The pages of military history contain a number of examples of soldiers sharing the occasional drink with their foes. For example, at the outbreak of the War of 1812, British officers stationed along the Canadian side of Niagara River were entertaining their American counterparts from the opposite shore when a messenger arrived with news that England and America were suddenly enemies, the hosts insisted that their guests at least stay to finish their after-dinner-port before returning home to commence with the hostilities. A century later, German and British troops in Flanders famously emerged from their trenches at Christmas in 1914 to swap greetings as well as bottles of rum and schnapps.

But this sort of liquor-fuelled camaraderie was taken to new heights during the two-year war between the small former Soviet republic of Moldova and the tiny 4,000 sq. km. breakaway region of that country known Transnistria.

The localized conflict, which ran from 1990 through to 1992, saw government forces and separatists fight by day and then meet to drink at night. And according to numerous reports, these no-man’s-land get-togethers weren’t just a one-time thing either. They were a nightly ritual — as regular as Happy Hour. In fact, the friendly binges became so well-known, the locals refer to the entire conflict as the “Drunken War”. Amazingly, the opposing forces became so chummy with each other that individual soldiers on both sides made personal agreements not to shoot one another during the next day’s hostilities. “The war is like a grotesque party. During the day we kill our enemy, during the night we drink with them. What a bizarre thing war is,” one combatant supposedly wrote of the conflict. [1]

The Transnistria struggle wasn’t all beer and skittles however. As many as 1,200 people on both sides were killed in the two-year contest, which was fought between the ethnically-Romanian Moldovans and Russian-speaking inhabitants of Transnistria.[2]

The war grew out of a crisis within Moldova, once known as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. When in 1989, Moscow’s grip on its various republics and Eastern European satellites melted away, Moldavia declared independence. It renamed itself Moldova and immediately sought closer ties with its historic ally Romania.

Transnistria, a tiny sliver of territory on the far eastern side of Moldova, was largely ethnically-Russian and Ukrainian. Fearing assimilation into the larger Romanian Moldova, Transnistria declared its own independence from the new republic and sought protection from Moscow and Kiev. In 1990 and 1991, tensions mounted as Moldovan police and troops clashed with Transnistrian rebels.

In 1992, full scale war erupted when the 14,000-strong Russian 14th Guards Army, already stationed in Transnistria, began arming and training the rebels and even fighting on their behalf. [3] Up to 5,000 more volunteers from Russia and Ukraine streamed into the region to join in the struggle against the Moldovans as well. [4] Romania responded by sending weapons and military advisors to help the 30,000-strong Moldovan army.[5]

By the summer of 1992, both sides had agreed to a ceasefire. It has remained in effect to this day. And while Transnistria remains officially unrecognized by the international community, the tiny republic has its own government, military, constitution, flag and currency.

Did you find this article interesting? Please feel free to Tweet it or share it on Facebook. As always, your feedback is welcome. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @milhistorynow

1. http://weirdscaryandusualstuff.tumblr.com/post/15827441817/this-war-began-shortly-after-the-collapse-of-the

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Transnistria

3. Ibid

4. Ibid

5. Ibid

Like this: Like Loading...