The process of Bessarabia’s union with Romania between 1917 and 1918 is reconstructed in three successive stages: the proclamation of autonomy and the establishment of the Sfatul Țării, the declaration of independence of the Moldovan Democratic Republic, and the vote on 27 March 1918, when 86 out of 125 deputies voted in favour of union. The article highlights the role of figures such as Ion Inculeț, Pantelimon Halippa and Onisifor Ghibu, documents the Soviet reaction to the deputies of the Sfatul Țării, and argues for the democratic and ethnographic legitimacy of the act of union.