European Kingdoms

Moldavia & Bessarabia

There is no archaeological evidence of a Scandinavian origin for the Przeworsk culture, but there is some evidence of an undetermined connection between north-western Europe (Jutland, Holstein, Mecklenburg) and central Poland, western Ukraine, and Moldova at the crossover from Early Pre-Roman Iron Age into the late period, during the second half of the third century BC. The nature of this connection is still the subject of study by a good many scholars from many northern and Eastern European countries, but it would seem to offer tentative support to a migration of early Germanic tribes from Jutland and surrounding environs.

Much of Moldavia was occupied by the Germanic Bastarnae in the first century BC, but parts of this tribe were subjugated by Rome and resettled on the south bank of the Danube, while the rest came to be dominated by the Goths. Subsequently, the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia were the first Vlach (Romance-language) states to form north of the Danube. They appeared once the incursions by nomadic Steppe peoples such as the Huns and Mongols had ceased. They were never subject to the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople, and they occupied territories that had only been partially occupied and then swiftly abandoned by the Roman empire in the third century.

As with Wallachia, during the fourteenth century, the principality of Moldavia gained a degree of self-rule which ended with the Turkish occupation and rule of the Balkans.

(Additional information by Jes Martens and Edward Dawson.)

? - 1365

1365 - 1374

1374 - 1391

1391 - 1394

1394 - 1399

1400 - 1432

1418? - 1456

1457 - 1504

1517 - 1527

1527 - 1538

1538

Moldavia is conquered by the Ottomans. Ottoman rule is not direct, and local princes are allowed to govern the principality.

The Mongol empire created by Chingiz Khan gradually broke up over the course of three hundred years until, by around AD 1500, it had fragmented into several more-or-less stable khanates which vied for power and influence, while fending off the Ottoman empire to the south and Moscow state to the north (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1556

1561 - 1563

1572 - 1574

1574 - ?

c.1595

1600 - 1601

Michael the Brave of Transylvania briefly unites the three principalities that later form Rumania - Moldavia, Transylvania, and Wallachia.

? - 1606

1606 - 1607

1626 - 1629

1633

1634 - 1653

1685 - 1693

Phanaroits (Tax Farmer Princes) in Moldavia
AD 1711 - 1821

In occupied Wallachia and Moldavia, the Ottomans began the destructive practice of appointing Greek tax farmers, known as the Phanariots (from the Phanar section of Istanbul), as princes. They were placed in power simply to get as much money out of the land as possible.

(Additional information from Security Dynamics in the Former Soviet Bloc, Graeme P Herd & Jennifer D P Moroney (2003), Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe, Jan Zielonka (2001), Russia - Continuity and Change, Gerald Hinteregger & Hans-Georg Heinrich (Eds), European Yearbook 2000, Francis Rosenstiel, Edith Lejard, Jean Boutsavath & Jacques Martz, De Facto States: The Quest for Sovereignty, Barry Bartmann, T Bahcheli (2004), and from External Links: BBC Country Profiles, and Jewish Encyclopaedia.)

1711 - 1714

Tax Farmer of Wallachia (1716-1717, 1719-1730).

1714 - 1716

1717 - ?

Tax Farmer of Wallachia (1741-1744).

1726 - 1733

1741 - 1743

Tax Farmer of Wallachia (1735-1741, 1744-1748).

? - 1763

1774

The Russian right of intervention is established at the Treaty of Kuchuk Karinarji.

1774 - 1777

1786 - 1788

Former prince of Wallachia (1775-1782). Restored (1796).

? - 1806

1791

Russia begins to administer an area known as the Pale of Settlement. Initially this is small, but it increases greatly from 1793 and the Second Partition of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. By the mid-nineteenth century it incorporates modern Belarus (eastern Poland at the time), eastern Latvia, Lithuania, the province of Bessarabia (modern Moldova), and western Ukraine. Having formerly been citizens of the defunct commonwealth, the Jewish Diaspora population of the 'Pale' (mainly Ashkenazi Jews) is restricted from moving eastwards into Russia proper.

1806 - 1812

The Russians take Wallachia and Moldavia from the Ottomans in battle and occupy the region. Upon the advance into Russia of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, they sign a quick treaty and evacuate their troops northwards.

1812 - 1819

1828 - 1834

Russia re-occupies both principalities and controls the area under Governor Count Kisselev, with Fyodor Yakovlevich Mirkovich as military administrator (later to be governor of Vilnius from 1840). In 1834, Moldavia and Wallachia adopt a unified basic constitution, the Reglamentul Organic, which provides for their eventual unification.

1834 - 1849

1848 - 1851

Russia occupies both principalities.

1853 - 1854

Russia again occupies both principalities, but is preoccupied fighting the Crimean War (1853-1856).

1854 - 1857

Russia is weakened after losing the Crimean War. Austria occupies the principalities, which are now united as one administrative region.

1859

Effectively united with Wallachia as a single principality, the country is now under autonomous rule.

1859 - 1866

Ruled both Moldavia and Wallachia. Abdicated.

1862

The personal union of the two Danubian principalities is consolidated into a new state which is called Rumania. Prince Cuza (known by the local form of his name, Alexandru Ioan Cuza) launches an ambitious policy of economic, political, military, educational and social reform, encompassing a parliament, land reform and the adoption of a civil code.

1866

Landed interests and disgruntled liberal politicians force the increasingly authoritarian Prince Cuza to abdicate. Parliament invites the Prussian Prince Karl (Charles) Eitel Frederick of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to succeed him.

1866 - 1881

Prussian prince invited to rule both principalities.

1878

When the Ottomans are defeated in the Russo-Turkish War (1876-1878). Russia invades the area and Rumania is proclaimed independent. As in Greece and Bulgaria, a European prince heads the new monarchy. Charles / Karl of Hohenzollern is recognised by the Congress of Berlin, and Wallachia and Moldavia are officially united to form Rumania.

1881

The kingdom of Rumania is officially proclaimed, with Charles as its first monarch. Romanians in the Hungarian province of Transylvania form a National Party to campaign for their rights, but meet with repression by the Hungarian authorities.

In the same year, the first modern-era wave of Jewish Diaspora migrations back to Palestine begins with an event known as the First Aliyah. The Jews are fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe, most notably in the territories of the Russian empire under Alexander III and his imposition of anti-liberalisation reforms. These may be partially the result of the Polish-Lithuanian January Uprising of 1863.

Russia operates an area known as the Pale of Settlement, largely territory to the west which has been acquired from the former Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. Today this forms Russia's western border region, and from 1791-1793 it has incorporated modern Belarus (eastern Poland at the time), eastern Latvia, Lithuania, the province of Bessarabia (modern Moldova), and western Ukraine.

The Jewish population of the 'Pale' (mainly Ashkenazi Jews) is restricted from moving eastwards into Russia proper and is now being discouraged from remaining in the western border regions of the empire. Some of their number end up elsewhere in the world, especially the USA, but also China where they form the Chinese Jews.

1904 - 1914

The Second Aliyah to Palestine is triggered in 1903 by an anti-Jewish riot in the city of Kishinev (modern Chişinău), the capital of the province of Bessarabia in Moldavia, now part of the Russian empire. Something like forty thousand members of the Jewish Diaspora settle in Palestine, although only half remain permanently.

Many others, evicted from their settlements in the 'Pale' head towards western Poland or America (something that is dramatically highlighted, if with a touch of artistic licence, in the film musical, Fiddler on the Roof, 1971. which has its final scenes set in 1905).

1916 - 1918

The death of King Karel has ended Rumania's alliance with the First World War Central Powers. On 17 August 1916, Rumania, long courted by the Allies, is finally persuaded by promises from France and Russia that it will gain the principality of Transylvania from Hungary.

Its war effort is quickly defeated when it attacks into Hungary instead of holding a front against Bulgaria, as agreed. However, when the Russian and Austrian empires collapse it gets what it wants.

Furthermore, the ethnic Rumanians of the Russian provinces of Bessarabia and Moldavia declare a 'Moldavian People's Republic' in January 1918, with the Rumanian army close at hand. In April, these regions become part of Rumania proper as part of the 'Kingdom of Rumania with Bessarabia & Moldavia'. The country's gains in populace amount to about a quarter of its total figure, although it has lost Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria.