The Moldavian Democratic Republic (MDR; ro, Republica Democratică Moldovenească, ), also known as the Moldavian Republic, was a state proclaimed on by the ''

Sfatul Țării ''Sfatul Țării'' ("Council of the Country"; ) was a council that united political, public, cultural, and professional organizations in the greater part of the territory of the guberniya, Governorate of Bessarabia in the disintegrating Russia ...

'' (National Council) of Bessarabia, elected in October–November 1917 following the February Revolution and the start of the disintegration of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. 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 (russian: Деклара́ция прав наро́дов Росси́и) was a document promulgated by the Bolshevik government of Russia on November 15 (November 2 by Old Style), 1917 (sig ...

. The anthem of the country was ''

Deșteaptă-te, române! "" ("Awaken Thee, Romanian!"; ) is the national anthem of Romania and former national anthem of Moldova. The lyrics were composed by Andrei Mureșanu (1816–1863), and the music was popular (it was chosen for the poem by Gheorghe Ucenescu, as ...

''.

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 self-proclaimed and 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 Exe ...

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

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

, the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

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 ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. 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 M ...

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 Gove ...

and

Petru Cazacu Petru Cazacu ( 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 şi Nistru. 1812–1918, Chişinău, 1992. * P. Cazacu ...

Detailed

When the February Revolution occurred in Petrograd in 1917, the governor of the

Bessarabia Governorate The Bessarabia Governorate (, ) was a part of the Russian Empire from 1812 to 1917. Initially known as Bessarabia Oblast (Бессарабская область, ''Bessarabskaya oblast'') as well as, following 1871, a governorate, it included ...

stepped down and passed his legal powers to

Constantin Mimi Constantin A. 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 Cristi was ...

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 Ion I. Nistor (August 16, 1876 – November 11, 1962) was a Romanian historian and politician. He was a titular member of the Romanian Academy from 1915 and a professor at the universities of Cernăuți and Bucharest, while also serving as Mini ...

, 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, ; original spelling: ( – 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 Nove ...

, who sent Inculeț, an associate professor at the

University of Petrograd Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...

, 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 Bessarabia 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 (russian: субъекты Российской Федерации, subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or simply as the subjects of the federation (russian ...

( autonomous republic) of the Russian Democratic Federative Republic. In the context of the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

, 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 (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

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 (), Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditar ...

with

, Ukraine and

Bolshevik Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

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 Romania and the principal Allied Powers of the time (France, United Kingdom, Italy and Japan) whose purpose was the recognition of Romanian sovereignty over Bessarabia. The treaty, however, never c ...

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 A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

. 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 N. Codreanu Nicolae Bosie-Codreanu (21 December 1885 – 1969) was a Bessarabian politician who voted for the Union of Bessarabia with Kingdom of Romania, Romania on 27 March 1918. Biography He served as Member of the Sfatul Țării, Moldovan Parliament ...

, 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 Ion Gheorghe Pelivan (April 1, 1876 in Răzeni – January 25, 1954 in Sighetu Marmației) was a Romanian politician. In 1898, Ion Pelivan graduated from the Theological Seminary of Chișinău and in 1903 from the University of Tartu. Then ...

, 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 Moldovan People's Republic. File:Dr. Daniel Ciugureanu.jpg, Prime Minister

. File:CStere.jpeg,

Constantin Stere Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; russian: Константин Егорович Стере, ''Konstantin Yegorovich Stere'' or Константин Георгиевич Стере, ''Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere''; also known u ...

. File:Stamp of Moldova 129.gif,

Pan Halippa Pantelimon "Pan" Halippa (1 August 1883 – 30 April 1979) was a Bessarabian and later Romanian journalist and politician. One of the most important promoters of Romanian nationalism in Bessarabia and of this province's union with Romania, he w ...

and

Sfatul Țării Palace The Sfatul Țării Palace is a building in Chișinău, Moldova. Overview The building is located near Central Chișinău. It served as a meeting place for the Sfatul Țării, the assembly which proclaimed the independence of the Moldavian Democ ...

. 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,

. File:Teofil Ioncu (1885-1954).jpg, Teofil Ioncu, Director General for Finance. File:Gherman Pântea (1894-1968).jpg, Gherman Pântea, Director General for Armed Forces.

References