Moldova Bacalaureat History of Romanians and Universal History flashcards

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Burebista

King of the Geto-Dacians (c. 82–44 BC) who unified the tribes north of the Danube and extended his authority as far as the Black Sea coast, creating the first centralized Dacian state.

Sarmizegetusa Regia

The political and religious capital of Dacia, located in the Orăștie Mountains. It was captured by Trajan's army in 106 AD, ending the Second Dacian War and leading to Roman annexation.

Aurelian's withdrawal

Emperor Aurelian abandoned the province of Dacia around 271–275 AD, withdrawing the army and administration south of the Danube. Romanian historiography debates whether the Romanized population also left.

Battle of Posada

A 1330 battle in which Basarab I's Wallachian forces defeated King Charles Robert of Hungary, securing the autonomy of Wallachia and marking its emergence as an independent principality.

Stephen the Great

Ruler of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504, famous for defeating an Ottoman army at Vaslui in 1475. He built many monasteries and pursued a diplomacy balancing Poland, Hungary, and the Porte.

Michael the Brave

Ruler of Wallachia (1593–1601) who briefly united Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia in 1599–1600. He was defeated at Mirăslău and killed in 1601 near Câmpia Turzii.

Phanariot regime

The period from 1711/1716 to 1821 when the Ottoman Porte appointed Greek Phanariot families as rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia, replacing native dynasties and increasing fiscal pressure.

Supplex Libellus Valachorum

A 1791 petition by Transylvanian Romanian leaders to Emperor Leopold II, requesting political rights equal to the three privileged nations and recognition of the Romanians as a fourth nation.

Horea, Cloșca, Crișan

Leaders of the 1784 peasant uprising in Transylvania, triggered by conscription and noble privileges. The revolt was crushed and the leaders executed, but it highlighted serfdom's injustices.

Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji

A 1774 treaty ending a Russo-Ottoman war. Russia gained territory and a protectorate over Ottoman Christians, including a say in the affairs of Moldavia and Wallachia.

Islaz Proclamation

A document adopted in June 1848 at Islaz, Oltenia, setting out the demands of the Wallachian revolution: abolition of serfdom, national unity, and civil rights. The revolution was soon suppressed.

Double election of Cuza

Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected ruler in Iași on 5 January 1859 and in Bucharest on 24 January 1859, creating the personal union of Moldavia and Wallachia and the basis of the Romanian state.

Secularization of monastery estates

Cuza's 1863 law transferring vast monastery lands to the state, weakening the influence of the Greek Orthodox Church and providing land for the 1864 agrarian reform.

Memorandum of 1892

A petition by Transylvanian Romanian leaders sent to Emperor Franz Joseph demanding equal rights. Its authors were tried and imprisoned, and it deepened the Romanian national movement.

Treaty of Trianon

The 1920 peace treaty with Hungary confirming the borders of Greater Romania, including Transylvania, Banat, Crișana, and Maramureș, as decided by the 1918 Alba Iulia assembly.

Alba Iulia Assembly

On 1 December 1918, Romanian delegates in Alba Iulia declared the union of Transylvania with Romania. The date is now Romania's national day.

Second Vienna Award

A 30 August 1940 arbitration by Germany and Italy forcing Romania to cede Northern Transylvania to Hungary, a territorial loss that contributed to the fall of King Carol II.

23 August 1944

King Michael's coup removed Marshal Antonescu, ended Romania's alliance with Germany, and brought Romania onto the Allied side. The armistice was signed on 12 September 1944.

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

The 1939 German–Soviet non-aggression treaty whose secret protocol assigned Bessarabia to the Soviet sphere, leading to the June 1940 annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina.

Collectivization

The forced pooling of private farmland into collective farms (GACs) and state farms, carried out in Romania between 1949 and 1962, accompanied by deportations and resistance in the countryside.

Gheorghiu-Dej

Leader of the Romanian Communist Party from 1948 to 1965, who oversaw nationalization, collectivization, and political repression, and later asserted Romania's autonomy within the Soviet bloc.

July Theses of 1971

Ceaușescu's 1971 proposals tightening ideological control over culture, education, and the press, marking a turn toward a stricter, nationalist and personality-centered regime.

Romanian Revolution of 1989

Protests began in Timișoara on 16 December 1989 and spread to Bucharest. Ceaușescu fled on 22 December and was executed on 25 December, ending communist rule.

Romania's EU accession

Romania joined the European Union on 1 January 2007, after signing the accession treaty in 2005. It had joined NATO in 2004, consolidating its post-communist integration.

Primary source

A document or object produced at the time of the event it describes, such as a charter, coin, letter, or photograph. It provides direct evidence but still requires critical evaluation.

External criticism

The branch of source criticism that examines a document's authenticity, date, authorship, and provenance, distinguishing genuine sources from forgeries before content is analyzed.

Century calculation

To find the century of a year, add one to its first two digits: 1453 is in the 15th century, and 1900 is in the 19th century. There is no year zero.

Map scale

The ratio between map distance and ground distance. A large-scale map (1:10,000) covers a small area in detail, while a small-scale map (1:1,000,000) covers a large area with less detail.

Anachronism

An error that places an idea, institution, or object outside its proper historical period, such as judging medieval society by modern democratic standards. It weakens historical analysis.

Suzerainty

A relationship in which one state controls another's foreign policy while allowing internal autonomy. The Ottoman Empire exercised suzerainty over Wallachia and Moldavia while they kept their own rulers.

Periodization

The division of history into periods such as Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the early modern period, the modern period, and the contemporary period. The boundaries vary among historiographical schools.