Introduction |     Early history  |   A New Nation    

Introduction

Romania, the perfect place of contrasts, situated at the junction of several civilizations can be characterized as the home of Constantin Brancusi, Eugen Ionescu, Emil Cioran, Mircea Eliade, and Nadia Comaneci, but also of Dracula and Nicolae Ceausescu.      Romania has majestic castles, medieval towns, painted churches and monasteries, great hiking in the Carpathian Mountains and wildlife in the Danube. Although a small country, one can say that Romania had one of the most eventful history from the Eastern European countries.

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Early History

The First People

Signs of human life are to be found in the Carpathian Mountains since 600,000 B.C. Although documents mention Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast, the first united kingdom was made up from Thracian tribes. Nowadays Romanians are in part descended from Getae-Dacian, a Thracian tribe that lived north of the Danube River. The Geto-Dacian society flourished under its king Burebista "the first and the greatest of the Thracian kings" (ca 82-44 B.C.) a contemporary and opponent of Caesar and in the meantime a friend of Pompey. His follower was Decebalus, who establised a new Getian state, much stronger with a powerful fortress and a better army to defeat the Getae-Dacian people who were threatened by the Roman empire which was expanding, while the Danube became the border between these two powers. After several conflicts, eventually the Romans reached the heart of Transylvania, the state's capital Sarmizegetuza (106 B.C.) and defeated Decebalus who comitted suicide before being captured by the Romans authorities. Roman colonisation started and lasted until 271 when they withdraw and the people suffered because of the numerous migrations that started.

Decebalus

Romanian Principalities

     Starting with the 10th century new state formations appeared throughout the present Romanian's territory; most of them were known as dukedoms, knezdoms and voivodeships. In this period Transylvania reached a high level of political and military organisation, being a powerful force for the Hungarians who were interested in the Romanian land. Beginning with 11th century and mostly in the 12th century, Transylvania reached slowly under the Hungarian leadership. During its dominatin other ethnic groups came to settle in the Romanian land, most of them being Szeklers, followed by Saxons. "Romanians" were first mentioned in documents in the 1160s. Throughout the 15th century the principalities offered strong resitence to Turkish expansion. The most important figures of that century were Mircea the Old-Mircea cel Batran (1386-1418), Vlad Tepes(1456-1462) and Stephen The Great (1457-1504) who fought against the Ottoman Empire.

Dracula-History or Legend?

Vlad Tepes is known as "Dracula", was born in 1431 in the fortress of Sighisoara, Romania. His father was Vlad Dracul, a military governor of Transylvania who became a member of The Order of Dragon, a semimilitary and religious society whose activity was to protect the interests of Catholicism and to fight against the Turks. He used as a signet emblem a dragon, being called from that moment Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Devil). In old Romanian "Dracul" means the dragon or the devil. There is a possiblity that Dracula meant "Dragon's son" and not "Devil's son" and the confusion between "devil" and "vampire" in some of the languages could be the cause of Dracula's association to vampirism. After his father became prince of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes was taken hostage by the Turks, living most of his childhood in Turkey. After his family's death, he was released and came home to Romania. Although very young, only 17 years old, his aim was to get revenge on the boyars of Targoviste who killed his family. His first action was arresting all the boyar families and impaled them. That's why he is called Vlad Tepes - Vlad the Impaler. He started a cruel campaign made of brutal punishment techniques towards traitors, merchants and everybody who ignored his laws. Having conflicts with the Turkish power he confronted with his own brother Radu, who became an ally for the Turks. According to the legend that was the moment when Dracula's wife committed suicide in order to escape from being captured. Seeing his wife dead he slashed his sword at a cross in the cathedral when a trail of "unholy blood" splirts out of it. He drank it and batled in its unholy juices, therefore he became a vampire.

Of course this is only the legend, but in real life he died being assassinated in December 1476 by his enemies, very young, in his late 40's. His head was cut off and buried in a monastery. The absence from the grave make even more convincing the story about him being a vampire. Nowadays Dracula's story related to vampirism is only a scary fantasy that bring thousands of tourists in Romania. In order to create a realistic view on this matter each year there are festivals in his honour or other activities: for instance in Sighisoara tourists can have dinner in his house that make this story more real than ever.

Stephen the Great & His Monasteries

Stephen the Great is known as a prince who ruled Moldavia and fought against the Ottoman threat. During his leadership he built 44 churches, one after each of his victories over the Turks. In his time monasteries were decorated with enameled disks and colored bricks placed around the steeple, below the cornice and along architectural elements. The most important monasteries that were built are: Putna and Voronet monasteries. The first was built during 1466-1469 and rebuilt in 1484. After that it was destroyed and rebuilt again in 1654, but from the original building there still exists it's tower. The monastery was an important cultural centre and it still is, but nowadays it is a monument, Stephen the Great being buried there and in the meantime a museum that contains lots of manuscrips, icons and objects made of silver. Voronet strikes by its "blue of Voronet".The interior frescoes date from the time of Stephen's foundation. On the southern wall of the church it is painted the scene "Last Judgement". Jesus on His throne is judging the "souls". Another important figure in the Romanian history was Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazu) who was the first to rule even if for a short perioad of time all the Romanian Principalities: Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia.

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A New Nation

Fighting for Freedom

In the 18th century the Ottoman Empire started to decline and the Russian and Austrian one began to rise. The Turks feeling that were loosing power, they appointed Phanariot princes, hoping to preserved control in Wallachia and Moldavia. In 1718 Oltenia became a Habsburgic region and later in 1775 they received Bukovina and in 1812, Bassarabia. At the end of the 18th century the Romanian people met a social and economic developement. An important person was Inocentiu Micu, a bishop that fought for the Romanians to be treated equally, and eventually he became a member of the Transylvanian Diet. The works of great cultural personalities such as Constantin Cantacuzino and Dimitrie Cantemir were carried on in Transylvania too by a group of Romanian intellectuals (called "Scoala Ardeleana") like Gheorghe Sincai, Petru Maior, Samuil Micu and Ioan Budai Deleanu.
The Wallachian revolution from 1821, leaded by Tudor Vladimirescu is another example of the Romanians' struggle to gain their rights. By signing the Treaty of Adrianople (1829) the Ottoman ruling was less intense than before, but despite of this, the Russian protectorate increased the Romanians' oppression.
      In the first half of the 19th century, the Romanian principalities began to distance themselves from the Oriental Ottoman world and started to accept easily the Western European ideas. Because of this ideas, currents, attitudes from the West were welcome in Romania and the nation had only one dream: to become an independent country. This struggle brought to the centre-stage great personalities such as: Nicolae Balcescu, Mihail Kogalniceanu, Simion Barnutiu and Avram Iancu. In Moldavia the unrest was quickly stopped, but in Wallachia the revolutionaries actually governed the country for a few months, while in Transylvania the revolution lasted until 1849. The Hungarian leaders refused to listen to the Romanians requests and they decided to annex Transylvania to Hungary. Although they tried to stopped the Romanians' fight they met a great armed resistance in the Apuseni Mountains, under the leadership of Avram Iancu.

During The Crimean War (1853-1856) Russia was defeated and the European balance became weak again. Romania became the central interest of the greatest powers, not only for those who surronded it such as Habsburg, Ottoman, Russia but also for France, Prussia and Britain. In 1859 took place the unification of Wallachia and Moldavia, having a unique prince: Alexandru Ioan Cuza. In 1862 the nation was named Romania and settled its capital in Bucharest. The following perioad was one with great achievements and great reforms. After the abdication of Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1866), Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who was supported by Napoleon III was proclamed prince of Romanian and from that moment he would be known as Carol I.     Having a favorable context, Romania declared its full independence in 1877. The government led by I.C.Bratianu decided to join the Russian forces and an army under the leadership of Prince Carol I defeated the Ottoman army at Pleven. As a result of this gain Romania had again rights on Dobrogea, but the Russia forced Romania to cede Cahul, Bolgrad and Ismail counties of Southern Basarabia. In 1881, the country became a kingdom and Carol I was crowned as King of Romania. After this victory, Romanians from the territories that were still under foreign ruling: in Transylvania the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and in Besarabia and Bukovina the German and Russian worlds started to dream to liberty and freedom. In 1892 a memorandum was written and sent to Viena to emperor Franz Joseph I its main issue put forward the Romanians who lived under the Austria-Hungary, but it also criticized the Hungarian policy.

World War I

     When the World War I began in 1914, Romania declared itself neutral, but in 1916 it joined France, Britain, Russia and Italy having the opportunity to fight for the liberation of the Romanians who were under Austria-Hungary domination. Romania won important victories at Marasesti, Marasti and Oituz in 1917, but the unification hope couldn't be realised only at the end of the war, when the Habsburg monarchy collapsed in 1918. On December 1, 1918 took place the unification of Transylvania, Banat, Crisana and Maramures with the rest of the country.
After 1918, Romania made important steps toward modern world by ratifing major reforms and the Constitution in 1923. In 1930 King Ferdinand's son became the King, being known as Carol II. In 1927 a fascist movement was founded that later was named the Iron Guard. In 1938 the Constitution was canceled and it was proclaimed a royal government. In 1940 Romania lost important territories: Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina, but also northern Transylvania and the southern part of Dobrogea. The problems that were taking place in the country forced King Carol II to abdicate in favour of his son, Mihai I. Although at the beginning, Romania fought side by side with Germany against Russia, in the end it turned it's arms against Germany and it served the anti-fascist coalition. In 1947 after the Paris Peace Treaty, the country received all its rights on Transylvania, but Bessarabia, and northern Bukovina passed under Sovietic occupation.

The Communist Romania

After 1948 Romania became communist having as model the Soviet countries, but starting with 1960s under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej ruling and later Nicolae Ceausescu's, the Romanian foreign policy became independent of Soviet believes. During Nicolae Ceausescu the country was transformed into a weak political and cultural power, being concerned by realizing expensive projects that produced a decline in the population living standard. In these conditions the dictatorship was overthrown on December 22, 1989 when over 1,000 people sacraficed their lives. This event was a new beginning for the country, for the re-establishment of the democracy and the re-integration of the country in the European space.

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After 1990

After the revolution took place, Romania became a parliamentary republic. The president of the country is elected every four years, the country has several parties, but only the most important are to be found in the Parliament. Romania's national day was established on 1st of December.
One of the most important event after the revolution was the miners' riot from 1990 that was lead by persons from the former system called "Securitatea" and in 1994 Romania was accepted in the European Council.