Union of Bessarabia with Romania
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The union of Bessarabia with Romania was proclaimed on April 9 [
The beginning of
However, the situation in Bessarabia would change after the signing of the
Governorate of Bessarabia
The
At the time of annexation, Moldavian
The Tsarist policy in Bessarabia was in part aimed at
Moldavian Democratic Republic
World War I brought a rise in political, cultural and national awareness in the population, as 300,000 Bessarabians enrolled in the Russian Army formed in 1917, within bigger units several "Moldavian Soldiers' Committees". Following the
The Union Act
On April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, Sfatul Țării decided with 86 votes for, 3 against and 36 abstaining (mostly non-Romanians), for union with the Kingdom of Romania, conditional upon the fulfillment of agrarian reform, local autonomy, and respect for universal human rights.[7][8][9][10] This was in spite of the fact that the national referendum necessary under the law had not taken place.
Fearing a radical land reform, the county councils of Bălți, Soroca and Orhei, dominated by large landowners, were the earliest to ask for unification with the Kingdom of Romania, deeming the royal government preferable to the Sfatul Țării, dominated by left-wing populists. On April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, Sfatul Țării voted in favour of the union, with the following conditions:
- Sfatul Țării would undertake an agrarian reform, which would be accepted by the Romanian Government.
- Bessarabia would remain autonomous, with its own diet, Sfatul Țării, elected democratically
- Sfatul Țării would vote for local budgets, control the councils of zemstvos and cities, and name the local administration
- Conscription would be done on a territorial basis
- Local laws and the form of administration could be changed only with the approval of local representatives
- The rights of minorities had to be respected
- Two Bessarabian representatives would be part of the Romanian government
- Bessarabia would send to the Romanian Parliament a number of representatives equal to the proportion of its population
- All elections must involve a direct, equal, secret, and universal vote
- Freedom of speech and of belief must be guaranteed in the constitution
- All individuals who had committed felonies for political reasons during the revolution would be amnestied.
Greater Romania
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 Țării voted a motion which removed all the other conditions, trusting that Romania would be a democratic country. The vote, which renounced Bessarabia's autonomy, has been judged illegitimate, since there was no quorum: only 44 of the 125 members took part in it (all voted "for").[11]
The historian
The Romanian prime-minister at the time, Alexandru Marghiloman, was to admit however that the unification was decided in Romania, as the Moldavian leaders Daniel Ciugureanu and Ion Inculeț, aware of the widespread distrust of Romanian rule, feared an overt annexation would lead to a revolutionary situation.[13]
In the autumn of 1919, general elections were held in Bessarabia to elect 90 deputies and 35 senators to the Romanian parliament – the Constituent Assembly. On 20 December 1919, the elected representatives ratified, along with their colleagues from the other historic provinces, the unification acts that had been approved by Sfatul Țării and the National Congresses in Transylvania and Bukovina.
During the peace talks between the Great Powers and Romania, on 1 February 1919, British Prime Minister
The union was recognized by the United Kingdom, France and Italy in the
The
In 1924,
Soviet occupation
The status quo was changed 22 years later, when, as a result of the
The southern and northern parts, whose population was just over half ethnic minorities (Ukrainians,
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 Cyrillic alphabet) – unlike Romanian, in which Romanian Cyrillic alphabet was replaced by Romanian Latin alphabet in 1860s.[21]
Legacy
Moldova became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, there has been a movement to unite again the region with Romania.[11] Furthermore, the union of Bessarabia with Romania is now commemorated on the Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania, celebrated every 27 March. In Romania, this holiday is official since 2017.[22] It is not official in Moldova despite attempts at doing so,[23] but some Moldovan unionists celebrate it anyway.[24][25] The same situation occurs in Transnistria.[26]
See also
- Bessarabian question
- Great Union
- Union of Transylvania with Romania
- Union of Bukovina with Romania
- Greater Romania
- Unification of Moldova and Romania
- Moldova–Romania relations
References
- ISBN 9781429997249.
- ^ regarded as Romanian by some authors
- ^ "The first Russian census after the annexation (1816) revealed a province almost solidly Roumanian – of a population of about half a million, 92.5% Moldavian and Ukrainian, 1.5% Lipovans (Russian heterodox), 4.5% Jews, 1.6% other races"
- ^ text from a 1927 source: "Today, the Bulgarians form one of the most solid elements in Southern Bessarabia, numbering (with the Gagaoutzi, Turkish-speaking Christians also from the Dobrudja) nearly 150,000. Colonization brought in numerous Great Russian peasants, and the Russian bureaucracy imported Russian office-holders and professional men; according to the Roumanian estimate of 1920, the Great Russians were about 75,000 in number (2.9%), and the Lipovans and Cossacks 59,000 (2.2%); the Little Russians (Ukrainians) came to 254,000 (9.6%). That, plus about 10,000 Poles, brings the total number of Slavs to 545,000 in a population of 2,631,000, or about one-fifth"
- ^ Naturally, this system resulted not in acquisition of Russian by the Moldavians, but in their almost complete illiteracy in any language
- ^ Cazacu (1912). "A Century of Serfdom". text: "The Russians are now holding their celebration of a century of material possession of Bessarabia. But her spirit they do not possess, nor shall they ever possess it. In the celebration of the Russians, the Moldavians have no share except that of deep and painful silence. The whole Roumanian people feels this pain, and does not lose hope that Bessarabia, and with her the Roumanian people, will have a chance to celebrate in her turn the day of salvation. It will come. History repeats itself so often, and the historical maxim remains: Babylon was, the Empire of Alexander of Macedon was, the Roman Empire was, the Byzantine Empire was, and the time will come to say of other empires also-they were. Not so long ago was 1855 with the Crimea, and not so long ago was Port Arthur and Tzushima, and-Great is the Lord God of Hosts!-it will be again, surely it will be again!"
- ^ Sfatul Tarii ... proclamate Moldavian Democratic Republic Archived 2007-12-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Charles Upson Clark (1927). "24:The Decay of Russian Sentiment". Bessarabia: Russia and Roumania on the Black Sea – View Across Dniester From Hotin Castle. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company.
- ^ Pelivan (Chronology)
- ^ Cazacu (Moldova, pp. 240–245).
- ^ ISBN 9780817997939.
- ^ Bernard Newman, "The new Europe", p. 245
- ^ van Meurs, Wim, The Bessarabian question in communist historiography, East European Monographs, 1994, pp. 68–69
- ^ Istoria Romanilor, vol. VIII,, pp. 6–7, Editura Enciclopedica, Bucuresti, 2003
- ^ Marcel Mitrasca, Moldova: A Romanian Province under Russian Rule. Diplomatic History from the Archives of the Great Powers, p. 67
- ^ a b c Wayne S Vucinich, "Bessarabia" in: Collier's Encyclopedia (Crowell Collier and MacMillan Inc., 1967) vol. 4, p. 103
- ^ Halippa, Pantelimon (1924). O cuvântare ținută în Parlamentul Țării. Discuția la Mesaj, Ședința din 28 noiembrie. București. p. 71.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Soviet Ultimata and Replies of the Romanian Government Archived November 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine in Ioan Scurtu, Theodora Stănescu-Stanciu, Georgiana Margareta Scurtu, Istoria Românilor între anii 1918–1940 (in Romanian), University of Bucharest, 2002
- ^ Nagy-Talavera, Nicolas M. (1970). Green Shirts and Others: a History of Fascism in Hungary and Romania. p. 305.
- ^ International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania (11 November 2004). "The June/July 1940 Romanian withdrawal from Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina and its consequences on interethnic relations In Romania" (PDF). Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania. Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
- ^ Mackinlay, p. 140
- ^ "Declararea zilei de 27 martie – Ziua Unirii Basarabiei cu România ca zi de sărbătoare națională" (in Romanian). President of Romania. 27 March 2017.
- ^ "Propunerea instituirii Zilei Unirii Basarabiei cu România a fost respinsă". Radio Europa Liberă Moldova (in Romanian). 4 March 2020.
- ^ "100 de ani de la unirea Basarabiei cu România. Manifestație de amploare la Chișinău". Digi24 (in Romanian). 25 March 2018.
- ^ "Ziua Unirii Basarabiei cu România – 27 martie – sărbătorită pe ambele maluri ale Prutului" (in Romanian). Romanian Cultural Institute. 26 March 2017.
- ^ Modiga, Iulia (28 March 2017). "(FOTO) Ziua Unirii Basarabiei cu România, sărbătorită la liceul românesc din Tiraspol". InfoPrut (in Romanian).