arrest the Romanian representative in Petrograd and confiscate the Romanian Treasure on 13 January 1918.[10]: 63–64 The Romanian diplomat was released the following day at the request of the other embassies in Petrograd, with the Soviet government reiterating its request that arrested Russian soldiers be freed and allowed to retreat.[8]: 29
By the end of December, Bolsheviks took the upper hand in most local soviets and on 6 January 1918,[
On the night of 13 January 1918 [O.S. 31 December 1917], the strategic points and buildings in Chișinău were captured by the Bolsheviks,
In these conditions, Cristi, Pelivan and Erhan went to Iași to request once again the entry of the Romanian army in Bessarabia to fight the Bolshevik challenges to the power of Sfatul Țării.[10]: 64 [24] As a result of the critical situation in which Sfatul Țării and the Moldavian government were, on the pretext of securing supply lines against raids by Bolsheviks and armed bandits, the Romanian government agreed to send the army to Bessarabia, the measure being supported by the representatives of the Entente (French and British missions in Iași), but also by the Russian general Shcherbachev, the nominal commander of the Russian army on the Romanian front.[3]: 36 [17]: 33 [14]: 371 van Meurs claims that a significant part of the Bessarabian public opinion strongly resented Romanian intervention and feared that the promised reforms would be overturned. Bolshevik propaganda played on such fears, claiming the Moldavian Bloc in Sfatul Țării had sold Bessarabia to Romania and was planning to renounce the agrarian reform.[10]: 84 Gherman Pântea, the director responsible for the military in Sfatul Țării's government, reported that "the Moldavian population, and especially the Moldavian soldiers, were excited and angry that the Romanians would come to take from them land obtained as a result of the revolution, and the freedoms won after a century of suffering".[14]: 370
Octavian Țîcu considers that, first of all, not the attitudes, favourable or not to the entry of Romanian troops in Bessarabia, but the disintegration of the Russian Empire, local anarchy and the absolute need of the Western allies to maintain the Romanian-Russian front, to ensure its supply, communications and withdrawal, were the main factors that determined general Shcherbachev to ask the Romanian government to send the Romanian army to Bessarabia, amid the lack of organization of the Russian army.[25]
Operations
Initial attacks
On 6 January, the Romanian government, in agreement with the Ukrainian authorities, ordered Transylvanian troops to advance from Kyiv to Chișinău, in coordination with an attack on the border town of Ungheni, which had a Bolshevik garrison.[8]: 32 Upon their arrival in Chișinău railway station on 19 January at around 1 AM, the 800 to 1,000 Transylvanians were met by 1st Moldavian Infantry Regiment, the 5th Zaamursky Cavalry Regiment and a Red Guards detachment raised by the Frontotdel. After the Transylvanians refused to disarm, a skirmish broke out and they were ultimately disarmed and arrested,[11] losing five or six killed and many wounded, and afterwards sent back to Kyiv.[14]: 371 [10]: 64–65 [8]: 32 Attempts by Erhan and Inculeț to convince the Moldavian troops to release the Transylvanians, claiming they were only in transit, failed after the captured soldiers declared they had been sent to take over Romanian depots and liquidate the Bolsheviks.[14]: 372 [8]: 32 However, according to Vasile Tutula, after the Transylvanian soldiers were arrested, beaten, and in torn uniforms, mocked and spit on the streets of the city, some of them were then forcibly released by the Moldavian troops, who sheltered them in their barracks,[16] while according to Dorin Dobrincu, the Transylvanians were released after a few days, in the context of the entry of Romanian troops in Bessarabia.[26]
In the meantime, the Romanian command decided on 17 January to send further troops towards Bessarabia, several units crossing the Prut on the 18th and the 19th.[8]: 33 The attack on Ungheni began at dawn on 18 January involved, besides Romanian troops, Russian troops still loyal to Shcherbachev and Ukrainian nationalist units. The combined troops were able to defeat the Soviets and capture the town, executing the twelve members of the local soviet of soldiers' deputies. By the evening of the following day Romanian troops had reached Strășeni and attempted to make their way to Chișinău through Ghidighici, however, they were met by strong Soviet fire at Ghidighici and Cojușna. By the night of the 20th, the interventionists retreated in disarray towards Strășeni, abandoning their weapons and surrendering in small groups as they were pursued by Frontotdel's cavalry units. Met with hostility by local villagers, a detachment of over one thousand Romanians was surrounded and surrendered at Strășeni. The Romanian troops and Russian detachments led by general Nekrasov, Shcherbachev's representative, retreated toward Ungheni and attempted to regroup at Cornești during 20 January, only to be surrounded by a revolutionary railway battalion. Some of the invading troops surrender, while the rest managed to break out and retreat to Romania; general Nekrasov barely escaped lynching by his soldiers and was ultimately killed by locals.[14]: 372–373 On 21 January, the detachment of the 2nd railway district repairing the line from Chișinău to Strășeni came upon a group of Romanian troops, capturing 40 soldiers, with the others escaping to Ungheni.[8]: 33
Around the same time, the Romanian army along with Russian troops loyal to Shcherbachev attempted to create a bridgehead in the south of Bessarabia, occupying Cahul, Vadul lui Isac and Manta. Attempting to enter Bolhrad, they were met by the troops of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the 6th Army along with Moldavian detachments. On the night of 22/23 January the defenders managed to disarm the Romanians after a short battle and proceeded to clear the Romanian troops in Bolhrad, Cahul, Leova and Vulcănești.[8]: 33 [14]: 373–374 The garrison and locals in Reni also managed to repulse an attack from across the border, while Russian generals Kotzebue, Dedyushin and Ivanov were arrested as collaborators of the invaders.[14]: 373–374
Soviet takeover in Chișinău
In the meantime, Ion Giurcă claims the Bolsheviks attacked the headquarters of the Inter-Allied Commission, arresting the military and officials of the Entente states, as well as several deputies of Sfatul Țării.[15] Ion Giurcă states that Erhan and Inculeț were among the arrested, while Vladimir Polivțev notes the two Moldavian leaders were actually invited to an emergency joint meeting of the Bessarabian Provincial and Chișinău City Executive Committees of the Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, the Peasant Provincial Executive Committee and the Moldavian Central Military Executive Committee, which had assembled on 19 January to declare state of war. Erhan and Inculeț declared during the meeting they did not know anything about the entry of Romanian troops and would dismiss any directors that may have had anything to do with it. Depending on the account, they were either forced to write and send to the Romanian government a telegram protesting against the entry of the Romanian armies and demanding an end to its sending to Bessarabia,[15] or voluntary did it to disperse suspicions against them.[14]: 374 [8]: 34 It is unclear whether the Frontotdel takeover was precipitated by the Romanian attack or was a result of it having gained the allegiance of most local soviets in Bessarabia the previous day.[10]: 65 Erhan and Inculeț were also forced to order the Moldavian regiments to oppose the advance of Romanian troops;[10]: 65 Pan Halippa claimed that Gherman Pântea had actually signed the order, which Inculeț and Erhan knew about, but the order did not reach the Moldavian troops, being used only as a "justification" to the Bolshevik leaders, who were in control of Chișinău.[27] Wim van Meurs further notes that it is unclear whether Erhan and Inculeț were forced by the Bolsheviks to order resistance to the Romanian advance or they genuinely loathed the arrival of the Romanian "liberators".[10]: 65 The Moldavian leaders did not have a unitary perspective on the future of Bessarabia: while Halippa and Pelivan were seeking a union with Romania, Erhan and Inculeț were left-wing politicians who sought a Moldavian Republic, either independent or as part of a Russian Federation. Inculeț in particular, as president of the Sfatul Țării, did not take part in any of the mission to the Romanian government and was later prevented from participating in the negotiations in Brest-Litovsk, as the Romanian feared he would support the incorporation of Bessarabia into the Russian Federation.[10]: 65 By 20 January, the Sfatul Țării and the Council of Directors had lost any power they had over Bessarabia, with the Soviets gaining the upper hand.[14]: 374 The Frontotdel opened the military depots and distributed weapons to the local population, which constituted Red Guards. On the night of the 20th, it put Chișinău under martial law, dispersed the Sfatul Țării and outlawed the Council of Directors and any organizations conducting "counter-revolutionary activity". Fearing arrest, many members of the Sfatul Țării went into hiding or left the city, while some of the directors, with the help of the French military attaché and the landholder Pantelimon V. Sinadino, leader of the Union of Landowners of Bessarabia, left for Iași to request for a Romanian intervention.[8]: 34
Main thrust and capture of Chișinău
The Romanian forces which carried out the intervention into Bessarabia amounted to two infantry and two cavalry divisions, totalling 50,000.[14]: 375–376 On 20 January the Romanian Command ordered its troops to cross the Prut, and the first Romanian units entered Bessarabia the following day. In the morning of 23 January [O.S. 10 January], the 11th Romanian Division of general Ernest Broșteanu crossed the Prut. The 11th Infantry Division was supposed to capture Chișinău and advance towards Tighina, the 1st Cavalry Division to attack Bălți and Soroca, the 13th Infantry Division to occupy southern Bessarabia, while the 2nd Cavalry Division was meant to link the two infantry divisions in the area of Cimișlia. On 25 January all Romanian division were merged into the 6th Corps under General Ioan Istrate.[7]: 167–168 [8]: 35 On the defending side, the Frontotdel controlled around 6,000 troops in Chișinău, including the 1st Moldavian Infantry Regiment, 1st Bessarabian Hussar Regiment, 1st Moldavian Hussar Regiment, the 3rd and 5th Zaamursky Cavalry Regiments, the 14th Artillery Brigade, and several volunteer Red Guards squads; these troops were tasked with "retaining the city until reinforcements arrived, and with their arrival go on the offensive and expel the Romanians from the Moldavian Republic". The defenders included among their rank Filipp Levenson, Grigory Kotovsky and Iona Yakir.[14]: 375–376 Two days later, Inculeţ and the representatives of the Moldovan military committees met in Călărași with general Broșteanu. Both sides agreed that the Romanians "will not interfere in the internal affairs of Bessarabia"; however, when informed by the Moldovan delegates that the death penalty had been abolished in Bessarabia, Broșteanu replied he would be the ultimate judge and would hand any punishment he deemed fit.[14]: 377 Romanian prime-minister Take Ionescu would later declare "the whole world knew that the troops were sent to Bessarabia in order to complete, when possible, the final act of union with Bessarabia".[14]: 375 [8]: 38 In Odesa, the 20 January Plenary session of the Central Executive Committee of the Rumcherod decided to consider itself "in a state of war with Romania" and declared a general mobilization for volunteers detachments in the districts of Odesa, Tiraspol, Kherson, Akkerman and Bender. The Rumcherod also decided the internment of any Romanian officials in the city and the sequestration of Romanian properties there. The decision was party overturned the following day, the Rumcherod hoping to obtain a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. On 23 January, the Rumcherod formally transmitted to the Romanian consul and the British and French missions the request that the Romanian government withdraw its troops from Bessarabia and the Russian troops on the Romanian front be allowed free passage towards Russia. While the Romanian representative denied the entry of Romanian troops, the Entente mission replied that the troops had been sent to protect Romanian depots.[8]: 36–37
During the first days of the offensive, the Romanian troops that had crossed the Prut between Ungheni and Leova occupied Ungheni,
Vladimir Polivțev claims that following the Romanian capture of Chișinău a wave of repression ensued: Staff Captain N.V. Durasov, assistant chief of the Revolutionary Headquarters was executed, the 1st Moldavian Infantry Regiment was disarmed and 17 of its soldiers were shot after refusing to swear allegiance to the Romanian King. The other Moldavian units were either dissolved or merged with the Romanian units. Executions were not limited to supporters of the Soviets, as several anti-Bolshevik socialists were shot, including the Menshevik member of Sfatul Țării
On 28 January [O.S. 15 January], during an extraordinary joint meeting of Sfatul Țării and the government, Inculeț welcomed and argued the Romanian military presence in Bessarabia, speaking about the guarantees of the Romanians, while Erhan assured general Broșteanu that the government in Chișinău will take all measures to support the action of the Romanian army.[15]
Third Peasants Congress
Opposition to the Romanian intervention continued elsewhere in Bessarabia, with Erhan noting in his 26 January speech in Sfatul Țării that the influence of Bolsheviks and distrust of Sfatul Țării was especially high in the districts of Akkerman, Ismail, Khotyn and Soroca.[14]: 379 On 31 January began in Chișinău the Third Bessarabian Provincial Congress of Soviets of Peasant Deputies, which had been postponed since the fall of 1917. Due to ongoing military operations, few delegates from the Akkerman, Ismail and Khotyn could assist, with most delegates coming from the central, Moldavian-majority parts of Bessarabia. The majority rejected Erhan's candidacy for president and instead elected the Moldavian Vasile Rudiev, who had earlier been designated commissioner for Bălți by the Sfatul Țării and, as head of the Bălți district Congress of Peasants, had protested against the Romanian intervention and called for the recognition of the Petrograd government on 27 January. The following day, the Bessarabian Provincial Peasants' Congress unanimously voted a resolution that "all power should belong to the Soviets of workers, soldiers and peasants' deputies" and chose a commission to draw up a declaration of protest against the occupation of Bessarabia. Rudiev personally called for guarantees for freedom of speech, assembly, and the inviolability of the members of the congress, demanded the restoration of a sovereign Moldavian Republic, with the Romanians expelled from the country within 24 hours. His discourse was met with prolonged applause. Half an hour after Rudiev's speech, Romanian troops cordoned off the building where the Congress was taking place, brought four machine guns within the hall and sent in a military squad demanding the extradition of the speakers who "had insulted the Romanian government". Rudiev and another member of the presidium, Valentin Prahnițkii, went off to negotiate with Broșteanu, and later three more members of the Congress were arrested (Teofil Cotoros, Ion Panţiru and Procop Ciumacenco). The five delegates, four Moldavians and one Ukrainian, were subsequently executed by the Romanians. As the five were also members of Sfatul Țării and were legally inviolable, the Council of Directors inquired into the fate of the delegates, however Broșteanu dismissed them replying he did not consider the arrests "interference in the internal affairs of the republic" and that "no one can interfere with him" in the fight against the "Bolsheviks". Meltyukhov and Polivțev note that ultimately 45 of the 116 delegates that participated in the Congress were shot.[14]: 379–381 [8]: 43
Battle of Bender
With the help of Moldavia's detachments, the Romanians continued their advance towards
Battle of Bălți and northern campaign
News of what the locals saw as a Romanian invasion also alerted the various committees in Bălți, which on 21 January organized the Revolutionary Headquarters for the Protection of Bessarabia, led by the Moldavians Andrei Paladi, chairman of the Bălți district peasants' soviet, Grigore Galagan, chairman of the local land committee, and Vasile Rudiev, the local government commissioner. The following day, Paladi urged the locals to organize defence squads, while the local soviet issued a manifesto declaring "Death is better than new slavery under the yoke of the bloodsucker, the Romanian king". Later that day, a rally was held that was attended by 3,000 workers, soldiers of the garrison and representatives of nearby villages, expressing protest against the entry of the occupation forces into Bessarabia and subsequently weapons from the military depots were distributed to the population.[14]: 385–389 The Congress of Bălți district Peasants' deputies adopted on 27 January a resolution rejecting the authority of Sfatul Țării and recognizing the Council of People's Commissars, protesting against separation from Russia and calling for the power to be invested into soviets of peasants' , soldiers' and workers' representatives. Committees and organizations at all levels were to be re-elected, delegates were to be sent to Petrograd to request help against the Romanian entry into Bessarabian territory, and organizations in other Bessarabian districts were invited to endorse the decisions of the Bălți district Congress. To prevent the landowners from requesting Romanian assistance, their telephone lines were severed and the telephone exchange was taken under the control of the Congress.[8]: 35–36
The main organizer of the defence forces was Staff Captain
Southern campaign
In the southern part of the province, the Romanian intervention was carried out by the 13th Infantry Division, the 2nd Cavalry Division, the 5th
Fights around
After the capture of Vâlcov, resistance continued with a two-day defence in
Battles on the Dniester
Fighting continued in Bessarabia throughout the month of February, as Romanian attempts to restore law and order were resisted by the peasants and various revolutionary units.[10]: 66 Andrei Brezianu and Vlad Spânu claim that the last detachments of communist revolutionaries were driven over the Dniester and out of the country on 20 February [O.S. 7 February],[5]: 38 however Polivțev notes that Soviet power was maintained in the district of Khotyn, the northern part of the district of Soroca and most of the district of Akkerman until the signing of a Romanian-Soviet armistice on 5 March.[14]: 390
Two days after the
Meanwhile, Soviet success against the Ukrainian troops allowed the creation in Odesa of a Supreme Collegium to combat the Romanian and Bessarabian counter-revolution, whose leader, Christian Rakovsky, was tasked by the Council of People's Commissars with the task of "driving the Romanian counter-revolutionary forces out of Bessarabia and provoking a revolutionary movement in Romania". Negotiations with the Romanians were interrupted on 15 February and the Romanian side was presented with an ultimatum requesting the immediate evacuation of its troops from Bessarabia, the surrender of all seized Russian military property, the dispersal of Russian and other national counter-revolutionary units, the extradition of General Shcherbachev, and the punishment of those responsible for the killings and executions of Russian military personnel. Fighting consequently resumed on 16 February, however the Soviet attempts to capture Bender or advance upriver on the Danube failed. Romanian attempts to cross the Dniester were also blocked after skirmishes at Crocmaz and Palanca[8]: 47
On 14 February, Lenin appointed
“The situation is extremely serious. The troops of the former front are disorganized, in reality there is no front, only headquarters remain, the location of which is unknown. The hope is only for reinforcements from outside. The Odesa proletariat is disorganized and politically illiterate. Ignoring the fact that the enemy is approaching Odesa, they do not think to worry. The attitude to the matter is very cold - typical of the Odessites."
Taking command of the Soviet forces acting against Romania on 19 February, Muravyov planned to advance on Iași from three directions: Mogilev-Podolsky, Rîbnița and Bender.[8]: 48 On 20 February Muravyov's troops launched an offensive against the Romanian troops which attempted to establish bridgeheads across the Dniester in the area of Bender. The Romanians were successfully repulsed and lost three guns.[28] Another Romanian attempt to cross the Dniester was halted in the village of Troitske on 1 March. To the north, Pavel Yegorov's troops, marching from Kyiv, encountered a Romanian detachment between Rîbnița and Slobidka, routing them after a combined blow.[8]: 48 Soviet troops, primarily the 3rd Army, went on the counter-offensive and, after six days of fighting, defeated the Romanians in the area of Slobozia and Rîbnița again by 2 March. The main battle took place at Rîbnița, where the Soviets captured 15-18 guns, a large number of small arms and 500 prisoners.[28][8]: 48 Soviet troops also advanced around 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) across the Dniester, recapturing Rezina, Șoldănești and other villages.[8]: 48
Intervention of the Central Powers and failed armistice
In the meantime, as the Soviet delegation left the peace negotiations at
Faced with severe military setbacks on the Dniester, difficult negotiations with the Central Powers, and the arrest of numerous Romanian notables in Odesa, the Romanian Army proposed a truce to the Soviets, seeking Entente support. As they believed the general situation in Romania and Bessarabia was favourable to their cause, and the Austro-German invasion was pressing from the north, the local Soviet representatives accepted the offer. On 21 February, the Entente representatives in Romania mandated Italian envoy, Fasciotti, to communicate to the Soviets that the Romanian intervention "represents a military operation without any political character", undertaken "to guarantee the supply of food to the Russian and Romanian troops and the civilian population", and called for negotiations between the two sides. The Council of People's Commissars of Odesa Region presented their terms on 24 February: Romania was to declare it will withdraw its army from Bessarabia within two months and to reduce its presence to 10,000 troops tasked exclusively with guarding Romanian warehouses and railways; policing was to be ensured by local forces; Russian military forces were to gradually replace the retreating Romanian troops; the Romanian command was to cease any intervention in the internal political life of Bessarabia, and refrain from undertaking or supporting hostile actions against
Aftermath
Romanian losses in the final phases of the Bessarabian intervention amounted to 488 people (25 killed, 312 wounded, 151 missing).[8]: 48 The only clause of the Romanian-Soviet agreement that was fulfilled was a partial exchange of prisoners: 92 Romanian senators, members of Parliament, and officers were exchanged for 73 officers and soldiers of the Russian army on 19–24 March 1918, in Sulina.[8]: 51 The exact number of casualties suffered by the Soviet and other revolutionary forces in the Bessarabian campaign is very difficult to estimate. Victor A. Savchenko claims that approximately 1,500 to 2,000 were killed in the battles that took place in Transnistria and Budjak.[28]
Charles King claims that, although it occurred at the requests of members of Sfatul Țării and other Moldavian organizations, the occupation of Bessarabia by the Romanians was not welcomed by all. Thus, according to Ciobanu, in an appeal to the citizens of Chișinău, members of the Bessarabian government denied that the Romanian troops had ever been invited to occupy the republic, stating that their only purpose was to take control of the railways from the Bolsheviks.[17]: 33 Marcel Mitrasca claims that the benefits brought by the restoration of public order and the assurances of the Romanians that they will not interfere in the Bessarabia's political life determined many people to change their attitude.[3]: 36–37
Vladimir Polivțev claims that though the Romanian Army and some members of the Sfatul Țării claimed the Romanian intervention was directed against the Bolsheviks, opposition to the Romanian occupation also came from Socialist Revolutionaries such as Cotoros and Ciumacenco, or Mensheviks such as Borisov and Krivorukov. Some of them would eventually join the Bolsheviks only after the suppression of the Moldavian autonomy (Krivorukov, Levenson and Borisov later in 1918, Kotovsky in 1920, Paladi in 1930). Many of the prominent fighters against the Romanians were not affiliated with leftist politics, their main objective being the resolution of the agrarian, labour or national issues.[14]: 391
On 6 February [O.S. 24 January] 1918, as Ukraine's independence had shattered hopes for a Russian Federation, Sfatul Țării voted on the Declaration on the Independence of the Moldavian Democratic Republic, renouncing all ties with Russia.[10]: 66 [24] Economically isolated and alarmed by the claims of both the Ukrainian and Soviet governments on Bessarabia, Sfatul Țării voted for a union with Romania on 9 April [O.S. 27 March] 1918.[3]: 38 [24]
This move was condemned by the Soviet government as a flagrant violation of previous agreements and devoid of legal power, while the Ukrainian People's Republic severed diplomatic relations with Romania and issued financial sanctions against Bessarabia. According to Denis Maltsev, Romania initiated a campaign of Romanianization in Bessarabia, banning the printing of posters in languages other than Romanian and later forcefully incorporating Orthodox churches into the Romanian Orthodox Church.[7]: 170–172
Between April and May 1919, when the Bolsheviks had already firmly established their rule over the Ukrainian
The first draft of treaty on Bessarabia's status was submitted at the Paris Peace Conference on 14 April 1920. Although initially they were not against the Union,[3]: 409 on 10 August, the United States withdrew from the negotiation process stating that it will respect Russia's territorial integrity. On 28 October 1920, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan signed the Treaty of Paris recognizing Romanian sovereignty over Bessarabia, nevertheless Japan did not ratify the document and the treaty failed to come into force.[3]: 413 [7]: 181 Soviet-Romanian Conferences in Warsaw (1921) and Vienna (1924), likewise failed to officially settle Bessarabia's legal status.[32]: 57 The relations between Romania and the Soviet Union were resumed only in December 1934,[3]: 132 however Bessarabia remained the only section of the Soviet western frontier not recognized by the government in Moscow, the region's "liberation from Romanian occupation" being a mainstay of Soviet foreign policy goals, according to Meltyukhov.[8]: 16 The Romanian gold reserve and most of the treasure confiscated by Russia have never been returned to Romania.[33]
See also
References
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- ^ Repin, Vitaly (2011). "Возникновение бессарабской проблемы в советско-румынских отношениях и борьба за власть в Бессарабии в конце 1917–1918 гг" [The Emergence of the Bessarabian Issue in the Soviet-Romanian Relations and the Struggle for Power in Bessarabia in late 1917–1918]. Journal of the Belarus State University (in Russian). 3 (2): 22–26. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
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- ^ Jonathan Smele, Oxford University Press, 2016, The 'Russian' Civil Wars, 1916–1926: Ten Years That Shook the World, p. 283
- ^ Boiko, Petr (2014). "Бессарабский вопрос по итогам Первой Меровой Войны" [The Bessarabian Question in the outcome of World War I]. Pervaya Mirovaya Voyna I Russkii Mir (in Russian). 4 (38): 48–58. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- ^ "One century of the unfinished history of the NBR's Treasure in Moscow". Banca Naţională a României. Retrieved 3 October 2020.