Brief Romanian History For You
Romanian history refers to the history of Romanian land, as well as to the history of people, who inhabited this land and who offered it a specific identity. Besides, a brief Romanian history can refer to the history of the unitary Romanian state, which means the history of the Romanian modern state, Romanian kingdom and other intermediary organization forms, as well as the events, which lead to the national Romanian state.
The Romanian nowadays land was inhabited in 200 BC by Dacia’s inhabitants, a Thracian tribe. During Burebista’s rule (82 - 44 BC) the first centralized state was founded. This state faced a series of conflicts with the Roman Empire, and it was conquered in 106 AD, by the Roman emperor Trajan.
With the decline and fall of the Roman Empire Romania, like the rest of Central Europe, was ravaged by various tribes. From 10th to 12th centuries it was under the rule of the Hungarians. The rule passed on to the Ottoman Turks and till 1541 Romania remained under the Turkish Empire. In the year 1600, there were three distinct states of Moldavia, Transylvania and Walachia. Michael the Brave succeeded in unifying them, but only for a brief period. The next to to rule Romania were the Austrians till 1775, and in 1812 Romania came under Russian rule.
Furthermore, brief Romanian history lets you know that in 1848 there was a great revolution in order to win independence. Then, in 1859, Alexander John Cuza succeeded to unite Moldavia and Walachia.
Romania gained independence in the year 1877. During the First World War it sided with the Allies in 1916. At the end of the War in 1918, Transylvania was added to it.
Therefore, in 1916 Romania joined the First World War, as allied to Antanta. At the end of the war, the Austrian Hungarian and Russian empires disappeared and two other lands added to Romania: Bessarabia and Bucovina.
Romania joined the Axis powers in the Second World War, forcing the king to abdicate in 1940. The Alliance with Germany continued till 1944, when the Russian army overran the country. At the end of the war Romania retained Transylvania, but lost parts of Bucovina, Bessarabia and Dobrogea.
To continue, dark years started in Romania between 1967 and 1989, when the country was ruled by Nicolai Ceausescu. During that period, Romania was a socialist republic and communism was the dominant aspect in the area. People suffered from hunger, cold and many restrictions from multiple points of view. They had not enough television programs, churches were demolished and they had to obey to strict rules.
However, nowadays this period is controversial, as there are nostalgic people who believe that nowadays things are worse in Romania. So in December 1989, on Christmas day, Nicolai Ceausescu and his wife Elena Ceausescu were executed after a sort of made up trial.
Nowadays Romania has a democratic constitution and since 1989 three presidents ruled it: Ion Iliescu, Emil Constantinescu and Trajan Basescu, who is the President of Romania since 2004. In 2002 Romania adhered to NATO and since 2007 Romania is a member of European Union.
This short overview of the history of Romania will give you some sort of background as to the events that took place down the ages in this small country in the hinterland of Europe.