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Romania The Revolution of 1848
In early 1848, revolution erupted in Europe, and by
March it
had ignited both Austria and Hungary. Hungary's Diet
seized the
opportunity to enact a comprehensive legislative program
that, in
effect, extricated the country from the Middle Ages. The
Diet
abolished serfdom and feudal privileges and proclaimed
freedom of
the press and religion. The Diet's reform legislation also
provided
for the union of Transylvania and Hungary. In April
Emperor
Ferdinand V (1835-48) swore to uphold the reforms, and on
May 29,
with a crowd in the street shouting "Union or Death!" the
Transylvanian Diet voted for unification. Romanians had no
voice in
the decision.
Unification galvanized Romanian opposition. Thousands
of
peasants and miners gathered in Blaj to denounce union
with Hungary
and call for proportionate representation of Romanians in
Transylvania's Diet and an end to ethnic oppression.
Warfare began
in September between Hungarian troops and imperial forces,
and a
month later Romanian troops under Austrian command battled
the
Hungarians in Transylvania. The Romanians sided with the
Austrians,
believing that the emperor would grant them equal rights
in reward
for their loyalty. Both sides committed atrocities, and
for several
months the Hungarians were victorious. In June 1849,
however, the
tsar heeded an appeal from Emperor Franz Joseph
(1848-1916) and
sent in Russian troops, who extinguished the revolution.
After quashing the revolution, Austria imposed a
repressive
regime on Hungary and ruled Transylvania directly through
a
military governor. German again became the official
language, but
the Austrians reinstated neither serfdom nor the nobles'
monopoly
on land ownership or tax-exempt status. Austria also
abolished the
Union of Three Nations and granted the Romanians
citizenship.
Former feudal lords hesitated to give up their land,
however, and
most of the newly freed serfs became sharecroppers on
inferior land
that barely yielded subsistence. These dismal conditions
uprooted
many Romanian families, who crossed into Walachia and
Moldavia
searching for better lives.
Data as of July 1989
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