How Romania lost Cahul, Ismail and Bolgrad

In October 1878, Russia committed new aggression against Romania. The Russian armies again occupied southern Bessarabia. These are the counties of Cahul, Ismail and Bolgrad, which had been returned to the Romanians after the Crimean War. This new act of aggression has aroused a lasting antipathy towards the Russians, which still makes its effects felt today.

Russia became a neighbour of the Romanians only in the 18th century, after several conquests to the detriment of the Polish-Lithuanian Union and the Ottoman Empire. In 1812, the Russians annexed for the first time the Romanian land between the Prut and the Dniester, called Bessarabia. Initially, the Russians wanted to occupy the Romanian Principalities up to the Danube, then, under the threat of the French emperor Napoleon I, they demanded Moldova, and later occupied Bessarabia.

But Russia suffered a catastrophic defeat in the Crimean War, which broke out in 1853, in which the victory belonged to the coalition of France, Britain, Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire. As a result of the Paris Peace, the Russians were forced to return to the Romanians a territory of over 9,600 square kilometres, which offered Romanians access to the Danube Mouth and the Black Sea.

n the retreated territory, the Romanians lived with Bulgarians, Gagauzians, Lipovans and Albanians. On this territory, the Romanians founded the first Bulgarian high school in history, the one in Ismail, together with dozens of schools and the Bishopric of the Lower Danube.

More than 20 years after the defeat of the Crimean War, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire again in 1877. Earlier, the Russians signed an agreement with the government of Prince Carol I of Romania, recognizing Romania's independence and guaranteeing its integrity. Romanian borders. Finally, Romania's independence was gained on the battlefields of the Balkan Mountains by the army commanded by Carol I of Romania, whose intervention on the part of the Russians changed the fate of the war. But after the Ottomans demanded peace, Russia once again violated its promise to the Romanians and demanded the annexation of the three counties of Southern Bessarabia. The Great Powers forced Romania to accept the surrender of Southern Bessarabia. Instead, they returned Dobrogea to Romania and recognized Romania's independence.

The Russian conquest of Southern Bessarabia meant a new stage of denationalization for the Romanians of Bessarabia. The Russians forbade the use of Latin letters and the nickname Romanian. Romanian-language liturgies were also banned, and the Moscow Orthodox Church became one of the most effective tools for denationalization. Southern Bessarabia returned to its motherland only in 1918, but the Russians invaded it again in 1940. The Romanians liberated this territory in 1941, but the Russians reoccupied it in 1944. Now most of southern Bessarabia is part of Ukraine. As a result of mass colonization and denationalization through school and church, most of the inhabitants of this Romanian land consider themselves Russians or Ukrainians.

The source:  timpul.md