Haynes , Rebecca Moldova: A History (review)

Abstract

SEER, 99, 3, JULY 2021 564 retain its relevance, being both enlightening and entertaining, and written in a scholarly yet readable way with some familiar and many more unfamiliar illustrative examples. There are a number of misprints, most of which may be silently corrected. It is, however, unfortunate for Jonathan Waterlow, author of a book about life and humour under Stalin, that he should twice be referred to as Waterloo. Perhaps worse is the misspelling of the name of Brian Bennett as Bennet both in the text and the references, particularly as he is one of the few referenced authors who actually met Lukashenka when he was our Man in Miensk in the years 2003–07. These points do not detract seriously from a book which is without doubt a milestone in the important and fascinating field of political folklore. It should interest anyone interested in Belarus or, indeed, authoritarian societies in general. London Arnold McMillin Haynes, Rebecca. Moldova: A History. I. B. Tauris, London and New York, 2020. xvi + 237 pp. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. £65.00; £19.99. In her book, Rebecca Haynes responds to the challenge of writing the history of one of the most recent states to emerge on Europe’s map: the Republic of Moldova. Very little has been written on this topic in English or in French (see Charles King, Alain Ruzé, Nicholas Dima, Stephen D. Roper), not always from a historical point of view, and sometimes a linguistic one (Donald Dwyer). The author has focused in the past on issues related to the history of Moldova and Romania, and has published several works on topics related to twentiethcentury political history. An explanation for the lack of monographs on the subject is the fact that the Republic of Moldova is a successor to only half of the former medieval principality of Moldavia, and it shares a common history with one part of what is nowadays Romania. Most historians have approached this region as a whole, and only historians from the Republic of Moldova have tried, for reasons that are easy to understand, to shape a history only for the region between the Prut and the Dniester rivers, seen as the evolution of a newly independent country set against the post-1991 struggle for democracy. A comprehensive study of this little-known region is therefore welcome. Its nine chapters present a valuable achievement of synthesis, with the author dealing with seven centuries of Moldovan history, from its beginning to the disputes between political parties in the contemporary Republic of Moldova. Haynes prefers to use the current REVIEWS 565 name of the republic, even when referring to the medieval and pre-modern period of the history of this principality, known in English literature under its Latinized name: Moldavia. It must also be pointed out that, within this political structure, the area between the Prut and the Dniester (called Bessarabia by the Russians after 1812) was always an area of secondary interest, less populated and less urbanized and with lower economic status, since it was more exposed to Tatar attacks from Crimea and Budjak. Haynes, though, has risen to the challenge of integrating the territory of the current Republic of Moldova (the eastern part of the former principality) into the history of the entire country — not an easy task. She initially focuses on the country as a whole, only shifting her attention to the area between the Prut and the Dniester after it began to be shaped into existence after the Russian occupation of 1812. This is a common situation in many other countries in the Balkans, where there are several histories shared by different states. I should note the author’s capacity for synthesis, as she presents us with a coherent narrative that allows the reader unfamiliar with the political landscape in Southeast Europe to better understand the complex political and economic relations that guided the evolution of the Romanian principalities. Caught between various neighbouring powers, such as Poland, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, which were later joined by Russia and Austria, Moldavia managed to preserve its political identity, and retained a wide autonomy even in the darkest years of the eighteenth century. The strongest part...