Communist Romania
- (1947–1989)
| Year | Date | Image | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Following the abdication of Mihai I, the People's Republic of Romania is declared on 30 December against the majority of people who supported the monarchy. The new leader of Romania becomes Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party; | ||
| 1948 | A new constitution is ratified on 13 April. Two months later, on 11 June all banks and major enterprises are nationalized. During the year, also in the years to come, many pre-war politicians, businessmen, priests and even ordinary people are thrown in prisons. On 30 August, following the model of Soviet NKVD, the Romanian secret policed is formed; | ||
| 1949 | A forced collectivization, in which the agriculture is organized under the socialist model, comes into force. Romania join Comecon. The construction of Danube-Black Sea Canal starts. The canal was the most known labour camp in the history of Romania; | ||
| 1951 | During the night of 18 June the third-largest mass deportation in modern Romanian history takes place. Some 45,000 people are taken from their homes and deported to the Bărăgan plain; | ||
| 1952 | The Hungarian Autonomous Province, the one and only autonomous province in modern Romania, is created. It will be disestablished in 1968. The second Communist constitution is ratified; | ||
| 1953 | The Danube-Black Sea Canal is halted and the labour camp disestablishedied Iuliu Maniu dies in Sighet prison; | ||
| 1954 | SovRoms, joint ventures between Romania and Soviet Union are formed. They will prove their inefficiency for Romania from the first day of establishment and most of them will be dissolved in 1956; | ||
| 1955 | Romania joins the Warsaw Pact. On 14 February, a group of Romanian anti-Communists occupies the Romanian embassy in Berne demanding the release from prisons of many public personalities. With the help of the Swiss police, the order is re-established two days later. On 14 December, Romania join the United Nations; | ||
| 1956 | On 28 October a radio station calling itself "Romania of the future. The voice of resistance" begins broadcasting on different wavelengths. Many protests, especially amongst students, follows in November. On 31 December, Televiziunea Română start to broadcast first programmes; | ||
| 1957 | ARO is established in Câmpulung-Muscel and start to manufacture off-road vehicles. ARO IMS become the first car built in Romania after World War II. Over the next three decades ARO will be a landmark of Romania. | ||
| 1958 | The Soviet Union Army leave Romania after fourteen years of occupation; | ||
| 1959 | On 28 July, the Ioanid Gang carries out the most famous bank robbery ever to occur in a Communist state; | ||
| 1960 | Oliviu Beldeanu, the leader of the group that occupied the Romanian embassy in Berne five years earlier, is executed in Bucureşti; | ||
| 1965 | On 19 March, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej dies and Nicolae Ceauşescu is elected General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party and becomes the state leader. The official name of the country is changed into The Socialist Republic of Romania. The third Communist constitution is ratified; | ||
| 1966 | Intreprinderea de Autoturisme Piteşti is established. Two years later Romania start the mass production, the first mass production of a car - Dacia 1100. Nicolae Ceauşescu orders that the abortion decree signed in 1957 to be reversed and new policies to increase birth rate and fertility rate are introduced. The policy fails, as the population begins to swell, accompanied by rising poverty and increased homelessness children in the urban areas; | ||
| 1968 | Romania refuse to participate in the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Nicolae Ceauşescu openly condemns the action, thus he becomes a Western world favourite. Richard Nixon's visit to Romania was the first by an American president to a Communist country. The Patriotic Guards are formed as an additional defence force in case of an attack from the outside; | ||
| 1972 | In order to develop a "multilaterally socialist society", Nicolae Ceauşescu starts urban planning, following the ideologies of North Korea. The face of the country is completely changed in the years to come; | ||
| 1974 | Nicolae Ceauşescu becomes the first President of Romania. Romania become the first country in the Eastern Bloc ever to establish economic relations with the European Community. The Generalised System of Preferences is signed, followed by an Agreement on Industrial Products in 1980. | ||
| 1976 | At the age of 14, Nadia Comăneci becomes one of the stars of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. During the team portion of the competition, her routine on the uneven bars is scored at a 10.0. It is the first time in modern Olympic gymnastics history that the score had ever been awarded. Over the next years, Nadia will become one of the best known Romanians in the world; | ||
| The Danube-Black Sea Canal project restarts; | |||
| 1977 | On 4 March 21:20 local time, an earthquake occurs with a magnitude of 7.4 and epicentre in Vrancea at a depth of 94 kilometres. The earthquake killed about 1,570 people and injured more than 11,000. Total damages are estimated at more than two billion dollars. On 1 July 35,000 out of 90,000 miners in Jiu Valley decide to stop working. Their protest is the biggest of this kind in Communist Romania before the 1989 revolution. The strike only ends when Nicolae Ceauşescu intervened in person. | ||
| 1978 | Ion Mihai Pacepa, a senior officer in Securitate, defected to the United States becoming the highest ranking defector from the Eastern Bloc; | ||
| 1980 | Construction of the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant begins. The fourth Communist constitution is ratified; | ||
| 1981 | The 1981 Summer Universiade becomes the most important sport event ever to be hosted by Romania. Dumitru Prunariu becomes the first Romanian in space; | ||
| 1983 | As part of the urban planning programme, significant portions of the historic centre of Bucureşti are demolished in order to accommodate standardized apartment blocks and government buildings, including the grandiose Centrul Civic and the palatial House of the People, the second largest building in the world; | ||
| 1984 | Romania is, alongside People's Republic of China and Yugoslavia, one of the three Communist countries to take part to the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, USA. The Danube-Black Sea Canal canal is finally completed after nearly four decades; | ||
| 1986 | On 7 May, Steaua Bucureşti win the European Cup and become the first and only football team from a Communist country to win the trophy; | ||
| 1987 | In a climate of economic depression and food shortages a rebellion erupts on 15 November in the city of Braşov. Over 300 protesters are arrested for hooliganism. | ||
| 1989 | On 16 December, protests break out in Timişoara. Five days later Nicolae Ceauşescu organises a mass meeting in Bucureşti. The jeers and whistles soon erupt into a riot, as the crowd takes to the streets, placing the capital in turmoil. Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife leave Bucureşti putting an end to four decades of Communist rule in Romania. On 25 December, after a short trial, Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife are executed. |
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Romanian History
Famous quotes containing the word communist:
“I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)