Sfatul Țării
The Sfatul Țării ( German National Council) was a national assembly of Bessarabia formed on November 2, 1917 . This regional council determined the fate of the former Russian governorate of Bessarabia after the tsarist house was overthrown in the February revolution of 1917.
Around 1,000 delegates from Bessarabia elected the National Council at a congress in the Bessarabian capital Kishinev . It consisted of 120 people, including 84 Romanians and 36 members of the rest of the population as well as 10 people from Transnistria . Its president was Ion Inculeț ( Russian Iwan Konstantinowitsch Inkulez), who until then taught science at the University of Saint Petersburg and was actively involved in the revolutionary events there. The Provincial Council included two women Elena Alistar and Nadejda Grinfeld , who took opposing positions with regard to the future of Bessarabia. The creation of the National Council was made possible by the assistance of the military in a soldiers' congress in October 1917 in Kishinev. In the chaotic conditions of the revolutionary era, the military was the last potential power. Contrary to the orders of the General Staff, the army leaders of the Russian Army in Bessarabia convened the soldiers' congress with 500 delegated soldiers. Among other things, it was decided to elect the National Council. All over the Russian provinces such military congresses met to decide the future fate of their region.
On December 15, 1917, the National Council announced that Bessarabia would form the Moldovan Democratic Republic as an autonomous part of the Russian Empire . In Russia at this time Bolshevism was striving for power, which also gripped Bessarabia. After the Bolsheviks occupied Kishinev on January 5, 1918, the Provincial Council called Romania for military assistance. The Romanian troops, which marched in on January 16, restored order in the country within three days.
On January 24, 1918, Bessarabia initially declared itself independent as the Moldovan Democratic Republic , and in March 1918, with great enthusiasm among the population, proclaimed the annexation to Romania with the following wording:
- The Democratic Moldavian Republic (Bessarabia) between the Prut, Dniester, Danube, Black Sea and the old borders against Austria and torn from the body of the old Moldova by Russia hundreds and more years ago, unites today and forever, based on historical law and the right of tribal affiliation and according to the principle of self-determination of the peoples, with their motherland Romania. Long live the union of Bessarabia with Romania for time and eternity.
On November 27, 1918 the union with Romania was completed and the Sfatul Țării dissolved.
President of the Sfatul Țării Ion Inculeț
The members of the Sfatul Țării
Romanian postage stamp from 1998 with members
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