Union of Bessarabia with Romania

On April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, the Sfatul Țării, or National Council, of Bessarabia proclaimed union with the Kingdom of Romania. 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 wide-spread distrust of Romanian rule, feared an overt annexation would lead to a revolutionary situation.

The 1812 Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empires 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 Habsburg 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.

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