Romania and the Annexations of Transylvania and Bessarabia in the First Post-War
Period
At the end of WWI, after the annexation of the regions of Transylvania, Bukovina and
Bessarabia, Romania doubled its territory and consequently had to cope with the non-Romanian
populations – new ethnic and religious minorities – which were included within its
borders. In order to nationalize the Greater Romania, the Romanian ruling class resorted to
centralizing policies, setting aside the requests for regional autonomy which had been part
of the Transylvanian and Bessarabian national movements’ programs. Meanwhile, Greater
Romania could rely on the support of the Western powers, earned as a bulwark against
Hungarian communism and Russian Bolshevism in central and south-eastern Europe.
