Moldova: A History

Description

Moldova is a new nation-state with a long history. Despite only recently gaining independence, following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova's roots stretch all the way back to the Principality of Moldavia, established in 1359. After centuries toiling under Ottoman control, and latterly Russian Imperial rule, the Moldovans briefly tasted independence in the early twentieth century, before being annexed by the Soviet Union. In recent times, the Transnistrian Dispute has once again threatened the sovereignty, and indeed the independence, of Moldova and this conflict remains unresolved today. For the first time in English, this book places the problems of contemporary Moldova in a long-term historical perspective. It argues that the Moldovans' complex relations with the Russians and the West are not simply the product of the Soviet era but have their roots in earlier centuries. Haynes contends that the Moldovan lands, and Moldovan identity and culture, have long been contested: by the Roman and Byzantine Empires of antiquity, by the expanding Hungarian and Polish-Lithuanian kingdoms in the Middle Ages, by the Ottoman, Habsburg, Russian and Soviet empires in more recent centuries, and by the Romanian state. The book provides a political and cultural history of the growth and development of the medieval Principality of Moldova, the Principality's partition and Russian rule in Bessarabia from 1812, Bessarabia under Romanian rule in the inter-war period, Soviet Moldova and the independent Republic of Moldova.

Rebecca Haynes is Senior Lecturer in Romanian History at the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (SSEES), University College London. She is the author of Romanian Policy Towards Germany, 1936-40 and co-editor of In the Shadow of Hitler: Personalities of the Right in Central and Eastern Europe (I.B.Tauris).

Moldova: A History is a thorough work that draws upon an often overlooked topic in modern scholarly thought and raises different issues that are crucial for understanding the Republic of Moldova's behaviour on the international stage. The accessible writing, with explanations of basic terms and names, means that it will appeal to those who do not have any prior knowledge of the history of contemporary Moldova, and it is a useful addition to the available English-language literature on this contested borderland. * LSE Review of Books * Rebecca Haynes' study of Moldova is essential reading for all students of nationalism and national identity. Her book provides an authoritative analysis of the nation's history and of the country's political experience since independence in 1991. She argues that a conflicted identity of the Moldovan nation has developed as a result of the policies pursed in Moscow, Bucharest and the country's capital Chisinau and that the historical link of the territory of the republic with neigbouring Romania, Ukraine and Russia mean that the history of Moldova is also, in part, also a history of these three countries. * Dennis Deletant, Visiting Ion Ratiu Professor of Romanian Studies, Georgetown University, USA *