History and Profile of Romania

Romania is a relatively small Eastern European country set in the Balkans. It was regarded until recently as part of the Communist block although it was not part of the Warsaw Pact Military Alliance. It is bordered on the north and east by the USSR (by the former Soviet republics of the Ukrane and Moldavia), on the west by Hungary and Yugoslavia and by Bulgaria on the south. Most of Romania's central region is extremely mountainous and consists of the Transylvanian Alps, part of the Carpathian Mountains.

The main language of the country is Romanian, a language which is similar in many respects to French and Italian. Some areas have strong Hungarian and German influences. The population of Romania is around twenty-three million, less than half the population of the United Kingdom although covering an area many times greater. Large parts of the area that now make up Romania were previously under the control of the Ottoman Empire and the area was fought over by Russia and the other great European Empires, particularly Britain and France.
In the middle of the Nineteenth Century, Napoleon's France, Britain and Russia became increasingly interested in taking over from the former Ottoman rulers and a Russian occupation of the country lasted from 1848-1851. In 1859 the provinces of Moldavia and Walachia came together under a single prince and in 1881 the prince, who was of German origin became known as King Carl I. That date marked the beginning of Romania as an independent kingdom, and this country continued in existence until the end of the First World War when, at the Treaty of Versailles the victorious allies established a new Romania made up, not only of Moldavia and Walachia but also of the provinces of Bessarabia and Bukivina from Russia, and Transylvania from Hungary. This wider Romania explains why certain minorities in modern Romania speak Hungarian.

Romania had at this time now become an important and powerful state and had almost doubled in sixe. At the outbreak of the Second World War Romania sided with Nazi Germany but defeat came and in 1944 Soviet troops invaded and took over the country. As a result, the Ramanian King Michael was made to share the governing of the country with the Communist Party. In 1947 the Romanian Workers Party, later to be known as the Ramonian Communist Party, was established and the King was forced to step down.


The monarchy had ended and the history of the People's Republic of Romania had begun. The Communist domination of the country continued until the end of 1989 when Ceaucescu, the President of Romania, and his wife were executed, having been found guilty of mass murder, corruption and the destruction of the Romanian economy. Their execution marked the end of one of the most tyrannical Communist dictatorships history has kown and came about as a result of a People's Revolution which had cost thousands of lives.

During his 24 year rule, as President of the Nation and head of the Communist Party, Ceaucescu had ordered thousands of ancient rural Romanian villages to be destroyed and had forced people to move into uniform concrete tower blocks in cities. This policy of urbanisation was accompanied by rationing of food, electricity, gas and water. Ceaucescu wanted to make Romania a strong independent country regardless of the effect or cost this had on his people.

This meant paying off money owed to other countries and this he did by accelerating an industrialisation programme. The result was that the Romanian people were working their fingers to the bone and yet felt none of the benefits, all the profits either being taken away by Ceaucescu and his Party members for their own personal use of being used to pay off outstanding loans. Food was limited, electricity was cut off, hot water was restricted in many instances to one hour per day and each family was only allowed one cartload of wood to keep them warm in the winter.

Partly motivated by what they had seen on television and what was happening in other Eastern European countries, particularly the fall of the East German regime and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, the people of Romania, first in the city of Timosoara in Transylvania and later in Bucharest, and in other towns, protested and went on to their streets. Hundreds of them were shot dead by Ceaucescu's troops but their rage was now unstoppable. Thousands of them came out in protest all over the country, chanted their protest as the dreaded securitate, the secret police, fired into the crowds. Many were shot and crushed to death under army vehicles. The soldiers in the Romanian army soon realised the madness of Romanians killing fellow Romanians and refused to carry out such orders. They too turned on the Government and the Communist Party Headquarters were stormed and the Ceaucescus were hunted down, tried by a military court and executed. In 1990 a new Government was elected, the urbanisation programme was brought to a halt and elections were held in May 1990. Even after the Revolution, Romania still remains one of Europe's poorest countries.

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