1848 Moldavian Revolution

The Moldavian Revolution of 1848 was an unsuccessful Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist revolt in the principality of Moldavia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the successful uprising in Wallachia, it sought to overturn the administration imposed by Imperial Russian authorities under the Regulamentul Organic regime. Led by a group of young intellectuals, it was quickly suppressed. This was despite the fact that the Moldavian revolutionaries were more moderate and willing to compromise in their demands for reforms than their Wallachian counterparts, as Moldavian political and social life continued to be dominated by a landed, conservative aristocracy, with the middle class still embryonic.

In Moldavia the boyars, from whose lower ranks the revolutionaries would be drawn, had come into sharp conflict with Prince Mihail Sturdza, objecting to his authoritarianism and failure to consult them, with some desiring the throne for themselves. They denounced him to Saint Petersburg and Istanbul, forming plots in the general assembly, but as they were internally divided and lacked popular support, Sturdza remained unconcerned at these flare-ups.

The peasantry was also aggrieved, and between 1846 and 1848 opposition to Sturdza intensified. The commercial and industrial associations of Iaşi (the capital city) in 1846 protested against the prince's plan to raise taxes again; in several rural areas small and middle-size landlords objected to paying additional taxes; and the summer of 1847 saw sharp contests in several judeţe by liberal boyars for seats in the general assembly. Peasants in Moldavia and Wallachia refused to perform labour services, with violence and flight abroad increasing in autumn 1847 and the next spring. Eager for change, intellectuals were roused by the February revolution in Paris, where a number of them were studying.

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