The Moldavian Democratic Republic (MDR; , ), also known as the Moldavian Republic or Moldavian People's Republic, was a state proclaimed on by the ''

Sfatul Țării ''Sfatul Țării'' ("Council of the Country"; ) was a council of political, public, cultural, and professional organizations in the guberniya, Governorate of Bessarabia in Russian Empire, Tsarist Russia. This became a legislative body which e ...

'' (National Council) of

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

, elected in October–November 1917 following the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

and the start of the disintegration of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. The ''Sfatul Țării'' was its legislative body, while the "Council of Directors General", renamed the "Council of Ministers" after the Declaration of Independence, was its government. The Republic was proclaimed on 2/15 December 1917, as a result of the

Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia The Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia () was a document promulgated by the Bolshevik government of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russia on 15 November 1917 (2 November in Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adopt ...

. The anthem of the country was ''

Deșteaptă-te, române! "" (; ) is the national anthem of Romania. It originated from a poem written during the Wallachian Revolution of 1848. The lyrics were composed by Andrei Mureșanu and published during the Wallachian Revolution of 1848, 1848 revolution, initiall ...

''.

History

Summarized

The brief history of the 1917–1918 Moldavian Democratic Republic can be divided into three periods: the period of autonomy within Russia, the period of independence, and the period of federation with Romania. On 2/15 December, Moldavia proclaimed itself a constituent republic of the Russian Federative Democratic Republic. On 1/14 January 1918, the Front Section of the

Rumcherod Rumcherod () was a short-lived organ of Soviet power in the South-Western part of Russian Empire that functioned during May 1917–May 1918. The name stands as the Russian language abbreviation for its full name Central Executive Committee of ...

Bolsheviks entered

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...

, the capital of the nascent republic. After the nationalist faction of the ''Sfatul Țării'' requested military assistance from

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

crossed the republic's border on 10/23 January, taking the capital within days. With the Romanian Army in full control, on 24 January/6 February, the Moldavian Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence. On 27 March/9 April, Moldavia entered a conditioned union (essentially a federation) with the Kingdom of Romania, retaining its provincial autonomy as well as its legislative body (the ''Sfatul Țării''). On 27 November/10 December, after the end of World War I, a secret meeting of ''Sfatul Țării'' members renounced all conditions and proclaimed the unconditional union of Bessarabia with Romania, effectively amounting to an annexation by the latter. This was its last act, as it was subsequently dissolved and prominent unionists were invited to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. During its 1-year existence, the Moldavian Democratic Republic had three Prime Ministers:

Pantelimon Erhan Pantelimon Erhan (1884 – April/May 1971) was a Bessarabian politician and prime minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic (1917–1918). Biography Pantelimon Erhan was born in 1884 in Tănătari, Căușeni District. He died in April or ...

Daniel Ciugureanu Daniel Ciugureanu (; 9 December 1885 – 19 May 1950) was a Romanian politician from Bessarabia, deputy in Sfatul Țării from Chișinău, Prime Minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic from –, Minister for Bessarabia in four Romanian Go ...

and

Petru Cazacu Petru Cazacu (; 6 October 1873 – August 1956) was a politician from Bessarabia (Moldova). Biography He served as the prime minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic in 1918. Works * P. Cazacu, Moldova dintre Prut și Nistru. 1812–19 ...

Detailed

When the

occurred in

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

in 1917, the governor of the

Bessarabia Governorate The Bessarabia Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its administrative centre in Kishinev (Chișinău). It consisted of an area of and a population of 1,935,412 inhabitants. The Bessarabia Governorate bordered t ...

stepped down and passed his legal powers to

Constantin Mimi Constantin Mimi (10 March 1868 – 17 April 1935) was a Bessarabian politician and winemaker, whose family had noble origins. Biography He graduated from Odessa State University and SupAgro (Montpellier). When the February Revolution happe ...

, the President of the Gubernial Zemstvo, which was named ''the Commissar of the Provisional Government in Bessarabia'', with

Vladimir Cristi Vladimir Cristi (1880–1956) was a Romanian publicist and politician who served as State Minister in the Nicolae Iorga government between 16 January and 6 June 1932. Cristi was Mayor of Chișinău between 1938 and 1940. Biography Born and ...

his deputy. Similar procedures took place in all regions of the

: the chiefs of the Tsarist administrations passed their legal powers to the chiefs of the County and Governorate Zemstvos, which were then called ''County/Governorate Commissars''. Ion Nistor, p. 279 The Peasants' Congress, which took place in October 1917, voted Mimi out and Ion Inculeț in as the new Commissar. This move was planned by

Alexander Kerensky Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky ( – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months from late July to early November 1917 ( N.S.). After th ...

, who sent Inculeț, an associate professor at the University of Petrograd, to Bessarabia to take hold of the situation. As soon as the Peasants' Congress, which had no legal power, voted, Kerenski formally replaced Mimi with Inculeț. When Inculeț arrived in Chișinău to take power, he faced the quiet opposition of the nobility, so he agreed to take the position of deputy commissar to

. When the republic was proclaimed, Cristi stepped down and passed his legal powers to Inculeț. The ''Sfatul Țării'' (National Council) of

was elected in October–November 1917, and started to work in December 1917. It proclaimed the Moldavian Democratic Republic as a

federal subject The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation () or simply as the subjects of the federation (), are the administrative division, constituent entities of Russia, its top-level political division ...

(

autonomous republic An autonomous republic is a type of administrative division similar to a province or state. A significant number of autonomous republics can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located within Russia. Ma ...

) of the

Russian Democratic Federative Republic The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federative Republic in the 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state which controlled, '' de jure'', the territory of the former Russian Empire after its proclamation by the Ru ...

. The ''Sfatul Țării'' voted 86 in favour of proclamation, 6 against, and 36 abstentions. However only within three days, the Bolsheviks seized power in Chișinău. In the context of the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, the Russian Army on the Romanian Front disintegrated. The large number of retreating soldiers increased the level of anarchy in Bessarabia, leaving the National Council with only minimal authority over the territory. To further complicate matters, as the council was delaying a decision on the agrarian question, peasants across the region started to break up the estates of the large landowners and divide them among themselves. As the General Staff of the Romanian Front was unable to send any troops, attempts were made to organize a Moldavian National Guard, but the results were far from expectations. Furthermore, most of the army corps nominally subjected to the National Council came under

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

influence. However, in mid-January Romanians entered the country, engaged in battles with the Moldavian and Bolshevik troops and within a couple of weeks controlled much of the country.van Meurs, Wim, ''The Bessarabian question in communist historiography'', East European Monographs, 1994, p. 65 Among the leaders of Moldavian troops that offered resistance were also figures formerly loyal to the National Council, such as captain Anatolie Popa. Following the signing of separate peace armistices by

Imperial Germany The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

with

, Ukraine and Bolshevik Russia the ''Sfatul Țării'', with 86 votes in favour, 3 against and 36 abstentions, proclaimed the Union of Bessarabia with the Kingdom of Romania on , with the condition of local autonomy and the continuation of Bessarabian legislative and executive bodies, legally ending the Moldavian Democratic Republic. Discouraged by the fact that the Romanian troops were already present in Chișinău, many minority deputies abstained from voting. The union was confirmed in the

Treaty of Paris (1920) The 1920 Treaty of Paris was an act signed by Kingdom of Romania, Romania and the principal Allies of World War I, Allied Powers of the time (France, United Kingdom, Italy and Japan) whose purpose was the recognition of Romanian sovereignty ove ...

Leadership

The leadership of the Moldavian Republic was composed of Ion Inculeț, the president of the ''Sfatul Țării'' and President of the Republic; and

, the President of the ''Council of Directors General.'' The new leadership and Council was put in place after the country was declared independence by

, as President of the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

. The ''Sfatul Țării'' was initially composed of 120 elected members, although member numbers were later increased to 135 and then 150. For example, on 9 April, there were 138 legislators, of which 125 took part in the vote, and 13 were absent. On , the ''Sfatul Țării'' elected the government of the Moldavian Democratic Republic - the Council of Directors General, with nine members, seven Moldavians, one Ukrainian, and one Jew: *

, President of the council, and Director General for Agriculture. *

, Director General for Internal Affairs. * Ștefan Ciobanu, Director General for Education. * Teofil Ioncu, Director General for Finance. * Nicolae Bosie-Codreanu, Director General for Railways. * Major Teodor Cojocaru, Director General for Armed Forces. * Mihail Savenco, Director General for Justice. * E. Grinfeld, Director General for Industry and Trade. * Ion Pelivan, Director General for Foreign Affairs. In its first decree, the Council set forward the aim to "introduce order in all the aspects of life of the country, to eliminate anarchy and disaster, to organize all the aspects of state administration". An Executive Clerk Office (''Cancelarie'') of the Council of Directors General was set up, and all state, public and private institutions were required to communicate through the Executive Clerk Office to the corresponding Director General for all questions regarding the government of the country. All acts in the domain of public administration made without the previous consent of the respective Directors-General were declared legally void, while the director freed from responsibility for such acts.Halipa, Moraru, p.74-75

Gallery

File:Декларация_о_провозглашении_Молдавской_Народной_Республики.jpg, Declaration of the Moldavian People's Republic. File:Dr. Daniel Ciugureanu.jpg, Prime Minister

. File:CStere.jpeg,

Constantin Stere Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian language, Romanian; , ''Konstantin Yegorovich Stere'' or Константин Георгиевич Стере, ''Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere''; also known under his pen name ''Șărcăleanu''; ...

. File:Stamp of Moldova 129.gif, Pan Halippa and Sfatul Țării Palace. File:Stamp of Moldova 370.gif, Ștefan Ciobanu. File:Dumitru Bogos (1889-1946).jpg, Dimitrie Bogos, chief of the General Staff of the Army. File:Petru Cazacu (1873-1956), Prime Minister of Moldova.jpg,

, Prime Minister of Moldavia. File:Teofil Ioncu (1885-1954).jpg, Teofil Ioncu, Director General for Finance. File:Gherman Pântea (1894-1968).jpg,

Gherman Pântea Gherman Vasile Pântea (; surname also spelled Pîntea; ; ; May 13, 1894 – February 1, 1968) was a Bessarabian-born soldier, civil servant and political figure, active in the Russian Empire and Romania. As an officer of the Imperial Russian Army ...

, Director General for Armed Forces.

References