History

Timeline and history of Romania

The land that we know and see today as Romania, has been inhabited since the Paleolithic Age. Different carved stone tools that prove the existence of inhabitants from that era have been found all across the country.

BC –

(10.000BC) – the approximate date of the first known art form, cave paintings, found in Transilvania area.
(4.000BC) – the approximate date of pottery found in all regions of Romania, dated back to the Neolithic Age.
(2.000BC) – The Tracian tribes from Indo-Europe, occupied the actual territory of Romania, after migrating from Asia.
(700BC) – The Greeks arrive and settle in the Black Sea Area. They establish and develop here the settlements of Histria (the citadel can be visited today and it includes numerous walls and monuments from different stages of development), Tomis (known today as Constanta) and Callatis (known today as Mangalia)
(650BC) - The Dacian inhabitants have been first documented by the Greek civilization
The kingdom was then called Dacia and the indigenous population came from the South Slavic tribes. (same as the population from Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia).
(70-44BC) - Burebista, the Dacian king was controlling the lands of our modern-day Romania.
(15BC) - The Roman empire has extended and included Dacia

AD –

(100 AD) - The Dacian civilization reaches its peak.
(103-105AD) - A bridge is built over the Danube by Apolodorus of Damascus, connecting the provinces of Moesia Superior (Roman) and Dacia, for Emperor Traian.
(106 AD) - After the battle held at Sarmisegetusa, The Roman Empire conquers and colonizes Dacia.
(106-274AD) - Dacia becomes part of the Roman Empire. The dacian inhabitants of the region include in their language numerous elements from the Roman vocabulary.
After fighting the barbarian Goths, most Roman troops abandon Dacia
(401-900AD) - Dacia is invaded by Nomadic tribes coming from Asia and Europe, like Goths, Visigoths, Huns and Slavs.
(896-1100 AD) - The West and center of today’s Romania is invaded by Hungarians (Transilvania, Banat and Crisana regions)
Romania was composed of a number of smaller regions, including Transylvania, Wallachia & Moldavia, each having an independent ruler
(1101-1200) - In the region of Transilvania appear the first German (Saxon) settlements. The Germans came to Transilvania at the advice of the Hungarian King, in his endeavors to consolidate his position in this territory. Also, Attila the Huns descendants, the Szeklers, came to the East and South East of Transilvania as border guardians.
(1201-1300) - The first division of the earlier unified population and territory takes place. The 3 major Principalities are created: Wallachia, Moldavia and Transilvania. Under Magyar ruling Transilvania becomes autonomous, until 1526. During these years the Magyar forces have tried unsuccessfully to take over Wallachia and Moldavia as well.
(1301-1400) – Wallachia and Moldavia offered resistance to the Ottoman Empire expansion.
(1428) – Vlad Tepes , later known as Vlad the Impaler is born
(1443) – The Turks take hostage Vlad the Impaler and he manages to flee back to Transilvania in 1451
(1459-1960) – He lives in the city of Brasov and Sibiu, where he impales approximately 40.000 people
(1463) – Vlad the Impaler is named Prince of Wallachia.
He is betrayed by his ally Hungarian ally, the King Mathias Corvinus. Is imprisoned in Hungary for 12 years and adopts the Catholic Religion.
(1476) – Vlad the Impaler regains his throne and is assassinated by the Ottoman ally Laiota Basarab
(1501-1600) - The Romanian principalities manage to keep their autonomy establishing the tributes payed to the Turks, who have conquered Hungary. At the same time the principality of Transilvania managed to prosper as a vasal state of the Ottoman Empire.
(1600) – Mihai Viteazul (Michael the Brave) manages to unite under his leadership the 3 principalites Wallachia, Moldavia and Transilvania. Unfortunately, the unity has lasted only one year. When Mihai Viteazul was defeated by the Hapsburg and Turks forces, the principalities were again spread: Transilvania went under Hapsburg ruling; Wallachia and Moldavia went under Turkish suzerainty
(1699) – Bucovina, the northern region of Moldavia, and Transilvania become part of the Habsburg Empire.
(1765) - Transylvania was declared a Grand Principality of Transylvania,
consolidating furthermore its special separate status within the Habsburg Empire
(1821) – Basarabia, region located on the east of Moldavia, is lost to the Russian Empire.
(1859) – Wallahia and Moldavia are united by the election as ruler of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, in both principalities.
(1862) – With the help received from the unionist in both principalities, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, has managed to unite also the Parliament and Government, creating also the political unification between the two regions.
(1866) - After the forced abdication of Alexandru Ioan Cuza in 1866, the unification of Wallahia and Moldavia has been sustained and consolidated by his successor, the Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (Carol I). In the same year the Constitution was adopted and the new state named Romania.
(1867) – Transilvania falls under the rule of Hungary leading into the Magyarisation of names and official language.
(1877) - Romania gains its full independence from the Ottoman Empire by taking Russia’s side in the Russo-Turkis War. During this time Romania also gained the coastline of the Danube Delta.
(1881) – Romania is officially proclaimed a kingdom.
(1892) – A memorandum is sent to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph, by the leaders of the Romanians in Transilvania, demanding the end of the Magyarization.
(1914) – The death of King Carol I ended Romania’s alliance with the Central Powers (Germany and Austria). After his death, Ferdinand I, nephew of Carol I, is named king (1914-1927). He enters Romania into World War I on the Allied side in 1916.
(1918) – Due to the peace settlement that followed the end of the war, Romania doubled in size and population.
(1919) During different public assemblies the representatives of towns, villages and local communities from Transilvania, Basarabia and Bucovina declare union with Romania.
(1930) – The rise of the fascist “Iron Guard” mass movement takes place.
(1938) - Carol II becomes king of Romania and established the royal dictatorship.
(1938-1940) – Germany raised treaties in Vienna and Munich, during which Southern Slovakia and Northern Transilvania are due to return to Hungary.
(1939) – Germany offers to Romania the guarantee of its borders, in exchange for a monopoly on the Romanian exports of oil, lumber and agricultural products.
(1940) – The Soviet Union, annexes Basarabia (today Republic of Moldova) and the Northern side of Bucovina. Germany and Italy, force Romania to give the Northern Transilvania to Hungary. After numerous demonstrations against him, King Carol II is forced by Marshal Ion Antonescu to abdicate.
(1940) – Carol II leaves Romania and his 19year old son, Mihai becomes king.
(1941) – Romania enters World War II on the German side against the Soviet Union, in order to regain Basarabia.
(1944) – King Mihai I, engineers a royal coup and manages to place under arrest Marshall Ion Antonescu. At the same time, Romania reenters World War II on the Allies Side, as Soviet Union forces in.
(1945) – Due to the Yalta Agreement, Romania becomes part of the Soviet system. The communist gradually take power over the country.
(1947) – Even though Romania lost some territories to the Soviet Union, Transilvania was regained under a peace treaty. The communists force King Mihai I to abdicate and proclaim Romania a People’s Republic. King Mihai I moves to Switzerland.
(1950) – Romania begins to distance itself from Moscow after Stalin’s death.
(1954) – A new bridge is built over the Danube between Giurgiu (Romania) and Ruse (Bulgaria)
(1955) – Romania signed the Warsaw Pact, along with 7 other countries from the Communist bloc (Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland).
(1964) – Romania’s autonomy is declared within the Communist Bloc.
(1965) - Nicolae Ceausescu becomes Communist leader in Romania and pursues a foreign policy that runs counter the Moscow lead and increases the repressive rule.
(1967) – Nicolae Ceausescu becomes ruler (dictator) of Romania.
(1969) – Richard Nixon visits Romania as the first president visiting a communist country since the begging of the Cold War.
(1974) - The position of “President of the Republic” was created for N. Ceausescu, who was named “President for life” by the Grand National Assembly.
(1974) – Romania becomes the first country from the Soviet Bloc that had an official relation with the European Community. A treaty was signed including Romania in the Community’s Generalized System of Preferences
(1976) – Nadia Comaneci scores the first perfect 10 in the Olympic games in Montreal.
(1977) – Romania is hit by an earthquake with 7.4 magnitude on Richter scale. The earthquake was noticed across southern Europe.
(1980) – Nicolae Ceausescu bans the import of any consumer products and orders exportation of all goods produced in Romania, leaving for the population only a minimum of food supplies. Severe restrictions were imposed on civil rights.
(1982) – Romania calls on the Soviet Union to withdraw from Afghanistan.
(1984) – The construction begins for the Palace of Parliament (Casa Poporului), know as the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon, according to square meters of construction.
(1985) – Nicolae Ceausescu starts the austerity program, wanting to reduce as much as possible the foreign debt, leading to food shortage and widespread of power cuts.
(1987) – Nicolae Ceausescu announces that Romania will not follow the Soviet reform trends.
(1989) - November - N. Ceausescu is elected again the Communist Party Chief.
(1989) – December, 15th – A riot starts in the city of Timisoara to prevent the arrest of the Reverent Laszlo Tokes.
(1989) – December 21^st – N. Ceausescu delivers his last public speech, being visibly stunned and confused by the fact that the audience began booing.
(1989) – December 22^nd – Revolts and riots start all across the country, after 23 years of dictatorial rule. Ion Iliescu and other Communist functionaries seize the control.
(1989) – December 25^th – N. Ceausescu and his wife Elena are captured in their attempt to leave the country. They are both executed following a popular uprising.
(1990) – Four associates of the former leader go into trial, charged with genocide.
(1991) – Prompting the resignation of the Prime Minister Petre Roman, over 5000 coal miners led by Miron Cozma, rampage through Bucharest.
(1993) – Marin Sorescu becomes minister of culture.
(1996) – Emil Constantinescu is elected president and Victor Ciorbea prime minister, moving aside all former communists.
(1997) – The Economic Reform program is announced
(1997) – US president Bill Clinton visits Bucharest and is cheered by thousands of people, raising hopes for Romania’s possible NATO membership.
(1998) – Prime minister Victor Ciorbea resigns and is followed by Radu Vasile (economist and leader of the National Peasant Party). He begins the reform with an economic program designed to restore foreign and domestic confidence.
(1999) – Coal miners move to Bucharest to protest, but their riot is crushed by police forces, arresting the leader Miron Cozma.
(1999) – Protests are organized by tens of thousands of workers in Bucharest and other regions, protesting for lower taxes and utility rates.
(1999) – Romania and Bulgaria agree to let NATO utilize their airspace for the bombing of Yugoslavia.
(1999) – IMF and Romania, come to a first agreement for a loan of 500 million $.
(1999) – Renault France, spends 50 million $ to acquire a controlling stake of Dacia car manufacturing, formerly owned by the state.
(2000) – Elections are held and Ion Iliescu, former Communist turned social democrat, wins the presidential runoff with 70% of the votes, over nationalist Corneliu Vadim Tudor.
(2001) – Law no 10, is enacted in Romania, leading the restitution for properties confiscated between 1945 ad 1989. In 2006, Romania passed legislation to return the property that had been confiscated under Communist rule, to former owners and to establish a fund that will pay the damages for the assents that could not be returned.
(2002) – President George Bush visits Bucharest, Romania and Vilnius, Lithuania, vowing to defend the hard-won freedoms behind the former Iron Curtain.
(2002) – The European Union executive commission declare that Romania alongside with other 11 countries are nearly ready to join the EU membership and recommend they shall be invited to join the union in 2004.
(2003) – A jaw bone of a cave-man is found in “Pestera cu Oase” and is reported to be the oldest fossil from an early modern human to be found in Europe. The bone was carbon-dated to be between 34 and 36.000 years old.
(2003) – A new constitution is approved, being designed to prepare formerly communist Romania for the EU membership.
(2004) – Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia are welcomed into the NATO alliance, during an official ceremony held in Brussels.
(2004) – Presidential elections are held for Ion Iliescu’s successor. Former mayor of Bucharest Traian Basescu wins the elections in a runoff with socialist Adrian Nastase.
(2004) – The main political parties form the Coalition for a Clean Parliament, in an anti-corruption pact.
(2005) – The European Parliament approved that Romania and Bulgaria enter the EU in 2007, but mentioned that both countries will need to continue their reforms.
(2005) – Prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu and his Cabinet, mentioned the fact that they would resign and early elections were to be held, after the court blocked essential justice reforms required by the European Union.
(2005) – Romania introduced a flat tax of 16%
(2006) – The Danube reaches a record high level in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia, flooding fertile farmlands, as the European authorities consider ordering the evacuation of the area.
(2006) – The European Commission recommends that Romania and Bulgaria join the EU in 2007, however under some of the hardest terms ever seen by new joining members.
(2007) – Bulgaria and Romania, managed to join the EU. At the same time, approximately 30.000 Israelis gained EU citizenship due to their dual registration in Romania.
(2007) - Romanian Parliament comes to an agreement, allowing the US to install 4 military bases and station up to 3000 troops in the country’s territory.
(2007) – President Traian Basescu is suspended on the grounds of power abuse. He is then reinstated after winning a referendum regarding his removal from the office.
(2008) – Chosen to become Prime Minister, Theodor Stolojan (former World Bank economist) renounces the opportunity and is replaced by Emil Boc, leader of the same centrist Democratic Liberal Party.
(2009) – The central bank of Romania, cuts interest rates by a quarter point, to 10%, but still remains the highest in the EU.
(2009) – The IMF, EU, World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan to Romania 20 billion euros (27 billion dollars). The loan is accompanied by an austerity program.
(2009) – Former King Mihai is endorsing his son in law as a candidate for the next presidential elections.
(2009) – The government coalition collapses after 9 Social Democrat ministers resign to protest the removal of the interior minister Dan Nica.
(2009) – The government faces a confidence vote in Parliament and fails. The Lawmakers explained that the government failed to improve the economy after going into recession following 3 years of growth. With 254 votes for and 176 against, Emil Boc is removed from the Prime Minister position.
(2009) – Presidential elections are held. Traian Basescu wins the elections with 50.33% of votes, against social democrat Mircea Geoana
(2010) – The government survives a no-confidence, after 30,000 people march in Bucharest against the nation wage cuts and austerity measures.
(2010) – Emil Boc’s government increase sales taxation from 19 to 24% and cuts public workers salaries by a quarter in order to reduce the budget deficit.
(2011) – Romania agrees to host a crucial part of a US missile defense system. The president announced the agreement after meeting with President Obama in Washington.
(2011) – The government approves a draft law that allows the building of an anti-ballistic interceptor site as part of the US missile shield
(2012) – Protest continue across the country reflecting the widespread anger against the austerity measure and the unpopular government.
(2012) – The government collapses after weeks of protest against the austerity measure. Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu, is named interim prime minister by Traian Basescu, until the formation of a new government.
(2012) – The Parliament approves a government lead by former spy chief Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, hoping to improve the popularity before the future parliamentary elections.
(2012) – Victor Ponta, head of the Social Democrat party, takes the office as prime minister after the government fell in a no confidence vote.
(2014) – The European Commission agrees that Bulgarians and Romanians have the right to work in any of the 28 countries in the EU.
(2014) – The ministers from the Liberal party have resigned from the government, one day after their party has exited the culling coalition.
(2014) – Approximately 450 US and Romanian troops and technical staff join in a military exercise in the northwestern region of Romania.
(2014) – Romania agrees that NATO can base fighters in the territory due to the crisis in Ukraine.
(2014) – The US Navy takes control of a new missile defense base in the southern region of Romania. One of the two European based interceptors for a NATO missile shield that Russia opposes.
(2014) – Presidential elections are held. Klaus Iohannis won the elections against the leftist Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
(2015) – Romania starts to transport natural gas to Moldova as the former Soviet republic moves toward the European union, becoming less dependent on Russia.
(2015) – Former president Ion Iliescu acknowledges approving the CIA’s request for a site in Romania.
(2015) – Prime Minister Victor Ponta, refuses to resign after being accused of corruption. The Parliament voted 231 to 120 to keep his immunity. However, the prosecutors indicted him as part of a wide range corruption investigation, increasing the pressure of his resignation.
(2015) – Victor Ponta announces his resignation after huge protests. The outgoing government approved an emergency ordinance to raise wages for staff in state education sector by 15%.
(2016) – A new NATO missile defense system is installed in the face of Russian opposition
(2017) – After winning the elections in 2016, the Social Democrats form the government.
(2017) – 200.000 people protest against the government attempts to slow down the anti-corruption measures, in the largest street demonstration since the fall of the Communist regime in 1989.
(2018) – The referendum to ban gay marriage fails due to low turnout.
(2019) – Prime-minister Mihai Tudose is replaced by Viorica Dancila
(2019) – the Government falls again, Ludovic Orban becomes prime minister.
(2019) – November – Presidential elections are held; Klaus Werner Iohannis wins the elections with 65,88% votes, against former prime-minister Viorica Dancila 34,12%.
(2019) – December – the online portal www.thisisromania.ro is officially launched, from the will to promote Romania worldwide.