Changes

After the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–12, the eastern half of Moldova (Bessarabia) between the Prut and the Dniester Rivers was ceded to [[Russia]], while Romanian Moldavia (west of the Prut) remained with the [[Turk]]s. [[Romania]], which gained independence in 1878, took control of Russian-ruled Bessarabia in 1918. The [[Soviet Union]] never recognized the action and created an autonomous Moldavian republic on the east side of the Dniester River in 1924.  

After the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–12, the eastern half of Moldova (Bessarabia) between the Prut and the Dniester Rivers was ceded to [[Russia]], while Romanian Moldavia (west of the Prut) remained with the [[Turk]]s. [[Romania]], which gained independence in 1878, took control of Russian-ruled Bessarabia in 1918. The [[Soviet Union]] never recognized the action and created an autonomous Moldavian republic on the east side of the Dniester River in 1924.  

In 1940, Romania was forced to cede Bessarabia to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), which established the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic by merging the autonomous republic east of the Dniester and the annexed Bessarabian portion. [[Stalin]] also stripped the three southern counties along the [[Black Sea]] coast from Moldova and incorporated them in the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. Romania sought to regain Bessarabia by joining with [[Germany]] in the [[Operation Barbarrossa|1941 attack on the Soviet Union]]. On June 22, 1941, German and Romanian troops crossed the border and deportations of the [[Jew]]s from Bessarabia began immediately. By September 1941, most of the Jews of Bessarabia and [[Bukovina]] had been transported in convoys and force marched to [[concentration camp]]s in [[Transnistria]]. About 185,000 Jews were in the Transnistria area in concentration camps by 1942 in abysmal conditions. Very few were left alive in these camps when the Soviets reoccupied Bessarabia in 1944.  

In 1940, Romania was forced to cede Bessarabia to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), which established the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic by merging the autonomous republic east of the Dniester and the annexed Bessarabian portion. [[Stalin]] also stripped the three southern counties along the [[Black Sea]] coast from Moldova and incorporated them in the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. Romania sought to regain Bessarabia by joining with [[Germany]] in the [[Operation Barbarossa|1941 attack on the Soviet Union]]. On June 22, 1941, German and Romanian troops crossed the border and deportations of the [[Jew]]s from Bessarabia began immediately. By September 1941, most of the Jews of Bessarabia and [[Bukovina]] had been transported in convoys and force marched to [[concentration camp]]s in [[Transnistria]]. About 185,000 Jews were in the Transnistria area in concentration camps by 1942 in abysmal conditions. Very few were left alive in these camps when the Soviets reoccupied Bessarabia in 1944.  

==Soviet dissolution==

==Soviet dissolution==