Why was the Budjak annexed to Ukraine in 1940?
score:8
It looks like this is another border change we have Nikita Khrushchev to thank for.
The commission that decided the administrative border between the Ukrainian SSR and Moldavian SSR inside the Soviet Union was chaired by Nikita Khrushchev, the then leader of the Ukrainian SSR and the future USSR leader who would add Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR.
As for the rationale, what I was able to dig up was the following:
On 2 August 1940, the Supreme Soviet unanimously approved to dissolve the old Moldavian ASSR ... Northern and southern parts of the territories occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940 (the current Chernivtsi Oblast and Budjak), which were more heterogeneous ethnically, were transferred to the Ukrainian SSR, although their population also included 337,000 Moldovans. As such, the strategically important Black Sea coast and Danube frontage were given to the Ukrainian SSR, considered more reliable* than the Moldavian SSR, which could have been claimed by Romania.
The reference given for this last statement was: King, C. (2000). The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the politics of culture. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press. ISBN 9780817997915. It would probably be worth tracking that down as a more direct source, to see more precisely what was said about it (and to track down his sources).
But with what I have available right now, it looks like the claim is that the main reasons given were matters of geopolitics. Henry in the comments above helpfully posted a census map of the area from the next year (1941). I've circled in red the areas that were given to Ukraine SSR.
It shows that all the counties in the new Moldovan SSR were majority Romanian (although 2 with much larger minority % than any nearby counties), while all the ones given to Ukraine were not. Of Budjak's 3 counties, 2 were majority Russian or Ukrainian, while the 3rd was only about a quarter Romanian, and very nearly a majority Bulgarian. So the claimed concern that Nationalist Romanians would be far more interested in taking back those other Moldovan SSR counties, and locals there more interested in reuniting with Romania, probably holds water.
The Budjak was also the bit encompassing the Black Sea coast, which contained the USSR's only real year-round ice-free ports. That was a big deal for the USSR, and not an area they'd want to court any more instability than necessary.
I think those reasons are both what was claimed, and sufficient, so we've got no good reason to be unsatisfied with them. However, a cynic might point out here that Khrushchev happened to be the party official in charge of Ukraine at this time, and making his own little internal political empire stronger in the (literally) cutthroat world of USSR party politics probably had its attractions too.
* - "Reliable" in this kind of context usally means "loyal to the central government." or "Less likely to ignore orders or rebel."
More post
- 📝 What factors contributed to Korea's Modernization?
- 📝 Are there any good sources on the history of the name for Kazakhstan?
- 📝 Why didn't Great Britain give the colonies voting rights?
- 📝 What role did 17th c. luxury manufacturing play in the industrialization?
- 📝 Roughly how many people were in a Magdalenian group? (And Gravettian?)
- 📝 Military intervention in government in India and Pakistan
- 📝 Why would selling watermelons in bulk be mocking?
- 📝 What did the Emancipation Proclamation exactly do?
- 📝 What was the reason for the Dutch attack on Venezuela in 1908?
- 📝 Did the ancient Chinese use an ink covered finger to sign documents?
- 📝 What was this a buckle for?
- 📝 Where can I find this paper by Jean Buridan?
- 📝 Were soldiers in the World Wars paid?
- 📝 Were the Japanese "Kongo" class battlewagons advanced for their time?
- 📝 Were the Pechenegs at some point Manicheans?
- 📝 Why has Iran's GDP shrunk over the last three decades?
- 📝 Is there a historical reason for a pattern of worse technological standards beating out better ones?
- 📝 How much did the western world know about the Soviet Union pre-WWII?
- 📝 Were shipboard gardens ever typical?
- 📝 Why/how did German arms output peak in 1944 when they were running out of oil?
- 📝 What would have been the price of a loaf of bread in 1645 Amsterdam?
- 📝 Who manufactured US 10th Cavalry Saber?
- 📝 Execution at the scene of the crime under Australian law
- 📝 Anti-Semitism and Edmund Burke
- 📝 What are the markings on this shell casing? (Dubrovnik)
- 📝 How were back copies of newspapers viewed in England in 1923
- 📝 How were fortification doors protected against fire?
- 📝 Did any armies systemically favor axes/hammers over swords?
- 📝 From whom did Gandhi learn his protest technique of non-violence?
- 📝 What was it like to be in first class on the R.M.S. Titanic?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why was the Budjak annexed to Ukraine in 1940?
- 📝 Why was the capital of Ukraine moved in 1934?
- 📝 Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
- 📝 Why did archery not make a comeback when armor was phased out in the 18th century?
- 📝 Why was Poland spared from the Black Death?
- 📝 Why was Africa colonized last of the continents in the Age of Discovery?
- 📝 Why was the Scout movement so successful?
- 📝 Why was the Council of Nicea held in Nicea rather than Rome or Constantinople?
- 📝 Why was World War I ended on Nov 11 11:00, rather than immediately upon signing the armistice?
- 📝 In the Soviet Union, why was the Cheka renamed so many times?
- 📝 Why was "leaping into the river" a valid trial outcome to prove one's innocence?
- 📝 Why was the Japanese Army's fatalities inflicted:suffered ratio so low in the Pacific theatre?
- 📝 Why was capturing the south of Okinawa necessary?
- 📝 Why were the drawings of Colossus burnt after WW2 and why was its very existence "of course" kept secret?
- 📝 Why was there a surge in the US incarceration rate during the 1990s?
- 📝 Why was the Treaty of Versailles so harsh?
- 📝 If the Ch’in dynasty was so short-lived, why was China named for it?
- 📝 Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?
- 📝 Why was sugar cultivation more profitable in the Caribbean/Brazil than West Africa?
- 📝 Why was PTSD not written about as much before the 20th century?
- 📝 Why was Kaliningrad placed under the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR?
- 📝 Why was the Roman Empire considered an empire rather than a kingdom (again)?
- 📝 Why was the northern boundary of the Mongol empire set where it was?
- 📝 When and why was the samurai class abolished?
- 📝 Why was uranium mined in the 1500s, but only "discovered" in 1789?
- 📝 How and why was the boundary between West and East Berlin decided to be where it was?
- 📝 Why were troops with bayonets often effective against enemy cavalry even though the bayonet was a "secondary" weapon?
- 📝 Why was the bald eagle chosen as the national bird of the United States?
- 📝 Why was the US so pro-China and so anti-Japan before WW2?
- 📝 Why was the Red Army successful against the Japanese in 1939 but perform poorly against Finland 1939-40 and early part of WW2?