- 143 years ago, the works of the European Commission began, which decided the territorial fate of Romania, after a part of Dobrogea returned to Romania.
The book “History of Dobrogea” signed by Adrian V. Rădulescu and Ion Bitoleanu is a historical retrospective that encompasses the history of the region in different periods of time. The paper was published in 1998, with 534 pages, in which we also find captivating details about the meetings of the European Commission for establishing the southern border of Romanian Dobrogea.
On October 21, 1878, the European Commission met to establish the border of South Dobrogea. Following the Berlin Congress and the signing of the peace treaty there, according to Article 46 thereof, the European Commission began work to delimit the southern borders of Dobrogea.
The Commission meets in Constantinople on 21 October, with representatives from Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia and Turkey. At the request of the commission, the Romanian Government delegated a group of senior officers, led by Colonel Ştefan Fălcoianu, to whom Mihai Perechide, a member of the Assembly of Deputies, was also attached.
“It is known that at the Congress in Berlin the Romanian delegation expressed in two memoirs the interest, based on strategic considerations, for the southern border of Dobrogea to include Silistra with its fortifications. In order to alleviate Romania’s intransigence towards the re-annexation of the three counties in southern Bessarabia, Russia initially inclined to offer Romania the southern part of the province, an offer to which it later returned, so that this ancient settlement with Romanian history remained the Principality of Bulgaria. In the years 1879-1884 and 1886, the Romanian government brought back before the International Delimitation Commission this perfectly justified requirement from a strategic and historical point of view, without obtaining the desired rectification.
The strained relations with Russia after the signing of the peace in San Stefano also delayed the transfer of troops to Dobrogea. Only after the triumphant entry of the army in Bucharest, on October 8, the division marched to Brăila where, on November 14, a few days before the memorable event, it was reviewed by the ruler. On this occasion, the Proclamation to the Romanian Army was read to the soldiers, on the occasion of the takeover of Dobrogea, a document in which are found the governing conceptions of the Romanian statesmen led by Mihail Kogălniceanu, the author of the project to be manifested.
On November 23, 1878, the Romanian authorities began the official takeover of the Dobrogea administration, but the tsarist troops continued to station here at the beginning of 1879, a year close to the signing of the peace. Invoking the text of the treaty concluded with the Gate, the Russian imperial commissioner informed that the army was to start its march on February 6. Only on April 4, 1879, however, the prefect of Constanţa, Remus Opreanu, was able to announce the departure of artillery and infantry units from the city, and the one from Tulcea, George Mihail Ghica, on April 22, of the fleet that had been stationed in the port until this date. . ”
The final act, concluded on December 17 in Constantinople, was later ratified by the governments of the 7 signatory powers of the treaty and entered into force by drawing the border and planting the border posts.
Photo source: Illustration from “Tomi – Constanța”, author Ionescu M. Dobrogianu, volume in the ZIUA de Constanța Digital Library
Read also:
Dobrogea before 1878 (II) – Romanians and Romanian settlements
Dobrogea, the province on which “the always sleepless eye of the Sovereign, has watched forever”
