The tsarist policy of russification of education and the “unfavorable realities” in Bessarabia (second half of the 19th century)

The article reveals the process of radical transformation of the education system in Bessarabia in the second half of the nineteenth century, as a result of the tightening of the national policy of the Russian Empire and the intensification of the national-cultural Russification of the non-Russian peoples, the attempts of the Czarist authorities to modernize and homogenize the multinational Russian Empire, according to the model of European states. The author highlights two stages of the policy of Russification of education in Bessarabia. The first stage – years 1866-1872 – is characterized by the undermining of Romanian and mixed parochial primary schools (Romanian-Russian), the prohibition of teaching Romanian language at the regional gymnasium, theological seminary, county schools, etc, by creating a Russian primary and secondary education system in Bessarabia. The second stage – years 1873-1900 – is characterized by the attempt to radically transform the linguistic and cultural realities of the Bessarabian villages, causing the exponential growth of the number of Russian schools in rural areas, mass learning of the Russian language by the Romanian peasants in Bessarabia, the imposition of the Russian language not only in state institutions, but also in the privacy of families. The discussions in this regard within the Committee of Ministers of the Russian Empire highlighted the following dilemma: either the application of force to boost the policy of Russification, or the continuation of the policy of gradual Russification.Understanding the impasse that the Russian Empire would have entered, the authorities finally decided to achieve the goals of the policy of russification of the Romanians in Bessarabia, not through repressive methods, but „gradually and without violence”.