Romania, Russia and Moldova

Unification of Romania (1859)

Romania was unified after years of nationalism awakening under a personal union between the principalities of Moldovia and Wallachia who elected a Dominitor (ruling prince) named Alexandra loan Cuza in 1859. The two principalities formally united in 1862 to create the Principality of Romania with Bucharest assigned as its capital. Romania gets its name from the Latin word romanus (citizen of Rome) and the name was first used by Italian humanists travelling from Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia.
Romania broke free of the Ottoman Empire in 1878 having declared independence in 1877.

Why do we have a country called Moldova?

On 1 December 1918, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with Romania. Bessarabia had previously declared independence the year prior but faced Ukrainian land claims and Bolshevik agitation among the Russian troops. This union was ratified in the 1920 Treaty of Paris. Today, two thirds of Bessarabia are part of Moldova, a landlocked country that lies between Romania and Ukraine. Moldova was part of Romania throughout the interwar period until 1940 when it was given to the Soviet Union under the threat of war. The land given was integrated with an autonomous republic of the Ukrainian SSR named the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Republic. Romania temporary reclaimed Moldova in 1941 but lost it again in 1944 when the tide of war changed. In 1991, Moldova became independent from the Soviet
Union, becoming the Republic of Moldova.