Home How We Serve Project Romania Romania's History

Font Size:

The territory of modern Romania was settled before the 7th Century BC by the Geto-Dacian peoples. From the 7th Century BC, the Greeks established trading colonies on the Black Sea coast which, along with the rest of the Greco-Dacian territory, was occupied by the Romans until 271 AD.

Until the 10th Century, the area was populated by invading Goths, Huns, Avars, Slavs, Bulgars, and Hungarians, but the indigenous Romanians survived in village communities and by the 10th Century a feudal system had been established. From the 10th Century, Hungary occupied Transylvania which, by the 13th Century, was an autonomous Hungarian region though still containing a majority Romanian population.

The regions of Moldavia and Wallachia were also targeted for Hungarian expansion but were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire by the 15th Century. In 1812, Russia seized an area of Moldavia from the Turks, but the remainder of Moldavia and Wallachia, with French assistance, united in 1859 under Alexandru Cuza, to form a national state which bore the name Romania from 1862.

Cuza abdicated in 1866 to be succeeded by King Carol I, who in 1877 declared independence from the Ottoman Empire and expanded Romanian territory by taking Dobruja in 1878. Aiming to further extend its boundaries, Romania entered the First World War on the side of the Triple Entente (UK, France, and Russia). Immediate invasion by Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria followed; however, at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, Romania was awarded Transylvania and Bessarabia, bringing their ethnic Romanian populations within Romanian boundaries.

During the inter-war years, King Carol II and his Foreign Minister Titulescu formed alliances with France, UK, and the Little Entente (Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia) and signed a Balkan Pact with Turkey, Yugoslavia, and Greece. Relations were also established with the USSR. In 1938, however, King Carol II declared a personal dictatorship but was forced to abdicate in 1940 in favor of his son, Michael, while a Fascist dictatorship was created by Ion Antonescu. Romania supported Hitler's invasion of Yugoslavia and Russia in 1941, eventually sending two field armies to the Eastern front. The Ploesti oil refineries came under fierce aerial assault by Allied bombers several times during the war, which led to thousands of German anti-aircraft personnel being stationed in Romania to protect the vital oil fields.

By 1943, Soviet forces had gained superiority and started their drive west. Romanian attitude shifted and, as Soviet forces were about to invade, Romania capitulated and turned on the Germans. The pro-Soviet government of Radescu was replaced in 1946 by a new administration led by Petru Groza. This was a Communist government which, in 1947, abolished the monarchy and proclaimed Romania a People's Republic.

Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, Romania adopted a neo-Stalinist style of government, rebuilding the economy and purging religious and political opponents. Romania joined the Warsaw Pact in 1955 and Soviet troops withdrew in 1958. After Gheorgiu-Dejs death in 1965, Nicolae Ceausescu took over leadership and pursued a policy of independence from Moscow. Under Ceausescu, Romania began to cultivate relations with Western states, in particular with the U.S. and the Federal Republic of Germany (West). As a result, Romania was able to receive a World Bank loan in 1974, because the Romanian economy was crumbling under Ceausescu Is regime. A state of emergency was declared in the energy sector in 1985.

In 1989, it appeared as if Romania might escape the effects of the revolutions sweeping across Eastern Europe. Ceausescu was bitterly opposed to the changes occurring in Poland, Czechland, and Slovakia, but in December 1989 anti-government struggles in Bucharest and Timisoara developed into a brief civil war, ending with the capture, trial, and immediate execution of the Ceausescus.

In the presidential vote, Ion Iliescu of the National Salvation Front (FSN), a former communist, won a majority of the vote and control of the National Assembly and Senate. This did not halt the political unrest and violence, however, as many people believed the election results had been heavily influenced by voter coercion, reminiscent of the previous Communist regime.

Learn more about Romania.

• Project Romania is under way.
• The current situation in Romania.
• A brief history of Romania.
• The Romanian Revolution.