Origin of Romania
A Concise History of Romania: To know the origin of Romania, it is first necessary to know its geographical location. Its lands are bordered on the east by the Black Sea, by Hungary and Serbia and Montenegro, on the north and northeast by Ukraine and Moldova and on the south by Bulgaria.
- Continent: Europe.
- Area: 237,500 km2.
- Capital: Bucharest.
- Population: 19,530,631 inhabitants.
- Currency: Leu.
- Official language: Romanian.
First Human Trace In Romania
Prehistory of Romania: The first traces of human presence were discovered in the Olt Valley and the first fossils and traces of habitat were unearthed at the baia de Fier sites and dated to the Middle Paleolithic (between 100,000 and 40,000 BC.C.). A stable population is attested from the Neolithic (5-6,000 years BC.C.) and provided many pottery, vases and statuettes. From the Bronze Age, Thracian tribes of Indo-European origin settled there, mingling with the natives already present. Dacia was born.
History of Dacia
Dacia History of Romania: As early as the seventh century BC.C., the Greeks established colonies for trade along the Black Sea coast (Marea Neagra), callatis (Mangalia), Tomis (Constanta) and Histria. This favored contacts with these peoples that the Greeks called Getes and the Romans, later, Dacians.
The first written record of them comes from Herodotus in the 4th century BC.C. who describes them as the “most valiant and just of the Thracians” and the only ones who countered the advance of the Persian army of Darius I towards the Danube (514 BC.C.). In the 1st century B.C.C., a Dacian kingdom was created by Burebista to deal with the increasingly aggressive Roman threat; the last king, Decebalus, could not prevent the conquest led by Emperor Trajan in 106 and the country became a Roman province. Latinized and colonized, it saw the birth of a Daco-Roman people who spoke a Latin language.
Ancient History of Romania
The Ancient History of Romania: The first inhabitants of Romania were stone age hunters who lived around 8,000 BC.C. Over time, the people of Romania learned to cultivate and then learned to make bronze tools. Eventually they learned to use iron. From about 600 B.C. the ancient Greeks traded with the people they called Getae. They founded settlements on the coast of Romania.
The Middle Ages History About Romania
Mid Age History of Romania: Century after century, wave after wave, the invaders have made incursions into these territories; some founded ephemeral kingdoms there, others were completely forgotten by history, but during all this time a people was taking shape – the Romanian people. When the fires were extinguished, those who would later be called the Romanians rebuilt their cities, erected churches and laid the foundations of the first kingdoms.
The peace was not long, because the Mongols arrived in Europe, with a violence never encountered before. When dozens of cities disappeared under the attacks of the Mongols, when panic reigned throughout Europe, in the space that the Romans had once conquered the newly formed people were looking for their leaders.
New times would follow, when peace would represent only the period of preparation between two wars. There was a need, more than ever, for powerful leaders who were able to organize their people, lead people into war and defeat the brush of intrigue woven around power. This is the period when the three Romanian provinces are formed (Moldova, Transylvania, Wallachia), it is the period when moments of victory mingle with moments of agony, and when the genius of certain leaders, such as Mircea cel Bătrân, Iancu de Hunedoara, Vlad Țepeș or Ștefan cel Mare made sure that this people could survive.
Ottoman Rule In History of Romania
Ottoman Rule in Romania History: From the fifteenth century a new danger, the Ottoman, threatened the Balkans. While Stephen III the Great of Moldavia (1457-1504) defeated a Turkish army in 1475, the Hungarians were defeated at the Battle of Mohács by the Ottomans (1526), which definitively ended the Hungarian hegemony over the future Romania. History of Romania.
However, the Romanian principalities had to accept Ottoman rule, which remained until the second half of the nineteenth century.
Although there were attempts at independence, such as that of the voivode Michael the Brave of Wallachia (1593-1601), which, after defeating the Turks, first brought together in a single state Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia (1600). History of Romania.
Birth of the Romanian State
In the nineteenth century a nationalist movement developed in Wallachia and Moldavia that wished to form a Romanian state. Quelled the nationalist movement of 1848 by the joint intervention of the Russian and Turkish armies, after the Crimean War the principalities were placed under the protection of the European powers. History of Romania.
The Treaty of Paris (1856) decreed the holding of elections. These were first held in Moldavia, and Prince Alexandree Cuza (1859), also elected in Wallachia, was elected. With him the governments of the two principalities, although separated in law, were de facto unified.
In 1866 Alejandro I Cuza was forced to abdicate, because his measures (expropriation of ecclesiastical property, agrarian reform, new electoral law, education law, etc.) provoked the discontent of the ruling classes. History of Romania.
Elected Charles of Hohenzollern-Sgymaringen, with the name of Charles I (1881-1914), the country actively participated on the side of Russia in the war against Turkey (1877-1878); conquest of Plevna), despite which, the tsar seized southern Bessarabia, which was ceded to him in exchange for the Dobrudja (Treaty of Berlin, 1878). History of Romania.
The treaty recognized Romania’s independence. Converted into a kingdom (1881), it participated in the Second Balkan War.
MODERN ROMANIA
Modern History of Romania: In 1916 Romania joined Britain, France and Russia against Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1918, Romania took Transylvania from Hungary. Bessarabia, which was taken by the Russians in 1812, became part of Romania again.
As a result, Romania’s size increased considerably and its population went from about 7.5 million to about 12 million inhabitants. In 1920 the Western powers recognized the changes by the Treaty of Trianon.
In 1927 the Legion of Archangel Michael, better known as the Iron Guard, was formed in Romania. The 1930s were a time of political instability in Romania with many different governments. Finally, in 1938, the king banned political parties and introduced a royal dictatorship in Romania. History of Romania.
In 1940 Stalin forced Romania to hand over the eastern province of Bessarabia to Russia. In addition, Hitler forced the Romanians to give northern Transylvania to Hungary and to give another territory to Bulgaria. As a result of having given away so much territory, King Carol became very unpopular and was forced to abdicate in favor of his son Michael. History of Romania.
However, Michael had little power. Marshal Ion Antonescu became fascist dictator of Romania and called himself director or leader. In June 1941, under Antonescu, Romania joined the German invasion of Russia, partly to retake Bessarabia.
Romania In The World Wars
By the Treaty of Bucharest (1913), the territory south of Dobrudja (Silistra) was annexed to Romania. When King Charles I died in 1914, he was succeeded on the throne by his nephew Ferdinand I Hohenzollern (1914–27). During World War I, and after entering the war on the side of the Allies (1916), Romania had to sign the Peace of Bucharest, which was denounced after the Allied victory.
This brought with it the union to the country of Bukovina, Transylvania, Banat, part of Hungary and Bessarabia. In 1925 Charles, son of Ferdinand, renounced the throne, and after his death (1927) his grandson Michael I was proclaimed king. In 1930 Charles returned to the country and proclaimed himself king under the name of Charles II (1930-40), whose reign was characterized by intense social and political upheaval. History of Romania.
Charles II had to abdicate and, again, was proclaimed King Michael I in 1940, but subjected to the dictatorship of General Antonescu, Romania sided with Germany in World War II and participated as an ally in the invasion of the USSR (1941).
During World War II, Jews and Gypsies from Romania were deported and killed.
However, as of 1943 Germany was losing the war. Finally, on August 23, 1944, Antonescu was impeached in a coup d’état. Romania switched sides and declared war on Germany. At the end of October 1944, Germans and Hungarians were expelled from Transylvania, which became part of Romania again. History of Romania.
However, after the war, Russian troops were stationed in Romania, which made a communist takeover inevitable. (The Russians also took Bessarabia again.) History of Romania.
In November 1946 elections were held in Romania and the left-wing parties did well. The Communists took key positions and in December 1947 the king was forced to abdicate. In February 1948 other left-wing parties merged with the Communist Party and a totalitarian regime was introduced in Romania. The industry was nationalized.
Meanwhile, Antonescu was shot as a war criminal in 1946. Thousands of other Romanians suffered the same fate.
Russian troops withdrew from Romania in 1958 and after 1960 Romania adopted an independent foreign policy. In 1965 Nicolae Ceausescu became ruler of Romania. History of Romania.
Although Ceausescu had an independent foreign policy, he ruled Romania with an iron rod. Ceausescu was determined to increase heavy industry in Romania, but ordinary people suffered from extreme poverty. They also suffered terrible repression.
Romania’s communist regime suddenly collapsed in 1989. Demonstrations took place in Timisoara in December. On December 21, Ceausescu was booed by a crowd in Bucharest, which was followed by demonstrations.
The next day, Ceausescu appeared on the balcony of the Central Committee building, but was forced to escape by helicopter. Ceausescu’s fellow communists abandoned him and he was arrested. He and his wife were shot on December 25, 1989.
Romania then faced a difficult transition from communism to democracy and a market economy. A body called the National Salvation Front took control and in May 1990 won the elections. He won new elections in 1992.
However, in 1996, Emil Constantinescu, head of Romania’s right-wing Democratic Convention, won the presidential election. He was replaced by Ion Iliescu in 2000. History of Romania.
Romania joined NATO in 2004. Romania also joined the EU in 2007. Romania suffered greatly in the 2009 recession. However, Romania recovered from 2011. Today the economy is growing steadily. Today the population of Romania is 21.5 million. History of Romania.
Romania Soviet Influence
In 1944, the Communist Party was almost non-existent in Romania. After the Yalta and Potsdam conferences (1945), Romania was placed under the influence of the USSR. From the first free elections in 1945, the elected government was replaced by that of the communist Groza, under pressure from the USSR. Imposed in 1945 on the King by the Soviets in the formation of the Petru Groza government, its adherents quickly removed from power the representatives of the bourgeois parties. King Michael abdicated in 1946 and the political leaders were arrested.
The parliamentary “elections” of November 1946 were won by the progressive parties and, in 1947, the monarchy was abolished at the same time as the People’s Republic of Romania was born. The following year, the Communists merged with the Social Democrats to form the Romanian Workers’ Party (renamed the Romanian Communist Party in 1965), the only legal party in the country. To expand the ranks of their militants, they seized the opportunity of agrarian reform (1,500,000 ha to 800,000 landless peasants) and used the breeding ground of workers’ unions. On April 13, 1948, the Romanian People’s Republic was proclaimed.
Immediately after taking control of the country, the communists imposed the principle of state centralism (nationalization in June 1948, collectivization of agriculture, planning of the economy, etc.) and created labor camps and prisons to stifle all opposition. The Constitution of 1952 proclaimed popular democracy based on the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Therefore, socialist Romania has a profile similar to that of other popular democracies: omnipotence of the single party, planned economy, collectivization. The 1950s were marked by the industrialization of the country, driven by the Romanian Workers’ Party, the collectivization of land and strong political censorship. Industrial enterprises, mining, banking and transport are subject to a planned economy.
Romanian Democratic History
The National Salvation Front (FSN), which emerged from the reformist sector of the Communist Party, occupied television and proclaimed the fall of the regime (December 22, 1989). Ceausescu and his wife fled Bucharest, but were arrested by the insurgents, put on summary trial, sentenced to death for genocide and shot immediately.
A Council of the FSN, chaired by the former communist Ion Iliescu, seized power and organized a provisional government with Petre Román at the head of the government. History of Romania.
In the first democratic elections, held in 1990, the FSN won and Ion Iliescu was elected president of the Republic. In September 1991 a demonstration of miners in Bucharest that ended in strong riots forced the resignation of Roman who was replaced successively by T. Stolojan (October 1991) and N. Vacaroiu (April 1992).
At the end of 1992, a new Constitution guaranteeing political pluralism and a market economy was adopted in a referendum. Romania and Ukraine signed a treaty (1997) recognizing the borders resulting from World War II.
From 1992 various governments were formed headed by the National Salvation Front (FSN), the center-right coalition Democratic Convention of E. Constantinescu (president of 1997-2000) that undertook an austerity policy, according to the IMF, and the Party of Social Democracy of Romania (PDSR), composed of Iliescu’s supporters.
Iliescu (FSN) has been the longest-serving president, having presided over the Republic from 1990 to 1997, and again from 2000 to 2004. The country joined NATO in March 2004. On 1 January 2007 Romania joined the European Union. History of Romania.
History of Romanian Language
Romania, the small country in the center of Eastern Europe, has its own language, very beautiful. Romania is unique in that it is the only country in the Eastern Bloc that speaks a Romance language. Alexandru Niculescu, in his book History of the Romanian Language, says: “Romanian is the only Romance language that has developed in the eastern part of Latin Europe” (16). The history of Romanian can be traced through different periods of external influence on the language.
The first period I will observe is the Dacian period. The Dacians were the first known civilization to live in the area where Romania is now located. The second period is Romanization, after the Roman conquest of the Dacians. After Romanization there was a period of Slavic influence in the Proto Romanian of that time, followed by a Re-Latinization movement during the nineteenth century. Romanian reflects the turbulent history of its native speakers. It illustrates the story of a nation of survivors.
Dacians
it would be impossible to report on the history of the Romanians without also reporting on the history of the people. Historians, when studying this language, usually go back in their studies up to two thousand years. During that period, the area now known as Romania was occupied by a civilization known as the Dacians (pronounced dachyanz).
Romanian language, Romance language that comes basically from the Latin that was spoken in Dacia, ancient province of the Roman Empire, whose limits coincide with the current Romania in general terms. It has four main dialects: Daco-Romanian or Romanian proper, spoken by some 18 million people in Romania, and in certain regions of Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Hungary, and also in an area of Moldova (in a variety called Moldovan);
Macedo-Romanian or Aromunic, spoken by a few thousand people in the Balkan republics; Megleno-Romanian or Meglenitic, which has few speakers in Greece northwest of Thessaloniki; finally, the Istro-Romanian, spoken on the Istrian peninsula in Croatia. Some linguistic schools see these dialects as independent languages.
The literary language is the cultured norm of Daco-Romanian spoken in the historic wallachia region of southern Romania. Its first known text dates from 1521 and there is an aromunica inscription from 1731. The language retains many features of Latin that have been lost by the other Romance languages, namely nominal declination. Like other neighbouring balkan languages, which do not belong to the Romance group, it postpones the name of the particular article. He has received many words from Slavic, Greek, Turkish, Hungarian and Albanian, languages with which he has been in contact throughout history. History of Romania.
History Of The Flag of Romania
A Brief History of Romania Flag: To know how and when the flag of Romania was created and its meaning, we need to go back many years in time. In 1989 in cities such as Timisoara, Bucharest or Brasov the revolution had broken out. Thousands of protesters had taken to the streets. The tricolor flag, no longer the coat of arms of nicolae Ceausescu’s communist regime, flew with renewed impetus.
It was December 1989. On Christmas Day itself, the dictator and his wife are tried, sentenced to death and immediately executed. Freed from all emblems, the Romanian flag was made official in the early 1990s.
In 1848 the three colors of the Romanian flag appeared, at that time arranged in horizontal stripes. They symbolized the alliance of the peoples of Moldavia (blue and red) and Wallachia (blue and yellow), who in the past had fought together against the Ottoman Empire. In 1859 Moldavia and Wallachia united to form Romania.
In 1918 Transylvania, the homeland of Count Dracula, was integrated into the Romanian state. The accession to the throne of Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, in 1866, marked the current arrangement of the flag, made official a year later. The three vertical stripes illustrated the royal coat of arms. But in 1948 it was replaced by the communist emblems, once the people’s republic was proclaimed. History of Romania.
Chronology of Romania: History of Romania Timeline
History of Romania Timeline Year by Year
Some of the history that has shaped Romania
What is now Romania has been inhabited since the Paleolithic Age
as evidenced by carved stone tools unearthed there.
10,000 B.C.
Approximate date of the first known art in present day Romania: cave paintings in northwest Transylvania.
4,000 B.C.
Approximate date of pottery (dated to the Neolithic Age) that is found in all regions of Romania.
3,000 B.C.
Thracian tribes of Indo-European origin, who migrated from Asia, occupied the actual territory of Romania.
2,000 B.C.
A distinctive Thracian sub-group emerged in what is now Romania.
The Greeks called these people Getae, but to the Romans they were Dacians.
Herodotus called them “the fairest and most courageous of men”
because they believed in the immortality of the soul and were not afraid to die.
700 B.C.
Greeks arrived and settled near the Black Sea.
The cities of Histria, Tomis (now Constanta) and Callatis (now Mangalia) were established.
Western-style civilization developed significantly.
70-44 B.C.
Dacian king Burebista controlled the territory of modern-day Romania.
Burebista created a powerful Dacian kingdom.
100 A.D.
Dacian civilization reaches its peak.
106 A.D.
Romans conquer and colonize Dacia (modern-today Romania).
106 – 274 A.D.
Dacia is a province of the Roman Empire.
Dacians gradually adopt numerous elements of the conquerors’ language.
271 A.D.
After fighting off the barbarian Goths, most Roman troops abandon Dacia.
4th Century
Christianity is adopted by the Daco-Roman, Latin-speaking people.
4th – 9th Centuries
Nomadic tribes from Asia and Europe (Goths, Visigoths, Huns, Slavs) invade Dacia.
896 — late 1100s
Magyars (Hungarians) invade regions in western and central present-day Romania
(Crisana, Banat and Transylvania).
The local population — Romanians – were the only Latin people in the eastern part of the former Roman Empire and the only Latin people to belong to the Orthodox faith.
The oldest extant Hungarian chronicle, “Gesta Hungarorum” or The Deeds of the Hungarians,
(based on older chronicles) documents the battles between the local population in Transylvania,
lead by six local rulers, and the invading Magyars.
12th Century
Saxon (German) settlers begin to establish several towns in Transylvania. (Germans were invited to settle in Transylvania by the king of Hungary who wanted to consolidate his position in the newly occupied territory).
Szeklers people – descendants from Attila’s Huns – were also brought to eastern and southeastern Transylvania as border guards.
13th Century
The first formal division of the formerly unified Romanian population. The principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania are established. Transylvania becomes an autonomous principality under Magyar rule, until 1526. Magyar forces tried unsuccessfully to capture Wallachia and Moldavia.
14th-15th Centuries
Wallachia and Moldavia offered resistance to the Ottoman Empire expansion.
1526
Transylvania (a semi-autonomous principality) becomes subject to Ottoman (Turkish) authority.
16th-17th Century
Threatened by the Turks who conquered Hungary, the three Romanian provinces of Wallachia, Moldova and Transylvania are able to retain their autonomy by paying tribute to the Turks.
The principality of Transylvania prospered as a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire.
1600
Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania (map) are briefly united under Mihai Viteazul (Michael the Brave), prince of Wallachia. Unity lasted only one year after which, Michael the Brave was defeated by the Turks and Hapsburg forces. Transylvania came under Hapsburg rule while Turkish suzerainty continued in Wallachia and Moldavia. History of Romania.
1699
Transylvania and Bucovina (smaller region north of Moldavia)
are incorporated in the Habsburg Empire.
1765
Transylvania was declared a Grand Principality of Transylvania,
further consolidating its special separate status within the Habsburg Empire.
1821
Moldavia loses its eastern territory east of river Prut (also called Bessarabia) to Russia.
1856
The principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia
— for centuries under the suzerainty of the Turkish Ottoman Empire –
secure their autonomy.
1859
Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected to the thrones of Moldavia and Wallachia.
1862
Wallachia and Moldavia unite to form a national state: Romania.
1866
Carol I (German born) succeeds Alexandru Ioan Cuza, as prince of Romania.
1867
Transylvania falls under the direct rule of Hungary and a strong push for
Magyarisation (of names and official language) follows.
1877
On May 9 the Romanian parliament declared the independence of Romania from the Ottoman Empire.
A day later, the act was signed by Prince Carol I. History of Romania.
1881
Kingdom of Romania officially proclaimed.
1892
The leaders of the Romanians of Transylvania sent a Memorandum to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor,
Franz Joseph demanding an end to persecutions and Magyarization attempts.
1914
King Carol I dies. He is succeeded by his nephew King Ferdinand I (1914-1927).
Romania enters WWI on the side of the Triple Entente aiming to regain its lost territories
(part of Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina). History of Romania.
1918
During large public assemblies representatives of most towns, villages and local communities in Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bucovina declare union with Romania. History of Romania.
1930
Carol II, Ferdinand’s I son, becomes king of Romania and establishes royal dictatorship.
1939
Germany demands a monopoly on Romanian exports (mainly oil, lumber and
agricultural products) in exchange for the guarantee of its borders.
1940
The Soviet Union annexes Bessarabia (eastern Romania – today Republic of Moldova)
and Northern Bucovina (NNE Romania).
Germany and Italy force Romania to cede Northern Transylvania to Hungary.
Widespread demonstrations against King Carol II. Marshall Ion Antonescu forces him to abdicate
in favor of his 19-year-old son Michael. Carol II flees Romania. History of Romania.
1941
Marshall Ion Antonescu imposes a military dictatorship.
In order to regain Bessarabia, Romania enters WWII against the Soviet Union.
1944
King Michael I engineers a royal coup and arrests Marshall Ion Antonescu.
Romania reenters war on the Allies side. History of Romania.
1945
The Yalta Agreement makes Romania part of the Soviet system.
Communist-dominated government installed. History of Romania.
1947
With Soviet troops on its territory, Romania enters the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union.
The communists, who gradually took the power, force King Michael I to abdicate and proclaim Romania a People’s Republic.
King Michael leaves the country and moves to Switzerland. History of Romania.
1950s
After Stalin’s death, Romania begins to distance itself from Moscow.
1964
Romania declares autonomy within Communist Bloc.
1967
Nicolae Ceausescu becomes President of the Council of State merging leadership of state and party.
1968
Romania condemns the Soviet-led Warsaw Pacy invasion of Czechoslovakia;
Romania’s communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu, earns praise and economic aid from the West.
1974
Romania was the first country of the Soviet Bloc to have official relations with the European Community.
(and sign a treaty that included Romania in the Community’s Generalized System of Preferences).
1980s
Obsessed with repaying the national debt and megalomaniac building projects Ceausescu orders a ban on importation of any consumer products and commands exportation of all goods produced in Romania except minimum food supplies. Severe restrictions of civil rights are imposed. History of Romania.
1982
Romania calls on Soviet Union to withdraw from Afghanistan.
1987
Ceausescu indicates Romania will not follow Soviet reform trends.
1989
Romanians unite in protests against the communist leadership and local demonstrations sparked a national uprising that finally ousted communist ruler Nicolae Ceausescu and his cabinet. History of Romania.
1990
First free, multi-party elections after WWII are held in Romania.
1991
Romanians vote for a new Constitution.
2004
Romania joins NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
2007
Romania becomes a member of the European Union. History of Romania.
Read Also History of Poland
References:
1. http://www.roumanie.fr/histoire/dacie.htm
2. https://quehistoria.com/
3. https://curiosfera-historia.com/
4. The History of the Romanian Language | Mama Spells
5. History, origins and evolution of the Romanian language (astalaweb.com)
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