Rise of Ceaușescu - Romanian National-Communism

Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a video on the Rise of Ceaușescu, as he started implementing National-Communism in Romania.

#ColdWar #Ceausescu #Romania

Sources:
Copilaş, E. (2010). Economical divergences and geopolitical opportunities. Romanian Foreign Policy in the last period of Gheorghiu-Dej Regime. Revista Română de Geografie Politică, 12(2), 356-374.
Gheorghe, E. (2015). Nicolae Ceauşescu. In Mental Maps in the Era of Détente and the End of the Cold War 1968–91 (pp. 60-80). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Petrescu, C., & Petrescu, D. (2007). Resistance and dissent under communism: the case of Romania. Totalitarismus und Demokratie, 4(2), 323-346.
Petrescu, C. L. Performing Disapproval toward the Soviets. Between Prague Spring and French May, 199.
Petrescu, D. (2009). Building the Nation, Instrumentalizing Nationalism: Revisiting Romanian National-Communism, 1956–1989. Nationalities Papers, 37(4), 523-544.
Stanciu, C. (2014). Autonomy and Ideology: Brezhnev, Ceauşescu and the World Communist Movement. Contemporary European History, 23(1), 115-134.

[ffffuchs]

There was a joke about protochronism at the time:

German archeologists find thin long copper pieces in a dig, announce ancient Germans used copper wires.

French archelogists find strands of glass, announce ancient Gauls used fiber optics.

Romanian archeologists dig, dig, dig, but find nothing, so they announce ancient Dacians used wireless.

[JZTC]

Can't wait for the part about Ceausescu's absurd cult of personality. I wonder if you ever plan to cover the short-lived Karelo-Finnish SSR or in Soviet Karelia in general?

[InquisitorXarius]

To say Romanian communism was schizophrenic is a understatement given Chauchechau’s policies and actions and him learning the worst possible lessons out of his friendship with Kim Ill-Sung.

Edit: When I said Chauchechau I mesnt Ceausescu

[gojo]

Yay, finally a documentary about my country :D, thank you very much

[Rafael-egf]

Excellent timing!!I was reading about the life and policies of Ceausescu all week long!!

[KameradRossa]

President Sukarno of Indonesia once said: "Internationalism cannot thrive, if it is not rooted in the soil of nationalism. Nationalism cannot thrive if it does not live in the garden of internationalism."

[mohammedsaysrashid]

It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage episode about Romania 🇷🇴 during cold war years

[Thinkofworldofficial]

This video is amazing! What is truly heart-breaking is how high were the Romanian hopes in the beginning of Ceausescu’s regime for a prosperous and independent future, only to be shattered by his ego-maniacal shift in the 60s.

[ClassicFormulaOne]

Born in 1981 and I can clearly remember the execution of Ceausescu was on tv news around Christmas 1989. Im from the Netherlands.

[Barricade]

Once again, The Cold War channel never fails👍👍

[nyfinest]

My dad escaped Romania through the Danube river in 81. I’m born in America 🇺🇸 🇷🇴

[AlecStanley]

Good that you're finally addressing Romania as a subject. Will you be doing an episode on the Pitești Experiment?

[Numba]

This was very interesting; thank you. I know very little about Romania in general, but I know almost nothing about its communist period. I look forward to future videos on the topic!
God be with you out there, everybody. ✝️ :)

[dand]

all was ok for communist Romania until 1970 when Ceausescu made 2 visits in China of Mao Zedong and especially in North Korea of Kim Ir Sen, he saw the cult of personality there and he was brainwashed and very influenced by Mao and Kim ...when he returned back, he implemented the north korean style of government in Romania, and from there all was lost here, 1980-1989 period was so bad...everything collapsed

[ducksareurlords]

The influence of the Juche idea of North Korea in Romania is an important detail that's simply missing in this video.

Hopefully it gets brought up in the followup video since it's crucial for the story of Ceasușescu.

[henriklundin]

Great episode but I think the tensions between the USSR and Romania during 1968 were heavily understated. Both Romania and the Soviet Union mobilized on either side of the border. Romanian army contingents on joint exercises in Central Asia were detained and put into camps where they had to stay for months. LBJ had to send Teddy Sorensen to Bucharest with the message ”Ceausescu better stop grandstanding or else everything is gonna blow up. The US is not going to help Czechoslovakia and sure as hell won’t come to Romania’s rescue.”

[raymondhartmeijer]

As Michael Parenti once pointed out; Nationalism means different things for different people. In Western democracies, Nationalism is a scary word wich reminds us of Fascist movements, but in the old colonial empires, Nationalism meant the struggle for freedom from colonial European rulers

[ravenmaster]

A major error. Romania did not adopt a neutral position regarding the Sino-Soviet Split. The 1964 document was unique in the sense that it was the only Soviet satelite in Europe that supported the Chinese point of vie. Romania did not adopt Maoism as Albania later did, but it firmly supported China in its dispute with the Kremlin.

[DuranmanX]

I want a video on Hoxha next and how he kept leapfrogging to more and more totalitarian governments

[omarnsimpson]

Ceaușescu’s Romania was like something straight out of one of more batshit insane HOI4 mods.