From Wikipedia - "Stephen III of Moldavia or Stephen Musat III
(1433 - July 2, 1504), also known as Stephen the Great (Romanian:
Stefan cel Mare; Stefan cel Mare si Sfânt, "Stephen the Great and
Holy" in more modern versions) was Prince of Moldavia between 1457
and 1504. During his reign, he turned Moldavia into a strong state
and maintained her independence against the ambitions of Hungary,
Poland, and the Ottoman Empire, which all sought to subdue the
land. Stephen achieved fame in Europe for his long resistance
against the Ottomans. He was victorious in 34 of his 36 battles,
and was the first to inflict a decisive victory against the
Ottomans at the Battle of Vaslui, after which Pope Sixtus IV deemed
him Athleta Christi (Champion of Christ) — a title previously
awarded to Skanderbeg and John Hunyadi. He was a man of religion
and displayed his piousness when he paid the debt of Mount Athos to
the Porte, ensuring the continuity of Athos as an independent
state. "
Since then the state of Moldova, landlocked between Romania and
Ukraine, has gone through turbulent times. It was annexed from
Romania by the Soviet Union as part of the Stalin-Ribbentrop Pact,
and the people were forced to write Romanian in the Cyrillic
Alphabet. Many Russians emigrated there and Russian became
co-spoken alongside Romanian. With the downfall of the USSR,
Moldova declared independence and has been continually reforming
itself. Currently, the elected Communist party is distancing itself
from Russian influence and leaning towards being part of
Europe.
This cache is dedicated to the brave folks in Moldova!
For those who wonder what the cache location has to do with the
text above - well, Moldova has trains, too!