A Brief History of Romania

July 25, 2015

The people of Romania were called Dacians by the Romans. For about 100 years, the Romans ruled in Dacia, and the local people became 'Romanized'. The cost of defending Dacia against barbarians became too great, so the Romans withdrew in 271. Romania then faced waves of migrants. The ancestors of modern Hungarians (called Magyars) arrived in Transylvania and ruled there. The Magyars also persuaded Saxons (Germans) to live there. Transylvania was still largely populated by Romanian peasants. The first Romanian sovereign states, Wallachia and Moldavia, were formed in the 14th century.

Together Wallachia and Moldavia fought the Turks who came during the 15th century. The infamous Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) lived at that time. Turkish power weakened during the early 19th century. In 1859, Wallachia and Moldavia were united and the new state was named Romania. Independence from Turkey was declared in 1877 and Romania became a kingdom.

During WWI, Romania sided against Germany and Austria-Hungary and they took Transylvania from Hungary. Following several years of political instability, a royal dictatorship was declared in Romania.

During WWII, the king gave away so much territory that he became very unpopular and he was forced to abdicate. After this the monarchy in Romania had very little power. Ion Antonescu made himself fascist dictator of Romania and joined the German invasion of Russia, partly to regain land they had lost. During this time, many Jews and Gypsies from Romania were deported and murdered. Of all the allies of Nazi Germany, Romania was responsible for the deaths of more Jews than any country other than Germany itself. About 800,000 Jews lived in Romania before World War II, but half of them perished under the regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu. In a coup in 1944, Antonescu was removed from power (he was shot as a war criminal in 1946). Romania then changed sides and declared war on Germany.

After the war, Russian troops were stationed in Romania. Communism took over, and Nicolae Ceausescu became ruler of Romania in 1965. Under Ceausescu's iron fist, the people suffered terrible repression and abject poverty for more than 20 years, until the 1989 Revolution. At University Square, Ceausescu’s army shot and ran over thousands of protesters, while international journalists watched in disbelief from their balcony at the Intercontinental Hotel. In remembrance of those who were killed during this confrontation, the central part of the boulevard bears ten stone crosses. The spot where the first protester was killed is marked by a large black stone cross.

Following further demonstrations by the people, Ceausescu and his wife were forced to escape a balcony by helicopter. They were arrested and shot. Romania then faced a difficult transition from communism to democracy. Today the population of Romania is 21.8 million.

Odd fact: Romania is ranked 5th in the world in terms of internet connection speed.