The Bessarabia Governorate () was an administrative unit of Romania during World War II.
Background and history
In 1812, the region of Bessarabia, lying between the Prut and Dniester rivers and historically part of the principality of Moldavia, was annexed by the Russian Empire. This marked the start of a strong process of Russification and colonization of Bessarabia which severely dwindled the presence of the Romanian population. If in 1817 Moldavians were 86% of the population, in 1897 they were only 56%. Previously, Moldavia had also lost the region of Bukovina, annexed in 1775 by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy. In 1859, this country united with another Romanian principality, Wallachia, creating the first modern Romanian state. Later, in 1917, during World War I to which Romania had joined in order to gain several Romanian-populated regions, the Russian Revolution sparked, and this allowed Bessarabia to declare itself as independent, forming the Moldavian Democratic Republic. Following a Romanian military intervention in the region, on 27 March 1918, Bessarabia united with Romania.
This event would become the reason of discord between Romania and the newly formed Soviet Union (USSR). During the interwar period, Romania focused on trying to defend and secure its new borders with the help of France and the United Kingdom (UK), but at the start of World War II, Romania was left vulnerable, and in a 1940 ultimatum, the Soviet Union demanded and captured Bessarabia, as well as Northern Bukovina as "compensation" for the "great loss brought to the Bessarabian population".
Following this, Romania was forced to accept Hitler's mediation that resulted in territorial losses to Hungary and Bulgaria and later became a member of the Axis powers. The Axis would invade the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, but Romanian military actions only began on 2 July. After a few weeks, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were recaptured and integrated back into Romania. Subsequently, the Transnistria Governorate would also be established, although it was never formally annexed unlike the other two regions.
Despite the fact that Bukovina and Bessarabia were already under Romanian control again, it was decided that the regions would not be fully integrated within the country, but that they would rather remain as autonomous regions ruled by a governor (governorates). The new Bessarabia Governorate was organized in nine counties, which were Bălți, Cetatea Albă, Cahul, Chilia, Ismail, Lăpușna, Orhei, Soroca and Tighina. The capital of this governorate was Chișinău, in the Lăpușna County. It did not include the interwar Hotin County in the northern part of the geographic region of Bessarabia, which was attached to the Bukovina Governorate instead. The Bessarabia Governorate had two governors: and .