|
Your American History Reference Guide!
|
|
American History Search American History Browse |
|
History of RomaniaThis article provides only a brief outline of each period of the History of Romania; details are presented in separate articles (see the links in the box and below).
DaciaMain article: Dacia The territory of today's Romania was inhabited since at least 513 BC by the Getae-Dacians, a Thracian tribe. Under the leadership of Burebista (70-44 BC) the Dacians became a powerful state which threatened even the regional interests of the Romans. Julius Caesar intended to start a campaign against the Dacians, but was assassinated in 44 BC. A few months later, Burebista shared the same fate, assassinated by his own noblemen. His powerful state divided in four and did not become unified again until 95, under the reign of Decebalus. The Dacian state sustained a series of conflicts with the expanding Roman Empire, and was finally conquered in 106 AD by the Roman emperor Trajan, during the reign of the Dacian king Decebalus. Faced by successive invasions of the Goths and Carpi, the Roman administration withdrew in 271. Romania in the Middle AgesMain article: Romania in the Middle Ages Multiple waves of invasion followed: such as the Slavs in the 6th century, the Bulgars and Magyars in the 9th century, and the Tatars in the 13th century. Many small local states were created, but only in the 13th century the larger principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia emerged to fight the danger of a new threat in the form of the Ottoman Turks, who conquered Constantinople in 1453. By 1541, the entire Balkan peninsula and most of Hungary became Ottoman provinces. In contrast, Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania, came under Ottoman suzerainty, but conserved fully internal autonomy and, until 18th century, some external independence. By the 12th century, Transylvania became a largely autonomous part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Kings of Hungary invited the Pechenegs and Cumans from Wallachia to settle in Transylvania, and also the Szecklers, the Teutonic Order and the Saxons and Schwabs. In the year 1600, Wallachia, Moldova and Transylvania principalities were united by Wallachian Ban (prince) Mihai Viteazul, but the unity dissolved after Mihai was killed, only one year later, by the soldiers of an Austrian army general Giorgio Basta. In 1699 Transylvania became a possession of Austrian Empire, following the defeat of the Turks. The Austrians, in their turn, rapidly expanded their empire: In 1718 an important part of Wallachia, called Oltenia, was incorporated to the Austrian Empire and was only returned in 1739. In 1775 the Austrian Empire occupied the north-western part of Moldavia, later called Bukovina, while the eastern half of the principality (called Bessarabia) was occupied in 1812 by Russia. National awakening of RomaniaMain article: National awakening of Romania As in most European countries, 1848 brought revolution to Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania, announced by Tudor Vladimirescu and his Pandurs attempt in 1821. The goals of the revolutionaries - complete independence for the first two and national emancipation in third - remained unfulfilled, but were the basis of the subsequent evolutions. Also, the uprising helped the population of the three principalities recognise their unity of language and interests. Heavily taxed and badly administered under the Ottoman Empire, in 1859, people in both Moldavia and Wallachia elected the same "Domnitor" (ruler) - Alexandry Ioan Cuza - as prince. Kingdom of RomaniaMain article: Kingdom of Romania The Old KingdomIn 1866, the German prince Carol I (Charles or Karl) of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was appointed as Domnitor of the Principality of Romania, to end the rivalry and struggle for the seat of power by the Romanian boyar factions. In 1877, Romania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire and, following a Russian-Romanian-Turkish war, its independence was recognized by the Treaty of Berlin, 1878, making it the first independent national state in the eastern half of Europe. Following the war Romania acquired Dobruja, but it was forced to cede southern Bessarabia to Russia. Domnitor Carol I was proclaimed the first King of Romania on March 26, 1881. The new state, squeezed between the great powers of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires, looked to the West, particularly France, for its cultural, educational, military and administrative models. In 1916 Romania entered World War I on the Entente side. By the end of the war, the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires were gone; governing bodies created in Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina chose union with Romania, resulting in Greater Romania. Greater RomaniaThe acquisition of these territories transformed Romania "...from a small country with a largely ethnically homogenous population to the second largest country of East Central Europe with all the problems of a multi-national state." [Riff, 1992, 34] Most of Romania's pre-WWII governments maintained the form, but not the substance, of a liberal constitutional monarchy. The Iron Guard nationalist movement, became a major political factor by exploiting fear of communism, and resentment of alleged foreign and Jewish domination of the economy. In 1938, in order to prevent the formation of a government that would have included Iron Guard ministers, King Carol II dismissed the government and instituted a short-lived royal dictatorship. In 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which stipulated, amongst other things, the Soviet "interest" in Bessarabia. Romania during World War IIMain article: Romania during World War II As a result, in 1940, Romania lost territory in both east and west: In June 1940, after issuing an ultimatum to Romania, the Soviet Union occupied Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. Two thirds of Bessarabia were combined with a small part of USSR to form the Moldavian SSR. Northern Bukovina and Bugeac were apportioned to the Ukrainian SSR. In August 1940, Northern Transylvania was awarded to Hungary by Germany and Italy through the Second Vienna Arbitration. As a result of the ratification by King Carol II of the yielding of Northern Transylvania to Hungary, southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria, and Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to USSR in 1940, general Ion Antonescu was supported by the army to seize the leadership of Romania. Romania entered World War II under the command of the German Wehrmacht in June 1941, declaring war to the Soviet Union in order to recover Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. Romania was awarded the territory between Nistru and Bug by Germany to administrate it as Transnistria. In August 1944, a coup led by King Michael, with support from opposition politicians and the army, deposed the Antonescu dictatorship and put Romania's armies under Red Army command. Romania suffered additional heavy casualties fighting the Nazi Army in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The Paris Peace Treaty at the end of World War II rendered the Vienna Diktat void, Northern Transylvania returning to Romania having an autonomous status for several years, but Bessarabia, northern Bukovina and southern Dobrogea weren't recovered. The Moldavian SSR became independent only in 1991, under the name of Republica Moldova. Communist RomaniaMain article: Communist Romania Soviet occupation following WWII led to the formation of a communist Peoples' Republic in 1947 and the abdication of king Michael, who went into exile. In the early 1960s, Romania's communist government began to assert some independence from the Soviet Union. Ceauşescu became head of the Communist Party in 1965 and head of state in 1967. Ceauşescu's denunciation of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and a brief relaxation in internal repression helped give him a positive image both at home and in the West. Seduced by Ceauşescu's "independent" foreign policy, Western leaders were slow to turn against a regime that, by the late 1970s, had become increasingly harsh, arbitrary, and capricious. Rapid economic growth fueled by foreign credits gradually gave way to wrenching austerity and severe political repression. The decades-long rule of President Nicolae Ceauşescu became increasingly draconian through the 1980s. December 1989 marked the fall of Ceauşescu and the end of communist regime in Romania, a violent change, resulting in more than 1000 deaths during the key events in Timişoara and Bucharest. After a week long state of unrest of the city of Timişoara, Ceauşescu lost his grip on the country's leadership, fleeing Bucharest after summoning a meeting of support that turned against him on December 21, 1989, and was arrested and executed on December 25, 1989. The series of events known as Romanian Revolution of 1989 remain to this day a matter of debate, with many conflicting theories as to the motivations and even actions of some of the principle players. A former activist marginalised by Ceauşescu, Ion Iliescu attained national recognition as the leader of an impromptu governing coalition, the National Salvation Front (FSN) that proclaimed the restoration of democracy and freedom on December 22, 1989. The Communist Party was outlawed, and Ceauşescu's most unpopular measures, such as bans on abortion and contraception, were repealed. Romania since 1989Main article: Romania since 1989 Presidential and parliamentary elections were held on May 20, 1990. Running against representatives of the pre-war National Peasants' Party and National Liberal Party, Iliescu won 85% of the vote. The FSN captured two-thirds of the seats in Parliament, named a university professor, Petre Roman, as Prime Minister, and began cautious free market reforms. Since the new government was still largely formed of ex-communists, anti-communist protesters camped in University Square, Bucharest in April 1990. Two months later, these protestors, characterized by the government as "hooligans", were brutally dispersed by the miners from Jiu Valley, called in by President Iliescu; this event became known as the mineriad. The miners also attacked the headquarters and houses of opposition leaders. Petre Roman's government fell in late September 1991, when the miners returned to Bucharest to demand higher salaries. A technocrat, Theodor Stolojan, was appointed to head an interim government until new elections could be held. A new democratic constitution, drafted by the Parliament was approved by popular referendum in December 1991. In the September 1992 National Elections, President Iliescu won a new term by a clear majority, and gave his party, the FDSN, a plurality. With parliamentary support from the nationalist PUNR and PRM parties, and the ex-communist PSM party, a technocratic government was formed in November 1992 under Prime Minister Nicolae Văcăroiu, an economist. Emil Constantinescu of the Democrat Convention (CDR) electoral coalition defeated President Iliescu in the second round of voting and replaced him as chief of state. Victor Ciorbea was named Prime Minister. Ciorbea remained in office until March 1998, when he was replaced by Radu Vasile (PNTCD), but in 2000 elections, Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Iliescu won power again and Adrian Năstase was named Prime Minister. In 2002, Romania was invited to join NATO. In the same year, the EU confirmed its strong support for Romania's goal to join the union in 2007. Still, much economic restructuring remains to be carried out before Romania can achieve this goal. Romanian rulers
See alsoExternal links
References
|
||||
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the
GNU Free Documentation License. How to see transparent copy |
|
Search |
Browse |
Contact |
Legal info
|