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.

1848 was a year of revolutions in the history of Europe, and there was a great revolution for independence in Romania as well. In 1859, the modern nation state of Romania came into existence when the states of Moldavia and Walachia merged under the leadership of Alexander John Cuza.

Subsequently, Romania got independence in the year 1877. Romania joined the First World War in 1916 in favour of the Allies. At the end of the War, it was rewarded with the addition of Transylvania.

Great changes took place in Europe in 1918, at the end of the First World War. The Russian and the Austro-Hungarian empires disappeared, and the provinces of Bessarabia and Bucovina were gained by Romania.

From 1938 to 1944 Romania was involved in the Second World War. During this time a king, who was forced to leave his throne in 1940 out of political reasons, ruled Romania. At the end of the Second World War, Transylvania belonged to Romania, but they lost part of Bucovina, Bessarabia and Dobrogea.

Though Romania became a part of the Soviet Bloc in the post war period, it still retained a degree of independence in its policies. When Nicolai Ceaucescu came to power in 1967, it seemed that dark ages had returned to haunt Romania. Romania was a socialist republic during his infamous regime, and all the negative experiences of a communist state seemed to converge on Romania. Widespread hunger and deprivation seemed to be the order of a day, even as his authoritarian rule clamped down on television and the freedom of expression. There was no freedom of worship either, and, in fact, many churches were pulled down.

The reign of Nicolai Ceaucescu finally came to an end after the mass upsurge in 1989. He was executed after a hurried trial together with his wife, Elena. As Romania limped towards a democratic set up and the market economy, a lot of hardships were inflicted on the common man. In fact, some people felt that even the communist rule was better than the chaos its removal resulted in.

Romania today is a democratic republic, and since 1989 three presidents have come to power - Ion Iliescu, Emil Constantinescu, and the present incumbent since 2004, Trajan Basescu. Romania joined NATO in 2004 and became a member of the European Union in 2007.

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.