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Bessarabia



 
 
Bessarabia (Basarabia in Romanian
Romanian language

Romanian or Daco-Romanian ; self-designation: limba rom?na, ) is a Romance languages spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova....
, ????????? in Ukrainian
Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic languages of the Slavic languages. It is the official language of Ukraine. In some areas of Russia there are dialects, Balachka or Surzhyk, which are the Ukrainianized versions of the Russian language....
, ?????????? in Russian
Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
, ????????? in Bulgarian
Bulgarian language

Bulgarian is an Indo-European languages, a member of the Slavic languages linguistic group.Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic innovations that set it apart from all other Slavic languages except Macedonian language, such as the elimination of grammatical case, the development of a suffixed definite article , the lack of a verb infin...
, Besarabya in Turkish
Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe....
) is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
 bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west. This was the name by which Imperial Russia designated the eastern part of the principality of Moldavia
Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river....
, ceded by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
 (to which Moldavia was a vassal) to Russia in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812
Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812

The Russo-Turkish War, 1806–1812 was one of Russo-Turkish Wars fought between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire....
.






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Bessarabia
Bessarabia (Basarabia in Romanian
Romanian language

Romanian or Daco-Romanian ; self-designation: limba rom?na, ) is a Romance languages spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova....
, ????????? in Ukrainian
Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic languages of the Slavic languages. It is the official language of Ukraine. In some areas of Russia there are dialects, Balachka or Surzhyk, which are the Ukrainianized versions of the Russian language....
, ?????????? in Russian
Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
, ????????? in Bulgarian
Bulgarian language

Bulgarian is an Indo-European languages, a member of the Slavic languages linguistic group.Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic innovations that set it apart from all other Slavic languages except Macedonian language, such as the elimination of grammatical case, the development of a suffixed definite article , the lack of a verb infin...
, Besarabya in Turkish
Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe....
) is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
 bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west. This was the name by which Imperial Russia designated the eastern part of the principality of Moldavia
Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river....
, ceded by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
 (to which Moldavia was a vassal) to Russia in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812
Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812

The Russo-Turkish War, 1806–1812 was one of Russo-Turkish Wars fought between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire....
. The western part of Moldavia united with Wallachia
Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a Historical regions of Romania and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians....
 in 1859 in what would become the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania

The Kingdom of Roumania was the old Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between March 13, 1881 and December 30, 1947, specified by the First , and respectively, the Second Constitution of Roumania....
. In 1918, slightly before the end of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, Bessarabia declared its independence from Russia and after three months united with the Kingdom of Romania. Bessarabia was occupied by the USSR in 1940 (considered a consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

The Molotov?Ribbentrop Pact, colloquially named after Soviet Union foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and Nazi Germany foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and signed in Moscow in the early hours of August 24...
), but changed hands several times during World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
. The Soviet annexation was internationally recognized in 1947. Its core part was reorganised as the Moldavian SSR
Moldavian SSR

The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic , commonly abbreviated to Moldavian SSR or MSSR, was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union....
, to which parts of the previous Moldavian ASSR
Moldavian ASSR

The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic , shortened to Moldavian ASSR or, less frequently, Moldovan ASSR, was an autonomous republic of the Ukrainian SSR between 12 October 1924 and 2 August 1940, encompassing modern Transnistria and a number of territories that are now part of Ukraine....
 were added. At the same time, some smaller parts of Bessarabia, in the south (Budjak
Budjak

Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this ethnic group region was the southern part of Bessarabia....
) and north, were transferred to the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the founders of the USSR and a republic that made up the former Soviet Union from its formation in 1922 to its abolishment in 1991....
. In 1991, the Moldavian SSR was renamed the Republic of Moldova
Moldova

Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south....
, and on 27 August the latter declared independence from the USSR.

Geography


The region is bounded by the Dniester river to the north and east, the Prut
Prut

Prut, or Pruth, is a 953 Kilometre long river in Eastern Europe. It was known in classical antiquity as Pyretus or Porata or Gerasius....
 to the west and the lower Danube
Danube

The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg River rivers which join at the eponymously named German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance...
 river and the Black Sea
Black Sea

The Black Sea is an inland sea sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolia and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Seas and various straits....
 to the south. It has approximately 17,600 sq mi (45,600 km²). The area is mostly hilly plains with flat steppes. It is very fertile for agriculture, and it also has some lignite
Lignite

Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat....
 deposits and stone quarries. People living in the area grow sugar beet
Sugar beet

Sugar beet , a member of the Chenopodiaceae family, is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production....
s, sunflower
Sunflower

The sunflower is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae and native to the Americas, with a large flowering head . The stem can grow as high as 3 meters , and the flower head can reach 30 cm in diameter with the "large" seeds....
s, wheat
Wheat

Wheat , is a worldwide cultivated Poaceae from the Levant region of the Middle East. Globally, after maize, wheat is the second most-produced food among the cereal just above rice....
, maize
Maize

Maize , known as corn in some countries, is a cereal domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents....
, tobacco
Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the fresh leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines....
, wine grapes and fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
. They also raise sheep
Sheep

#REDIRECT Domestic sheep...
 and cattle
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
. Currently, the main industry in the region is agricultural processing.

The region's main cities are Chisinau
Chisinau

Chisinau , is the capital city and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial center and is located in the center of the country, on the river B?c River....
, the capital of Moldova, Izmail
Izmail

Izmail is a historic town near the Danube river in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. Serving as the Capital city of the Izmailsky Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast....
, Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi (historically called Cetatea Alba and Akkerman). Other towns of administrative or historical importance include: Khotyn
Khotyn

Khotyn is a city in Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, and is the Capital of the Khotynskyi Raion within the oblast, and is located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi....
, Lipcani
Lipcani

Lipcani is a small town in Moldova, located on the banks of the Prut river, which forms the border with Romania. The border with Ukraine is also only a few kilometers to the north....
, Briceni
Briceni

Briceni is a city in Moldova. It is the capital of the Raionul Briceni.The town is also called: Brichany, Berchan, Briceni, Briceni Sat, Briceni T?rg, Bricheni, Bricheni Sat, Bricheni T?rg, Britchan, Britchani, Britsiteni....
, Soroca
Soroca

Soroca is a Moldavian town situated on the Dniester River about 160 km north of Chisinau....
, Balti
Balti

Balti can refer to:* Balti, a city and county in Moldova* Balti Steppe, a grassland in northern Moldova* Balti dynasty, a branch of the ancient Visigoths...
, Orhei
Orhei

Orhei is a town and an administrative region of Moldova with a population of 25,680. It is located at , in the centre of the country. Prior to 2003 Orhei was a Judet, a large administrative region, but the country was divided further in Raion, or districts....
, Ungheni
Ungheni

Ungheni is the seventh largest town in Moldova and, since 2003, the seat of Raionul Ungheni.There is a bridge across the Prut and a border checkpoint to Romania....
, Bender/Tighina
Tighina

Bendery or Bender, also known as Tighina, is a city in Moldova. Although located on the right bank of the river Dniester, it is controlled by the authorities of the breakaway region of Transnistria....
, Cahul
Cahul

Cahul is a city and center of the Cahul district in the south of Moldova. It is located at . The city of Cahul is believed to have been inhabited for many centuries, although it has had a number of different names over the years - the name Scheia was recorded in 1502, and the name Formoza was recorded in 1716....
, Reni
Reni

Reni can refer to:* Guido Reni, Italian Baroque painter* Alan Wren, drummer for The Stone Roses* Reni, Ukraine, a city in southern Ukraine, near the confluence of Prut and Danube rivers...
, and Kilia
Kilia, Ukraine

Kiliya is a small city in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the Capital city of the Kiliysky Raion , and is located in the Danube Delta, in the Bessarabian historic district of Budjak....
.

History

The name Bessarabia (Basarabia in Romanian
Romanian language

Romanian or Daco-Romanian ; self-designation: limba rom?na, ) is a Romance languages spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova....
) derives from the Wallachia
Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a Historical regions of Romania and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians....
n Basarab dynasty, who allegedly ruled over the southern part of the area in the 14th century. The name originally applied only to the southern part of the territory, which roughly, but not exactly corresponds to Budjak
Budjak

Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this ethnic group region was the southern part of Bessarabia....
. The Ottomans were the first to call it "Besarabya", when they established military presence in the area in 1484 and 1538.

Since late 14th century, what later became Bessarabia has been partly or wholly controlled by: the Principality of Moldavia, the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
 (as suzerain of Moldavia, direct rule only in Budjak and Khotin), Russian Empire
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
, Romania
Romania

Romania is a country located in Southeastern Europe Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian Mountains, bordering on the Black Sea....
, the USSR, Ukraine
Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
, and Moldova
Moldova

Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south....
.

Ancient times

The territory of Bessarabia has been inhabited by people for thousands of years. The Indo-European culture spread in the region around 2000 BC. The early inhabitants of the region included the Cimmerians
Cimmerians

The Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads who, according to Herodotus, originally inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, in what is now Ukraine and Russia, in the 8th century BC and 7th century BC....
, the Scythians and the Bastarnae
Bastarnae

The Bastarnae or Basternae were an ancient tribal group of probably mixed Celts and Germanic origin which, between not later than 200 BC and until at least 300 AD, inhabited the region between the eastern Carpathian mountains and the Dnieper river ....
, but also Thracian
Thracians

The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European peoples who spoke the Thracian language - a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family....
 (Dacia
Dacia

In ancient geography, Dacia was the land of the Dacians. It was named by the ancient Greeks "Getae". Dacia was a large district of East-Central Europe, bounded on the north by the Carpathian Mountains, on the south by the Danube, on the west by the Tisia or Tisza, on the east by the Tyras or Dniester, now in eastern Moldova....
ns, Getae
Getae

The Getae was the name given by the Greeks to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria, and north of the Lower Danube, in Romania....
) tribes of Costoboci
Costoboci

The Costoboci were a Dacian tribe, which lived in the areas known today as Maramures and south-western Ukraine. Archeologically speaking, they are identified with the Lipita culture....
, Carpi
Carpi

Carpi may refer to:* Carpi - plural form of carpus, the cluster of bones in the hand between the radius and ulna and the metacarpus* Carpi , a large town in the province of Modena, Italy...
, Britogali, and Tyragetae
Tyragetae

The Tyrageti, Tyragetae, or Tyrangitae , literally, the Getae of the Tyras, were a sub-tribe of the Getae Thracians, situated on the river Tyras ....
. In the 6th century BC, Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 settlers established the colony of Tyras
Tyras

Tyras, a colony of Miletus, probably founded about 600 BC, situated some 10 m from the mouth of the Tyras River . Of no great importance in early times, in the 2nd century BC it fell under the dominion of native kings whose names appear on its coins, and it was destroyed by the Getae about 50 BC....
, along the Black Sea
Black Sea

The Black Sea is an inland sea sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolia and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Seas and various straits....
 coast and traded with the locals. Also, Celts settled in the southern parts of Bessarabia, their main city being Aliobrix.

The first polity that included the whole of Bessarabia was the Dacian polity of Burebista
Burebista

Burebista is widely considered to be the greatest king of Dacia. He ruled between 82 BC and 44 BC. He unified the Thracian population from Hercynia in the west, to the Bug river in the east, and from the northern Carpathians to Dionysopolis....
 in the 1st century BC. After his death, the polity was divided into smaller pieces and was only unified in the Dacian kingdom of Decebalus
Decebalus

Decebalus or "The Brave One" was a king of Dacia and is famous for fighting three wars and negotiating two interregnums of peace without being eliminated against the Roman Empire under two emperors....
 in the 1st century AD. This kingdom was defeated by the Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 in 106 and southern Bessarabia was included in the empire. The Romans built defensive earthen walls in Southern Bessarabia (Lower Trajan Wall) to defend the Scythia Minor
Scythia Minor

Scythia Minor, "Lesser Scythia" was in ancient times the region surrounded by the Danube at the north and west and the Black Sea at the east, corresponding to today's Dobrogea, with a large part in Romania and a very smal part in Bulgaria....
 province against invasions.

In 270, the Roman authorities began to withdraw their forces south of the Danube, due to the invading Goths
Goths

The Goths were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, invasion the Roman Empire and later adopted Arian Christianity. In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy....
 and Carps. The Goths
Goths

The Goths were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, invasion the Roman Empire and later adopted Arian Christianity. In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy....
, a Germanic tribe, poured into the Roman Empire through the southern part of Bessarabia (Budjak
Budjak

Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this ethnic group region was the southern part of Bessarabia....
), which due to its geographic position and characteristics (mainly steppe
Steppe

In physical geography, a steppe , pronounced , is a grassland plain without trees . The prairie can be considered a steppe. It may be semi-desert, or covered with Poaceae or shrubs or both, depending on the season and latitude....
), was swept by various nomadic tribes. From the 5th century it was overrun in turn by the Huns
Huns

The Huns were a confederation of Central Asian Eurasian nomads or semi-nomads, who had established an empire in Eurasia. The Huns may have stimulated the Migration Period, a contributing factor in the collapse of the Roman Empire....
, the Avars
Eurasian Avars

The 'Avars' were a highly organized and powerful Turkic confederation. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit retinue of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turkic peoples groups....
, and the Bulgars
Bulgars

The Bulgars were a seminomadic people, probably of Turkic peoples descent, originally from Southern Central Asia, who from the 2nd century onwards dwelled in the steppes north of the Caucasus and around the banks of river Volga ....
.

The Age of migrations

From the 3rd century until the 11th century, the region was invaded numerous times by the Goths
Goths

The Goths were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, invasion the Roman Empire and later adopted Arian Christianity. In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy....
, Huns
Huns

The Huns were a confederation of Central Asian Eurasian nomads or semi-nomads, who had established an empire in Eurasia. The Huns may have stimulated the Migration Period, a contributing factor in the collapse of the Roman Empire....
, Avars
Eurasian Avars

The 'Avars' were a highly organized and powerful Turkic confederation. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit retinue of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turkic peoples groups....
, Bulgars
Bulgars

The Bulgars were a seminomadic people, probably of Turkic peoples descent, originally from Southern Central Asia, who from the 2nd century onwards dwelled in the steppes north of the Caucasus and around the banks of river Volga ....
, Slavs (South, i.e. Bulgarian, and Eastern), Magyars, Pechenegs
Pechenegs

The Pechenegs or Patzinaks were a nomad Turkic peoples people of the Central Asian steppes speaking the Pecheneg language which belonged to the Turkic languages....
, Cumans
Cumans

Cumans were a nomadic Turkic peoples people who inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania along the Volga River. They eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Moldavia, and Wallachia....
 and Mongols
Mongols

The name Mongol specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia....
. The territory of Bessarabia was encompassed in dozens of ephemeral kingdoms which were disbanded when another wave of migrants arrived. Those centuries were characterized by a terrible state of insecurity and mass movement of people. The period was later known as the "Dark Ages
Dark Ages

Dark Age or Dark Ages is a term in historiography referring to a period of cultural decline or societal collapse that took place in Western Europe between the Decline of the Roman Empire and the eventual recovery of learning....
" of Europe.

In 561, the Avars captured Bessarabia and executed the local ruler Mesamer. Following Avars, Slavs started to arrive in the region and establish settlements. Then, in 582, Onogur
Onogur

Onogur may refer to:* Onoguria* OnogursExcess long comment to prevent listing on...
 Bulgars settled in south-eastern Bessarabia and northern Dobruja
Dobruja

Dobruja, or Dobrudja , is a historical region shared by Bulgaria and Romania, located between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, including the Danube Delta, Romanian coast and the northernmost part of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast....
, from which they moved to Moesia
Moesia

Moesia was an ancient region and Roman province situated in the areas of modern Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania along the south bank of the Danube River....
 under pressure from the Khazars
Khazars

The Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people who dominated the Pontic steppe and the North Caucasus from the 7th to the 10th century CE. The name 'Khazar' seems to be tied to a Turkic languages verb form meaning "wandering"....
 and formed the nascent region of Bulgaria
Bulgaria

The state of Bulgaria , Scientific transliteration Balgarija, officially the Republic of Bulgaria has played a significant role in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe for over fourteen centuries....
. With the rise of the Khazars' state in the east, the invasions began to diminish and it was possible to create larger states. According to some opinions, the Southern part of Bessarabia remained under the influence of the First Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire

The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in AD 632 in the lands near the Danube Delta and disintegrated in AD 1018 after its annexation to the Byzantine Empire....
 until to the end of 9th century.

Between the 8th and 10th centuries, the southern part of Bessarabia was inhabited by people from Balkan-Dunabian culture (the culture of the First Bulgarian Empire). Between the 9th and 13th centuries, Bessarabia is mentioned in Slav chronicles as part of Bolohoveni (north) and Brodnici
Brodnici

The Brodnici were a 13th-century people whose ethnicity is uncertain, as various authors suggest they were Romanian people, Slavic peoples, mixed Romanian-Jassic, Romanian-Slavic, or Turkic-Slavic population, probably vassals of Galicia for a period....
 (south) voivodeships, believed by some authors to be Vlach principalities of the early Middle Ages.

The Tatar invasions of 1241 and 1290 led to a retreat of a big part of the population to the Eastern Carpathians and to Transylvania. Apparently, only one group east of the Prut river did not retreat to mountain regions at the time of the Tatar invasions. In later middle-age chronicles it is mentioned as the Tigheci "republic", situated near the modern town of Cahul
Cahul

Cahul is a city and center of the Cahul district in the south of Moldova. It is located at . The city of Cahul is believed to have been inhabited for many centuries, although it has had a number of different names over the years - the name Scheia was recorded in 1502, and the name Formoza was recorded in 1716....
 in the southwest of Bessarabia, preserving its autonomy even during the later Principality of Moldavia.

The last large scale invasions were those of the Mongols of 1241, 1290 and 1343. Sehr al-Jedid (near Orhei
Orhei

Orhei is a town and an administrative region of Moldova with a population of 25,680. It is located at , in the centre of the country. Prior to 2003 Orhei was a Judet, a large administrative region, but the country was divided further in Raion, or districts....
), an important settlement of the Golden Horde
Golden Horde

The Golden Horde is a East-Slavic designation for the Mongol?later Turkic languages?Muslim khanate established in the western part of the Mongol Empire after the Mongol invasion of Rus' in the 1240s: present-day Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus....
, dates from this period.

Tara Rumaneasca Map
Rom1793 1812

Principality of Moldavia

After the 1360s the region was gradually included in the principality
Principality

A principality is a monarchy feudatory or sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a monarch with the title of prince or princess, or a monarch with another title within the generic use of the term prince....
 of Moldavia
Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river....
, which by 1392 established control over the fortresses of Cetatea Alba
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi is a city situated on the right bank of the Dniester Liman in the Odessa Oblast of southwestern Ukraine, in the historical region of Bessarabia....
 and Chilia
Kilia, Ukraine

Kiliya is a small city in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the Capital city of the Kiliysky Raion , and is located in the Danube Delta, in the Bessarabian historic district of Budjak....
, its eastern border becoming the river Dniester
Dniester

The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe....
.
Belgorod Ua
In the latter part of the 14th century, the southern part of the region was for several decades part of Wallachia
Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a Historical regions of Romania and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians....
. The main dynasty of Wallachia was called Basarab
House of Basarab

The Basarabs were a family which had an important role in the establishing of the Principality of Wallachia, giving the country its first line of List of rulers of Wallachia, one closely related with the House of Musat List of rulers of Moldavia of Moldavia....
, from which the current name of the region originated.

In the 15th century, the entire region was a part of the principality of Moldavia. Stephen the Great
Stephen III of Moldavia

Stephen III of Moldavia or Stephen III , also known as Stephen the Great was List of Moldavian rulers of Principality of Moldavia between 1457 and 1504 and the most prominent representative of the House of Musat....
 ruled between 1457 and 1504, a period of nearly 50 years during which he won 32 battles defending his country against virtually all his neighbours (mainly the Ottomans and the Tatars, but also the Hungarians and the Poles), while losing only two. During this period, after each victory, he raised a monastery or a church close to the battlefield honoring Christianity. Many of these battlefields and churches, as well as old fortresses, are situated in Bessarabia (mainly along the Dniester river).

In 1484, the Turks invaded and captured Chilia and Cetatea Alba (Akkerman in Turkish), and annexed the shoreline southern part of Bessarabia, which was then divided into two sanjak
Sanjak

Sanjaks were administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire. Sanjak, and the variant spellings sandjak, sanjaq, and sinjaq, are English transliterations of the Turkish language word sancak, meaning district, banner or flag....
s (districts) of the Ottoman Empire. In 1538, the Ottomans annexed more Bessarabian land in the south as far as Tighina
Tighina

Bendery or Bender, also known as Tighina, is a city in Moldova. Although located on the right bank of the river Dniester, it is controlled by the authorities of the breakaway region of Transnistria....
, while the central and northern parts of Bessarabia were already formally a vassal
Vassal

A vassal in the terminology that both preceded and accompanied the feudal of medieval Europe, is one who enters into mutual obligations with a monarch, usually of military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain guarantees, which came to include the terrain held as a fiefdom....
 of the Ottoman Empire as part of the principality of Moldavia.

Between 1711 and 1812, the Russian Empire
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
 occupied the region five times during its wars against Ottoman
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
 and Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a periodization successor state empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867....
s. Between 1812 and 1846, the Bulgarian and Gagauz
Gagauz people

The Gagauz people are Turkic people of southern Moldova , southwestern Ukraine and north-eastern Bulgaria that number around 250,000. Unlike most other Turkic-speaking peoples, the Gagauz have long been predominantly Orthodox Christians....
 population migrated to the Russian Empire via the Danube
Danube

The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg River rivers which join at the eponymously named German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance...
, after living many years under oppressive Ottoman rule, and settled in southern Bessarabia. Turkic-speaking tribes of the Nogai
Nogai

The term Nogai can refer to more than one thing:* Nogai Khan was a de facto ruler of the Golden Horde.* Nogai Horde was a Turkic state which split from the Golden Horde in late 1400s....
 horde also inhabited the Budjak Region (in Turkish Bucak) of southern Bessarabia from the 16th to 18th centuries, but were totally driven out prior to 1812.

Annexation by the Russian Empire

Main article: Bessarabia in the Russian Empire
By the Treaty of Bucharest
Treaty of Bucharest, 1812

The Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, was signed on May 28, 1812 in Bucharest at the end of the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812....
 of May 28, 1812 — concluding the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812
Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812

The Russo-Turkish War, 1806–1812 was one of Russo-Turkish Wars fought between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire....
 — the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
 ceded the eastern half of the Principality of Moldavia to the Russian Empire
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
. That region was then called Bessarabia.

In 1814, the first German settlers arrived and mainly settled in the southern parts and Bessarabian Bulgarians
Bessarabian Bulgarians

The Bessarabian Bulgarians are a Bulgarians minority group of the historical region of Bessarabia, inhabiting parts of present-day Ukraine and Moldova....
 began settling in the region too, founding towns such as Bolhrad
Bolhrad

Bolhrad or Bolgrad is a small city in Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the Capital city of Bolhradsky Raion , and is located at around ....
.

Administratively, Bessarabia became an oblast
Oblast

Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic peoples countries and in some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"....
 of the Russian Empire in 1818 and a guberniya
Guberniya

Guberniya was a major administrative subdivision of Imperial Russia, usually translated as government, governorate, or province. A guberniya was ruled by a governor or , a word borrowed from Latin , in turn from Greek ....
 in 1873.

By the Treaty of Adrianople
Treaty of Adrianople

The Peace Treaty of Adrianople concluded the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire. It was signed on September 14, 1829 in Adrianople by Russia's Count Aleksey Orlov and by Turkey's Abdul Kadyr-bey....
 that concluded the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829 the entire Danube
Danube

The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg River rivers which join at the eponymously named German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance...
 delta
River delta

A delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river....
 of was added to the Bessarabian oblast.

At the end of the Crimean War
Crimean War

The Crimean War, also known in Russia as the Oriental War was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of France, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire on the other....
, in 1856, by the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1856)

The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, Second French Empire, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland....
, two districts of southern Bessarabia were returned to Moldavia, causing the Russian Empire to lose access to the Danube
Danube

The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg River rivers which join at the eponymously named German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance...
 river.

In 1859, Moldavia
Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river....
 and Wallachia
Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a Historical regions of Romania and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians....
 united to form the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania

The Kingdom of Roumania was the old Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between March 13, 1881 and December 30, 1947, specified by the First , and respectively, the Second Constitution of Roumania....
 in 1866, which included the southern part of Bessarabia.

The Romanian War of Independence
Romanian War of Independence

The Romanian War of Independence was fought in 1877 against the Ottoman Empire.On , Kingdom of Romania and the Russian Empire signed at Bucharest a treaty under which Russian troops were allowed to pass through Romanian territory, with the condition that Russia respects the integrity of Romania....
 was fought in 1877–78, with the help of the Russian Empire as an ally. Although the treaty of alliance between Romania and the Russian Empire specified that the Russian Empire would respect the territorial integrity of Romania and not claim any part of Romania at the end of the war , by the Treaty of Berlin
Treaty of Berlin, 1878

The Treaty of Berlin was the final act of the Congress of Berlin , by which the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Austria-Hungary, French Third Republic, German Empire, Kingdom of Italy , Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire under Abdul Hamid II revised the Treaty of San Stefano signed on March 3 of the same year....
, the southern part of Bessarabia was again annexed by Russia.

The Kishinev pogrom
Kishinev pogrom

The Kishinev pogrom was an anti-Jewish riot that took place in Chisinau, then the capital of the Bessarabia province of the Russian Empire on April 6-7, 1903....
 took place in the capital of Bessarabia on April 6, 1903 after local newspapers published articles inciting the public to act against Jews; 47 or 49 Jews were killed, 92 severely wounded and 700 houses destroyed. The anti-Semitic newspaper ?????????? (Bessarabetz, meaning "Bessarabian"), published by Pavel Krushevan, insinuated that a Russian boy was killed by local Jews. Another newspaper, ???? (Svet, "Light"), used the age-old blood libel
Blood libel

Blood libels are sensationalized allegations that a person or group engages in human sacrifice, often accompanied by the claim that the blood of victims is used in various rituals and/or acts of cannibalism....
 against the Jews (alleging that the boy had been killed to use his blood in preparation of matzo
Matzo

Matza , in Ashkenazi Hebrew matzo or matzoh, and, in Yiddish language, matze) is a cracker-like flatbread made of white plain flour and water....
s).

After the 1905 Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1905

The 1905 Russian Revolution is a historical term describing a wave of political terrorism, strikes, peasant unrests, mutinies, both anti-government and undirected, that swept through vast areas of the Russian Empire, leading to the establishment of the State Duma of the Russian Empire, multi-party system and the Russian Constitution of 1906....
, a Romanian nationalist movement started to develop in Bessarabia. In the chaos brought by the Russian revolution of October 1917, a National Council (Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Tarii

Sfatul Tarii was in 1917-1918 the National Assembly of the Bessarabia guberniya of Russian Empire, and then of the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic, which proclaimed union with Romania in 1918....
) was established in Bessarabia, with 120 members elected from Bessarabia by some political and professional organizations and 10 elected from Transnistria
Transnistria

Transnistria, also known as Trans-Dniester, Transdniestria, and Pridnestrovie is a disputed region in southeast Europe. Since its declaration of independence in 1990, followed by the War of Transnistria in 1992, it is governed by the Unrecognized states Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic , which claims the left bank...
 (the left bank of the Dniester River where Moldovans
Moldovans

Moldovans or Moldavians are the native population of the medieval Principality of Moldavia, which nowadays corresponds to 8 north-eastern counties of Romania , the Republic of Moldova, and small parts of Ukraine ....
 and Romanians
Romanians

], 26 Nov 2004. Reprinted at , retrieved 18 Dec 2005.External links *...
 accounted for less than a third and the majority of the population was Ukrainian
Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavs ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly?citizens of Ukraine . Some 200 years ago and times prior to that, Ukrainians were usually referred to and known as Rusyny ....
. See Demographics of Transdniestria).

On January 14, 1918, during the disorderly retreat of two Russian divisions from the Romanian front, Chisinau was sacked. The Rumcherod
Rumcherod

Rumcherod was a short-lived organ of Soviet power in the South-Western Ukraine and Bessarabia that functioned during May 1917–May 1918. The name is the transliteration of the Russian language abbreviation for "Rumania" + "Black Sea" + "Odessa" , the full name being Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Romanian Campaign , B...
 Committee (Central Executive Committee
Central Executive Committee

The term Central Executive Committee refers to governing bodies with executive branch of various Political party, governments, or private organizations....
 of the Soviets
Soviet (council)

A soviet originally was a workers' councils in late Imperial Russia. According to the official historiography of the Soviet Union, the first Soviet was organized during the 1905 Russian Revolution in Ivanovo in May 1905....
 of Romanian Front, Black Sea Fleet
Black Sea Fleet

The Black Sea Fleet is a large sub-unit of the Russian Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century....
 and Odessa
Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the Capital of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major port located on the shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 ....
 Military District) proclaimed itself the supreme power in Bessarabia. The Russian commander of the region, General Dmitriy Shcherbachev, unable to control Bessarabia due to the Bolshevik revolution, allegedly requested the Romanian Army for help (Russian historians dispute the fact of this request). On 16 January a Romanian division entered Chisinau, and on the following day Tighina
Tighina

Bendery or Bender, also known as Tighina, is a city in Moldova. Although located on the right bank of the river Dniester, it is controlled by the authorities of the breakaway region of Transnistria....
 on the shore of the river Dniester
Dniester

The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe....
. The three-day Soviet rule in Bessarabia ended.

Unification of Romania & Bessarabia
Ten days later, on January 24, 1918, Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Tarii

Sfatul Tarii was in 1917-1918 the National Assembly of the Bessarabia guberniya of Russian Empire, and then of the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic, which proclaimed union with Romania in 1918....
 declared Bessarabia's independence as the Moldavian Democratic Republic
Moldavian Democratic Republic

The Moldavian Democratic Republic was declared on December 16, 1917 by the National Council of Bassarabia elected in September 1917 in the wake of the February Revolution in the Russian Empire....
.

Unification with Romania


The county councils of Balti
Balti

Balti can refer to:* Balti, a city and county in Moldova* Balti Steppe, a grassland in northern Moldova* Balti dynasty, a branch of the ancient Visigoths...
, Soroca
Soroca

Soroca is a Moldavian town situated on the Dniester River about 160 km north of Chisinau....
 and Orhei
Orhei

Orhei is a town and an administrative region of Moldova with a population of 25,680. It is located at , in the centre of the country. Prior to 2003 Orhei was a Judet, a large administrative region, but the country was divided further in Raion, or districts....
 were the earliest to ask for unification with the Kingdom of Romania, and on April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, in the presence of the Romanian Army, Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Tarii

Sfatul Tarii was in 1917-1918 the National Assembly of the Bessarabia guberniya of Russian Empire, and then of the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic, which proclaimed union with Romania in 1918....
 voted in favour of the union, with the following conditions:

  1. Sfatul Tarii would undertake an agrarian reform, which would be accepted by the Romanian Government.
  2. Bessarabia would remain autonomous, with its own diet, Sfatul Tarii, elected democratically
  3. Sfatul Tarii would vote for local budgets, control the councils of the zemstva
    Zemstvo

    Zemstvo was a form of local government instituted during the great liberal reforms performed in Imperial Russia by Alexander II of Russia. The idea of zemstvo was elaborated by Nikolay Milyutin, and the first zemstvo laws were promulgated in 1864....
     and cities, and appoint 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.


86 deputies voted in support, 3 voted against and 36 abstained.

The first condition, the agrarian reform, was debated and approved in November 1918. Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Tarii

Sfatul Tarii was in 1917-1918 the National Assembly of the Bessarabia guberniya of Russian Empire, and then of the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic, which proclaimed union with Romania in 1918....
 also decided to remove the other conditions and made unification with Romania unconditional. This vote has been judged illegitimate, since there was no quorum: only 44 of the 125 members took part in it (all voted "for").

In the autumn of 1919, elections for the Romanian Constituent Assembly were held in Bessarabia; 90 deputies and 35 senators were chosen. On December 20, 1919, these men voted, along with the representatives of Romania's other regions, to ratify the unification acts that had been approved by Sfatul Tarii and the National Congresses in Transylvania and Bukovina.

The union was recognized by France, United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan in the Treaty of Paris of 1920
Treaty of Paris (1920)

The 1920 Treaty of Paris was an act signed by Romania and the Principal Allied Powers of the time whose purpose was the recognition of Romanian sovereignty over Bessarabia....
, which however never came into force, because Japan did not ratify it. The United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 refused to sign the treaty on the grounds that Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 was not represented at the Conference. Soviet Russia (and later, the USSR) did not recognize the union, and by 1924, after its demands for a regional plebiscite were declined by Romania for the second time, declared Bessarabia to be Soviet territory under foreign occupation.

Part of Romania

Romania Massr 1920
A Provisional Workers' & Peasants' Government of Bessarabia was founded on May 5, 1919, in exile at Odessa
Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the Capital of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major port located on the shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 ....
, by the Bolshevik
Bolshevik

Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists were a faction of the Marxism Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP in 1903 and ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union....
s.

On May 11, 1919, the Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic
Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic

The Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic or Bessarabian SSR was a government formed by Bolsheviks as part of their plans to establish control over Bessarabia, which was united with Romania in the course of events after the Russian Revolution of 1917....
 was proclaimed as an autonomous part of Russian SFSR
Russian SFSR

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , also called the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the Russian SFSR and the RSFSR for short, was the largest and most populous of the fifteen Republics of the Soviet Union of the Soviet Union and became the Russian Federation after the collapse of the Soviet Union....
, but was abolished by the military forces of Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
 and France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 in September 1919 (see Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War

The Polish-Soviet War was an armed conflict of Russian SFSR and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic against the Second Polish Republic and the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic, four states in post-World War I Europe....
). After the victory of Bolshevist Russia
Bolshevist Russia

Bolshevist Russia or Bolshevik Russia refers to Russia under the government by the Bolshevik party after the October Revolution. The following different usages may be distinguished....
 in the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed and the Bolshevik party assumed power in Saint Petersburg....
, the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the founders of the USSR and a republic that made up the former Soviet Union from its formation in 1922 to its abolishment in 1991....
 was created in 1922, and in 1924 the Moldovan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established on a strip of Ukrainian land on the left bank of the Dniester River where Moldovans
Moldovans

Moldovans or Moldavians are the native population of the medieval Principality of Moldavia, which nowadays corresponds to 8 north-eastern counties of Romania , the Republic of Moldova, and small parts of Ukraine ....
 and Romanians
Romanians

], 26 Nov 2004. Reprinted at , retrieved 18 Dec 2005.External links *...
 accounted for less than a third and the majority of population was Ukrainian
Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavs ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly?citizens of Ukraine . Some 200 years ago and times prior to that, Ukrainians were usually referred to and known as Rusyny ....
. (See Demographics of Moldovan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic).

World War II

The Soviet Union did not recognize incorporation of Bessarabia into Romania and throughout the entire interwar period
Interwar period

The interwar period is understood, within recent Western culture, to be the period between the end of the First World War and the beginning of the Second World War....
 engaged in constant, fruitless diplomatic disputes with the government of Romania over this territory. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

The Molotov?Ribbentrop Pact, colloquially named after Soviet Union foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and Nazi Germany foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and signed in Moscow in the early hours of August 24...
 was signed on August 23, 1939. By Article 4 of the secret Annex to the Treaty, Bessarabia fell within the Soviet interest zone.

In spring 1940 Western Europe was overrun by Nazi Germany, with world attention focused on those events. On June 26, 1940, the USSR issued an ultimatum
Ultimatum

An ultimatum is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a coercion to be followed through in case of noncompliance....
 to Romania, demanding immediate cession of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Romania was given four days to evacuate its troops and officials. The two provinces had an area of 51,000 km² (20,000 square miles), and were inhabited by about 3.75 million people, half of them Romanians, according to official Romanian sources. Two days later, Romania yielded and began evacuation. During the evacuation, from June 28 to July 3, groups of local Communists and Soviet sympathizers attacked the retreating forces, and civilians who chose to leave. Many members of the minorities (Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s, ethnic Ukrainians
Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavs ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly?citizens of Ukraine . Some 200 years ago and times prior to that, Ukrainians were usually referred to and known as Rusyny ....
 and others) joined in these attacks. The Romanian Army was also attacked by the Soviet Army, which entered Bessarabia before the Romanian administration finished retreating. The casualties reported by the Romanian Army during those seven days consisted of 356 officers and 42,876 soldiers dead or missing.

On August 2, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was established on most of the territory of Bessarabia, merged with parts of the former Moldavian ASSR. Bessarabia was divided between the Moldavian SSR (70% of the territory and 80% of the population) and the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the founders of the USSR and a republic that made up the former Soviet Union from its formation in 1922 to its abolishment in 1991....
. Bessarabia's northern and southern districts (nowadays Budjak
Budjak

Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this ethnic group region was the southern part of Bessarabia....
 and parts of the Chernivtsi oblast
Chernivtsi Oblast

Chernivtsi Oblast , is an administrative divisions of Ukraine in western Ukraine, bordering on Romania and Moldova. It has a large variety of landforms: the Carpathian Mountains and picturesque hills at the foot of the mountains gradually change to a broad partly forested plain situated between the Dniester and Prut rivers....
) were alloted to Ukraine, while some territories (4,000 km2) on the left (eastern) bank of the Dniester (present Transnistria
Transnistria

Transnistria, also known as Trans-Dniester, Transdniestria, and Pridnestrovie is a disputed region in southeast Europe. Since its declaration of independence in 1990, followed by the War of Transnistria in 1992, it is governed by the Unrecognized states Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic , which claims the left bank...
), previously part of Ukraine, were allotted to Moldavia. Following the Soviet takeover, many Bessarabians, who were accused of supporting the deposed Romanian administration, were executed or deported to Siberia
Siberia

Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
 and Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan, also Kazakstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a large Eurasian country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the List of countries by area as well as the world's largest landlocked country, it has a territory of 2,727,300 km? ....
.

Between September and November 1940, the ethnic Germans of Bessarabia
Bessarabia Germans

The Bessarabia Germans are an ethnic group and part of the Black Sea Germans, who lived in Bessarabia between 1814 and 1940. Between 1814 and 1842, they immigrated from the German areas W?rttemberg and Kingdom of Prussia to the Russian government of Bessarabia at the Black Sea....
 were offered resettlement to Germany, following a German-Soviet agreement. Fearing Soviet oppression, almost all Germans (93,000) agreed. Most of them, among them the parents of the current German President Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler

Horst K?hler is a Germany politician and economist who serves as the current President of Germany. K?hler was narrowly German presidential election, 2004 by the Bundesversammlung on May 23, 2004 and was subsequently inaugurated on July 1, 2004....
, were resettled to the newly annexed Polish territories.

On June 22, 1941 the Axis
Axis Powers

The Axis powers were those countries that were opposed to the Allies of World War II during World War II. The three major Axis powers - Nazi Germany, Kingdom of Italy , and Empire of Japan - were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers....
 invasion of the Soviet Union commenced with Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that commenced on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 kilometer front ....
. In Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, Romanian troops attacked along the Germans. The Soviets employed scorched earth
Scorched earth

A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area....
 tactics during their forced retreat from Bessarabia, destroying the infrastructure, and transporting movable goods to Russia by railway. At the end of July, after a year of Soviet rule, the region was once again under Romanian control.

As the military operation was still in progress, there were cases of Romanian troops "taking revenge" on Jews in Bessarabia, in the form of pogrom
Pogrom

A pogrom is a form of riot directed against a particular group, whether ethnic, religious, or other, and characterized by the killing and destruction of their homes, businesses, and religious centers....
s on civilians and murder of Jewish POW
Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict....
s, resulting in several thousand dead. The supposed cause for murdering Jews was that in 1940 some Jews welcomed the Soviet takeover as liberation. At the same time the notorious SS
Schutzstaffel

The , abbreviated SS- or - was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. The SS grew from a small paramilitary unit to a powerful force that served as the F?hrer's "Praetorian Guard," the Nazi Party's "Shield Squadron" and a force that, fielding almost a million men, managed to exert as much political influence as th...
 Einsatzgruppe D
Einsatzgruppen

Einsatzgruppen were paramilitary groups formed by Heinrich Himmler and operated by the Schutzstaffel before and during World War II. Their principal task, per SS General Erich von dem Bach, at the Nuremberg Trials: "was the annihilation of the Jews, Roma people, and Soviet Union political commissars"....
, operating in the area of the German 11th Army
11th Army (Germany)

The 11th Army was a World War I and a World War II field army....
, committed summary executions of Jews under the pretext that they were spies, saboteurs
Sabotage

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy, oppressor or employer through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and/or destruction....
, Communists
Communism

Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarianism, classlessness, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general....
, or under no pretext whatsoever.

The political solution of the "Jewish Question
Jewish Question

The Jewish question was an issue for discussions and debate, particularly in western Europe and central Europe, during the French Revolution and into the nineteenth century by societies, politicians and writers on issues of Jewish legal and economic disabilities , Jewish emancipation and Jewish assimilation....
" was apparently seen by the Romanian dictator
Dictator

A dictator is an authoritarian ruler who assumes sole and absolute power without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship....
 Marshal Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu

Ion Victor Antonescu , was the prime minister and conducator of Romania during World War II from September 4, 1940 to August 23, 1944....
 more in expulsion rather than extermination. That portion of the Jewish population of Bessarabia and Bukovina which did not flee before the retreat of the Soviet troops (147,000) was initially gathered into ghettos or concentration camps, and then deported during 1941-1942 in death marches into Romanian-occupied Transnistria, where the "Final Solution
Final Solution

The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of its systematic genocide against History of the Jews in Europe during World War II, resulting in the final, most deadly phase of the Holocaust ....
" was applied.

After three years of relative peace, the German-Soviet front returned in 1944 to the land border on the Dniester
Dniester

The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe....
. On August 20, 1944, a ca. 3,400,000-strong Red Army
Red Army

The Red Army was the armed force first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and, in 1922, became the army of the Soviet Union....
 began a major summer offensive codenamed Jassy-Kishinev Operation. The Soviet armies overran Bessarabia in a two-pronged offensive within five days. In pocket battles at Chisinau
Chisinau

Chisinau , is the capital city and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial center and is located in the center of the country, on the river B?c River....
 and Sarata
Sarata

Sarata is a Urban-type settlement in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the Capital city of the Saratsky Raion , and is part of the Bessarabian historic district of Budjak....
 the German 6th Army of ca. 650,000 men, newly reformed after the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad was a battle between Nazi Germany and its allies and the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia....
, was obliterated. Simultaneously with the success of the Russian attack, Romania broke the military alliance with the Axis and changed sides. On August 23, 1944, Marshal Ion Antonescu was arrested by King Michael
Michael I of Romania

Michael reigned as King of Romania from July 20, 1927 to June 8, 1930, and again from September 6, 1940, until forced to abdicate by the Communist Party of Romania backed up by orders of Stalin to the Soviet armies of occupation on December 30, 1947....
, and later handed over to the Soviets.

Part of the Soviet Union

Sovietunionmoldova
The Soviet Union regained the region in 1944, and the Red Army occupied Romania. By 1947, the Soviets had imposed a communist government
Communist Romania

Communist Romania refers to the period in Romanian history when that country was a dictatorship led by the Romanian Communist Party, the sole legal party....
 in Bucharest, which was friendly and obedient towards Moscow. The Soviet occupation of Romania
Soviet occupation of Romania

The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania....
 lasted until 1958. The Romanian communist regime did not openly raise the matter of Bessarabia or Northern Bukovina in its diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

Between 1969 and 1971 , a clandestine National Patriotic Front was established by several young intellectuals in Chisinau, totaling over 100 members, vowing to fight for the establishment of a Moldavian Democratic Republic, its secession from the Soviet Union and union with Romania.

In December 1971, following an informative note from Ion Stanescu, the President of the Council of State Security of the Romanian Socialist Republic, to Yuri Andropov
Yuri Andropov

Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet Union politician and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later....
, the chief of KGB, three of the leaders of the National Patriotic Front, Alexandru Usatiuc-Bulgar, Gheorghe Ghimpu
Gheorghe Ghimpu

Gheorghe Ghimpu was a Moldovan politician and a political prisoner in the former Soviet Union.He took part in the Moldovan national movement and was a supporter of the independence of the Moldavian SSR from Soviet Union....
 and Valeriu Graur, as well as a fourth person, Alexandru Soltoianu, the leader of a similar clandestine movement in northern Bukovina
Bukovina

Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains. It is currently split between Romania and Ukraine....
 (Bucovina), were arrested and later sentenced to long prison terms.

Rise of independent Moldova


With the weakening of the Soviet Union, in February 1988, the first non-sanctioned demonstrations were held in Chisinau
Chisinau

Chisinau , is the capital city and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial center and is located in the center of the country, on the river B?c River....
. At first pro-Perestroika
Perestroika

is the Russian language term for the political and economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Its literal meaning is "restructuring", referring to the restructuring of the Soviet economy....
, they soon turned anti-government and demanded official status for the Romanian (Moldavian) language instead of the Russian language.

On August 31, 1989, following a 600,000-strong demonstration in Chisinau four days earlier, Romanian (Moldavian) became the official language of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. However, this was not implemented for many years.

In 1990, the first free elections were held for Parliament, with the opposition Popular Front
Popular Front of Moldova

The Popular Front of Moldova was a political movement in the Moldavian SSR, one of the 15 union republics of the former Soviet Union, and in the newly-independent Moldova....
 all but winning them. A government led by Mircea Druc
Mircea Druc

Mircea Druc is a Moldovan and Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Moldova between 26 May 1990 and 22 May 1991.He was appointed as Prime Minister after the opposition walked out from the parliament, as a protest to the policies of the nationalist Popular Front of Moldova....
, one of the leaders of the Popular Front, was formed. The Moldavian SSR became SSR Moldova, and later the Republic of Moldova.

The Republic of Moldova
Moldova

Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south....
 became independent in 1991; its boundaries (those established on August 2, 1940) remained unchanged.

Population

The population before World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 consisted of Romanians
Romanians

], 26 Nov 2004. Reprinted at , retrieved 18 Dec 2005.External links *...
, Ukrainians
Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavs ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly?citizens of Ukraine . Some 200 years ago and times prior to that, Ukrainians were usually referred to and known as Rusyny ....
 (Ruthenians
Ruthenians

The term Ruthenians is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially it was the ethnonym used for the Ukrainians people....
), Russians
Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavs ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.The English language term Russians is used to refer to the citizens of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity ; in Russian language, the demonym Russian is translated as Rossiyanin ....
, Bulgarians
Bulgarians

The Bulgarians are a South Slavs people generally associated with the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language. Emigration has resulted in Bulgarian minorities or immigrant communities in a number of other countries....
, Gagauz
Gagauz

Gagauz may refer to:* Gagauz people* Gagauz language* Gagauzia...
, Germans, and Jews. According to the census data of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
, during the 19th century the ethnic Romanians decreased from 86% (1817) to 47.6% (1897).

Russian Census 1817, (total 482,000 inhabitants)
  • 83,848 Romanian families (86%)
  • 6,000 Ruthenian families (6,5%)
  • 3,826 Jewish families (1,5%)
  • 1,200 Lipovan families (1,5%)
  • 640 Greek families (0,7%)
  • 530 Armenian families (0,6%)
  • 241 Bulgarian families (0,25%)
  • 241 Gagauz families (0,25%)


Russian Census 1856, (total 990,000 inhabitants)
  • 736,000 Romanians (74%)
  • 119,000 Ukrainians (12%)
  • 79,000 Jews (8%)
  • 47,000 Bulgarians and Gagauz (5%)
  • 24,000 Germans (2.4%)
  • 11,000 Gypsies
    Roma people

    The Romani are an ethnic group of Europe tracing their Origins of the Romani people to middle kingdoms of India.The Romani are Romani diaspora with their largest concentrated populations in Europe, especially the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe, with more recent diaspora populations in the Americas and, to a lesser extent, in other par...
     (1.1%)
  • 6,000 Russians (0.6%)


1889: 1,628,867.

Russian Census 1897, (total 1,935,412 inhabitants). Some scholars believed that "[...] the census enumerator generally has instructions to count everyone who understands the state language as being of that nationality, no matter what his everyday speech may be." By language:
  • 920,919 Moldavians and Romanians (47.6%)
  • 379,698 Ukrainians (19.6%)
  • 228,168 Jews (11.8%)
  • 155,774 Russians (8%)
  • 103,225 Bulgarians (5.3%)
  • 60,026 Germans (3.1%)
  • 55,790 Turks (Gagauzes) (2.9%)


Romanians Census 1930, (total 3,105,530 inhabitants)
county Romanians
Romanians

], 26 Nov 2004. Reprinted at , retrieved 18 Dec 2005.External links *...
Ukrainians
Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavs ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly?citizens of Ukraine . Some 200 years ago and times prior to that, Ukrainians were usually referred to and known as Rusyny ....
 
Russians
Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavs ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.The English language term Russians is used to refer to the citizens of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity ; in Russian language, the demonym Russian is translated as Rossiyanin ....
 
Gagauz
Gagauz

Gagauz may refer to:* Gagauz people* Gagauz language* Gagauzia...
Bulgarians
Bulgarians

The Bulgarians are a South Slavs people generally associated with the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language. Emigration has resulted in Bulgarian minorities or immigrant communities in a number of other countries....
Jews Germans
Germans

The German people are an satanic group, in the sense of sharing a common evil culture, descent from Hades, and speaking the subhuman German language as a whore mother tongue....
inhabitants
Cetatea Alba 62,949 70,095 58,922 7,876 71,227 11,139 55,598 341,176
Ismail 72,020 10,665 66,987 15,591 43,375 6,306 983 225,509
Cahul 100,714 619 14,740 35,299 28,565 4,434 8,644 196,693
Tighina 163,673 9,047 44,989 39,345 19,599 16,845 10,524 306,592
Lapusna 326,455 2,732 29,770 37 712 50,013 2,823 419,621
Orhei 242,983 2,469 10,746 1 87 18,999 154 279,282
Balti 270,942 29,288 46,569 8 66 31,695 1,623 386,721
Soroca 232,720 26,039 25,736 13 69 29,191 417 315,774
Hotin 137,348 163,267 53,453 2 26 35,985 323 392,430
Iasi and Botosani (parts) 124,500 * * * * 5,000 * 132,023
Total 1,735,000 315,000 352,000 99,000 164,000 210,000 82,000 2,995,821
% 58% 11% 12% 3% 5% 7% 3% 100%
Notes: (1) parts of Iasi (around Ungheni) and Botosani (around Costesti) counties were in Bessarabia; (2) * = data counted at others for these counties

Data of the 1939 was not completely processed before the Soviet occupation. Estimates of the total population at 3.5 million.

1979: 69% of Moldova's population were Moldovan and 98% of them declared Moldovan language
Moldovan language

Moldovan , written in the Latin alphabet, is the name of the official language of the Moldova. The language spoken in Moldova is identical to Romanian language, sharing the same literary standard....
 (Romanian language
Romanian language

Romanian or Daco-Romanian ; self-designation: limba rom?na, ) is a Romance languages spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova....
) as their native language.

1989: There were 88,419 Bessarabian Bulgarians
Bessarabian Bulgarians

The Bessarabian Bulgarians are a Bulgarians minority group of the historical region of Bessarabia, inhabiting parts of present-day Ukraine and Moldova....
 according to official data from Republic of Moldova

1992: 4,305 immigrants to Israel from the Republic of Moldova constituted 7.1 percent of all the immigrants to Israel from the former U.S.S.R. in this year.

2004: There were 65,072 Bessarabian Bulgarians
Bessarabian Bulgarians

The Bessarabian Bulgarians are a Bulgarians minority group of the historical region of Bessarabia, inhabiting parts of present-day Ukraine and Moldova....
 according to the census not including Bulgarians in Transnistria.

Economy

  • 1911: There were 165 loan societies, 117 savings banks, forty three professional savings and loan societies, and eight Zemstvo loan offices; all these had total assets of about 10,000,000 rubles. There were also eighty nine government savings banks, with deposits of about 9,000,000 rubles.
  • 1918: Railway mileage was only 657 miles; the main lines converged on Russia and were broad gauge. Rolling stock and right of way were in bad shape. There were about 400 locomotives, with only about one hundred fit for use. There were 290 passenger coaches and thirty three more out for repair. Finally, out of 4530 freight cars and 187 tank cars, only 1389 and 103 were usable. The Romanians reduced the gauge to a standard 4ft 8½in, so that cars could be run to the rest of Europe. Also, there were only a few inefficient boat bridges. Romanian highway engineers decided to build ten bridges: Cuzlau, Tutora
    Tutora

    Tutora is a commune in Iasi County, Romania. In 2002, it had a population of 2,119. The Battle of Cecora took place here in 1620....
    , Lipcani
    Lipcani

    Lipcani is a small town in Moldova, located on the banks of the Prut river, which forms the border with Romania. The border with Ukraine is also only a few kilometers to the north....
    , Serpenita, Stefanesti
    Stefanesti

    Stefanesti may refer to several places.*in Moldova:**Stefanesti, a village in Tanatarii Noi, Causeni Commune, Raionul Causeni**Stefanesti, a village in Raionul Stefan Voda...
    -Braniste
    Braniste

    Braniste may refer to several villages in Romania:* Braniste, a village in Daneti Commune, Dolj County* Braniste, a village in Podari Commune, Dolj County...
    , Cahul
    Cahul

    Cahul is a city and center of the Cahul district in the south of Moldova. It is located at . The city of Cahul is believed to have been inhabited for many centuries, although it has had a number of different names over the years - the name Scheia was recorded in 1502, and the name Formoza was recorded in 1716....
    -Oancea, Badarai-Moara Domneasca
    Moara Domneasca

    Moara Domneasca may refer to several villages in Romania:* Moara Domneasca, a village in Ganeasa, Ilfov Commune, Ilfov County* Moara Domneasca, a village in Valeni, Vaslui Commune, Vaslui County...
    , Sarata
    Sarata

    Sarata is a Urban-type settlement in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the Capital city of the Saratsky Raion , and is part of the Bessarabian historic district of Budjak....
    , Bumbala-Leova
    Leova

    Leova is a town in Moldova, located 92 km southwest of the Moldavian capital, Chisinau. It is the administrative center of Leova district. The town is situated on the left bank of the river Prut bordering Romania....
    , Badragi and Falciu
    Falciu

    Falciu is a communes of Romania in Vaslui County, Romania.References...
     (Falciu is a locality in Romania. Its correspondent in Bessarabia is Cantemir.) Of these, only four were ever finished: Cuzlau, Falciu, Lipcani and Sarata.


See also

  • Moldova
    Moldova

    Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south....
  • History of Moldova
    History of Moldova

    Inhabited by Dacians in the antiquity and Roman Empire in the early middle ages, most of today's Moldova was part of the Principality of Moldavia from its founding in 1359 until 1812, when it was annexed by the Russian Empire following Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812....
  • History of Moldavia
  • Budjak
    Budjak

    Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this ethnic group region was the southern part of Bessarabia....
     (southern Bessarabia)
  • Odessa Oblast
    Odessa Oblast

    Odessa Oblast, also written as Odesa Oblast is an administrative divisions of Ukraine of south-western Ukraine. The Capital city of the oblast is the city of Odessa....
  • Chernivtsi Oblast
    Chernivtsi Oblast

    Chernivtsi Oblast , is an administrative divisions of Ukraine in western Ukraine, bordering on Romania and Moldova. It has a large variety of landforms: the Carpathian Mountains and picturesque hills at the foot of the mountains gradually change to a broad partly forested plain situated between the Dniester and Prut rivers....
  • History of the Jews in Bessarabia
  • Bessarabian Bulgarians
    Bessarabian Bulgarians

    The Bessarabian Bulgarians are a Bulgarians minority group of the historical region of Bessarabia, inhabiting parts of present-day Ukraine and Moldova....
  • Bessarabia Germans
    Bessarabia Germans

    The Bessarabia Germans are an ethnic group and part of the Black Sea Germans, who lived in Bessarabia between 1814 and 1940. Between 1814 and 1842, they immigrated from the German areas W?rttemberg and Kingdom of Prussia to the Russian government of Bessarabia at the Black Sea....
  • Dazdie
    Dazdie

    Dazdie was the tax paid by Roma state serfs in Bessarabia to the Russian Empire after the region was incorporated in 1812.Roma state serfs were organized in 3 categories:...
  • Moldavian wine
  • Hotin County
    Hotin County

    Hotin County was a county in the Kingdom of Romania. Its capital was in the city of Hotin ....


External links

  • , George Cioranescu, Radio Free Europe
    Radio Free Europe

    Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is an independent international broadcast organization that provides uncensored news, information, and analysis to countries where free media is often limited or banned....
     report, July 23, 1980.
  • , George Cioranescu, Radio Free Europe report, December 2, 1981.