Romania

History

Romania's history has not been as idyllically peaceful as its geography. Over the centuries, various migrating people invaded Romania. Romania's historical provinces Wallachia and Moldova offered furious resistance to the invading Ottoman Turks. Transylvania was successively under Hapsburg, Ottoman or Wallachian rule, while remaining an autonomous province.

Romania's post WWII history as a communist-block nation is more widely known, primarily due to the excesses of the former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. In December 1989 a national uprising led to his overthrow. The 1991 Constitution established Romania as a republic with a multiparty system, market economy and individual rights of free speech, religion and private ownership.

History, culture and religion have shaped a myriad of amazing sights around Romania, from the wonderfully preserved medieval town of Sighisoara, birthplace of the national hero Vlad (the Impaler) Dracula, to the incredible painted monasteries of Bucovina or from the 13^th Century Castle Bran to the beautiful palace of Peles. Even in modern times, Romania has become the home of the world's second largest building after the U.S. Pentagon, the magnificent, yet controversial, Palace of Parliament, in Bucharest.

Universal literature found valuable sources of inspiration in some of Romania's castles, with the most famous novels written about them being "The Castle from the Carpathians" by Jules Verne and "Dracula" by Bram Stoker.

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.

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.

101-106 A.D. — Romans conquer and colonize Dacia (today's Romania). Dacia becomes a Roman province and Dacians adopt the conquerors' language.

106-274 A.D. — Dacia is a province of the Roman Empire.

4th Century — Christianity is adopted by the Daco-Roman, Latin-speaking people.

10th Century — independent Romanian states begin to form. 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.

13th Century — The first 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 strong resistance to the Ottoman Empire expansion, eventually settling for semi-autonomous status under Turkish suzerainty.

1848 — Transylvania falls under the direct rule of Austria-Hungary and a strong push for Magyarisation, from Budapest, follows.

1862 — Wallachia and Moldavia unite to form a national state: Romania.

1866 — Carol I (German born) succeeds Alexandru Ioan Cuza, as prince of Romania.

1881 — Romania is declared a Kingdom.

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).

1918 — Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bucovina vote to became part of Romania.

1930 — Carol II, Ferdinand's I son becomes king of Romania.

1940 — The Soviet Union annexes Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina. Germany and Italy force Romania to cede Northern Transylvania to Hungary and Southern Dobrogea to Bulgaria. Marshall Ion Antonescu forces King Carol II to abdicate in favor of his 19-year-old son Michael. Carol II flees Romania.

1941 — Marshall Ion Antonescu imposes a military dictatorship. Romania joins Germany against the Soviet Union.

1944 — King Michael engineers a royal coup and arrests Marshall Ion Antonescu. Romania changes sides and joins Soviet forces against Fascist Germany.

1945 — The Yalta Agreement makes Romania part of the Soviet system.

1947 — With Soviet troops on its territory, Romania enters the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. The communists, who gradually took power, force King Michael to abdicate and proclaim Romania a People's Republic.

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.

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.

1991 — Romanians vote for a new Constitution.