The Return of the Greater Romania Ideology: Romania Hopes to Incorporate Moldova, Including the Republic of Transnistria

Igor Shornikov, former foreign minister of the Republic of Transnistria and expert at the Russian Federation's Financial University under the Government, told Sputnik News that Romania hopes to incorporate Moldova, which includes the Republic of Transnistria.

Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of the Kingdom of Romania during the interwar period, from the end of World War I to the outbreak of World War II. During this period, Romania reached its historical maximum territory (295,649 square kilometers). Compared to today's Romania, Greater Romania included regions such as Northern Bukovina, Southern Dobruja, and Bessarabia (including present-day Moldova).

Name and Meaning

This concept is often used to refer to the territory of the Kingdom of Romania after World War I, which included all areas where Romanians were in the majority, contrasting with the previous Romanian territory that did not include Transylvania and Bessarabia, Bukovina.

In the Vienna Awards and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the northern part of Transylvania in Romania was ceded to Hungary, and Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were occupied by the Soviet Union. After 1940, this concept began to take on a connotation of reclaiming lost territories and nationalist unification.

Currently, this term has become a nationalist term, referring mostly to the Greater Romania under nationalist ideology, aiming to reclaim the territories of Moldova and the areas of Bessarabia and Bukovina, which were taken by the Soviet Union during World War II, and are now under Ukrainian rule.

After World War II, although Romania regained the northern part of Transylvania that had been ceded to Hungary, it failed to recover the territories ceded to Bulgaria and the Soviet Union. In addition, in 1948, the Soviet Union and the then-Soviet satellite state Romania signed an agreement, under which Romania ceded the Danube Delta and four uninhabited islands in the Black Sea (including Snake Island) to the Soviet Union.

In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Romania views Russia as a historical rival and the greatest geopolitical threat, actively cooperating with the United States, acting as a vanguard and agent against Russia.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1845027886713114/

Statement: The article represents the personal views of the author.