History of Moldova

History of Moldova
This article is part of a series
Prehistory
Antiquity
Dacia
Free Dacians
Bastarnae
Early Middle Ages
Origin of the Romanians
Tivertsi
Brodnici
Golden Horde
Principality of Moldavia
Foundation
Stephen the Great
Early Modern Era
Phanariots
United Principalities
Bessarabia Governorate
Treaty of Bucharest
Moldavian Democratic Republic
Sfatul Ţării
Greater Romania
Union of Bessarabia with Romania
Moldavian ASSR
Moldovenism
Moldavian SSR
Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
Soviet deportations
Republic of Moldova
Independence of Moldova
War of Transnistria
Politics of Moldova
Moldova Portal

Inhabited by Dacians in the antiquity and Romanized Dacians 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 (under the name Bessarabia) by the Russian Empire following one of several Russian-Turkish wars. In 1918, Bessarabia united with Romania, but in 1940 it was occupied by the Soviet Union, to become independent when the latter broke up in 1991.

The cultural heritage of the Principality of Moldavia stands at the core of the identity of Moldova.

Prehistory

During prehistoric times there was a succession of cultures that flourished in the land of present-day Moldova from the end of the Ice Age up through the Neolithic Age, the Copper Age, the Bronze Age, and the beginning of the Iron Age, when historical records begin to be made about the people who lived in these lands. These cultures included the Linear Pottery Culture (ca. 5500–4500 BC), the Yamna Culture (ca. 3600-2300 BC), and the Cucuteni-Trypillian Culture (ca. 5500-2750 BC). During this period of time there were many innovations and advancements made, including the practices of agriculture, animal husbandry, kiln-fired pottery, weaving, and the formation of large settlements and towns. Indeed, during the Cucuteni-Trypillian Culture, some of the settlements in this area were larger than anywhere on earth at the time, and they predate even the earliest towns of Sumer in the Mesopotamia. Far from being a neglected, "backwoods" region, the area stretching from the Dneiper River in the east to the Iron Gate of the Danube in the west (which included the land now in Moldova) had as highly-advanced of a civilization as anywhere else on earth during the Neolithic period.^[1]

The question as to why this area did not remain at the forefront of technological and social development lies in the subsequent history of its geographical location - at the end of the mostly peaceful Neolithic period, this area became a highway for invaders from the east moving into Europe. By the time the historical written record begins to cover this area, it has already seen a number of invading hordes of people sweep over it, leaving social and political upheaval in their wake. This trend was to continue on a fairly regular basis up until the 20th Century. With so much destruction, it was difficult for the residents of this area to recover from each successive invasion before encountering the next wave to wash over them. However, the few societies in this area that managed to survive for a while through these turbulent centuries left behind a culture and history that are rich and dramatic.

Cucuteni-Trypillia Culture

The Roman provinces of Dacia (red) and Moesia Inferior (green)

The lands of the lower Danube in Roman times, Droysens Historical Atlas, 1886

Antiquity and early middle ages

In recorded antiquity Moldova's territory was inhabited by several tribes, mainly by Dacian tribes, and at different periods also by Bastarnae, Scythians and Sarmatians. Between the 1st and 7th centuries CE, the south was intermittently under the Roman, then Byzantine Empires. Due to its strategic location on a route between Asia and Europe, Moldova was repeatedly invaded, including invasions by the Goths, Huns, Avars, Magyars, Kievan Rus', Pechenegs, Cumans, and the Mongols. The First Bulgarian Empire and the colonists of the Genoa Republic also left a trace in this region.

Principality of Moldavia

Stephen the Great and Căpriana monastery

Tatar invasions continued also after the establishment of the Principality of Moldavia in 1359,^[2] bounded by the Carpathian mountains in the west, Dniester river in the east, and Danube and Black Sea in the south. The medieval principality of Moldavia covered the so-called Carpathian-Danube-Dniester area, stretching from Transylvania in the west to the Dniester River in the east. Its territory comprised the present-day territory of the Republic of Moldova, the eastern 8 of the 41 counties of Romania (which, like the present-day republic, is known to the locals as Moldova), the Chernivtsi oblast and Budjak region of Ukraine. In 1538 the principality became a tributary to the Ottoman Empire, but retained internal and partially external autonomy. Its nucleus was in the northwestern part, the Ţara de Sus ("Upper Land"), part of which later became known as Bukovina. The name of the principality originates from the Moldova River. With the notable exception of Transnistria, the territory of today's Republic of Moldova covers most of the historical region of Bessarabia, a part of the Principality of Moldavia until 1812, named so since 1812 by the Russians. Before 1812 the term "Bessarabia" was referring only the region between the Danube, Dniester, the Black Sea shores, and the Upper Trajan Wall, slightly larger than what today is called Budjak.

Moldavia and the modern boundaries‎

The founding of Moldavia is attributed to the Vlach noblemen Dragoş of Bedeu, from Maramureş, who had been ordered in 1343 (1345 according to other sources) by the Hungarian king Louis of Anjou to establish a defense for the historic Kingdom of Hungary against the Tatars, and Bogdan I of Cuhea, Maramureş, who became the first independent prince of Moldavia, when he rejected Hungarian authority in 1359. The greatest Moldavian personality was prince Stephen the Great, who ruled from 1457 to 1504.

Soroca in the 1780s

Stephen was succeeded by weaker and weaker princes. In 1538, Moldavia became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, to which it owed a percentage of the internal revenue, that in time rose to 10%. Moldavia was forbidden to held foreign relations in detriment of the Ottoman Empire (although at times the country managed to circumvent this interdiction), but was allowed internal autonomy, including sole authority over foreign trade. Turks were legally forbidden to own land or build religious establishments in Moldavia. Prince Vasile Lupu had secured the Moldavian throne in 1634 after a series of complicated intrigues, and managed to hold it for twenty years. Lupu was a capable administrator and a brilliant financer, and soon was the richest man in the Christian East. Judiciously placed gifts kept him on good terms with the Ottoman authorities.^[3][4]

In the 18th century, the territory of Moldavia often became a transit or war zone during conflicts between the Ottomans, Austrians, and Russians. In 1774, the principality became a Russian protectorate while remaining formally a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. In 1775, Austria annexed ca 11% of the territory of Moldavia, which became known as Bukovina. By the Treaty of Bucharest following the Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812), Russia has annexed further 50% of its territory, which became known as Bessarabia. The remaining part of the principality emancipated from Ottoman domination in the first part of 19th century, and in 1859 united with Wallachia, establishing Romania.

Part of the Russian Empire

Gubernya of Bessarabia, 1883

By the Treaty of Bucharest of May 28, 1812 between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire — concluding the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812 — the latter annexed the eastern half of the Principality of Moldavia. That region was then called Bessarabia.

Initially, after being annexed by the Russian Empire, Bessarabia enjoyed a period of local autonomy until 1828. Organized as a region (oblast) as opposed to gubernia, it was governed by a "provisional government" with 2 departments: a civil administration and a religious administration, the former led by the aged Moldavian boyar Scarlat Sturdza, the latter - by the metropolitan archbishop Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni. On top of these was the Russian military administration of Governor General Harting. However, already in 1813, the civil administration was handed to the governor-general. In 1818, reform-minded Russian tsar Alexander I passed a Settlement of the establishment of the region of Bessarabia which divided the legal power between the tsar-appointed Governor General (Bakhmetiev) and a 10-member High Council of the Region with 4 members appointed by the tsar and 6 elected by the local nobility. In lieu of the older 12 lands, the region was divided into 6, later 9 counties. In 1828 however, the conservative tsar Nikolai I abrogated the Settlement and passed a new Reglement, which endowed the Governor General with the supreme power, while a Council of the Region was to have only advisory functions and would meet twice a year. Article 63 of the Reglement formally stated that all administrative personnel must know and perform their duties in Russian. Nevertheless, in practice Romanian language would appear occasionally in documents up to 1854.^[5]

At the end of the Crimean War, in 1856, by the Treaty of Paris, two districts of southern Bessarabia - Cahul and Ismail - were returned to Moldavia, and Russia lost access to the Danube river. In 1859, Moldavia, including the two districts Southern part of Bessarabia, and Wallachia united and formed modern Romania. The Romanian War of Independence was fought in 1877-1878, with the help of the Russian allies. Although the treaty of alliance between Romania and Russia specified that Russia 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, the southern part of Bessarabia was re-annexed to Russia. In exchange, Romania got Dobruja, prior to that moment directly controlled by the Ottomans.

In 1870, the institution of zemstva was instated in Bessarabia. Cities, communes, counties, and the entire region would elect each a local council representing in a censored manner noblemen, merchants and peasants. They had substantial activity in economic and sanitary areas, including roads, posts, food, public safety. On the other hand, political (including justice courts of all levels) and cultural matters remained an exclusive domain of the Governor General and were user as a vehicle of Russification. With the accomplishment of these introductions, in 1871, Bessarabia, previously a region (oblast), became a gubernia.^[6]

Măzărache Church in the 19th Century

Public education was entrusted to the religious establishment of the region, which since 1821 had only Russian Archbishops. Dimitrie Sulima (Archbishop in 1821-1855), and Antonie Shokotov (1855–1871) allowed the parallel usage of both Romanian and Russian in church, and did not take any measures to infringe upon the linguistic specifics of the region. With the appointment of Pavel Lebedev (1871–1882), the situation changed radically, and the language of the locals was soon purged from the church. To prevent the printing of religious literature in Romanian, Lebedev closed down the printing press in Chişinău, collected from the region and burned the already printed books in Romanian (in Slavonic Cyrillic alphabet). The following archbishops Sergey Lapidevsky, Isakyi Polozensky, Neofit Novodchikov eased some of Lebedev's measures to help quell the serious dissatisfaction of the population. The next Archbishop Iakov Pyatnitsky (1898–1904) discovered that his desire to popularize a Christian culture and a moral education faced a language barrier, and in 1900 convinced the Russian High Sinod to allow the publication of religious pamphlets in Romanian, while his follower Archbishop Vladimir allowed the printing of books, and from 1908 even of a regular religious journal Luminătorul by Constantin Popovici and Gurie Grosu. The last Russian Archbishops, Serfafim Chichyagov (1908–1914), Platon (1914–1915) and Atanasy (1915–1918) tried to preserve the privileged status of the Russian language in the church in Bessarabia, but did not introduce any new anti-Romanian measures. Left by the last Russian Archbishop on June 23, 1918, the archbishopric was entrusted to the Bishop Nicodem de Huşi from Romania, who appointed a local Archbishop Dionisie Erhan. Then the Clerical Congress on Febrauary 21, 1920 elected Gurie Botoşăneanu as the highest church official in Bessarabia, which afterwards was restored from Archbishop to Metropolitan.^[7]

Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni

Under the protection of Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni and Dimitrie Sulima a theological school and a seminary were opened in Chişinău, and public schools throughout the region: in the cities of Chişinău, Hotin, Cetatea Albă, Briceni, Bender, Bălţi, Cahul, Soroca, Orhei, at the monasteries of Dobruşa and Hârjauca, and even in several villages (Rezeni, Mereni, Volcineţ, Nisporeni, Hârtop). However in 1835, the tsarist authorities declared a 7-year deadline to transfer the education from Romanian to Russian. Although the measure was implemented more gradually, since 1867, Romanian was purged entirely from the education. This had the effect of keeping the peasant population of Bessarabia backward, as witnessed by the fact that in 1912 Moldavians had a literacy rate of only 10.5%, lowest among all ethnic groups of the region (63% for Bessarabian Germans, 50% for Bessarabian Jews, 40% for Russians, 31% for Bessarabian Bulgarians), with a record low 1.7% literacy rate for Moldavian women. Of the 1709 primary schools in Bessarabia in 1912, none was in the language of the basic ethnic group.^[8]

During 1812-1914, a series of colonizations were made in Bessarabia by the Russian authorities. German colonists from Switzerland (canton Lausanne), France, and Germany (Wurtemberg) settled in 27 localities (most newly settled) in Budjak, and by 1856 Bessarabian Germans were 42,216. Russian veterans of the 1828-1829 war with the Ottomans were settled in 10 localities in Budjak, and 3 other localities were settled by Cossacks from Dobrudja (which got there from the Dniepr region some 50 years earlier). Bassarabian Bulgarians and Gagauzes arrived from modern eastern Bulgaria as early as the second half of the 18th century. In 1817, they were 482 families in 12 localities, in 1856 - 115,000 people in 43 localities. The above settlements were performed under the supervision of the Tsarist authorities. Ukrainians had arrived Bessarabia since before 1812, and already in 1820s they made up 1/3 of the population of the most northern Hotin county. In the following decades further Ukrainians settle throughout the northern part of Bessarabia from Galicia and Podolia. Jews from Galicia, Podolia and Poland also settled in Bessarabia in the 19th century, but mostly in the cities and fairs, in some of these they in time became a plurality. In 1856, there were 78,751 Bessarabian Jews. There was even an attempt by the Russian authorities to create 16 Jewish agricultural colonies, where 10,589 people were settle. However within less than 2 generations, most of them sold the land to the local Molavians and moved to the cities and fairs.^[9]

Chişinău water carrier

Upon annexation, after the expulsion of the large Nogai Tatar population of Budjak (Little Tartary),^[10] the Moldovan/Romanian population of Bessarabia was predominant.^[11] The colonization of the region in the 19th century, generated by the need to better exploit the resources of the land,^[12] and by the absence of serfdom in Bessarabia,^[13] lead to an increase in the Russian, Ukrainian, Lipovan, and Cossack populations in the region; this together with a large influx of Bulgarian immigrants, saw an increase of the Slavic population to more than a fifth of the total population by 1920.^[14] With the settling of other nationals such as Gagauz, Jews, and Germans, the proportion of the Moldovan population decreased from around 86%^[15] to 52% by some sources^[16] or to 70% by others^[17] during the course of the century. According to the census of 1897, the capital Kishinev had a Jewish population of 50,000, or 46%, out of a total of approximately 110,000.^[18] The Tsarist policy in Bessarabia was in part aimed at denationalization of the Romanian element by forbidding after the 1860s education and religious mass in Romanian. However, the effect was an extremely low literacy rate (in 1897 approx. 18% for males, approx. 4% for females) rather than a denationalization.^[19]

Moldavian Democratic Republic and Union with Romania

Declaration of unification of Bessarabia and Romania

After the Russian Revolution of 1905, a Romanian national emancipation movement started to develop in Bessarabia. While it received a setback in 1906-1907, the movement re-emerged even stronger in 1917.

Sfatul Ţării members

To quell the chaos brought about by the Russian revolutions of February and October 1917, a National Council, Sfatul Ţării, was established in Bessarabia, with 120 members elected in county meetings of peasants, and by political and professional organizations from Bessarabia. On December 15, 1917, the Council proclaimed the Moldavian Democratic Republic, as part of a Russian Federation, then formed the government of Moldavia. At the request of the Sfatul Ţării executive,^[20][21][22] approved by the Allies and the Russian White general Dmitriy Shcherbachov, commander-in-chief of the Russian forces on the Romanian Front, on January 26, 1918, Romanian troops entered Bessarabia to help maintain security, which had deteriorated due to large numbers of deserters from the Russian Army.^[23][24] The presence of the Romanian army in Bessarabia has caused tension within the Council, with some of its members, notably Ion Inculeţ, president of Sfatul Ţării and Pantelimon Erhan, head of the provisional Moldavian executive protesting against it.^[25](In particular they feared that big land owners-dominated Romanian Government could use the troops to prevent the envisaged Agrarian reform, a cornerstone priority of the Bessarbian government.^[26])

After this, the Council declared the independence of the Moldavian Democratic Republic on February 6 [O.S. January 24] 1918. Under pressure from the Romanian army,^[27][28] on April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, Sfatul Ţării, by a vote of 86 to 3, with 36 abstentions, approved the Union of Bessarabia with Romania. The union was recognized by some European countries, but not by the Soviet government, which claimed the area as the Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic, and argued the union was made under conditions of Romanian military occupation by a Council that had not been elected by the people of Bessarabia in elections.

Interwar period

After 1918 Bessarabia was under Romanian jurisdiction for the next 22 years. This fact was recognized in the Treaty of Paris (1920)^[29] which, however, some today argue has never come into force since it was not ratified by Japan.^[30] The newly communist Russia did not recognize the Romanian rule over Bessarabia.^[31] The Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed on May 5, 1919 in Odessa as a "Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government in exile" and established on May 11, 1919 in Tiraspol as an autonomous part of Russian SFSR.^[32] Furthermore, Russia and later, the Soviet Union, considered the region to be Soviet territory under foreign occupation and conducted numerous diplomatic attempts to reclaim it. No diplomatic relations existed between the two states until 1934. Nonetheless, both countries subscribed to the principle of non-violent resolution of territorial disputes in the Kellogg-Briand Treaty of 1928 and the Treaty of London of July 1933. Meanwhile, the neighboring region of Transnistria, part of the Ukrainian SSR at the time, was formed into the Moldavian ASSR after the failure of the Tatarbunary Uprising in 1924.

Stephen the Great Monument in Downtown Chişinău

The agrarian (land) reform, implemented by Sfatul Ţării in 1918-1919, resulted in a rise of a middle class, as 87% of the region's population lived in rural areas. Together with peace and favorable economic circumstances, this reform resulted in a small economic boom. However, urban development and industry were insignificant, and the region remained primarily an agrarian rural region throughout the interwar period.^[33] Certain improvements were achieved in the area of education, the literacy rate rising from 15.6% in 1897^[34] to 37% by 1930; however, Bessarabia continued to lag behind the rest of the country, the national literacy rate being 60%.^[33] During the inter-war period, Romanian authorities also conducted a program of Romanianization that sought to assimilate ethnic minorities throughout the country. The enforcement of this policy was especially pervasive in Bessarabia due to its highly diverse population, and resulted in the closure of minority educational and cultural institutions.^[35]

Museum of Fine Arts, 1939

On 1 January 1919 the Municipal Conservatoire (the Academy of Music) was created in Chişinău, in 1927 - the Faculty of Theology, in 1934 the subsidiary of the Romanian Institute of social sciences, in 1939 - municipal picture gallery. The Agricultural State University of Moldova was founded in 1933 in Chişinău. The Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1939 by the sculptor Alexandru Plămădeală. Gurie Grosu was the first Metropolitan of Bessarabia.

The first scheduled flights to Chişinău started on 24 June 1926, on the route Bucharest – Galaţi – Iaşi – Chişinău. The flights were operated by Compagnie Franco-Roumaine de Navigation Aérienne - CFRNA, later LARES.^[36] The airport was near Chişinău, at Bulgarica-Ialoveni. This first flight Chişinău-Bucharest was marked by the launch of a postal stamps.

The first society of the Romanian writers in Chişinău was formed in 1920, among the members were Mihail Sadoveanu, Ştefan Ciobanu, Tudor Pamfile, Nicolae Dunăreanu, N.N.Beldiceanu, Apostol D.Culea. Writer and Journalist Bessarabian Society took an institutionalized form in 1940. First Congress of the Society elected as president Pan Halippa as Vice President Nicolae Spătaru, and as secretary general Nicolae Costenco.

Viaţa Basarabiei was founded in 1932 by Pan Halippa. Radio Basarabia was launched on 8 October 1939, as the second radio station of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company. The Capitoline Wolf was opened in 1926 and in 1928 the Stephen the Great Monument, by the sculptor Alexandru Plămădeală, was opened.

World War II and Soviet era

Ukrainian SSR in 1933, after the Peace of Riga and the consolidation of USSR. Note the rose border line showing the Soviet claims over the former Russian guberniya of Bessarabia

After the creation of the Soviet Union in December 1922, the Soviet government moved in 1924 to establish the Moldavian Autonomous Oblast on the lands to the east of the Dniester River in the Ukrainian SSR. The capital of the oblast was Balta, situated in present-day Ukraine. Seven months later, the oblast was upgraded to the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian ASSR or MASSR), even though its population was only 30% ethnic Romanian. The capital remained at Balta until 1929, when it was moved to Tiraspol.

In the secret Nazi-Soviet protocol attached to the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact defining the division of the spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, Nazi Germany declared it had no political interest in Bessarabia, in response to the Soviet Union's expression of interest, thereby consigning Bessarabia to the Soviet "sphere". On June 26, 1940 the Soviet government issued an ultimatum to the Romanian minister in Moscow, demanding Romania immediately cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Italy and Germany, which needed a stable Romania and access to its oil fields, urged King Carol II to do so. Under duress, with no prospect of aid from France or Britain, Carol complied, although Romanians have consistently called it a withdrawal. On June 28, Soviet troops crossed the Dniester and occupied Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertza region. According to Malbone W. Graham, from an international legal standpoint, this new status was considered as consenting to the retrocession of Bessarabia and the cession of the North Bukovina, based on a formal agreement contained in an exchange of notes.^[37]

The Romanian withdrawal was chaotic. Soviet promises of allowing an orderly troop removal were broken. Officials, former Sfatul Ţării members and ordinary citizens were arrested or shot on the spot. The official Soviet press declared that the "peaceful policy of the USSR" had "liquidated the [Bessarabian] Soviet-Romanian conflict".

Tiraspol, 1941

The Soviet republic created following annexation did not follow Bessarabia's traditional border. The Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldovan SSR), established August 2, 1940, consisted of six and a half counties of Bessarabia joined with the westernmost part of the already extant MASSR (an autonomous entity within the Ukrainian SSR). Various changes were made to its borders, which were finally settled by November 1940. Territories where ethnic Ukrainians formed a large portion of the population (parts of Northern Bukovina and parts of Hotin, Akkerman, and Izmail) went to the Ukraine, while a small strip of Transnistria east of the Dniester with a significant (49% of inhabitants) Moldovan population was joined to the MSSR. According to Nikita Khrushchev, who led the commission that established the border, the transfer of Bessarabia's Black Sea and Danube frontage to the Ukraine insured its control by a stable Soviet republic. This transfer, along with the division of Bessarabia, was also designed to discourage future Romanian claims and irredentism.

On June 26, 1940, Romania received an ultimatum from the Soviet Union, demanding the evacuation of the Romanian military and administration from Bessarabia and, unexpectedly, from the northern part of Bukovina, with an implied threat of invasion in the event of non-compliance. Under pressure from Moscow and Berlin, the Romanian administration and the army retreated from these territories,^[38] and on June 28, 1940 they were occupied by the Soviet Union. During the retreat, the Romanian Army was attacked by the Soviet Army, which entered Bessarabia before the Romanian administration finished retreating. Some 42,876 Romanian soldiers and officers were unaccounted for after the retreat. The northern and southern parts, which had sizable minorities (Ukrainians, Bessarabian Bulgarians, Bessarabian Germans, or Lipovans), were transferred to the Ukrainian SSR as the Chernivtsi and Izmail Oblasts. At the same time, the Moldavian ASSR was disbanded, and up to half its territory, where Moldovans were a majority, was joined with the remaining territory of Bessarabia to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR), contiguous with present-day Moldova.

Romanian Army R35 tanks entering Chişinău in 1941.

By participating in the 1941 Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, Romania seized the lost territories of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, as well as those of the former MASSR, and established its administration there. In occupied Transnistria, Romanian forces, working with the Germans, deported or exterminated ca. 300,000 Jews, including 147,000 from Bessarabia and Bukovina (of the latter, over 90,000 perished).^[39] The Soviet Army reconquered and re-annexed the area in February-August 1944.

Under early Soviet rule, deportations of locals to the northern Urals, to Siberia, and Kazakhstan occurred regularly throughout the Stalinist period, with the largest ones on 12–13 June 1941, and 5–6 July 1949, accounting for 19,000 and 35,000 deportees respectively (from MSSR alone).^[40] According to Russian historians, in 1940-1941, ca. 90,000 inhabitants of the annexed territories were subject to political persecutions, such as arrests, deportations, or executions.^[41] In 1946, as a result of a severe drought and excessive delivery quota obligations and requisitions imposed by the Soviet government, the southwestern part of the USSR suffered from widespread famine resulting in 216,000 deaths and about 350,000 cases of dystrophy in the Moldavian SSR alone.^[41] Similar events occurred in 1930s in the Moldavian ASSR.^[41] In 1944-53, there were numerous anti-Communist armed resistance groups active in Moldova; however the NKVD and later MGB managed to arrest, execute or deport most of them and their power base.^[41]

In, June-July 1941, allied with Nazi Germany, Romania recaptured and reintegrated the annexed territory. Ignoring the counsel of Romanian democratic politicians Iuliu Maniu and Dinu Brătianu, the Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu pushed beyond Romania's interwar borders. In occupied Transnistria, Romanian forces, working with the Germans, deported 147,000 Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina, 90,000 of which perished of typhus and hunger.^[42]

By April 1944, northern Moldavia and Transnistria was back in the hands of the Soviets, and in August 1944 the entire territory was recaptured by the Red Army. With Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina again under Soviet administration, the peace treaty signed in February 1947 fixed the Romanian-Soviet border to the one established in June 1940.^[43][44]

The territory remained part of the USSR after WWII as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. Several social and economic groups were targeted to be murdered, imprisoned, and deported to Siberia due to their economic situation, political views, or ties to the former regime. Secret police struck at dissenting people and groups. Over the years, the state imposed a harsh denationalization policy toward the ethnic majority,^[45] while ethnic Russians and Ukrainians were encouraged to immigrate to the Moldavian SSR, especially to large cities and to Transnistria, to cover the lack of personnel in the newly-established industries. Most of these industries were built in Transnistria and around large cities, while in the rest of the republic agriculture was developed. By the late Soviet period, the urban intelligentsia and government officials were dominated mostly by ethnic Moldovans, while Russians and Ukrainians made up most of the technical and engineering specialists.^[46]

Agriculture in Moldova, 1941

According to mainstream sources, following a historic drought in 1946, the government's policies, such as requisitioning large amounts of agricultural products despite a poor harvest and a labor shortage (due to most WWII conscripts not being decommissioned yet), caused a famine, with 216,000 victims in the Moldavian SSR alone.^[47] There were also 389,000 cases of dystrophy due to malnutrition.^[48] Some call it a deliberate policy of the Soviet government.^[49][50] Robert Conquest coined the term famine terror to describe famine as deliberate. Official Soviet figures at the time, however, give much lower numbers of deaths, only 36,000, describing the famine was a consequence of war, severe drought and (sometimes) government mismanagement of food reserves.^[51] (See also Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union) The worst months were February-March 1947.^[48]

The conditions imposed during the reestablishment of Soviet rule became the basis of deep resentment toward Soviet authorities, manifested in numerous resistance movements to Soviet rule.^[52] During Leonid Brezhnev's 1950-1952 tenure as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Moldavia (CPM), he was ruthless comparing to his predecessor Nicolae Coval in putting down numerous resistance groups, and issuing harsh sentences.^[53] A wave of repression was aimed at the Romanian intellectuals who decided to remain in Moldova after the war. During the Operation North, 723 families (2,617 persons) were deported from Moldvian SSR, on the night of March 31 to April 1, 1951, members of neoprotestant sects, mostly Jehovah's Witnesses, qualified as religious elements considered a potential danger for the communist regime.^[54][55]

Romanian Literature Museum, Chişinău

Most political and academic positions were given to members of non-Romanian ethnic groups (only 17.5% of the Moldavian SSR's political leaders were ethnic Romanians in 1940).^[56][57]

Although Brezhnev and other CPM first secretaries were largely successful in suppressing Moldovan/Romanian nationalism in 1950s-1980s, Mikhail S. Gorbachev's administration facilitated the revival of the movement in the region. His policies of glasnost and perestroika created conditions in which national feelings could be openly expressed and in which the Soviet republics could consider reforms.

In 1970s and '80s Moldova received substantial investment from the budget of the USSR to develop industrial, scientific facilities, as well as housing. In 1971 the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a decision "About the measures for further development of Kishinev city" that secured more than one billion rubles of funds for Chisinau alone from the USSR budget. Subsequent decisions directed large amounts of funds and brought qualified specialists from all over the USSR to further develop the Moldavian SSR.^[58] Such an allocation of USSR assets was influenced by the fact that the-then leader of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, was the First Secretary of the local Communist Party in the 1950s. These investments stopped in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when Moldova became independent.

Triumphal arch

Independence

Gaining Independence

In the climate of Mikhail Gorbachov's glasnost, openness and political self-assertion escalated in the Moldavian SSR in 1988. The year 1989 saw the formation of the Popular Front of Moldova, an association of independent cultural and political groups that had finally gained official recognition. Large demonstrations by ethnic Romanians led to the designation on August 31, 1989 of Moldovan/Romanian as the official language and a return to the Latin alphabet. The head of the CPM was also replaced.

However, opposition was growing to the Romanian language and to the potentially increasing influence of ethnic Moldovans, especially in Transnistria, where the Yedinstvo-Unitatea (Unity) Intermovement had been formed in 1988 by Slavic minorities,^[59] and in the south, where the organization Gagauz Halkî (Gagauz People), formed in November 1989, came to represent the Gagauz, a Turkic-speaking minority there.

The first democratic elections to the Moldavian SSR's Supreme Soviet were held on February 25, 1990. Runoff elections were held in March. The Popular Front won a majority of the votes. After the elections, Mircea Snegur, a reformed communist, was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet; in September he became president of the republic. The reformist government that took over in May 1990 made many changes that did not please the minorities, including changing the republic's name in June from the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova and declaring it sovereign the following month. At the same time, Romanian tricolor with the Moldavian coat-of-arms was adopted as the state flag, and Deşteaptă-te române!, the Romanian anthem, became the anthem of Moldova. During that period a Movement for unification of Romania and the Republic of Moldova began in each country.

In August 1990 a separate "Gagauz Republic" (Gagauz-Yeri) was declared in the south, in the city of Comrat. In September in Tiraspol, the main city on the east bank of the Dniester River, a "Dnestr Moldavian Republic" (commonly called the "Dnestr Republic", later Transnistria) was proclaimed. Although the Parliament of Moldova immediately declared these declarations null, both "republics" went on to hold elections.

In mid-October 1990, approximately 30,000 Moldovan nationalist volunteers were sent to Gagauzia and Transnistria, where widespread violence was temporarily averted by the intervention of the Soviet 14th Army.^[60] (The Soviet 14th Army, now the Russian 14th Army, had been headquartered in Chişinău since 1956.) Negotiations in Moscow among the Gagauz, the Transnistrian Slavs, and the government of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova failed, and the government refused to join in further negotiations.

In May 1991, the country's official name was changed to the Republic of Moldova (Republica Moldova). The name of the Supreme Soviet also was changed, to the Moldovan Parliament.

During the 1991 August coup d'état in Moscow against Mikhail Gorbachev, commanders of the Soviet Union's Southwestern Theater of Military Operations attempted to impose a state of emergency in Moldova. They were overruled by the Moldovan government, which declared its support for Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who led the counter-coup in Moscow. On 27 August 1991, following the coup's collapse, Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

The leader of breakaway Transnistria Igor Smirnov was arrested, but later freed. The December elections of Stepan Topal and Igor Smirnov as presidents of their respective "republics," and the official dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of the year, had further increased tensions in Moldova.

Transnistria

Transnistrian region of Moldova

In the region east of the Dniester river, Transnistria, which includes a large proportion of predominantly Russophone ethnic Russians and Ukrainians (51%, as of 1989, with ethnic Moldovans forming a 40% plurality), and where the headquarters and many units of the Soviet 14th Guards Army were stationed, an independent "Transdnestrian Moldovan Republic" (TMR) was proclaimed on August 16, 1990, with its capital in Tiraspol.^[61] The motives behind this move were fear of the rise of nationalism in Moldova and the country's expected reunification with Romania upon secession from the USSR. In the winter of 1991-1992 clashes occurred between Transnistrian forces, supported by elements of the 14th Army, and the Moldovan police. Between March 2 and July 26, 1992, the conflict escalated into a military engagement.

The Russian military remains in the breakaway region east of the Dniester to this day, despite Russia having signed international agreements to withdraw, and against the will of Moldovan government.^[62][63] The postwar status quo remains to this day: Chişinău offers extensive autonomy, while Tiraspol demands independence. De jure, Transnistria is internationally recognized as part of Moldova, but de facto, the authorities in Chişinău do not exercise any control over that territory.^[61]

Post-independence

On December 27, 1991, Mircea Snegur, an ex-communist reformer, ran an unopposed election for the presidency. On March 2, 1992, the country achieved formal recognition as an independent state at the United Nations.

In 1992, Moldova became involved in a brief conflict against local insurgents in Transnistria, who were aided by locally stationed Russian armed forces and Don Cossacks, which resulted in the failure of Moldova to regain control over the breakaway republic.

Starting 1993, Moldova began to distance itself from Romania. The Constitution of Moldova (1994) used the term "Moldovan language" instead of "Romanian" and changed the national anthem to Limba noastră.

The 1998, 2001, 2005, April 2009, and July 2009 parliamentary elections were won by the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, which held a majority of seats.

On January 2, 1992, Moldova introduced a market economy, liberalizing prices, which resulted in huge inflation. From 1992 to 2001, the young country suffered its worst economic crisis, leaving most of the population below the poverty line. In 1993, a national currency, the Moldovan leu, was introduced to replace the Soviet ruble. The end of the planned economy also meant that industrial enterprises would have to buy supplies and sell their goods by themselves, and most of the management was unprepared for such a change. Moldova's industry, especially machine building, became all but defunct, and unemployment skyrocketed. The economic fortunes of Moldova began to change in 2001; since then the country has seen a steady annual growth of between 5% and 10%. The early 2000s also saw a considerable growth of emigration of Moldovans looking for work (mostly illegally) in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and other countries, in addition to work in Russia. Remittances from Moldovans abroad account for almost 38% of Moldova's GDP, the second-highest percentage in the world.^[64] Officially, Moldova's annual GDP is on the order of $1,000 per capita; however, a significant part of the economy goes unregistered due to corruption.

The pro-nationalist governments of prime-ministers Mircea Druc (May 25, 1990 - May 28, 1991), and Valeriu Muravschi (May 28, 1991 - July 1, 1992), were followed by a more moderate government of Andrei Sangheli, which saw the decline of the pro-Romanian nationalist sentiment.^[65] After the 1994 elections, Moldovan Parliament adopted measures that distanced Moldova from Romania.^[61] The new Moldovan Constitution also provided for autonomy for Transnistria and Gagauzia. On December 23, 1994, the Parliament of Moldova adopted a "Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia", and in 1995 it was constituted.

After winning the presidential elections of 1996, on January 15, 1997, Petru Lucinschi, the former First Secretary of the Moldavian Communist Party in 1989-91, became the country's second president. After the legislative elections on March 22, 1998, an Alliance for Democracy and Reform was formed by non-Communist parties. However, activity of the new government of prime-minister Ion Ciubuc (January 24, 1997- February 1, 1999) was marked by chronic political instability, which prevented a coherent reform program.^[61] The 1998 financial crisis in Russia, Moldova's main economic partner at the time, produced an economic crisis in the country. The standard of living plunged, with 75% of population living below the poverty line, while the economic disaster caused 600,000 people to eventually leave the country.^[61]

New governments were formed by Ion Sturza (February 19 - November 9, 1999) and Dumitru Braghiş (December 21, 1999 - April 19, 2001). On July 21, 2000, the Parliament adopted an amendment to the Constitution that transformed Moldova from a presidential to a parliamentary republic, in which the president is elected by 3/5 of the votes in the parliament, and no longer directly by the people.^[61]

2002 protests

Only 3 of the 31 political parties passed the 6% threshold of the February 25, 2001 early elections. Winning 49.9% of the vote, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (reinstituted in 1993 after being outlawed in 1991), gained 71 of the 101 MPs, and on April 4, 2001, elected Vladimir Voronin as the country's third president. A new government was formed on April 19, 2001 by Vasile Tarlev. The country became the first post-Soviet state where a non-reformed Communist Party returned to power.^[61] In March-April 2002, in Chişinău, several mass protests took place against the plans of the government to fulfill its electoral promise and introduce Russian as the second state language along with its compulsory study in schools.^[61] The government mainly renounced these plans. Relationship between Moldova and Russia deteriorated in November 2003 over a Russian proposal for the solution of the Transnistrian conflict, which Moldovan authorities refused to accept^[66] because it stipulated a 20-year Russian military presence in Moldova. The federalization plan for Moldova would have also turned Transnistria and Gagauzia into a blocking minority over all major policy matters of Moldova. As of 2006, approximately 1,200 of the 14th army personnel remain stationed in Transnistria, guarding a large ammunitions depot at Colbasna. In the last years, negotiations between the Transnistrian and Moldovan leaders have been going on under the mediation of the OSCE, Russia, and Ukraine; lately observers from the European Union and the United States have become involved, creating a 5+2 format.

In the wake of the November 2003 deadlock with Russia, a series of shifts in the external policy of Moldova occurred, targeted at rapprochement with the European Union. In the context of the EU's expansion to the east, Moldova wants to sign a Stability an Association Agreement. It implemented its first three-year Action Plan within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) of the EU.^[67][68]

In the March 2005 elections, the Party of the Communists (PCRM) won 46% of the vote, (56 of the 101 seats in the Parliament), Democratic Moldova Block (BMD) won 28.5% of the vote (34 MPs), and the Christian Democratic People Party (PPCD) won 9.1% (11 MPs). On April 4, 2005, Vladimir Voronin was re-elected as country's president, supported by a part of the opposition, and on April 8, Vasile Tarlev was again charged as head of government.^[61] On March 31, 2008, Vasile Tarlev was replaced by Zinaida Greceanîi as head of the government.

2009 civil unrest

Following the parliamentary elections on April 5, 2009 the Communist Party won 49.48% of the votes, followed by the Liberal Party with 13.14% of the votes, the Liberal Democratic Party with 12.43% and the Alliance "Moldova Noastră" with 9.77%. The opposition leaders have protested against the outcome calling it fraudulent and demanded a repeated election.

A preliminary report by OSCE observers called the vote generally free and fair. However, one member of the OSCE observation team expressed concerns over that conclusion and said that she and a number of other team members feel that there had been some manipulation, but they were unable to find any proof.^[69]

On April 6, 2009, several NGOs and opposition parties organized a protest in Chişinău, gathering a crowd of about 15,000 with the help of social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The protesters accused the Communist government of electoral fraud. Anti-communist and pro-Romanian slogans were widely used. The demonstration had spun out of control on April 7 and escalated into a riot when a part of the crowd attacked the presidential offices and broke into the parliament building, looting and setting its interior on fire.^[70][71] Police had regained control on the night of April 8, arresting and detaining several hundred protesters. Numerous detainees reported beatings by the police when released.^[71][72] The violence on both sides (demonstrators and police) was condemned by the OSCE and other international organizations.^[73][74] Three young people have died during the day the protests took place. The opposition blamed police abuse for these deaths, while the government claimed they were either unrelated to the protests, or accidents. Government officials, including President Vladimir Voronin, have called the rioting a coup d'état attempt and have accused Romania of organizing it.^[69] The opposition accused the government of organizing the riots by introducing agent provocateur among the protesters.

The political climate in Moldova remains unstable. The parliament failed to elect a new president.^[75] For this reason, the parliament was dissolved and new general elections were held on July 29, 2009, with the Communists again attaining a substantial, although weakened, plurality both in popular vote and in parliamentary seats; similar unproved allegations of voting manipulations were prevalent.

Notes

See also

• Moldavia
• Bessarabia
• History of Romania

External links

• The Republic of Moldova: An Historical Background, Survey by Dr. Vasile Nedelciuc
• www.moldovanoastra.md
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6268853.stm (Moldavians apply for Romanian citizenship).

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