← Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More
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In November 1989, the world changed when the Berlin Wall came down, marking the beginning of the unraveling of the Iron Curtain. Almost a month later, on December 16, 1989, Romania faced a sudden revolution that led to the fall of its central government in just over a week. While Romania was one of many Eastern European Communist countries that revolted in 1989, the revolution there, unlike those in other countries, was violent and deadly. Learn more about the 1989 Romanian Revolution and how it unfolded on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is brought to you in part by Stash. What if you could start investing without ever picking a single stock? With Stash, the experts handle the hard part for you. Stash just isn't another investing app. It's a registered investment advisor that combines automated investing with expert guidance so you don't have to worry about figuring it out on your own. 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Speeds may slow above 35 gigabits on unlimited plan tax and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. Romania became a Communist country following the Second World War. During World War II, Romania was initially neutral in the conflict. However, watching the initial German successes made many Romanian citizens, including their prime minister, interested in fascism. This led to Romania eventually siding with the Axis powers as they supported the Nazi fight against the Soviets. Romania allied itself with the Axis powers in the hopes of gaining new territory from the Soviet Union. As part of the Axis, Romania supplied the alliance with crucial resources, including oil and troops. These resources were a key part of many of the battles on the Eastern Front. They also participated in many of the Nazis ethnic policies, including the killing of hundreds of thousands of Jews. When the war began to turn and the Soviets began to make progress against the Germans, Romanian citizens grew dissatisfied with the Nazis and their alliance with them. This led to the formerly ousted Romanian King Michael I leading a successful coup d' etat against the prime minister and pulling Romania out of the Axis alliance. King Michael's leadership lasted only two short years until an election saw the Communist Party come to power and abolish the monarchy, making Romania a Communist state. For the first 18 years under communist rule, Romania was firmly under Soviet influence and became a member of the Warsaw Pact. Romania essentially followed the same script as other Eastern European communist countries until 1965, when Nikolae Ceausescu came to power. Ceausescu had been a member of the Romanian Communist Party for decades, having historically worked as the head of the Ministry of Agriculture and later as the deputy minister of the Romanian Armed forces. Ceausescu was unique amongst Eastern European leaders as he worked to remove Romania from Soviet influence and turn the government more pro Western. This policy helped Ceausescu gain support from the Romanian people. Shockingly, the Soviet Union allowed Romania to increase its autonomy, mainly because Communist control of the country was under no real threat. Though they never officially left the Warsaw Pact, the separation allowed Romania to avoid participating in operations the country would have been forced to fight in, including the invasion of Czechoslovakia, which Ceausescu condemned. It also allowed Romania to increase trade and contact with the West. The most notable example of this was when Romania participated in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. These games were boycotted by Communist countries led by the Soviet Union. Romania was the only Eastern Bloc country to join and one of only two Communist countries. Lest you start thinking that Nicolae Ceausescu was a good guy, I should note his hypocrisy. Despite claiming to be anti Soviet, Ceausescu's Romania was run as a Stalinist state with with a cult of personality surrounding him. By 1977, the US Bureau of Intelligence described this cult as unparalleled within Eastern Europe, with Ceausescu claiming to be a genius responsible for many great scientific achievements. His wife Elena, received similar treatment. Because of how the Ceausescus positioned themselves, they were able to gain more control than any other dictators within the Eastern Bloc, giving them an iron grip over all spheres of Romanian life. Unfortunately for the common Romanian, Ceausescu's leadership was anything but brilliant. Ceausescu's industrial policies had completely decimated the Romanian economy. To industrialize, Ceausescu had taken out large loans from Western powers, believing that Romania would be able to pay them back. This placed the country into deep debt with the West. To pay off his debt, Ceausescu had promised to export a large number of goods. However, Ceausescu had misjudged the amount of goods that Romania was capable of exporting. Desperate to claw the country out of debt, Ceausescu put anything that would improve the quality of life for Romanians on the back burner. Food was rationed and limits were placed on electricity and heat. Things got so bad that Romania was considered to be in an artificial famine. This meant all the food being grown within the country was essentially exported. The country grew more than enough food to feed its citizens, yet it was starving because the government shipped away anything of value. The situation was worsened by Romanians watching Ceausescu build massive palaces and administrative buildings while forcing people to relocate. Another massive drain on Romania was the extensive security measures within the country. Like other Communist countries, Romania had a secret police force known as the Securitate. The Securitate had crushing amounts of surveillance over the country and made it very difficult for anyone to speak out against the regime. During that time, the public believed that one in four people were members of the Securitate. This estimate turned out to be inaccurate. As we now know, it was closer to 1 in 43 Romanians. However, the sense of omnipresence reflects just how fearful the Romanian public was of punishment. Men, women and children were all enrolled in the ranks of the Securitate and were present in all levels of society. Between the poor quality of life and the fear of constant surveillance, Romanians experienced rising, albeit quiet, discontent with Ceausescu. Additionally, the decision to separate from the Soviet Union was starting to come back to haunt Ceausescu. When the Soviet Union enacted its glasnost and perestroika policies, the other countries were now able to critique their government without fear. These policies helped ease other Eastern Bloc countries into elections where they could peacefully transition power away from communism. However, because Romania never enacted any openness policies, Ceausescu opened himself up to criticism from both his people and the Soviet Union. The Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Romania and actively spoke out against their leadership, positioning themselves as an ally who wanted to improve conditions in Romania, not as their enemy. Romania's distance from the Soviet Union now became a liability as people saw how life was improving outside of the country. The Romanian government was sitting on a powder keg, and all it would take was one match for it all to blow up. That match was lit on December 16, 1989, in the city of Timisoara. A priest by the name of Laszlo Tolkais had publicly critiqued the Romanian regime's record on human rights, leading to him being removed from his post and forcibly evicted from his home. Tolkas was popular in Timisoara, particularly amongst the ethnic Hungarian minority, which means that when they heard about this development, they got angry. Father Tolques congregation started to rally around his home, hoping to protect him from the eviction. Passersbys would spontaneously join the crowd, many of whom had different ethnic background and religious beliefs. Throughout the day, the protests would continue to grow, and eventually the reason for it was largely forgotten. Instead, the rage was simply towards the government. The protests continued into the following day. Government buildings were broken into and communist propaganda was destroyed. The protests got to the point where Ceausescu opted to call in the army. Gunfire, tanks and trucks could be seen and heard throughout the city until the protests eventually ended. By the end of December 17, roughly a hundred people would be dead, hastily being buried or cremated. Hospitals throughout the city would be filled with the wounded, and martial law would be put in place. Phone lines were cut and roads in and out of the city were blocked as the government desperately attempted to keep the events of Timiswara under wraps. Following the events in Timisoara, Ceaucescu left the country to discuss trade and defense issues with Iran, believing the situation had calmed down. He was wrong. Workers began to strike and protestors continued. A political group named the Romanian Democratic Front was established to issue demands to the government, including a rundown of what occurred in Timisoara and the promise of a free press. Ceausescu returned to Romania and could feel the tension. He opted to give a televised speech to the Romanian people, hopeful that it would help restore order and peace within the country. Unfortunately for him, it would have the opposite effect. On December 21, 1989, Ceausescu assembled a crowd in Bucharest for his speech. The regime bused in 100,000 people into the main square, providing them with banners, flags and pictures. They were told that they would be shot if they were to act out. During the speech, Ceausescu began by condemning the events in Timisoara, stating that revolutionaries aimed to destroy Romanian integrity and sovereignty and sought to threaten Romanian autonomy with the aid of a foreign power. As the speech continued, noises began to be heard from the crowd. They began to chant, timisoara, Timisoara. The camera quickly pointed away from the crowd, but as the event was being broadcast throughout the country live, everyone heard it. Everyone knew that Nicolae Ceausescu wasn't popular. But now everyone knew that everyone else knew. Following the speech, people across the country began to take to the streets in a disorganized fashion, despite the fact that the protesters were once again at danger of being fired on, crushed under armored vehicles, stabbed and clubbed. As the protests continued, some of the army and police forces began to switch sides. Ceausescu was beginning to lose control. He would make a few attempts to calm the crowd, including radio announcements, more speeches, and the introduction of martial law, but nothing worked. On December 22, Ceausescu's Minister of Defense suspiciously died by suicide. Many of the protesters believed the death was a result of him committing treason by refusing to fire on the crowds. With the death of the minister of Defense, Ceausescu effectively lost control of the military. His new minister of defense refused to comply with Ceausescu's orders and instead convinced Ceausescu to flee the country. As the Ceausescus were attempting to get to their escape, helicopter protesters flooded the palace square building. The couple was unable to escape and instead were taken by the protesters. On December 24, Christmas Eve, the National Salvation Front, led by Ian Iliescu, took power. He declared that a military tribunal would try the Ceausescus for charges of genocide, subversion of state power, destruction of public property, property, undermining the national economy, and attempting to flee the country. The trial would take place on Christmas Day, December 25, and would last for just an hour before a verdict was declared. The proceedings were more of a spectacle than a fair trial. The prosecution presented no proof of any crime, only sharing opinions and press reports. It was such a sham that Ceausescu's lawyers literally switched sides in the middle of the event to protect themselves. The trial ended with both Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu being found guilty. They were both executed via firing squad on live television. Many Romanians considered it to be a Christmas gift. Following the revolution, Romania went through a period of democratization. However, the country still faced many problems and was far from stable. The new leadership faced months of violent protests following the revolution, although social reforms and stabilization did eventually occur. Information collected during the Ceausescu regime has been released to the public through archives, but much of it is still censored. The topic continues to be relevant throughout the country as debates about transparency, accountability and past oppression remain prevalent in politics today. The Romanian revolution was a unique, unplanned wave of rage that took over a country. The injustice faced every day by Romanians led to an atmosphere of fear, anger and frustration towards their leadership. When this frustration finally boiled over, Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife ultimately paid the price with their lives. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided by Olivia Ashe. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible and I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. This is where everything happens that's outside of the show. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you too can have it read on the show.