Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea to the southeast. It has a mainly continental climate, and an area of with a population of 19 million people. Romania is the twelfth-largest country in Europe and the sixth-most populous member state of the European Union. Europe's second-longest river, the Danube, empties into the Danube Delta in the southeast of the country. The Carpathian Mountains cross Romania from the north to the southwest and include Moldoveanu Peak is the country's largest urban area and financial centre. Other major urban areas include Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași, Constanța and Brașov.

Settlement in the territory of modern Romania began in the Lower Paleolithic, later becoming the Dacian Kingdom before Roman conquest and Romanisation. The modern Romanian state formed in 1859 with the unification of Moldavia and Wallachia under Alexandru Ioan Cuza, becoming Kingdom of Romania in 1881 under Carol I. Romania gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, formalised by the Treaty of Berlin. After World War I, Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina, and Bessarabia joined the Old Kingdom, forming Greater Romania, which reached its largest territorial extent. In 1940, under Axis pressure, Romania lost territories to Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union. Following the 1944 Romanian coup d'état, Romania switched sides to join the Allies. After World War II, it regained Northern Transylvania through the Paris Peace Treaties. Under Soviet occupation, King Michael I was forced to abdicate, and Romania became a socialist republic and Warsaw Pact member. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition to liberal democracy and a market economy.

Romania is a developing country with a high-income economy, classified as a middle power in international relations. It is a unitary republic with a multi-party system and a semi-presidential representative democracy. It is home to 11 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and has become an increasingly popular tourist destination, attracting 14 million foreign visitors in 2024. Romania is a net exporter of automotive and vehicle parts worldwide and has established a growing reputation as a technology centre, with some of the fastest internet speeds globally. Romania is a member of several international organisations, including the European Union, NATO, and the BSEC.

Etymology

''Romania'' derives from the local name for Romanian (), which in turn derives from Latin ''romanus'', meaning "Roman" or "of Rome". This ethnonym for Romanians is first attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia. The oldest known surviving document written in Romanian that can be precisely dated, a 1521 letter known as the " Letter of Neacșu from Câmpulung", is notable for including the first documented occurrence of ''Romanian'' in a country name: Wallachia is mentioned as .

History

Dacia and the Roman Empire

It is believed that the tribes responsible for creating the Bronze Age culture on the territory of modern Romania belonged to the Indo-European group of Thracians. Strabo, in ''Geographica'', notes that the Getae spoke the same language as the Thracians, and the Dacians the same language as the Getae. However, the earliest account of the Getae is attributed to Herodotus. The conquest of Dacia by the Romans led to the fusion of two cultures—the Daco-Romans became the ancestors of the Romanian people. After Dacia became a province of the Roman Empire, elements of Roman culture and civilisation—most notably Vulgar Latin, which laid the foundation for the development of the Romanian language—were introduced.

Based on information from the inscription at Dionysupolis and the account of Iordanes, it is known that under the rule of Burebista, assisted by the great priest Deceneu, the first Geto-Dacian state was formed. In 44 BC, Burebista was assassinated by one of his servants. After his death, the Geto-Dacian state fragmented into four, and later five, kingdoms. The core of the state remained in the area of the Șureanu Mountains, where successive rulers such as Deceneu, Comosicus, and Coryllus held power. The centralised Dacian state reached the peak of its development under Decebalus.Small Encyclopedia of Universal History, p. 284 – Marcel D. Popa, Horia C. Matei – Editura Politică, Bucharest, 1988. During this period, a series of conflicts with the Roman Empire continued, with part of the Dacian state being conquered in 106 AD by the Roman emperor Trajan. Between 271 and 275 AD, the Aurelian retreat took place.

Period of the Principalities and the Phanariot Era

In the first millennium, waves of nomads swept across the territory of Romania: the Goths during the 3rd–4th centuries, the Huns in the 4th century, the Gepids in the 5th century, the Avars in the 6th century, the Slavs in the 7th century, the Magyars in the 9th century, the Pechenegs, the Cumans, the Uzes and the Alans during the 10th–12th centuries, and the Tatars in the 13th century. In 1054, a series of ecclesiastical differences and theological disputes between the Greek East and Latin West caused the Great Schism, eventually resulting in Romania adopting Orthodoxy.

In the 13th century, the first bearers of the Slavic noble title Knyaz south of the Carpathian Mountains are attested. Later, in the context of the crystallisation of feudal relations, as a result of the creation of favourable internal and external conditions (the weakening of Hungarian pressure and the diminishing of Tatars domination), autonomous feudal states emerged south and east of the Carpathians – Wallachia in 1310, under Basarab I, and Moldova in 1359, under Bogdan I. Among the Romanian rulers who played a more important role can be mentioned: Alexander the Good, Stephen the Great, Petru Rareș, and Dimitrie Cantemir in Moldova; Mircea the Elder, Vlad the Impaler, Michael the Brave, and Constantin Brâncoveanu in Wallachia; and John Hunyadi in Transylvania.

Beginning in the late 15th century, the two principalities gradually came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire. Transylvania, which throughout the Middle Ages was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, governed by voivodes, became a self-governing principality and a vassal of the Ottoman Empire from 1526. At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, Michael the Brave for a very brief period ruled over a large part of the territory of present-day Romania.

Early modern times and national awakening

The Kingdom of Hungary collapsed, and the Ottomans occupied parts of Banat and Crișana in 1541. Transylvania and Maramureș, along with the rest of Banat and Crișana developed into a new state under Ottoman suzerainty, the Principality of Transylvania. The Reformation, initiated in Germany by Martin Luther in 1517, encouraged the rise of Protestantism and four denominations—Calvinism, Lutheranism, Unitarianism, and Roman Catholicism—were officially acknowledged in 1568. The Romanians' Orthodox faith remained only tolerated, although they made up more than one-third of the population, according to 17th-century estimates.

The princes of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia joined the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire in 1594. The Wallachian prince, Michael the Brave, united the three principalities under his rule in May 1600. The neighbouring powers forced him to abdicate in September, but he became a symbol of the unification of the Romanian lands in the 19th century. Although the rulers of the three principalities continued to pay tribute to the Ottomans, the most talented princes—Gabriel Bethlen of Transylvania, Matei Basarab of Wallachia, and Vasile Lupu of Moldavia—strengthened their autonomy.

The united armies of the Holy League expelled the Ottoman troops from Central Europe between 1684 and 1699, and the Principality of Transylvania was integrated into the Habsburg monarchy. The Habsburgs supported the Catholic clergy and persuaded the Orthodox Romanian prelates to accept the union with the Roman Catholic Church in 1699. In the 18th century, Moldavia and Wallachia maintained their internal autonomy, but in 1711 and 1716, respectively, the period of the Phanariots began, with rulers appointed directly by the Porte from among the noble families of Greek origin in Constantinople. With the signing of the Ausgleich in 1867, Transylvania quickly lost its remaining political autonomy, being politically and administratively incorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary. The Church Union strengthened the Romanian intellectuals' devotion to their Roman heritage. The Orthodox Church was restored in Transylvania only after Orthodox monks stirred up revolts in 1744 and 1759. The organisation of the Transylvanian Military Frontier caused further disturbances, especially among the Székelys in 1764.

Princes Dimitrie Cantemir of Moldavia and Constantin Brâncoveanu of Wallachia concluded alliances with the Habsburg Monarchy and Russia against the Ottomans, but they were dethroned in 1711 and 1714, respectively. The sultans lost confidence in the native princes and appointed Orthodox merchants from the Phanar district of Istanbul to rule Moldova and Wallachia. The Phanariot princes pursued oppressive fiscal policies and dissolved the army. The neighbouring powers took advantage of the situation: the Habsburg Monarchy annexed the northwestern part of Moldavia, or Bukovina, in 1775, and the Russian Empire seized the eastern half of Moldavia, or Bessarabia, in 1812.

A census revealed that the Romanians were more numerous than any other ethnic group in Transylvania in 1733, but legislation continued to use contemptuous adjectives (such as "tolerated" and "admitted") when referring to them. The Uniate bishop, Inocențiu Micu-Klein who demanded recognition of the Romanians as the fourth privileged nation was forced into exile. Uniate and Orthodox clerics and laymen jointly signed a plea for the Transylvanian Romanians' emancipation in 1791, but the monarch and the local authorities refused to grant their requests.

The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca authorised the Russian ambassador in Istanbul to defend the autonomy of Moldavia and Wallachia (known as the Danubian Principalities) in 1774. Taking advantage of the Greek War of Independence, a Wallachian lesser nobleman, Tudor Vladimirescu, stirred up a revolt against the Ottomans in January 1821, but he was murdered in June by Phanariot Greeks. After a new Russo-Turkish War, the Treaty of Adrianople strengthened the autonomy of the Danubian Principalities in 1829, although it also acknowledged the sultan's right to confirm the election of the princes.

Mihail Kogălniceanu, Nicolae Bălcescu and other leaders of the 1848 revolutions in Moldavia and Wallachia demanded the emancipation of the peasants and the union of the two principalities, but Russian and Ottoman troops crushed their revolt. The Wallachian revolutionists were the first to adopt the blue, yellow and red tricolour as the national flag. In Transylvania, most Romanians supported the imperial government against the Hungarian revolutionaries after the Diet passed a law concerning the union of Transylvania and Hungary. Bishop Andrei Șaguna proposed the unification of the Romanians of the Habsburg Monarchy in a separate duchy, but the central government refused to change the internal borders.

Unification and the Kingdom of Romania

From the Little Union to the Great War

The modern Romanian state was created through the unification of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, accepted as a federative structure by the Great Powers following the Paris Convention of 1858, and later cemented by the simultaneous election as ruler of both states of the unionist Alexandru Ioan Cuza.150 de ani de la Unirea Principatelor Române
, 24 January 2009, ''Jurnalul Național'', accessed 6 July 2012 After carrying out numerous reforms that laid the foundations for the modernisation of the state, he was forced in 1866 by a broad coalition of the political parties of the time, also known as the "Monstrous coalition", to abdicate and leave the country.Constantiniu, Florin: ''A Sincere History of the Romanian People'', Bucharest, Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1997 – ISBN 973-9243-07-X

The union was at one time in peril, but the political leaders of the era succeeded in placing on the princely throne Carol I of Romania, who accepted the Constitution and took the oath on 10 May 1866. Eleven years later, on 10 May 1877, Romania proclaimed its independence—achieved on the battlefield—and in 1881, on the same day of the year, Carol was crowned as King of Romania. In 1913, Romania entered the Second Balkan War against Bulgaria, at the end of which it obtained Southern Dobruja. In 1914, King Carol I died, and his nephew, Ferdinand I, succeeded him on the throne.

World War I and the Great Union

In 1916, Romania entered World War I on the side of the Entente Powers. Although the Romanian forces did not perform well militarily, by the end of the war the Austrian and Russian Empires had disintegrated; the National Assembly in Transylvania, and the Sfatul Țării in Bessarabia and Bukovina proclaimed their union with Romania, and King Ferdinand I and Queen Maria were crowned sovereign of all Romanians in Alba Iulia on 15 October 1922. The Treaty of Versailles recognised all the union proclamations in accordance with the right to self-determination established by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s ''Fourteen Points''.

Interwar period

After having left the country and renounced his claim to the throne in 1925, Carol II returned in 1930 and usurped his son’s throne; influenced by his inner circle—referred to by historians as the "Royal Camarilla"—he gradually undermined the democratic system, and in 1938 he assumed dictatorial powers. Although he was pro-Western (especially Anglophile), Carol attempted to appease extreme centrifugal forces by appointing nationalist governments that adopted anti-Semitic measures, such as the Goga cabinet and the one led by the Orthodox Patriarch Miron Cristea.

World War II: Positions and territorial losses

Following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, in June 1940 Romania accepted the loss of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and the Hertsa region in favour of the USSR (as stipulated in the Soviet ultimatum of 28 June 1940). Unaware of the details of the Soviet–German pact, Carol attempted to secure an alliance with Nazi Germany, and appointed Ion Gigurtu as President of the Council of Ministers, who declared that he would pursue a Nazi pro-Axis (Berlin–Rome) policy that was anti-Semitic and fascist-totalitarian in nature. Between 4 July and 4 September 1940, by accepting Hitler's arbitration over Transylvania (after Gigurtu declared on radio that Romania must make territorial sacrifices to justify its Nazi orientation and full adherence to the Berlin–Rome Axis), Romania ceded Northern Transylvania—including the city of Cluj—to Hungary. The vast territories in Transylvania ceded by Ion Gigurtu to Hungary contained important natural resources, including gold mines. Ion Gigurtu also initiated negotiations to cede 8,000 km² of Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria, these negotiations were interrupted by Antonescu's unconditional acceptance of the territorial cession.

In response to the chaotic withdrawal from Bessarabia, the territorial cessions, public discontent, and protests from political leaders, King Carol II suspended the 1938 Constitution of Romania and appointed General Ion Antonescu as Prime Minister. This measure, supported by the Iron Guard, demanded that the king abdicate in favour of his son, Mihai. Subsequently, Antonescu assumed dictatorial powers and became President of the Council of Ministers, self-titling himself as the "Leader" of the state.Constantiniu, Florin: ''Hitler, Stalin and Romania – Romania and the Genesis of Operation “Barbarossa”'', Bucharest, Univers Enciclopedic, 2002�
History of Romania
”. Encarta. Accessed 14 March 2009.

World War II

In 1941, as an ally of Nazi Germany, Romania entered World War II by declaring war on the Soviet Union. A shift in fortunes only became discernible after the defeat at Stalingrad and the subsequent change of the USSR from a defensive to an offensive posture. On 23 August 1944, with the Soviet army having been present in northern Moldova since March, King Mihai I forcibly removed Marshal Ion Antonescu from power, as he refused to sign an armistice with the Allies of World War II.''Memoria''
Eugen Denize. Accessed 15 March 2009. Following Antonescu's outright refusal, King Mihai I ordered the dismissal and arrest of the marshal, and Romania switched sides to join the Allies.

Socialist Romania (1947–1989)

Less than three years after the Soviet occupation of Romania, in 1947, King Michael I was forced to abdicate and the People's Republic of Romania—a state of "popular democracy"—was proclaimed. The newly established communist regime, led by the Romanian Workers' Party, consolidated its power through a Stalinist-type policy aimed at suppressing any political opposition and transforming the economic and social structures of the old bourgeois regime.Final Report of the Presidential Commission for the Analysis of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania
Accessed 16 August 2010.

In the early 1960s, the Romanian government began asserting a certain degree of independence from the Soviet Union in its foreign policy,History
ICI. Accessed 15 March 2009. although it did not abandon its repressive policies (which it labeled "revolutionary conquests") in domestic affairs. In 1965, communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej died, ushering in a period of change in Romania."History » Communist Romania"
''Encyclopaedia Britannica''. Accessed 15 March 2009. After a brief power struggle, Nicolae Ceaușescu emerged as the head of the communist party, becoming General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party in 1965, President of the State Council in 1967, and President of the Socialist Republic of Romania in 1974. Ceaușescu's rule from 1965 to 1989 grew increasingly authoritarian during the 1980s.

Romania since 1989

In the context of the fall of communism throughout Eastern Europe during the revolutions of 1989, a protest in support of Reformed pastor László Tőkés that began in December 1989 in Timișoara quickly escalated into a national uprising against the communist regime, ultimately resulting in the execution of Ceaușescu and his wife Elena on 25 December 1989.

An interim council composed of figures from civil society and former communist officials assumed control of the government, and Ion Iliescu became the provisional president of the country. The new government reversed many of the authoritarian communist policies and dismissed several leaders of the former regime, although still influenced by members of the former regime (the basis for the Golaniad'','' and Mineriads).

Return to democracy

In May 1990, the first free elections in Romania since 1937 elections were held, with Iliescu of the National Salvation Front winning the presidency with 85% of the vote. In 1992, he was reelected in the first election after the adoption of a permanent constitution via a referendum held the previous year. Illiescu lost the 1996 election to Emil Constantinescu, but returned to power in 2000. Traian Băsescu was elected president in 2004 and 2009, serving until 2014 at which point Klaus Iohannis succeeded him, being re-elected in 2019 and serving until 2025. During these years several events occurred. In 2009, the country was bailed out by the International Monetary Fund as result of the Great Recession in Europe following the 2008 financial crisis.

The post-1989 period has been characterised by the privatisation and closure of several former industrial and economic enterprises from the communist period were closed, while corruption has been a major issue in contemporary politics.

A National Anticorruption Directorate was formed in the country in 2002. During the 2000s, Romania had one of the highest economic growth rates in Europe and has been referred at times as "the Tiger of Eastern Europe". This has been accompanied by a significant improvement in living standards as the country successfully reduced domestic poverty and established a functional democratic state.Human Development Report 2009 – Country Fact Sheets – Romania
. Hdrstats.undp.org. Retrieved on 21 August 2010. However, Romania's development suffered a major setback during the late 2000s' recession leading to a large gross domestic product contraction and a budget deficit in 2009. This led to Romania borrowing from the International Monetary Fund. Worsening economic conditions led to unrest and triggered a political crisis in 2012.

Since 2014, Romania launched an anti-corruption effort that led to the prosecution of medium- and high-level political, judicial and administrative offenses by the National Anticorruption Directorate. In 2015, massive anti-corruption protests which developed in the wake of the Colectiv nightclub fire led to the resignation of prime minister Victor Ponta. During 2017–2019, in response to measures which were perceived to weaken the fight against corruption, some of the biggest post-1989 protests took place in Romania, with over 500,000 people protesting nationwide.

The 2021 Romanian political crisis led to the outsting of Florin Cîțu's incumbent government. The Ciucă Cabinet then took power, with Romania since having experienced a shift towards authoritarianism and illiberalism, as well as an increased corruption. Around this time, Romania was also hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2024 presidential election, Independent candidate Călin Georgescu achieved a surprise win in the first round. However, the Constitutional Court annulled the election results, citing Russian meddling. The cancellation led to far-right protests, criticism by the Trump administration, and Ilie Bolojan becoming acting president in February 2025 as Iohannis resigned to political pressure. In the subsequent 2025 Romanian presidential election, Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan was elected president.

Geography

Romania is the largest country in Southeastern Europe and the twelfth-largest in Europe, having an area of . It lies between latitudes 43° and 49° N and longitudes 20° and 30° E. The terrain is distributed roughly equally between mountains, hills, and plains. The Carpathian Mountains dominate the centre of Romania, with 14 mountain ranges reaching above —the highest is Moldoveanu Peak

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