Romanian Revolution 1989: Classics Revisited

Fascinating People Fascinating Places

Daniel Mainwaring

Documentary, Society & Culture:documentary, History, Society & Culture

5 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Explore the captivating story of the Romanian revolution of 1989, a pivotal moment shaped by the country’s rich history of resisting and embracing external influences. This intricate tapestry of events traces back to the second century AD when the Roman Emperor Trajan conquered the region, leaving an indelible mark in the form of plundered gold. Subsequent waves of invaders, including Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Magyars, and Ottomans, were met with fierce resistance, led by legendary figures like Vlad The Impaler. Each conqueror left behind a lasting legacy, contributing to Romania’s unique heterogeneity in a region dominated by homogeneity. While neighboring Slavic countries followed certain paths, Romania charted its own course, embracing Orthodox Christianity while adopting the Latin alphabet. As a result, Romanian stands as the language most closely linked to modern Italian, setting it apart from the predominantly Slavic, Turkic, or Greek languages spoken in the Balkan nations. Join us in this episode as we unravel the complex historical threads that culminated in the Romanian revolution of 1989, shedding light on a nation’s enduring spirit of resistance and its quest for a distinct identity. Originally Broadcast in 2022 Sound Effects: Pixabay BBC John Simpson BBC1 News English: Address from the Brandenburg Gate (Berlin Wall). Full text at Wikisource Date12 June 1987SourceUniversity of Virginia Miller Center for Public Affairs President Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. Transcript available.[1] Date26 June 1963SourceKennedy Presidential Library[2]AuthorJohn F. Kennedy

Transcript

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0:00.0	Fascinating people, fascinating places.
0:03.8	Gide and welcome to the Dan Mainwaring podcast.
0:07.5	This is where we talk to and about the famous and the infamous,
0:11.5	the celebrated and the obscure, the well-known and the undiscovered.
0:16.0	Interviews, articles and discussion from around the globe.
0:21.5	President, just a year ago, you welcomed me to Bucharest as the first American president
0:28.4	ever to visit Romania. Today, I'm very honored to welcome you to Washington, D.C.,
0:34.6	as the first president of Romania ever to visit the United States of America.
0:38.3	On the 21st of December, 1989, Romanian President Nikolai Chowcesters,
0:45.3	the Moderate, a friend of the West, who'd been knighted in Denmark and the United Kingdom,
0:50.3	who'd condemned the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and snubbed the Warsaw Pact, stepped out onto
0:57.4	a balcony overlooking Palace Square in Bucharest. In the weeks prior, communist regimes across
1:04.5	Eastern Europe had fallen like dominoes in a popular wave of revolution, cheered on by governments in the West.
1:12.6	Despite his supposed credentials as moderate, Bucharest was seemingly impervious to change.
1:19.6	Thousands of Rauke's supporters greeted him as they held his portrait aloft and waved communist flags in the end. But Chowchesky had not come to praise the revolution.
1:31.9	He had come to bury it.
1:42.9	A sudden commotion at the back of the crowd caught his attention.
1:50.8	Panicked citizens, spooked by gunfire or firecrackers, began rushing forward. As they did so,
2:00.5	the unnerved Chalchescu lost his train of thoughts.
2:03.6	The mood in the square quickly turned and portraits of the president were trampled underfoot
2:09.6	as cries of revolution rang out.
2:15.6	In this episode, I explore Romania, 1989.
	...

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