The Great Destiny of a Nation

The Great Destiny of a Nation

Part I: The Seed Under the Ground

In the 15th-16th centuries, in the West, the idea of a national "home," of a unitary state, took deep root. But for the peoples of Eastern Europe, especially for the Romanians, this idea was a seed buried deep, which waited for centuries to sprout. A seed constantly threatened by greedy empires—the Tsarist, the Ottoman, and the Habsburg—that devoured peoples, denationalized them, and forced them to abandon their lands.The most enlightened Romanians, intellectuals, priests, and politicians, understood with painful clarity that, without a national state, their people were condemned to disappear. More than half of them were scattered under foreign domination, like fragments of a shattered mosaic. This realization did not come overnight but was the result of a long and suffering historical process. The Revolution of 1848 was not a failure but a lighthouse. It was the moment when the program for the formation of modern Romania was drawn with blood and courage. It was the first whisper of the nation, which began to demand its right to exist.Starting in 1848, the desire for union became a creed, a fundamental goal. The leaders of the Romanians, visionary and pragmatic alike, knew they could not act alone. They needed a partnership with history, the support of the great powers. Their plan was a marathon, not a sprint. The union had to be done in stages, just like the Italians and Germans. The first stage was the union of Moldavia and Wallachia, under the leadership of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, a nucleus of strength, a solid foundation for what was to come.The War of Independence of 1877-1878 followed, a crucial moment. Romania, armed with unshakeable determination, entered the battle to win its freedom. This was the second whisper, a whisper of courage, which was heard at the Congress of Berlin and led to the international recognition of absolute independence.

Part II: The Storm and the Triumph

The year 1918 was the climax. After a World War that swept empires off the face of the earth and changed destinies, the wind of history blew, and for the Romanians, it was a wind of freedom. US President Woodrow Wilson gave a signal, a declaration that formalized the right to self-determination, and the oppressed peoples understood that this was their moment.People acted with astonishing speed. In Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transylvania, the popular assemblies voted for union with overwhelming enthusiasm. It was not an act from behind the scenes, a conspiracy of the elites, but an explosion of popular will, a shout of joy that echoed throughout the provinces. The Romanians understood that freedom is not a gift but a right earned with blood and suffering.The act of the Great Union was validated at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919-1920. Romanian leaders presented a map of a new Romania, a country that had regained its lost territories and gathered all its scattered children. The new treaties, from Saint Germain, Neuilly-sur-Seine, and Trianon, internationally consecrated what the Romanians had decided. For the first time in history, the great powers took into account the will of the peoples, not just their own interests.Unified Romania became a regional power of the first rank, with nearly 300,000 square kilometers and 15 million inhabitants. It was a victory of the spirit, a triumph of patience and perseverance. But, as we know, history is not linear. In the decades that followed, Romania went through moments of glory but also through profound suffering. During communism, the national idea was manipulated, distorted, and history was rewritten.But the truth survived. Although it was sometimes forgotten, it remained in the soul of every Romanian. The truth is that the majority of Romanians wanted the Great Union. The truth is that the elites did not impose the union, but listened to and amplified the whisper of the people. The truth is that the Romanians, like other peoples in this part of Europe, traveled a difficult road, but succeeded in building a home, a nation.When we celebrate National Day on December 1st, we must not be overwhelmed by triumphalism, but remember the sacrifices, the struggle, and the courage of those people. We are neither superior nor inferior, but simply ourselves, with our good and bad parts. The Great Union of 1918 is not just a historical act, but a testament, a living proof that a dream, once born in the hearts of thousands of people, cannot be stopped, no matter how powerful the oppressors may be.