The history of Moldova can be traced to the 1350s, when the Principality of Moldavia, the medieval precursor of modern Moldova and Romania, was founded. The principality was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire from 1538 until the 19th century. In 1812, following one of several Russian–Turkish wars, the eastern half of the principality, Bessarabia, was annexed by the Russian Empire. In 1918, Bessarabia briefly became independent as the Moldavian Democratic Republic and, following the decision of the Parliament, united with Romania. During the Second World War it was occupied by the Soviet Union which reclaimed it from Romania. It joined the Union in 1940 as the Moldavian SSR, until the dissolution of the USSR. In 1991 the country declared independence as the Republic of Moldova.
Bessarabia is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coastal region and part of the Ukrainian Chernivtsi Oblast covering a small area in the north.
Moldovan or Moldavian is one of the two local names for the Romanian language in Moldova. Moldovan was declared the official language of Moldova in Article 13 of the constitution adopted in 1994, while the 1991 Declaration of Independence of Moldova used the name Romanian. In 2003, the Moldovan parliament adopted a law defining Moldovan and Romanian as glottonyms for the same language. In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova interpreted that Article 13 of the constitution is superseded by the Declaration of Independence, thus giving official status to the name Romanian. The breakaway region of Transnistria continues to recognize "Moldavian" as one of its official languages, alongside Russian and Ukrainian. Ukraine also continued until recently to make a distinction between Moldovan and Romanian, with one village declaring its language to be Romanian and another declaring it to be Moldovan, though Ukrainian officials have announced an intention to remove the legal status of Moldovan. On 16 November 2023, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Ukrainian government stated that it has initiated steps to abolish the Moldovan language and to replace it with Romanian. On 13 January 2024, Ukrainian newspaper Dumska reported that the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science had announced all 16 schools in Odesa Oblast teaching "Moldovan" had dropped the term in favor of Romanian. On 16 March 2023, the Moldovan Parliament approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution. On 22 March, the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, promulgated the law.
The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic or Moldavian SSR, also known as the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldovan SSR, Soviet Moldavia, Soviet Moldova, or simply Moldavia or Moldova, was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 from parts of Bessarabia, a region annexed from Romania on 28 June of that year, and parts of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, an autonomous Soviet republic within the Ukrainian SSR.
Bender or Bendery, also known as Tighina, is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under de facto control of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria) (PMR) since 1992. It is located on the western bank of the river Dniester in the Romanian historical region of Bessarabia.
The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, shortened to Moldavian ASSR, was an autonomous republic of the Ukrainian SSR between 12 October 1924 and 2 August 1940, encompassing the modern territory of Transnistria as well as much of the present-day Podilsk Raion of Ukraine. It was an artificial political creation inspired by the Bolshevik nationalities policy in the context of the loss of larger Bessarabia to Romania in April 1918. In such a manner, the Bolshevik leadership tried to radicalize pro-Soviet feelings in Bessarabia with the goal of setting up favorable conditions for the creation of a geopolitical "place d'armes" (bridgehead), in an attempt to execute a breakthrough in the direction of the Balkans by projecting influence upon Romanian Bessarabia, which would eventually be occupied and annexed in 1940 after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
The Romanian Cyrillic alphabet is the Cyrillic alphabet that was used to write the Romanian language & Church Slavonic until the 1860s, when it was officially replaced by a Latin-based Romanian alphabet. Cyrillic remained in occasional use until the 1920s, mostly in Russian-ruled Bessarabia.
Moldovans, sometimes referred to as Moldavians, are a Romance ethnic group who speak the Moldavian dialect of the Romanian language, locally also referred to as the Moldovan language. They form the largest ethnic group of the Republic of Moldova and a significant minority in Romania, Italy, Ukraine and Russia. There is an ongoing controversy, in part involving the linguistic definition of ethnicity, over whether Moldovans' self-identification constitutes an ethnic group distinct and separate from Romanians, or a subset. The extent of self-identification as Romanians in the Republic of Moldova varies.
The modern Gagauz alphabet is a 31-letter Latin-based alphabet modelled on the Turkish alphabet and Azerbaijani. It is used to write the Gagauz language.
Moldovenism is a term used to describe the political support and promotion of a Moldovan identity and culture, including a Moldovan language, independent from those of any other ethnic group, the Romanians in particular. It is primarily used as a pejorative by the opponents of such ideas as part of the wider controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova.
This is the history of Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester river and the Moldovan–Ukrainian border, as well as some land on the other side of the river's bank.
The Romanian-language schools in Transnistria are subject to limitations by the government of Transnistria, an unrecognized breakaway region of Moldova since 1992.
The coat of arms of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted on 10 February 1941 by the government of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The coat of arms is based on the coat of arms of the Soviet Union. It shows symbols of agriculture, an outer rim featuring wheat, corn, grapes and clover. The red banner bears the Soviet Union state motto in both the Romanian language and the Russian language. In Romanian, it was initially "Пролетарь дин тоате цэриле, униць-вэ!"; then, from the 1950s "Пролетарь дин тоате цэриле, уници-вэ!". Both are written in the Latin alphabet as "Proletari din toate țările, uniți-vă!". The acronym MSSR is shown only in Romanian in Moldovan Cyrillic ("РССМ"). The emblem was replaced on 3 November 1990 by the present coat of arms of Moldova. Currently, the unrecognized breakaway state of Transnistria uses a similar state emblem.
Numerous Cyrillic alphabets are based on the Cyrillic script. The early Cyrillic alphabet was developed in the 9th century AD and replaced the earlier Glagolitic script developed by the theologians Cyril and Methodius. It is the basis of alphabets used in various languages, past and present, Slavic origin, and non-Slavic languages influenced by Russian. As of 2011, around 252 million people in Eurasia use it as the official alphabet for their national languages. About half of them are in Russia. Cyrillic is one of the most-used writing systems in the world. The creator is Saint Clement of Ohrid from the Preslav literary school in the First Bulgarian Empire.
The union of Bessarabia with Romania was proclaimed on April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918 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 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.
A controversy exists over the national identity and name of the native language of the main ethnic group in Moldova. The issue more frequently disputed is whether Moldovans constitute a subgroup of Romanians or a separate ethnic group. While there is wide agreement about the existence of a common language, the controversy persists about the use of the term "Moldovan language" in certain political contexts.
Literature of Moldova comprises the literature of the principality of Moldavia, the later trans-Prut Moldavia, Bessarabia, the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the modern Republic of Moldova, irrespective of the language. Although there has been considerable controversy over linguistic identity in Moldova, the Moldovan and Romanian languages are virtually identical and share a common literary history. Moldovan literature, therefore, has considerable overlap with Romanian literature.
Greater Moldova or Greater Moldavia is an irredentist concept today used for the credence that the Republic of Moldova should be expanded with lands that used to belong to the Principality of Moldavia or were once inside its political orbit. Historically, it also meant the unification of the lands of the former principality under either Romania or the Soviet Union. Territories cited in such proposals always include Western Moldavia and the whole of Bessarabia, as well as Bukovina and the Hertsa region; some versions also feature parts of Transylvania, while still others include areas of Podolia, or Pokuttia in its entirety. In most of its post-Soviet iterations, "Greater Moldova" is associated with a belief that Moldovans are a distinct people from Romanians, and that they inhabit parts of Romania and Ukraine. It is a marginal position within the Moldovan identity disputes, corresponding to radical forms of an ideology polemically known as "Moldovenism".
The Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania is a holiday of Romania celebrated every 27 March to commemorate the union of Bessarabia with Romania on 27 March 1918. Bessarabia is a Romanian historical region that was part of the Principality of Moldavia, which united with Wallachia to form modern Romania. The region was annexed in 1812 by the Russian Empire, but it became independent and united with Romania on 27 March 1918.
Pavel Chioru, Chior, or Kior, known in full as Pavel Ivanovici Chioru-Ianachi, was a Moldovan journalist, folklorist, and Soviet politician. He was among the Bessarabian youths who rejected that region's union with Romania, and consequently fled into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, where he joined his communist father. Chioru Jr served in the Red Army and the Cheka, seeing action in the Russian Civil War; training as a political commissar, and known to the leadership of the Communist Party (CPSU), he emerged from the war as an author of Soviet propaganda with literary and musical preoccupations. His father became a founding figure of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (MASSR), established in Ukrainian territory as a statement of Soviet territorial claims on Bessarabia; though Chioru Sr died in 1926, his son continued his political work, moving to Balta.
