fbpx
Wikipedia

Greater Romania

February 16, 2024

For other uses, see România Mare.

The term Greater Romania (Romanian: România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period,[1] achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist[2][3] idea.

Administrative map of Romania in 1930

As a concept, its main goal is the creation of a nation-state which would incorporate all Romanian speakers.[4][5][6][7][8] In 1920, after the incorporation of Transylvania, Bukovina, Bessarabia and parts of Banat, Crișana, and Maramureș, the Romanian state reached its largest peacetime geographical extent ever (295,049 km2). Today, the concept serves as a guiding principle for the unification of Moldova and Romania.

The idea is comparable to other similar conceptions such as the Greater Bulgaria, Megali Idea, Greater Yugoslavia, Greater Hungary and Greater Italy.[9][10]

Ideology edit

The theme of national identity had been always a key concern for Romanian culture and politics.[11] The Romanian national ideology in the first decades of the twentieth century was a typical example of ethnocentric nationalism.[12] The concept of "Greater Romania" shows similarities to the idea of national state.[13] The Romanian territorial claims were based on "primordial racial modalities", the essential goal of them was to unify the biologically defined Romanians.[14] The nation-building based on the French model of a unitary nation-state became an all time priority especially in the interwar and the Communist periods.[15]

Evolution edit

Main article: Territorial evolution of Romania

Before World War I edit

 
Hypothetical map of Romania by Cezar Bolliac (1855)
 
"Long Live Greater Romania", reconstruction of the "Darnița Banner", designed in 1917; it was first flown by ethnic Romanian turncoats from the Austro-Hungarian Army, who formed a Volunteer Corps of the Romanian Army
See also: National awakening of Romania and Unification of Moldavia and Wallachia

The union of Michael the Brave, who ruled over the three principalities with Romanian population (Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia) for a short period of time,[16] was viewed in later periods as the precursor of a modern Romania, a thesis which was argued with noted intensity by Nicolae Bălcescu. This theory became a point of reference for nationalists, as well as a catalyst for various Romanian forces to achieve a single Romanian state.[17]

The Romanian revolution in 1848 already carried the seeds of the national dream of a unified and united Romania,[6] though the "idea of unification" had been known from earlier works of Naum Ramniceanu (1802) and Ion Budai-Deleanu (1804).[16] The concept owes its life to Dimitrie Brătianu, who introduced the term "Greater Romania" in 1852.[16] The first step in unifying Romanians was to establish the United Principalities by uniting Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859,[18] which became known as Romania since the 1866 Constitution and turned into a Kingdom in 1881, after gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire. However, before the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, the elite of the Transylvanian Romanians did not support the concept of "Greater Romania", instead they wanted only equality with the other nations in Transylvania.[6] The concept became a political reality when, in 1881, the Romanian National Party of Transylvania gathered Romanians on a common political platform to fight together for Transylvania's autonomy.[16] According to Livezeanu the creation of Greater Romania with "a unifying concept of nationhood" started to evolve in the late 1910s.[15] World War I played a crucial part in the development of Romanian national consciousness.

World War I edit

The Treaty of Bucharest (1916) was signed between Romania and the Entente Powers on 4 (Old Style)/17 (New Style) August 1916 in Bucharest.[19] The treaty stipulated the conditions under which Romania agreed to join the war on the side of the Entente, particularly territorial promises in Austria-Hungary. The signatories bound themselves to keep secret the contents of the treaty until a general peace was concluded.

Romanians!

The war which for the last two years has been encircling our frontiers more and more closely has shaken the ancient foundations of Europe to their depths.

It has brought the day which has been awaited for centuries by the national conscience, by the founders of the Romanian State, by those who united the principalities in the war of independence, by those responsible for the national renaissance.

It is the day of the union of all branches of our nation. Today we are able to complete the task of our forefathers and to establish forever that which Michael the Great was only able to establish for a moment, namely, a Romanian union on both slopes of the Carpathians.

For us the mountains and plains of Bukowina, where Stephen the Great has slept for centuries. In our moral energy and our valour lie the means of giving him back his birthright of a great and free Rumania from the Tisza to the Black Sea, and to prosper in peace in accordance with our customs and our hopes and dreams. (...)

Part of the proclamation by King Ferdinand, 28 August 1916[20]

Lucian Boia summarised the territorial extent of the nationalist dream as following:

The phrase "De la Nistru pana la Tisa" (From Dniester to Tisza) is well known to Romanians, it defines the limits of an ideal Romania, though we should note that the Romanian population extends in the east beyond the Dniester, while both banks of the Tisza are completely Hungarian for most of the river's length. To the south, the Danube completes the symbolic geography of Romania: an enclosed space between 3 rivers, with an area of 300.000 sq km, comparable to that of Italy or the British Isles. Rivers then are perceived as natural borders, separating Romanians from Others.[21]

Interwar Romania edit

See also: Little Entente and Polish–Romanian alliance
 
Regions of the Kingdom of Romania (1918–1940)

The concept of "Greater Romania" materialized as a geopolitical reality after the First World War.[13] Romania gained control over Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania. The borders established by the treaties concluding the war did not change until 1940. The resulting state, often referred to as "România Mare" or, alternatively, as Romanian: România Întregită (roughly translated in English as "Romania Made Whole," or "Entire Romania"), was seen as the 'true', whole Romanian state, or, as Tom Gallagher states, the "Holy Grail of Romanian nationalism".[22] Its constitution, proclaimed in 1923, "largely ignored the new ethnic and cultural realities".[23]

The Romanian ideology changed due to the demographic, cultural and social alterations, however the nationalist desire for a homogeneous Romanian state conflicted with the multiethnic, multicultural truth of Greater Romania.[5] The ideological rewriting of the role of "spiritual victimization", turning it into "spiritual police", was a radical and challenging task for the Romanian intellectuals because they had to entirely revise the national identity and the destiny of the Romanian nation.[12] In accordance with this view, Livezeanu states that the Great Union created a "deeply fragmented" interwar Romania where the determination of national identity met with great difficulties mainly because of the effects of the hundred years of political separation.[24] Due to the inability of the government to solve the problems of the Transylvanian Romanians' integration and the effects of the worldwide and national economic depression, "the population gradually lost its faith in the democratic conception of Greater Romania".[25]

The Great Depression in Romania, which started in 1929, destabilised the country. The early 1930s were marked by social unrest, high unemployment, and strikes. In several instances, the Romanian government violently repressed strikes and riots, notably the 1929 miners' strike in Valea Jiului and the strike in the Grivița railroad workshops. In the mid-1930s, the Romanian economy recovered and the industry grew significantly, although about 80% of Romanians were still employed in agriculture. French economic and political influence was predominant in the early 1920s but then Germany became more dominant, especially in the 1930s.[26]

Territorial changes edit

 
Extension of Romanian Kingdom after the First World War
Bessarabia edit
Main articles: Treaty of Paris (1920) and Union of Bessarabia with Romania
See also: Tatarbunary Uprising

Bessarabia declared its sovereignty as the Moldavian Democratic Republic in 1917 by the newly formed "Council of the Country" ("Sfatul Țării"). The state was faced with the disorderly retreat through its territory of Russian troops from disbanded units. In January 1918, the "Sfatul Țării" called on Romanian troops to protect the province from the Bolsheviks who were spreading the Russian Revolution.[27][28][29] After declaring independence from Russia on 24 January 1918, the "Sfatul Țării" voted for union with Romania on 9 April 1918. Of the 138 deputies in the council, 86 voted for union, 3 against, 36 abstained (mostly the deputies representing minorities, 52% of the population at the time)[30] and 13 were not present. The United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan recognized the incorporation of Bessarabia through the Treaty of Paris. The United States and the Soviet Union however refused to do so, the latter maintaining a claim to the territory for the whole interwar period. Furthermore, Japan failed to ratify the treaty, which therefore never entered into force.

Bukovina edit
Main articles: Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) and Union of Bukovina with Romania

In Bukovina, after being occupied by the Romanian Army,[31][32] a National Council voted for union with Romania. While the Romanian, German, and Polish deputies unanimously voted for union,[33] the Ukrainian deputies (representing 38% of the population according to the 1910 Austrian census)[34] and Jewish deputies did not attend the council.[33] The unification was ratified in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Transylvania edit
Main articles: Treaty of Trianon and Union of Transylvania with Romania
See also: Hungarian-Romanian War of 1919

On 1 December 1918, the Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia proclaimed the union of Transylvania and other territories with Romania in Alba Iulia, adopted by the Deputies of the Romanians of Transylvania, and supported one month later by the vote of the Deputies of the Saxons of Transylvania.[35] The Hungarians of Transylvania, about 32% at the time (including the Hungarian-speaking Jewish community), and the Germans of Banat did not elect deputies upon the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, since they were considered represented by the Budapest government of Hungary, nevertheless on 22 December 1918 the Hungarian General Assembly in Cluj (Kolozsvár) reaffirmed the loyalty of Hungarians from Transylvania to Hungary. In the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, Hungary was forced to give up all claims over Transylvania and the treaty set the new borders between the two countries.[36]

World War II losses edit

 
Ethnic map of interwar Romania (1930 Romanian census)
Main articles: Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, Second Vienna Award, Treaty of Craiova, and Romania during World War II

In 1940, the Romanian state agreed to cede Bessarabia to the Soviet Union, as provided for by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Germany. It also lost Northern Bukovina and the Hertsa region, which were not mentioned in the pact, to the Soviet Union. It lost Northern Transylvania to Hungary, through the Second Vienna Award, and the Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria by the Treaty of Craiova. In the course of World War II, Romania, which was allied with the Axis Powers, not only re-annexed Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, but also took under administrative control lands to the east of Dniester (parts of recently formed Moldavian SSR, and of Odessa and Vinnytsia oblasts of Ukrainian SSR), creating Transnistria Governorate.

 
Population structure in Romania (Transnistria Governorate included) according to the 1941 Romanian census.

Despite clear Ukrainian majority in the governorate's ethnic composition, demonstrated by a census conducted in December 1941, Romanian government hoped to annex it eventually as a "compensation" for Northern Transylvania lost to Hungary.

These territories were lost again when the tide of the war turned. After the war, Romania regained the Transylvanian territories lost to Hungary, but not territory lost to Bulgaria or the Soviet Union. In 1948 a treaty between the Soviet Union and Soviet-occupied Communist Romania also provided for the transfer of four uninhabited islands to the Soviet Union, three in the Danube Delta and Snake Island in the Black Sea.

After World War II edit

See also: National Communism in Romania

After the war, the concept was interpreted as "obsolete" because of the Romanian defeat.[37] However, even the Communist politicians between 1944 and 1947 plainly supported the re-establishment of Greater Romania.[38] Gheorghe Apostol's reminiscence strengthens the view for the nationalist argument of the Communists at the negotiations with Stalin about the future of Northern Transylvania.[24] In contrast with this view, Romsics quotes Valter Roman, one of the heads of the Romanian Communist Party, as writing in his memo of April 1944: "the two parts of Transylvania should be reunited as an independent state."[39]

The Romanian Communist politicians' behavior were depicted[by whom?] as nationalist, and this circumstance brought about the concept of National Communism,[38] which amalgamated elements of Stalinism and Fascism.[40] According to Trond Gilberg the regime needed the strongly nationalist attitude because of the social, economic and political challenges.[38] After the retreat of the Soviet troops from Romania in 1958, the national ideology was reborn, however it raises questions about its reconcilability with internationalist communism.[24] Nicolae Ceaușescu fancied the idea that the creation of Greater Romania was the fruit of the end of the nation-formation process.

The setting up of the (Romanian) unitary national state six and a half decades ago was a brilliant historic victory of the long heroic struggle of the masses for creating the Romanian nation and the coming true of the age old dream of all Romanians to live in unity within the borders of the same country, in one free and independent state.

— Ceaușescu, 1983[24]

Recent developments edit

See also: Unification of Moldova and Romania and Bessarabia, Romanian land
 
Graffiti with shapes of Greater Romania near Briceni, Moldova

The fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and the economic downturn accompanying it led to a resurgence of nationalism in the region. Romania and Moldova, state comprising the bulk of Bessarabia which had become independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, confronted with their eastern neighbor, Ukraine. Bucharest and Chișinău announced territorial claims on Ukrainian lands (on parts of Chernivtsi and Odessa regions).[41] Bulgaria surmised that the concept of Greater Romania stood behind Romanian foreign policy toward Moldova therefore expressed concerns about possible developments on Dobruja.[8]

In 1992, the issue on unification of Moldova and Romania was negotiated between the Romanian and Moldovan governments and they wanted to achieve it by the end of the year.[42] However, the "unionists" lost their dominance in Moldova in the middle of the year.[42] Bucharest admitted the existence of the two Romanian states (Romania and Moldova) and defined priorities in reference to this matter: "the creation of a common cultural space; the creation of an economically integrated zone; and gradual political integration".[8] The Moldovan Snegur government became more pragmatic and realized that the nationalist propaganda from Bucharest did not help their aims especially on the problem of "Soviet annexed Bessarabia".[8] The Romanian organizations ignored the result of the Moldovan referendum on independence because the referendum did not ask Romanians in Romania.[8] Romanian politicians blamed Russia and the Moldovan regime that unification became unreal.[8] According to Edward Ozhiganov (Head of the Division for Ethnopolitical Research at the Analytical Center of the Federation Council in Russia), the armed conflict in Moldova was due to the Romanian ethnic nationalism, in other words, "the attempt to create a unitary, ethnic state with power concentrated in the hands of ethnic nationalists in what was actually a multiethnic society."[8] Furthermore, Bucharest's behavior toward Ukraine did not change until 1997 when Romanian politicians realized that resolving border disputes was a precondition for NATO membership.[43]

Present-day Romanian irredentists (such as members of PRM) aim to take possession of territories of northern Bukovina and Bessarabia.[44][45] These regions currently belong to Ukraine and Moldova.[44] The Russian presence and the tense political situation in Moldova also inflame their demands.[44] Nevertheless, radicals make territorial demands on Hungary too.[44] The Greater Romania Party (Partidul România Mare – PRM) is an emblematic representative of the aforesaid concept, though the conception is fostered also by other right-wing groups (e.g. the organisation of the New Right –Noua Dreaptă).[44][46] Today, the phrase "Bessarabia, Romanian land" (Basarabia, pământ românesc, with several variations) is commonly used in Romania, and it poses territorial claims over the region of Bessarabia.[47] It is also used in Moldova.[48]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Cas Mudde. Racist Extremism in Central and Eastern Europe
  2. ^ Peter Truscott, Russia First: Breaking with the West, I.B.Tauris, 1997, p. 72
  3. ^ (PDF). ISN ETH Zurich. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  4. ^ "The Romanian Holocaust in Memory and Commemoration, The Jewish fate during World War II in postwar commemoration". University of Amsterdam. 2012. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
  5. ^ a b Irina Livezeanu, Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building & Ethnic Struggle, 1918-1930, Cornell University Press, 2000, p. 4 and p. 302
  6. ^ a b c Iván T. Berend, History Derailed: Central and Eastern Europe in the Long Nineteenth Century, University of California Press, 2013, p. 112 and p. 252
  7. ^ Lavinia Stan, Lucian Turcescu, Religion and Politics in Post-Communist Romania, Oxford University Press, 2007 p. 53
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Alekseĭ Georgievich Arbatov, Managing Conflict in the Former Soviet Union: Russian and American Perspectives, MIT Press, 1997, pp. 202-204
  9. ^ Giuseppe Motta, Less than Nations: Central-Eastern European Minorities after WWI, Volume 1 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013, p. 11
  10. ^ Klaus Roth, Ulf Brunnbauer, Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Part 1, LIT Verlag Münster, 2008, p. 52
  11. ^ Michael D. Kennedy, Envisioning Eastern Europe: Postcommunist Cultural Studies, University of Michigan Press, 1994, p. 121
  12. ^ a b "Ideas And Ideology In Interwar Romania". www.icr.ro. 2007. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
  13. ^ a b Petre Berteanu, Romanian nationalism and political communication: Greater Romania Party (Partidul Romania Mare), a case-study, In: Jaroslav Hroch, David Hollan, George F. McLean, National, Cultural, and Ethnic Identities: Harmony Beyond Conflict, CRVP, 1998, pp. 161-176
  14. ^ Aristotle Kallis, Genocide and Fascism: The Eliminationist Drive in Fascist Europe, Routledge, 2008, p. 75
  15. ^ a b Tristan James Mabry, John McGarry, Margaret Moore, Brendan O'Leary, Divided Nations and European Integration, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013, p. 113 and p. 117
  16. ^ a b c d Juliana Geran Pilon, The Bloody Flag: Post-Communist Nationalism in Eastern Europe : Spotlight on Romania , Transaction Publishers, 1982, p. 56
  17. ^ Giurescu, Constantin C. (2007) [1935]. Istoria Românilor. Bucharest: Editura All., p. 211–13.
  18. ^ Pablo Cardona, Michael J. Morley, Manager-Subordinate Trust in Different Cultures, Routledge, 2013, p. 119
  19. ^ Constantin Kirițescu, "Istoria războiului pentru întregirea României: 1916-1919", 1922, p. 179
  20. ^ "Primary Documents - King Ferdinand's Proclamation to the Romanian People, 28 August 1916". firstworldwar.com. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  21. ^ Lucian Boia, "Romania: Borderlands of Europe", Reaktion Books Publishing, 2001, p. 59
  22. ^ Gallagher, Tom (2005). Modern Romania: the end of communism, the failure of democratic reform, and the theft of a nation. New York: New York University Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-8147-3172-4.
  23. ^ Keith Hitchins, A Concise History of Romania, Cambridge University Press, 2014, p. 183, ISBN 9781107782709
  24. ^ a b c d Konrad Hugo Jarausch, Thomas Lindenberger, Annelie Ramsbrock, Conflicted Memories: Europeanizing Contemporary Histories, Berghahn Books, 2007, pp. 39-42
  25. ^ "Siebenbürgen ohne Siebenbürger?". University of Vienna. 2013. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
  26. ^ William A. Hoisington Jr, "The Struggle for Economic Influence in Southeastern Europe: The French Failure in Romania, 1940." Journal of Modern History 43.3 (1971): 468-482.
  27. ^ Ion Nistor, Istoria Basarabiei, Cernăuți, 1923, reprinted Chișinău, Cartea Moldovenească, 1991 and Humanitas, Bucharest, 1991. ISBN 973-28-0283-9
  28. ^ Charles Upson Clark, Bessarabia: Russia and Roumania on the Black Sea 2009-01-12 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ Pantelimon Halippa, Anatolie Moraru, Testament pentru urmași, Munich, 1967, reprinted Chișinău, Hyperion, 1991, p. 143
  30. ^ Results of the 1897 Russian Census at demoscope.ru: Молдавский и румынский: 469,852; 451067; total population--"Moldavian and Romanian: 920,919 people", 2016-05-30 at the Wayback Machine
  31. ^ Volodymyr Kubijovyč, Arkadii Zhukovsky, Bukovyna, in "Encyclopedia of Ukraine", Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2001
  32. ^ Sherman David Spector, "Rumania at the Paris Peace Conference: A Study of the Diplomacy of Ioan I. C. Brătianu", Bookman Associates, 1962, p. 70
  33. ^ a b Irina Livezeanu (2000). Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918–1930. Cornell University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-8014-8688-3.
  34. ^ Donald Peckham, Christina Bratt Paulston, "Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe", Multilingual Matters, 1998, p. 190
  35. ^ Dennis P. Hupchick (1995). Conflict and chaos in Eastern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-312-12116-7.
  36. ^ "Text of the Treaty of Trianon". World War I Document Archive. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  37. ^ Bernard A. Cook, Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Taylor & Francis, 2001, p. 1074
  38. ^ a b c Paul Roe, Ethnic Violence and the Societal Security Dilemma, Routledge, 2004, p. 128
  39. ^ Ignác Romsics, The Paris Peace Treaty of 1947, In: Storia & Diplomazia Rassegna dell’Archivio Storico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri, 2013, p. 18
  40. ^ Costica Bradatan, Serguei Oushakine, In Marx's Shadow: Knowledge, Power, and Intellectuals in Eastern Europe and Russia, Lexington Books, 2010, p. 225
  41. ^ Bohdan Nahaylo, The Ukrainian Resurgence, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 1999, pp. 408-409
  42. ^ a b (PDF). University of Southern California. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  43. ^ Marta Dyczok, Ukraine: Movement Without Change, Change Without Movement, Routledge, 2013, p. 108
  44. ^ a b c d e "The Extreme Right in Eastern Europe and Territorial Issues". www.cepsr.com. 2009. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
  45. ^ "THE EXTREME RIGHT IN CONTEMPORARY ROMANIA" (PDF). Bibliothek der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. 2012. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
  46. ^ Uwe Backes, Patrick Moreau, The Extreme Right in Europe: Current Trends and Perspectives, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011, p. 276
  47. ^ Dumitrica, Delia (2019). "The ideological work of the daily visual representations of nations". Nations and Nationalism. 25 (3): 910–934. doi:10.1111/nana.12520. hdl:1765/117796. S2CID 150661172.
  48. ^ Stan, Liviu G. (27 November 2017). "Elevă din Rep. Moldova a Școlii de Poliție din Câmpina: "Basarabia e pământ românesc"". InfoPrut (in Romanian).

Further reading edit

  • Bucur, Maria. Eugenics and Modernization in Interwar Romania, Pittsburg: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010
  • Hoisington Jr, William A. "The Struggle for Economic Influence in Southeastern Europe: The French Failure in Romania, 1940." Journal of Modern History 43.3 (1971): 468–482. online
  • Luetkens, Gerhart. "Roumania To-Day," International Affairs (Sep. – Oct., 1938), 17#5 pp. 682–695 in JSTOR
  • Leustean, Lucian N. (September 2007). ""For the Glory of Romanians": Orthodoxy and Nationalism in Greater Romania, 1918–1945". Nationalities Papers. 35 (4): 717–742. doi:10.1080/00905990701475111. S2CID 161907079.
  • Suveica, Svetlana, Bessarabia in the First Interwar Decade (1918–1928): Modernization by Means of Reforms, Chișinau: Pontos, 2010, 360 p. (Romanian)ISBN 978-9975-51-070-7.
  • Thomas, Martin. "To arm an ally: French arms sales to Romania, 1926–1940." Journal of Strategic Studies 19.2 (1996): 231–259.

February 16, 2024
greater, romania, other, uses, românia, mare, term, romanian, românia, mare, usually, refers, borders, kingdom, romania, interwar, period, achieved, after, great, union, also, refers, nationalist, idea, administrative, romania, 1930as, concept, main, goal, cre. For other uses see Romania Mare The term Greater Romania Romanian Romania Mare usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period 1 achieved after the Great Union It also refers to a pan nationalist 2 3 idea Administrative map of Romania in 1930As a concept its main goal is the creation of a nation state which would incorporate all Romanian speakers 4 5 6 7 8 In 1920 after the incorporation of Transylvania Bukovina Bessarabia and parts of Banat Crișana and Maramureș the Romanian state reached its largest peacetime geographical extent ever 295 049 km2 Today the concept serves as a guiding principle for the unification of Moldova and Romania The idea is comparable to other similar conceptions such as the Greater Bulgaria Megali Idea Greater Yugoslavia Greater Hungary and Greater Italy 9 10 Contents 1 Ideology 2 Evolution 2 1 Before World War I 2 2 World War I 2 3 Interwar Romania 2 3 1 Territorial changes 2 3 1 1 Bessarabia 2 3 1 2 Bukovina 2 3 1 3 Transylvania 2 4 World War II losses 2 5 After World War II 2 6 Recent developments 3 See also 4 References 5 Further readingIdeology editThe theme of national identity had been always a key concern for Romanian culture and politics 11 The Romanian national ideology in the first decades of the twentieth century was a typical example of ethnocentric nationalism 12 The concept of Greater Romania shows similarities to the idea of national state 13 The Romanian territorial claims were based on primordial racial modalities the essential goal of them was to unify the biologically defined Romanians 14 The nation building based on the French model of a unitary nation state became an all time priority especially in the interwar and the Communist periods 15 Evolution editMain article Territorial evolution of Romania Before World War I edit nbsp Hypothetical map of Romania by Cezar Bolliac 1855 nbsp Long Live Greater Romania reconstruction of the Darnița Banner designed in 1917 it was first flown by ethnic Romanian turncoats from the Austro Hungarian Army who formed a Volunteer Corps of the Romanian ArmySee also National awakening of Romania and Unification of Moldavia and Wallachia The union of Michael the Brave who ruled over the three principalities with Romanian population Wallachia Transylvania and Moldavia for a short period of time 16 was viewed in later periods as the precursor of a modern Romania a thesis which was argued with noted intensity by Nicolae Bălcescu This theory became a point of reference for nationalists as well as a catalyst for various Romanian forces to achieve a single Romanian state 17 The Romanian revolution in 1848 already carried the seeds of the national dream of a unified and united Romania 6 though the idea of unification had been known from earlier works of Naum Ramniceanu 1802 and Ion Budai Deleanu 1804 16 The concept owes its life to Dimitrie Brătianu who introduced the term Greater Romania in 1852 16 The first step in unifying Romanians was to establish the United Principalities by uniting Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859 18 which became known as Romania since the 1866 Constitution and turned into a Kingdom in 1881 after gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire However before the Austro Hungarian Compromise the elite of the Transylvanian Romanians did not support the concept of Greater Romania instead they wanted only equality with the other nations in Transylvania 6 The concept became a political reality when in 1881 the Romanian National Party of Transylvania gathered Romanians on a common political platform to fight together for Transylvania s autonomy 16 According to Livezeanu the creation of Greater Romania with a unifying concept of nationhood started to evolve in the late 1910s 15 World War I played a crucial part in the development of Romanian national consciousness World War I edit The Treaty of Bucharest 1916 was signed between Romania and the Entente Powers on 4 Old Style 17 New Style August 1916 in Bucharest 19 The treaty stipulated the conditions under which Romania agreed to join the war on the side of the Entente particularly territorial promises in Austria Hungary The signatories bound themselves to keep secret the contents of the treaty until a general peace was concluded Romanians The war which for the last two years has been encircling our frontiers more and more closely has shaken the ancient foundations of Europe to their depths It has brought the day which has been awaited for centuries by the national conscience by the founders of the Romanian State by those who united the principalities in the war of independence by those responsible for the national renaissance It is the day of the union of all branches of our nation Today we are able to complete the task of our forefathers and to establish forever that which Michael the Great was only able to establish for a moment namely a Romanian union on both slopes of the Carpathians For us the mountains and plains of Bukowina where Stephen the Great has slept for centuries In our moral energy and our valour lie the means of giving him back his birthright of a great and free Rumania from the Tisza to the Black Sea and to prosper in peace in accordance with our customs and our hopes and dreams Part of the proclamation by King Ferdinand 28 August 1916 20 Lucian Boia summarised the territorial extent of the nationalist dream as following The phrase De la Nistru pana la Tisa From Dniester to Tisza is well known to Romanians it defines the limits of an ideal Romania though we should note that the Romanian population extends in the east beyond the Dniester while both banks of the Tisza are completely Hungarian for most of the river s length To the south the Danube completes the symbolic geography of Romania an enclosed space between 3 rivers with an area of 300 000 sq km comparable to that of Italy or the British Isles Rivers then are perceived as natural borders separating Romanians from Others 21 Interwar Romania edit See also Little Entente and Polish Romanian alliance nbsp Regions of the Kingdom of Romania 1918 1940 The concept of Greater Romania materialized as a geopolitical reality after the First World War 13 Romania gained control over Bessarabia Bukovina and Transylvania The borders established by the treaties concluding the war did not change until 1940 The resulting state often referred to as Romania Mare or alternatively as Romanian Romania Intregită roughly translated in English as Romania Made Whole or Entire Romania was seen as the true whole Romanian state or as Tom Gallagher states the Holy Grail of Romanian nationalism 22 Its constitution proclaimed in 1923 largely ignored the new ethnic and cultural realities 23 The Romanian ideology changed due to the demographic cultural and social alterations however the nationalist desire for a homogeneous Romanian state conflicted with the multiethnic multicultural truth of Greater Romania 5 The ideological rewriting of the role of spiritual victimization turning it into spiritual police was a radical and challenging task for the Romanian intellectuals because they had to entirely revise the national identity and the destiny of the Romanian nation 12 In accordance with this view Livezeanu states that the Great Union created a deeply fragmented interwar Romania where the determination of national identity met with great difficulties mainly because of the effects of the hundred years of political separation 24 Due to the inability of the government to solve the problems of the Transylvanian Romanians integration and the effects of the worldwide and national economic depression the population gradually lost its faith in the democratic conception of Greater Romania 25 The Great Depression in Romania which started in 1929 destabilised the country The early 1930s were marked by social unrest high unemployment and strikes In several instances the Romanian government violently repressed strikes and riots notably the 1929 miners strike in Valea Jiului and the strike in the Grivița railroad workshops In the mid 1930s the Romanian economy recovered and the industry grew significantly although about 80 of Romanians were still employed in agriculture French economic and political influence was predominant in the early 1920s but then Germany became more dominant especially in the 1930s 26 Territorial changes edit nbsp Extension of Romanian Kingdom after the First World WarBessarabia edit Main articles Treaty of Paris 1920 and Union of Bessarabia with Romania See also Tatarbunary Uprising Bessarabia declared its sovereignty as the Moldavian Democratic Republic in 1917 by the newly formed Council of the Country Sfatul Țării The state was faced with the disorderly retreat through its territory of Russian troops from disbanded units In January 1918 the Sfatul Țării called on Romanian troops to protect the province from the Bolsheviks who were spreading the Russian Revolution 27 28 29 After declaring independence from Russia on 24 January 1918 the Sfatul Țării voted for union with Romania on 9 April 1918 Of the 138 deputies in the council 86 voted for union 3 against 36 abstained mostly the deputies representing minorities 52 of the population at the time 30 and 13 were not present The United Kingdom France Italy and Japan recognized the incorporation of Bessarabia through the Treaty of Paris The United States and the Soviet Union however refused to do so the latter maintaining a claim to the territory for the whole interwar period Furthermore Japan failed to ratify the treaty which therefore never entered into force Bukovina edit Main articles Treaty of Saint Germain en Laye 1919 and Union of Bukovina with Romania In Bukovina after being occupied by the Romanian Army 31 32 a National Council voted for union with Romania While the Romanian German and Polish deputies unanimously voted for union 33 the Ukrainian deputies representing 38 of the population according to the 1910 Austrian census 34 and Jewish deputies did not attend the council 33 The unification was ratified in the Treaty of Saint Germain en Laye Transylvania edit Main articles Treaty of Trianon and Union of Transylvania with RomaniaSee also Hungarian Romanian War of 1919 On 1 December 1918 the Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia proclaimed the union of Transylvania and other territories with Romania in Alba Iulia adopted by the Deputies of the Romanians of Transylvania and supported one month later by the vote of the Deputies of the Saxons of Transylvania 35 The Hungarians of Transylvania about 32 at the time including the Hungarian speaking Jewish community and the Germans of Banat did not elect deputies upon the dissolution of Austria Hungary since they were considered represented by the Budapest government of Hungary nevertheless on 22 December 1918 the Hungarian General Assembly in Cluj Kolozsvar reaffirmed the loyalty of Hungarians from Transylvania to Hungary In the 1920 Treaty of Trianon Hungary was forced to give up all claims over Transylvania and the treaty set the new borders between the two countries 36 World War II losses edit nbsp Ethnic map of interwar Romania 1930 Romanian census Main articles Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina Second Vienna Award Treaty of Craiova and Romania during World War IIIn 1940 the Romanian state agreed to cede Bessarabia to the Soviet Union as provided for by the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Germany It also lost Northern Bukovina and the Hertsa region which were not mentioned in the pact to the Soviet Union It lost Northern Transylvania to Hungary through the Second Vienna Award and the Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria by the Treaty of Craiova In the course of World War II Romania which was allied with the Axis Powers not only re annexed Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina but also took under administrative control lands to the east of Dniester parts of recently formed Moldavian SSR and of Odessa and Vinnytsia oblasts of Ukrainian SSR creating Transnistria Governorate nbsp Population structure in Romania Transnistria Governorate included according to the 1941 Romanian census Despite clear Ukrainian majority in the governorate s ethnic composition demonstrated by a census conducted in December 1941 Romanian government hoped to annex it eventually as a compensation for Northern Transylvania lost to Hungary These territories were lost again when the tide of the war turned After the war Romania regained the Transylvanian territories lost to Hungary but not territory lost to Bulgaria or the Soviet Union In 1948 a treaty between the Soviet Union and Soviet occupied Communist Romania also provided for the transfer of four uninhabited islands to the Soviet Union three in the Danube Delta and Snake Island in the Black Sea After World War II edit See also National Communism in Romania After the war the concept was interpreted as obsolete because of the Romanian defeat 37 However even the Communist politicians between 1944 and 1947 plainly supported the re establishment of Greater Romania 38 Gheorghe Apostol s reminiscence strengthens the view for the nationalist argument of the Communists at the negotiations with Stalin about the future of Northern Transylvania 24 In contrast with this view Romsics quotes Valter Roman one of the heads of the Romanian Communist Party as writing in his memo of April 1944 the two parts of Transylvania should be reunited as an independent state 39 The Romanian Communist politicians behavior were depicted by whom as nationalist and this circumstance brought about the concept of National Communism 38 which amalgamated elements of Stalinism and Fascism 40 According to Trond Gilberg the regime needed the strongly nationalist attitude because of the social economic and political challenges 38 After the retreat of the Soviet troops from Romania in 1958 the national ideology was reborn however it raises questions about its reconcilability with internationalist communism 24 Nicolae Ceaușescu fancied the idea that the creation of Greater Romania was the fruit of the end of the nation formation process The setting up of the Romanian unitary national state six and a half decades ago was a brilliant historic victory of the long heroic struggle of the masses for creating the Romanian nation and the coming true of the age old dream of all Romanians to live in unity within the borders of the same country in one free and independent state Ceaușescu 1983 24 Recent developments edit See also Unification of Moldova and Romania and Bessarabia Romanian land nbsp Graffiti with shapes of Greater Romania near Briceni MoldovaThe fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and the economic downturn accompanying it led to a resurgence of nationalism in the region Romania and Moldova state comprising the bulk of Bessarabia which had become independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union confronted with their eastern neighbor Ukraine Bucharest and Chișinău announced territorial claims on Ukrainian lands on parts of Chernivtsi and Odessa regions 41 Bulgaria surmised that the concept of Greater Romania stood behind Romanian foreign policy toward Moldova therefore expressed concerns about possible developments on Dobruja 8 In 1992 the issue on unification of Moldova and Romania was negotiated between the Romanian and Moldovan governments and they wanted to achieve it by the end of the year 42 However the unionists lost their dominance in Moldova in the middle of the year 42 Bucharest admitted the existence of the two Romanian states Romania and Moldova and defined priorities in reference to this matter the creation of a common cultural space the creation of an economically integrated zone and gradual political integration 8 The Moldovan Snegur government became more pragmatic and realized that the nationalist propaganda from Bucharest did not help their aims especially on the problem of Soviet annexed Bessarabia 8 The Romanian organizations ignored the result of the Moldovan referendum on independence because the referendum did not ask Romanians in Romania 8 Romanian politicians blamed Russia and the Moldovan regime that unification became unreal 8 According to Edward Ozhiganov Head of the Division for Ethnopolitical Research at the Analytical Center of the Federation Council in Russia the armed conflict in Moldova was due to the Romanian ethnic nationalism in other words the attempt to create a unitary ethnic state with power concentrated in the hands of ethnic nationalists in what was actually a multiethnic society 8 Furthermore Bucharest s behavior toward Ukraine did not change until 1997 when Romanian politicians realized that resolving border disputes was a precondition for NATO membership 43 Present day Romanian irredentists such as members of PRM aim to take possession of territories of northern Bukovina and Bessarabia 44 45 These regions currently belong to Ukraine and Moldova 44 The Russian presence and the tense political situation in Moldova also inflame their demands 44 Nevertheless radicals make territorial demands on Hungary too 44 The Greater Romania Party Partidul Romania Mare PRM is an emblematic representative of the aforesaid concept though the conception is fostered also by other right wing groups e g the organisation of the New Right Noua Dreaptă 44 46 Today the phrase Bessarabia Romanian land Basarabia pămant romanesc with several variations is commonly used in Romania and it poses territorial claims over the region of Bessarabia 47 It is also used in Moldova 48 See also edit nbsp Romania portal nbsp Moldova portalList of Romanians who were born outside present day Romania Moldovenism Greater Moldova Romanianization Little Entente Greater Serbia Hungarian irredentism Greater Bulgaria Greater Ukraine Unification of Moldova and RomaniaReferences edit Cas Mudde Racist Extremism in Central and Eastern Europe Peter Truscott Russia First Breaking with the West I B Tauris 1997 p 72 Moldova s Political self and the energy Conundrum in the Context of the European neighbourhood Policy PDF ISN ETH Zurich 2012 Archived from the original PDF on 2016 03 04 Retrieved 2014 05 23 The Romanian Holocaust in Memory and Commemoration The Jewish fate during World War II in postwar commemoration University of Amsterdam 2012 Retrieved 2014 05 21 a b Irina Livezeanu Cultural Politics in Greater Romania Regionalism Nation Building amp Ethnic Struggle 1918 1930 Cornell University Press 2000 p 4 and p 302 a b c Ivan T Berend History Derailed Central and Eastern Europe in the Long Nineteenth Century University of California Press 2013 p 112 and p 252 Lavinia Stan Lucian Turcescu Religion and Politics in Post Communist Romania Oxford University Press 2007 p 53 a b c d e f g Alekseĭ Georgievich Arbatov Managing Conflict in the Former Soviet Union Russian and American Perspectives MIT Press 1997 pp 202 204 Giuseppe Motta Less than Nations Central Eastern European Minorities after WWI Volume 1 Archived 2016 03 04 at the Wayback Machine Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2013 p 11 Klaus Roth Ulf Brunnbauer Region Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe Part 1 LIT Verlag Munster 2008 p 52 Michael D Kennedy Envisioning Eastern Europe Postcommunist Cultural Studies University of Michigan Press 1994 p 121 a b Ideas And Ideology In Interwar Romania www icr ro 2007 Retrieved 2014 05 11 a b Petre Berteanu Romanian nationalism and political communication Greater Romania Party Partidul Romania Mare a case study In Jaroslav Hroch David Hollan George F McLean National Cultural and Ethnic Identities Harmony Beyond Conflict CRVP 1998 pp 161 176 Aristotle Kallis Genocide and Fascism The Eliminationist Drive in Fascist Europe Routledge 2008 p 75 a b Tristan James Mabry John McGarry Margaret Moore Brendan O Leary Divided Nations and European Integration University of Pennsylvania Press 2013 p 113 and p 117 a b c d Juliana Geran Pilon The Bloody Flag Post Communist Nationalism in Eastern Europe Spotlight on Romania Transaction Publishers 1982 p 56 Giurescu Constantin C 2007 1935 Istoria Romanilor Bucharest Editura All p 211 13 Pablo Cardona Michael J Morley Manager Subordinate Trust in Different Cultures Routledge 2013 p 119 Constantin Kirițescu Istoria războiului pentru intregirea Romaniei 1916 1919 1922 p 179 Primary Documents King Ferdinand s Proclamation to the Romanian People 28 August 1916 firstworldwar com Retrieved 22 March 2018 Lucian Boia Romania Borderlands of Europe Reaktion Books Publishing 2001 p 59 Gallagher Tom 2005 Modern Romania the end of communism the failure of democratic reform and the theft of a nation New York New York University Press p 28 ISBN 0 8147 3172 4 Keith Hitchins A Concise History of Romania Cambridge University Press 2014 p 183 ISBN 9781107782709 a b c d Konrad Hugo Jarausch Thomas Lindenberger Annelie Ramsbrock Conflicted Memories Europeanizing Contemporary Histories Berghahn Books 2007 pp 39 42 Siebenburgen ohne Siebenburger University of Vienna 2013 Retrieved 2014 05 11 William A Hoisington Jr The Struggle for Economic Influence in Southeastern Europe The French Failure in Romania 1940 Journal of Modern History 43 3 1971 468 482 Ion Nistor Istoria Basarabiei Cernăuți 1923 reprinted Chișinău Cartea Moldovenească 1991 and Humanitas Bucharest 1991 ISBN 973 28 0283 9 Charles Upson Clark Bessarabia Russia and Roumania on the Black Sea Archived 2009 01 12 at the Wayback Machine Pantelimon Halippa Anatolie Moraru Testament pentru urmași Munich 1967 reprinted Chișinău Hyperion 1991 p 143 Results of the 1897 Russian Census at demoscope ru Moldavskij i rumynskij 469 852 451067 total population Moldavian and Romanian 920 919 people Archived 2016 05 30 at the Wayback Machine Volodymyr Kubijovyc Arkadii Zhukovsky Bukovyna in Encyclopedia of Ukraine Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies 2001 Sherman David Spector Rumania at the Paris Peace Conference A Study of the Diplomacy of Ioan I C Brătianu Bookman Associates 1962 p 70 a b Irina Livezeanu 2000 Cultural Politics in Greater Romania Regionalism Nation Building and Ethnic Struggle 1918 1930 Cornell University Press p 59 ISBN 978 0 8014 8688 3 Donald Peckham Christina Bratt Paulston Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe Multilingual Matters 1998 p 190 Dennis P Hupchick 1995 Conflict and chaos in Eastern Europe Palgrave Macmillan p 83 ISBN 978 0 312 12116 7 Text of the Treaty of Trianon World War I Document Archive Retrieved 31 August 2008 Bernard A Cook Europe Since 1945 An Encyclopedia Volume 2 Taylor amp Francis 2001 p 1074 a b c Paul Roe Ethnic Violence and the Societal Security Dilemma Routledge 2004 p 128 Ignac Romsics The Paris Peace Treaty of 1947 In Storia amp Diplomazia Rassegna dell Archivio Storico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri 2013 p 18 Costica Bradatan Serguei Oushakine In Marx s Shadow Knowledge Power and Intellectuals in Eastern Europe and Russia Lexington Books 2010 p 225 Bohdan Nahaylo The Ukrainian Resurgence C Hurst amp Co Publishers 1999 pp 408 409 a b Ideas And Ideology In Interwar Romania PDF University of Southern California Archived from the original PDF on 2016 03 04 Retrieved 2014 05 19 Marta Dyczok Ukraine Movement Without Change Change Without Movement Routledge 2013 p 108 a b c d e The Extreme Right in Eastern Europe and Territorial Issues www cepsr com 2009 Retrieved 2014 05 11 THE EXTREME RIGHT IN CONTEMPORARY ROMANIA PDF Bibliothek der Friedrich Ebert Stiftung 2012 Retrieved 2014 05 11 Uwe Backes Patrick Moreau The Extreme Right in Europe Current Trends and Perspectives Vandenhoeck amp Ruprecht 2011 p 276 Dumitrica Delia 2019 The ideological work of the daily visual representations of nations Nations and Nationalism 25 3 910 934 doi 10 1111 nana 12520 hdl 1765 117796 S2CID 150661172 Stan Liviu G 27 November 2017 Elevă din Rep Moldova a Școlii de Poliție din Campina Basarabia e pămant romanesc InfoPrut in Romanian Further reading editBucur Maria Eugenics and Modernization in Interwar Romania Pittsburg University of Pittsburgh Press 2010 Hoisington Jr William A The Struggle for Economic Influence in Southeastern Europe The French Failure in Romania 1940 Journal of Modern History 43 3 1971 468 482 online Luetkens Gerhart Roumania To Day International Affairs Sep Oct 1938 17 5 pp 682 695 in JSTOR Leustean Lucian N September 2007 For the Glory of Romanians Orthodoxy and Nationalism in Greater Romania 1918 1945 Nationalities Papers 35 4 717 742 doi 10 1080 00905990701475111 S2CID 161907079 Suveica Svetlana Bessarabia in the First Interwar Decade 1918 1928 Modernization by Means of Reforms Chișinau Pontos 2010 360 p Romanian ISBN 978 9975 51 070 7 Thomas Martin To arm an ally French arms sales to Romania 1926 1940 Journal of Strategic Studies 19 2 1996 231 259 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Greater Romania amp oldid 1193893382, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.