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Although Moldova is a picturesque country with an interesting history and many places to visit, it remains a fairly unknown tourist destination. The terrain consists of rolling steppe with a
gradual slope towards the Black Sea. The proximity to the Black Sea provides Moldova with a mild and sunny climate though winters can be cold. The fertile soil of the river valleys supports wheat, corn, barley, tobacco and sugar beet. Moldova is a wine-growing country and the vineyards and wine cellars of Mileshti and Krikova-Veki are famous throughout the region and popular tourist destinations. The Moldovan capital of Chisinau (formerly Kishinev) is worth a visit.
The country has very strong links with Russia and Romania. The decision to ally with one or the other of its two more powerful neighbours dominated Moldovan politics during the 20th
century. Moldova next experienced a period of independence in 1918, in the course of the Russian Revolution, and then voted
to become part of Romania. However, the Soviet Union objected and brought it within the Soviet orbit. It was then occupied
by Soviet forces in 1940 under the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. The German invasion of the Soviet Union put Moldova back
under Nazi control; a brief period of unification with Romania followed before the Red Army overran it in 1944.
The Moscow government pursued a policy of attempting to detach Moldova – which was now confirmed as one of the 15 constituent
republics of the Soviet Union – from its Romanian roots. This policy was pursued with notable vigour by Leonid Brezhnev, the
Communist party leader in Moldova in the early 1950s, who later rose to become leader of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev’s reform
programme reversed the suppression of national characteristics within the Soviet Union and, by the late 1980s, Romanian was
in common and official use in Moldova. Along with the other peripheral Soviet republics, Moldova started to move towards independence
from 1991 onwards.
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Overview 
