One Version of Romania's History

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Den | Romania | History | Introduction | Margins

Lost in the Margins

Topics covered in this section:

Powerful Neighbors

Romania has always existed as a territory in the margins of its more powerful neighbors. The empires and kingdoms that surrounded Romania during different periods wanted to "own" Romania. We'll see these neighbors invading Romania time and time again throughout Romania's long history.

It wasn't because these invaders actually wanted to live in Romania ... though many did immigrate there. Rather they mostly wanted to steal Romania's resources or to use Romania as a military buffer zone between them and their enemies.

The Romanian people, mostly poor farmers and shepherds, cared little for the power that their overlords sought. As long as they were left alone to live their own life, they didn't mind being relegated to the margins of history. Until well into the 19th century, the villages and towns, not the great cities, were their world.

Non-Romanian Heros

It was the more powerful countries and their leaders who made it into the history books. Romanians, if mentioned at all, were simply lumped into the peasant masses. Their leaders, if mentioned at all, were a footnote in the history of the overlords.

Only occasionally did a Romanian hero rise from being a simple footnote to become a main historical figure. Most of the time, however, the Romanian people weren't even acknowledged. In effect, they were relegated to the margins of the history books — great, nameless masses.

Yet even though we don't know most of their names or many of their achievements, we know they were there.

Military Buffer Zone

Throughout the ages Romania has suffered because of her favorable geographical location. That location has also been an occasional advantage. But most of the time, it has been abused by the powerful countries who cared little about the Romanian lives being sacrificed.

It was better, the more powerful nations reasoned, to send their armies to battle on Romanian territory than to fight on their "home turf" where their own citizens might get hurt.

Rome was perhaps the first empire to want to use Romanian lands as a buffer zone (long before Romania even existed). They set up military outposts in Romanian territory to protect the empire against attacks from nomadic warrior tribes from the steppes east of Romania.

Much later, three warring powers used Romania for the same purpose. The emperors of the Austrian-Hungarian empire to the northwest were at constant warfare with the sultans of the Ottoman empire to the south and with the tsars of the Russian empire to the east. When one of them decided to attack one of the others, they sent their troops marching through Romania to engage in their battles.

Centuries later, Hitler will use Romania as a launching pad in his invasion of Russia. He'll also exploit the rich oil reserves found in Romania to fuel his tanks.

Of course, many of the Romanians who lived inside Romania's borders when one of these skirmishes took place had to suffer the consequences. But for the great empires, Romanian lives were an acceptable statistic. Better "them" than "us" ... right?

Natural Resources

Many countries in the ancient world had scarce natural resources, so they were always on the lookout for places that had these valuable resources. One of the most sought after resources in the ancient world was salt.

Without refrigeration, salt was the most popular preservative. There was an abundance of salt in Romania. And that drew the attention of her more powerful neighbors.

In addition to salt, Romania had vast forests, oil reserves, and game animals. Its rivers, rich in nutrients and minerals, gave rise to fur traders and fishing enterprises. The rivers also gave international merchants natural pathways for moving their trade goods. The mountains provided vast amounts of metals and ores, and made an ideal home for sheepherders.