Editing Alexandru Ioan Cuza (section)

==Downfall and exile==
[[File:Portrait of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by August Strixner.png|thumb|right|140px|Cuza in the 1860s; portrait by August Strixner]][[File:StampRomania1865Michel13.JPG|thumb|left|140px|1865 stamp]]Cuza failed in his effort to create an alliance of prosperous peasants and a strong liberal prince, ruling as a benevolent authoritarian in the style of Napoleon III. Having to rely on a decreasing group of hand-picked bureaucrats, Cuza began facing a mounting opposition after his land reform bill, with liberal landowners voicing concerns over his ability to represent their interests. Along with financial distress, there was an awkward scandal that revolved around his mistress, [[Marija Obrenović|Maria Catargiu-Obrenović]], and popular discontent culminated in a coup d'état.

Cuza was forced to abdicate by the so-called "[[monstrous coalition]]" of Conservatives and Liberals. At four o'clock on the morning of 11 February 1866, a group of military conspirators broke into the palace, and compelled the prince to sign his abdication. On the following day they conducted him safely across the border.<ref name="EB1911"/>[[File:Daumier30.05.1866.PNG|thumb|right|150px|A French perspective on the situation after Cuza's toppling, caricature by [[Honoré Daumier]] in ''[[Le Charivari]]'' (May 5, 1866). A character symbolising the [[Danubian Principalities]], looking on as the Foreign Powers charged with overseeing him quarrel: "Oh, my! It looks as if they are no longer taking care of me at all!"]]

His successor, Prince [[Carol I of Romania|Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen]], was proclaimed Domnitor as Carol I of Romania on 20 April 1866. The election of a foreign prince with ties to an important princely house, legitimizing Romanian independence (which Carol came to do after the [[Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878|Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878]]), had been one of the liberal aims in the revolution of 1848.

Despite the participation of [[Ion Brătianu]] and other future leaders of the [[National Liberal Party (Romania, 1875)|Liberal Party]] in the overthrow of Cuza, he remained a hero to the [[Radicalism (historical)|radical]] and [[Republicanism|republican]] wing, who, as [[Francophile]]s, had an additional reason to oppose a [[Prussia]]n monarch. There were anti-Carol riots in Bucharest during the [[Franco-Prussian War]] (''see [[History of Bucharest]]'') and a coup attempt known as the [[Republic of Ploiești]] in August 1870. The conflict was eventually resolved by a compromise between Brătianu and Carol, with the appointment of a prolonged and influential Liberal cabinet.

Cuza spent the remainder of his life in exile, chiefly in Paris, Vienna, and [[Wiesbaden]],<ref name="EB1911"/> accompanied by his wife and his two sons. He died in [[Heidelberg]] on 15 May 1873. His remains were buried in his residence in Ruginoasa, but were moved to the [[Trei Ierarhi Monastery|Trei Ierarhi Cathedral]] in Iași after [[World War II]].