Historical term for the eastern Balkan states of Moldavia and Wallachia
The
Danubian Principalities
(
Romanian
:
Principatele Dun?rene
,
Serbian
:
Дунавске кнежевине
,
romanized
:
Dunavske kne?evine
) was a conventional name given to the
Principalities
of
Moldavia
and
Wallachia
, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the
Habsburg monarchy
after the
Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca
(1774) in order to designate an area on the lower
Danube
with a common
geopolitical
situation.
[1]
The term was largely used then by foreign political circles and public opinion until the union of the two principalities in 1859. Alongside
Transylvania
, the
United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia
became the basis for the
Kingdom of Romania
, and by extension the modern
nation-state
of
Romania
.
[2]
In a wider context, the concept may also apply to the
Principality of Serbia
as one of
The Principalities of the Danube
,
[3]
[4]
which came under the
suzerainty
of the
Porte
from 1817.
[5]
History
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]
Early history
[
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]
The two emerged as
vassals
of the
Hungarian Crown
(in the case of Wallachia, Hungarian
suzerainty
had been present for the polities which preceded the unifying rule of
Basarab I
), and remained so until their independence (1330 for Wallachia and 1359 for Moldavia). In 1476 Wallachia and in 1538 Moldavia came under formal
Ottoman
suzerainty, preserving their self-rule in all aspects, except for the period of the so-called Phanariote Rule (1711 - 1821), when foreign affairs were dictated by the Sublime Porte.
After a marked decline in independence and prosperity over the 17th and 18th centuries, further independent and insurgent rules, which connected the two countries with
Habsburg
and
Russian Empire
offensives during the
Great Turkish War
, were blocked by the Ottomans by the introduction of
Phanariote
rules over the two countries (1711 in Moldavia and 1714 in Wallachia).
These, while connected with the first administrative reforms, generally had to rely on spoliation, and coincided with a disastrous stage in the countries' history, given that the two became a major theatre of war in a series of confrontations between Russian, Habsburg, and Ottoman forces (until the mid-19th century, they frequently came under temporary Russian or Habsburg occupation, and sometimes administration ? as happened to the regions of
Oltenia
,
Bukovina
, and
Bessarabia
).
Early 19th century
[
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]
- Main articles:
History of the Russo-Turkish Wars
In the nineteenth century, Moldavia and Wallachia became involved in the cause of
Greek independence
. Backed by Phanariotes, the
Filiki Eteria
maneuvered in Moldavia during the anti-Phanariote and pro-Eterian
1821 Wallachian uprising
. Wallachian initiative was toppled by an Eterian administration which itself retreated in the face of Ottoman invasion.
Although these events brought about the disestablishment of Phanariote rules by the Porte itself, this was of little consequence in itself, as a new
Russo-Turkish War
brought a period of Russian occupation under formal Ottoman supervision, extended between 1829 and the
Crimean War
. A parallel Russian military administration was put in place, while the two principalities were given the first common governing document (the
Organic Statute
): although never fully implemented, it confirmed a
modernizing
government, created a new legal framework that reformed public administration, and deeply influenced political life in the following decades. The Russian pressures for changes in the text were perceived by Wallachians and Moldavians as a drive to remove the territories from Ottoman rule and annex them to a much more
centralised
and
absolutist
empire. This coincided with the period of national awakening and the
Revolutions of 1848
- the rejection of Russian tutelage during the
Moldavian attempt
and the
Wallachian revolutionary period
were viewed with a degree of sympathy by the Porte, but calls by Russia ultimately led to a common occupation in the years following the rebellion's crushing.
United Principalities
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The aftermath of Russian defeat in 1856 (the
Treaty of Paris
) brought forth a period of common tutelage of the Ottomans and a Congress of
Great Powers
(the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
, the
French Empire
, the
Austrian Empire
, the
Kingdom of Prussia
, the
Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia
, and, albeit never again fully, the
Russian Empire
). While the Moldavia-Wallachia
unionist cause
, which had come to dominate political demands, was viewed with sympathy by the French, Russians, Prussians, and Sardinians, it was rejected by the Austrian Empire, and viewed with suspicion by Great Britain and the Ottomans. Negotiations amounted to an agreement over a minimal and formal union - however, elections for the
ad hoc divans
of 1859 profited from an ambiguity in the text of the final agreement (specifying two thrones, but not preventing the same person from occupying both) and made possible the rule of
Alexander Ioan Cuza
as
Domnitor
of the
United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia
(the
Romanian United Principalities
from 1862). This is known as the
unification of Moldavia and Wallachia
.
The union was cemented by Cuza's unsanctioned interventions in the text of previous
organic laws
, as well as by the circumstances of his deposition in 1866, when the rapid election of
Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
, who had the backing of an increasingly important Prussia, and the
Austro-Prussian War
made measures taken against the union impossible.
In 1878, after the
Romanian War of Independence
, Romania shook off formal Ottoman rule, but clashed with its Russian ally over the Russian request for the
Bujak
(southern
Bessarabia
) - ultimately, Romania was awarded
Northern Dobruja
in exchange for
Southern Bessarabia
. A
Kingdom of Romania
emerged in 1881.
See also
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References
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