History UsefulNotes / Moldova

** Prime Minister: Natalia Gavrilița

This war, combined with popular apathy, caution on behalf of the authorities and Romania's own political problems killed off the possibility of union between Moldova and Romania. Moldova began distancing itself from Romania starting in 1994, changing its national anthem from the Romanian one to another one, adopting a new flag (the Romanian flag with the Moldavian coat of arms) and the national language was changed back to "Moldovan". In response, the Romanian Chamber of Deputies adopted a declaration that basically bitched them out for chickening out on union and said that ThisIsUnforgivable. And then everybody forgot about it. Now, the unionist movement still exists, it's stronger in Romania compared to Moldova, but most people on either side don't care very much about it. It doesn't help that a 2008 poll showed 61% of Moldovans rejecting union with Romania. Actually, it's probably for the best that union never happened - Moldova's the second poorest country in Europe (despite its steady annual growth in the [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000s]]) and got ''really'' screwed by the transition to capitalism, so if a union would've taken place it would've been like what happened to UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}, except with both countries having practically Third World economies.

This war, combined with popular apathy, caution on behalf of the authorities and Romania's own political problems killed off the possibility of union between Moldova and Romania. Moldova began distancing itself from Romania starting in 1994, changing its national anthem from the Romanian one to another one, adopting a new flag (the Romanian flag with the Moldavian coat of arms) and the national language was changed back to "Moldovan". In response, the Romanian Chamber of Deputies adopted a declaration that basically bitched them out for chickening out on union and said that ThisIsUnforgivable. And then everybody forgot about it. Now, the unionist movement still exists, it's stronger in Romania compared to Moldova, but most people on either side don't care very much about it. It doesn't help that a 2008 poll showed 61% of Moldovans rejecting union with Romania. Actually, it's probably for the best that union never happened - Moldova's the second poorest country in Europe (despite its steady annual growth in the 2000s) and got ''really'' screwed by the transition to capitalism, so if a union would've taken place it would've been like what happened to Germany, except with both countries having practically Third World economies.

The [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviets]] then benefited from the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. On June 26, 1940, the USSR issued an ultimatum to Romania to withdraw from Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina. Romania had no choice and evacuated the region, which the Soviets took over and renamed the Moldavian SSR. Pissed, the Romanians allied themselves with the Germans and reoccupied it during the invasion of the USSR before getting kicked out again by the Soviets. The Soviets got to keep it after the war in exchange for recognising Romania's re-annexation of Northern Transylvania, essentially creating Romania's modern borders.

The Soviets then benefited from the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. On June 26, 1940, the USSR issued an ultimatum to Romania to withdraw from Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina. Romania had no choice and evacuated the region, which the Soviets took over and renamed the Moldavian SSR. Pissed, the Romanians allied themselves with the Germans and reoccupied it during the invasion of the USSR before getting kicked out again by the Soviets. The Soviets got to keep it after the war in exchange for recognising Romania's re-annexation of Northern Transylvania, essentially creating Romania's modern borders.

Still here so far? Good, because it gets a bit trickier now. In 1812, the Treaty of Bucharest was signed, which split the Principality in two: the part west of the Prut River remained independent and later united with Wallachia to form Romania, while the eastern bit between the Prut and Dniester rivers known as "Bessarabia" ("Basarabia" if you're Romanian) got taken over by UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}. The Russians settled various minorities like Ukrainians, Lipovans, Cossacks, Bulgarians, Germans and Gagauzes in the southern sparsely inhabited parts of Bessarabia.

Still here so far? Good, because it gets a bit trickier now. In 1812, the Treaty of Bucharest was signed, which split the Principality in two: the part west of the Prut River remained independent and later united with Wallachia to form Romania, while the eastern bit between the Prut and Dniester rivers known as "Bessarabia" ("Basarabia" if you're Romanian) got taken over by Russia. The Russians settled various minorities like Ukrainians, Lipovans, Cossacks, Bulgarians, Germans and Gagauzes in the southern sparsely inhabited parts of Bessarabia.

First of all, to get a bit of etymology confusion out of the way: "Moldova" is the generic Romanian term for the historical region that was formerly occupied by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Moldavia Principality of Moldova]] between 1346-1859. For the sake of avoiding confusion, English material differentiates between the ''historical region'', which is referred to by the anglicized "Moldavia", and the ''modern region of Romania and country', which are referred to as "Moldova". It can get a bit confusing, sort of like UsefulNotes/{{Macedonia}}--the Greek area or the country. Also, [[BerserkButton many of the Moldovan and Romanian people have historically held VERY strong (opposing) opinions about whether Moldovan is a language itself, or a dialect of Romanian.]] The truth behind this is somewhat more involved: The two languages have the same literary standard, although Moldovan was written in the Cyrllic alphabet instead of the Romanian alphabet. (Which is a variant on the Latin alphabet.) Further, Moldova's 1991 Declaration of Independence declared Romanian the official language, while the 1994 Constitution declared Moldovan the national language. A 2013 Constitutional Court ruling ruled that the Declaration of Independence takes precedence, and that the official language was Romanian. For what it's worth, most linguists consider Moldovan and Romanian to be the same language, with Moldovan being a political glottonym more than anything else.

Now, Moldova the region's got a long history and [[BlatantLies we don't want to bore you with it]], so here's the basics. The region first got settled in 1353 by Dragoș, at first under Hungarian control. It was Bogdan the Founder who managed to throw them out in 1359, and named the resulting realm after the Moldova river [[note]]popular etymology has it that the river was named in honour of Dragoș's dog Molda, who drowned in it during a hunting trip[[/note]]. The Principality of Moldavia soon covered the entire historical region. A long history ensued, which Romanians and Moldovans know from school but we can't risk {{Padding}} now, can we? The most important event here was the 1859 union between the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which created the United Principalities and officially ended the existence of Moldavia as an independent country. The United Principalities changed their name to Romania in 1866 and later the Kingdom of Romania in 1881.

Moldova, officially the '''Republic of Moldova''' ('''Romanian:''' ''Republica Moldova''), is a Eastern UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}an country sandwiched in between UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} and UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}. It suffers from a pretty bad identity crisis and is named the second-poorest country in Europe (only Ukraine is worse off)... yeah, suffice to say, the Republic of Moldova has it a bit rough.

Moldova, officially the '''Republic of Moldova''' ('''Romanian:''' ''Republica Moldova''), is a Eastern European country sandwiched in between Romania and Ukraine. It suffers from a pretty bad identity crisis and is named the second-poorest country in Europe (only Ukraine is worse off)... yeah, suffice to say, the Republic of Moldova has it a bit rough.

First of all, to get a bit of etymology confusion out of the way: "Moldova" is the generic Romanian term for the historical region that was formerly occupied by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Moldavia Principality of Moldova]] between 1346-1859. For the sake of avoiding confusion, English material differentiates between the ''historical region'', which is referred to by the anglicized "Moldavia", and the ''modern region of Romania and country', which are referred to as "Moldova". [[NamesTheSame It can get a bit confusing]], sort of like UsefulNotes/{{Macedonia}}--the Greek area or the country. Also, [[BerserkButton many of the Moldovan and Romanian people have historically held VERY strong (opposing) opinions about whether Moldovan is a language itself, or a dialect of Romanian.]] The truth behind this is somewhat more involved: The two languages have the same literary standard, although Moldovan was written in the Cyrllic alphabet instead of the Romanian alphabet. (Which is a variant on the Latin alphabet.) Further, Moldova's 1991 Declaration of Independence declared Romanian the official language, while the 1994 Constitution declared Moldovan the national language. A 2013 Constitutional Court ruling ruled that the Declaration of Independence takes precedence, and that the official language was Romanian. For what it's worth, most linguists consider Moldovan and Romanian to be the same language, with Moldovan being a political glottonym more than anything else.

->The blue, yellow and red reflects Moldova's past cultural ties with UsefulNotes/{{Romania}}. At the center is the national coat-of-arms.

* '''Highest point:''' Bălănești Hill (430 m/1,411 ft) (189th)

* '''Highest point:''' Bălănești Hill (430 m/1,411 ft) (174th)

* '''Lowest point:''' Dniester (2 m/7 ft) (43rd)

* '''ISO-3166-1 Code:''' MD

Moldova, officially the '''Republic of Moldova''' ('''Romanian:''' ''Republica Moldova''), is a Eastern European country sandwiched in between Romania and Ukraine, suffering from a pretty bad identity crisis and being officially named the poorest country in Europe... yeah, suffice to say, the Republic of Moldova has it a bit rough.

** President of Parliament: vacant

** Prime Minister: Aureliu Ciocoi (acting)

** President of Parliament: vacant

->The blue, yellow and red reflects Moldova's past cultural ties with UsefulNotes/{{Romania}}. At the center is the national coat-of-arms, showing an eagle holding a cross on its beak and an olive branch and a scepter on its claws; the shield borrows elements from that of Moldavia -- the head of an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs aurochs]] (an extinct species of cattle that once roamed the land), an eight-pointed star, a five-petaled rose, and a crescent moon -- while using the Moldovan colors.

->The coat of arms was adopted in 13 July 1990, it depicted an eagle with a cross with its beak and a olive branch vert and a scepter with its arms. In the centre is a shield based on the emblem of Moldavia.

* Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic

** President of Parliament: Zinaida Greceanîi

This war, combined with popular apathy, caution on behalf of the authorities and Romania's own political problems killed off the possibility of union between Moldova and Romania. Moldova began distancing itself from Romania starting in 1994, changing its national anthem from the Romanian one to another one, adopting a new flag (the Romanian flag with the Moldavian coat of arms) and the national language was changed back to "Moldovan". In response, the Romanian Chamber of Deputies adopted a declaration that basically bitched them out for chickening out on union and said that ThisIsUnforgivable. And then everybody forgot about it. Now, the unionist movement still exists, it's stronger in Romania compared to Moldova, but most people on either side don't care very much about it. It doesn't help that a 2008 poll showed 61% of Moldovans rejecting union with Romania. Actually, it's probably for the best that union never happened - Moldova's the poorest country in Europe (despite its steady annual growth in the 2000s) and got ''really'' screwed by the transition to capitalism, so if a union would've taken place it would've been like what happened to Germany, except with both countries having practically Third World economies.

Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova ('''Romanian:''' ''Republica Moldova''), is a Eastern European country sandwiched in between Romania and Ukraine, suffering from a pretty bad identity crisis and being officially named the poorest country in Europe... yeah, suffice to say, the Republic of Moldova has it a bit rough.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/moldova_flag_5868.png

** President: Igor Dodon
** Prime Minister: Ion Chicu

----

Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova ('''Romania:''' ''Republica Moldova''), is a Eastern European country sandwiched in between Romania and Ukraine, suffering from a pretty bad identity crisis and being officially named the poorest country in Europe... yeah, suffice to say, the Republic of Moldova has it a bit rough.