România
2
Russification of Moldova
As Napoleon’s armies swept through Europe, Tsar Alexander I was
worried about Napoleon’s designs on the Balkans, a key strategic location for
the Russian Empire. Not trusting the Ottomans to defend the region, Alexander’s
army occupied the eastern portion of Moldova in 1806 (King, 18-9). Following
Napoleon’s defeat and a concurrent Russian war with the Ottomans, Russia
formally annexed Bessarabia with the Treaty of Bucharest in 1812 (King, 19).
Many in Bessarabia warmly greeted Russian annexation. It was
believed that Russia’s control over the region would modernize administration
and revitalize Moldovan culture. The early years of Russian rule did see
Moldovan customary law given a special position in the governance of the region
and Moldovan was used alongside Russian as the official administrative
languages of Bessarabia (King, 21).
This period of relative autonomy in Moldova was rather brief. The
death of Gavril Banulescu-Bodoni, the Metropolitan of Moldova and a strong
leader and defender of Moldovan identity and language in 1821, and the subsequent
coronation of the conservative Nicholas I in 1825 led to a more intense period
of Russification in Moldova. Nicholas I repealed an order mandating use of the
Moldovan language in public documents and by the middle of the nineteenth
century Russian was the sole official language of the region (King, 22).
Russian cultural control was compacted by Russian approved colonizations
into Bessarabia following the Napoleonic wars (King, 23). The influx of
Russians, Bulgarians, Germans, Jews, Tatars, Turks, and Gagauz made Bessarabia
a much more diverse location than it had been before the Russian annexation.
This new diversity forced ethnic Moldovans into a secondary role in their own
land. Russians and Jews were at the forefront of city life, while other ethnic
groups like the Germans and Turks dominated specific trades (King, 23).
Moldovans were often seen as a simple peasant people whose culture was
subordinated to that of Russia’s. This feeling of inferiority and the tumultuous
political situation in the Russian Empire allowed for the birth of a nascent
Moldovan national movement in the early part of the twentieth century.Ready to erupt, the 1905 revolution inspired and paved the way for discontent in Moldova. Two theories among the Bessarabians emerged—the young intellectuals influenced by radicalism sought social justice, land reforms, and universal suffrage while the youth supported by artists and philanthropic circles supported reform through pan-Romanian nationalism (King, 28). The older Moldovan nobles played the two groups against each other while trying to gain minor concessions from the tsar (King, 28). The 1905 revolution heightened tensions and increased the number of secret circles among students and literary scholars. A newspaper in Romanian in the Cyrillic alphabet was even published for a brief period, until the conservative reaction to the revolution suppressed most activity (King, 29). Counter tsarist culture, both pro-Romanian and pro-Moldovan, grew until the outbreak of WWI.
The Soviet revolution and WWI left Bessarabia in a confused state. An elected national assembly, the Sfatul Ţării, was convened on November 21, 1917 (King, 32). On December second an autonomous republic within Russia was declared (King, 33). However, Romania, during the course of the war, regained parts of Bessarabia which had previously been part of greater Romania. As the Bolsheviks continued their war, the Sfatul Ţării proclaimed an independent Moldovan Democratic Republic of Bessarabia despite the uncertain political climate, but three months later in March of 1918 united with Romania. Occupied before the union took place, the Moldovan state had mixed reactions, which did not follow ethnic lines. The Sfatul Ţării was disbanded, and Moldova ceased to exist.
Despite negotiations, the issue of Bessarabia was arguably not settled until the Second World War. Romania maintained the portion of modern Moldova she gained as part of Romanian expansion in the interwar years. Due to its status as contested territory and a general attitude that Bessarabia was occupied rather than united, Romanian administrators governed Bessarabia (King, 42-43). Efforts to Romanianize the region were unsuccessful, but some cultural exchange was experienced and for a brief period in the 1920s the Romanian Language prospered. Throughout the period, the Romanians acted as a counter balance to the Soviets across the Dnestr River; both sides spread propaganda against the other (King, 42).http://russiasperiphery.blogs.wm.edu...lands/moldova/The backlash against Russification during this period resulted in a Romanization of the people, while the urbanization of the people had also Moldovanized them as well. The Popular Front, the oppositional movement, called for Romanian to be the state language, there were movements for both languages (King, 120). With the Soviet Union ending, the MSSR had elections for the Supreme Soviet, a representative body, the country declared her independence in 1991(King,121). However, independence was not welcomed by all and war broke out. Transnistria, the area of Moldova that had been under Soviet control the longest, declared itself a separate country the Dnester Moldovan Republic in 1990. The area fully supported the Russian government and was deeply Soviet. Tensions escalated to a full scale war by 1991, and the two currently exist in a common state with international troops to preserve peace (King, 192). The region now looks thoroughly Soviet and little progress has occurred. The Gagauz are another splinter group in Moldova, composed of Orthodox Christian Turks. They were not selected to be the titular nationality. In the southern parts of Moldova, they began fighting for recognition in the late 1980s. However, the minor operations paled in comparison to the conflict with Transistria. Five distinct Gagauz regions have voted to be defined as Gaguaz; thus, they currently exist and operate as autonomous regions within Moldova. The regions are very poor and have little development, but are supported by Turkey.
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Originally Posted by Laberia
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