Romanian nationalism is a form ofnationalism that asserts thatRomanians are anation and promotes the identity and cultural unity of Romanians.[1][2] Its extremist variation is Romanianultranationalism.[3]
The predecessors of the modern Romanian state were the principalities ofWallachia andMoldavia, which for most of their existence were vassals of theOttoman Empire. One of the earliest proponents of Romanian nationalism was theMoldavian princeIacob Heraclid (ruled 1561-1563), who declared that the Romanians hadRoman ancestry and made failed attempts to unite Moldavia, Wallachia, andTransylvania- the three principal regions inhabited by Romanians.[4][5] Later the Wallachian princeMichael the Brave was able to, for a short time in 1600, unite the three regions, marking the first time this had ever been done under a single ruler.[6] For this he is still today regarded as a symbol of Romanian unity.[7]
In Transylvania, then underHabsburg rule, the cultural movement called theTransylvanian School was founded at a time when Romanians in the region faced social and political disenfranchisement. In the 1791 documentSupplex Libellus Valachorum Transsilvaniae ("Petition of the Vlachs [Romanians] of Transylvania", the School demanded equal rights for the Romanian population and asserted a Romanian national continuity stretching back toRoman Dacia.[8] The document was ignored.
The spread ofRomantic nationalism throughout Europe in the 19th century affected the Romanians as well. TheWallachian uprising of 1821, led byTudor Vladimirescu, has been described by scholars as espousing an early version of Romanian nationalism.[9][10] American historian Grant T. Harward credits Vladimirescu's 1821 uprising with being "the first major sign of Romanian nationalism".[11]
The closely related1848 revolts in Wallachiaand Moldavia (part of the broader Europeanrevolutions of 1848) also had nationalist overtones.Transylvanian Romanians during theHungarian Revolution of 1848, led byAvram Iancu, fought the Hungarian revolutionaries and themselves demanded autonomy.
These nationalist currents ultimately culminated with the establishment of thepersonal union of Moldavia and Wallachia underAlexandru Ioan Cuza in 1859, which became a full political union in 1862 and established the modern Romanian state. It remained under Ottoman suzerainty, though this status was by then merely nominal. On 21 May 1877, Romania declared independence from the Ottomans in the midst of theRusso-Turkish War (1877–1878), with these events and the associated fighting known in Romanian historiography as the "Romanian War of Independence". Following the victory of theRussian Empire and Romania, the ruling princeCarol I assumed the title ofKing, reflecting the fully independent status of the country.
TheKingdom of Romania first expanded its territory with the acquisition ofsouthern Dobruja fromBulgaria in 1913 during theSecond Balkan War, which nonetheless only had a minority of Romanians.[12]
The greatest and most important territorial expansion was initiated at the end of theFirst World War in 1918; the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire allowedTransylvania to unite with Romania; and the collapse of theRussian Republic and the subsequentRussian Civil War allowed the Romanians of Bessarabia to set up theMoldavian Democratic Republic, which then proceeded to unite with Romania. "Greater Romania" was fulfilled, and the ambitions of the nationalists and irredentists were satisfied.
However, there were now sizable non-Romanian minorities (especially Hungarians in Transylvania and Slavic groups in Bessarabia). The new multiethnic and multicultural reality fundamentally conflicted with nationalists' desire for a homogenous Romanian state,[13] and there was difficulty in imposing a "modern national consciousness" because of the hundreds of years of political separation of the Romanian regions.[14] In the eyes of the nationalist anthropologists, historians, and scientists, the survival of Romania became fundamentally bound to the need for maintaining a national-ethnic unity within one state; discourse on the subject "soon became invested with racial and biopolitical tropes."[14]
By the time of theRomanian fascist period (1937-1944), nationalist attitudes had developed to an extreme form and were imbued withantisemitism as well. The most intense fascist movement was that of theIron Guard, whichbriefly governed from 1940 to 1941. The Iron Guard espoused a strong religious nationalism, with its leaderCorneliu Zelea Codreanu writing that the group was a "spiritual school...[which] strikes to transform and revolutionise the Romanian soul."[15][16]
During this time, Romanian territorial successes were somewhat reversed with the1940 Soviet occupation and annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina and theforced cession of Northern Transylvania to Hungary that same year. Romania underIon Antonescu joined theSecond World War on the side of theAxis Powers and participated inOperation Barbarossa in 1941, receiving back Bessarabia plusOdessa and surrounding territory (theTransnistria Governorate) in compensation for the loss of Northern Transylvania. During the war, Antonescu pursued a policy of colonization in the Transnistria Governorate, marking a shift from a nationalist policy that valuedseparation from foreign nationalities to one that promoted expansionism and dominance over those perceived as lesser peoples (Slavs and Jews). This was seen as beneficial to the Romanian people because it involved the suppression of peoples perceived as a fundamental threat to Romania through the reduction of their "living space".[17]
The Axis Powers ultimately lost the war and the borders of Romania shifted once more. The Soviet Union retook Bessarabia and Romania regained northern Transylvania. To this day these are still the borders of Romania.
Acommunist regime was installed in Romania following the end of the Second World War, and during the early years of this regime Romanian nationalism was suppressed in favor of Sovietization.[18] After 1955 and especially during the 1960s, a process ofde-satellization occurred, ending the period of unchallenged Soviet domination and marking the end of any Sovietization in the country.[19]
During the rule ofNicolae Ceaușescu (1965-1989), a form of Romanian nationalism (known asnational communism) began to be promoted, involving the formation of acult of personality around Ceaușescu and the idealization of Romanian history (protochronism). Ceaușescu went as far as to semi-rehabilitate Ion Antonescu (deeming him a "misunderstood patriot")[20][21] and denouncing theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact which had allowed the Soviets to take Bessarabia in 1940.[22]
The communist era in Romania ended with theoverthrow of Ceaușescu in 1989.
Today the main expression of Romanian nationalism is the promotion of thereunification of Moldova and Romania. Moldova (formed from most of Soviet Bessarabia) gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 but failed to reunify with Romania. The movement faced hostility from previous pro-Russian governments of independent Moldova. Nonetheless, the pro-European government ofMaia Sandu has developed a closer relationship with Romania fostered by the links in culture and heritage between the two countries. Sandu herself stated once that if a referendum on the unification of Moldova and Romania was held, she would vote yes.[23][24]
Independent nationalist presidential candidateCălin Georgescu achieved first place in the first round of the2024 Romanian presidential election, though the election result was later annulled due toalleged Russian interference.[25]
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