Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian & Hungarian ...

CONSTANTIN IORDACHI20 See the editorial article from Steaua României (June 23, 1878), a sample of thevirulent pamphlets against the annexation of Dobrogea. Regarding the argumentsemployed against Dobrogea, see Nicolae Locusteanu’s passionate antiannexationbrochure, Dobrogea (Bucharest, 1878).21 Mihail Kogãlniceanu Opere, vol. 5, part I (1878-80), p. 287.22 For an elaboration on this point, see Iordachi, “The Unyielding Boundaries ofCitizenship.”23 “Constituþia din 1866” in Ion Muraru and Gheorghe Iancu, eds., ConstituþiileRomâne (Romanian Constitutions) (Bucharest: Monitorul Oficial, 1995), p. 34.24 Mihail Kogãlniceanu, Opere, vol. 5, part I (1878-80), p. 621.25 For an attempt to study the link between the historical vision of Kogãlniceanuand his activity as a foreign minister, see Barbara Jelavich, “Mihail Kogãlniceanu:Historian as Foreign Minster, 1876-8,” in Dennis Deletant and HarryHanak, eds., Historians as Nation-Builders: Central and South-East Europe(Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1988), pp. 87-105; see also Catherine Durandin, “LaRussie, La Roumanie et les Nouvelles Frontières dans les Balkans. Les Cas dela Dobroudja,” in Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique XX (January-March1979), pp. 61-77.26 Mihail Kogãlniceanu, Opere, vol. 5, part I (1878-80), p. 621 and 641.27 Ion C. Brãtianu, “Moþiunea Senatului” in Acte ºi cuvîntãri, p. 103-104.28 Iorga, in Adunarea deputaþilor. Dezbaterile. Sesiunea ordinarã 1908-1909, 15November 1908, p. 39.29 This process of myth-making was initiated by Mihail Kogãlniceanu, whosenationalist discourse on the province was based on the historical argument ofWallachia’s temporary possession of Dobrogea, at the beginning of the fifteenthcentury, and on the substantial native Romanian element in theprovince. Later, this thesis was put forward by Romanian historiography andhas become an important component of Romanian national ideology, dominatingall subsequent Romanian historical works about Dobrogea. See MihailKogãlniceanu, Opere, vol. 5, part I (1878-80), p. 639.30 The metaphor was coined by the agronomy engineer Ion Ionescu de la Brad.See Victor Slãvescu, Corespondenþa dintre Ion Ionescu de la Brad ºi Ion Ghica,1848-1874 (Correspondence between Ion Ionescu de la Brad and Ion Ghica,1848-1874) (Bucharest: Imprimeria Naþionalã, 1943), p. 127.31 During the Russian-Turkish War, Dobrogea was occupied by the Russiantroops. This occupation lasted from April 1877 until November 1878.32 Quoted in Vasile Kogãlniceanu, Dobrogea, 1895-1909: Drepturi politice fãrãlibertãþi (Dobrogea, 1895-1909: Political rights without liberties) (Bucharest:Socec, 1910), pp. 34-35.33 Legea pentru organizarea administrativã a Dobrogei, 2 March, 1880. A complementingregulation was issued on 5 June 1880. See Constantin Hamangiu,Codul General al României (The General Code of Romania), vol. 2 (Bucharest:Leon Alcalay, 1910), pp. 267-72 and 292-295.34 On 11 April 1877 Romania declared war on Turkey.35 Hamangiu, Codul General, vol. 2, p. 268.36 André Bellessort, La Roumanie contemporaine (Paris: Perrin, 1905), p. 278.37 Mihail Kogãlniceanu, Opere, vol. 5, part I (1878-1880), p. 328.38 Mihail Kogãlniceanu, Opere, vol. 5, part I (1878-1880), p. 328.148