page_title: History of Moldova
section_title: Part of Greater Romania
hierarchical_section_title: History of Moldova / Part of Greater Romania
caption_attribution_description: English: Stamp of Moldova
context_page_description: 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. In time of Second World War it was freed by Soviet Union from German occupation and joined it as Moldavian ASsr, until the dissolution of the USSR. In 1991 the country declared independence as the Republic of Moldova.
context_section_description: After 1918 Bessarabia was under Romanian jurisdiction for the next 22 years. This fact was recognized in the 1920 Treaty of Paris which, however, has never come into force since it was not ratified by Japan. The newly communist Russia did not recognize the Romanian rule over Bessarabia. The Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed on May 5, 1919 in Odessa as a "Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government in exile" and established on May 11, 1919 in Tiraspol as an autonomous part of Russian SFSR. Furthermore, Russia and later, the Soviet Union, considered the region to be Soviet territory under foreign occupation and conducted numerous diplomatic attempts to reclaim it. No diplomatic relations existed between the two states until 1934. During that time, both countries subscribed to the principle of non-violent resolution of territorial disputes in the Kellogg-Briand Treaty of 1928 and the Treaty of London of July 1933. Meanwhile, the neighboring region of Transnistria, part of the Ukrainian SSR at the time, was formed into the Moldavian ASSR after the failure of the Tatarbunary Uprising in 1924.
  The land reform, implemented by Sfatul Țării in 1918–1919, resulted in a rise of a middle class, as 87% of the region's population lived in rural areas. The reform was however marred by the small size of the awarded plots, as well as by preferential allotment of land to politicians and administrative personnel who had supported the political goals of the Romanian government. Generally, urban development and industry were insignificant, and the region remained primarily an agrarian rural region throughout the interwar period. Certain improvements were achieved in the area of education, the literacy rate rising from 15.6% in 1897 to 37% by 1930; however, Bessarabia continued to lag behind the rest of the country, the national literacy rate being 60%. During the inter-war period, Romanian authorities also conducted a program of Romanianization that sought to assimilate ethnic minorities throughout the country. The enforcement of this policy was especially pervasive in Bessarabia due to its highly diverse population, and resulted in the closure of minority educational and cultural institutions.
  On 1 January 1919 the Municipal Conservatory (the Academy of Music) was created in Chişinău, in 1927 – the Faculty of Theology, in 1934 the subsidiary of the Romanian Institute of social sciences, in 1939 – municipal picture gallery. The Agricultural State University of Moldova was founded in 1933 in Chișinău. The Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1939 by the sculptor Alexandru Plămădeală. Gurie Grosu was the first Metropolitan of Bessarabia.
  The first scheduled flights to Chișinău started on 24 June 1926, on the route Bucharest – Galați – Iași – Chișinău. The flights were operated by Compagnie Franco-Roumaine de Navigation Aérienne – CFRNA, later LARES.
  The first society of the Romanian writers in Chișinău was formed in 1920, among the members were Mihail Sadoveanu, Ștefan Ciobanu, Tudor Pamfile, Nicolae Dunăreanu, N.N.Beldiceanu, Apostol D.Culea. Writer and Journalist Bessarabian Society took an institutionalized form in 1940. The First Congress of the Society elected as president Pan Halippa as Vice President Nicolae Spătaru, and as secretary general Nicolae Costenco.
  Viața Basarabiei was founded in 1932 by Pan Halippa. Radio Basarabia was launched on 8 October 1939, as the second radio station of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company. The Capitoline Wolf was opened in 1926 and in 1928 the Stephen the Great Monument, by the sculptor Alexandru Plămădeală, was opened.
caption: Museum of Fine Arts, 1939
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