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Greater Moldova
Greater Moldova or Greater Moldavia (Romanian: Moldova Mare; Moldovan Cyrillic: Молдова Маре) 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 origins of the idea can be traced back to the 1812 annexation of Bessarabia by the Russian Empire, which was regarded as an injustice by the Principality's political elite. Their grievances, formulated as protests to the European powers, were only partly quelled by the brief reunification with southern Bessarabia (1856–1878). During that same interval, Moldavian demands fused into the larger agenda of Romanian nationalism, leading to the 1859 formation of the United Principalities and their shared aspiration toward a Greater Romania. Support for a Greater or Unified Moldavia was manifest among a subgroup of Romanian nationalists who also endorsed regional autonomy. The more particular goal of a restored Greater Moldavia, independent and fully separated from Wallachia, survived in this setting until the 1870s, being encouraged in its own aspirations by the forgeries of Constantin Sion.
Upon the end of World War II, the idea of Greater Moldova was briefly considered by the political apparatus of the Soviet Union. Initial plans were drafted by Ana Pauker and Gherasim Rudi, who wanted Soviet Moldavia (already comprising most of Bessarabia) enlarged westward toward the Siret, with Iași for its capital; their project was vetoed by Joseph Stalin. As a member of the Soviet Moldavian leadership, Nikita Salogor made other concrete proposals; his version made explicit territorial demands on both Romania and the Ukrainian SSR, generating controversy with the latter. Salogor's project was shelved, but, through the likes of Artiom Lazarev, some of its core assumptions were replicated into the 1970s. A nostalgia for the Principality was also implicit in the Soviet celebration of "Moldovan" figures who had lived in Romania. Once Moldova declared its independence in 1991, some core tenets of Greater Moldovan irredentism were tentatively embraced by both the Party of Communists and the Party of Socialists.
The Principality of Moldavia was founded in the 14th century after nobles from the neighboring voivodeship at Maramureș (notably Bogdan I and Dragoș) succeeded in creating an autonomous and later independent polity in areas claimed by the Kingdom of Hungary. Its history was intertwined with that of Wallachia, the other Romanian principality; in the 1490s, Jakob Unrest, chronicling the rule of Stephen the Great, used "Greater Moldavia" as a byword for Basarab the Old's realm in Wallachia. Immediately after reaching its maximum territorial extent under Stephen, the Moldavian principality became an Ottoman vassal in the 16th century. This tutelage engendered territorial changes, with direct annexations performed by the Sublime Porte in the southern areas. The steppe areas of the south fell to the Nogai Tatars (the "Budjak Horde"), eventually folded within the Ottomans' Silistra Eyalet. The region as a whole became known as the Budjak, but continued to house communities of Moldavian Christians; tradition holds that its northern border with Moldavia was settled c. 1700 by Halil Pasha.
The waning of Ottoman military power also brought its European provinces under threat of encroachment by the Habsburg monarchy. To obtain Habsburg neutrality during the Russian war of 1768, the Porte ceded 70,186 jugăre (400 square kilometers, or 154 square miles) of Moldavian land. This surface was annexed to the Transylvanian Military Frontier, manned by Hungarian-speaking Székelys, resulting in a lasting controversy as to whether or not it belongs to "Székely Land". A more sizable northern region, thereafter known as "Bukovina", was annexed to the Habsburg realm in Galicia in 1774. As noted by contemporary reports, peasants in that region were opposed to the "breakup in two of Moldavia's body", and hoped that Moldavia as a whole would be reunited under the House of Austria. Similar ideas were espoused by a Hungarian nationalist poet of the day, Mihály Csokonai. He wrote about the lands and people of Greater Moldavia in his Marosvásárhelyi gondolatok, in which he hopes the entire region would unify with the Kingdom of Hungary—mainly as a way of ensuring that the Csángós of Moldavia would be politically joined with other Hungarians:
Vajha Moldvának is kies parlagjai,
Ameddig terjednek a Pontus habjai,
Magyar Koronánknak árnyékába menne,
S a csángó magyar is polgártársunk lenne!
I wish that the bleak Moldavian lands
All the way to the waves of Pontus would extend,
We could live in unity under the Holy Crown
And our fellow Csángó citizens would to us be bound!
On the other side of the border, Prince Grigore Ghica had hoped to persuade the Ottomans that they should retake Bukovina for Moldavia. As reported by Austrian diplomat Thugut de Paula, "the Moldavians and all other of Ghica's creatures [...] apply all their zeal to depicting the voluntary cession of such a rich area of the country as an act of extraordinary weakness". In Bukovina District, which came to cradle some of the first forms of Romanian nationalism under a Habsburg government, Romanian folklore identified "Greater Moldavia" as the Ottoman-held areas, with Bukovina itself referred to as "Lesser Moldavia" (Moldova Mică).
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Greater Moldova
Greater Moldova or Greater Moldavia (Romanian: Moldova Mare; Moldovan Cyrillic: Молдова Маре) 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 origins of the idea can be traced back to the 1812 annexation of Bessarabia by the Russian Empire, which was regarded as an injustice by the Principality's political elite. Their grievances, formulated as protests to the European powers, were only partly quelled by the brief reunification with southern Bessarabia (1856–1878). During that same interval, Moldavian demands fused into the larger agenda of Romanian nationalism, leading to the 1859 formation of the United Principalities and their shared aspiration toward a Greater Romania. Support for a Greater or Unified Moldavia was manifest among a subgroup of Romanian nationalists who also endorsed regional autonomy. The more particular goal of a restored Greater Moldavia, independent and fully separated from Wallachia, survived in this setting until the 1870s, being encouraged in its own aspirations by the forgeries of Constantin Sion.
Upon the end of World War II, the idea of Greater Moldova was briefly considered by the political apparatus of the Soviet Union. Initial plans were drafted by Ana Pauker and Gherasim Rudi, who wanted Soviet Moldavia (already comprising most of Bessarabia) enlarged westward toward the Siret, with Iași for its capital; their project was vetoed by Joseph Stalin. As a member of the Soviet Moldavian leadership, Nikita Salogor made other concrete proposals; his version made explicit territorial demands on both Romania and the Ukrainian SSR, generating controversy with the latter. Salogor's project was shelved, but, through the likes of Artiom Lazarev, some of its core assumptions were replicated into the 1970s. A nostalgia for the Principality was also implicit in the Soviet celebration of "Moldovan" figures who had lived in Romania. Once Moldova declared its independence in 1991, some core tenets of Greater Moldovan irredentism were tentatively embraced by both the Party of Communists and the Party of Socialists.
The Principality of Moldavia was founded in the 14th century after nobles from the neighboring voivodeship at Maramureș (notably Bogdan I and Dragoș) succeeded in creating an autonomous and later independent polity in areas claimed by the Kingdom of Hungary. Its history was intertwined with that of Wallachia, the other Romanian principality; in the 1490s, Jakob Unrest, chronicling the rule of Stephen the Great, used "Greater Moldavia" as a byword for Basarab the Old's realm in Wallachia. Immediately after reaching its maximum territorial extent under Stephen, the Moldavian principality became an Ottoman vassal in the 16th century. This tutelage engendered territorial changes, with direct annexations performed by the Sublime Porte in the southern areas. The steppe areas of the south fell to the Nogai Tatars (the "Budjak Horde"), eventually folded within the Ottomans' Silistra Eyalet. The region as a whole became known as the Budjak, but continued to house communities of Moldavian Christians; tradition holds that its northern border with Moldavia was settled c. 1700 by Halil Pasha.
The waning of Ottoman military power also brought its European provinces under threat of encroachment by the Habsburg monarchy. To obtain Habsburg neutrality during the Russian war of 1768, the Porte ceded 70,186 jugăre (400 square kilometers, or 154 square miles) of Moldavian land. This surface was annexed to the Transylvanian Military Frontier, manned by Hungarian-speaking Székelys, resulting in a lasting controversy as to whether or not it belongs to "Székely Land". A more sizable northern region, thereafter known as "Bukovina", was annexed to the Habsburg realm in Galicia in 1774. As noted by contemporary reports, peasants in that region were opposed to the "breakup in two of Moldavia's body", and hoped that Moldavia as a whole would be reunited under the House of Austria. Similar ideas were espoused by a Hungarian nationalist poet of the day, Mihály Csokonai. He wrote about the lands and people of Greater Moldavia in his Marosvásárhelyi gondolatok, in which he hopes the entire region would unify with the Kingdom of Hungary—mainly as a way of ensuring that the Csángós of Moldavia would be politically joined with other Hungarians:
Vajha Moldvának is kies parlagjai,
Ameddig terjednek a Pontus habjai,
Magyar Koronánknak árnyékába menne,
S a csángó magyar is polgártársunk lenne!
I wish that the bleak Moldavian lands
All the way to the waves of Pontus would extend,
We could live in unity under the Holy Crown
And our fellow Csángó citizens would to us be bound!
On the other side of the border, Prince Grigore Ghica had hoped to persuade the Ottomans that they should retake Bukovina for Moldavia. As reported by Austrian diplomat Thugut de Paula, "the Moldavians and all other of Ghica's creatures [...] apply all their zeal to depicting the voluntary cession of such a rich area of the country as an act of extraordinary weakness". In Bukovina District, which came to cradle some of the first forms of Romanian nationalism under a Habsburg government, Romanian folklore identified "Greater Moldavia" as the Ottoman-held areas, with Bukovina itself referred to as "Lesser Moldavia" (Moldova Mică).