History of Romania

Introduction to History of Romania

In ancient times the region now within Romania was called Dacia. In the seventh century B.C., Greek colonies were founded on the Black Sea coast and a flourishing trade developed with the tribes in the interior. In 106 A.D. the Roman emperor Trajan conquered Dacia and settled it with Roman colonists. The Dacian tribes became highly Latinized through intermarriage with the Romans and the adoption of their language and culture.

In 271 Emperor Aurelian abandoned Dacia and it was occupied by the Goths. During the next several centuries numerous groups swept through the region without leaving their mark. Slav invasions of the seventh century, however, resulted in an enduring Slavic culture in the region. The Romanians were converted to Orthodox Christianity in the 11th century by Byzantine missionaries.

Turkish Domination

The principalities of Walachia and Moldavia arose in the 14th century. About 1417 Walachia came under the domination of the Turkish sultans, but the native princes continued to rule. Stephen the Great, Prince of Moldavia, led a rebellion and defeated the Turks in 1475. However, after his death in 1504 Moldavia was once again dominated by the Turks. In 1595 Michael the Brave, Prince of Walachia, defeated the Turks and united Walachia and Moldavia. After his murder in 1601, however, the union was destroyed and the Turks regained control.

Early in the 18th century the sultan replaced the native princes with his own appointed governors in Walachia and Moldavia. As a result of various wars between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, control over the provinces changed several times during the 18th and 19th centuries. During the war of 1768–74, Russia occupied the two provinces. After the war, Russia restored them to Turkish control in return for the right to intervene in provincial affairs to protect Christian interests.

After a Romanian revolt in 1821, Turkey restored the system of native princes. As Turkish power weakened and Romanian nationalism grew, Russia used its right of intervention to extend a protectorate over the region. The Treaty of Adrianople, which settled the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29, established the provinces' independence from Turkish control; however, Russian influence was dominant until the Crimean War (1853–56).

In the Treaty of Paris (1856), which ended the Crimean War, Moldavia and Walachia were established as principalities and returned to Turkish control. In 1859 Alexander Ioan Cuza became prince. In 1861 the name Romania was adopted. Cuza was deposed in 1866, and a plebiscite confirmed Prince Carol of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as Cuza's replacement.

Kingdom of Romania

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, Romania declared itself independent. The Treaty of Berlin, 1878, established Romanian independence. In 1881 Romania proclaimed itself a kingdom. When Carol I died in 1914 he was succeeded by his nephew Ferdinand.

Romania was neutral during the First Balkan War (1912), but in the Second Balkan War (1913) joined Serbia and Greece against Bulgaria. Romania gained part of the Dobruja from Bulgaria. When World War I broke out in 1914 Romania was neutral, but in 1916 it joined the Allies against Austria-Hungary and Germany. Romania was defeated, and in May, 1918, agreed to a peace treaty with harsh terms. The Allied victory nullified this agreement.

As a result of the war Romania gained Transylvania, Crisana-Maramures, and part of the Banat from Hungary; Bucovina from Austria; and Bessarabia from Russia. The country's area was more than doubled. The greatest national problem was the discontent of the peasants, who demanded the breakup of the large landed estates.

In 1925 Carol, heir to the throne, renounced his rights in favor of his four-year-old son Michael. King Ferdinand died in 1927, and was succeeded by Michael, who reigned under a regency. In 1930 Carol returned to claim the throne as Carol II. He soon became a dictator. His greatest opposition came from the Iron Guard, a fascist group in sympathy with the Nazi party of Germany. In 1938 Carol proclaimed a constitution legalizing his dictatorship.

World War II. When war broke out in 1939 Romania declared its neutrality. In 1940 the Soviet Union seized Bessarabia and Bucovina, and Germany compelled Romania to return to Hungary and Bulgaria much of the land it had gained after World War I. Carol was forced to abdicate in September, 1940. Michael became king, but the actual head of the government was Premier Ion Antonescu. After Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 Romania entered the war as an ally of Germany. Romanian armies soon occupied Bessarabia and Bucovina and joined in the offensive against the Soviet Union.

In August, 1944, as Soviet forces invaded Romania, Michael ousted the Antonescu regime and signed an armistice. After the war, Romania regained the territory it had lost to Hungary in 1940.

After World War II

A postwar government dominated by Communists forced Michael to abdicate in 1947. The constitution of 1948 established Romania as a Communist state.

During the early 1960's, Romania began to act independently of the Soviet Union in its foreign policy. In 1965 Nicolae Ceausescu became premier. Commercial ties were established with countries of Western Europe. Romanian leaders condemned the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

During the 1970's, Romania secured huge loans from Western nations to finance an industrialization program. Many of the factories built as part of this program operated inefficiently because of mismanagement. A decline in petroleum output in the late 1970's caused Romania to begin importing oil.

In the early 1980's, Ceausescu introduced an austerity program to reduce Romania's foreign debt. By the end of the decade, Romania had paid off the debt. However, the austerity measures were so severe that they led to a decline in the standard of living and political unrest.

In 1989 a rebellion broke out after dozens of people were killed when secret police fired into a crowd of demonstrators calling for political reforms. The Romanian army sided with the rebels. Ceausescu attempted to flee, but was arrested and executed.

An interim government was formed. This government was dominated by the National Salvation Front (NSF), a party made up largely of former communists. The NSF retained power in elections in 1990, and it remained in power until 1996, from 1991 as part of a coalition government. In 1991 a new constitution, establishing a parliamentary democracy, was enacted.

In 1999, Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II traveled to Romania. It was the first visit by a Pope to a predominantly Orthodox Christian country.

In 2004 presidential elections, a coalition of two center-right parties, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Party, defeated the ruling center-left party. Also in 2004 Romania joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Under the leadership of Romania's President Traian Basescu, the country became a member of the European Union in 2007.