R O M A N I A
Romania,located in southeast Europe, has an area of 91,699
sq. mi. (237,500 sq. km.) and a population of 22.5 million.
Capital:
Bucharest. Machinery, foodstuffs, raw minerals and petroleum products
are exported. The area of Romania, generally referred to as Dacia, was
inhabited by Dacians or Getae, a people of Thracian stock. The kingdom
of Dacia existed as early as 200 BC. After military campaigns in
105-106 AD the Roman Emperor Trajan
conquered Dacia and converted it
into a Roman province. During the third century AD, raids by the Goths
became such a menace that the Roman legions were withdrawn across the
Danube in 271AD. Successive waves of invaders, including Goths, Huns,
Gepidae, Avars and Slavs, made the country a battleground although the
Romanized population preserved a Latin speech and identity. Through
gradual assimilation of the Slavonic tribes, these people developed
into a distinct ethnic group called Wallachians (Valachs or Vlachs).
With
defeat in 1526, Hungary came under Turkish rule. Transylvania became a
separate principality under the protection of the Sultan (1541). At the
close of the sixteenth century, the three principalities were united
(Transylvania in 1599 and Moldavia in 1600) by Prince Mihai Viteazul of
Wallachia, who made continual war on the Turks in an attempt to gain
and maintain independence. The Ottomans restored their control of the
principalities after Michael's death. The last Turkish vassal was
eliminated in 1699 and Austria obtained the possession of Transylvania
by the Treaty of Karlowitz. Under Hapsburg's administration, the region
was made into a grand principality in 1765. Because of the decline of
Turkish power during the eighteenth century, the Austrian and later
Russian influence became preeminent in the area. After 1821 Romanian
rulers were reestablished. The principalities, although remaining under
Sultan control, were more autonomous. In 1829, the Turkish monopoly of
commerce was abolished. Important institutional reforms were adopted.
The results of the European insurrectionist movements of 1848 saw the
Moldovaian and Wallachian provisional revolutionary governments put
down by Russo-Turkish military intervention. In 1867, Transylvania was
incorporated under Hungarian administration. Th question of the union
of Wallachia and Moldavia was resolved in 1859. The two assemblies
elected a single prince, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, establishing the fruition
of Romania. Prince Cuza was deposed in 1866. A provisional government
then elected Prince Karl of Hohenzollern- Sigmaringen, who as Carol I
was vested as hereditary prince. A rapid modernization of the country
was perceived. Romania was successful in a war against Turkey (1877-78)
and proclaimed itself to be independent. The Congress of Berlin (1878)
recognized this fact. In 1881, Carol I became king. In 1888, Romania
became a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature. A new
constitution was adopted in 1923. During this time the government
struggled with domestic problems, agrarian reform and economic
reconstruction. The government was reorganized along Fascist lines
between September 14, 1940 - January 23, 1941. A military dictatorship
followed. Marshal Ion Antonescu installed himself as chief of state.
When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, Romania also became involved
in recovering the regions of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina annexed
by Stalin in 1940.
On August 23, 1944, King Mihai I proclaimed an
armistice with the Allied Forces. The Romanian army drove out the
Germans and Hungarians in northern Transylvania, but the country was
subsequently occupied by the Soviet army. That monarchy was abolished
on December 30, 1947, and Romania became a "People's Republic" d on the
Soviet regime. With the accession of N. Ceausescu to power, Romania
began to exercise a considerable degree of independence, refusing to
participate in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1965, it was
proclaimed a "Socialist Republic". After 1977, an oppressed and
impoverished domestic scene worsened. On December 17, 1989, an
anti-Communist revolt began in Timisoara. On December 22, 1989 the
Communist government was overthrown by organized freedom fighters in
Bucharest. Ceausescu
and his wife were arrested and later executed. The new government has established a republic. |
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