ONE LAND · 15 ATLASES
History of Moldova in maps
Moldova as it appears in 15 interactive history atlases, from 264 BC to 2015: Getic lands, the Bugeac steppe, Moldova, Bessarabia, Bessarabia and the Moldavian ASSR, Soviet Union, Soviet Moldavia. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Moldova before it was Moldova? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History atlases — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.
Getic lands (mod. Moldova) · Ancient Rome
| 264 BC | Tribal peoples & confederations — the opening position |
ANCIENT ROME: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Moldova · Norse and Aztecs
| Other peoples and states — the opening position |
NORSE AND AZTECS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
The steppe frontier (mod. Moldova) · Crusades
CRUSADES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
The Bugeac steppe (mod. Moldova) · Mongol Empire
| Beyond the storm — the opening position | |
| The Mongol Empire |
MONGOL EMPIRE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Moldova · Industrial Revolution
| Industrialising — the opening position | |
| Industrialising |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Moldova · Age of Revolutions
| Neutral / uncommitted — the opening position |
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Moldova (Moldavia) · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
Moldova, mostly Romanian-speaking, declared sovereignty in 1990 and independence in 1991, but the largely Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking strip east of the Dniester proclaimed itself the Transnistrian republic. A short war in 1992, decided by Russia’s 14th Army, left Transnistria as an unrecognised statelet, hatched on the map, which still exists. Moldova emerged from the decade as one of the poorest countries in Europe.
| The USSR, then Russia — the opening position | |
| Independent neighbours |
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Bessarabia (mod. Moldova) · Russian Revolution
Russian since 1812, Bessarabia lost its southern districts to Moldavia at the Peace of Paris in 1856 and regained them at Berlin in 1878. Bessarabia declared for autonomy in 1917 and then united with Romania in 1918 as Russia dissolved — the one substantial territory the Soviets did not reconquer in the civil war. Moscow never recognized the loss and took it back in 1940; here it shows as Romanian, the exception on the reddening map.
| The Tsarist empire — the opening position | |
| Provisional Government, then the Whites | |
| Foreign powers & intervention |
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Bessarabia (Russian Empire) · WWI
| The Entente & Allies — the opening position | |
| The Entente & Allies | |
| Russia in revolution | |
| Under Central Powers occupation | |
| The Entente & Allies |
Bessarabia and the Moldavian ASSR (mod. Moldova) · Stalin’s Soviet Union
Modern Moldova joins two histories. East of the Dniester, the Moldavian autonomous republic was part of Soviet Ukraine from 1924 and suffered the famine of 1932–33. West of it, Bessarabia was Romanian until the Soviet ultimatum of June 1940, when it became the Moldavian SSR. Romania retook it in 1941–44, and after the Soviet return it suffered the famine of 1946–47 and the deportation of some 11,000 families, about 36,000 people, in July 1949.
| The Soviet Union — the opening position | |
| Famine regions (memorial) | |
| The Soviet Union | |
| Under German occupation | |
| The Soviet Union | |
| Famine regions (memorial) | |
| The Soviet Union |
STALIN’S SOVIET UNION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Bessarabia (Romanian, mod. Moldova) · Road to WW2
| Neutral & unaligned — the opening position | |
| Democracies & powers fighting them |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Moldova · WW2
| Soviet Union — the opening position | |
| Soviet Union |
Moldova · Cold War
| USSR & Warsaw Pact — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned & neutral | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Soviet Union (Moldavia) · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
| Right won in law — the opening position | |
| No reform yet / outside this story | |
| Right won in law |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Soviet Moldavia · Refugee crises
| Soviet-occupied or communist — the opening position |
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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