The Principality and Kingdom of Romania
In March 1821 the Greek A. Ipsilanti tried to raise the Principalities by entering Moldavia and reaching Bucharest, while a larger rebellion, centered on Wallachia, found a leader in T. Vladimirescu. After a beginning of agreement, the two movements came into conflict and Vladimirescu was arrested and beheaded by Ipsilanti, whose forces were then beaten by the Turks. La Porta, however, feared that the Greek national aspirations would merge with those of the Principalities and after 1821 the princes of Moldavia and Wallachia were no longer of Greek nationality but autochthonous. Following the Russo-Turkish war, the Principalities were occupied by Russia (1828-34) and entrusted to the government of General PD Kiselëv.
● In 1848-49, acording to a2zdirectory, the revolution in the Principalities and Transylvania, the easternmost point of the ‘spring of the peoples’ of 1848, was stifled by the linked forces of Austria and Turkey; Wallachia and Moldavia were occupied by Russia from the autumn of 1853 to the spring of 1854 and, therefore, by Austria. The independence movement materialized with the election (1859) of A. Joan Cuza as prince of Moldavia and Wallachia, unified in the Principality of Romania, subject however to nominal Ottoman sovereignty. Fundamental reforms were then carried out: the forfeiture of ecclesiastical assets; the creation of a second chamber, within the framework of a real Constitution which strengthened the authority and prerogatives of the head of state; the creation of a Council of State ; land reform; the unification of civil, criminal and commercial legislation. However, this complex of daring and modern reforms had touched the interests of the boyars and the radical bourgeoisie too deeply: in Cuza, overthrown from the throne and forced into exile (1866), Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen succeeded the powers of the sovereign in a despotic sense, while a strictly censored electoral law ensured the monopoly of political power to the exponents of large landed property.
● In 1876, with the revolution of Bosnia, Herzegovina and Bulgaria and the war of Serbia and Montenegro (with the help of Russia) against Turkey, the Principality allied itself with Russia which, while claiming Bessarabia, promised full sovereignty. Recognized as independent by the Berlin Congress (1878), the Dobruja and the mouth of the Danube were also attributed to Romania
● In 1913 the country participated in the Second Balkan War; the following year Ferdinand I ascended the throne. World War I broke out, Romania entered the conflict in August 1916, alongside the Triple Entente, and in December it was occupied by the Central Empires. The period between the two wars was marked by violent tensions and the succession of authoritarian governments. The Iron Guard, a fascist and racist paramilitary organization founded in 1930, acquired an increasing role. Over the course of the decade, the monarchy also expressed an authoritarian tendency of its own. On the death of Ferdinando I (1927), the crown was passed to his nephew, Michele, assisted by a regency council; his father, Carlo, who had renounced the throne in 1925, was recalled to his homeland and crowned king in 1930; in 1938 it assumed dictatorial powers under a new corporatist constitution and formed the Front of the National Rebirth, a single party until 1940. On the international level, Bucharest developed, during the 1920s, close ties with the France ; in the following decade, however, the Romania gradually approached Germany.
● In 1940, after losing Bessarabia and northern Bukovina (annexed to the USSR in June), it had to cede northern Transylvania to Hungary (August) and southern Dobruja to Bulgaria (September). Inside, the pro-Nazi Marshal I. Antonescu assumed full powers, forcing Charles I to abdication and recalling his son Michele to the throne; the Iron Guards were recognized as the only legal party and the country was subjected to a very harsh repressive regime, while German troops were deployed there from October. As the tide of the conflict changed, in August 1944 Antonescu was dismissed by King Michael, who signed the armistice and declared war on Germany. The Romania then led the last stages of the war alongside the Allies, occupied by the Soviet army; on the political level, the role of the Communists progressively asserted themselves, becoming the hegemonic force in the new executive set up (March 1945) by P. Groza (prime minister until 1952), author of a radical agrarian reform.
The communist regime
On December 30, 1947, King Michael was forced to abdicate and in April 1948, with the launch of a new Constitution, the Romania formally became a people’s republic; in the same year, with the large industrial properties nationalized, the planning of the economy was started, tending in particular to the development of heavy industry. Of the territorial losses of 1940, the Romania regained only northern Transylvania after the war. A series of bilateral agreements, concluded during 1948, led to the country’s inclusion in the Soviet bloc, strengthened by the accession to COMECON (1949) and to the Warsaw Pact (1955). In the early 1950s there was a stiffening of the regime in the Stalinist sense.
● In 1965, on the death of G. Gheorghiu-Dej, secretary of the Romanian Workers’ Party – born in 1948 from the merger of communists and social democrats – N. Ceauşescu became general secretary of the party (since July called the Communist Party), which launched a new Constitution, proclaiming the socialist republic. Ceauşescu imposed a personal dictatorship on the country, assuming the post of head of state in 1967 and the newly established one of President of the Republic with executive powers in 1974. The demand for greater national autonomy led Bucharest to condemn the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact forces in 1968, while good relations were maintained with China. At the same time, relations with Western European countries were increased. The sharp increase in foreign debt, which occurred during the 1970s, nevertheless marked the crisis of the development model centered on the growth of heavy industry.
● The economic autarchy applied since 1983, combined with the progressive international isolation determined by the reform policy initiated by MS Gorbačëv in the USSR, led to the crisis. In 1989, the outbreak of popular protest led to the overthrow of Ceauşescu, who was sentenced to death and shot. combined with the progressive international isolation determined by the reform policy initiated by MS Gorbačëv in the USSR, it led to the crisis. In 1989, the outbreak of popular protest led to the overthrow of Ceauşescu, who was sentenced to death and shot. combined with the progressive international isolation determined by the reform policy initiated by MS Gorbačëv in the USSR, it led to the crisis. In 1989, the outbreak of popular protest led to the overthrow of Ceauşescu, who was sentenced to death and shot.
