Romania

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Bucuresti Pride (2007). Photo by John Lee.

History, Geography and Politics

Romania, one of the most populous countries of Eastern Europe, has a complex history and culture influenced by centuries of conquering tribes and changing empires.
 
Antiquity and Roman Empire
 
Dacia was the first state in what is present day Romania. The Dacian kingdom reached its maximum expansion during King Burebista; modern Romania and Moldova and parts of Moesia. The region came under the scrutiny of Rome when the Roman province, bordering along the Danube, Moesia, was attacked by the Dacians in 87 AD during Emperor Domitian's reign. The Dacians were defeated by the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan in two campaigns stretching from 101 AD to 106 AD. The core of their kingdom became the Roman province of Dacia. In the 3rd century AD, after invasions from migratory populations, such as Goths, the Roman Empire abandoned Dacia in either 271 or 275 AD. It was the first abandoned Roman province.



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Bucuresti Pride 1 (2007). Photo by John Lee.



 
Middle Ages
 
In the Middle Ages, Romanians lived in three distinct principalities: Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania. Several nomadic groups; Goths and Huns in Dacia and Gepids and Avars in Transylvania ruled Romania until the 8th Century. Romania was invaded by Bulgarians in the 8th Century, where it remained a part of the Bulgarian Empire until the 11th century.
 
Ottomans and Independence
 
Wallachia, bordering the Ottoman Empire, gradually fell under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire during 15th century. One of the most famous rulers in this period was Vlad III the Impaler (also known as Vlad Dracula or Vlad Tepes) who maintained control in 1448, 1456–62, and 1476. The principality of Moldavia, under the rule of Stephen the Great between 1457 and 1504, reached its most glorious period.

Romania was formed by the regions of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859 and gained independence in 1878. In 1918, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia joined the nation-state. The 1878-1914 period was one of stability and progress for Romania. During the Second Balkan War, Romania joined Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey against Bulgaria. In the peace Treaty of Bucharest (1913) Romania gained Southern Dobrudja.
 




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Sivan Tuchman, a Peace Corps volunteer, conducts a discussion with Romanian teachers in Suceava. Photo by Zack Baddorf.



World Wars
 
At the start of World War I, Romania initially declared neutrality. Two years later, in August, 1916, Romania joined the Allies with the promise of support for the accomplishment of national unity. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire, Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania united with the Kingdom of Romania in 1918. The union of Bucovina and Bessarabia was ratified in 1920 by the Treaty of Versailles and Transylvania by Treaty of Trianon.
During World War II, Romania tried again to remain neutral. On June 28, 1940, under pressure from Moscow and Berlin, the Romanian administration and the army joined the Axis under the leadership of general Ion Antonescu. In August, 1944, Antonescu was toppled and arrested by King Michael I and Romania changed sides to join Allies.
 
Communist Romania
 
In 1947, the Communists overthrew King Michael I and Romania was proclaimed a republic under direct military and economic control of the USSR until the late 1950s. Romania pursued independent policies under the new leadership of Nicolae Ceausescu. Political prisoners were freed in a series of amnesties between 1962 and 1964. In total, an estimated two million people lost their lives directly because of the Communist regime. Under the influence from international financial organizations, Ceausescu initiated a project of total reimbursement of the foreign debt. To achieve this goal, he imposed policies that impoverished Romanians and exhausted the Romanian economy. These lead to a dramatic decrease in Ceausescu-popularity and culminated in his overthrow and death in the bloody Romanian Revolution of 1989.

Present Romania
 
After the fall of Ceausescu, the National Salvation Front (FSN), led by Ion Iliescu, restored civil order and took partial democratic measures. In 2004, Traian Basescu was elected president, with an electoral coalition called Justice and Truth Alliance (DA). The government, formed by a larger coalition, including the Conservative Party and ethnic Hungarian party joined NATO in 2004. It became an Associated State of the EU in 1995, an Acceding Country in 2004, and a member on January 1, 2007.
 




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Volunteers from Group 25 relax during a hike in Sinaia (2008). Photo by Zack Baddorf.



Geography
 
Romania is the ninth largest territory in the EU and has the seventh largest population of EU members with a population of 22 million people (2004). Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the sixth largest city in the EU with approximately 2.2 million people (2004). In 2007, Sibiu was chosen as European Capital of Culture.
Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the south. Romania has a stretch of sea coast along the Black Sea. It is located roughly in the lower basin of the Danube and almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory.
 
Government
 
The Constitution, written in December 1991, is based on France’s Fifth Republic Constitution and proclaims Romania as a sovereign, independent, unitary, and indivisible national republic. The Romanian Parliament consists of two chambers: the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies with 143 senators and 343 deputies, respectively. Members of both chambers are elected for a four-year term by party list vote. The president is also elected by universal vote for a four-year term and can be reelected only once.

The president represents the Romanian state abroad, monitors the activities of public institutions, and is the supreme commander of the armed forces and chairman of the Defense Council. The president nominates a candidate for the office of prime minister and appoints the government on the basis of a confidence vote received from Parliament. Local councils and mayors, elected by direct vote, are the public administration authorities in cities and towns. County councils and national government, respectively coordinate cities and towns.




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Monastery (2007).

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