Southern Bessarabia is a territory that, as a result of the Crimean War, was transferred to the Moldavian Principality in 1856. As a result of the union of the latter with Wallachia, these lands became part of vassal Romania. The Berlin Treaty of 1878 returned this region to the Russian Empire. Bessarabia included such regions as Moldavia, Bukovina and Budzhak. Now their names, however, are almost forgotten.
Bessarabia - where is it now? The answer to this question is quite simple. It is a fairly large historical region in Eastern Europe. Today, Bessarabia includes most of (about 65%) of modern Moldova, with the Ukrainian Budzhak region covering the southern coastal region, and part of the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine - a small area in the north. If you look at Europe from above, this region is quite noticeable. Therefore, finding Bessarabia on the map is quite easy.
Division of territory
After the Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812) andIn the peace of Bucharest that followed, the Ottoman vassal transferred the eastern regions of the Principality of Moldavia, along with some regions previously under direct Ottoman rule, to imperial Russia. The acquisition was one of the empire's last territorial gains in Europe. The newly emerged territories were organized as the Governorate of Bessarabia, adopting the name previously used for the southern plains between the Dniester and Danube rivers. These rivers are the natural boundaries of the region. After the Crimean War in 1856, the southern regions of Bessarabia were returned to the rule of Moldavia. Russian rule was restored throughout the region in 1878, when Romania, as a result of the union of Moldavia with Wallachia, was forced to exchange these territories for Dobruja. Moldova on the map at that time seemed to be a much larger region than it is now.
Greater Romania
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the territory became the Moldavian Democratic Republic, an autonomous part of the proposed Federal Russian State. Bolshevik agitation in late 1917 and early 1918 led to the intervention of the Romanian army, ostensibly to pacify the region. Shortly thereafter, the parliamentary assembly declared independence and then union with the Kingdom of Romania. However, the legality of these acts was challenged, especially in the Soviet Union, which viewed the area as a territory occupied by Romania. This episode is now considered very shameful for the history of Romania.
Within the USSR and intime of war
In 1940, after receiving the consent of Nazi Germany under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union put pressure on Romania. Under the threat of war, she left Bessarabia, allowing the Red Army to annex the region. The area was officially integrated into the Soviet Union: the core connected parts of the Moldavian ASSR to form the Moldavian SSR, and the Slavic-majority territories in northern and southern Bessarabia were transferred to the Ukrainian SSR. Axis-aligned Romania recaptured the region in 1941 with the success of Operation Munich during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, but lost it in 1944 when the tide of the war turned. In 1947, the Soviet-Romanian border along the Prut was internationally recognized by the Treaty of Paris, ending World War II.
Between Moldova and Ukraine
During the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Moldavian and Ukrainian SSRs declared their independence in 1991, becoming the modern states of Moldova and Ukraine, while retaining the existing division of Bessarabia. After a short war in the early 1990s, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic was proclaimed in Transnistria, extending its power also to the municipality of Bender on the right bank of the Dniester.
Part of the regions inhabited by the Gagauz in the south of Bessarabia was organized in 1994 as an autonomous region within Moldova. This autonomy still exists.
Southern Bessarabia: geography
This region is bounded by the Dniester in the north and east, the Prut in the west and the lower Danube and Chernysea in the south. It has an area of 45,630 km2. It is mainly represented by hilly plains with flat steppes, is particularly fertile and has lignite deposits and quarries. The people living in the area grow sugar beets, sunflowers, wheat, corn, tobacco, wine, grapes and fruits. They also raise sheep and cattle. Currently, the main industry in the region is agricultural processing.
The main cities of the region are Chisinau (the former capital of the governorate of Bessarabia, now the capital of Moldova), Izmail and Belgorod-Dnestrovsky, historically called Cetatea Albă / Akkerman (currently both in Ukraine). Other cities of administrative or historical significance include: Khotyn, Reni and Kiliya (currently all in Ukraine), as well as Lipcani, Briceni, Soroca, B alti, Orhei, Ungheni, Bender/Tighina and Cahul (currently all in Moldova).
History
At the end of the 14th century, the newly created Principality of Moldavia, which later became Bessarabia, was already known. Subsequently, this territory was directly or indirectly, partially or completely controlled by: the Ottoman Empire (as the overlord of Moldova, with direct rule only in Budzhak and Khotyn), the Russian Empire, Romania, the USSR. Since 1991, most of the territory has formed the core of Moldova, with small areas in Ukraine.
The territory of Bessarabia has been inhabited by people for thousands of years. The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture flourished between the 6th and 3rd millennium BC. Indo-European culture spread in the region around2000 BC e.
In antiquity, the region was inhabited by the Thracians, and for shorter periods by Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians and Celts, in particular by tribes such as the Costoboci, Carpi, Brigogali, Tirageti and Bastarni. In the VI century BC. e. Greek settlers established the Tiras colony along the Black Sea coast and traded with the locals. The Celts also settled in the southern parts of Bessarabia. Their main city was Aliobrix.
Dacia
The first state believed to have included all of Bessarabia was the Dacian state of Burebista in the 1st century BC. After his death, the state was divided into smaller parts, and the central ones were united into the Dacian kingdom of Decebalus in the 1st century AD. This kingdom was defeated by the Roman Empire in 106. Southern Bessarabia had been incorporated into the empire even before that, in 57 AD, as part of the Roman province of Moesia Inferior, but was secured only after the defeat of the Dacian kingdom in 106. Romanians and Moldovans consider the Dacians and Romans to be their ancestors. The Romans built defensive earthen walls in Southern Bessarabia (such as Trajan's Lower Wall) to protect the province of Scythia Minor from incursions. Now in this region there are quite a lot of Roman buildings that attract tourists. With the exception of the Black Sea coast in the south, Bessarabia remained outside direct Roman control; countless tribes there are called free Dacians by modern historians.
In 270, the Roman authorities began to withdraw their troops to the southfrom the Danube, especially from Roman Dacia, due to the invasion of Goths and Carps. The Goths - a Germanic tribe - poured into the Roman Empire from the lower Dnieper through the southern part of Bessarabia (the Budzhak steppe), due to its geographical location and features (mainly the steppes) captured by various nomadic tribes for many centuries. In 378, the area was captured by the Huns.
After Rome
From the 3rd to the 11th centuries, the region was repeatedly invaded by various tribes: Goths, Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Magyars, Pechenegs, Cumans and Mongols. The territory of Bessarabia was covered by dozens of ephemeral kingdoms, which were dissolved when another wave of migrants arrived. These centuries were characterized by insecurity and mass displacement of these tribes. This period was later known as the "Dark Ages" of Europe or the era of migrations.
In 561, the Avars captured Bessarabia and executed the local ruler Mesamer. Following the Avars, the Slavs began to arrive in the region and found settlements. Then, in 582, the Onogur Bulgars settled in southeastern Bessarabia and northern Dobruja, from where they moved to Moesia Inferior (presumably under pressure from the Khazars) and formed the nascent region of Bulgaria. With the growth of the Khazar state in the east, the invasions began to decrease and it became possible to create larger states. According to some opinions, the southern part of Bessarabia remained under the influence of the First Bulgarian Empire until the end of the 9th century. The Bulgarians participated in the Slavicization of the local population.
Between the 8th and 10th centuries, the southern partBessarabia was inhabited by people from the Balkan-Danubian culture of the First Bulgarian Empire. Between the 9th and 13th centuries, Bessarabia is mentioned in Slavic chronicles as part of the Bolokhovensky (north) and Brodnitsky (south) voivodeships, which were considered the principalities of the early Middle Ages.
Principality of Moldova
After the 1360s, the region gradually became part of the Principality of Moldavia, which by 1392 had established control over the fortresses of Akkerman and Chilia, and the Dniester River became its eastern border. Based on the name of the region, some authors believe that in the second half of the 14th century the southern part of the region was under the rule of Wallachia (the ruling dynasty of Wallachia in this period was called Basarab). In the 15th century, the entire region was part of the Moldavian Principality. Stephen the Great ruled from 1457 to 1504 for almost 50 years, during which he won 32 battles defending his country against almost all of his neighbors (mostly Ottomans and Tatars, but also Hungarians and Poles). During this period, after each victory, he erected a monastery or church next to the battlefield in honor of Christianity. Many of these battlefields and churches, as well as old fortresses, are located in Bessarabia (mainly along the Dniester).
In 1484, the Turks invaded and captured Chile and Cetateya Albe (Ackerman in Turkish) and annexed the coastline of southern Bessarabia, which was then divided into two sanjaks (districts) of the Ottoman Empire. In 1538, the Ottomans annexed more Bessarabian lands in the south as far as Tighina, while the central and northern parts of the region remained in the possession of the principality. Moldavia (which became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire). From 1711 to 1812, the Russian Empire occupied the region five times during its wars against the Ottoman and Austrian empires.
Within Russia
According to the Bucharest Treaty of May 28, 1812, which ended the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812, the Ottoman Empire ceded the territory between the Prut and the Dniester, including the Moldavian and Turkish territories of the Russian Empire. This entire region was then called Bessarabia.
In 1814, the first German settlers arrived, who mainly came to the southern regions, and the Bessarabian Bulgarians began to settle in this region, founding cities such as Bolgrad. From 1812 to 1846, the Bulgarian and Gagauz population migrated to the Russian Empire across the Danube River, having lived for many years under repressive Ottoman rule, and settled in southern Bessarabia. Their ancestors still live there. The Turkic-speaking tribes of the Nogai Horde also inhabited the Budzhak (in Turkish Buchak) region in southern Bessarabia from the 16th to the 18th century, but were completely expelled before 1812.
Administratively, Bessarabia became a region of the Russian Empire in 1818, and a province in 1873.
According to the Adrianople Treaty, which ended the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829, the entire Danube Delta was included in the Bessarabian region. According to Stoica, the emissary of the Romanian government to the United States, in 1834 the Romanian language was banned from schools and government offices, despite 80% of the population speaking the language. It's inwill eventually lead to the banning of Romanians in churches, media and books. According to the same author, those who protested against the ban on the Romanian language could have been sent to Siberia. The history of the Black Sea region has forever preserved these episodes.
At the end of the Crimean War, in 1856, in accordance with the Treaty of Paris, the region described in the article was returned to Moldova, which led to the loss of control over it by the Russian Empire. Russia has lost a large strip of territory facing the Danube River. The Cahul-Izmail-Bolgrad strip already separated the southern part of the region from the rest. Things haven't changed much these days.
Independent Romania
In 1859, Moldavia and Wallachia united to form the Principality of Romania, which included the southern part of Bessarabia. This is the most significant episode in the history of Romania.
The Chisinau-Iasi railway was opened on June 1, 1875 in preparation for the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), and the Eiffel Bridge was opened on April 21, 1877, just three days before the start of the war. The Romanian War of Independence was fought in 1877–1878. With the help of the Russian Empire as an ally, Northern Dobruja was awarded by Romania for its role in the Russo-Turkish War.
The Provisional Government of Workers and Peasants of Southern Bessarabia was founded on May 5, 1919. This happened just after the seizure of power in Odessa by the Bolsheviks. Part of the former Bessarabia subsequently went to Romania, then to reunite with the Soviet Union.
The temporary arrival of the communists
11May 1919 The Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed an autonomous part of the RSFSR, but this was abolished through the participation of the armed forces of Poland and France in September 1919. After the victory of Bolshevik Russia in the civil war in Russia in 1922, the Ukrainian SSR was created, and in 1924 year, on a strip of Ukrainian land on the left bank of the Dniester, the Moldavian ASSR was formed, where Moldovans and Romanians made up less than a third of the inhabitants.
Under Greater Romania
In Bessarabia, under Romanian rule, there was a low population growth due to high mortality, as well as emigration. Bessarabia was also characterized by economic stagnation and high unemployment.
The Soviet Union did not recognize the accession of Bessarabia to Romania and throughout the interwar period was engaged in attempts to destabilize Romania and diplomatic disputes with the government in Bucharest over this territory. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed on August 23, 1939. In accordance with article 4 of the secret annex to the treaty, Bessarabia fell into the zone of interests of the USSR.
World War II
In the spring of 1940, Western Europe was invaded by Nazi Germany. The attention of the world community was focused on these events. On June 26, 1940, the USSR issued a 24-hour ultimatum to Romania, demanding the immediate transfer of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina under threat of war. Romania was given four days to evacuate its troops and officials. According to official Romanian sources, the two provinces had an area of 51,000 km2, and in themabout 3.75 million people lived, half of which were Romanians. Romania surrendered two days later and began evacuating. During the evacuation, from 28 June to 3 July, groups of local communists and Soviet supporters attacked retreating forces and civilians who chose to leave. Many members of minorities (Jews, ethnic Ukrainians, and others) joined in these attacks. The Romanian army was also attacked by the Soviet army, which entered Bessarabia before the Romanian administration had completed its retreat. The casu alties reported by the Romanian army during those seven days were 356 officers and 42,876 soldiers dead or missing.
The political solution to the Jewish question, as was seen by the Romanian dictator Marshal Ion Antonescu, is more in exile than in extermination. That part of the Jewish population of Bessarabia and Bukovina that did not flee until the retreat of the Soviet troops (147,000) was initially rounded up in ghettos or Nazi concentration camps and then deported during 1941–1942 on death marches to Romanian-occupied Transnistria. Cahul (Moldova) was hit hard by these ethnic cleansings.
End of War
After three years of relative peace, the German-Soviet front returned in 1944 to the land border on the Dniester. On August 20, 1944, the Red Army, numbering 3.4 million people, launched a major summer offensive, code-named "Iasi-Kishinev operation." Within five days, Soviet troops captured Bessarabia duringbilateral attack. In the battles near Chisinau and Sarata, the German 6th Army, numbering 650 thousand people, was destroyed. Simultaneously with the success of the Russian attack, Romania severed relations with the allies and changed sides. On August 23, 1944, Marshal Ion Antonescu was arrested by King Michael and then handed over to the Soviets. Throughout the existence of the USSR, Bessarabia was divided between the Ukrainian and Moldavian SRs. This is how she is now.
The Soviet Union rebuilt the region in 1944 and the Red Army occupied Romania. By 1947, the Soviets installed a communist government in Bucharest that was friendly and obedient to Moscow. The Soviet occupation of Romania continued until 1958. The Romanian communist regime did not openly raise the issue of Bessarabia or Northern Bukovina in its diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. At least 100,000 people died as a result of the post-war famine in Moldova.
Under Soviet rule
Between 1969 and 1971, several young intellectuals in Chisinau created a secret National Patriotic Front with more than 100 members who swore to fight for the creation of the Moldavian Democratic Republic, its separation from the Soviet Union and union with Romania.
In December 1971, after an informative note from the President of the State Security Council of the Romanian Socialist Republic, Ion Stenescu, to Yuri Andropov, head of the KGB, the three leaders of the National Patriotic Front, Alexander Usatiuk-Bulgar,Georg Gimp and Valeriu Graur, as well as Alexander Soltoyan, the leader of a similar underground movement in the northern part of Bukovina (Bukovina), were arrested and later sentenced to long prison terms.
As part of independent Moldova and Ukraine
With the weakening of the Soviet Union in February 1988, the first unauthorized demonstrations took place in Chisinau. At the beginning of perestroika, they soon became anti-government and demanded the official status of the Romanian (Moldovan) language instead of Russian. On August 31, 1989, after a demonstration in Chisinau, numbering 600 thousand people, Romanian (Moldovan) became the official language of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. Moldova on the map is located between Romania and Ukraine.
In 1990, the first free parliamentary elections were held, in which the opposition Popular Front won. A government was formed led by Mircea Druk, one of the leaders of the opposition. The Republic became the Moldavian SSR, and then the Republic of Moldova.
Many are interested in the question: "Bessarabia - where is it now?" Bessarabia is now divided between Moldova and Ukraine. Most of this region is part of the former. On the Ukrainian side, this region includes most of the Odessa region and Chernivtsi region.
The Republic of Moldova became independent on August 31, 1991. The young state adopted the unchanged borders of the Moldavian SSR. One of the centers of the region to which the article is devoted is the city of Cahul, Moldova.
