About changes in the mentality of the Bessarabian nobility during 1830-1840s

This article, based on archival documents and monographic studies, discusses the question of the changes which have occurred in the mentality of Bessarabian nobles after the abolition of autonomy that had been granted to Bessarabia in 1818. In 1828 the Russian government abolished all administrative privileges which had been granted to Bessarabia. Russian legislation was extended to all economic, political, administrative, judicial, and fiscal institutions. In 1873 Bessarabia became a Russian province, administrated mostly by officials of foreign origin. Thus, the local nobles began to lose some of their former rights, privileges and functions. It is for this reason that in 1828-1830 some of the nobles, who previously had held administrative positions in Bessarabia, moved away to Moldova. Since 1830s some changes occur in the way of thinking, customs, traditions, and behavior of the Bessarabian people, in the mentality of the local aristocracy. These changes can be explained by the influence the regime, relations with the Russian military and civil officials, the desire of the nobles to get for their children places in government institutions or in the army, etc. All this pushed the representatives of the higher layer of the Bessarabian society to the more stable and close connections with the Russian nobility, to the Russian lifestyle. Members of the noble families took the example of the Governor's family, trying to copy the behavior, style of dress, etc. So, new generations in Bessarabia were born and educated under the influence of the Russian spirit. The Bessarabian nobility was formally considered to be loyal to the tsar and the Empire. It should be noted that those who obeyed the tsar were speaking foreign languages: Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Germans, etc. Thus, the socio-political situation in Bessarabia during 1830-1840s influenced the mentality of the Bessarabian nobility.