Historical survey

The process began during the passage of the indo-European migrating communities who were engaged in sheep farming in this region during the Bronze Age. The appearance of the Thracian people who, during the Iron Age, divided into two ethnic groups: the Thracians situated in the north and the Dacians in the south – ancestor of the Romanian people.
The State of Dacia appears during the 1st century B.C.E.

D 28 September 2012    AIulian Isbasoiu ALaurenţiu Tănase ALucreţia Vasilescu

101-106 AD: the Dacian territory was conquered after the two wars against the Romans under Emperor Trojan; the Romanisation process began.
271: the Roman empire withdrew his army from the territories.
The Romanian nation was formed a few centuries afterwards in the Carpath-Danubian-Pontic space as a result of a symbiosis of two ethnic groups, the Dacians and the Romans. In the same period, the Romanian language was also formed as a Neo-Latin language. Most historians hold that the formation of the Romanian language was fulfilled during the 8th Century.

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Transylvania, the western region of Romania, was established in two steps:

– from the 9th Century to the second half of the 11th Century: the appearance of political structures organised into "voivodates" and occupation of territories by the
– Hungarian Kingdom. The second half of the 11th Century till the 13th Century brought territorial administrative structures ruled by the Hungarian King.

The Valachian region in the south of Romania was established in three steps:

– existing political structures (knezates and voivodates) tried to unite and form a State but the move failed due to unfavourable conditions in 1277.
– unification of political structures was achieved under the reign of Prince Basarab I (1310-1352).
– fortification of the State already formed by internal institutions, and external affirmation as a strong and well organised State in 1400.

Moldavia, the western region of Romania, was established in three steps:

– the appearance of the Marche in 1353, the organising structure under voivode Dragos who ruled over long-established local popular structures.
– rebellion of the Romanians in Maramuras, a region in the north of Transylvania, led by Voivode Bogdan who, in 1359, left the region with his army to conquer the Moldavian territories (1539).
– at the end of the 14th century, territories were organised and strengthened by political structures in Moldavia.

Dobrogea, a region lying on the coast of the Black Sea:

– in 1346, there already existed a State ruled by the local voivode Balica.
– in 1388, Mircea cel Batrân, Mircea the Elder, the Romanian voivode who ruled in Wallachia annexed the Dobrogean territory to his own.

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Orthodox Christianity has been the religion of the Romanian people since the beginning. It was the Apostle Andrew who, in the first Century, evangelised the Drobogean region lying on the coast of the Black Sea.

Establishment of the Orthodox Church:

Wallachia:

– 1359: declaration of Wallacia as a metropolis with the capital of the country as Curtea de Arges.
– 1370: declaration of Soverin as a metropolis;
– 1503: declaration of the dioceses of Râmnic and Buzău.

Moldavia:

– 1401: declaration of Suceava as a metropolis;
– 1401: declaration of the Roman diocese;
– 1471: declaration of the diocese of Rădăuţi;
– 1597: declaration of the diocese of Huşi.

Transylvania:

The region was well established as a vovodate till 1541. It was placed under the rule of the King of Hungary even though it enjoyed great administrative and political autonomy. This region became an autonomous principality under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire.
The Orthodox Church had a great number of churches and monasteries in the provinces of Maramuras, Făgăraş, Bârsa, Hunedoara, etc. They are formally run by the bishops of the south and east of Carpatia. They were submitted under their jurisdiction after the establishment of Wallachia and Moldavia as metropolis.
Among the greatest Romanians voivodes, there are: the Great Mircea (Mircea cel Bătrân: 1386-1456), the Good Alexander (Alexandru cel Bun: 1400-1432), Iancu de Hunedoara (1441-1456), Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Tepes: 1448, 1456-1462, 1476), Stephen the Great nicknamed "the athlete of Jesus" (Ştefan cel Mare: 1457-1504), etc.

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– 1600: first unification of the three Romanian provinces namely Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania under the voivode Micahel the Brave (Mihai Viteazul - 1593-1601). The union lasted one year before the assassination of Mihai in 1601.
The most important voivodes who ruled Wallachia, south of Romania between 17th and 18th centuries were Vasile Lupu (1634-1653), ªerban Cantacuzino (1678-1688), Constantin Brâncoveanu (1688-1714), etc.
– 1711: beginning of the regime of the Greek phanariot in Moldavia and in 1716, in Wallachia.

Transylvania :

Until 1541, Transylvania was an autonomous voivodate under the rule of the King of Hungary.
– 1541-1683: an autonomous principality under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
– 1683: the establishment of the reign of Habsburgs in Transylvalnia until 1765 when the province became a big autonomous principality in the Empire of Habsburgs.

Moldavia :

– 1812: after the war between Russia and Turkey, the Romanian territory in the eastern part of Romania was annexed into the Russian Empire and given the name Bassarabia.

Wallachia:

– 1821: revolution led by Tudor Vladimirescu, a local noble, against the phanariot regime. End of the phanariot regime.
– 1848-1849: revolution of Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania.

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1859: unification of the Romanian principalities of Wallacia and Moldavia through the appointment of the same candidate in both countries, Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza. The new state was called Romania.
1866: establishment of monarchy in Romania through the appointment of Prince Carol I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen who was a foreigner (originating from West Germany) and creation of the first Romanian Constitution under the authority of Prince Carol I of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen.
1881: Romania became a kingdom.
1877: The Independence War; Romania became independent and cut its relations with the Ottoman Empire.

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1914: death of the King Carol I. King Ferdinand I, who was the nephew and therefore a direct descendant of the German Prince Hohenzollern, became the successor of the King Carol I.
1916–1918: Romania participated in the World War I.
April 1918: unification of Bessarabia and Romania.
1st December 1918: creation of the Great Romania through the union of Romania and Transylvania.
1923: the new Romanian constitution was adopted under the rule of King Ferdinand I.
1934-1937: Romania experienced a massive economic growth (number 1 country in Europe in the exportation oil and number 6 in the world; the number 4 country in Europe in the production of wheat).
1926: the heir, Prince Carol II, gave up the throne and left Romania.
July 1927: death of King Ferdinand. Michael (Mihai I) was declared King but as he was a minor, the country was ruled by a regency composed of Prince Nicolas of Hohenzollern, Patriarch Moron Crisea and Georghe Buzdugan – president of the High Court of Appeal and the High Court of Justice.
1930: King Carol II returned to Romania and claimed the throne.
1938-1940: King Carol II established the royal dictatorship.
28 June 1940: Romania lost the north-eastern region comprising Bessaraia, Bucovinia, and Harta to Russia.
30 August 1940: according to the Dictat of Vienna, the north-western part of Transylvania was annexed to Hungary.
7 September 1940: according to the Treaty of Cracova, Romania yielded the southern part of Dobrudja to Bulgaria.
6 September 1940: Carol II stepped down and enthroned his son Michael I.
24 January 1941: General Antonescu declared military dictatorship and Romania established a military and political alliance with Germany.
June 1941: Romania fought on the German side in the war against the USSR.
23 August 1944: General Antonescu was arrested and King Michael declared Romania as a constitutional monarchy. Romania changed its politics and continued the military struggle, but this time on the side of the allies fighting against fascism.
November 1946: Romanian elections were held and the Communists falsified the results and obtained the victory.
30 December 1947: Michael was obliged to abdicate and the Communist Party assumed absolute power, forbidding all other political orientations and later Romania became a Republic.

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1948: Romania was governed by the Communist Party with Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej as the President (1948–1965). The parliament was dissolved and the country was ruled by the Great National Assembly. Long-established parties were dissolved and their leaders were assassinated or imprisoned.
30 August 1948: establishment of Securitate (political police).
March 1965: Nicolae Ceausescu was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and helped govern the country.
July 1945: the PMR (Romanian Labour Party) became the Romanian Communist Party (PCR).
21 August 1965: the Popular Republic of Romania became the Socialist Republic of Romania (RSR).
9 December 1967: N. Ceausescu became President of the Council of the State.
21 August 1968: N. Ceausescu organised a great assembly as a campaign against the military intervention of the Warsaw Pact Member States thus, gaining the support of the western states, especially the United States of America.
March 1974: the Great National Assembly announced Nicolae Ceausescu President of the Socialist Republic of Romania (RSR).
Between 1980 and 1989: Romania went through a terrible economic crisis which resulted in development of an absurd centralised communist policy as a drastic measure to pay the foreign debt. This led to a terrible deficiency in basic needs, persecution of the intellectuals, rationing of petrol and electricity, aggressive attitude towards the Church, demolition of Churches and villages, suppression of strikes led by the mine workers in 1977 and by industrial workers in Brasov in 1987.

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1987-1989: Ceausescu rejected Gorbatchev’s proposition to establish the perestroïka and glasnost.
17 December 1989: beginning of the Romanian Revolution against the communist regime in Timisoara. The Romanian revolution was the only revolution with heavy bloodshed in all the zones which were formerly communist in east Europe.
22 December 1989: the Ceasescu family was arrested in Bucarest thanks to the pressure put by the demonstrators and on 25 December 1989, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were executed after a rapid court case.
9 February 1990: the Temporary Council National Union was established as the first democratic structure after the communist period.

D 28 September 2012    AIulian Isbasoiu ALaurenţiu Tănase ALucreţia Vasilescu

7 October 1993: Romania became member of the Council of Europe.
29 March 2004: Romania became member of the NATO.
1st January 2007: Romania became member of the European Union.

D 28 September 2012    AIulian Isbasoiu ALaurenţiu Tănase ALucreţia Vasilescu