Editing History of Moldova (section)

==World War II and Soviet era==
{{Main|Moldavian ASSR|Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|Moldavian SSR|Transnistria (World War II)|Soviet deportations from Bessarabia}}

After the establishment of the Soviet Union in December 1922, the Soviet government moved in 1924 to establish the [[Moldavian Autonomous Oblast]] on the lands to the east of the [[Dniester]] River in the [[Ukrainian SSR]]. The capital of the oblast was [[Balta, Ukraine|Balta]], situated in present-day [[Ukraine]]. Seven months later, the oblast was upgraded to the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ([[Moldavian ASSR]] or MASSR), even though its population was only 30% ethnic Romanian. The capital remained at Balta until 1929, when it was moved to [[Tiraspol]].<ref name="CKing-p181">[[Charles King (professor of international affairs)|Charles King]], ''The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the Politics of Culture'', Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 2000. {{ISBN|0-8179-9792-X}}. p. 181</ref>

In the secret protocol attached to the 1939 [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] defining the division of the spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, Nazi Germany declared it had no political interest in Bessarabia, in response to the Soviet Union's expression of interest, thereby consigning Bessarabia to the Soviet "sphere". On June 26, 1940, the Soviet government issued an [[ultimatum]] to the Romanian minister in Moscow, demanding Romania immediately cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Italy and Germany, which needed a stable Romania and access to its oil fields, urged King Carol II to do so. On June 28, Soviet troops crossed the Dniester and [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|occupied Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nagy-Talavera |first=Nicolas M. |title=Green Shirts and Others: a History of Fascism in Hungary and Romania |year=1970 |pages=305}}</ref>

[[File:Tiraspol 2.JPG|thumb|[[Tiraspol]], 1941]]

The Soviet republic created following annexation did not follow Bessarabia's traditional border. The [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic]] (Moldavian SSR), established on August 2, 1940, consisted of six and a half counties of Bessarabia joined with the westernmost part of the already extant MASSR (an autonomous entity within the Ukrainian SSR). Various changes were made to its borders, which were finally settled by November 1940. Territories where ethnic Ukrainians formed a large portion of the population (parts of [[Northern Bukovina]] and parts of [[Hotin]], [[Akkerman]], and [[Izmail]]) went to Ukraine, while a small strip of Transnistria east of the Dniester with a significant (49% of inhabitants) Moldovan population was joined to the MSSR. The transfer of Bessarabia's Black Sea and Danube frontage to Ukraine insured its control by a stable Soviet republic. This transfer, along with the division of Bessarabia, was also designed to discourage future Romanian claims and [[irredentism]].<ref name="CKing-p94">[[Charles King (professor of international affairs)|Charles King]], ''The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the Politics of Culture'', Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 2000. {{ISBN|0-8179-9792-X}}. p. 94</ref>

Under early Soviet rule, [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|deportations]] of locals to the northern [[Ural Mountains|Urals]], to [[Siberia]], and [[Kazakhstan]] occurred regularly throughout the [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] period, with the largest ones on 12–13 June 1941, and 5–6 July 1949, accounting for 19,000 and 35,000 deportees respectively (from MSSR alone).<ref>{{in lang|ro}} [http://www.presidency.ro/static/ordine/RAPORT_FINAL_CPADCR.pdf Tismăneanu Report] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408193207/http://www.presidency.ro/static/ordine/RAPORT_FINAL_CPADCR.pdf |date=2008-04-08}}, pages 584 and 587</ref> In 1940–1941, ca. 90,000 inhabitants of the annexed territories were subject to political persecutions, such as arrests, deportations, or executions.<ref name="tismrep1">{{in lang|ro}} Comisia Prezidențială pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din România: Raport Final / ed.: Vladimir Tismăneanu, Dorin Dobrincu, Cristian Vasile, București: Humanitas, 2007, 879 pp., {{ISBN|978-973-50-1836-8}} (Tismăneanu Report)</ref>

By participating in the 1941 [[Operation Barbarossa|Axis invasion of the Soviet Union]], pro-German Romania seized the lost territories of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, as well as those of the former MASSR, and established its administration there. In [[Transnistria (World War II)|occupied Transnistria]], Romanian forces, working with the Germans, deported ca. 147,000 Jews from the territories of Bessarabia and Bukovina, of whom over 90,000 perished in ghettoes and concentration camps.<ref name=tismrep2>{{in lang|ro}} ''Comisia prezidențială pentru alaliza dictaturii comuniste din România. Raport final.'' Humanitas, București, 2008, p. 585, see also [http://www.presidency.ro/static/ordine/RAPORT_FINAL_CPADCR.pdf electronic version] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408193207/http://www.presidency.ro/static/ordine/RAPORT_FINAL_CPADCR.pdf |date=2008-04-08 }}</ref>

By April 1944, successful offensives of the Soviet Army occupied northern Moldavia and Transnistria, and by the end of August 1944 the entire territory was under Soviet control, with Soviet Army units entering Kishinev on 24 August 1944. The [[Paris Peace Treaties, 1947|Paris peace treaty]] signed in February 1947 fixed the Romanian-Soviet border to the one established in June 1940.<ref>Ian Sinclair, ''Boundaries'' in Daniel Bardonnet, [[Hague Academy of International Law]], ''Le règlement pacifique des différends internationaux en Europe'', Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Hague, 1991, {{ISBN|0-7923-1573-1}}, p.36</ref><ref>[[Charles King (professor of international affairs)|Charles King]], ''The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the politics of culture'', [[Hoover Institution Press]], Stanford University, 2000. {{ISBN|0-8179-9792-X}}, p.91</ref>

The territory remained part of the Soviet Union after World War II as the [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. Soviet Union created the universal educational system, brought high-tech industry and science.  Most of these industries were built in Transnistria and around large cities, while in the rest of the republic agriculture was developed. By the late Soviet period, the urban intelligentsia and government officials were dominated mostly by ethnic Moldovans, while Russians and Ukrainians made up most of the technical and engineering specialists.<ref>Aleksei Georgievich Arbatov, ''Managing Conflict in the Former Soviet Union: Russian and American Perspectives'', [[MIT Press]], 1997, {{ISBN|0-262-51093-6}}, p. 154-155.</ref>

[[File:Agricultura in raionul Camenca.JPG|thumb|[[Agriculture in Moldova]], 1941]]

The conditions imposed during the reestablishment of Soviet rule became the basis of deep resentment toward Soviet authorities, manifested in numerous [[Anti-Soviet resistance in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|resistance movements to Soviet rule]].<ref>Tismaneanu Report, p. 755-758</ref> In 1946, as a result of a severe drought and excessive delivery quota obligations and requisitions imposed by the Soviet government, the southwestern part of the USSR suffered from a major famine resulting in a minimum of 115,000 deaths among the peasants.<ref name="CKing-p96">[[Charles King (professor of international affairs)|Charles King]], ''The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the politics of culture'', Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 2000. {{ISBN|0-8179-9792-X}}. p. 96</ref> During [[Leonid Brezhnev]]'s 1950–1952 tenure as the First Secretary of the [[Communist Party of Moldova|Communist Party of Moldavia]] (CPM), he was ruthless compared to his predecessor [[Nicolae Coval]] in putting down numerous resistance groups, and issuing harsh sentences.<ref>Tismaneanu Report, p. 758</ref> During the [[Operation North]], 723 families (2,617 persons) were deported from the Moldavian SSR, on the night of March 31 to April 1, 1951, members of Neoprotestant sects, mostly [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], qualified as religious elements considered a potential danger for the communist regime.<ref>''Comisia Prezidențială pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din România: Raport Final'' / ed.: Vladimir Tismăneanu, Dorin Dobrincu, Cristian Vasile, București: Humanitas, 2007, {{ISBN|978-973-50-1836-8}}, p. 754 {{in lang|ro}}</ref><ref>Elena Șișcanu, ''Basarabia sub ergimul bolşevic (1940–1952)'', București, Ed. Semne, 1998, p.111 {{in lang|ro}}</ref>

[[File:Stamp of Moldova md046st.jpg|thumb|left|[[Romanian Literature Museum, Chișinău]]]]

Most political and academic positions were given to members of non-Romanian ethnic groups (only 17.5% of the Moldavian SSR's political leaders were ethnic Romanians in 1940).<ref>E.S. Lazo, Moldavskaya partiynaya organizatsia v gody stroitelstva sotsializma(1924–1940), Chișinău, Știința, 1981, p. 38</ref><ref>William Crowther, "Ethnicity and Participation in the Communist Party of Moldavia", in Journal of Soviet Nationalities I, no. 1990, p. 148-49</ref>

Although Brezhnev and other CPM first secretaries were largely successful in suppressing Romanian irredentism in the 1950s–1980s, [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]'s administration facilitated the revival of the movement in the region. His policies of [[glasnost]] and [[perestroika]] created conditions in which nationalistic feelings could be openly expressed and in which the Soviet republics could consider reforms.<ref>King, p. 121</ref>

In the 1970s and 1980s Moldova received substantial investment from the budget of the USSR to develop industrial, scientific facilities, as well as housing. In 1971 the [[Council of Ministers (Soviet Union)|Council of Ministers of the USSR]] adopted a decision "About the measures for further development of Kishinev city" that secured more than one billion [[Russian rouble|roubles]] of funds for Chisinau alone from the USSR budget. Subsequent decisions directed large amounts of funds and brought qualified specialists from all over the USSR to further develop the Moldavian SSR.<ref>[http://www.kishinev.info/architecture_en Architecture of Chișinău] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513230114/http://kishinev.info/architecture_en/ |date=2010-05-13 }} on Kishinev.info, Retrieved on 2008-10-12</ref> Such an allocation of USSR assets was influenced by the fact that the-then [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|leader of the Soviet Union]], [[Leonid Brezhnev]], was the First Secretary of the local Communist Party in the 1950s. These investments stopped in 1991 with the [[Belavezha Accords|dissolution of the Soviet Union]], when Moldova became independent.

[[File:Stamp of Moldova md394-6a.jpg|thumb|[[Triumphal Arch, Chișinău|Triumphal Arch]]]]