While digging in my garage, I found a lot of nice things (a diary for the 4th grade, children’s toys and all that) and among them was my old munke “Romanians-Romans”?"(Romanii romenilor?) So I’ll just leave this here..
There are only a https://lakepalacecasino.co.uk/bonus/ few happy peoples who could create their history based primarily on their own needs and ideals, without noticing or overcoming unfavorable external circumstances without undue effort. The vast majority of nations live at busy crossroads and have to interact with their neighbors too closely. Until now, such communication almost always turned into a struggle, which very often became the main raison d’être of peoples.
Depending on the blows inflicted from outside and the ability of the defenders to repel them, peoples have three possible paths – death, resistance or adaptation. The path that history forced this or that nation to follow determined a lot in its character, and therefore in the destiny that it created for itself when it received such an opportunity.
Some of them could fight, relying on significant resources, be it natural resources or advantages created by the intelligence, hard work or courage of people. The presence of such opportunities encourages resistance, and the combatants are often rewarded for their courage by successfully repelling the external onslaught. As a legacy of this struggle, they still have a lot of good weapons in strong hands. As a rule, the leaders of victorious armies do not want to quietly disband them to their homes, and the nations that have won the fight against aggression, along with those whose power has gradually grown on the “geopolitical islands,” join the ranks of conquerors, empire builders, and contenders for world domination.
Their victims are peoples who not only live in the path of all evils, but also do not have enough resources to resist. Many of them die, but not all. Others continue to exist, developing the ability to adapt.
What is now Romania and Moldova lies at one of the world’s most dire geopolitical crossroads. Here, at the southern entrance from Eurasia to the European Peninsula, two ancient routes intersect: one connects the wild and inhospitable depths of the continent with Western Europe, the other leads from the forests of the North to the warm shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
Countless times these paths were followed by armies and peoples eager to enslave, rob and kill each other. The rich and highly organized empires of the South, and later the West, conquered barbarian tribes, but the wild hordes of the North and East rushed towards them, eager for plunder. Over time, the latter also became empires from tribes, but this rarely reduced their thirst for power and ferocity. On their way lay a country formed by three regions adjacent to the southeastern arc of the Carpathians from the south, east and northwest.
The many convenient routes of communication converging from different ends of the huge continent (flat steppe, large rivers, sea) and its small size make the country vulnerable to attack. Of course, it is logical to assume that convenient communications can play a beneficial role in promoting the development of international economic and cultural ties. Yes, these roads had such significance, sometimes bringing wealth and culture to Romania from other countries. However, the fact is that in the harsh and semi-wild interior of Eurasia, which includes (even if located on the outskirts) Romania, throughout most of history the tone was set by ferocious conquerors, robbers, fanatics, despots and bureaucrats, and by no means industrialists, traders, scientists and artists.
Still, it cannot be said that the situation of the country’s population was absolutely hopeless. Rough, forested and mountainous terrain, a favorable climate, and the presence of minerals give him some resources at his disposal. They are sufficient to repel a small, short-term attack. But still too small to wage a large-scale and protracted war with a large people or state.
Small and exposed to attacks from all directions, the country does not have the strategic depth to retreat for a long time while continuing to fight. But there is a place to hide and sit out difficult times – there are many secluded valleys in the mountains with a relatively favorable climate; the plains used to be covered with impenetrable forests. Such remote and secluded natural refuges, of course, did not provide their inhabitants with sufficient resources to create a developed economy, a strong state, and a high culture, but they could provide basic human needs. The population of the mountains and forests had the opportunity to lead a quiet, primitive existence, watching from their secluded corners the peoples and states fighting for dominance over their country.
The Far Frontier of Civilization
However, the first of the peoples who inhabited this area, about which there is clear historical evidence, behaved differently. Descriptions of the Dacian and Getae tribes left by Greek and Roman historians paint us a darkly romantic image of freedom-loving, courageous, warlike, cruel and uncontrollable people in their passions. Ready to fight to the last under any circumstances and die free. And also very pessimistic – they consider funerals one of the best holidays, when you can be happy for a person that he has finally left this disgusting world. The latter circumstance is perhaps one of the few connecting links between this ancient people and modern Romanians, who, according to the results of a study conducted in the fall of 2003. survey found the most unhappy people in the world.
The presence of a set of qualities that were clearly lacking in many subsequent generations of Romanians (courage and love of freedom, but not pessimism), turned the real, although not known in all details, history of this people into an object of cult, a fairy tale, with the help of which the distant descendants of the Dacians try to drown out the complexes that torment them.
While we have a good idea of the dramatic decline of Dacian history, we have only fragmentary information about its earlier stages. In any case, the national character of the Dacians testifies to the fact that they had to fight a lot and hard times – moreover, it is also known about the invasions of the Scythians and Celts that took place in the first millennium BC. However, the scale and duration of the wars of those times were such that the country’s resources were most likely sufficient to successfully confront enemies in open battle.
Now, however, there has been an assumption that the Dacians did not play the role in the formation of the Romanian people that the classical version of the history of these lands assigns to them, since they were only a narrow stratum of conquerors who, several centuries before the Romans, conquered local tribes. But the affiliation of these tribes is the most interesting element of this theory.
The ancestral home of the Aryan peoples is located somewhere in the northeast of Europe, and the Romanians are the Romance nation closest to this ancestral home. Thus, it was on the territory of the current Romanian lands that the Romance peoples first separated from the common Aryan family, and from there they came to Italy, and then, through the Roman and Spanish empires, spread to other countries and continents. There is very little historical evidence in favor of this version of the ancient history of the Romanians, but still there is something in it. Not only does it satisfy Romanian national pride by asserting that it was not the Romanians who descended from the Romans, but the Romans from the Romanians, but it also answers a whole series of questions that we still have to deal with – why so few traces of Dacian culture have survived? why, of all the remote Roman provinces, this one remained a Romanesque country? where did the Romanesque population come from in Moldavia, which was never ruled by Rome? – more convincing than the classic version. However, we will now return to the presentation of the latter.
The geopolitical position of a country can change, and very quickly. On the horizon of the Dacians, who had previously waged wars against possibly ferocious and numerous, but poorly organized and short-lived militias of other tribes, a huge, civilized and wealthy state appeared for the first time. At the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. uh. Dacia was attacked by the Roman Empire. The country desperately resisted, but the resources of the empire were immeasurably greater. The Dacian forces were eventually broken, and courage did not help against superior numbers, organization, technology.
In spring 106 g. the king and the highest aristocracy of Dacia were finally convinced of the impossibility of further struggle with the united forces of the peoples inhabiting the space between Ireland and Arabia, and, according to the custom of their tribe, they left this unloved world, committing suicide. With all the tenacity and bloodshed of that war, it is impossible to imagine that the Romans were able (and even wanted) to destroy most of the indigenous population of the country. Nevertheless, some historians have had similar assumptions – the fact of the almost complete disappearance of the Dacian language is so striking. Apparently, the losses among the aristocracy and priests of Dacia, the main carriers of its culture, who categorically did not want to put up with the conquest, were indeed enormous. The country was taught a harsh lesson – its geopolitical position went from average to very bad. On the roads that converged here from different parts of Eurasia, the first enemy appeared, which was impossible to defeat. He was far from the last.
The year 106 later became a magical date in Romanian history. From it begins its most iconic (or one of two iconic, along with the modernization of the second half of the 19th – first half of the 20th centuries) period and its greatest mystery.
The Far Frontier of Civilization
Dacia was Rome’s last major acquisition. The Romans understood the vulnerability of the position of the new province, which was located outside the natural lines of defense of the empire along the Danube and Rhine, open to attacks from peoples who could suddenly appear from the unknown depths of the continent. They needed to create a reliable system of defense for the country, and the Romans had enough resources for this. The years of rapid introduction to advanced civilization began.
“Emperor Trajan, having conquered Dacia, gathered here many people from all over the Roman Empire to cultivate the land and populate the cities,” testifies the Roman historian Eutropius. In addition to the will of the emperor, many could be attracted by the prospect of taking part in the development of gold deposits developed by the Dacians. Management and financing from a powerful and wealthy state, the efforts of settlers who arrived from neighboring Balkan provinces, from Asia Minor, Greece and the Middle East, ensured a rapid breakthrough in the development of Dacia. In a country that in the previous 200 years had taken the first rough and inept steps towards civilization, in 20–30 years at least 11 cities, a system of roads and border fortifications were created, the perfect but complex administrative, military and financial systems of the empire were extended to it, Roman law and city government, ancient religions, education, philosophical teachings, a way of life that had been formed for almost a thousand years appeared. intensive development.
There is reason to believe that the ancient world actually generously shared these benefits with Romania. The newly acquired and, at the same time, vulnerable province attracted increased attention, and the resources of the empire, which was at the zenith of both military power and economic prosperity, were enormous. Perhaps, to some extent, Dacia owes its strong Romanization to the Jews. A few years after its conquest, a revolt in Judea prevented the Romans from benefiting from Trajan’s successful offensive against Parthia, with the result that their attention was not diverted by conquests in Central Asia, but focused on European acquisition.
The regime of imperial power established in the Roman state more than a hundred years before the conquest of Dacia meant stability and security for the subject population, but also increasing restrictions on freedom. He relaxed the population of the empire, weaned them off the skills and habits of self-organization and self-defense. Of course, the traditions of ancient freedom, dating back to the Roman Republic and Greek cities, to the recently independent tribes of Europe, slowed down these processes, but they were irreversible, and during the several centuries of the empire’s existence, the legacy of the glorious past almost died under the pressure of despotism. The very nature of the forced Romanization of Dacia could play a cruel joke on it, strengthening the role of the state and the dependence of ordinary people on it. The habit of obedience must be assumed to have been easily accepted by the local population, depressed by the terrible defeat of their country and deprived of their former leaders.
The institutions and ideas of a society based on freedom, private property and the rule of law, valued in Rome, despite all the victories of despotism, and later forming the basis of Western civilization, were undoubtedly also brought to Dacia in the wagon train of the victorious army of the emperor. Theoretically, these “proto-Western” institutions had a chance to enter the life of the country’s population and become a stable part of its traditions. But this required a lot of time, much more than sending troops and settlers, building cities and roads. The ancestors of the Romanians did not have such time at their disposal.
Dacia was not only the last gain of the Romans, but also their first loss. Of the approximately 800 years of Rome’s existence as a great power (assuming that the end of this period was not Odoacer’s seizure of power in Italy, but the destruction of the main, eastern part of the empire by the Arabs, Avars and Slavs at the beginning of the 7th century), Dacia was part of the Roman possessions for only 160 years. At 271 g. The Romans, by order of Emperor Aurelian, leave the province. Judging by all available information, it is voluntarily (even having concluded an agreement with the Goths on the transfer of power) that they leave it, and do not lose it during the war. They do this for the same reason that they invested a lot in the development of these lands at the beginning of the 2nd century – because of their vulnerability. Only then the empire was strong and rich, and by the end of the 3rd century it was exhausted by a severe internal crisis, so the answer to the previous question was different – to reduce the length of the borders, returning to borders more convenient for defense. For another three centuries, the Romans would hold the border along the Danube, but would no longer return for any long period to the lands north of this river, open to all conquerors of Europe and Asia. The Turks will do the same thing some time later.
Return to prehistory
The departure of the Romans from Dacia is a mysterious event. It is known when, by whom, for what reason the decision was made, it is also clear that the orders were carried out. The specific circumstances of the departure of the imperial army and administration, especially the fate of the population of the province, are shrouded in complete secrecy. Darkness, only here and there broken through by rays of indirect and fragmentary information, descends on the further history of the Romanian lands.
The collapse of the Roman Empire is associated with many similar phenomena called the Dark Ages. Information about the history of most Western European countries of the 6th and 7th centuries is very scarce. The most convincing example of this kind is Britain, over whose history for some time it is not dusk that falls, but complete darkness. After the Romans lost control of the island in the early 5th century, information about its history is cut short. The tribes that invaded Britain had not yet learned to write; local Roman citizens most likely wrote something at first, but all this perished in the flames of the invasion. The country is returning from a civilized state to prehistoric times. This period lasts 200 years, until the turn of the 6th and 7th centuries, when, with the appearance of Christian priests in the country, the written tradition is resumed, and some, albeit faint, light is shed on the history of the country.
Romania, after the departure of the Romans, plunges into the same primitive darkness as Britain, but it begins to slowly dissipate only after the 11th century, and even then not thanks to the Romanians, but through the efforts of another people who took possession of this land. The return of the Romanians as an independent nation to the fold of civilization occurs in the 14th century. After about 200 years of Dacian attempts to create the foundations of a civilized society and 160 years of exporting Roman civilization, the country returns to its primitive state for 700, and part of it for more than 1000 years!
Plunging into darkness occurs instantly. In the most important centers of the empire, numerous writers continue to cover the vicissitudes of the internal life of the state and wars with external opponents on the eastern, Rhine, and Danube borders. But no voices are heard from across the Danube. The ruins of Roman cities only increase the mystery of these times – they bear no traces of military operations or destruction. But, nevertheless, their existence is abruptly interrupted. It seems like, based on the decision of the emperor and the orders of lower authorities, city mayors are packing papers, merchants are closing their shops, townspeople are rushing to visit theaters or baths for the last time, which are then also sealed for order, peasants are putting the lighter equipment into carts and gathering herds to drive them to new pastures. The legions marching from the border fortresses to the crossings of the Danube bring up the rear of this procession, and when the sound of their footsteps subsides, the country remains quiet and empty. Only water gurgles in abandoned water pipes, and herds of wild animals roam along deserted roads.
Many circumstances of this quiet and mysterious evacuation suggest that the population left the country, and it must be said that there are no arguments that would completely refute this hypothesis. Indeed, for almost seven hundred years, information about the population of these territories, remaining from Roman times, almost does not appear in historical sources.
But here comes the time to remember the great mystery of Romanian history. It lies in the fact that after 1000 years, and years filled with countless invasions and destruction, endless unrest and wars of conquerors and settlers among themselves, in the light of civilization returning to this land, a people speaking the Romance language was discovered. The lands included in the former Yugoslavia or present-day Bulgaria were part of the Roman Empire two and a half times longer than the Romanian territory, and the more significant centers of the empire were located there. In the end, after the death of the empire, these countries either continued to be part of the civilized world, or retained closer ties with it than the former Dacia. However, Slavic peoples now live there, and in Romania there are distant descendants of Roman settlers. How did they manage to survive??!
This is truly the great mystery of the endless dark ages of Romanian history. She gave rise to many legends in modern Romania. Ultimately, the myths about the cult period of Roman rule and the miraculous preservation of its heritage formed the basis of the national idea of modern Romania. Ideas about a people who preserved the achievements of advanced civilization in the darkness of a barbaric world and, due to this circumstance, can claim greater proximity to the most developed nations of the West than their neighbors in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.
It is difficult to say whether such thoughts worried the population of the villages and city outskirts of the abandoned Roman province, who looked after the departing troops, officials who locked their residences, who took money and valuables to safer places for the rich. Most likely, most of the province’s population remained in place. Although there is no clear indication of this in historical sources. One Roman historian, Flavius Vopiscus, writes that Emperor Aurelian evacuated the army and population from the province, another, Jordan, mentions only the withdrawal of troops. However, information about resettlement is too scarce. The Romans, who described their history in great detail, could have told in more detail about such a grandiose event as the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees into the empire. In addition, there is no information about the people who wandered for a thousand years along certain crossroads of Europe in order to then return to their original place. Such a remarkable event would certainly leave traces in historical chronicles. But the people living in the same place might not have left such traces. Provided, of course, that he behaved very quietly.
The assumption that the population left the abandoned province still has some basis. A peaceful and orderly departure of the Romans could have consequences similar to those that arose as a result of the brutal defeat of the Dacians. Once again there was a sharp decline in the development of the people, due to the fact that the country lost its elite. Most likely, the administration, and the majority of wealthy and educated people, and entrepreneurs, and the most qualified craftsmen, in general a significant part of the urban population, had the opportunity to leave the province and find shelter in other parts of the empire.
What remained were commoners, and these were not people from a free barbarian tribe, not citizens of a city-republic who knew how to fend for themselves. They knew how to work and pay taxes, but they didn’t know how to fight, and they were bad at making decisions for themselves. Conditions for the adaptation of the former Roman population to new conditions were unfavorable. Being less adapted to fight than the ancient Dacians, the inhabitants of the former Roman province found themselves in a harsher environment. The barbaric world of northeastern Europe has approached the threshold of civilization. The tribes multiplied, so that they became cramped within their former borders, and learned to make good weapons. An elite appeared in their ranks, which did not yet have such solid supports of their power as the state and property provide, and therefore thirsted for war in order to prove their usefulness. Finally, the barbarians learned in sufficient detail how well rich peoples lived on the shores of warm seas, and they were overcome by envy and a thirst for robbery.
The next wanderers on the Eurasian routes after the Romans who came from the south were the Goths who appeared from the north – a people who later proved their power by taking Rome. They occupied the plains of the northeast and south – more convenient for further attacks on the rich southern countries, but in turn more accessible to invasions of other barbarians from the north and east. The Goths also owned most of the lands inside the Carpathian arc, but another Germanic people, the Gepids, penetrated into this area from the north. In the western part of the Romanian lands, another future conquerors of Rome lived for some time – the Vandals.
As much as we know about the Roman conquest of Dacia, so little about how the Germanic tribes took possession of these lands. But this silence is perhaps eloquent, as is the absence of traces of war in the Roman cities of Dacia. If someone had seriously resisted the Goths, the war would have been reflected in the annals of the empire. But apparently this was not the case. The population abandoned the cities and plains as foreign troops and settlers approached. They may have written letters to Roman commanders and governors across the Danube asking for help. No such documents survive in Romanian history, but there is a 5th century letter from Britain which is quoted in Churchill’s English history. It tells how the local population abandoned their cities and lands in the face of the Saxon invasion, hiding in forests, mountains and caves, starving and forced to eat grass and tree bark, ready to kill and rob their compatriots just to survive themselves.
At this point the leaves are lost and I couldn’t find them, and somehow I don’t want to translate them.)))
Written by root14 de julio de 2025
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