Bessarabia

Bessarabia or Bessarabiya (Basarabia in Romanian, Besarabya in Turkish) was the name by which the Imperial Russia designated the eastern part of the principality of Moldavia annexed by Russia in 1812. The remaining Moldavia united with Wallachia in 1859 in what will become the Kingdom of Romania. Bessarabia declared independence from Russia and united with the Kingdom of Romania in 1918 at the end of World War I. USSR annexed Bessarabia in the beginning of WW II (see Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) and again at the end of WW II and reorganised it as Moldavian SSR, reducing its territory by assigning its southern and northern parts to Ukrainian SSR. In 1991 the Moldavian SSR declared independence from USSR as Republic of Moldova.

Economy

• 1911: There were 165 loan societies, 117 savings Banks, 43 professional savings and loan societies, and 8 Zemstvo loan offices; all these had total assets of about 10,000,000 rubles. There were also 89 government savings banks, with deposits of about 9,000,000 rubles.
• 1918: Railway mileage was only 657 miles, the main lines converged on Russia and were broad gauge. Rolling stock and right of way were in bad shape. There were about 400 locomotives, with only about 100 fit for use. There were 290 passenger coaches and 33 more out for repair. Finally, out of 4530 freight cars and 187 tank cars, only 1389 and 103 were usable. The Romanians reduced the gauge to a standard 4ft 8-1/2in, so that cars could be run to the rest of Europe. Also, there were only a few inefficient bridges of boats. Romanian highway engineers decided to build 10 bridges: Cuzl?u, ?u?ora, Lipcani, ?erpeni?a, ?tefane?ti-Br?ni?te, Cahul-Oancea, B?d?r?i-Moara Domneasc?, S?rata, Bumbala-Leova, Badragi and F?lciu (Falciu is an locality from Romania. The correspondent in Basarabia is Cantemir). Of these, only four were finished: Cuzl?u, F?lciu, Lipcani and S?rata.