Romanian Revolution of 1848

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Proclamation of the revolutionary Wallachian constitution on June 27, 1848 in Bucharest
The territories of the principalities of Wallachia (here: Wallachia ) and Moldova (here: Moldavia ) as well as Transylvania (here: Transylvania ) at the time of the Romanian Revolution

Romanian Revolution of 1848 ( Romanian Revoluția română de la 1848 ) is the name of various, largely suppressed revolutionary efforts in the spring and summer of 1848, which aimed to change the social and political structures in the region. They were part of the European revolutions of 1848/49 . At the time of Romanticism , as with many other peoples in Europe, a national consciousness had developed among the Romanians . As they saw themselves in contrast to the neighboring Slavs , Germans and Hungarians , many nationally minded Romanians viewed other Romance countries, especially France , as role models for their nation. Western-oriented forces saw it as their task to bring the Romanian people closer to modernity.

The revolution of 1848 encompassed areas with a high Romanian population in various states and thus promoted national awareness . However, the events in the Moldova region , in Wallachia and in Transylvania took place largely independently of one another, also because of the diversity of the respective problems. The Romanian historiography of the interwar period and in the era of communism presented the revolutionary uprisings predominantly as an attempt to allow a Romanian nation state to emerge within its later borders. For most of the revolutionaries of 1848 - especially in Transylvania - this idea played no role and was not very realistic at the time.

Many revolutionaries in Wallachia and Moldova called for the unification of the principalities under Ottoman and Russian rule . The Romanians then to Hungary belonging Transylvania demanded their social and political equality; There was also a few calls for unification with Wallachia and the Principality of Moldova.

In the revolution of 1848 the Romanian revolutionaries tried in their demands to transfer Western European conditions to the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. They propagated the abolition of the Russian protectorate and the unification of Moldova and Wallachia, the emancipation of the peasants and universal suffrage . However, the Ottoman Empire and Russia joined forces to suppress this project. In the Principality of Moldova, the revolution lasted only a short time; in Wallachia the revolutionaries acted from June to September 1848.

Despite the failure, the revolutions favored the formation of the Principality of Romania a decade later.

Revolution in Moldova

Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza

In the years before the revolution, Prince Mihail Sturdza had ruled increasingly authoritarian in the Principality of Moldova . A broad opposition made up of aristocrats and bourgeois liberal forces came together against this. On April 8, 1848, representatives of these groups passed a petition in Iași calling for a moderate liberalization of public life. The national question played no role. The prince's opponents included the future prime ministers Mihail Kogălniceanu and Manolache Costache Epureanu , the future prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza and the poet Vasile Alecsandri . Sturdza initially entered into negotiations, but secretly pulled together the militia subordinate to him, which arrested the applicants or forced them to flee abroad. After a short time the revolution was violently but bloodlessly ended. In the summer of 1848, Russian troops finally occupied the principality.

Revolution in Wallachia

Demonstration during the Wallachian Revolution (drawing by Costache Petrescu)

In the Principality of Wallachia , in addition to some nobles, Bucharest students who were oriented towards Western Europe through stays abroad, especially in France, carried the idea of ​​revolution. As in Moldova, the opponents entered into negotiations with the prince ( Gheorghe Bibescu ). He tried to accommodate the revolutionaries, but had little leeway due to pressure from the Russian consul, who opposed any revolutionary movement and threatened the invasion of Russian troops. Lack of progress in the negotiations radicalized the revolutionaries. Local uprisings broke out throughout the principality, especially in Little Wallachia . Increasingly, farmers also took part.

Islaz proclamation

In June, a large gathering of farmers in particular met in the town of Islaz on the Danube, and on June 9, 1848, the Islaz proclamation was passed. This envisaged a fundamental transformation of society, which included universal suffrage, the secularization of church property and the abolition of slavery , which particularly affected Roma . Above all, however, a fundamental land reform was called for. The Ottoman suzerainty should expressly not be touched. On the other hand, some statements were aimed indirectly against the Russian "protectorate". A state association of Romanians was not expressly requested; however, the declaration referred to "over 8 million Romanians", which presumably also meant the Romanians living under Austrian rule.

On June 23, 1848, Prince Bibescu signed the "Proclamation of Islaz" as a "constitution". Two days later he abdicated and went to Kronstadt , ie on Austrian territory. A revolutionary government was established in the capital Bucharest, which began implementing the “Islaz Program”. An attempt by the conservative officers Odobescu and Solomon to overthrow the government failed on June 30, 1848 because a crowd led by Ana Ipătescu freed the arrested revolutionaries from the royal palace. She proceeded very hesitantly, however; for one thing, the revolutionaries disagreed. The writer Nicolae Bălcescu and the officer Gheorghe Magheru represented the radical wing , the poet Ion Heliade-Rădulescu and the landowner Ion C. Brătianu the moderate-conservative wing. In addition, there was always a threat of intervention by foreign powers. At the request of Russia, Ottoman troops finally occupied Wallachia in September 1848, thus ending the uprising. Most of the revolutionaries were able to flee abroad.

Revolution in Transylvania

During the period of Austrian rule in Transylvania , the Romanians were often politically and economically disadvantaged compared to the Transylvanian Saxons , Magyars and Szeklern , for example in most Transylvanian cities the Romanians were not allowed to live within the city walls.

The revolutionary changes in the Habsburg monarchy allowed the Romanians to organize and express themselves politically for the first time in the spring of 1848. The aim of the Transylvanian Romanians was to achieve equality with other nations. A merger with the Danube principalities of Wallachia and Moldova was out of the question for most of the revolutionaries.

At a large popular assembly in Blaj on May 15, 1848, according to various sources, 15,000 to 40,000 people passed a catalog of demands to the Austrian emperor and the Transylvanian state parliament, in which legal equality for the Romanian nation was demanded. Above all, the participants rejected the efforts of many Transylvanian Hungarians to achieve a political union with Hungary - which was to be largely autonomous from Austria. The visitors to the people's assembly pledged their loyalty to the Austrian emperor several times. The meeting was organized by the lawyers Avram Iancu and Alexandru Papiu-Ilarian , the scholar Simion Bărnuțiu and representatives of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches.

The Wallachian revolutionary Nicolae Bălcescu, on the other hand, tried after his flight from Wallachia to persuade the Romanians in Transylvania to fight together with the Hungarians against Austria, but failed.

After the Hungarian revolutionary government under Lajos Kossuth annexed Transylvania to Hungary and it was foreseeable that the position of the Romanians in Transylvania would not improve as a result of the Magyarization policy , Avram Iancu decided to wage a partisan war against the Hungarian revolutionary army with a group of volunteers . In doing so, he practically sided with the Austrian Empire. With his successes and the victory of Russian and Austrian troops over the Hungarian revolutionary army, the unrest in Transylvania also ended.

The verses of today's Romanian anthem Deșteaptă-te, române! originated during this time and first formed the Transylvanian hymn.

Formation of Romania in the years after the revolution

The region before the unification of the Danube Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859

When the Tsarist troops crossed the Prut River in the Crimean War in 1853 and Tsar Nicholas I marched to Dobruja despite an ultimatum from the Western Powers and the dispatch of a French-English squadron , Austria too saw its interests at risk and, on the basis of a secret agreement with the Ottoman Empire to occupy Moldova and most of Wallachia. The Austrian threat forced Russia to withdraw. The Paris conference in 1856 brought the end of the Russian protectorate for the Romanian principalities and, for the first time, a joint guarantee of the European powers for their independence, although nominally still under Ottoman suzerainty . Bessarabia stayed with Russia.

The revolutionary Romanian leaders of 1848 called for a neutral state called România. This expansionist name was not acceptable to the guarantee powers , especially Austria.

It was not until the new Paris Convention of August 19, 1858, at the instigation of Napoleon III. a formula for the constitutional development of the Danube principalities . In 1859, the constituent assemblies of Moldova and Wallachia passed an almost identical constitution. In violation of the Paris Convention, the two parliaments (Moldova on January 17, 1859, Wallachia on March 5, 1859) elected Colonel Alexandru Ioan Cuza as prince and supreme representative. This effectively brought about unification against the wishes of the guarantee powers, who had no choice but to recognize the fait accompli .

Under the leadership of Cuza, the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia came into being , and two years later, when Cuza declared Bucharest the only capital, they were given the name Romania on November 11, 1861. Austria-Hungary retained control of the Romanians in Transylvania until 1918.

See also

literature

  • Thede Kahl, Michael Metzeltin, Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu : Romania. Space and population - history and images of history - culture - society and politics today - economy - law - historical regions . Österreichische Osthefte, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-8258-0069-5 , p. 976 .
  • Dan Berindei : The Romanians in the 1848 Revolution and Europe. In: Lars Lambrecht (Ed.): Eastern Europe in the revolutions of 1848 (= research on Young Hegelianism. Volume 15). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2006, ISBN 978-3-631-56106-5 , pp. 11-25.
  • Lothar Maier: The revolution of 1848 in Moldova and Wallachia. In: Dieter Dowe , Heinz-Gerhard Haupt , Dieter Langewiesche (eds.): Europe 1848. Revolution and Reform (= political and social history. Volume 48). Dietz, Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-8012-4086-X , pp. 253-282.
  • Ioan-Aurel Pop, Ioan Bolovan (Ed.): History of Romania. Compendium. Romanian Cultural Institute, Cluj-Napoca 2006, ISBN 978-973-778412-4 , pp. 485-499.

Web links

Commons : Romanian Revolution of 1848  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georgeta Daniela Oancea: Myths and the past - Romania after the turn. Inaugural dissertation. Munich, 2005. pp. 89/90
  2. ^ Lothar Maier: Romania on the way to the declaration of independence 1866–1877: appearance and reality of a liberal constitution and state sovereignty . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1989. pp. 51/52
  3. ↑ For the main support layer of the Wallachian Revolution see: Dan Berindei: Genealogical relationships of the leaders of the Wallachian Revolution of 1848 in Wallachia. In: Hans-Ulrich von Ruepprecht (Ed.): 12th International Congress for Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences , Munich 1974. Congress report. Volume G, German Working Group on genealogical associations, Stuttgart 1978, pp. G 113 – G 120.
  4. ↑ "Barbata" care ia salvat pe pasoptisti , Alexandru Nastase, jurnalul antena3.ro, March 1, 2004 (Romanian)
  5. ^ Lothar Maier: Romania on the way to the declaration of independence 1866–1877: appearance and reality of a liberal constitution and state sovereignty . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1989. pp. 52-57
  6. ^ Anton Heinrich Springer: History of Austria since the Peace of Vienna 1809, Volume 2. Verlag S. Hirzel, 1865. P. 288–290
  7. ^ Iván T. Berend : History derailed: Central and Eastern Europe in the long nineteenth century. University of California Press, 2003. ISBN 0-520-23299-2
  8. ↑ JL Schrag: The Revolutionary War in Transylvania in the years 1848 and 1849: From an Austrian veteran. Verlag AG Hoffmann, 1849
  9. ^ Lothar Maier: Romania on the way to the declaration of independence 1866–1877: appearance and reality of a liberal constitution and state sovereignty . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1989. pp. 60-67