Romania is a country located in the Balkans, and geographically, Romania has a unique agricultural environment. In terms of resources, the mineral resources of the Carpathian Mountains and the oil resources of the Romanian plains also determine that it can be regarded as a small local strength in the economy.
It is just that this country is in a place of four wars, and it has been divided and invaded many times in history. In particular, Moldova, one of the three principalities of Romania, is the land of four wars, which has been fought over by Poles, Hungarians, Ottomans and Russians in history.
As early as the 14th century, Moldova was also called the Principality of Moldavia, and merchants could go down the Transnistrian River, all the way into the Black Sea and then trade with the Byzantines and Seljuks. Or enter the Don River via the Black Sea and travel all the way to the southern volga region to trade with the Slavs and Turkmens. At the same time, the Transnistrian River was also a defensive line for Moldova against the aggression of the Golden Horde, effectively preventing the Mongols from threatening the Balkans.
Romania during this period was divided into three principalities, Moldavia was one of them, and the other two principalities were Transylvania and Wallachia, and you heard it right, it was Wallachia, the birthplace of the legend of Count Dracula. Together, these three principalities constitute Romania, and the reason why they are called Romania is because it was once a colony of the Roman Empire, and the locals had long accepted Roman culture, and even many people had Western Roman ancestry.
At that time, in the southern Balkans, the dominant culture was Greek culture. These three principalities can be said to be unique and still retain a strong Western Roman cultural tradition, so the relations between these three principalities and Eastern Rome, Greece and Russia are not very good.
Everyone also knows that the Balkan region is a place of right and wrong, especially the southern Balkan region is located at the confluence of eurasia, which is naturally a place where soldiers must fight. Thus the Hungarians spied on Transylvania, the Eastern Romans and the Seljuks spied on Wallachia, the East and West Slavs, the Poles and the Russians, snooped into the territory of the Principality of Moldavia.
In the mid-14th century, Hungary successfully occupied Transylvania, and fortunately also occupied Moldavia, and obtained the Black Sea outlet as desired, for landlocked countries, the sea outlet can be said to be a long-cherished wish, only with the sea outlet, can stimulate economic development.
Although under Hungarian rule, the Marza and Moldavians formed a military alliance to jointly defend the Mongols. But the union was actually extraordinarily fragile, the Hungarian king wanted only territory, and in his eyes the locals were nothing more than the economic appendages of the kingdom, and the Hungarian king tried to squeeze every penny out of the locals, and the overwhelmed Moldavians (Moldovans) were forced to rise up and drive out the Hungarians.
Since then, the three Romanian principalities have begun the road to unification, but Hungary firmly controls Northern Transylvania, and due to the large number of immigrants from Hungary and the Teutonic Knights to the region, the local culture and customs have also undergone great changes. It was difficult for the three principalities to come together again, and the recovery of lost land had become a long-cherished wish of Romanians for hundreds of years.
As we all know, later during the Second World War, Romania fought against the water, assisted the Soviet army in fighting Hungary more courageously than the Soviet army, and the fight between the Hungarian army and the Romanian army even stunned the Soviets and Germans who had seen the big scene.
After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire began to invade Wallachia and Moldavia (Moldova), and although the two principalities tried to organize resistance, everything seemed futile in the face of a large Number of Ottoman troops. The outnumbered Wallachia and Moldavia (Moldavia) had no choice but to submit to the Ottomans. In this way, a large number of Ottoman nobles and Seljuks were moved to the lands of the two principalities, forming a mixed situation of Ottoman and Dacian nobles.
Later, the Kingdom of Austria and the Russian Empire joined forces to attack the Ottoman-controlled Balkans, Austria occupied Transylvania, and Russia occupied parts of Moldavia. This also led to the division of Moldavia into two, with Russia dominating the northeastern region and Ottoman control of the West Transnistrian and Black Sea coasts, a pattern that was partly dug into the later territorial demarcation of Moldova.
After the decline of the Ottoman Empire, Romania was unified by the Seljuk Turkish and Dacian nobles. The unification of Romania, though very weak, was interesting. The Turkish and Dacian nobles declared Romania to inherit both Eastern Roman and Ottoman jurisprudence, more than the self-proclaimed Third Roman Orthodoxy of Russia next door.
Kolansivania remained under Austrian control, and eastern Moldavia (Moldova) remained in Russian hands. During the period of Russian rule in eastern Moldavia, a large number of East Slavs were migrated to the local area, and there was a group of Polish West Slavic immigrants earlier in the local area, which made the proportion of Slavs in the local population reach a height of nearly 50%, making Posarabia form a Russian-speaking area and a Latin-speaking area, which can be said to be a powerful factor for Russia to consolidate its rule, and also laid the groundwork for the later Soviet seizure of the Besarabia region.
After the end of World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated and the Russian Empire fell into civil war. Romania was able to regain all of Transylvania and Moldavia, fulfilling the long-cherished wish of Romanians for hundreds of years. At the same time, the recovery of all of Moldavia (Moldova) also extended the Coastline of Romania, after all, the Gulf of Transnistini is a natural port, so that Romania has more access to the sea, which is a great help to stimulate economic trade.
It was just that Romania imposed property and rights restrictions on the local Slavs, who had long been desperate for Tsarist Russia, and as a result, Romania made such a scene, which caused the local Slavs to ask the Soviet Union for protection. The Soviet Union also launched a blitzkrieg on this ground, occupying the Moldovan Republic of Romania in a short period of time and transforming it into a Bessarabia Republic belonging to the Soviet Union.
After the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, Romania entered the war as an Axis power, recapturing Bessarabia for a time and occupying the southern coastal areas of Ukraine. Out of revenge against the Soviet Union, Romania also created the Odessa massacre, killing more than 70,000 locals.
The Axis war took a sharp turn for the worse in 1944, and Romania defected to the Soviet side and joined the Soviet side, although it escaped Soviet retaliation, but Vissarabia was once again occupied by the Soviet Union. During the Khrushchev period, the southern coastal areas of Bessarabia were assigned to Ukraine, resulting in the loss of coastal territory in Bessarabia (Moldova).
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moldova inherited the territory divided during the Khrushchev period, and its southern offshore area was incorporated into Ukraine, thus making Moldova a completely landlocked country. For Moldova, perhaps the merger with Romania to achieve Romanian reunification would be a more ideal option, but due to its internal ethnic composition, coupled with the intervention of Russia and Ukraine, the merger proposal could only be abandoned.
Faced with Russia and Ukraine, which are far more powerful than itself, Romania can only reluctantly accept the reality of Moldova's "isolated overseas".
bibliography:
History and Mythology of Romania
Medieval Southeastern Europe
The Balkans in the Middle Ages