Bessarabia
1853 Jul |
Supported by Britain, the Turks took a firm stand against the Russians, who occupied the Danubian principalities (modern Romania) on the Russo-Turkish border. The Crimean War got under way in October. It was fought mainly on the Crimean Peninsula between the Russians and the British, French, and Ottoman Turkish, with support, from January 1855, by the army of Sardinia-Piedmont. The war aligned Anglican England and Roman Catholic France with Islam’s sultan-caliphs against the tsars, who saw themselves as the world’s last truly Christian emperors. Links: Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Britain, France, Bessarabia ![]() |
1856 Mar 30 |
Russia signed the Treaty of Paris ending the Crimean War. It guaranteed the integrity of Ottoman Turkey and obliged Russia to surrender southern Bessarabia, at the mouth of the Danube. The Black Sea was neutralized, and the Danube River was opened to the shipping of all nations. In 2010 Allen Lane authored “Crimea: The Last Crusade.” Links: Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Britain, France, Bessarabia, Crimea ![]() |
1940 Jun 26 |
The Soviet Union delivered an ultimatum to Romania and 2 days later occupied Bessarabia and North Bukovina. Links: Russia, Romania, USSR, Moldova, Bessarabia ![]() |