Bessarabia
 |
1927 map of Bessarabia from Charles Upson Clark's book |
Bessarabia or
Bessarabiya (
Basarabia in
Romanian,
Besarabya in
Turkish) was the name by which the
Imperial Russia designated the eastern part of the principality of
Moldavia ceded by the
Ottoman Empire to Russia in the aftermath of the
Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812. The remaining Moldavia united with
Wallachia in 1859 in what would become the
Kingdom of Romania. In
1918, Bessarabia declared its independence from Russia and at the end of
World War I, it united with the Kingdom of Romania.
USSR annexed Bessarabia in the beginning of
World War II (see
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) and again at the end of World War II, and reorganised it as
Moldavian SSR, by adding the
Moldavian ASSR and transferring its southern and northern parts to
Ukrainian SSR. In 1991 the Moldavian SSR declared independence from USSR as Republic of
Moldova.
|
Bessarabia region in modern South Central Europe. |
In the administrative system of the Russian Empire Bessarabia was a region of
Central Europe comprising most of current-day
Moldova and additional districts that are now in
Ukraine. It was bounded by the
Dniester river to the north and east, the
Prut to the west and the lower
Danube river and the
Black Sea to the south. It had approximately 17,600 sq mi (45,600 km²). The area has mostly hilly plains with flat
steppes, it is very fertile for agriculture, and it also has some lignite deposits and stone quarries. People living in the area grow
sugar beets,
sunflowers,
wheat,
maize,
tobacco,
wine grapes and
fruits. They also raise
sheep and
cattle. Currently, the main industry in the region is agricultural processing.
The region's main cities are
Chişinău (historical name Kishinev), the capital of Moldova,
Izmail,
Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi(historically
Cetatea Albă and
Akkerman). Other towns of administrative or historical importance include:
Hotin,
Lipcani,
Briceni,
Soroca,
Bălţi,
Orhei,
Ungheni,
Tighina (historical name Bender),
Cahul,
Reni and
Kilia (historical name Chilia).
The name Bessarabia (
Basarabia in
Romanian) derives from the
Wallachian family of Basarab, who once ruled over the southern part of the area. The name originally applied only to the southern part of the territory, which corresponds in size with the modern day
Budjak. The Turks were the first to call it "
Besarabya", which they began doing when they gained control of the area in 1484.
From the
15th to the
20th centuries, the region passed successively to:
Moldavia, the
Ottoman Empire (only the
Budjak region),
Russia,
Romania, the
Soviet Union,
Ukraine and
Moldova.
Ancient times
The territory of Bessarabia was inhabited by people for thousands of years. The Indo-European invasion occurred around the year
2000 BC. The original inhabitants were
Cimmerians, and after them came
Scythians. The people who settled in this area would later become the
Dacians/
Getae,
Thyrsagetae these being
Thracian tribes. In the
7th century BC,
Greek settlers established colonies in the region, mostly along the
Black Sea coast and traded with the locals. Also, Celts settled in the southern parts of Bessarabia, their main city being
Aliobrix.
The first state that included the whole of Bessarabia was the
Dacian kingdom of
Burebista, a contemporary of
Julius Caesar, in the
1st century BC. After his death, the state was divided into smaller pieces and was only unified in the Dacian kingdom of
Decebalus in the
1st century AD. Although this kingdom was defeated by the
Roman Empire in
106, Bessarabia was never part of it and the
Free Dacians resisted the Roman conquerors. The Romans built defensive earthen walls in Southern Bessarabia to defend the
Scythia Minor province against invasions.
The Roman Empire
romanized parts of Dacia (via colonization and cultural influence) and some of the local tribes adopted the
Latin language and customs. According to the theory of the Daco-Roman continuity the Latin culture and the Romance language (
Romanian) would later spread to encompass the cultural area of the ancient Dacians, including the region of Bessarabia. Some historians deny this and the continuity of Latin-speaking people north of the Danube. For more, see
Origin of Romanians.
In
270, the Roman authorities began to withdraw their forces from Dacia, due to the invading
Goths and
Carps. The
Goths, a Germanic tribe, poured into the Roman Empire through the southern part of Bessarabia (
Budjak), which due to its geographic position and characteristic (mainly
steppe), was sweped by various nomadic tribes. From the 5th century it was overrun by the
Huns, the
Avars, the
Bulgars. The Roman (
East Roman) influence did not die out until
567.
The Age of the migrations
From the
3rd century until the
11th century, the region was frequently invaded by
Goths,
Huns,
Avars,
Slavs,
Magyars,
Pechenegs,
Cumans and
Mongols. The territory of Bessarabia was encompased in dozens of ephemeral kingdoms which were disbanded when another wave of migrants came. Those centuries were characterized by a terrible state of insecurity and mass movement of people. The period was later known as the "
Dark Ages" of Europe.
In
561, the
Avars captured Bessarabia and executed the local ruler
Mesamer. Then, in
582,
Kuturgur Hun Bulgars settled in southern Bessarabia and northern
Dobruja, from which they moved to
Moesia under pressure from the
Magyars and formed the nascent region of
Bulgaria. By the
6th Century, Slavs started to come to the region and establish settlements. These peoples came mostly as small, strong armies of mounted warriors, and did not leave notable traces. In the 7th century, followed the
Bessians, a Thracian tribe.
With the rise of the
Khazars' state in the east, the invasions began to diminish and it was possible to create larger states. Between the
9th and
13th centuries, Bessarabia was part of the
Bolohoveni (north) and
Brodnici (south) voevodates, which were
Vlach (
Romanian) early middle-age formations. A specific group, which did not retreat to mountain regions at the time of the Tatar invasions, was called in some late middle-age chronicles the
Tigheci "republic". It was situated near the modern town of
Cahul in the southwest of Bessarabia.
The last great scale invasions were those of the Mongols and Tartars of
1241,
1290 and
1343, a small group of whom settled around the present day town of
Orhei until they were pushed out in the
1390s.
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During the Wallachian rule of Southern Bessarabia, it acquired its name. (1390 map) |
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Most of Bessarabia was for centuries part of the principality of Moldavia. (1800 map, Moldavia in dark orange) |
Principality of Moldavia
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Cetatea Alba was one of the many important castles built by Moldavia in Bessarabia |
After the
1343 and the defeat of Mongols, the region was included in the
principality of
Moldavia, which by
1392 established control over the fortresses of
Cetatea Albă and
Chilia, its eastern border becoming the river
Dnister (Nistru in Romanian).
In the latter part of the
14th century, the southern part of the region was for several decades part of
Wallachia. The main dynasty of Walachia was called Basarab, from which the current name of the region originated.
In the
15th century, the entire region was a part of the principality of Moldavia.
Åžtefan cel Mare (Stephen the Great) ruled between 1457 and 1504, a period of nearly 50 years during which he won 32 battles defending his country against the Ottomans and Tatars, 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, churches, as well as old fortresses are situated in Bessarabia.
In
1484, the Turks invaded and captured
Chilia and
Cetatea Albă (Akkerman in Turkish), and annexed the shoreline southern part of Bessarabia, which was then divided into two
sanjaks (districts) of the Ottoman Empire. In
1538, the central and northern parts of Bessarabia, as part of the principality of
Moldavia was formally a
vassal of the Ottoman Empire.
Between
1711 and 1812, the Russian Empire occupied the region five times during wars between
Ottoman Empire,
Russia, and
Austria. Between
1820 and
1846, the
Gagauz tribes migrated to the Russian Empire via the Danube, after living many oppressive years under Ottoman rule, and settled in southern Bessarabia. Turkic-speaking tribes of the
Nogai Horde also inhabited the
Budjak Region of southern Bessarabia from the 16th to 18th centuries, but were totally driven out prior to 1812.
Annexation by the Russian Empire
By the
Treaty of Bucharest of
May 28,
1812 â€" concluding the
Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812 â€" the
Ottoman Empire ceded the Eastern half of the Principality of Moldavia to the
Russian Empire. That region was then called
Bessarabia. Prior to this year, the name was used only for approximately its southern one quarter, which as stated before was already under direct Ottoman control ever since 1484.
In
1814, the first German settlers arrived and mainly settled in the southern parts and
Bessarabian Bulgarians became settling in the region, founding towns such as
Bolhrad.
Administratively, Bessarabia became an
oblast of the Russian Empire effective 1818 and a
guberniya effective 1873.
By the
Treaty of Adrianople that concluded the
Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829 the whole
delta of
Danube was added to Bessarabian Oblast.
At the end of the
Crimean War, in
1856, by the
Treaty of Paris, two districts of southern Bessarabia were returned to Moldavia, the Russian Empire lost access to the
Danube river.
In
1859,
Moldavia and
Wallachia united as the
Kingdom of Romania in 1866, including the Southern part of Bessarabia.
The Romanian War of Independence was fought in
1877-
1878, 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, the Southern part of Bessarabia was again annexed by Russia.
Incited by the authorities, the
Kishinev pogrom took place in Bessarabia on
April 6,
1903. It was the first state-inspired action against Jews in the
20th century; 47 or 49 Jews were killed, 92 severely wounded and 700 houses destroyed.
After the
Russian Revolution, a Romanian nationalist movement started to develop in Bessarabia. In the chaos brought by the Russian revolution of October
1917, a National Council (
Sfatul Ţării) was established in Bessarabia, with 120 members elected from Bessarabia and 10 elected from Transnistria (the left shore of the river Dnister, inhabited by ethnic Moldavians/Romanians).
On
January 14,
1918, during the unorderly retreat of two Russian divisions from the Romanian front, Chişinău is sacked. The
Rumcherod Committee (
Central Executive Committee of
Soviet (council)s of Workers, Soldiers and Sailors Deputies of
Romanian Front,
Black Sea Fleet and
Odessa Region) proclaimed itself the supreme power in Bessarabia. The Sfatul Ţării, unable to call up any armed forces, calls upon the Romanian government for help. On
16 January a Romanian division clears Chişinău, and the following day
Tighina on the shore of the river Dnister. The three-day Soviet power in Bessarabia ends.
Ten days later, on
January 24,
1918, Sfatul Ţării declared Bessarabia's independence as the
Moldavian Democratic Republic.
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Declaration of unification of Romania and Bessarabia |
On
April 9,
1918 (old style
March 27,
1918): the Bessarabian legislature (Sfatul Ţării) voted in favor of unification with Romania with 86 votes in favor, 3 against and 36 abstentions. The union was confirmed by Romania's Western allies in the
Treaty of Paris (1920).
Part of Romania
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Bessarabia was part of Greater Romania between 1920 and 1940 |
A Provisional Workers' & Peasants' Government of Bessarabia was founded on
May 5,
1919, in exile at
Odessa, by the
Bolsheviks.
On
May 11,
1919, the
Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed as an autonomous part of
Russian SFSR, but was abolished by the military forces of
Poland and
France in September
1919 (see
Polish-Soviet War). After the victory of
Bolshevist Russia in
Russian Civil War, the
Ukrainian SSR was created in
1922, and in
1924, a strip of Ukrainian land on the left bank of the
Dniester River was declared to be the
Moldovan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
At the
Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the union with Romania was officially recognized by the United States, France, the United Kingdom and other Western countries. Soviet Russia (and later, USSR) did not accept the union.
World War II
The
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed on
August 23,
1939. By Article 4 of the secret Annex to the Treaty, Bessarabia fell within the Soviet interest zone.
On
June 26,
1940, as a consequence of the terms of the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the USSR issued an
ultimative note that required Romania to cede Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, and evacuate in four days (otherwise war would ensue). The two provinces had an area of 20,000 square miles (51,000 km²) and they were inhabited by about 3.75 million people, mostly Romanians. Two days later,
Romanian administration started to retreat from the provinces. Soviet troops entered Bessarabia and incorporated it into the USSR, which divided it between the
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and the
Ukrainian SSR. Bessarabia's northern and southern districts (largely inhabited by Romanians and some Ukrainians and Germans) were exchanged with parts of
Transnistria (the districts on the left or eastern bank of the Dniestr, largely inhabited today by Ukrainians and Russians). Following the Soviet takeover, many Bessarabians were executed or deported to
Siberia and
Kazakhstan.
On
August 2,
1940, a Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was established on the territorries not given to Ukrainian SSR.
The
Germans of Bessarabia were offered resettlement to Germany, in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in September
1940. Fearing Soviet oppression, almost all Germans (93,000) agreed. Most of them, among them the parents of the current German President
Horst Köhler were resettled to the newly annexed Polish territories. Those who did not leave were often slaughtered while fleeing west in their wagons from the Red Army.
On
June 22nd 1941 the
Axis invasion of the Soviet Union commenced with
Operation Barbarossa, accompanied by Romanian troops. The Soviets employed the
scorched earth tactic during their forced retreat from Bessarabia and transported all movable goods to Russia by railway. At the end of July, after a year of Soviet occupation, the region was once again under Romanian control.
Even as the military operation was still in progress, Romanian troops with participation of the local populace started
pogroms against Jews of Bessarabia, resulting in thousands dead. One apparent cause for the hatred towards Jews was created by blaming them with siding with the Soviets, whom they regarded as liberators during 1940, because of Hitler's anti-Semitic eradication policy. At the same time the notorious
SS Einsatzgruppen (Einsatzgruppen-D in this case) was committing executions of Jews under the pretext that they were spies,
saboteurs,
communists. The political solution of the "
Jewish Question" was apparently seen by the Romanian
dictator Marshal
Ion Antonescu more in expulsion rather than extermination. The Jewish population (ca. 200.000) was initially moved to
ghettos or
concentration camps, in order to be deported 1941/42 in
death marches into the Romania-occupied
Transnistria, which, unlike
Greater Romania, was partially controlled by the SS.After three years of relative peace, the German-Soviet front returned
1944 to the land border on the
Dniester. On
August 20th 1944 the ca. 900,000 men strong Red Army began a major summer offensive codenamed
Operation Iassy-Kishinev. The Soviets overran Bessarabia in a two-pronged offensive within five days. In pocket battles at
Chişinău and
Sarata the German 6th Army of ca. 650.000, newly reformed after the
Battle of Stalingrad, was obliterated. Simultaneously with the success of the Russian attack, Romania broke the military alliance with Hitler and switched fronts. On August, 23rd 1944 the marshal Ion Antonescu was deposed and King Michael I reinstated in power.
Part of the Soviet Union
 |
Moldavian SSR (in red) as part of the Soviet Union (pink) |
The Soviet Union reannexed the region in
1944 and the Soviet military occupied Romania until
1958 and imposed a communist government in Bucharest by
1947, which was friendly and obedient towards Moscow. The Romanian communist regime did not raise the matter of Bessarabia and Bukovina (which was also occupied by the Soviet Union) in its diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
Between
1969 and
1971, a clandestine National Patriotic Front was established by several young intellectuals in Chişinău, totalling over 100 members, vowing to fight for the establishment of a Moldavian Democratic Republic, its scision from the Soviet Union and union with Romania.
In December 1971, following an informative note from
Ion Stănescu, the President of the Council of State Security of the Romanian Socialist Republic, to
Yuri Andropov, the chief of KGB, three of the leaders of the
National Patriotic Front,
Alexandru Usatiuc-Bulgar,
Gheorghe Ghimpu and
Valeriu Graur, as well as a forth person,
Alexandru Soltoianu, the leader of a similar clandestine movement in northern
Bukovina (Bucovina), were arrested and later sentenced to long prison terms.
Rise of the Independent Moldova
With the weakening of the Soviet Union, on February
1988, the first non-sanctioned demonstrations were held in Chişinău. At first pro-Perestroika, they soon turned anti-government and demanded official status for the Moldavian (Romanian) language instead of the Russian language.
On
August 31,
1989, following a 600,000-strong demonstration in Chişinău four days earlier, Moldavian (Romanian) became the official language of Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. This was not implemented for many years.
In
1990, the first free elections were held for the Parliament, with the opposition
Frontul Popular (People's Front) all but winning them. A government led by
Mircea Druc, one of the leaders of
Frontul Popular, was formed. The Moldavian SSR becomes SSR Moldova, and later the Republic of Moldova.
The
Republic of Moldova became independent in
1991 and its boundaries (those established on
August 2,
1940) remained unchanged.
The population before
World War II consisted of Moldavians (
Romanians),
Ukrainians,
Bulgarians,
Germans,
Gagauz,
Ruthenians and
Jews. Over two-thirds of the population were Moldavians/Romanians.
*
1889:1,628,867.
*
1897:1,936,392.
*
1970: 69% of Bessarabia's population were Romanians and 98% of them declared Moldavian (Romanian) as their native language.
*
1989: There were 88,419
Bessarabian Bulgarians 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 according to the census not including Bulgarians in Transnistria.
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 (1,1%)
* 6.000 Russians (0,6%)
Russian Census 1897, (total 1,935,412 inhabitants)
* 1.092.000 Romanians (56%)
* 373.000 Russians and Ukrainians (18,9%)
* 229.000 Jews (11,7%)
* 259.000 Other (13,4%) - Germans, Bulgarians, Gagauz, etc.
Romanians Census 1930, (total 2,800,000 inhabitants)
* 57 % Romanians
* 12 % Russians
* 11 % Ukrainians
* 7 % Jews
* 6 % Bulgarians
* 3 % Germans
* 1 % Other(Gagauz, Roma, Greeks, Armenians)
*
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 8-1/2in, so that cars could be run to the rest of Europe. Also, there were only a few inefficient bridges of boats. Romanian highway engineers decided to build ten bridges:
Cuzlău,
Ţuţora,
Lipcani,
Şerpeniţa,
Ştefăneşti-
Brănişte,
Cahul-
Oancea,
Bădărăi-
Moara Domnească,
Sărata,
Bumbala-
Leova,
Badragi and
Fălciu (Fălciu is a locality in Romania. Its correspondent in Bessarabia is Cantemir). Of these, only four were ever finished: Cuzlău, Fălciu, Lipcani and Sărata.
*
Moldova*
Odessa Oblast*
Chernivtsi Oblast*
History of the Jews in Bessarabia*
Bessarabian Bulgarians*
Dazdie*
Moldavian wine*
Charles Upson Clark. 1927. "Bessarabia: Russia and Roumania on the Black Sea". (An electronic version of the book).*
Bessarabia Germans from Russia Web Site*
Camps, Ghettos and Massacre sites in Romania-Bessarabia 1941-1942*
Jews in Bessarabia on the eve of WWII*
Massacres, deportations & death marches from Bessarabia, from July 1941*
Scholtoi - a village in the North of Bessarabia*
Hannowka - a German village in Bessarabia 1896-1940 (website in German)
