The Romanian Revolution
One of the largest upheavals in the Balkan
region was the violent overthrow of Romania's autocratic Ceausescu regime
by the democratic National Salvation Front. It marked the brutal end
of the Ceausescu regime's efforts to halt the wave of reforms breaking
across Eastern Europe and the end of Romania's nightmare of paranoia and
oppression.
Nicolae Ceausescu, since he assumed ”de
facto” power in 1965, treated Romania and its citizens as resources to
be used in the furtherance of his dynasty. He placed thirty of his
relatives in positions of power within Romania and built a personal
fortune estimated in the millions of dollars. Along with Elena, his
wife, he instituted several repressive policies which dehumanized the
Romanian citizenry. Ceausescu's pet projects included the repayment
of a $10.2 billion foreign debt by maximizing exports to the point of
creating substantial domestic shortages of food, energy, basic necessities
as well as a bizarre Systemization
program, which involved forcibly relocating rural residents into apartment
blocks. Elena herself instituted several repressive programs to
increase Romania's birthrate, the result of which was a large number of
children surrendered for adoption and an alarmingly high incidence of
HIV/AIDS among children who received infected blood at birth. In
order to retain power, the Ceausescus relied on the fanatical loyalty of
their Securitate internal police to suppress dissent, leading to rumors of
government massacres in the thousands.
It was, however, the Securitate's
repression which triggered the revolution. On December 15, 1989,
Protestant pastor Laszlo Tokes who had criticized the Ceausescu regime for
mistreatment of his fellow ethnic Hungarians was ordered deported. The
following day, a crowd gathered near Tokes' home in Timisoara to prevent
the implementation of the deportation order. The Securitate Special
Assignment Brigade allowed the protests to continue for a day before
moving in with tanks and helicopter gunships and opening fire on the
crowds. Several hundred casualties were reported in this first clash. Within
days, demonstrations had spread to other towns and cities.
When Nicolae Ceausescu returned from a
state visit to Iran on December 20, his immediate response was to declare
a state of emergency in Timisoara. The following day, he attempted to
give a speech to a government-sponsored rally in Bucharest promising wage
increases but was shocked when the segments of the crowd turned on him and
staged counter demonstrations. The Securitate were active later in
the day, firing on demonstrators and using armored vehicles to disperse
them. Similar armed clashes occurred in Arad, Brasov, Cluj, Sibiu,
and Timisoara.
On December 22, it all fell apart. Ceausescu
declared a national state of emergency and ordered the army to use force
to disperse the demonstrators. Defence minister Colonel-General
Vasile Milea refused, and was killed by one of Ceausescu's bodyguards. After
a last attempt to address the hostile crowd outside the Communist Party
Central Committee building, Ceausescu and his wife fled the building by
helicopter, leaving it to the demonstrators.
The revolutionaries at this time had
organized themselves into the National Salvation Front and had received
the backing of the Army. The Securitate, however, remained loyal to
Ceausescu and counterattacked in a campaign of terrorism intended to
frighten the Romanian people into submission. Heavy fighting took
place in Bucharest, Sibiu, and Timisoara around hospitals, media
buildings, and key government facilities.
By
December 25 the revolution was all over. The Securitate threat had
been largely neutralized by Army and National Salvation Front militia,
although small pockets of resistance remained. The NSF was in control
of the country. Finally, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, who had been
captured late on December 22, were tried secretly on Christmas morning and
then executed before a firing squad.