Romania, consolidated in the decades following the elimination of the Ottoman rule, completed its modern organization in administration. At the same time, the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century saw the development of the Romanian culture at European standards, the impressive international assertion of various personalities.

Important steps in the fight for national liberation and the union making were made during the 1848 revolution, which most remarkable representative were Nicolae Balcescu and Avram Iancu.

In 1859, by the election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as prince in the both principalities, the union of Wallahia and Moldavia into a single State, name Romania, was accomplished.

In 1881, on March 14 the Senat voted a law by which Romania became Kingdom.

The union into a single State - century-old yearning of Romanians, for which innumerable generations had struggled - was at the beginning of the 20th century an imperious necessity, demanded by the laws of historical development, by the progress of Romanian society.

The process of disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, determined by the social and national movements of the subjected peoples and stepped up by military defeats suffered by the Central Powers in the second part of the First World War 1914-1918, were the external factors which preceeded the "creation of the unitary Romanian nation-State".

On the December 1, 1918, at Alba-Iulia, the Grand National Assembly, proclaiming solemnly the Union of Transilvania with old Romania, marked the completion of the political unity of the Romanian people.

In this way Daco-Romanian was restored, at a higher stage of development, and there was created the state frame in which Romanian people and the Hungarians, Germans, Serbians, etc., could better and more efficiently use this country's riches, develop their moral virtues and affirm the Romanian spirit in world culture and civilization.

After 1918, Romania knew a development at all the levels of material and spiritual life. The outstanding mark of this evolution was the stepped-up modernization of society, the build- up of democratic political structures, the growing of education, science and culture.

In 1923, a new Constitution was adopted, sanctioning the national and unitary character of the state, granting new civil rights and liberties to the ethnic minorities as well.

Like other European states, Romania crossed a tormented political stage, culminating by the end of the inter-war period with the authoritarian-monarchy regim (1938), followed by General Ion Antonescu's dictatorship (1940).

After the Great Union of 1918, Romania underwent cultural effervescence, her numerous personalities (Nicolae Iorga, Constantin Brancusi, George Enescu, Henry Coanda, Dimitrie Gusti) enjoying international acknowledgement.

Romania's foreign policies were characterized by notable moves for the safeguarding of peace and international law. A special part was played by Nicolae Titulescu, elected twice Chairman of the initiators of colective security in Europe.

Last update: 1999, August 18
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