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Romania The Russian Protectorate
Russia's influence waxed in Walachia and Moldavia as
Ottoman
power waned. In 1739 and 1769 the Russians briefly
occupied the
principalities. Then in 1774, Catherine the Great agreed
to return
Moldavia, Walachia, and
Bessarabia
(see Glossary) to the
Turks, but
she obtained the right to represent Orthodox Christians
within the
Ottoman Empire and oversee the principalities' internal
affairs;
Austria complained that the agreement rewarded Russia too
favorably
and annexed northern
Bukovina
(see Glossary), part of
Moldavia. In
1787 the Russian army again marched into the
principalities, but a
stalemate gripped forces on all fronts and in 1792 the
empress and
sultan agreed to reaffirm existing treaties. In 1802 the
Porte
agreed to halt the rapid turnover of Phanariot princes;
henceforth,
the princes would reign for seven-year terms and could not
be
dethroned without Russian approval.
In 1806 forces of Tsar Alexander I reoccupied the
principalities, and the Romanian peasants were subjected
to forced
requisitions, heavy labor obligations, and real threats of
exile to
Siberia. As a result, the Romanians, who once had looked
to the
tsar for liberation, developed an abiding mistrust of the
Russians
that would deepen in the next century. In 1812 Russia and
the Porte
signed the Peace of Bucharest, which returned the
principalities to
the Ottomans and secured Russia's southern flank during
Napoleon's
invasion; Russia, however, annexed Bessarabia and retained
its
right to interfere in the principalities' affairs. Despite
Russia's
concessions, the treaty so displeased the sultan that he
had his
negotiators beheaded.
In 1821 Greek nationalists headquartered in Odessa took
control
of Moldavia as the first step in a plan to extricate
Greece from
Ottoman domination. Phanariot rule in Walachia and
Moldavia led the
Greek nationalists to view the principalities as possible
components of a renascent Byzantine Empire. The
insurgency's
leader, Alexander Ypsilanti, a general in the Russian army
and son
of a Phanariot prince, enjoyed the support of some Greek
and
Romanian boyars in the principalities; after more than a
century of
extortion, however, most Romanians resented the Phanariots
and
craved the end of Greek control. Tudor Vladimirescu, a
peasant-born
Romanian whose wits and military skill had elevated him to
boyar
rank, assumed power in Walachia in an anti-Phanariot
national
uprising directed at establishing a Romanian government
under
Ottoman suzerainty. Russia denounced both Ypsilanti and
Vladimirescu. The two rebel leaders argued in Bucharest;
afterwards, Greek officers shot the Romanian, mutilated
his body,
and dumped it into a pond, an act that also ended Romanian
resistance, which evaporated after Vladimirescu's death.
Then the
Turks, with Russia's approval, attacked the
principalities,
scattered the Greek forces, and chased Ypsilanti into
Transylvania.
The Greek rebellion shocked the Porte, which no longer
appointed
Phanariot princes to the Walachian and Moldavian thrones
and chose
instead native Romanians.
Later, in 1826, an internal crisis forced the sultan to
accede
to Russia's demand for greater influence in the
principalities. The
Porte gave Russia the right of consultation regarding
changes on
the two thrones; this concession assured Russia
predominant
influence at Bucharest and Iasi. Russia again invaded the
principalities during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828, which
resulted
in the 1829 Treaty of Adrianople. The treaty provided for
Russian
occupation of the principalities until the Ottomans had
fully paid
an indemnity, the election of native Romanian princes for
life, and
an independent national administration and freedom of
worship and
commerce under Russian protection. Despite the fact that
the Porte
remained the principalities' suzerain and could exact a
fixed
tribute and direct certain aspects of foreign policy, the
sultan
could neither reject nor remove a prince without Russian
consent.
During Russia's occupation, a capable administrator,
Count
Pavel Kiselev, improved health conditions, organized a
well-disciplined police force, built up grain reserves,
and oversaw
the drafting and ratification of the principalities' first
fundamental laws, the Règlement Organique. Russia used
these
charters to co-opt Romanian boyars by protecting their
privileges,
including their tax-exempt status and oligarchic control
of the
government. However flawed, the charters gave Romanians
their first
taste of government by law. The Règlement provided for
elected
assemblies of boyars to choose each prince, reformed the
principalities' judicial systems, and established public
education.
At the same time, the documents' economic provisions
enabled the
boyars to stiffen peasant obligations and reduced the
peasants'
freedom of mobility.
After Russia's withdrawal in 1834, Walachia and
Moldavia
entered a period of self-government during which Russia
guaranteed
the privileges that the Ottomans had granted. During this
period,
the principalities' economic condition was bleak. For
example a
traveler to Walachia in 1835 reported seeing no manor
houses,
bridges, windmills, or inns and no furniture or utensils
in peasant
huts. In the mid-nineteenth century, Jews from Galicia
began
dominating trade, crafts, and money lending in the
principalities.
A native-Romanian bourgeoisie was virtually nonexistent.
The boyars
grew rich through the Black Sea wheat trade, using Jews as
middlemen, but the peasants reaped few benefits. Beginning
in the
1840s, construction of the first major roadways linked the
principalities, and in 1846 Gheorghe Bibescu (1842-48),
the
Paris-educated prince of Walachia, agreed with Moldavia's
Prince
Mihai Sturdza (1834-49) to dismantle customs barriers
between the
principalities, marking the first concrete move toward
unification.
The uprising of Transylvania's Romanian peasants during
the
1848 European revolutions ignited Romanian national
movements in
Walachia and Moldavia. In Moldavia, Sturdza quashed the
revolution
overnight by arresting its leaders. In Walachia, however,
a
majority of the younger generation was averse to Russian
and boyar
dominance. Revolutionary platforms called for universal
suffrage,
equal rights, unification of the two principalities, and
freedom of
speech, association, and assembly. Although he sympathized
with the
revolutionary movement, Bibescu lacked the courage to lead
it.
After naming a revolutionary cabinet and signing a new
constitution, he fled into Transylvania. The new
government of
Walachia quickly affirmed its loyalty to the Porte and
appealed to
Austria, France, and Britain for support, hoping to avert
a Russian
invasion. The government also formed a committee composed
equally
of boyars and peasants to discuss land reform. Shocked by
the
revolution's success in Europe and fearful that it might
spread
into Russia, the tsar invaded Moldavia and pressured the
Porte to
crush the rebels in Bucharest. Dissatisfied with Turkey's
weak
resolve, Russia invaded Walachia and restored the
Règlement. After
1849 the two empires suppressed the boyar assemblies in
Walachia
and Moldavia and limited the tenure of their princes to
seven
years.
Data as of July 1989
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