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CEAUCESCU REGIME IN ROMANIA.   Term Paper ID:22760 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examine's dictator's character, economic, social & foreign policies, repression, from 1965 through 1989 revolution.... More...

7 Pages / 1575 Words 11 sources, 22 Citations, MLA Format $28.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Examine's dictator's character, economic, social & foreign policies, repression, from 1965 through 1989 revolution. Paper Introduction: CEAUSESCU REGIME IN ROMANIA This research paper presents the essential features of the regime of Nikolae Ceausescu in Romania (19651989). That period was the most macabre chapter in Romania's turbulent modern history. Ceausescu became Party Secretary in 1965 and ruled the country until he and his wife, Elena, were executed by a firing squad after they had been condemned to death by a secret military tribunal in the wake of the successful revolution of midDecember, 1989. The Ceausescu regime was characterized by political repression, ruinous economic policies, an idiosyncratic foreign policy and a bizarre, divisive and ultranationalistic social agenda. Introduction Ceausescu was born in 1918 in the province of Oltenia, a Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Its peasantry had been brutalized by the Turks for centuries.Ceausescu was born with a speech defect. In many respects, however, Ceausescurepresented in an exaggerated way intolerance and rabid nationalism whichhave deep roots there. "Minority Report." Nation, 22 January 199 , 78.Hutchins, Keith. By 1989, Romania's per capita GNP was thelowest by far in Eastern Europe and declined between 1985 and 1993 underCeausescu and his successors at the rate of six and a half percent p.a.(Europa Yearbook 2543). Relations with Hungary have been strainedfor centuries. Agreat deal of money was wasted on giant party office buildings and otherprestige projects and edifices. Ethnic minorities,such as Jews, were charged $2 , a head as an exit tax, food rationingwas imposed and wages were cut. Romanians have always been prone to ultra-nationalism, what Gilberglabels "ethno-chauvinism" (412). Of ancient Latinate and Byzantine origins, the principalities ofMoldavia and Wallachia joined forces as an independent kingdom in 1881.That independence was secured by force of Russian arms, but from the 183 sonward, Romanians had to contend with Russia's "heavy-handed interferencein Romanian internal affairs" (Hutchens 1 64). Conclusion The Ceausescu regime is a dark page in Romania's history andundoubtedly set back efforts to modernize the country on a sensible basis,the effects of which still linger. Until World WarII, although there had been some Western investments in Romania'spetroleum, metallurgy and chemical industries, its economy waspredominantly agricultural. The principal bones of contention have been: (1) controlover Transylvania which was awarded to Romania by Stalin as a reward forRomania's co-operation with the Soviet Union after 1943; and (2) thetreatment of the 1.7 million ethnic Hungarians within Romania after thewar. Life became a day to day struggle forsurvival for ordinary Romanians. The private practice of medicinewas outlawed. On his visit to Romania in 1987,Mikhail Gorbachev treated Ceausescu with disdain. "Ceausescu's Legacy." Chronicle of Higher Education, 21 July 1995, A 37-38.----------------------- 9 Hitchins described his 24 year rule as"the nightmare of living under the Securitate, the black-uniformedbodyguard of a regime of voluptuous cruelty and corruption" (78). The role of several key former communist leaders andarmy generals in the revolt is still unclear. The Ceausescu regime was characterized by politicalrepression, ruinous economic policies, an idiosyncratic foreign policy anda bizarre, divisive and ultra-nationalistic social agenda. Romania was the firstbloc nation to enter into trade agreements with the European EconomicCommunity. Revolution of 1989 Unrest in the form of strikes and protests against food shortagesbecame more frequent after 1984. Works CitedBeidham, Brian. Romania denounced the Soviets' invasion of Czechoslovakiain 1968 and their later invasion of Afghanistan. The resettlement program, whichwas largely concentrated in Transylvania, was hated there. "Historiography of the Countries of Eastern Europe: Romania." American Historical Review, October 1992, 1 64-1 82.Nelan, Bruce W. The result was thespread of AIDS and hepatitis B among small children, overcrowded andunsanitary orphanages and the highest infant mortality rate seen in Europein a century (Rothman 56-57). In 1989, there were 11 passenger cars per 1, adults in Romania, as compared with over 1 in each of the other satellitecountries (Whitney Section 4, 3). "The New Romania." New York Review of Books, 23 September 1993, 56-57.The Europa Yearbook 1995 Volume II. "The Cult of Ceausescu." New York Times, 3 November 1986, 32-4 .Fisher, William. Squeezed between German and Russian ambitionsin Balkans, Romania became an ally of the Nazis and was ruled during WorldWar II by Marshall Ion Antonescu and his Iron Guards, a fascist andxenophobic regime which committed anti-semitic massacres which were sobloody and disorderly that they met with Adolf Eichman's disapproval.Romanian politics during the inter-war period had a comic opera quality.Parliamentary democracy never took hold in Romania because of a fundamentalclash between eastern and western oriented factions, which Hutchinsdescribed as follows: one held Rumania to be part of Europe and thusdestined to develop economically and socially [like] the West and the otherthat emphasized the country's inherent agrarian character and theconsequent need to cleave to tradition" (1 71).Kaplan said "political life [in Romania] is characterized by a peculiarmysticism and theatricality" (14). The Romania over which Ceausescu assumed power in 1965after Gheorghiu's death had a painful introduction to the modern world. Ceausescuaccelerated this process. His huge irrigation projects caused massivesoil erosion. The regime had an Orwellian quality and went toextraordinary lengths to impose ideological orthodoxy. Ceaucescu had been aprotege of Party Secretary Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, whom Josef Stalin handpicked to run Romania after World War II during which the Russians invadedRomania (in 1944). Ceausescu's announced goal was to makeRomania "an advanced country by the year 2 " (Beidham S 15). The official archives on the Ceausescu era remain sealed. Internal travel wasrestricted. "Slaughter in the Streets." Time, 1 January 199 , 34-37.Rothman, David J. After the 1989 revolution, Gilberg waspessimistic about the chances of democracy succeeding because of the "basicauthoritarianism of much of the working class and peasantry" (412). Up until 194 , Romania was a monarchy butone in which a large landholder oligarchy was dominant. "East Europe Joins the Market and Gets Preview of the Pain." New York Times, 7 January 199 , Sec. Romania received loans from the World Bank, butin 1987, the United States suspended Romania's Most Favored Nation tradestatus because of Romania's poor human rights record (Fisher 11).Romania's leverage as a power broker between East and West largelydisappeared after Glasnost and the improvement of relations between theUnited States and the Soviet Union. That period was the most macabrechapter in Romania's turbulent modern history. Ceausescu bought down Romania's externaldebt which he had unwisely incurred from $1 B to $1B by drasticallylowering Romania's already low standard of living and he "sold abroadalmost anything that could be moved" (Beidham S 15). There had been some relaxation ofpolitical and economic rigidity and liberalization of culture during theKhrushchev era. The EuropaYearbook says that "by the 198 s the country was experiencing seriouseconomic difficulties" (254 ). Internationally, Romaniawas a pariah. After the war, Stalinist-style centralplans for forced industrialization were initiated. Food and power shortages were common. An ally of the CentralPowers after 1883, Romania joined the Allied side during World War I andbecame Greater Romania in 1918. The evictionof an Hungarian protestant clergyman led to a major demonstration in thecity of Timisoara on December 17, 1989 which spread to Bucharest and othercities. Physicians were forced to keep babies alive with bloodtransfusions and people to donate blood. London: Europa Publications Limited, 1995, 254 -2561.Whitney, Craig R. 4, 3.Woodard, Colin. Instead,Gilberg said, he left power with "an economy on the verge of breakdown"(412). Divisive Social Policies One of Ceausescu's most unpopular and bizarre measures was hisresettlement after 1987 of millions of peasants. Oltenia was the poorest and most Oriental part of modernRomania. On one large projectbegun in 1949, the construction of a canal from the Danube to the BlackSea, Kaplan estimates about 1 , laborers perished (12). Introduction Ceausescu was born in 1918 in the province of Oltenia, a member of alarge and poor peasant family which was dominated by his drunkard andabusive father. More than 3 of his relatives held highposts. Huge irrigation projects were launched andmonstrously uneconomic steel, aluminum and petrochemical plants were built. On December 22, he fled partyheadquarters in a helicopter but later was captured and shot on Christmasday (Nelan 34-37). Theyconstitute about 13 percent of Romania's population of 23 million.Problems have periodically erupted with Romania's one million of otherminorities, Germans, gypsies, Turks, Slavs and Jews. "Romania: Will History Repeat Itself? Ruinous Economic Policies Even in the pre-war period the state had played a central role inRomania's uneven industrialization. "Romania in the Age of Glasnost." New Leader, 29 June 1987, 11-15.Gilberg, Trond. His heretical stance on foreign policy led to large foreign loans fordevelopment, which became difficult to repay after Romania found itselfsaddled with disadvantageous oil refining contracts with the Soviet Unionand little domestic or foreign market for its products. As Ceaucescu grew older, he became more paranoid and encouraged thedevelopment of a cult of personality reminiscent of the latter days ofStalin`s rule in the Soviet Union. His wife became First Deputy Chairmanof the Council of Ministers. Ceausescu preached"protocronism," a form of ultra-nationalism which emphasized "the uniqueand primary character of Romanian culture" (Hutchins 1 82). Some observers believe thatsome of them were planning a coup d`etat which was scheduled to occur inJanuary and which was accelerated by the chaos in the streets (Gilberg411). One outof every five Romanians was a police informant. The army at first joined the Securitate in firing on crowds ofdemonstrators, but later fraternized with them. Political Repression Ceaucescu established a totalitarian regime which was extreme even bypost-war Eastern European standards. He attempted toconcentrate the population of up to half of Romania's 13, villages intomulti-story housing projects in 558 "agro-industrial towns and about 2,2 "commune centers" (Beidham S 15). Romania andChina improved relations. At a public rally inBucharest, Ceausescu was shouted down. These Hungarians are the largest ethnic minority in Europe. Current History, December 199 , 4 9-412, 431-433.Hitchins, Christopher. Gilbergsaid that "throughout the quarter century of Ceausescu's rule, thepopulation of Romania was systematically controlled, intimidated andwatched until fear became an elemental fact of daily life" (431). Medical standards, never high, declined. Independence in Foreign Policy To the dismay of his former Soviet overlords and to the delight ofthe West, Ceausescu pursued a cautiously independent foreign policy.After Soviet troops left in 1958, Warsaw Pact forces were never allowed toenter Romania. His most dubious project of all was the effort to increasethe population by banning abortion and contraception and subsidizing newbirths. Only the nomenklatura, the most privileged officials andParty members were permitted to travel abroad. "the hole in the map." Economist, 12 August 1989, S 15.Binder, David. Dissent was not toleratedeven within the higher reaches of the Party. Ceausescu became PartySecretary in 1965 and ruled the country until he and his wife, Elena, wereexecuted by a firing squad after they had been condemned to death by asecret military tribunal in the wake of the successful revolution of mid-December, 1989. Relations were established with Israel. CEAUSESCU REGIME IN ROMANIA This research paper presents the essential features of the regime ofNikolae Ceausescu in Romania (1965-1989). Romania was the onlybloc nation not to boycott the 1986 Olympics in Los Angeles. After he consolidated power, Ceausescu effectivelysilenced all dissent in Romania. In early 1989, six former communistofficials sent Ceausescu a letter criticizing him for disregarding theConstitution and mismanaging the economy. and Sheila M. The media andintellectuals were under strict control. Ceausescu frequently fired orrotated his senior cadres, often making them scapegoats for the economicfailures of the Party. In his youth, he experienced"rejection, privation and imprisonment" (in 1936 and 194 for hiscommunist activities), which Binder believes may help explain his latercraving for adulation from his followers (37). According to Woodard, "a vast sectionof Bucharest and many of its palaces, cathedrals and monasteries wereleveled to make way for the grandiose Palace of Culture and hundreds ofassociated structures" (A 37). Woodard said that "throughout the7 s and 8 s the number of universities and faculties was sharply reduced,"with the number of students enrolled at the University of Bucharestdeclining from over 3 , to 8, (A 37). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.