The union of Bessarabia with Romania was proclaimed on by Sfatul Țării, the legislative body of the Moldavian Democratic Republic. This state had the same borders of the region of Bessarabia, which was annexed by the Russian Empire following the Treaty of Bucharest of 1812 and organized first as an Oblast (autonomous until 1828) and later as a Governorate. Under Russian rule, many of the native Tatars were expelled from parts of Bessarabia and replaced with Moldavians, Wallachians, Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Greeks, Russians, Lipovans, Cossacks, Gagauzes and other peoples, although colonization was not limited to formerly Tatar-inhabited lands. Russia also tried to integrate the region by imposing the Russian language in administration and restricting education in other languages, notably by later banning the use of Romanian in schools and print.
The beginning of World War I saw an increase in national awareness among the Bessarabians, and, following the beginning of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Bessarabia proclaimed its own parliament, the Sfatul Țării, which declared the Moldavian Democratic Republic. Following a Romanian military intervention, with the Romanian Army firmly in control of the region, the Sfatul Țării voted for independence and later proclaimed, on , its union with the Kingdom of Romania. Although the unification was made under various conditions, all of these except the promise of an agrarian reform, which was carried out, were later abandoned by a minority of the Sfatul. Later, the Romanian administration swiftly dissolved the assembly and rejected the protests of the former deputies. In the peace talks after World War I, the European powers awarded Bessarabia to Romania, although the newly formed Russian SSR, and the United States never recognized this.
However, the situation in Bessarabia would change after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union (USSR) and Nazi Germany, in which the latter expressed its disinterest in the region. This allowed the USSR to send an ultimatum to Romania, which was now diplomatically isolated following the capitulation of France, the guarantor of its borders, on 26 June 1940 in which it demanded Bessarabia and also Northern Bukovina (which had not been agreed upon with Germany). After Romania accepted it, the USSR invaded these territories, ending Romanian administration of the zone (excepting a brief interruption from 1941 to 1944, when Romania reacquired these territories). Bessarabia was organized and split between the Ukrainian SSR and the new Moldavian SSR, which gained independence in 1991 as Moldova. Ever since, there has been a growing movement to reunite the region with Romania, with supporters in Romania and Moldova commemorating the day of the union, 27 March, on the Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania.
Governorate of Bessarabia
The 1812 Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire provided for Russian annexation of the eastern part of the territory of the Principality of Moldavia, as well as the Turkish-ruled regions of Khotyn and Budjak (Southern Bessarabia). At first, the Russians used the name "Oblast of Moldova and Bessarabia", allowing a large degree of autonomy, but in 1828 Russia suspended the self-administration and called it the Governorate of Bessarabia, or simply Bessarabia. While the northeastern part of Moldavia, called Bukovina, was similarly annexed by the Austrian Empire, the western part of Moldavia remained an autonomous principality, and in 1859, united with Wallachia to form the Kingdom of Romania. In 1856, the Treaty of Paris returned the south of Bessarabia to Moldavia, but in 1878, the Kingdom of Romania returned them to the Russian Empire as a result of the Treaty of Berlin.
At the time of annexation, Moldavianregarded as Romanian by some authors population predominated in Bessarabia."The first Russian census after the annexation (1816) revealed a province almost solidly Roumanian – of a population of about half a million, 92.5% Moldavian and Ukrainian, 1.5% Lipovans (Russian heterodox), 4.5% Jews, 1.6% other races" The colonization of the region in the 19th century led to a large increase in the Russian, Ukrainian, Lipovan, and Cossack population in the region; this together with a large influx of Bulgarian immigrants increased the Slavic population to more than a fifth of the total population by 1920.text from a 1927 source: "Today, the Bulgarians form one of the most solid elements in Southern Bessarabia, numbering (with the Gagaoutzi, Turkish-speaking Christians also from the Dobrudja) nearly 150,000. Colonization brought in numerous Great Russian peasants, and the Russian bureaucracy imported Russian office-holders and professional men; according to the Roumanian estimate of 1920, the Great Russians were about 75,000 in number (2.9%), and the Lipovans and Cossacks 59,000 (2.2%); the Little Russians (Ukrainians) came to 254,000 (9.6%). That, plus about 10,000 Poles, brings the total number of Slavs to 545,000 in a population of 2,631,000, or about one-fifth" Other groups, such as Gagauz, Jews, and Germans also settled in the region during the Russian rule.
The Tsarist policy in Bessarabia was in part aimed at denationalization of the Moldavian element by forbidding after the 1860s education and Liturgy in Romanian. However, the effect was an extremely low literacy rate (in 1897, 18% for males and 4% for females) rather than denationalization.Naturally, this system resulted not in acquisition of Russian by the Moldavians, but in their almost complete illiteracy in any language Some Romanian historians claimed that a strong sentiment of frustration and resentment to the Russian control had started to appear before the beginning of World War I. text: "The Russians are now holding their celebration of a century of material possession of Bessarabia. But her spirit they do not possess, nor shall they ever possess it. In the celebration of the Russians, the Moldavians have no share except that of deep and painful silence. The whole Roumanian people feels this pain, and does not lose hope that Bessarabia, and with her the Roumanian people, will have a chance to celebrate in her turn the day of salvation. It will come. History repeats itself so often, and the historical maxim remains: Babylon was, the Empire of Alexander of Macedon was, the Roman Empire was, the Byzantine Empire was, and the time will come to say of other empires also-they were. Not so long ago was 1855 with the Crimea, and not so long ago was Port Arthur and Tzushima, and-Great is the Lord God of Hosts!-it will be again, surely it will be again!"
Moldavian Democratic Republic
World War I brought a rise in political, cultural and national awareness in the population, as 300,000 Bessarabians enrolled in the Russian Army formed in 1917, within bigger units several "Moldavian Soldiers' Committees". Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Bessarabia elected its own parliament, Sfatul Țării (October–November 1917), which opened on , proclaimed the Moldavian Democratic Republic (), formed its government (), proclaimed independence from Russia ().
The Union Act
On , Sfatul Țării decided with 86 votes for, 3 against and 36 abstaining (mostly non-Romanians), for union with the Kingdom of Romania, conditional upon the fulfillment of agrarian reform, local autonomy, and respect for universal human rights.Sfatul Tarii ... proclamate Moldavian Democratic Republic Pelivan (Chronology)Cazacu (Moldova, pp. 240–245). This was in spite of the fact that the national referendum necessary under the law had not taken place.
Fearing a radical land reform, the county councils of Bălți, Soroca and Orhei, dominated by large landowners, were the earliest to ask for unification with the Kingdom of Romania, deeming the royal government preferable to the Sfatul Țării, dominated by left-wing populists. On April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, Sfatul Țării voted in favour of the union, with the following conditions:
Sfatul Țării would undertake an agrarian reform, which would be accepted by the Romanian Government. Bessarabia would remain autonomous, with its own diet, Sfatul Țării, elected democratically Sfatul Țării would vote for local budgets, control the councils of zemstvos and cities, and name the local administration Conscription would be done on a territorial basis Local laws and the form of administration could be changed only with the approval of local representatives The rights of minorities had to be respected Two Bessarabian representatives would be part of the Romanian government Bessarabia would send to the Romanian Parliament a number of representatives equal to the proportion of its population All elections must involve a direct, equal, secret, and universal vote Freedom of speech and of belief must be guaranteed in the constitution All individuals who had committed felonies for political reasons during the revolution would be amnestied.
Greater Romania
There were 86 votes for, 3 votes against and 36 deputies abstained. The first condition for agrarian reform was debated and approved in November 1918, and following this, Sfatul Țării voted a motion which removed all the other conditions, trusting that Romania would be a democratic country. The vote, which renounced Bessarabia's autonomy, has been judged illegitimate, since there was no quorum: only 44 of the 125 members took part in it (all voted "for").
The historian Bernard Newman, who traveled by bicycle through the whole of Greater Romania, claimed there is little doubt that the vote represented the prevailing wish in Bessarabia and that the events leading to the unification indicate there was no question of a "seizure", but a voluntary act on the part of its people.Bernard Newman, "The new Europe", p. 245
The Romanian prime-minister at the time, Alexandru Marghiloman, was to admit however that the unification was decided in Romania, as the Moldavian leaders Daniel Ciugureanu and Ion Inculeț, aware of the widespread distrust of Romanian rule, feared an overt annexation would lead to a revolutionary situation.van Meurs, Wim, The Bessarabian question in communist historiography, East European Monographs, 1994, pp. 68–69
In the autumn of 1919, general elections were held in Bessarabia to elect 90 deputies and 35 senators to the Romanian parliament – the Constituent Assembly. On 20 December 1919, the elected representatives ratified, along with their colleagues from the other historic provinces, the unification acts that had been approved by Sfatul Țării and the National Congresses in Transylvania and Bukovina.