Romanian Revolution of 1989

Romanian Revolution Of 1989

The Romanian Revolution was a series of riots and protests in Romania in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries. The Romanian Revolution started in the city of Timisoara and soon spread throughout the country, becoming the only one of these revolutions that forcibly overthrew a Communist government and executed the country's head of state.

The Revolution marked the end of the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu. Street protests and violence in several Romanian cities over the course of roughly a week led the Romanian dictator to abandon power and flee Bucharest with his wife, Deputy Prime Minister Elena Ceauşescu. Captured in Târgovişte, they were tried in a show trial by a military tribunal on charges of genocide, damage to the national economy and abuse of power to execute military actions against the Romanian people. They were found guilty of all charges, and immediately executed on the Christmas Day 1989.

The Romanian Revolution caused 1,104 deaths, 162 of these occurring in the protests that took place from 16 to 22 December 1989 and brought an end to the Ceauşescu regime and the remaining 942 in the riots before the seizure of power by a new political structure, the National Salvation Front. Most deaths occurred in cities such as Timişoara, Bucharest, Sibiu and Arad. The number of injured reached 3,352, of which 1,107 are for the period in which Ceauşescu still held power, and the remaining 2,245 are for the period after the seizure of power by the National Salvation Front.