PRUSIA ȘI CHESTIUNEA BASARABIEI (1855-1856)
PRUSSIA AND THE BESSARABIAN QUESTION (1855–1856)

Summary/Abstract: This study examines the attitude of one of the signatory powers of the Treaty of Paris of 18/30 March 1856, namely Prussia, toward the Bessarabian question. Given that this power maintained a neutral position during the Crimean War, did not participate in drafting the peace preliminaries, and was not represented on the commission tasked with delimiting the Bessarabian border, one might assume that Prussia did not articulate a position on this issue. In reality, research conducted in the archival collections in Paris and London reveals that Prussia did express its views on the Bessarabian question, which in 1856 had become an issue of European significance. Although it adopted a reserved attitude toward Austria’s demand to include, in the peace preliminaries, the retrocession of southern Bessarabia to the Principality of Moldavia,the Berlin cabinet was dissatisfied with the fact that Vienna had not consulted it in advance on this matter. By the end of 1855, the Austrian government expected Berlin to support this claim. However, during the Paris Congress of February–March 1856, Prussia issued no official opinion regarding the retrocession of southern Bessarabia and did not become involved in the Anglo-Russian dispute over the possession of the town of Bolgrad. After the European commissioners established the existence of two localities bearing the name Bolgrad, disagreements between France and Great Britain intensified. For this reason, it was decided to convene a new conference in Paris to resolve the Bolgrad question. In this context, Prussia sought to maintain its neutrality in order to avoid voting on the Bolgrad issue.

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