Geopolitics in the inter-war years in Romania

geopolitics in the inter-war years in romania One hundred years of Romanian-Estonian relations


Europa is a continent of cultures and nations created by the Greek and Latin world and by Christianity afterwards. It is the most widely-accepted definition of Europe as it was laid out by most of those who wrote about Europe, in a bid to decipher its secrets. In time, the aforementioned cultural values made it possible for the geographical distances to shrink. Nations lying quite afar from one another or even at the farther end of the map discovered themselves mutually and even came closer to one another, whenever historical circumstances allowed it. Even though they were part of the same Eastern European Soviet Bloc for 45 years, Romania and Estonia belong to different geo-cultural areas, to South-eastern and Northern Europe, respectively. Between 1500 and 1878, Romania was under the influence of the Ottoman Empire. In turn, Estonia, between 1560 and 1710 was part of Poland and Sweden, and part of Tsarist Russia, between 1710 and 1918.


Throughout the years, Romanians' contacts with the Estonians were scarce, and that for a good reason. Very few people travelled from one place to another before the emergence of the railroad in the 19th century. The privilege of traveling was for a limited number of professional categories. They were the merchants, the diplomats and the military. To that end, the mutual knowledge of the nations was superficial or existed hardly at all. A century of Romanian - Estonian diplomatic relations has been marked as of late. Doru Liciu is Head of the Foreign Affairs Ministry's diplomatic archives. 


Dr Doru Liciu:


"As early as the mid-19th century, Romanian travellers reached Estonia, while Estonian travellers reached the Romanian Principalities, via various organizations belonging to the former Russian empire. Once the Russian Empire was dismantled, Estonia proclaimed its independence in 1918, an undertaking Romania acknowledged immediately afterwards. In 1921, the diplomatic relations were decided, between the two countries. Contacts between the two countries dated from the previous historical period, even earlier, from World War One, when part of the Russian troops that fought in Romania were made of soldiers and officers coming from the Baltic countries."


There was indeed a Romanian personality who, even before World War One, had strong ties with Estonia. He was Mari Ion Pelivan (1876 - 1954), a legal adviser, a columnist and a Bessarabian deputy with a seat in the Parliament of then Greater Romania. Pelivan would graduate from the University of Tartu's Law School in 1903. The post-World War One period, known as the Inter-war period in Romania, brought the two nations closer to one another.


However, the most significant binding element for the two nations was the then Soviet Union's aggressive presence. The newly-instated communist power in Moscow never ceased to claim territories that were once part of Tsarist Russia, but which the Soviet Union had relinquished, in the wake of Lenin's decision whereby each nation on the Russian territory should have the right to decide their own fate. Estonia, just like the two other Baltic countries, Lithuania and Latvia, was at that time building bridges with everybody. One such bridge linked Estonia to Bucharest. 


Doru Liciu:


"Subsequently, the two embassies were opened and both were functioning, in the inter-war period, in the capitals of the two countries. For quite a long time, services as part of the Romanian embassy in Estonia were provided by a resident minister in Warsaw, and from there, the most relevant pieces of information about Estonia were conveyed. Later, embassies were opened, in Tallin but also in Bucharest. "


Through the famous Molotov-Ribbentrop pact or the Hitler-Stalin pact signed on August 23, 1939, Eastern Europe was divided between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Ob June 16, then the USSR issued Estonia an ultimatum, demanding its consent for the Soviet army to be deployed there, and for a Pro-Soviet government to be instated. The Estonian government rejected the proposal and the following day, June 17, the USSR occupied the country and instated the communist regime. On August 16, 1940, Estonia was annexed to the USSR. In the same vein, nine days later, on June 26 and June 27, 1940, the Soviet Union issued two ultimatums to Romania, demanding the retrocession of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Regimes of terror reigned supreme in those countries for the following 45 years. 1940 is the year when the Romanian-Estonian relations ceased. 


Doru Liciu:


"Unfortunately, the aftermath of all that was just as we know it, the Baltic States were brutally occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, the same year when Romania had to cede part of its historical territory, which until 1812 had no connection whatsoever with, and was in no way part of then the Russian Empire. During the Soviet regime, there was no state-level contact, Estonia, as a republic, became part and parcel of the Soviet Union. We all know that from Estonia, intellectuals would come to Romania, as well as traditional ensembles, fine artists who had their works on display in the country. Likewise, in Estonia, rather seldom, but somewhat regularly, Romanians were present, coming from various walks of life".


Once the communist regime was toppled in 1989 and once Estonia gained its independence in 1991, Romania resumed it relations with Estonia. Bilateral relations were enhanced especially when both states gained their NATO and EU accession.

(Translation by Eugen Nasta)



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