Documents on Bessarabia in the Archives of Foreign Affairs in Paris (1856-1857)

The Bessarabian question after the Crimean War occupied an important place in the foreign policy agenda of the great powers. According to the Treaty of Paris of March 30, 1856, Russia ceded the southern part of Bessarabia to the Principality of Moldavia, having lost access to the mouth of the Danube. The documents found in the Archives of Foreign Affairs in Paris show that the Bessarabian question was widely discussed in European capitals. There are also reports of French ambassadors in St. Petersburg, London, Vienna, Constantinople, and Turin, which show that different points of view existed regarding the transfer of the south of Bessarabia. Thus, the French ambassador in St. Petersburg declared that the south of Bessarabia should be returned to Russia, which reflected the position of French Foreign Minister Walewski and Emperor Napoleon III. It is interesting that in 1856 European diplomacy paid special attention to this issue. The documents discovered form a general overview of the attitudes of the great powers to the question of southern Bessarabia, as well as the interests that they pursued.