Concise History of Romania
10,000BC Upper Paleolithic (the Old Stone Age) period
5000 - 3000BC Neolithic (New Stone Age) period
3000BC - 1000BC Bronze Age period
The ancient Kingdom of Romania was called Dacia
650 BC Information about the Dacians is first documented by the Greeks
15 BC The Romans had begun to extend their empire to include Dacia which was re-named as Romania
50-100AD - The spread of Christianity
103-105AD The Roman provinces of Moesia Superior and Dacia were connected by a bridge over the Danube for Emperor Trajan
395 to 1453 - The Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire was the eastern section of the Roman Empire, with its capital at Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire was called the Roman Empire or, in later centuries, Romania
Romania was made up of a number of small states, including Transylvania, Wallachia & Moldavia, each with an independent ruler
1428 Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), the son of Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Dragon), is born
1463 Vlad the Impaler becomes Prince of Wallachia
1443 Vlad the Impaler is taken hostage by the Turks
1451 Vlad the Impaler flees to Transylvania
1476 Vlad the Impaler is assassinated. In 1897 "Dracula" by Bram Stoker is published in England
1703-1711 War, led by the Prince of Transylvania, against the Habsburgs failed
1859 - The modern Romania was born when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia merged
1895 Oct 1, Romanians in Constantinople were massacred
1914 Outbreak of WWI Romania fights on Allied side
1916 Aug 28, Germany declared war on Romania
1916 Sep 1, Bulgaria declared war on Romania
1938 - King Carol II establishes dictatorship
1938 - 1940 Germany raise treaties in Munich and Vienna in which Southern Slovakia and Northern Transylvania were returned to Hungary
September 1939 World War II starts
1940 Soviet Union delivered an ultimatum to Romania and 2 days later occupied Bessarabia and North Bukovina
1941 - Romania fights on German side against Soviet Union
August 1945 The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1945 The Allies of World War II defeat Germany
1947 - Romania regains Transylvania. King Michael abdicates. Romanian People's Republic proclaimed
1955 - Romania joins Warsaw Pact
1965 - Nicolae Ceausescu becomes Romanian Communist Party leader
1989 - The reign of Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu was ended with an uprising