Editing History of Romania (section)

== Communist period (1947–1989) ==
{{Main|Socialist Republic of Romania}}
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2022}}

[[File:Adunare Piaţa Palatului August 1968.jpg|thumb|[[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] condemning the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]] in 1968]]
[[File:Personality Cult Romania 1986.jpg|thumb|The Communist government fostered the [[Nicolae Ceaușescu's cult of personality|personality cult]] of Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife [[Elena Ceaușescu|Elena]], 1986.]]

In Romania proper, [[Soviet occupation of Romania|Soviet occupation]] following World War II facilitated the rise of the [[Communist Party of Romania|Communist Party]] as the main political force, leading ultimately to the forced abdication of the King and the establishment of a single-party [[Socialist Republic of Romania|people's republic]] in 1947.

Romania was proclaimed a [[people's republic]]<ref name="cia">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/romania/ |title=CIA – The World Factbook – Romania|publisher=cia.gov|access-date=2015-08-25}}</ref><ref name="ed-u">{{cite web|url=http://www.ed-u.com/ro.html|title=Romania – Country Background and Profile at ed-u.com – The Colossal Education Mega-Site|publisher=ed-u.com|access-date=2015-08-25|archive-date=2008-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210194350/http://www.ed-u.com/ro.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and remained under military and economic control of the Soviet Union until the late 1950s. During this period, Romania's resources were drained by the "[[SovRom]]" agreements; mixed Soviet-Romanian companies were established to mask the Soviet Union's looting of Romania.<ref>{{Citation|first=Carmen |last=Rîjnoveanu |title=Romania's Policy of Autonomy in the Context of the Sino-Soviet Conflict |year=2003 |pages=1 |publisher=Czech Republic Military History Institute, Militärgeschichtliches Forscheungamt |url=http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/07autredossiers/groupetravailhistoiremilitaire/pdfs/2003-gthm.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624195137/http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/07autredossiers/groupetravailhistoiremilitaire/pdfs/2003-gthm.pdf |archive-date=2008-06-24 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Roper|first=Stephen D.|title=Romania: The Unfinished Revolution|place=London|publisher=Routledge|year=2000|isbn=90-5823-027-9|pages=18}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Cioroianu|first=Adrian|author-link=Adrian Cioroianu|title=On the Shoulders of Marx. An Incursion into the History of Romanian Communism|language=ro|publisher=Editura Curtea Veche|year =2005|location=Bucharest|pages=68–73|isbn=973-669-175-6}}</ref>

Romania's leader from 1948 to his death in 1965 was [[Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej]], the [[General Secretary|First Secretary]] of the [[Romanian Workers' Party]]. The Communist regime was formalized with the [[1948 Constitution of Romania|constitution of 13 April 1948]]. On 11 June 1948, all banks and large businesses were [[Nationalization|nationalized]]. This started the process of the [[Romanian Communist Party]] to collectivize the Romania's resources including agriculture.

In 1946 and 1947, several high-ranking members in the pro-Axis government were executed as war criminals, primarily for their involvement in the Holocaust and for attacking the Soviet Union. Antonescu himself was executed 1 June 1946. Once the Communist government became more entrenched, the number of arrests increased. All strata of society were involved, but particularly targeted were the prewar elites, such as intellectuals, and anybody who could potentially form the nucleus of anti-Communist resistance. According to figures, in the years between 1945 and 1964, 73,334 people were arrested.<ref>Cicerone Ionițoiu, Victimele terorii comuniste. Arestați, torturați, întemnițați, uciși. Dicționar. Editura Mașina de scris, București, 2000. {{ISBN|973-99994-2-5}}.</ref> Between 60,000<ref>{{Citation|publisher=[[S.R.I.]]|title=Cartea albă a Securității|volume=2|year=1997}}</ref> and 80,000 political prisoners were detained.<ref>Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, ''Speech at the Plenary session of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers' Party'', 30 November 1961</ref><ref>''Recensământul populației concentraționare din România în anii 1945–1989'' – report of the "Centrul Internațional de Studii asupra Comunismului", Sighet, 2004</ref><ref>''Raportul Comisiei Prezidențiale pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din România'' – report of the "Comisia Prezidențială pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din România", 15 December 2006</ref><ref>Valentino, Benjamin A (2005). Final solutions: mass killing and genocide in the twentieth century. Cornell University Press. pp. 91–151.</ref><ref>Rummel, Rudolph, Statistics of Democide, 1997.</ref>

Gheorghiu-Dej attained greater independence for Romania from the Soviet Union by persuading Soviet First Secretary [[Nikita Khrushchev]] to withdraw troops from Romania in April 1958.<ref>Johanna Granville, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090902161846/http://www.scribd.com/doc/17679545/DejAVu-Early-Roots-of-Romanias-Independence-by-Johanna-Granville "''Dej''-a-Vu: Early Roots of Romania's Independence,"] ''East European Quarterly'', vol. XLII, no. 4 (Winter 2008), pp. 365–404.</ref> After the negotiated withdrawal of Soviet troops, Romania under the new leadership of [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] started to pursue independent policies, including the [[Ceaușescu's speech of 21 August 1968|condemnation]] of the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|Soviet-led 1968 invasion]] of [[Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]]—Romania being the only [[Warsaw Pact]] country not to take part in the invasion—the continuation of [[Israel-Romania relations|diplomatic relations]] with Israel after the [[Six-Day War]] of 1967 (again, the only Warsaw Pact country to do so), and the establishment of economic (1963) and diplomatic (1967) relations with [[West Germany]].<ref name="countrystudies">{{cite web|url=http://countrystudies.us/romania/75.htm |title=Romania – Soviet Union and Eastern Europe |publisher=countrystudies.us|access-date=2015-08-25}}</ref> Romania's close ties with [[Arab world|Arab countries]] and the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO) allowed to play a key role in the Israel-Egypt and Israel-PLO peace processes by intermediating the visit of Egyptian president [[Anwar Sadat|Sadat]] to Israel.<ref name="countrystudies2">{{cite web|url=http://countrystudies.us/romania/80.htm |title= Middle East policies in Communist Romania |publisher=countrystudies.us|access-date=2015-08-25}}</ref>

Between 1977 and 1981, Romania's [[foreign debt]] sharply increased from US$3 to US$10&nbsp;billion<ref>{{Citation|last=Deletant|first=Dennis|title=New Evidence on Romania and the Warsaw Pact, 1955–1989|publisher=Cold War International History Project e-Dossier Series|url=http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.publications&doc_id=16367&group_id=13349|access-date=2008-08-30|archive-date=2008-10-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029113345/http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.publications&doc_id=16367&group_id=13349|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the influence of international financial organizations such as the [[IMF]] and the [[World Bank]] grew, in conflict with Ceaușescu's [[Autarky|autarchic]] policies.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} Ceaușescu's independent foreign policy meant leaders of Western nations leaders were slow to criticize Romania's government which, by the late 1970s, had become arbitrary, capricious and harsh.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} The Romanian economy grew quickly through foreign credit but this was replaced with austerity and political repression, which became more draconian through the 1980s.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Ceaușescu eventually initiated a project of full reimbursement of the foreign debt; to achieve this, he imposed [[1980s austerity policy in Romania|austerity policies]] that impoverished Romanians and exhausted the nation's economy. The project was completed in 1989, shortly before his overthrow. He greatly extended the authority of the ''[[Securitate]]'' (secret police) and imposed a [[cult of personality]], leading to a dramatic decrease in Ceaușescu's popularity and culminating in his overthrow and execution in the bloody [[Romanian Revolution]] in [[Revolutions of 1989|December 1989]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-12-25|title='Shameful but necessary': How the Romanian rulers who starved their people met their end|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/long-reads/ceausescu-romania-bucharest-communism-politics-history-a9234806.html|access-date=2022-02-19|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref>