Romania

by Klepper, Nicolae

• ISBN13: 9780781809351
• ISBN10: 0781809355
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-02-01
• Publisher: Hippocrene Books

Summary

As a state, Romania has only been in existence since 1859, but the history of its people stretches to the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age, to the Geto-Dacians and Romans. This concise history tells the fascinating story of the evolution of the Romanian people, the creation of the Romanian Principalities, their struggle against empire-building powers, and their eventual unification to form the state of Romania.

Author Biography

Nicolae Klepper was born in Bucharest, Romania. He moved to America with his parents at the outbreak of World War II. After obtaining engineering and business degrees, he worked and lived in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Now retired, Klepper lives in Edinburgh, Scotland

Table of Contents

Illustrations	xiii
Foreword	xvii
Acknowledgments	xxi
Introduction	1	(4)
Pronunciation Guide	5	(2)
Romanian Lands in Antiquity	7	(22)
Stone Age	8	(1)
Bronze Age	8	(4)
Indo-Europeans	11	(1)
Thracians	11	(1)
Iron Age	12	(17)
Early Geto-Dacians	12	(2)
Greek City-States	14	(1)
Geto-Dacians from 650 B.C. to A.D. 106	15	(14)
Dacia as a Roman Province (106 to 271)	29	(10)
Roman Victory	29	(3)
Province of Dacia and Its Surroundings	32	(1)
Life in Dacia Felix	33	(2)
Romanization of the Dacians	35	(1)
Withdrawal of the Romans from Dacia	36	(3)
Into and Out of the Dark Ages (Second-Fourteenth Centuries)	39	(18)
Perspective	39	(3)
Question of Identity	42	(1)
Millennium of Invasions	43	(3)
Avars	44	(1)
Slavs and Petchenegs	44	(1)
Bulgars	45	(1)
Cumans	45	(1)
Tatars (Tartars)	46	(1)
From Daco-Romans to Romanians	46	(4)
Language	48	(1)
Religion	49	(1)
Road to Statehood	50	(7)
Transylvania, Banat, Crisana, and Maramures	50	(2)
Wallachia	52	(1)
Moldavia	53	(1)
Dobrogea	54	(3)
The Romanian Principalities---First 300 Years (Fourteenth-Sixteenth Centuries)	57	(26)
Perspective	57	(1)
Transylvania	58	(4)
Wallachia	62	(10)
Mircea the Old	63	(2)
Alexander Aldea	65	(1)
Vlad Dracul	65	(1)
Vlad III Dracula	66	(3)
Tightening of Ottoman Control	69	(1)
Michael the Brave	70	(2)
Moldavia	72	(8)
Alexander the Good	72	(1)
Stephen the Great	73	(7)
A Short-Lived Union	80	(3)
The Romanian Principalities (1601 to 1821)	83	(22)
Perspective	83	(1)
Transylvania	84	(5)
More Attempts at Unification	84	(1)
Gabriel (Gabor) Bethlen	85	(1)
The Rakoczi Family	85	(1)
Hapsburg Rule	86	(1)
Act of the Union	86	(1)
Peasant Revolt Under Horea, Closca, and Crisan	87	(2)
Wallachia and Moldavia	89	(7)
Radu Serban	89	(1)
Radu Mihnea	89	(1)
Matthew (Matei) Basarab and Basil the Wolf (Vasile Lupu)	90	(3)
Cantacuzinos and Cantemirs	93	(1)
Constantin Brancoveanu	94	(2)
Cultural Development	96	(3)
Phanariot Regime	99	(6)
The Road to Unification (1821 to 1859)	105	(14)
Perspective	105	(1)
Transylvania	106	(2)
Wallachia and Moldavia	108	(9)
End of the Phanariot Regime	108	(4)
Russian Occupation	112	(1)
Organic Regulations	112	(1)
Revolutions of 1848	113	(2)
Crimean War	115	(1)
Union	115	(2)
Meanwhile, The Other Romanian Lands	117	(2)
Bucovina	117	(1)
Bessarabia	117	(1)
Dobrogea	118	(1)
The Road To Independence (1859 to 1881)	119	(14)
Perspective	119	(1)
Revolutions that Transformed Europe	119	(1)
Ottoman Empire	120	(1)
Alexandru Ioan Cuza	120	(6)
Political Parties	123	(1)
Reforms	124	(2)
Prince Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen	126	(7)
Into the Twentieth Century (1881 to 1918)	133	(14)
Perspective	133	(3)
Ententes and Alliances	133	(1)
World War I	134	(1)
Russian Revolution	135	(1)
King Carol I	136	(5)
Political Parties	136	(1)
Peasant Revolts	136	(3)
Neutrality	139	(2)
King Ferdinand I	141	(1)
World War I	141	(6)
Cultural Development in the Nineteenth Century	147	(16)
Early Nineteenth Century	147	(3)
Literature	148	(2)
Art and Architecture	150	(1)
Late Nineteenth Century	150	(13)
Literature	150	(1)
Junimea Literary Society	150	(1)
Mihai Eminescu	151	(3)
Ion Creanga	154	(1)
Visual Arts	155	(1)
Theodor Aman	155	(2)
Nicolae Grigorescu	157	(1)
Ioan Andreescu	158	(1)
Music	158	(1)
Ciprian Porumbescu	158	(1)
Eduard Caudella	159	(1)
Other Major Musical Events	159	(1)
Education and Historiography	159	(2)
Architecture	161	(2)
Greater Romania (1918 to 1940)	163	(22)
Perspective	163	(3)
Aftermath of World War I	163	(1)
Austria	163	(1)
Hungary	164	(1)
Bulgaria	164	(1)
Ottoman Empire (Turkey)	164	(1)
Germany and the Road to World War II	164	(2)
Growing Pains: The Union of 1918	166	(4)
Bessarabia	167	(1)
Bucovina	167	(1)
Transylvania, the Banat, Crisana, and Maramures	168	(2)
King Ferdinand's Postwar Romania	170	(2)
The Regency	172	(1)
King Carol II	172	(13)
National Peasant Party	172	(2)
Carol II's Rise to Power	174	(1)
National Liberal Party	174	(2)
Legion of the Archangel Michael and the Iron Guard	176	(3)
Nicolae Titulescu	179	(1)
National Christian Party	179	(2)
Royal Dictatorship	181	(4)
The Antonescu Regime (1940 to 1944)	185	(18)
Perspective	185	(3)
Ion Antonescu	188	(8)
National Legionary State	190	(2)
Romania at War	192	(4)
Jews of Romania	196	(4)
Jewish Holocaust	196	(2)
Iasi Pogrom	198	(1)
Romania as a Whole	199	(1)
Bessarabia, Bucovina, and Northern Transylvania	199	(1)
End of the War	200	(3)
Romania Under Communism (1944 to 1989)	203	(32)
Perspective	203	(2)
Romanian Communist Party	205	(2)
End of the War	207	(1)
Gheorghiu-Dej Era	208	(15)
Transition	209	(4)
Romanian People's Republic	213	(3)
Metamorphosis of a Nation	216	(2)
Education, Science, and Culture	218	(1)
Romania's Emancipation from the Soviet Union	218	(2)
Industrialization	220	(1)
Hungarian Uprising	221	(1)
Sino--Soviet Discord	221	(1)
Cuban Missile Crisis	221	(1)
Romania's ``Declaration of Independence''	222	(1)
Nationalism and Autonomy	222	(1)
Ceausescu Regime	223	(10)
Nicolae Ceausescu	223	(2)
Foreign Policy	225	(1)
Prague Spring	225	(1)
Treaty with West Germany	225	(1)
Further Contacts with the West	225	(1)
Trade and Industry	226	(1)
Domestic Policy	226	(2)
Ceausescu's Rise and Prominence	228	(1)
Ceausescu's Decline and Downfall	229	(4)
Jews of Romania under Communism	233	(2)
Cultural Development in the Twentieth Century	235	(14)
Early Twentieth Century	235	(4)
Literature	235	(1)
Visual Arts	236	(1)
Music	237	(2)
Architecture	239	(1)
The Interwar Years	239	(7)
Literature	239	(1)
Mihail Sadoveanu	240	(2)
Liviu Rebreanu	242	(1)
George Toparceanu	242	(1)
Visual Arts	243	(2)
Music	245	(1)
Architecture	245	(1)
Late Twentieth Century	246	(3)
Literature and Visual Arts	246	(1)
Music	246	(1)
Architecture	247	(1)
Communist Period	247	(1)
Post-Revolution	248	(1)
EPILOGUE Post-Communist Romania	249	(12)
Transition	249	(1)
Ion Iliescu	250	(1)
First Post-Communist Elections	250	(3)
Unrest, Demonstrations, and Violence	253	(2)
Iliescu Reelected	255	(1)
Opposition Wins	256	(2)
2000 Elections: The Return of Iliescu to Power	258	(3)
Historical Chronology	261	(16)
Bibliography	277	(6)
Index	283	(14)
About the Author	297