What are, in fact, the borders of Moldova? Discussion has a “history”

What are the borders of Moldova? A discussion with a “history” of its own for more than five centuries that has generated extensive debates.

The ancient borders of Moldavia were lost in the thickets of the Bucovina forests, they had the Carpathians to the West, the Dniester to the East (with some temporary extensions under John Vodă the Complete in 1572-1574), and Milcovul, the Danube and the Black Sea to the south.

Initially, before the reign of Stephen the Great, tradition spoke of the customs of Buzău as a customs point between the medieval states of Wallachia-Muntenia and Moldavia. Later, this point had been pushed towards Râmnicu Sărat.

The seizure of Bucovina in 1775-1776 and the seizure of Bessarabia in 1812, the return of Southern Bessarabia to Moldova between 1856 and 1878, the Union of Bessarabia and Bucovina with Romania in 1918, the ceding of Bessarabia, Northern Bucovina by the Soviet ultimatum of June 1940, the June 1940 seizure of Herta , the temporary liberation of Northern Bucovina, Herta, Bessarabia by the Romanian Army allied with the German Wehrmacht, the establishment of the Government of Transnistria with its center in Odessa, the return in 1944 to the situation existing in June 1940 are briefly the stages of the evolution of Moldova’s borders.

The border from Muntenia of Moldavia, regulated by Stephen the Great in 1482

Obviously, at the end of the 15th century, the development of both Principalities was so intense that it was in the interest of both states to have a border that included as much of the interference territory as possible. It lasted about 82 years, that is, from the agreement between Mircea the Old and Alexandru the Good (grandfather of Stephen the Great) in 1400 and until Stephen the Great, in 1482, the debate about the Moldovan-Mountain border.

The tradition of the historical-political-administrative-diplomatic relationship between the rulers Mircea the Old and Alexandru the Good shows the fact that the mountain lord would have ceded Moldova to Alexandru the Good Chilia-Lycostomo so that Moldova would be interested in defending the strategic line of the Chilia Arm of the Danube. Mircea had refused to cede Chilia to Hungary to Sigismund. Moldova had the White Citadel approximately from 1359, so here is Moldova becoming a Danube power helped by Wallachia, Mircea managing to impose Romanian rule in Dobrogea in the period 1388-1417 (there are voices that claim that Dobrogea was lost somewhere in a year or two after Mircea’s “rapture” in January 1418).

The ruler of Moldavia, wanting to put loyal rulers in Wallachia, in order to maintain this state in the anti-Ottoman struggle, established that the border of Moldavia was to be roughly “from the peak of Lăcăuți, along the Milcov River to its confluence with the Putna, then on Putna until it flows into the Siret and on the Siret until it flows into the Danube”.

The customs from Râmnicu Sărat had already lost its role in favor of the small fair from Focșani that had developed on both banks of the Milcov. So, since 1482, there is no longer any doubt: the customs office between the medieval states between Wallachia and Moldova was Milcovul, and the main customs point was Focșani.

The borders of Moldova through the Organic Regulation

Moldova’s borders are the subject of debates, especially after the Akkerman Convention of 1826 and the Adrianople Treaty of 1829. However, the Organic Regulations, adopted in 1831 in Bucharest and in 1832 in Iași, accredit the idea of ​​formally maintaining an internal customs.

In 1834-1835, in Wallachia, it was decided that the Army would have border guards at the borders from Austria and Moldova, but in 1835, it was decided that until 1848, the Moldovan-Mountain customs would be formally abolished. Practically, document controls were carried out , goods considered “forbidden” were controlled, the voting rights of a mountaineer and a Moldovan were in their countries of residence/

You could already go from one side of Milcov to another, you could buy properties reciprocally. So things were evolving towards a symbolic border. Focșani was the market town considered the main residence between the two Principalities.

The Central Commission from Focșani: “Let’s hurry to Milcov, let’s dry it in one gulp”

The customs city status of Focșani was recognized as such in 1858, by the Paris Convention of 1858, of the Guarantor Powers, which was to play a constitutional role regarding the election of rulers, the internal organization of the new state, the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which was to be formed as a result of the consultation of the Ad-Hoc Assemblies of 1857. The convention stipulated that here, in Focșani, a Central Commission would operate to manage the common legislation of the new state, formally united with the approval of the Guarantor Powers.

The Central Commission from Focșani operated from 10/22 May 1859 to 12/24 February 1862. The Central Commission from Focșani had 16 members. Only 7 members were moderates, the other 9 were either conservatives or moderate liberals. The Central Commission would have succeeded in designing a number of 60 legislative texts.

Among these, there would have been a constitutional project (the Convention of 1858 represented the external vision of Romanian internal affairs, so it was not complete, being at most tolerable) and a project of agrarian reform (the pain left unfulfilled since 1848).

Ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza himself, liberal in conception, did not like the Commission, so the big projects were not destined to succeed. However, an achievement is attributed to the Focșani Commission. Here it was decided, through the project, to have a kind of Constitutional Court and Supreme Court. This is how the Law of the Court of Cassation was adopted on January 12/24, 1861.

Borders of Moldova. Epilogue…

The line from “Hora Unirii” poem written by Vasile Alecsandri “Come to Milcov with haste to dry it out of a sip” reached its goal with the double election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza in Iași and Bucharest, in January 1859, taking advantage of certain “gateways” in the Paris Convention of 1858.

Today, Milcovul no longer divides in two the modern city of Focșani which was the seat of the interwar Putna county, then after 1968, of Vrancea county, its course being diverted to Răstoaca, but the “little passions”, as Caragiale called them, do not disappear in politicians’ speeches , although hundreds of years have passed since, historically and administratively, Buzău and Râmnicu Sărat are no longer part of Moldova.

As for the Galati-Brăila rivalry, Brăila was until 1829 a Turkish fiefdom, and after the Treaty of Adrianople, on September 2/14, 1829, it returned to Wallachia, while Galațiul (the seat of the old Covurlui county) was part of Moldova.