Romania
105 AD - The Roman empire built a bridge over the Danube to connect its province of Moesia Superior with Dacia, also called Romania.
395-1453 - Romania became part of the Byzantine Empire, and included the smaller states of Transylvania, Wallachia & Moldavia.
1463 - Vlad the Impaler became the Prince of Wallachia
1859 - Moldavia and Wallachia merged to create the modern Romania.
1883 - King Charles feared Russia and signed secret treaty with Austria-Hungary and Germany.
1913 - In the 2nd Balkan War, Romania invaded Bulgaria and took Silistra and Dobruja. King Charles renewed the secret treaty with Austria-Hungary despite Hungary's support of the Magyars in Transylvania.
1914 - King Charles died in October, succeeded by Ferdinand and Marie (not officially crowned until 1922).
1915 - In October, Romania's rival Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and attacked Serbia.
1916 - Russian attacks in Galicia and Ottoman attacks in the Caucasus caused Queen Marie of Romania to negotiate a secret treaty with the Allies to join the war Aug. 27 in return for a promise of territory. Romania invaded Transylvania, but a counterattack by Bulgaria and Austria caused the defeat of Romania.
1916-18 - Romania fights on Allied side during World War I.
1919 - As part of the peace settlement at the end of the war acquired several territories with resident Romanian populations, virtually doubling in size and population.
1930s - Rise of fascist "Iron Guard" mass movement.
1938 - King Carol II established dictatorship.
1940 - Romania ceded territory to Hungary and USSR after signing of German-Soviet pact. General Ion Antonescu forced King Carol to abdicate in favour of son Michael, but assumed power himself.
1941 - Romania sided with Germany against Soviet Union.
1944 - Antonescu ousted. Romania switched sides as Soviet forces close in.
1945 - Soviet-backed government installed.
1947 - Romania regained Transylvania under peace treaty but lost territory to Soviet Union. King Michael abdicated. Romanian People's Republic proclaimed.
1948-49 - Soviet-style constitution, purged of dissidents in the Communist Party.
1952 - Party leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej became prime minister.
1955 - Romania joined Warsaw Pact.
1965 - Nicolae Ceausescu became Communist Party leader after death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. He pursued foreign policy that ran independent of that of Moscow.
1968 - Ceausescu denounced Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
1975 - United States granted Romania most-favoured-nation status.
1987 - Army occupied power plants and crushed workers' demonstrations in Brasov.
1989 - In December, demonstrations in city of Timisoara against the harassment of a dissident ethnic-Hungarian priest, Laszlo Tokes, triggered bloody national uprising. Ceausescu and his wife Elena try to flee but were caught and executed on Christmas Day. National Salvation Front established, headed by Ion Iliescu.
1990 - Elections confirm Iliescu as head of state. New government of Prime Minister Petre Roman began reform program. Securitate secret police replaced by new Romanian Intelligence Service. Student and opposition protests against the ex-communist leadership were crushed when 20,000 coal miners were brought in to stage a counter demonstation.
1991 - Riots by miners on strike over soaring prices forced Roman's resignation. He was replaced by Theodor Stolojan, who introduced a new constitution.
1992 - NSF split. Iliescu re-elected president. Nicolae Vacaroiu appointed prime minister of minority coalition government.
1994 - Members of ultra-nationalist Romanian National Unity Party appointed to government posts.
1996 - Centre-right election victory swept aside former communists. Emil Constantinescu elected president, Victor Ciorbea became prime minister.
1997 - Economic reform programme announced. Securitate files opened.
1998 - Ciorbea replaced by Radu Vasile after coalition tensions.
1999 - In January, security forces prevented 10,000 miners striking over pay from entering Bucharest. In December, Vasile replaced as prime minister by Mugur Isarescu.
2000 - In January, toxic cyanide escapes from mining works in northern Romania and poisons rivers in Hungary and Yugoslavia. In November-December, Ion Iliescu defeated far-right rival Corneliu Vadim Tudor to retake presidency. Leftist Adrian Nastase became prime minister in minority government.
2001 - In January, Parliament approved a law aimed at returning to its original owners property nationalised during the Communist era.
2002 - Romania formally invited to join NATO at Prague summit.
2003 - In July, President Iliescu visited Russia. He and President Putin signed a new friendship treaty. Russia and Romania also issued a declaration condemning the 1939 pact between Stalin's USSR and Hitler's Germany as well as Romania's alliance with the Nazis in the early years of the war. In October, Romanians voted in a referendum on a new constitution meant to bring their country into line with members of the European Union.
2004 - In March, Romania admitted to NATO. In October, President Iliescu ended decades of denial by admitting Romanian complicity in Nazi-driven Holocaust of World War II when hundreds of thousands of Jews and Romanies were sent to their deaths by the country's fascist leadership. In November, Centrist alliance leader Traian Basescu elected president. His ally Calin Tariceanu became prime minister. Both pledged to speed up EU-oriented reforms.
2005 - In April, Romania signed EU accession treaty, putting it on course to join in 2007 provided reforms are implemented in time. In May, Parliament ratified EU accession treaty. In December, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice visited, signed agreement to allow US to use Romanian military bases.
2006 - In September, European Commission confirmed that Romania and Bulgaria will join the EU at the start of 2007, although under strict conditions.
Sources:
revised 10/1/06 by Steven Schoenherr | Maps
