15 ATLASES
History of Romania in maps
Romania as it appears in 15 interactive history atlases, from 264 BC to 2015: Dacia, Wallachia & Transylvania, Romania. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Romania before it was Romania? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
Dacia (mod. Romania) · Ancient Rome
Decebalus ruled Dacia until Trajan conquered his kingdom in two wars, from 101 to 106. Roman settlement and Latin left an enduring linguistic legacy in Romanian, although how the language developed remains debated. In 271–275 Aurelian withdrew Roman troops and administration (Ch. 8), roughly 165 years after the conquest. The linguistic legacy survived the province and its legions.
| 264 BC | Tribal peoples & confederations — the opening position |
| Roman territory | |
| Tribal peoples & confederations |
ANCIENT ROME: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Romania · Norse and Aztecs
| Other peoples and states — the opening position |
NORSE AND AZTECS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
The Cuman steppe (mod. Romania) · Crusades
CRUSADES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Wallachia & Transylvania (mod. Romania) · Mongol Empire
| Other settled powers (Jin China, Christendom, Delhi) — the opening position | |
| The Mongol Empire | |
| Other settled powers (Jin China, Christendom, Delhi) |
MONGOL EMPIRE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Romania (the Danubian principalities) · Industrial Revolution
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Romania · Age of Revolutions
| Neutral / uncommitted — the opening position |
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Romania · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
Nicolae Ceaușescu’s Romania kept some distance from Moscow in foreign policy while maintaining one of the bloc’s harshest domestic regimes. In the 1980s severe rationing helped repay foreign debts. The revolution of 1989 was the only violent one in the bloc: more than a thousand people died in the fighting, and Ceaușescu was overthrown and executed in December.
| Soviet-bloc states — the opening position | |
| Independent neighbours |
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Romania · Russian Revolution
Moldavia and Wallachia united under one prince as Romania in 1859 and became fully independent in 1878. They held southern Bessarabia from 1856 to 1878. Romania fought in the World War and collapsed, then annexed Bessarabia in 1918 as Russia dissolved. Moscow never accepted the gain, leaving a permanent grievance with the monarchy on the Soviet Union’s new south-western flank.
| Neutral or independent — the opening position |
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Romania · WWI
Romania entered in 1916 at the moment of Brusilov’s success, only to be overrun within four months (Ch. 7). It declared war again on 10 November 1918, one day before the armistice. Transylvania and Bessarabia doubled the country at the peace. Those two choices of timing carried Romania from the worst-beaten belligerent to the greatest territorial winner.
| The Entente & Allies — the opening position | |
| The Entente & Allies | |
| Under Central Powers occupation | |
| The Entente & Allies | |
| Under Central Powers occupation | |
| The Entente & Allies |
Romania · Stalin’s Soviet Union
Romania lost Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to a Soviet ultimatum in June 1940. It joined Hitler’s invasion in 1941 to recover them, and also occupied the region between the Dniester and the Bug. The king changed sides when the Red Army arrived in August 1944. Soviet pressure brought a communist-dominated government to office in March 1945, and the king was forced to abdicate in December 1947.
| Nazi Germany & its allies — the opening position | |
| Nazi Germany & its allies | |
| Satellites & communist allies |
STALIN’S SOVIET UNION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Romania · Road to WW2
| Neutral & unaligned — the opening position | |
| Aggressor clients & partners |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Romania · WW2
Romania had Europe’s third-largest Axis army until a royal coup in August 1944 moved it to the Allied side overnight, the war’s fastest side-switch. Its Ploiești oil fields were Germany’s single most vital resource. The Allied effort directed against them shows what was at stake in that supply.
| Axis allies & puppets — the opening position | |
| Axis allies & puppets | |
| Soviet Union |
Romania · Cold War
| Soviet-aligned states — the opening position | |
| In upheaval / changing sides | |
| Non-aligned & neutral | |
| In upheaval / changing sides | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Romania · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
| Partial or unequal; treaty signed only; transition — the opening position | |
| Right won in law | |
| No reform yet / outside this story | |
| Right won in law |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Romania · Refugee crises
| Soviet-occupied or communist — the opening position |
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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