The introduction of the podcast gives you some context about Romanian history as well as a sense of the scope of the story and how I’ll tell it.

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to A history of Romania. My name’s Arthur, and I’ll be your storyteller. I was born and raised in Romania, and though I no longer live there, I still have strong links to the country, and I think its story is one worth sharing.

Romania sits at the crossroads of civilizations between the West and the East; it’s a nation that, over the centuries, has struggled with its identity and with its powerful neighbours; it’s a nation that has endured, adapted, and become its own, complicated yet fascinating society; and I’d like to share the people, events, and ideas that have defined it.

I think fans of history often know quite a bit about the big players of the world, be it the Roman empire, the Mongols, the French republic, the United States, or others. But most of the world isn’t made up of big players; it’s mostly made up of small nations that must navigate between them, and we too seldom look at history from their perspective. The great thing about Romanian history is that you probably know very little about it. And that’s great because, as we go through it, you’ll be able to live it as the people at the time did: not knowing what will happen next. But before we get to the story itself, let me give you some context.

The earliest we can speak of Romania is 1859, so a strict history of the nation-state we know today would start there. But we’re not going to start there; we’re going to go much further back, for two reasons. The first is that, to understand why Romania formed when it did, we need to know the people and the events that came before. The second reason – and the more important one – is that, to understand the view that Romanians have and have had of themselves, we need to go back to the origins.

So, what are the origins of Romanians? It’s a question without an answer. Or, more accurately, with too many answers. We could look at Burebista and the kingdom which he forged two thousand years ago; we could look at Trajan and the Roman conquest and colonization of the region; we could look at the Slavs and their migrations and mingling with the local peoples; we could look at the first principalities formed in the Middle Ages. You could argue in favour of any of these origin points, and many more. But the idea of an origin is subjective. You can choose whichever one suits your worldview. And for you to understand where I’ll start this story, I need to make a point about history and how I’ll tackle it.

History can mean two things: what really happened, and the telling of what happened. What really happened is quickly lost as the years go on, while the telling of what happened can never show the whole truth. When we look at the past and tell its story, what emerges is an incomplete and simplified image created in the present. And the person who tells that story has a huge impact on it; that person’s convictions affect the facts they choose to relate, the narrative they build, and the meaning they give to it all. The exact same facts can support entirely different narratives. So there’s no such thing as objective history, and that’s why I called this podcast “A history of Romania,” not “The history of Romania.” I want you to be aware that my telling of this story is but one of many possible ones.

So where will I start this story, and how will I tell it? I’ll start in prehistory and go through all the different origin points that have been chosen by Romanians over the years, since the origins of a community are crucial to its self-identity.

This narrative will not be a nationalist one that serves today’s nation-state of Romania; it’ll be a narrative that tries to include all the peoples that have had an impact on the development of Romania.

To tell that story, I’ll divide the podcast into four seasons. Season one, Beginnings, will talk about prehistory, the Dacians, the Romans, and the migratory peoples of the region up to the sixth century. Season two, Foundations, will continue from there and talk about how the Romanian principalities formed, the identities they developed, and how they interacted with the Ottomans and the other players in the region up to 1774. Season three, Unifications, will start in 1774 and talk about the attempts by Romanians to unify themselves, from the beginnings of the idea of unification, through revolutions, wars of independence, and the First World War, up to 1919. Season four, Identities, will tackle modern Romania from 1919 up through the interwar period, the nation’s complicated role in World War Two, the communist era, and its emergence from it up to 2007.

Of course, any division of history is arbitrary, but categorizing past events into periods is still helpful. For instance, we’ll talk about issues in Roman Dacia that don’t exist in Communist Romania, so separating those two periods will help us better understand each one on its own terms. And of course, maybe you’re more interested in Roman Dacia than Communist Romania, so it’ll also help you know where to go for the part of the story you want to hear.

With all that said, I hope you enjoy the tale, and I’ll see you in the episodes.