Romania

Romania România
Anthem: "Deșteaptă-te, române!" ("Awaken thee, Romanian!")
Location of  Romania  (orange)
Capital and largest city		Bucharest
Official languages		Romanian
Protected and/or co-official (regional) languages (excerpt)		See here Armenian German Greek Italian Hungarian Polish
Ethnic groups (2021)		89.3% Romanians 6.0% Hungarians 3.4% Romani 1.2% Others
Demonym		Romanian
Government		Unitary semi-presidential republic
-	President	Klaus Werner Johannis (de)
-	Prime Minister
Legislature		Parliament
-	Upper house	Senate
-	Lower house	Chamber of Deputies
Establishment history
-	Principality of Wallachia	1330
-	Principality of Moldavia	1346
-	Unification	24 January 1859
-	Independence from the Ottoman Empire	9 May 1877/1878
-	Greater Romania	1918/1921
-	Kingdom of Romania (de)	1941
-	Communist Romania	30 December 1947
-	Joined the United Nations	14 December 1955
-	Romanian Revolution	27 December 1989
-	Constitution adopted	8 December 1991
-	Joined the European Union	1 January 2007
Area
-	Total	238,397 km2 (81st) 92,043 sq mi
-	Water (%)	3
Population
-	2021 census	19,053,815
-	Density	79.9/km2 (136th) 218.6/sq mi

Romania is a country and former Kingdom in Europe. Today it is twice the size of Dacia, the original Roman Empire province conquered by them in a campaign in 105-6 AD.

Following World War I, Romania was awarded, by the victorious plutocratic Western Allies, Transylvania and other provinces, including Bukovina, which had previously been part of Austria-Hungary for centuries. These territorial acquisitions almost doubled the size of Romania.

To their immense credit the Romanians fought against the Soviet Union during the anti-communist crusade in World War II.

In 1945, Romania was occupied by the Soviet Union. On 3 January 1948, King Michael and the Royal Family were expelled from Romania after a forced "abdication" under extreme duress, which His Majesty refuted at a press conference in London in March 1948. Romania then became a Communist client state of the Soviet Union. Over 40 years later, on Christmas Day 1989, Romania's tyrannical communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, and his wife, were executed by firing squad after a summary trial which led to the collapse of one of Europe's most repressive communist regimes - and arguably its most menacing dictator.

Etymology

Romania 1859-1878.

Prince & King Carol I of Romania.

Prince Michael & his father King Carol II of Romania.

The name România comes from Român which is a derivative of the word Romanus (Roman) from Latin. The fact that Romanians call themselves a derivative of Romanus is mentioned as early as the 16th century by many authors among whom were Italian Humanists travelling in Hungarian Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia. The oldest surviving document written in the Romanian language is a 1521 letter (known as "Neacşu's Letter from Câmpulung") which notifies the Mayor of Brassó (Braşov) in Hungary about the imminent attack of the Ottoman Turks. This document is also notable for having the first occurrence of "Rumanian" in a Romanian written text, Wallachia being here named The Rumanian Land - Ţeara Rumânească (Ţeara = Latin Terra = land). In the following centuries, Romanian documents use interchangeably two spelling forms: Român and Rumân.

Socio-linguistic evolutions in the late 17th century lead to a process of semantic differentiation: the form "Rumân", presumably usual among lower classes, obtained the meaning of "bondsman", while the form "Român" retained an ethno-linguistic meaning. After the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the form "Rumân" gradually disappeared and the spelling stabilised to the form "Român" and occasionally "Românesc". The name "România" as common homeland of all Romanians is documented in the early 19th century.

King Michael I of Romania in WWII.

History

One of the fossils found - a male, adult jawbone - has been dated to be between 34,000 and 36,000 years old, which would make it one of the oldest fossils found to date of modern humans in Europe.[2] [3] In 513 BC, south of the Danube, the tribal confederation of the Getae were defeated by the Persian Emperor Darius the Great during his campaign against the Scythians (Herodotus IV). Over half a millennium later, the Getae (also named Dacii by Romans) were defeated by the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan in two campaigns stretching from 101 AD to 106 AD, and the core of their kingdom was turned into the Roman province of Dacia. The Gothic and Carpic campaigns in the Balkans during 238–269 AD (from the beginning of the period of military anarchy to the battle of Naissus), forced the Roman Empire to reorganize a new Roman province of Dacia south of the Danube, inside former Moesia Superior.

In either 271 or 275 the Roman army and administration left Dacia, which was invaded by the Goths. The Goths lived with the local people until the 4th century, when another nomadic people, the Huns, arrived. The Gepids and the Avars ruled Transylvania until the 8th century, after which the Bulgarians included the territory of modern Romania in their Empire until 1018. Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary from the 10-11th century until the 16th century, when the independent Principality of Transylvania was formed.

The Pechenegs, the Cumans and Uzes were also mentioned by historic chronicles on the territory of Romania, until the founding of the Romanian principalities of Wallachia by Basarab I, and Moldavia by Dragoş during the 13th and 14th centuries respectively. Several competing theories have been generated to explain the origin of modern Romanians. Linguistic and geo-historical analyses tend to indicate that Romanians have coallesced as a major ethnic group both South and North of the Danube.

In the Middle Ages, Romanians lived in the independent Romanian principalities of Wallachia (Romanian: Ţara Românească - Romanian Land) and Moldova; as well as more scattered settlements in the Hungarian principality of Transylvania.

In 1475, Stephen the Great of Moldavia scored a temporary victory over the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vaslui. However, Wallachia and Moldavia eventually fell under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire during the 15th and 16th centuries (1476 for Wallachia, 1514 for Moldavia). As vassal tributary states they had degrees of internal autonomy; any recognizeable external independence was finally lost in the 18th century. Michael the Brave (Romanian: Mihai Viteazul) (1558-9 August 1601) was the Prince of Wallachia (1593-1601). During his reign the the two principalities largely inhabited by Romanians were for the first time united under a single rule.

In 1775, the Habsburg monarchy formally annexed the northern part of Moldova, Bukovina, and the Ottoman Empire its south-eastern part, Budjak. In 1812 the Russian Empire annexed its eastern half, Bessarabia, which was partially returned by the 1856 Treaty of Paris following the Crimean War. At the end of the 19th century, the Habsburg monarchy reincorporated Transylvania into what later became the Austrian Empire. During the period of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary (1867-1918), the Romanians living in Transylvania fell under the Magyarization (largely language) policies of the Hungarian government. Such policies were practised on other European countries which found large minorities living within them.

Kingdom

The modern state of Romania was formed by the merging of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859 under the Moldavian domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza. Cuza led an agricultural reform distributing land to the poor and. therefore, attracting enemies. In an 1866 coup d'etat, also known as the 'Abominable Revolution', Cuza was exiled. The Parliament and nobles invited the German Prince, Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, to become Prince Carol of Romania.

During the Russo-Turkish War, Romania fought on the Russian side; in the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, Romania was recognized as an independent state by the Great Powers. In return for ceding to Russia the three southern districts of Bessarabia that had been regained by Moldavia after the Crimean War in 1852, and the Kingdom of Romania acquired Dobruja (opposed by Bulgaria). In 1881, the principality was raised to a kingdom and Prince Carol became King Carol I.

World War I

Prime Minister Ion Antonescu at a briefing at Salzburg with the German High Command in 1944; From left: Admiral Karl Dönitz, General Kurt Zeitzler, Antonescu, Hitler; behind Antonescu: Dr. Paul Schmidt, Dr. Otto Meissner, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and General Wilhelm Keitel.

Romania, which had alliance treaties with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary betrayed those alliances (like Italy and entered World War I on the side of the Allies Triple Entente. The Romanian military campaign ended in a fairly fast disaster for Romania as the Central Powers quickly conquered two-thirds of the country and captured the majority of its army within four months, although Moldova remained in Romanian hands after the invading forces halted their advance in 1917. By March 1918 Russia had left the war and Austria-Hungary began to disintegrate at the end of 1918, allowing Bessarabia to accede again to Romania. By the imposed 1920 Treaty of Trianon, Hungary had Transylvania removed from its sovereignty and awarded to Romania.

World War II

In 1940, the Soviet Union occupied Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia, and Hungary employed revanchism to reoccupy Northern Transylvania; Bulgaria reoccupied southern Dobruja. Romania's humiliated King Carol felt obliged to abdicate in 1940 and was replaced by his young son King Michael. The so-called National Legionary State in which power was shared by General (later Marshal) Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard assumed governmental powers. Within months, however, Antonescu had crushed the Guard and declared himself the Conducător. On 22 June 1941 Romania joined World War II in the invasion of the Soviet Union, providing equipment and oil to Germany, and committing more troops to the Eastern Front than all other allies of Germany in this titanic struggle.

As a result of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, Romania recovered Bessarabia and northern Bukovina from Russia. Gradually, however, the tide turned, and the Red Army was soon on the borders and the Allies were launching damaging air raids on Romania. On 23 August 1944 the King requested Antonescu to an audience in the Royal Palace, where He presented the Marshal with a formal request to take Romania out of the Axis alliance. The Conducător refused, and was promptly arrested by soldiers of the Royal Guard upon the orders of the monarch. He was replaced as Premier with General Constantin Sănătescu, who presided over a national government. Two days later Romania changed sides (as they had in World War I) and joined the Western Allies. However, considerable German forces were still within Romania and the Soviet advance continued until the entire country was occupied.

Republic

On 30 December 1947, a proclamation announcing the 'abdication' of King Michael was broadcast, stating "the monarchy represents an obstacle to the development of our State towards a popular democratic [sic] regime". On 3 January 1948 the King was forced to leave the country and flew firstly to Switzerland. He then flew to London where, on March 4th, he made a public declaration to the press and media that he had "been forced to abdicate under duress and therefore he did not recognise it as valid". Romania was proclaimed a republic, and remained under direct military and economic control of the USSR (until the late 1950s). With the Red Army now stationed in the country and exerting de facto control, the Communists and their allied parties claimed 80% of the vote in the first post-war General Elections, through a combination of voting fraud, manipulation, elimination and forced mergers of competing parties, establishing themselves as the dominant force.

During this period, Romania's resources were drained by the "SovRom" agreements: mixed Soviet-Romanian companies were established to mask the looting of Romania by the Soviet Union, in addition to excessive war reparations. A large number of people were arbitrarily imprisoned for political, economic or unknown reasons: detainees were held in in prisons or camps, deported, under house arrest, and administrative detainees. Political prisoners were also detained as 'psychiatric patients'. Estimates vary, from 60,000 up to two million. There were hundreds of thousands of abuses, atrocities, deaths and incidents of torture against a large range of people, from political opponents to ordinary citizens. Some political prisoners were, however, freed in a series of amnesties between 1962 and 1964.

Soviet forces depart

After the negotiated evacuation of Soviet troops in 1958, Romania started to pursue quasi-independent policies, including the condemnation of the Soviet-led 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia (Romania was the only Warsaw Pact country not to take part in the invasion), the continuation of diplomatic relations with Israel after the Six Day War of 1967 (again, the only Warsaw Pact country to do so), the establishment of economic (1963) and diplomatic (1967) relations with the Federal Republic of Germany, etc. Also, close ties with Arab countries (and the PLO) allowed Romania to play a key role in the Israel-Egypt and Israel-PLO peace processes (intermediated the visit of Sadat in Israel.) A short-lived period of relative economic well-being and open-ness followed in the later 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s. As Romania's foreign debt sharply increased between 1977 and 1981 (from 3 to 10 billion USA dollars), the influence of international financial organisations such as the IMF or the World Bank grew, conflicting with communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu's policies. Ceauşescu eventually initiated a project of total reimbursement of the foreign debt, completed in 1989, shortly before his overthrow. To achieve this goal, he imposed policies that impoverished Romanians and exhausted the Romanian economy. He profoundly deepened Romania's police state and imposed a 'cult of personality'. On 31 January 1989 the exiled King Michael "appealed to the United Nations to intervene over the human rights situation in His country", and the London-based Monarchist League issued a Press Release calling for the West to (1) depose Ceausescu, (2) restore King Michael to head a constitutional government, (3) arrange for free and fair elections in Romania which would be supervised by non-communists and independent powers such as Austria or Switzerland and (4) close all communist Romanian government embassies until these conditions were met.

End of Communist rule

The execution by firing squad of the Communist dictator Ceauşescu and his wife Elena on 25th Dec 1989.

In 1989 came the Romanian Revolution against communism which led to the downfall and execution of Ceauşescu and his hated wife on Christmas Day. The National Salvation Front (FSN), led by Ion Iliescu, restored civil order and made partial democratic measures. Several major political parties of the pre-war era, such as the National Christian Democrat Peasant's Party (PNŢCD), the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Romanian Social Democrat Party (PSDR) were unbanned and resurrected. After several major political rallies (especially in January), in April 1990 a sit-in protest contesting the results of the recently held parliamentary elections began in University Square, Bucharest. The protesters accused the FSN of being made up of former Communists and members of the hated Securitate secret police. The protesters did not recognize the results of the election, which they deemed undemocratic, and were asking for the exclusion from political life of all former high-ranking Communist Party members. The protest rapidly grew to become an ongoing mass demonstration known as the Golaniad. Sadly the peaceful demonstrations degenerated into violence. After the police failed to bring the demonstrators to order, Ion Iliescu called on the coal miners of the Jiu Valley to crush the rally on June 14. Their violent intervention is remembered as the June 1990 Mineriad.

The subsequent disintegration of the FSN produced several political parties including the Romanian Democrat Social Party (PDSR, later the Social Democratic Party, PSD), the Democratic Party (PD) and the ApR (Alliance for Romania). The PDSR party governed Romania from 1990 until 1996 through several coalitions and governments with Ion Iliescu as head of state. Since then there have been three democratic changes of government: in 1996, the democratic-liberal opposition and its leader Emil Constantinescu acceded to power; in 2000 the Social Democrats returned to power, with Iliescu once again president; and in 2004 Traian Băsescu was elected president, with an electoral coalition called Justice and Truth Alliance (DA). The government was formed by a larger coalition which also includes the Conservative Party and the ethnic Hungarian party. Post-Cold War Romania developed closer ties with Western Europe

Geography

The Sphinx - A World's Natural Wonder.With a surface area of 238,393 km², Romania is the largest country in southeastern Europe and the twelfth-largest in Europe. A large part of Romania's border with Serbia and Bulgaria is formed by the Danube. The Danube is joined by the Prut River, which forms the border with the Republic of Moldova. The Danube flows into the Black Sea on Romanian territory, forming the Danube Delta, the largest delta in Europe, which is currently a biosphere reserve and World Heritage-listed site due to its biodiversity. The country's most significant rivers are the Danube, the Siret, running north-south through Moldavia, the Olt, running from the oriental Carpathian Mountains to Oltenia, the Tisa, marking a part of the border between Romania and Hungary, the Mureş, running through Transylvania from East to West, and the Someş.

Romania's terrain is distributed roughly equally between mountainous, hilly and lowland territories. The Carpathian Mountains dominate the centre of Romania, with fourteen of its peaks reaching above the altitude of 2,000 metres. The highest mountain in Romania is Moldoveanu Peak (2544 m). In south-central Romania, the Carpathians sweeten into hills, towards the Bărăgan Plains. Romania's geographical diversity has led to an accompanying diversity of flora and fauna. The country has the largest brown bear population in Europe, while chamois are also known to live in the Carpathian Mountains, which dominate the centre of Romania.

Demographics

The number of Romanians living abroad is estimated at around 12 million. The official language of Romania is Romanian, an Eastern Romance language related to French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and Portuguese. Romanian is spoken as a first language by 91% of the population, with Hungarian and the gypsy language being the most important minority languages, spoken by 6.7% and 1.1% of the population, respectively. Until the 1990s, there was also a substantial number of German-speaking Transylvanian Saxons (Siebenbürger Sachsen), even though many have since emigrated to the German Vaterland, leaving only 45,000 native German speakers in Romania. In localities where a given ethnic minority makes up more than 20% of the population, that minority's language can be used in the public administration and justice system, while native-language education and signage is also provided. English and French are the main foreign languages taught in schools. English is spoken by 5 million Romanians, French is spoken by 4-5 million, and German, Italian and Spanish are each spoken by 1-2 million people. Historically, French was the predominant foreign language spoken in Romania, even though English has since superseded it. Consequently, Romanian English-speakers tend to be younger than Romanian French-speakers. Romania is, however, a full member of La Francophonie, and hosted the Francophonie Summit in 2006. German has been taught predominantly in Transylvania, due to traditions tracing back to the Austro-Hungarian rule in this province.

Religion

Romania is a secular state, thus having no national religion. The dominant religious body is the Romanian Orthodox Church; its members make up 86.7% of the population according to the 2002 census. Other important religions include Roman Catholicism (4.7%), Protestantism (3.7%), Pentecostal denominations (1.5%) and the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church (0.9%).[24] Romania also has a historically significant Muslim minority concentrated in Dobrogea, who are mostly of Turkish ethnicity and number 67,500 people. Based on the 2002 census data, there are also 6,179 Jews, 23,105 people who are of no religion and/or atheist, and 11,734 who refused to answer. On December 27, 2006, President Traian Băsescu approved a new Law on Religion; under the new legislation, religious denominations can only receive official registration if they have at least 20,000 members, or about 0.1 percent of Romania's total population.

Largest Cities

According to the 2002 census, the largest Romanian cities are: Bucharest (Bucureşti) with 1,921,751 inhabitants, Iaşi with 321,580, Cluj-Napoca with 318,027, Timişoara with 317,651, Constanţa with 310,526 and Craiova with 302,622.

National Holidays

The Christian holidays of Christmas and (Orthodox) Easter are celebrated (they are official, non-working, holidays). Unlike some other Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Romanian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on 25 December; however, they follow the usual Eastern Orthodox practice for the date of Easter. Other official holidays (non-working) are New Year's Day (January 1), Labour Day (May 1), and the National Day of Romania (December 1, the Union Day). For Christmas and for Labour Day, it is common for businesses to shut down more than a single day.

Minor, but widely observed, holidays include Mărţişor (March 1), marking the start of spring, Dragobete (February 24), day of lovers, and International Women's Day (March 8). Some businesses give women employees the day off for International Women's Day. Some holidays celebrated in the United States or in other parts of Europe have recently been gaining some currency in Romania, for example Valentine's Day (February 14).

Culture

The culture of Romania is rich and varied. Like Romanians themselves, it is fundamentally defined as the meeting point of three regions: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, but cannot be fully included in any of them. The Romanian identity formed on a substratum of mixed Roman and quite possibly Dacian elements (although the latter is controversial), with many other influences. During late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the major influences came from the Slavic peoples who migrated and settled in nearby Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine and eventually Russia; from medieval Greeks and the Byzantine Empire; from a long domination by the Ottoman Empire; from the Hungarians; and from the Germans living in Transylvania. Modern Romanian culture emerged and developed over roughly the last 250 years under a strong influence from Western culture, particularly French and German culture.

Literature

Mihai Eminescu, national poet of Romania and Republic of Moldova. The older classics of Romanian literature remain very little known outside Romania. Mihai Eminescu, a famous 19th century Romanian poet is still very much loved in Romania (especially his poems), along with several other classics like George Coşbuc and Ioan Slavici. The revolutionary year 1848 had its echoes in the Romanian principalities and in Transylvania, and a new elite from the middle of the 19th century emerged from the revolutions: Mihail Kogălniceanu (writer, politician and the first prime minister of Romania), Vasile Alecsandri (politician, playwright and poet), Andrei Mureşanu (publicist and the writer of the current Romanian National Anthem) and Nicolae Bălcescu (historian, writer and revolutionary). Other classic Romanian writers whose works are still widely read in their native country are playwright Ion Luca Caragiale (the National Theatre Bucharest is officially named in his honor) and Ion Creangă (best known for his children's stories).

In the period between the two world wars, authors like Tudor Arghezi, Lucian Blaga or Ion Barbu made efforts to synchronize Romanian literature with the European literature of the time. Gellu Naum was the leader of the surrealist movement in Romania. In the Communist era, valuable writers like Nichita Stănescu, Marin Sorescu or Marin Preda managed to escape censorship, broke with "socialist realism" and were the leaders of a small "Renaissance" in Romanian literature.

Romanian literature has recently gained some renown outside the borders of Romania (mostly through translations into German, French and English). Some modern Romanian authors became increasingly popular in Germany, France and Italy, especially Eugen Ionescu, Mircea Eliade, Emil Cioran, Constantin Noica, Tristan Tzara and Mircea Cărtărescu. Other literary figures who enjoy broad acclaim outside of the country include poet Paul Celan and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, both survivors of the Holocaust.

Architecture

Mediaş, historic city centre, The UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites includes Romanian sites such as the Saxon villages with fortified churches in Transylvania, the Painted churches of northern Moldavia with their fine exterior and interior frescoes, the Wooden Churches of Maramures unique examples that combine Gothic style with traditional timber construction, the citadel of Sighişoara and the Dacian Fortresses of the Orăştie Mountains. Also, in 2007, the city of Sibiu is the European Capital of Culture alongside the city of Luxembourg.

Media and Television

Reporters Without Borders ranks Romania 58th in its Worldwide Press Freedom Index, the same level as Poland and Hong-Kong. The public television company Televiziunea Română and the public radio Societatea Română de Radiodifuziune cover all the country and have also international programs. The state also owns a public news agency ROMPRES. The private media is grouped in media companies such as Intact Media Group, Media Pro, Realitatea-Caţavencu, Ringier, SBS Broadcasting Group, Centrul Naţional Media and other smaller independent companies. Cable television is widely available even in some villages and offers besides the national channels a great number of international and specialized channels. FM stations cover most cities and most of them belong to national radio networks. Overall readership of most newspapers is slowly declining due to increasing competition from television and the Internet. Tabloids and sport newspapers are among the most read national newspapers. In every large city there is at least one local newspaper, which usually covers the rest of the county. An Audit Bureau of Circulations exists since 1998 and a large number of publications are its members.

Sports in Romania

In the 1976 Summer Olympics, the gymnast Nadia Comăneci became the first gymnast ever to score a perfect "ten". She also won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze, all at the age of fifteen. Her success continued in the 1980 Summer Olympics, where she was awarded two gold medals and two silver medals. Ilie Năstase, the tennis player, is another internationally known Romanian sports star. He won several Grand Slam titles and dozens of other tournaments; he also was a successful doubles player. Romania has also reached the Davis Cup finals three times. Virginia Ruzici was a successful tennis player in the 1970s. Football (soccer) is popular in Romania, the most internationally known player being Gheorghe Hagi, who played for Steaua Bucureşti (Romania), Real Madrid, FC Barcelona (Spain) and Galatasaray (Turkey), among others.

In 1986, the Romanian soccer club Steaua Bucureşti became the first Eastern European club ever to win the prestigious European Champions Cup title. Other Romanian clubs are Dinamo Bucureşti, Rapid Bucureşti, Naţional Bucureşti, Universitatea Cluj, UTA Arad, FCU Politehnica Timişoara, Universitatea Craiova, Petrolul Ploieşti, CFR Cluj, Poli Iaşi, FC Braşov, Oţelul Galaţi, Bacău, Sportul, Bistriţa, Piteşti, Farul Constanţa, etc. Though maybe not the force they once were, the Romanian national rugby team has so far competed at every Rugby World Cup.

See also

• Legion of the Archangel Michael
• Jewish influence: Romania

Further reading

• Dumitru Bacu: The Anti-Humans: Student Re-Education in Romanian Prisons, 1962

External links

• Encyclopedia.com: Romania

Decorations (in German)

• Order of Carol I
• Order of the Crown of Romania
• Order of Aeronautical Virtue
• Crusade Against Communism Medal

References

• Almond, Mark, The Rise and Fall of Nicolae & Elena Ceauşescu, Chapmans Publishers Ltd., London, 1992, ISBN: 1-8-55923-510-9.