1.
Prime Minister of Romania
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The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers, when the term Government included more than the Cabinet, the title was officially changed to Prime Minister during the communist regime. Sorin Grindeanu has been the incumbent prime minister since 4 January,2017, one of the roles of the President of the Republic is to designate a candidate for the office of Prime Minister. The President must consult with the party that has the majority in the Parliament or, if no such majority exists, once designated, the candidate assembles a proposal for the governing program and the cabinet. The proposal must be approved by the Parliament within ten days, both the program and the cabinet membership are debated by the Parliament in a joint session of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The proposal is accepted if a majority of all Deputies. Once the vote of confidence is obtained, the candidate becomes the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister, the Ministers, and other members of the Government take an oath before the President, as stipulated under Article 82 of the Constitution. The Government as a whole and each of its members exercise their mandate from the date of the oath, the Prime Minister directs Government actions and co-ordinates the activities of its members. He submits to the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate reports and statements on Government policy, the President cannot dismiss the Prime Minister, but the Parliament can withdraw its support through a vote of no-confidence. List of Prime Ministers of Romania Nicolae C
2.
Carol I of Romania
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Carol I, born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the ruler of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected Ruling Prince of the Romanian United Principalities on 20 April 1866 after the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup détat, in May 1877, he proclaimed Romania an independent and sovereign nation. The defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War secured Romanian independence and he was proclaimed King of Romania on 26 March 1881. He was the first ruler of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty, which ruled the country until the proclamation of a republic in 1947, during his reign, Carol I personally led Romanian troops during the Russo-Turkish War and assumed command of the Russo/Romanian army during the siege of Plevna. The country achieved internationally recognized independence via the Treaty of Berlin,1878 and he married Princess Elisabeth of Wied in Neuwied on 15 November 1869. They only had one daughter, Maria, who died at the age of three, Carol never produced a male heir, leaving his elder brother Leopold next in line to the throne. In October 1880 Leopold renounced his right of succession in favour of his son William, who in turn surrendered his claim six years later in favour of his younger brother, after finishing his elementary studies, Karl entered the Cadet School in Münster. In 1857 he was attending the courses of the Artillery School in Berlin, up to 1866, when he accepted the crown of Romania, he was a Prussian officer. He took part in the Second Schleswig War, including the assault of the Fredericia citadel and Dybbøl, an experience which would be very useful to him later in the Russo-Turkish war. Although he was frail and not very tall, prince Karl was reported to be the perfect soldier, healthy and disciplined. He was familiar with several European languages and his family was closely related to the Bonaparte family, they enjoyed very good relations with Napoleon III of France. The former Domnitor of united Romania, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, had expelled from the country by the leading noblemen. Cuzas double election, both in Wallachia and in Moldavia) had been the basis on which the Romanian Principalities unification was recognized by the European powers, with him gone, the country was in danger of disintegration. As Romanian politicians searched for a successor, Napoleon suggested Karl, napoleons recommendation weighed heavily with Romanian politicians of the time, since Romania was strongly influenced by French culture. Another factor was Karls blood relation to the ruling Prussian family, ion Brătianu was the Romanian politician who was sent to negotiate with Karl and his family the possibility of installing him on the Romanian throne. Due to the conflict between Prussia and the Austrian Empire, Karl travelled incognito by railroad from Düsseldorf to Baziaș. He received there a Swiss passport from a Swiss public clerk, friend of his family, from Baziaș he travelled by boat to Turnu Severin, as there was no railroad to Romania. As he crossed the border onto Romanian soil, he was met by Brătianu and he was elected Domnitor on 20 April
3.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Romania)
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania is one of the fifteen ministries of the Government of Romania. The current Foreign Minister is Lazăr Comănescu, Romania used the Julian calendar until 1919, but all dates are given in the Gregorian calendar. The following party abbreviations are used, Additionally, the stance of prime ministers prior to the development of a modern party system is given by C, MC, RL. Interim officeholders are denoted by italics, for those who held office multiple times, their rank of service is given by a Roman numeral
4.
Romania
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Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, the River Danube, Europes second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romanias Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest are marked by one of their tallest peaks, Moldoveanu, modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war, following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition back towards democracy and it has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are speakers of Romanian. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with artists, musicians, inventors. For similar reasons, Romania has been the subject of notable tourist attractions, Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning citizen of Rome. The first known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, after the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumân gradually fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form român. Tudor Vladimirescu, a leader of the early 19th century. The use of the name Romania to refer to the homeland of all Romanians—its modern-day meaning—was first documented in the early 19th century. The name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861, in English, the name of the country was formerly spelt Rumania or Roumania. Romania became the predominant spelling around 1975, Romania is also the official English-language spelling used by the Romanian government. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the region of the earliest European civilization. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage
5.
United Principalities
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On 24 January 1862, the Principality of Moldavia and the Principality of Wallachia formally united to create the Romanian United Principalities, the core of the Romanian nation state. In 1866 a new constitution came into effect, giving the country the name of Romania, Transylvania was added after the First World War. It was subsequently used by Romanian historians as an alternative to the older term Romanian Lands. English use of Romanian Principalities is documented from the half of the 19th century. In the period between the late 18th century and the 1860s, Danubian Principalities was used, a term that sometimes included Serbia, in contrast, use of Romanian Principalities sometimes included Transylvania but never Serbia. Though internationally formally recognized only after the period of Cuzas reign, following the 1877-8 war of independence, Romania shook off formal Ottoman rule, but eventually clashed with its Russian ally over its demand for the Budjak region. Ultimately, Romania was awarded Northern Dobruja in exchange for southern Bessarabia, the Kingdom of Romania subsequently emerged in 1881 with Prince Carol being crowned as King Carol I of Romania. Alexandru Ioan Cuza took steps to unify the administrations of the two Romanian Principalities and gain recognition for the Union. Opposition from the large-land-owners dominated parliament to Cuza resulted in a coup against him in 1864 and he subsequently instituted authoritarian rule but his popular support, strong at the time of the coup, gradually waned as the land reform failed to bring prosperity to the peasant majority. Cuza was forced to abdicate in 1866 by the two political groups, the Conservatives and the Liberals, who represented the interests of former large-land-owners. Although the event sparked some anti-unionist turmoil in Cuzas native province of Moldavia, the new governing coalition appointed Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as the new Ruling Prince of Romania in a move initially rejected by the European powers but later on accepted. In the first year of Carols reign Romania adopted its first constitution and this instrument provided for a hereditary constitutional monarchy, with a Parliament being elected through censitary suffrage although the country remained under Ottoman suzerainty. Carol was not unanimously accepted, and a rise in republican sentiment culminated with an uprising in Ploieşti in 1870 and a revolt in Bucharest in 1871, both of which were quelled by the army. In April 1877, in the wake of a new Russo-Turkish war, on May 9, the Romanian parliament declared the independence of the principality, and joined the war on the Russian side. After several Romanian victories south of the Danube and the victory of the Russian-led side in the war. Nevertheless, Romania was made to exchange Southern Bessarabia for Northern Dobruja, in 1881, the countrys parliament proclaimed Romania a kingdom. Danubian Principalities Romanian Old Kingdom Keith M. Hitchins, The Romanians, 1774–1866 online
6.
Barbu Catargiu
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Barbu Catargiu was a conservative Romanian politician and journalist. He was the first Prime Minister of Romania, in 1862 and he was a staunch defender of the great estates of the boyars, and notably originated the conservative doctrine that feudalism in Romania had never existed. Catargiu was born on 26 October 1807 to Ștefan Catargiu, a political activist and he lived abroad in Paris from 1825 to 1834, where he studied law, history, and philosophy. He returned to Wallachia for a time, and was a member of the Obsteasca Assembly of Wallachia. An opponent of violence and armed revolution, he resumed his travels during the Revolutions of 1848, working primarily as a journalist. After his return to Romania, Catargiu entered political life as a firm conservative and he believed that evolution, rather than violent revolution was the best way to modernize the Government, and would give the fledgling Romania the best chance at unity. He also advocated a republic as the best form of governance. Catargiu was appointed to the position of minister of finances by Alexandru Ioan Cuza and he quickly gained acclaim for his oratorical skills, and became the focal point of the Conservative Party. He did very little to organize the party, instead depending on his own charisma. On 15 February 1862, Catargiu was sworn in as the first prime minister of Romania, as prime minister, Catargiu hoped to reorganize and simplify the administration. He formed four divisions, two in what had been Wallachia and two in Moldavia. He placed the four divisions under the supervision of a minister of the interior, arguably the most important act of his rule was his order to begin a railroad in Moldavia that would link the two provinces and greatly aided unification. He also continued his support for the old order and claimed that large estates were historically sanctioned and were solely the property of the boyars and he also clamped down on rioting in the cities, censored the press, and refused to allow large assemblies to meet. He denied the right of the people to meet on the Bucharest Field of Liberty to commemorate the Revolution of 1848, one week after the Field of Liberty Incident, on 20 June 1862, Catargiu was shot and killed at close range when leaving a parliamentary meeting. The assassin was never apprehended, despite the efforts of the police force, the killing left the Conservative Party without a strong leader or sense of direction. They quickly lost power, as Catargiu was replaced by Nicolae Crețulescu, despite Catargius relative unpopularity, his memory was celebrated by the Romanians. A statue of him was placed near the Metropolitan Tower, close to where he was killed, russia and the Formation of the Romanian National State 1821-1878. New York, Arno Press & The New York Times, Romanian List of Notable Assassination Attempts Romanian Language Biography
7.
Apostol Arsache
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Apostol Arsache or Apostolos Arsakis was a Greek-Romanian politician and philanthropist. He was one of the benefactors of 19th century Greece. Arsache was born in the village of Hotovë, Përmet District, southern Albania, in 1800 Arsache moved together with his family to Vienna, there he was educated in a school of the local Greek diaspora. Among his teachers was Neophytos Doukas, prominent figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment, at 1807 Doukas published an epigram composed by Arsache about the work, Breviarium historiae Romanae, of historian Eutropius. He then went to the University of Halle and studied Medicine, Arsache composed a treatise under the title Έκθεσις συνοπτική της Ιατρικής ιστορίας in Ancient Greek, which was published at the Greek periodical Hermes o Logios, in Vienna. At 1807 he published his thesis De Piscium Celebro et Medulla Spinali in Latin, in 1814 he moved to Bucharest, Romania. In the Cabinet of Barbu Catargiu, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and following Catargius assassination on 20 June and he became one of the major benefactors of the newly established Greek state. In 1850 he offered large sums of money for the establishment of an educational institutions in the Greek capital, Athens. Arsache donated a total of 600,000 golden drachmas for this purpose and this institution bore the name Arsakeio after him. Because of his initiative the Greek Parliament gave him honorary Greek citizenship and he also managed to build a school in his home town in 1870
8.
Ion Ghica
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Ion Ghica was a Romanian revolutionary, mathematician, diplomat and politician, who was Prime Minister of Romania five times. He was a member of the Romanian Academy and its president many times. He was the brother and associate of Pantazi Ghica, a prolific writer. He was born in Bucharest, Wallachia, to the prominent Ghica boyar family, Ion Ghica was educated in Bucharest and in Western Europe, studying engineering and mathematics in France from 1837 to 1840. Ion Ghica became a lecturer on mathematics at the Academy which was founded by the same Prince Sturdza in Iași, while in Istanbul, he was appointed Prince of Samos, where he proved his leadership skills by extirpating local piracy. After completing the task, Ghica was awarded the title of Prince of Samos by Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid I in 1856. In 1859, after the union of Moldavia and Walachia had been effected, later, despite being trusted by Prince Cuza, Ghica took active part in the secret grouping that secured Cuzas overthrow. He was the first prime minister under Prince of Romania Carol of Hohenzollern, Ghica is also noted as one of the first major Liberal figures in the Kingdom of Romania, and one of the leaders of the incipient Liberal Party. The matter of the Liberals loyalty was ultimately settled 1876, with the exceptionally long Liberal Ministry of Ion Brătianu, in 1881, Ghica was appointed Romanian Minister in London, an office he retained until 1889, he died in Ghergani, Dâmbovița County. Beside his political distinction, Ion Ghica earned a reputation by writing his Letters, addressed to Vasile Alecsandri. Conceived and written during his residency in London, the letters depict the stage of Romanian society. He was also the author of Amintiri din pribegie, in 1848 and he was the first to advocate the favoring of local initiatives over foreign investments in industry and commerce - to a certain extent, this took the form of protectionism
9.
Nicolae Golescu
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Nicolae Golescu was a Wallachian Romanian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania in 1860 and May–November 1868. A member of the Golescu family of boyars, Nicolae was born in Câmpulung as the son of Dinicu Golescu, Nicolae and his brother Ștefan returned in 1830 to join the Wallachian Army, where Nicolae became a major in 1834. In the same year he joined the Philarmonic Society, a similar to the Freemasonry. In 1840 he was a prosecutor in the trial of the participants in the Mitică Filipescu plot, in the meantime, he began taking part in gatherings of various revolutionary societies. He joined the liberals, being part of the 1848 revolutionary committee, together with Ion Ghica, Nicolae Bălcescu, Ion Heliade Rădulescu. Afterwards, on 11 June 1848, when the Wallachian revolution started in Bucharest, the following week, he and Ana Ipătescu took initiative in rallying civilians in defense of the revolutionary power, as it was threatened by conservative plot. In 1866, after joining the alliance of Liberals and Conservatives against Cuzas unsanctioned personal regime and he was then Foreign Minister and a member of Ion C. Brătianus Liberal Party, formed during the rule of Carol I
10.
Alexandru G. Golescu
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Alexandru G. Golescu was a Romanian politician who served as a Prime Minister of Romania in 1870. Alexandru G. Golescu studied at the Saint Sava Academy and then in Paris, at the École dArts et Métiers, and returned to be an engineer in Wallachia. Together with Nicolae Bălcescu, Ion Ghica and Christian Tell, Golescu was a member of the Frăția. He returned to Paris in 1845 to be a member of a society of the Romanian students. He took part in the Wallachian revolution of 1848, and were members of the Revolutionary Committee formed around Frăția and he was a secretary of the Provisional Government, and served as its representative in France after 14 July 1848. Golescu was also active in negotiating an agreement between the Hungarian government of Lajos Kossuth and the Transylvanian Romanian forces of Avram Iancu, and he later served several times as minister and once, for only half a year, as Prime Minister under Prince Carol. He died at his estate in Rusănești, Olt County, golescu-Negru, by James Chastain,19 October 2004, at the Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions
11.
Manolache Costache Epureanu
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Manolache Costache Epureanu was twice the Prime Minister of Romania as a representative of the Conservative Party, in 1870 and in 1876. Born in Bârlad, he studied in Heidelberg, Germany and returned to Moldavia to participate in the 1848 revolutionary movement, in 1866, he was the president of the council which decided to invite a foreign dynasty to rule Romania. In 1871, during the Catargiu conservative government, Epureanu was the Minister of Justice between October 1872 and March 1873 and he then switched to the opposition and in 1876, he was a Liberal Prime Minister, but later he switched again to the Conservative Party. He published Chestia locuitorilor privită din punctul de vedere al Regulamentului organic and he died in Schlangenbad, Duchy of Nassau, which is now in Germany. Dimitrie R. Rosetti Dicționarul contimporanilor, Editura Lito-Tipografiei Populara
12.
Kingdom of Romania
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The Kingdom of Romania was a constitutional monarchy which existed between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania. As such, it is distinct from the Romanian Old Kingdom. From 1859 to 1877, Romania evolved from a union of two vassal principalities under a single prince to a full-fledged independent kingdom with a Hohenzollern monarchy. During 1918-20, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Eastern Moldavia, in 1947 King Michael was compelled to abdicate and a socialist republic ruled by the Romanian Communist Party replaced the monarchy. The 1859 ascendancy of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as prince of both Moldavia and Wallachia under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire united an identifiably Romanian nation under a single ruler. On 5 February 1862 the two principalities were united to form the Principality of Romania, with Bucharest as its capital. On 23 February 1866 a so-called Monstrous coalition, composed of Conservatives and radical Liberals, the German prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was appointed as Prince of Romania, in a move to assure German backing to unity and future independence. He immediately adopted the Romanian spelling of his name, Carol, on 15 March 1881, as an assertion of full sovereignty, the Romanian parliament raised the country to the status of a kingdom, and Carol was crowned as king on 10 May. Abstaining from the Initial Balkan War against the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Romania entered the Second Balkan War in June 1913 against the Tsardom of Bulgaria,330,000 Romanian troops moved across the Danube and into Bulgaria. One army occupied Southern Dobrudja and another moved into northern Bulgaria to threaten Sofia, Romania thus acquired the ethnically-mixed territory of Southern Dobrudja, which it had desired for years. In 1916 Romania entered World War I on the Entente side, the term came into use after World War I, when the Old Kingdom was opposed to Greater Romania, which included Transylvania, Banat, Bessarabia, and Bukovina. Nowadays, the term mainly has a historical relevance, and is used as a common term for all regions in Romania included in both the Old Kingdom and present-day borders. Romania delayed in entering World War I, but ultimately declared war on the Central Powers in 1916, War with the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 resulted in the occupation of Budapest by Romanian troops and the end of Béla Kuns Bolshevik regime. At the Paris Peace Conference, Romania received territories of Transylvania, part of Banat, Bessarabia, thus, Romania in 1920 was more than twice the size it had been in 1914. Although the country was satisfied and had no territorial claims, it aroused the enmity of Bulgaria, and especially Hungary. Greater Romania now encompassed a significant minority population, especially of Hungarians, by contrast, the prewar Romanian state had only one real minority, Jews, but nonetheless anti-Semitism was widespread. Transylvania had significant Hungarian and German population, and with a contemptuous attitude towards Romanians. Both groups were excluded from politics as the postwar Romanian regime passed an edict stating that all personnel employed by the state had to speak Romanian
13.
Gheorghe Manu
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Gheorghe Manu was a Romanian Army general, artillery inspector and statesman. Returning to his country in 1858, he joined the Romanian Army and he was in charge of this task until he resigned in 1884. From 1869 to 1870, Manu, a colonel, was part of the cabinets of Dimitrie Ghica and Manolache Costache Epureanu, in 1874, he was chosen Mayor of Bucharest, keeping this function until 1877. He was the first Romanian decorated with Virtutea Militară, in May 1877, after the war, he was artillery inspector until 1888, when he resigned. He was also a War Minister in the Theodor Rosetti and Lascăr Catargiu governments and he was also Prime Minister between 5 November 1889 and 15 February 1891. On 27 November 1891, in the Lascăr Catargiu cabinet, he became the Minister of State Property, but quit to become the President of the Chamber of Deputies, a post he held until 1895, Dimitrie R. Rosetti Dicționarul contimporanilor, Editura Lito-Tipografiei Populara
14.
Dimitrie Sturdza
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Dimitrie Sturdza was a Romanian statesman and author of the late 19th century, and president of the Romanian Academy between 1882 and 1884. Born in Iași, Moldavia, and was educated there at the Academia Mihăileană and he continued his studies in Germany at Munich, Göttingen, Bonn, and Berlin. He took part in the movements of the time. Sturdza was private secretary to Prince Alexander John Cuza and he afterwards turned against the increasingly unsanctioned rule of Cuza, He became Minister of Public Instruction in 1859, and was one of the most zealous promoters of the overthrow of Cuza. In 1866, he joined Ion Brătianu and others in the deposition of Cuza, and he became a member of the Liberal government. In the cabinet of Bratianu, 1876–88, he held ministerial posts. In 1899 he was elected leader of the National Liberal Party in succession to Brătianu, for his last time in office, in 1907, Sturdza was called by King Carol I to handle the crisis created by the peasants revolt of March. Although noted for his capacity for work, he was also a nationalist, resentful of aliens and he was appointed permanent secretary of the Romanian Academy, and became a recognized authority on Romanian numismatics. His son Alexandru Sturdza, by then a Colonel in the Romanian Army, defected to the Germans in 1916, during the World War I. roi de Roumanie Sturdza family Ion Luca Caragiale, Trădarea românismului
15.
Petre S. Aurelian
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Petre S. Aurelian was a Romanian politician. A member of the National Liberal Party, he served as a Prime Minister of Romania between 2 December 1896 and 12 April 1897. He studied at Saint Sava College, Bucharest and then in France at the Superior School of Agronomy of Grignon and he was a deputy, a senator, the minister of Public Works, of agriculture and of Education. Aurelian was elected as member of the Romanian Academy in 1871 and was its president between 1896 and 1897 and he died in Bucharest on 24 January 1909
16.
Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino
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Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino, or Cantacuzino-Nababul, was a Romanian politician and lawyer, one of the leading Conservative Party policymakers. He twice served as the Prime Minister of Romania, between 23 April 1899 and 19 July 1900, and between 4 January 1906 and 24 March 1907 and he resigned from office after failing to put down the large-scale peasants revolt. The immensely rich Gheorghe G. Cantacuzino was born into the aristocratic Cantacuzino family, the Cantacuzino Palace of Bucharest and the Cantacuzino Castle of Bușteni were built by him. He was the father of Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino and Mihail G. Cantacuzino, as well as the father-in-law of Alexandrina Pallady-Cantacuzino
17.
Petre P. Carp
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Carp was a Moldavian, later Romanian statesman, political scientist and culture critic, one of the major representatives of Romanian liberal conservatism, and twice the countrys Prime Minister. His youth was intertwined with the activity of Junimea club, which he co-founded with critic Titu Maiorescu as a literary society and he was a contributor to the Junimea platform Convorbiri Literare, and founder of the newspapers Térra and Moldova. Widely seen as unyielding and trenchant in his stance, and respected as an orator. Carp stood against the majority current in political debates. His entire discourse was an alternative to the protectionist, antisemitic, welcoming Westernization and free trade, his vision of development nonetheless rested on gradualism and criticized modern experiments in governance. The two Carp administrations are remembered for their reforms, their encouragement of foreign investments. A Germanophile and a Russophobe, Carp gathered consensus for steering the Kingdom of Romania into the Triple Alliance, during that time, he was the only prominent public figure to demand a declaration of war against the Entente Powers. He came out of retirement during the German occupation of Romania and this final project caused his fall into disgrace once the legitimate government regained control. Carp was a scion of the old boyar class in Moldavia, his family has attested roots going back to the 17th century, the Carps were related to other noble houses, including the Cozadinis, the Racovițăs and the Kostakis. They owned the estate of Țibănești, formed over the centuries by the accumulation of yeomen farmland. Carps father, also known as Petre, was a Spatharios of the Princely Court, educated abroad during the earliest wave of Westernization, fascinated by Enlightenment ideals and the Carboneria, he took part in political agitation before the Moldavian Revolution of 1848. His wife, Petre P. Carps mother, was Smaranda Radul, the couple had another son, who died at birth. The future Conservative leader was born in the Moldavian capital of Iași, when he was still a young child, his father took him on his first trip out of Moldavia, they traveled by stagecoach through the Austrian Empire, and then to Prussia. In Berlin, Petre Jr enlisted at the bilingual Französisches Gymnasium, young Carp received a classical education in literature, and was noted as a connoisseur of works by Homer, J. W. Goethe, and especially William Shakespeare. He took his Matura with the highest grade of his class, Carp affiliated with a notorious student fraternity, the Corps Borussia. It was in Bonn that Carp made his debut as an orator, on behalf of the student fraternities, Carp welcomed Jérôme, cousin of French Emperor Napoleon III, and was remarked by the visitor for his clear and intellectually honest political stance. Carps future colleague, Moldavian Iacob Negruzzi, also met him as a student. Carp was in Prussia when Moldavia merged with Wallachia to create the United Principalities and he returned to Iași in autumn 1862, having just turned 25, and soon after dedicated himself to reanimating the citys intellectual scene
18.
Titu Maiorescu
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Titu Liviu Maiorescu was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the Junimea Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the half of the 19th century. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Foreign Minister between 1910 and 1914 and Prime Minister of Romania from 1912 to 1913 and he represented Romania at the Peace Conference in Bucharest that ended the Second Balkan War. In politics as in culture he favoured Germany over France and he opposed Romanias entry in World War I against Germany, but he nevertheless refused to collaborate with the German army after it had occupied Bucharest. Titu Liviu Maiorescu was born in Craiova, on 15 February 1840, Maiorescus mother, born Maria Popazu, was the sister of the bookman bishop of Caransebeș, Ioan Popazu. The family Popazu came from Vălenii de Munte and it had Aromanian origins, being a theologian by trade, Ioan Maiorescu proved to be a free thinker. He worked at a teacher in Cernăuți, Craiova, Iași, Bucharest, Ioan Maiorescu became an inspector for the schools of Oltenia, then he worked as a teacher at the Central School of Craiova. Settling in Vienna, Ioan Maiorescu wrote articles in the Austrian newspapers concerning Romanian, between 1846 and 1848 Titu Maiorescu attended the primary school in Craiova. During the days of the revolution, Ioan Maiorescu was sent on a mission to Frankfurt am Main, while Maria Maiorescu and their children travelled to Bucharest, Brașov and Sibiu. In December 1848, under the leadership of Avram Iancu, Ioan Maiorescus family arrived in Blaj, Titu Maiorescu continued primary school between 1848 and 1850 at Protodeacon Iosif Baracs School. Between 1850 and 1851, after finishing school, Titu Maiorescu was enlisted at the Romanian Gymnasium from Schei-Braşov. He attended grade fifth at the Romanian gymnasium from Brașov and met Anton Pann, in September 1851 the Maiorescu family settled in Vienna, where his father was working within the Ministry of Justice. Later in October Titu Maiorescu attended the first grade at the Academic Gymnasium, a month later, they equated his results from the gymnasium from Brașov and he passed to the next grade. While attending the academy in Vienna, Maiorescu a began to write his Însemnărilor zilnice and his notes are a good source of knowing Maiorescus personality. His success from 1858, when he graduated first in his class at the Theresianum Academy, was a guerdon of all his efforts and strong will. He was very eager to obtain his university, but his eagerness did not affect his demureness in his studies, on 3 January 1857, he sent an essay signed with the name Aureliu to the Transylvania Gazette in order to publish some of his translations from Jean Pauls works. In the following number he intended to publish the translation of a story written by Jean Paul. In 1858, beside his academic activity, he worked as a teacher of psychology in private boarding schools, as a preparatory for French language for the Kremnitz family, Titu Maiorescu taught the four children of the family, Klara, Helene, Wilhelm and Hermann
19.
Alexandru Averescu
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Alexandru Averescu was a Romanian marshal and populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as Prime Minister of three separate cabinets and he first rose to prominence during the peasants revolt of 1907, which he helped repress in violence. His controversial first mandate, marked by a crisis and oscillating support from the PNLs leader Ion I. C. Brătianu, played a part in legislating land reform and repressed communist activities and his second term of 1926–1927 brought a much-debated treaty with Fascist Italy, and fell after Averescu gave clandestine backing to the ousted Prince Carol. Faced with the People Partys decline, Averescu closed deals with various right-wing forces and was instrumental in bringing Carol back to the throne in 1930, relations between the two soured over the following years, and Averescu clashed with his fellow party member Octavian Goga over the kings attitudes. Shortly before his death, he and Carol reconciled, and Averescu joined the Crown Council, Averescu, who authored over 12 works on various military topics, was also an honorary member of the Romanian Academy and an Order of Michael the Brave recipient. He became a Marshal of Romania in 1930, Averescu was born in Ozerne, a village northwest of Izmail, now part of Ukraine. The son of Constantin Averescu, who held the rank of sluger, he studied at the Romanian Orthodox seminary in Izmail, in 1876, he decided to join the Gendarmes in Izmail. Seeing action as a sergeant with the Romanian troops engaged in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, he was decorated on several occasions. He was, however, reinstated later in 1878, and subsequently received an education in Romania, at the military school of Târgoviște. Averescu married an Italian opera singer, Clotilda Caligaris, who had been the prima donna of La Scala and his future collaborator and rival Constantin Argetoianu stated that Averescu chose Mrs. Clotilda at random. Upon his return, Averescu steadily climbed through the ranks, subsequently, he was commander of the First Infantry Division and, later, of the Second Army Corps in Craiova. In 1912, he became a Major General, and, in 1911-1913, in the latter capacity, Averescu organized the actions of Romanian troops operating south of the Danube in the Second Balkan War. During the World War, he led the Second Army in the defense of the Southern Carpathians and he commanded Army Group South in the Flămânda operation against the Third Bulgarian Army and other forces of the Central Powers, ultimately stopped by the German offensive. However, several military historians rate Averescu and his fellow Romanian generals very poorly, arguing that, overall, their direction of the war could not have been worse. Despite controlling an army of 500,000 plus 100,000 Russian reinforcements, despite Averescus talks yielding no result, he was repeatedly attacked by his political adversaries for having initiated them. Averescu quit the army in the spring of 1918, aiming for a career in politics — initially, with a message that was hostile to the National Liberal Party and its leader Ion I. C. He presided over the Peoples Party, and he was popular especially among peasants after the end of the war
20.
Alexandru Marghiloman
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Alexandru Marghiloman was a Romanian conservative statesman who served for a short time in 1918 as Prime Minister of Romania, and had a decisive role during World War I. Born in Buzău, he entered the Saint Sava National College in Bucharest, Marghiloman was elected to the Romanian Parliament in 1884, and joined the government in 1888. A member of the Conservative Party, he supported cooperation with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary in the Triple Alliance, Romania remained neutral until 1916, when she entered on the Allied side and this was the reason he refused a seat in the Ion Brătianus liberal government. After the Germans occupied Bucharest, he remained there as the president of the Romanian Red Cross and he rejected the ideas of the German side of forming a parallel administration to King Ferdinand Is government that was moved to Iaşi. Indeed, Marghiloman negotiated and signed a treaty with the Central Powers on May 7,1918. However, this treaty was never ratified, retreated from public life following the collapse of Conservative politicians in post-war Greater Romania, Marghiloman died in his native town. In his private life, Marghiloman was also a horse breeder. His large estate, the Albatros Villa in Buzău, was for a time a meeting place for Conservative politicians. Marghiloman gave his name to Marghiloman coffee, Turkish coffee boiled in rum
21.
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
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He was born to a Greek-Catholic family in the Transylvanian village of Bobâlna. Initially, Voevod was supportive of a plan to federalize the domains of the Habsburgs along the lines of a United States of Greater Austria, and was close to Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Vaida-Voevod joined the Romanian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, during the conference, he joined the Masonic Grand Orient de France in order to secure a more advantageous position for his country. The elections of November 1919 were successful for his party, brătianu as Prime Minister and Nicolae Mișu as Foreign Minister. He secured the lines by ordering Romanian troops to fight off the Hungarian Soviet Republic. However, his approach toward the land reforms made King Ferdinand dissolve his government in March 1920. Vaida-Voevods party emerged as the National Peasants Party in 1926, and he also served twice as Interior Minister. Vaida-Voevods second cabinet existed from 11 August until the 17 October 1932, after Maniu resigned as Prime Minister in January 1933, Vaida-Voevod returned as Prime Minister. Vaida and his supporters, who formed the National Peasants Partys right wing, were acting more like Liberals than Peasantists and his second government fell because of Armand Călinescu, who was a staunch opponent of the Legionary Movement. It was dissolved after 1944 when Communist Party gained influence with Soviet backing, nevertheless, the party never eluded obscurity in front of competition from the Legionaries, and its members were victims of the repression carried out by the communist regime after 1948. Vaida-Voevod was arrested on March 24,1945, in 1946, he was put under house arrest in Sibiu, where he spent the remainder of his life. Antologie de texte, Editura Noua Alternativă, Social Theory Institute of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest,1994 Ioan Scurtu, Mit și realitate
22.
Take Ionescu
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Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Representing his own faction inside the Conservative Party, he clashed with the leadership in 1907-1908. An Anglophile promoting an alliance with the Triple Entente, he rallied politicians, when this was accomplished though the 1916-1918 campaign, Ionescu joined the Ion I. C. Brătianu government in Iași as Minister without portfolio, during the period, he successfully campaigned in favor of the Little Entente. He was the brother of renowned surgeon and political activist Thoma Ionescu, born in Ploiești into a family of lower middle class origins, the eldest of four male children, he was the son of Ghiță Ioan, an entrepreneur who was facing insolvency, and his wife Eufrosina. Eufrosina was the descendant of Aromanian immigrants, and related to the Wallachian writer Ion Heliade Rădulescu, during Takes childhood, the family moved to Bucharest and later to Giurgiu, where Ghiță Ioan began to accumulate a fortune after leasing a segment of the customs in the city. While in Paris, Ionescu fell in love with an Englishwoman named Bessie Richards, whom he met a charity event, after consulting international law on the matter of marriage, he decided it was best if he were to marry her in Britain. They sealed their union in a common law marriage in Brighton, the couple were to settle in Bucharest, but made frequent visits to Bessies native country for the rest of her life. Upon his return, he opened a successful law practice on Bucharests Costa-Foru Street. His oratorical talent won him the moniker Tăkiţă gură de aur, Tăkiţă the golden mouthed, based on a pet form of his colloquial name and he became President of the Bar association in Ilfov County, in which capacity he welcomed the first-ever Romanian woman lawyer, Sarmiza Bilcescu. One year later, while still in office, he left the PNL — this came at a time when opposition forces rallied against the policies of Premier Ion Brătianu, whom Ionescu had originally supported. Initially running as an independent in the election of 1888, being elected in Craiova, he switched to conservative politics and he also helped the scholar earn credentials by overseeing his conversion from Judaism to the Romanian Orthodox Church, and serving as his godfather. A supposed atheist, he was criticized by the opposition for favoring an increased role for the Romanian Orthodox Church, during the period, he befriended the notorious and independent-minded dramatist Ion Luca Caragiale, who later supported his dissident politics. From 1898, he began issuing the French-language newspaper La Roumanie, through which he publicized his own program, commonly referred to as Takism. He contemplated a future Balkan federation, and in a 1903 interview, argued that, although such a solution was impossible for the moment, additionally, Ionescu supported the Vlach cause in the Ottoman-ruled regions of the Balkans, and supported the recognition of a Kutzovlach ethnicity. Despite such differences in opinion, Ionescu initially stood by the Conservative establishment during the Peasants Revolt of 1907 and this was also prompted by his fears that Carp and Cantacuzino were going to use his ministrys problems as a means to undermine his political support. During the events, he questioned traditional Conservative stances, stressing that there existed a large gap between the class and the mass of the people. Identifying him as the person behind his return to power, Sturdza publicly thanked Ionescu during his investiture ceremony, to the enthusiasm of the Chamber
23.
Iuliu Maniu
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Iuliu Maniu was a Romanian politician. Maniu was born to an ethnic Romanian family in Szilágybadacsony, Austria-Hungary, his parents were Ioan Maniu and Clara Maniu. He finished the Calvinist College in Zalău in 1890, and studied Law at the Franz Joseph University, then at the University of Budapest and that of Vienna, being awarded the doctorate in 1896. Maniu joined the Romanian National Party of Transylvania and Banat, became a member of its collective leadership body in 1897 and he settled in Blaj, and served as lawyer for the Greek Catholic Church. Maniu was influenced by the activity of Simion Bărnuțiu, an uncle of his father. On December 2, Maniu became head of Transylvanias Directory Council - a position equivalent to interim governorship, after the creation of Greater Romania, the PNR formed the government in Bucharest—a cabinet led by Al. Vaida-Voevod and allied with Ion Mihalaches Peasants Party and it entered in competition with one of the traditional parties of the Romanian Kingdom, the National Liberal Party, and with its leader Ion I. C. Brătianu, when the Peasants Party deadlocked the Parliament of Romania with calls for a land reform. Consequently, Maniu refused to attend King Ferdinands Crowning ceremony as King of Greater Romania, despite its success in elections, the PNȚ was blocked out of government by the Royal Prerogative of King Ferdinand. Maniu publicly protested, and attempted to organize a march on Bucharest as a public show of support modeled on the Alba Iulia assembly. Talks with Carol were ended abruptly after the Romanian authorities called on the United Kingdom to expel the Prince from its territory, the PNȚ first came to power in November 1928, after both King Ferdinand and Brătianu had died. In 1930, Maniu manoeuvered against the Constitution, and, together with Gheorghe Mironescu, brought about Carols return, however, Carol did not respect the terms of his agreement with Maniu, refusing to resume his marriage to Queen Elena. Maniu resigned for the third and final time on 13 January 1933, the country moved towards an authoritarian regime formed around Carol and prompted by the rapid growth of the fascist Iron Guard. In 1937, Maniu agreed to sign a pact with the Iron Guards Corneliu Zelea Codreanu. The PNȚ survived in semi-clandestinity and, after Antonescu purged the Guard, subsequently, Maniu was a prominent supporter of the Western Allies and one of the main adversaries of growing Soviet influence in Romania. His party became the target of PCR hostility. PNȚ supporters and Communists engaged in street fights in February 1945. The PNȚ finished a distant second in the November 1946 general election with 33 seats, later, historian Petre Ţurlea reviewed a confidential Communist Party report about the election
24.
Gheorghe Mironescu
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Gheorghe G. Mironescu, commonly known as G. G. Mironescu, was a Romanian politician, member of the National Peasants Party, who served as Prime Minister of Romania for two terms. Born in Vaslui, Mironescu graduated from the University of Bucharests law faculty in 1894 and from its literature, in 1898, he earned a doctorate in law from the University of Paris. In 1900, he was named prosecutor at the Ilfov County tribunal and he was a professor of law at his alma mater from 1903 to 1939, and in 1938 was elected an honorary member of the Romanian Academy. Initially joining the Conservative Party, he switched to Take Ionescus new Conservative-Democratic Party in 1908. An advocate of Romanias entering World War I on the side of the Allies, he was in Paris from 1917 to 1918, writing editorials in the French press, in late 1922, he entered the Romanian National Party, which became the PNȚ in 1926. Elected to the Assembly of Deputies in 1911, he became a Senator in 1914 and his first stint in government was in Ionescus cabinet, from December 1921 until the following month, when he served as Education Minister. From November 1928 to October 1930, he served as Foreign Minister in Iuliu Manius first two cabinets, as such, he participated in the two Hague conferences on reparations, and backed Aristide Briands proposal for a Federal Europe. In 1930, Carol II of Romania returned incognito to Romania, on the morning of June 7,1930, the Government convened Parliament in order to cancel the act of January 4,1926, through which Carol had renounced the throne. Carol was proclaimed the new King of Romania, replacing his own son Michael, Maniu resigned, and a new PNȚ government was formed, under the leadership of Gheorghe Mironescu, restoring Carol II to the throne on June 8,1930. The cabinet was welcomed by regent Nicholas with the words, You are called on to fulfill King Ferdinands dream, the impasse was quickly prevented, as the two chambers of parliament passed legislation awarding Carol the crown and awarding Michael the honorary dignity of Grand Voivode of Alba Iulia. That same evening, Mironescu resigned in order for the king to name a new government, the kings project for a broad-coalition government was not accomplished, Carol offered the appointment to Maniu and then to General Constantin Prezan. Eventually, the king renounced the project, recognized the mandate of Maniu as majority leader, Mironescu remained in office as Foreign Minister for the duration of his premiership. Other economic measures he took included contracting a foreign loan, ending export taxes on agricultural products, the cabinet was ultimately ousted by the king himself, who nominated an attempted technocracy under Nicolae Iorga. In Alexandru Vaida-Voevods government, he was Finance Minister from June to August 1932 and he also served as deputy prime minister from October 1932 until November 1933. He died in Bucharest in 1949, keith Hitchins, România, 1866-1947, Humanitas, Bucharest,1998 Nicolae C. Nicolescu, Enciclopedia șefilor de guvern ai României, Editura Meronia, Bucharest,2006, ISBN 978-973-783-909-1 Z. Ornea, Anii treizeci
25.
Nicolae Iorga
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Nicolae Iorga was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, poet and playwright. Co-founder of the Democratic Nationalist Party, he served as a member of Parliament, President of the Deputies Assembly and Senate, cabinet minister and his activity also included the transformation of Vălenii de Munte town into a cultural and academic center. In parallel with his contributions, Nicolae Iorga was a prominent right-of-center activist. From Marxist beginnings, he switched sides and became a disciple of the Junimea movement. He was an adversary of the dominant National Liberals, later involved with the opposition Romanian National Party, late in his life, Iorga opposed the radically fascist Iron Guard, and, after much oscillation, came to endorse its rival King Carol II. He remained an independent voice of opposition after the Guard inaugurated its own National Legionary dictatorship, Nicolae Iorga was a native of Botoșani, and is generally believed to have been born on January 17,1871. His father Nicu Iorga and mother Zulnia belonged to the Romanian Orthodox Church, the name Arghiropol notwithstanding, my maternal grandfather from a family that moved in. from Bessarabia. Elsewhere, however, he acknowledged that the Arghiropols were possibly Byzantine Greeks, Iorga credited the five-generation-boyar status, received from his fathers side, and the old boyar roots of his mother, with having turned him into a political man. His parallel claim of being related to families such as the Cantacuzinos. In 1876, aged thirty-seven or thirty-eight, Nicu Sr and his history teacher, a refugee Pole, sparked his interest in research and his lifelong Polonophilia. He credited the 19th century polymath Mihail Kogălniceanu, whose works he had first been reading as a child, the adolescent was already fluent in French, Italian, Latin and Greek, later referring to Greek studies as the most refined form of human reasoning. By age seventeen, Iorga was becoming more rebellious, seeing himself confined in the National Colleges ugly and disgusting boarding school, he defied its rules and was suspended a second time, losing scholarship privileges. Before readmission, he decided not to back on his familys financial support. Again expelled for reading during a lesson, Iorga still graduated in the top first prize category. In 1888, Nicolae Iorga passed his examination for the University of Iași Faculty of Letters. Hailed as a star by the local press and deemed a wonder of a man by his teacher A. D. Xenopol. Three academics formally brought Iorga to the attention of the Education Ministry, the interval witnessed Iorgas brief affiliation with Junimea, a literary club with conservative leanings, whose informal leader was literary and political theorist Titu Maiorescu. In 1890, literary critic Ștefan Vârgolici and cultural promoter Iacob Negruzzi published Iorgas essay on poet Veronica Micle in the Junimist tribune Convorbiri Literare and this period saw his debut as a socialist poet and critic
26.
Ion G. Duca
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Ion Gheorghe Duca was prime minister of Romania from November 14 to December 30,1933, when he was assassinated for his efforts to suppress the fascist Iron Guard movement. Born in Bucharest, he entered Romanias Chamber of Deputies for the National Liberal Party in 1907, as part of a group of professors, physicians, soldiers, etc. he helped bring Scouting to Romania. In November,1933, King Carol II asked Duca to head the government as minister in preparation for the December elections. What followed was a time of violence when police on orders from Duca sometimes attacked Iron Guard-members, all three of them were sentenced to jail for the murder. He was initiated into Freemasonry while he was studying in France, Duca wrote extensive memoirs about his experiences as a cabinet minister during World War I. His son, George, edited Duca and Georges memoirs while at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in the 1970s and 1980s, Hoover article 1 Hoover article 2
27.
Octavian Goga
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Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator. Goga was born in Rășinari, near Sibiu, Goga was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austro-Hungary. Before World War I, Goga was arrested by the Hungarian authorities, at various intervals before the union of Romania and Transylvania in 1918, Goga took refuge in Romania, becoming active in literary and political circles. Because of his activity in Romania, the Hungarian state sentenced him to death in absentia. During World War I, he joined the Romanian Army and took part as a soldier in the Dobruja campaign, in the interwar period he left the PNR to join General Alexandru Averescus Peoples Party, a populist movement created upon the wars end. Goga clashed with Averescu over the conflict with King Carol II. A founder of the minor PP splinter group naming itself the National Agrarian Party, cuzas National-Christian Defense League, forming the National Christian Party. Goga became Prime Minister of Romania and served from 28 December 1937 to 10 February 1938 and he had been appointed by King Carol, in his attempt to increase his own power. Indeed, Carol wrote in his diary that he knew Goga was a human cipher, very early in its tenure, Gogas government introduced a series of anti-Semitic laws. On 12 January 1938 his government stripped Romanian Jews of their citizenship, besides being an anti-Semite himself, Goga attempted to outflank the Iron Guards popular support. The regime instituted by Goga and Cuza gave itself a wing of Fascist character. They borrowed heavily from the Iron Guard, and started competing with it for public attention, after his resignation, Goga withdrew to his estate in Transylvania, where he suffered a stroke on 5 May 1938. Works by or about Octavian Goga at Internet Archive
28.
Patriarch Miron of Romania
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Miron Cristea was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric and politician. A bishop in Hungarian-ruled Transylvania, Cristea was elected Metropolitan-Primate of the Orthodox Church of the newly unified Greater Romania in 1919, as the Church was raised to a rank of Patriarchate, Miron Cristea was enthroned as the first Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1925. Cristea then studied philosophy and modern philology at the University of Budapest, returning to Transylvania, he was a secretary, then a counselor at the Archbishopric of Sibiu. It was then that he was ordained deacon in 1900 and archdeacon in 1901, Cristea became a monk at the Hodoș Bodrog Monastery, Arad County in 1902, taking the monastic name of Miron. He climbed the hierarchy, becoming an archmonk in 1903. Cristea was the choice, being chosen on November 21,1910. The letter called to all believers against Romania the new enemy which sinfully covets to ruin the borders. Towards the end of World War I, on October 18,1918, the Central National Romanian Central Council was formed, on November 21, Cristea, as archbishop of Caransebeș joined the organization and recognized it as the only ruling body of the Romanian nation in Transylvania. On December 1, he was a member of Austro-Hungarian Romanian delegation that called for the unification of Romania and Transylvania, the Romanian Orthodox Church was elevated to a patriarchate in 1925. On November 1,1925, after a Synod was held, as Metropolitan-Primate and later Patriarch, Cristea continued the tradition of his predecessors to support whatever government was in power. The Church acted as an agent of the state, for instance, in 1920, Cristea introduced reforms such as the Gregorian calendar to the church, including, briefly, the celebration of Easter on the same date as the Roman Catholic Church. This was opposed by groups of Old calendarists, especially in Moldavia. In 1927, he was chosen by Ionel Brătianu to be one of the three regents of King Michael I of Romania, alongside Prince Nicholas of Romania and Gheorghe Buzdugan. This resulted in the issue being confiscated by the police and their offices being vandalized by hooligans, a dispute arose with philosopher Nae Ionescu, after Ionescu attacked Cristea in newspaper articles following a dinner at Cristea during the Nativity Fast during which they were served turkey. As a response, Cristea requested the painter Belizarie to paint Ionescus face on a devil in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharests Apocalipse-themed mural, on July 6,1930, Carol II returned to Romania to assume power. On July 7, Miron Cristea and Constantin Sărățeanu resigned from the regency and the following day, Cristea kept his loyalty to King Carol II throughout his rule. Cristea invoked a Holy Synod which banned clergy from joining the Legion and disallowed political demonstrations, in a bid for political unity against the Iron Guard, which was gaining popularity, in 1938, Carol dismissed the government of Prime Minister Octavian Goga and seized emergency powers. He suspended the constitution, suspended all activity, and ruled by decree
29.
Constantin Argetoianu
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Constantin Argetoianu was a Romanian politician, one of the best-known personalities of interwar Greater Romania, who served as the Prime Minister between September 28 and November 23,1939. Amintiri din vremea celor de ieri —a cross section of Romanian society, were known for the sharp critique of several major figures in Romanian politics. Born in Craiova as the son of Army general Ioan Argetoianu, he trained in Law, Medicine, and Letters at the University of Paris, and later entered the diplomatic service. He was a prosperous man, and his frequent change in political allegiances was attributed by some of his contemporaries to his financial independence. He served as a medic with the rank of captain in the Second Balkan War. A Freemason, Argetoianu was first elected to the Senate in 1914 as a Conservative Party representative, carp and the dissident group around Take Ionescu. Throughout 1918, during the stages of the Romanian Campaign, Argetoianu was Justice Minister. He was also head of the Romanian delegation at the Peace preliminaries of Buftea, the talks resulted in the Treaty of Bucharest of May, which consecrated Romanias defeat by the Central Powers. His actions at the time were later the subject of an epigram by Cincinat Pavelescu, Argetoianu followed Averescu into opposition to the Ion I. C. Brătianu National Liberal Party cabinet, and joined the Peoples Party created by the latter and he later documented the populist message of the movement, and left testimonies of Averescus spontaneous adulation by the crowds of peasants. Argetoianu was Finance Minister and later Interior Minister in the second Averescu government of 1920, faced with mixed reactions inside the cabinet, he ordered the move without his fellow ministers prior knowledge, and thus faced them with a fait accompli. Despite Averescus eventual defeat in December 1921, Argetoianu was kept in office by the Take Ionescu, nevertheless, pressures on the revolutionary grouping were relaxed in summer, when King Ferdinand I approved an amnesty and Argetoianu officially declared that communism is over in Romania. In 1923, after Brătianu again assumed power, he clashed with Averescu and proclaimed himself leader of the PP, having joined Nicolae Iorgas Democratic Nationalist Party, he soon vehemently protested against the latters alliance with the Romanian National Party, and moved to the PNL. Following the sudden death of Ion I. C, Brătianu in 1930, and choosing, in contrast to the policies of Dinu Brătianu, to support the new King Carol II, Argetoianu left the party and subsequently defined himself as an independent. In effect, he moved into the camp of politicians approving of an authoritarian regime around Carol, among his most vocal supporters at the time was the far right philosopher Nae Ionescu. Various other issues forced Argetoianu to cease payments of salaries for civil servants at certain intervals, codreanu refused to accept negotiation, but Carol successfully approached the PNLs young liberals faction, which came to power with Gheorghe Tătărescu. His own short-lived FRN cabinet, established after that date, was, the Argetoianu government was replaced by that of Tătărescu, who had to deal with the Soviet Unions occupation of Bessarabia and was in turn replaced with Ion Gigurtu. Retreating from public life during World War II and the Ion Antonescu dictatorship, Argetoianu left the country in the spring of 1944 and he was the subject of derision in the National Peasants Party press
