A Brief History of Romania

Europe’s oldest remains of modern human were discovered in the “Cave With Bones” in present day Romania and is estimated to be 42,000 years old. However the first written history of the country was about the Getae tribes and dates back in 440 BCE. The Dacians, believed to be part of the Getae, made its greatest expansion during the reign of King Burebista in 82 BC. When the Romans left Dacia, the region was attacked by the Goths, then by the Huns in the 4th century. During the 11th century, Transylvania became an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Hungary.

When the 1848 Revolution fall apart, the Romanians’ goal to become a single state was supported by the Great Powers. During the Russo-Turkish War Romania defended with the Russian, and the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, the Great Powers declared the country as an independent nation. The country joined the Axis during World War II. It supplied the Nazi Germany with oil resulting to numerous attacks from the Allies. Eventually Romania changed sides and united with the Allies but the Paris Peace Conference of 1947 did not recognize its role in the defeat of the Nazi Germany.

The period between late 1940s and late 1980 is described as the Communist Romania. The leadership of Nicolae Ceauşescu initiated independent policies especially in terms of its foreign relationship. Thousands of people were killed, imprisoned, and tortured during his reign. The bloody Romanian Revolution of 1989 witnessed the ending of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s autarchic government. In 2004, Traian Băsescu was elected president, through an electoral coalition known as the Justice and Truth Alliance. Romania joined NATO in 2004, and became of member of the European Union in 2007.