Romanian Revolution

The Romanian Revolution of 1989 overthrew the communist regime and its dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. On 15 December, in the town Timisoara, a battle was sparked between the riot police and thousands of Romanians inspired by Father Laszlo Tokes, a former member of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, who spoke out against Ceausescu and his dictatorship of Romania.

  ** Ceausescu and his wife Elena
The Communist government established a reign of terror, Totally manipulated and controlled, the Romanian people suffered oppression for 21 years, disciplined and monitored by the 'Securitate'. Ceausescu's secret police. During this time they launched several campaigns to eliminate "enemies of the state", in which numerous individuals were killed or imprisoned for arbitrary political or economic reasons.( Similar to the Robespierre´s Reign of Terror in France)  Punishment included deportation, internal exile, and internment in forced labour camps and prisons; dissent was vigorously suppressed. A notorious experiment in this period took place in the Piteşti prison, where a group of political opponents were put into a program of reeducation through torture.

 Any acts of aggression or placation by the Government only seemed to fuel and anger the Romanian people, led by Revolutionary leader, Ion Iliescu. On 21 December, Ceausescu made a televised speech to reason with crowds in Bucharest, but it only served to incense the crowd which became violent and riots continued throughout the day between the army and police. The following day, the army joined the demonstrators and by the Christmas Eve, Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife had fled Romania, where the army caught and executed them by firing squad on Christmas Day.
The total number of deaths in the Romanian Revolution was 1,104, of which 162 were in the protests that led to the overthrow of Nicolae Ceauşescu (16–22 December 1989) and 942 in the fighting that occurred after the seizure of power by the new political structure National Salvation Front (FSN). The number of wounded was 3,352.
The Romanian people suffered:

• severe food rationing
• power cuts and fuel shortages
• the abolishment of contraception and abortion
•  state controlled censorship of the media,
• visitors and travel restricted, and  the 'systematisation' of half of Romania's villages which involved the elimination of a village and the repositioning of their residents into 'Agrarian-industria' centres.

To see the Day-by-day history of the Romanian Revolution click here

 http://tripatlas.com/Romanian_Revolution_of_1989

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania#Independence_and_monarchy

http://www.usq.edu.au/artsworx/schoolresources/madforest/romrev