Maria Theresa started her 40-year reign when her father, Emperor Charles VI, died on 20 October 1740. Charles VI paved the way for her accession with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and spent his entire reign securing it. He neglected the advice of Prince Eugene of Savoy, who believed that a strong military and a rich treasury were more important than mere signatures. Eventually, Charles VI left behind a weakened and impoverished state, particularly due to the War of the Polish Succession and the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739). Moreover, upon his death, Saxony, Prussia, Bavaria, and France all repudiated the sanction they had recognised during his lifetime. Frederick II of Prussia (who became Maria Theresa's greatest rival for most of her reign) promptly invaded and took the affluent Habsburg province of Silesia in the eight-year conflict known as the War of the Austrian Succession. In defiance of the grave situation, she managed to secure the vital support of the Hungarians for the war effort. During the course of the war, Maria Theresa successfully defended her rule over most of the Habsburg monarchy, apart from the loss of Silesia and a few minor territories in Italy. Maria Theresa later unsuccessfully tried to recover Silesia during the Seven Years' War. (Full article...)
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Mateiu Ion Caragiale (Romanian:[maˈtejiˈonkaraˈdʒjale]; March 25 [O.S. March 12] 1885 – January 17, 1936), also credited as Matei or Matheiu, or in the antiquated version Mateiŭ, was a Romanian poet and prose writer, best known for his novel Craii de Curtea-Veche, which portrays the milieu of boyar descendants before and after World War I. Caragiale's style, associated with Symbolism, the Decadent movement of the fin de siècle, and early modernism, was an original element in the Romanian literature of the interwar period. In other late contributions, Caragiale pioneered detective fiction locally, but there is disagreement over whether his work in the field produced a complete narrative or just fragments. The scarcity of writings he left is contrasted by their critical acclaim and a large, mostly posthumous, following, commonly known as mateists.
Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from music critics, who commended that Inna showcased her versatility as an artist, but noted the songs lacked innovation and were similar to her past material. To promote Nirvana, three singles, "Gimme Gimme", "Ruleta", and "Nirvana", preceded the record in 2017, to commercial success in some European countries. "Ruleta" notably reached number one in Lithuania and number three in Romania. The album itself failed to impact any country's charts. (Full article...)
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"On a Sunday" is a song recorded by Romanian singer Ester Peony. It was independently released for digital download and streaming as a single on 17 January 2019. Ioana Victoria Badea wrote the lyrics, while Peony composed the music alongside Alexandru Șerbu. Musically, the track is a mid-tempo blues, R&B, soul and 2000s-influenced electropopballad backed by percussion, guitar, synthesizers and trance beats. Its lyrics discuss a failed relationship and include Peony reflecting upon a former love interest and the futile idea that he might return. Observers likened the track to the American folk song "The Wayfaring Stranger".
"On a Sunday" represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel, after winning the pre-selection show Selecția Națională. The country failed to qualify for the final, marking their second and consecutive year to achieve this result. During a large portion of Peony's acclaimed goth-inspired performance, Peony was singing from a red armchair while accompanying dancers enacted a battle between good and evil visually amplified by various dark graphics showed on the LED screens. The show was the first one in Romania's Eurovision participation history to be significantly invested in by the Romanian Television (TVR), with costs amounting to a reported 100,000 euros. (Full article...)
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Shishman (Bulgarian: Шишман; fl. 1270s/1280s — before 1308/1313) was a Bulgarian nobleman (boyar) who ruled a semi-independent realm based out of the Danubian fortress of Vidin in the late 13th and early 14th century. Shishman, who was bestowed the title of "despot" by Bulgarian emperor George Terter I, was a Cuman, and may have been established as lord of Vidin as early as the 1270s.
In 1291, he came under Golden Horde ("Tatar") suzerainty and in 1292 he was in charge of an unsuccessful campaign against neighbouring Serbia. Even though the Serbs captured Vidin in their counter-offensive, perhaps thanks to Tatar influence Shishman was placed once more as the ruler of the region, this time as a Serbian vassal. However, he continued to rule his lands largely independently. As his son and successor as despot of Vidin Michael Shishman acceded to the Bulgarian throne in 1323, Shishman was the progenitor of the last medieval Bulgarian royal dynasty, the Shishman dynasty. (Full article...)
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"Deep in Love" is a song by Romanian producer Tom Boxer and singer Morena, featuring guest vocals by English recording artist J Warner. It was released as a CD single in Italy on 31 October 2011 through Step and Go, while later made available for digital download in various countries on 14 February 2012 through Roton. The track was written by Boxer and Warner, and solely produced by Boxer; the latter came up with the song in Morocco in 2011 and recorded a demo while travelling to a concert there. He ultimately worked on the track for four months. A love song, its lyrics include a reference to the popular paradigm that men are from Mars and women are from Venus.
Filmed in a studio in Bucharest and on the Canary Islands, an accompanying music video for "Deep in Love" was uploaded to Roton's YouTube channel on 15 August 2011. For further promotion, the song was performed at the ZU Loves You event organized by Radio ZU. It reached the top 40 on Hungarian, Romanian, Polish and Italian music charts, while being awarded a Platinum certification in the latter region by the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) for 30,000 copies sold. (Full article...)
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Left humerus of the holotype specimen in ventral (A) and distal (B) view
Hatzegopteryx ("Hațeg basin wing") is a genus of azhdarchidpterosaur found in the late Maastrichtian deposits of the Densuş Ciula Formation, an outcropping in Transylvania, Romania. It is known only from the type species, Hatzegopteryx thambema, named by Buffetaut et al. in 2002 based on parts of the skull and humerus. Additional specimens, including a neck vertebra, were later placed in the genus, representing a range of sizes. The largest of these remains indicate it was among the biggest pterosaurs, with an estimated wingspan of 10 to 12 metres (33 to 39 ft).
Unusually among giant azhdarchids, Hatzegopteryx had a very wide skull bearing large muscular attachments, bones with a spongy internal texture instead of being hollow, and a short, robust, and heavily muscled neck measuring 1.5 metres (5 ft) long, which was about half the length of other azhdarchids with comparable wingspans and was capable of withstanding strong bending forces. Hatzegopteryx inhabited Hațeg Island, an island situated in the Cretaceous subtropics within the prehistoric Tethys Sea. In the absence of large theropods, Hatzegopteryx was likely the apex predator of Hațeg Island, tackling proportionally larger prey (including dwarf titanosaurs and iguanodontians) than other azhdarchids. (Full article...)
"Liubi, Liubi, I Love You" represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, held in Helsinki, Finland after winning the pre-selection show Selecția Națională. In Helsinki, Romania automatically qualified to the final due to their top ten placement in the previous year and finished in 13th place with 84 points. "Liubi, Liubi, I Love You" was promoted through performances in Belarus and a music video shot in Romania by Dan Manoliu. It charted at number 82 on the Romanian Top 100. (Full article...)
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"It's My Life" is a song recorded by Romanian singer Cezar, released as part of a CD single in 2013 through the Romanian Television (TVR). It was solely written and produced by Cristian Faur. Musically, the track has been described as an operatic pop and dubstep song, with the latter genre being predominantly present in the track's bridge. A love song, its instrumentation consists of electronic beats, while Cezar prominently uses his "feminine" falsetto register. Reviewers likened his vocal delivery to the works of Scottish singer Jimmy Somerville and Australian musician Nick Cave.
"It's My Life" represented Romania in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden after winning the pre-selection show Selecția Națională. The country reached 13th place in a field of 26, scoring a total of 65 points. Cezar's show featured him dressed in a black sequin cloak standing between fluorescent lighting tubes, while dancers who emerged from a red material placed under him performed interpretive dance. The performance was met with mixed reactions and often featured in publications' lists of Eurovision's most outstanding and peculiar performances. The track itself received similar reviews, with critics arguing over its catchiness, originality, composition and dance nature, as well as over Cezar's vocals. (Full article...)
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The Middle Ages in Romania began shortly after the withdrawal of the Roman legions from the former Romanprovince of Dacia in the late 3rd century and with the start of the Early Middle Ages and the Migration Period that followed afterwards respectively. It subsequently came to an end with the reign of DomnMichael the Brave (1593–1601) who managed, for a short time between 1599 and 1600, to rule Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania together, the three principalities whose territories were to be united some three centuries later to form modern and contemporary Romania.
Over most of this period, Banat, Crișana, Maramureș, and Transylvania – now regions in Romania to the west of the Carpathian Mountains – were part of the Kingdom of Hungary. They were divided into several types of administrative units, such as "counties" and "seats". The heads of the Transylvanian counties or "counts" were subordinated to a special royal official called voivode, but the province was seldom treated as a single unit, since the Székely and Saxon seats were administered separately. In the kingdom, Romanian peasants, being Orthodox, were exempt from the tithe, an ecclesiastical tax payable by all Roman Catholic commoners. However, Romanian noblemen slowly lost the ability to participate in political life, as the 14th-century monarchs pursued a zealous pro-Catholic policy. Their position became even worse after 1437 when the so-called "Union of Three Nations", an alliance of the Hungarian noblemen, the Székelys, and the Saxons, was formed in order to crush the Bobâlna peasant uprising. (Full article...)
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The founding of Moldavia (Romanian: Descălecatul Moldovei) began with the arrival of a Vlach (Romanian) voivode (military leader), Dragoș, soon followed by his people from Maramureș, then a voivodeship, to the region of the Moldova River. Dragoș established a polity there as a vassal to the Kingdom of Hungary in the 1350s. The independence of the Principality of Moldavia was gained when Bogdan I, another Vlach voivode from Maramureș who had fallen out with the Hungarian king, crossed the Carpathians in 1359 and took control of Moldavia, wresting the region from Hungary. It remained a principality until 1859, when it united with Wallachia, initiating the development of the modern Romanian state. (Full article...)
Seara (Romanian pronunciation:[ˈse̯ara], meaning "The Evening") was a daily newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania, before and during World War I. Owned by politician Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino and, through most of its existence, managed by the controversial Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești, it was an unofficial and unorthodox tribune for the Conservative Party. Its involvement in politics sparked numerous scandals, the longest of which came during the neutrality period (1914–1916). Strongly anti-Slavic, Seara stood out in that context for supporting the German Empire and Central Powers, and was widely alleged of having been financed by a German propaganda machine. In 1914, it was purchased by German businessmen, but continued to register mediocre success in comparison with its pro-Entente competitors. In late 1916, after Romania decided in favor of the Entente, Seara was disestablished.
The album's title was originally planned to be Latinna, and it also includes promotional singles intended for the cancelled extended play (EP) Summer Days. Inna and Body and the Sun were supported by several concert tours in Europe and Japan. Seven singles have also been released to aid the record, of which "Cola Song" (2014) was successful in Europe and was certified Platinum in Spain and "Diggy Down" (2014) marked Inna's third number one hit in Romania. Commercially, Inna only reached minor success on record charts, peaking at number 157 in Japan and at position 45 in Mexico. (Full article...)
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Duke Ladislaus (left) at the Battle of Kerlés
The Battle of Kerlés (Hungarian: kerlési csata) also known as the Battle of Cserhalom (Hungarian: cserhalmi csata), was an engagement between an army of Pechenegs and Ouzes commanded by Osul and the troops of King Solomon of Hungary and his cousins, Dukes Géza and Ladislaus, in Transylvania in 1068. The Pechenegs had been the dominant power of the westernmost regions of the Eurasian steppes since around 895. However, large Pecheneg groups moved to the Balkan Peninsula at the same time as the westward migration of the Ouzes and Cumans in the 1040s. The first recorded Pecheneg invasion of Transylvania occurred during the reign of Stephen I of Hungary (r. 997–1038).
In 1068, the invaders broke into Transylvania through the passes of the Carpathian Mountains. Archaeological finds suggest that they destroyed at least three fortresses made of earth and timber, including the ones at Doboka (now Dăbâca in Romania) and Sajósárvár (present-day Șirioara). They also made a plundering raid in the Nyírség region, to the west of Transylvania. After taking much booty, they planned to leave Hungary, but the Hungarians ambushed and annihilated them at a hill near Doboka. According to a popular legend, a "Cuman" warrior tried to escape from the battlefield, taking a Hungarian girl, but Duke Ladislaus defeated and killed him in single combat. (Full article...)
Pitești Prison (Romanian: Închisoarea Pitești) was a penal facility in Pitești, Romania, best remembered for the reeducation experiment (also known as Experimentul Pitești – the "Pitești Experiment" or Fenomenul Pitești – the "Pitești Phenomenon") which was carried out between December 1949 and September 1951, during Communist party rule. The experiment, which was implemented by a group of prisoners under the guidance of the prison administration, was designed as an attempt to violently "reeducate" the mostly young political prisoners, who were primarily supporters of the fascist Iron Guard, as well as Zionist members of the Romanian Jewish community. The Romanian People's Republic adhered to a doctrine of state atheism and the inmates who were held at Pitești Prison included religious believers, such as Christian seminarians. According to writer Romulus Rusan [ro], the experiment's goal was to re-educate prisoners to discard past religious convictions and ideology, and, eventually, to alter their personalities to the point of absolute obedience. Estimates for the total number of people who passed through the experiment range from at least 780 to up to 1,000, to 2,000, to 5,000. Journalists Laurențiu Dologa and Laurențiu Ionescu estimate almost 200 inmates died at Pitești, while historian Mircea Stănescu accounts for 22 deaths during the period, 16 of them with documented participation in the "re-education".
After the purging of Romanian Communist Party leader Ana Pauker, the experiment was halted because the Romanian communist regime was sidelining its hardline Stalinist leaders. The overseers were put on trial; while twenty of the participating prisoners were sentenced to death, prison officials were given light sentences. (Full article...)
Szabo won gold medals in the 1984 Olympics in three individual events (vault, balance beam (tie), and floor exercise), won the all-around silver medal, and contributed to the team gold. With her four gold medals and a silver medal, Szabo was the most successful athlete at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Afterwards, she led her team to the world title at the 1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, defeating the USSR in the team competition for only the second time in the history of the competition. In 2000, Szabo was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
The Merry Cemetery is a village of Săpânța, Maramureş county, Romania that is famous for its colorful tombstones with naïve paintings describing the people who are buried there as well as scenes from their lives.
... that Romanian actress Mitzura Arghezi was once told by her father that her career path held "few satisfactions [...] if you're not a director's wife, a manager's wife, this and that man's girlfriend"?
... that Romanian-born Helen O'Brien escaped advancing Russians on the King's horse, opened Eve, and worked as a spy for MI5 and MI6?
Image 5Romania after the territorial losses of 1940. The recovery of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina was the catalyst for Romania's entry into the war on Germany's side. (from History of Romania)
Image 17Map of Romania after World War II indicating lost territories (from History of Romania)
Image 18The Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1786, Italian map by G. Pittori, since the geographer Giovanni Antonio Rizzi Zannoni (from History of Romania)
Image 341941 stamp depicting a Romanian and a German soldier in reference to the two countries' common participation in Operation Barbarossa. The text below reads the holy war against Bolshevism. (from History of Romania)
Image 42Ethnic map of Greater Romania according to the 1930 census. Sizeable ethnic minorities put Romania at odds with Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union throughout the interwar period. (from History of Romania)
Image 43Map of Europe in 1648 showing Transylvania and the two Romanian principalities: Wallachia and Moldavia (from History of Romania)
Image 44Seal of Michael the Brave during the personal union of the two Romanian principalities with Transylvania (from History of Romania)
Image 62Romania has seen its largest waves of protests against judicial reform ordinances of the PSD-ALDE coalition during the 2017–2019 Romanian protests. (from History of Romania)
Image 63Romanian keyboard with special characters (from Culture of Romania)
Image 66Bran Castle (German: Törzburg, Hungarian: Törcsvár) built in 1212, is commonly known as Dracula's Castle and is situated in the centre of present-day Romania. In addition to its unique architecture, the castle is famous because of persistent myths that it was once the home of Vlad III Dracula. (from History of Romania)
Image 67Timeline of the borders of Romania between 1859 and 2010 (from History of Romania)
Image 68Illustration featuring the Romanian coat of arms and tricolor (from Culture of Romania)
Image 70The foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire (from History of Romania)
Image 71Lieutenant Emil Rebreanu was awarded the Medal for Bravery in gold, the highest military award given by the Austrian command to an ethnic Romanian; he would later be hanged for desertion while trying to escape to Romania. (from History of Romania)
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