History

The ink blot shape that we today call Romania has only been around since 1918, when the historical provinces of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania were finally united to form a single, unitary state. Much happened before then...

Romania BC
The Danube basin first becomes recognizable as a genuine state under the leadership of Burebista (82-44BC), whose empire of Geto-Dacians comprehended the fairest parts of western Wallachia, Transylvania and the Banat.

The Roman Years
The Geto-Dacians are defeated after two campaigns (101-102AD and 105-106AD) by a Roman Empire about to reach its zenith under Emperor Trajan. The Geto-Dacian kingdom becomes the Roman province of Dacia. One of the most prosperous of all the Roman provinces, the Romans are nevertheless forced to abandon Dacia in 271AD after repeated Goth attacks.

The Middle Ages
After repeated invasions by Goths, Pechenegs and Cumans, amongst others, the Magyars emerge as the dominating force in Transylvania by the end of the eleventh century, and the province becomes an important regional centre within the Hungarian Empire. Other ethnic groups, notably the Szekelers and Saxons, settle throughout Transylvania. Many ethnic Romanians withdraw to the Danube basin, where Basarab (c. 1310-1352) creates the principality of Wallachia. Moldavia also becomes an independent principality after Bogdan of Cuhea defeats a Hungarian army during the winter of 1364-1365.

The 15th Century
Mircea Cel Batran (1368-1418), Vlad Tepes (1430-1476), and Stefan Cel Mare (1457-1504) all fight, on separate occasions, and defeat, the invading armies of the Ottoman Empire and thus preserve the independence of Wallachia and Moldavia.

The 16th Century
After the death of Stefan Cel Mare (1504), Moldavia and Wallachia are eventually forced to accept Ottoman suzerainty, and when Hungary is defeated by the Turks at the Battle of Mohacs in 1526, Romania finds itself entirely at the behest of the Sublime Porte. In 1600 Mihai Bravu briefly unites the three principalities after defeating the Turks at Calugareni, but the new state survives less than a year.


The 17th Century
While Transylvania is freed of Ottoman domination by the Hapsburg empire, Turkish repression continues in Wallachia and Moldavia with the installation of Phanariot (Greek) client rule, that is not fully eradicated until 1821 in some parts of Wallachia.

The 18th Century
The age of Empire. As the Turkish Empire crumbles throughout the region, so the Russian and Hapsburg Empires fill the void. The Austrians, while not entirely benevolent, do bring Transylvania’s provinces economically and politically in to line with the rest of Europe. Serfdom is abolished, and the first rumblings of a Romanian national consciousness can be heard in the better educated homes of Cluj and Sibiu.

The 19th Century
Russia annexes the region of Bessarabia (eastern Moldavia) in 1812 and keeps hold of it for the next 100 or so years. Moldavia and Wallachia finally achieve complete independence from Ottoman rule after the First Russo-Turkish War in 1829. Revolution grips the country in 1848 with the call to see major economic and social changes. In 1859, Wallachia and Moldavia are unified when Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected prince of both principalities. At the end of the Second Russo-Turkish War in 1878, Romania is recognised as a bona fide nation by the Great Powers. Prince Karl of Prussia is crowned King Carol of Romania in 1881.

The Early 20th Century
King Carol dies in 1914 and his nephew, Ferdinand I, becomes King of Romania. The country remains neutral during the Great War until 1916, when the King is forced by popular opinion to side with Britain, France, Italy and Russia. Romania invades and gains control of Transylvania at the end of 1918, and the region officially becomes part of Romania on December 1, today celebrated as the country’s national holiday. At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference Romania is officially awarded Transylvania, Bucovina, Bessarabia and part of the Banat.

Between the Wars
King Ferdinand dies in 1927, and his six-year old grandson Mihai takes the throne, but is forced by his father, Carol II, to abdicate in 1930. Carol II had previously
renounced his right to the throne after a series of controversial love affairs that outraged Romanian society. Governments come and go at regular intervals, until 1938 when Carol II finally loses patience with politicians and declares a royal dictatorship.

The Second World War
Torn between the Nazi Devil and the Soviet Deep Blue Sea, Romania tries desperately to remain neutral at the outbreak of the Second World War, but after losing huge swathes of the country to Hungary and the USSR in the Molotov-Riibbentrop Pact, Carol is forced to step down and return the throne to Mihai. Anglophile military leader General Ion Antonescu forms, with discreet British approval, a new government in September 1940, and in 1941 finally declares war on the USSR, which was then occupying land recognised as Romanian under international law. After ambition and a myopic fear of communism force Antonescu to cross the Dneistr river (and invade sovereign Soviet territory) in 1942, the General begins a downward descent that will see him arrested on the orders of the King on August 23rd 1944. Three days later Romania declares war on Germany. In 1946, parliamentary elections see massive gains for the Communist Party, which forms a government with Petru Groza, a frontman for the Communists, at the helm. The 1946-47 Paris Peace Treaty recognizes the Soviet claim to northern Bukovina and Bessarabia. After repeatedly refusing to cooperate with the new government, and appalled at the interdiction of numerous political parties, Mihai is forced to abdicate and flee the country in 1947. Romania is proclaimed a People’s Republic.

Gheorghiu-Dej
With the King gone, communist control becomes total, when in February 1948 all remaining political parties are merged to form the Romanian Workers’ Party, which becomes the sole arbiter of power. In 1953 Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej is named as General Secretary of the Party, and effectively becomes leader of the country. The 1950s are dominated by collectivization, political repression, and complete Romanian subordination to Moscow.

Ceausescu
Gheorghiu-Dej dies of cancer in 1965, and is replaced by the (to that point) unremarkable Nicolae Ceausescu, considered something of a malleable fool by other senior members of the communist party. Yet Ceausescu uses Romania’s already souring relationship with Moscow to his advantage and flirts with the Western world (most notably in his denunciation of the Warsaw Pact’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968) in order to borrow large amounts of money to fund major industrial and urban projects, as well as to subsidise many consumer goods. Life is relatively good throughout the 1970s for many Romanians, and on the back of this, Ceausescu is able to form a personality cult to entrench his power, which by the late-1970s had become absolute. On March 4th, 1977, a large earthquake kills more than 1,500 people, mainly in Bucharest. Romania becomes increasingly isolated during the 1980s as Ceausescu embarks on an ambitious project to modernize the country.

The fall of Ceausescu
In early December 1989, protests against the forced relocation of a Hungarian Reform Pastor in Timisoara become political and are violently put down. News that communist regimes are collapsing elsewhere in Eastern Europe seeps into Romania and adds impetus to the protests. On December 21st, 100,000 workers are brought into Bucharest to display their support for Ceausescu. He is, however, forced to interrupt his address to them from the Central Committee building after the crowd starts jeering. Live television coverage is stopped, and the moment the screens go blank is considered by many to be the moment Ceausescu loses control of the country. The next day, after protesters storm the building, Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, dramatically flee the capital by helicopter but are arrested soon after. After a sham of a trial, the couple are found guilty of various crimes and executed in Targoviste on Christmas Day. On December 26th, the National Salvation Front (NSF), headed by Ion Iliescu, appoints a new government.

1990
The NSF - which holds a monopoly on the media and which uses its agents to attack opposition parties - unsurprisingly wins generel elections in April, and Ion Iliescu becomes president with Petre Roman prime minister. Students at Bucharest University - seeing this as the replacement of one dictatorship with another - occupy Piata Universitatii in April and begin a sit-in deisgned to force Iliescu and the NSF to quit politics.

In June, Iliescu brings in miners from the Jiu Valley to brutally end the student demonstration. Many students are killed, though student leader Marian Munteanu miraculously survives two attempts by the miners to kill him: the first by drowning, the second by beheading.

1992
Elections at the end of the year confirm the NSF as the most popular political party. Iliescu remains president.

1996
Iliescu and his government are ousted in general elections by a centrist coalition led by Emil Constantinescu.

2000
Severe drought affects the country throughout the year. Transport minister Traian Basescu becomes the mayor of Bucharest. Romania enjoys its most successful Olympics ever. The governing coalition, after four years of stagnation, lose miserably in a general election to Ion Iliescu and his party, the PDSR. Adrian Nastase is named as the new prime minister.

2001
The Sidex steel plant in Galati is sold to Mittal Steel in Romania’s largest privatisation.

2002
A census reveals that Romania’s population has shrunk by over one million people since 1989. In November Romania is invited to join Nato at the Prague Summit. In May 2003 Nato membership becomes official.

2004
In presidential elections in December the populist mayor of Bucharest Traian Basescu sweeps to victory on a reformist, centre-right ticket. He appoints a government that slashes taxes and begins wooing foreign investors almost immediately.

2005
In July four zeroes are knocked off the value of the leu in a radical denomination.

2007
Romania joins the European Union.

2009
Traian Basescu is elected for a second term as president. The margin of victory (over challenger Mircea Geoana) is less than 70,000 votes.