What do you know about Romania?

[nightdrot]

Romania - capital and largest city Bucharest.

Romania was one of Europe's largest oil producers in the late 19th and early 20th century. The principal fields and refineries being located near the city of Ploesti.

Romania was strategically located and fought in both world wars. In World War I it fought on the Allied side, mostly to acquire the disputed province of Transylvania - yes, of Dracula fame - from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as well as some border districts in dispute with Bulgaria.

After initial gains, the German Empire came in support of its Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian allies and notwithstanding that the Romanian royal family was related to the imperial family of Germany - both were Hohenzollerns - attacked Romania. Romania was defeated and occupied until the later stages of the war.

After the war, Romania was awarded extensive territories, including all of Transylvania. In the inter-war period a fascist government took power under Ion Antonescu, but generally stayed on good terms with the western allies.

However, when as an outgrowth of the German-Soviet pact of 1939, the Soviets occupied the Romanian provinces of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, Bucharest tipped toward the Axis powers. It subsequently joined in the German invasion of the USSR. It suffered its worst defeat at the battle of Stalingrad where the whole of the Romanian 4th Army was wiped out in the Soviet counteroffensive of late 1942.

Romania continued to fall back, making periodic overtures to Britain to get out of the war. However, in the end, Romania was too distant to be aided and was occupied by the USSR under Stalin. A communist government, in due course, came to power under Nicolae Ceaușescu.

In due course, Romania joined the Warsaw Pact and was generally a satellite of the USSR. However, somewhat unusually, it was given somewhat greater freedom of action in the foreign policy realm in return for Ceaușescu maintaining a brutal communist dictatorship domestically.

Among other things, Romania was not required to have Soviet military bases permanently stationed on its' soil. It was also later given some greater latitude - relatively speaking - to maintain relations with Israel and some Western states. (Mostly in the form of trade relations - especially in oil, of which at this time Romania continued to remain the second largest producer in the communist world after only the USSR itself.)

Romania balanced this by giving the USSR full support in the United Nations Organization. In addition, it supported by direct military intervention the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. In 1968 it gave more reserved support to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Romania also supported the USSR against Yugoslavia's neutral communist regime under Josip Broz Tito as well as later against Enver Hoxa's Albania. (The latter of which eccentrically sided with China in the Sino-Soviet split that began in the early 1960s.)

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the USSR imploded, the Warsaw Pact was disbanded and Romania was effectively without allies. Nevertheless, Ceacescu tried to maintain power and was brutally overthrown, being killed on Christmas day 1989.

Romania has since reoriented its foreign and defense policies back to the West as a guard against Russia - which views Romania as within its' historic sphere of influence. Romania has joined NATO while on the home front is wrestling with post-communist issues of corruption in its fledgling democracy.

So there you go. Believe it or not - and you probably won't - I did all of that from memory. I work in politics and am also a history buff. Particularly European history and hence my familiarity with Romania.

Hope that helps at least a little. Sheesh! The things that stay trapped in my head!!

[Kurαȷ]

I know a bunch of things, mostly bad things, because of a work associate who is a Romanian dude living in Spain who likes to drill my head about the horrors that "leftist government" has been unleashing on Romania in the recent years.

But I also know that you have got cheap salmon and seafood in coastal cities like Constanta, so that's nice.

[DeeDeeDeVour]

If not for the great Olympic Gold Medalist Gymnast, Nadia Comăneci, I wouldn't ever have been curious about Romania. Her incredible performances in the '76 Montreal Olympics inspired me to try gymnastics, ballet & dance. Many years later, during multiple travel stops in Europe, I visited Bucharest and Nadia's hometown, Onesti. I liked my experiences in Romania. I met lots of friendly locals.

[rachel776]

most of the music for U. S. TV and movies is recorded by orchestras there, they have "orchestra factories" (our nickname for them) all in one district in Bucharest

[NYCQuestions1976]

I know it is a rather mountainous country in Eastern Europe, bordered by (starting in the northeast and working counterclockwise) Moldova, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, the North Sea, and Ukraine again. The capital and largest city is Bucharest.

[talloak]

I know that Romanian is a Romance language. I know that Count Dracula really existed and that he was exceptionally cruel (many beheadings and slow, torturous deaths). I know that Romania is associated with gypsies. Not much else, I’m afraid

[TonyMetal___86]

My 1st love was a Romanian girl who used to live in the city of Timisoara than moved to Arad and she travelled to foreign countries, i know a lot about Romania and i always wanted to visit the castle of count dracula in transylvania 😊

I also know some gypsies and their lifestyle and rules!

[IlluminatiExposed0]

Romania is a backwards peasant country. The population is evenly split between gypsies and gangsters. In WW2 they were evil Nazis and little has changed. Their main exports are gangsters and horse meat.

[WeAreChaos]

I know that Vlad the Impaler/aka count Dracula lived there and built an impressive castle

[nodnol32]

A country located in Eastern Europe. The capital is Bucharest. Some great musicians are from there such as Alexandra Stan and Edward Maya.

[JackofSpades]

I've heard a fair bit about Vlad Dracula, but that's about it unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

That half of your population (calm down I’m exaggerating) are sitting outside of shops or walking around bus/train/subway stations begging for money in my country.

[laurieluvsit]

I know that's where Dracula's Castle is located :)

[_Just_A_girl_]

Contributed to holocaust.
The nun movie filmed in parts of Romania.

[zagor]

I've known several people from there, so I know a bit about it.

[Jessie91331]

I'm pretty sure it has a lot of Romanians living there.

[blondfrog]

That its a country in Europe and they had that one dictator in the 1960s they killed on national tv.

[_Troian_]

Ofcourse relations between Vlad Tepes and the Ottoman Empire.

[abc3643]

I don't want the Christmas present that Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife got.

[StickStickity13]

I spent two weeks there, I have some close friends that live near Cluj. Transylvania is amazing.

[ChefPapiChulo]

They allied with Russia against Ottoman Empire and became an independent nation in the mid 1800s

[Blaine999]

I wish I knew more about it, because I'm 1/8 Gypsy, knowing that quite a few gypsy caravans travelled around Romania , it would help with my ancestry.

[Anonymous]

They are Orthodox and stayed under the communist rule for a long time

[Anonymous]

I know that according to ancestry I have over 100 distant Romanian cousins 🌚