The Romanian Revolution: Explained (Short Animated Documentary) 

"Save money: Reuse syringes" You might think that's a joke. That was a real campaign in the 80s in Romanian hospitals.

I laughed when I heard "clever idea: shooting protesters" Like that's subtle

The first non romanian speaker that I heard pronouncing "Ceaușescu" correctly

"1989 was not a good year for communism." That might be an understatement.

I'm amazed at how well you can capture late 1980s fashion in these little square people.

iliescu: *takes power* people: so, what changed? iliescu: good question

Many central and eastern European nations: Relatively peaceful transition from communism to a free-market democracy Romania and Yugoslavia: *Y E E T*

Ceausescu visited my grandpa in Pyongyang, he loved it

Fun fact: I visited the Palace of the Parliament a few years ago, built (but never finished) by Ceaușescu. The tour guide told us that at one point Ceaușescu was spending more money building that palace than was being spent on infrastructure, wellfare, services, etc. for the ENTIRE country.

"The couple was found guilty and sentenced to spend the rest of their life in custody, which was literally 5 minutes because they were actually sentenced to death which was to be carried out immedietly" Laughed too hard at this

A quick show trial like this one is a sign that more people were involved in the state's crimes. And they wanted to hide their involvement. During the course of a real trial the Ceausescus could have incriminated many others.

Those Romanian TV Crews were heroes for keeping the feed live when the crowd started verbally attacking Ceausescu.

Ceaușescu: wow I wonder what my people will get me for Christmas Romanian people: 30 7.62x39 rounds, express delivery.

3:04 "Romania's revolution is different to the other Eastern European ones [...] those who had been in the communist party were still running it." Yeah, about that...

For those wondering, Bulgaria didn't have a transition period because Zhivkov remained in power up until the end when he was ousted by his government, which then held free elections. Because of this lack of a transition period, Organized crime and oligarchs basically took over the country for a bit, sort of like the Russian Federation.

“I have a dream” - Ceausescu

People explaining the Romanian revolution: Everyone: So anyways i started blasting

"It'd be best if they just sent the tanks in" - Someone in Bulgaria 14.12.1989

After 1989 Romania: so , we are free now Iliescu: well yes but actually no

Small correction: "Those who have been in the communist party are* still running it." Also we somehow managed to keep Iliescu alive to this day.

As a romanian, I agree with what you said 100%. And about the members of the communist party who ran the country after the fall of the communist regime. They still run it today. One last thing. You are the only youtuber who said “Ceaușescu” correctly. I Apreciate it!

When I was this early Wallachia was revolting against the Ottomans.

I remember seeing this unfold on TV at my grandmas house for Christmas that year. Downright shocking at the time.

After the revolution in June there was something called the MINERIADA (in romanian) where miners were sent to Bucharest to stop the protesters. It lasted 2-3 days And it was BRUTAL

Last time I was this early Romania was ruled by Hohenzollerns

I like how his Romanian rebel character is the guy from that iconic photo

Dude 0:20 absolutely nailed it, finally someone capable to pronounce correctly Ceausescu.

That last sentence made the whole video extra special. Thank you so much, so few foreigners know that the communist politicians stayed in power long after the revolution.

Finally, my country gets the recognition it deserves!! I feel so humble and so amazed that Romania is a topic for history videos, since we don't get that much recognition around the world, it truly and honestly puts a smile on my face. Thank you for making a video on my country, Mulțumesc! (Means "thank you" 😊)

1:52 “I have a dream” This is why I love this channel It’s history, that’s funny and full of references

1:58 “Go commit die” “historymatters character looks like Roblox characters” Hmmmm

3:07 "Romania's revolution is different to the other Eastern European ones [...] those who had been in the communist party were still running it." Poland: You know nothing John Tepes

just wanted to throw in one of my fav quotes from history, a military commander's response after being ordered to send two helicopters to airlift Ceausescu to safety during the uprising: "According to Maluțan, it was 12:08 when they left for Snagov. After they arrived there, Ceaușescu took Maluțan into the presidential suite and ordered him to get two helicopters filled with soldiers for an armed guard, and a further Dauphin to come to Snagov. Maluțan's unit commander replied on the phone, 'There has been a revolution . . . You are on your own . . . Good luck!'."

30 years ago we fired our president... Did I say we fired him? I meant we fired AT him.

"Whilst Romania was no longer a communist country, those who had been in the communist party were still running it" That applies for modern day Bulgaria too. Our Prime Minister was once the bodyguard of the communist dictator Todor Jhivkov. I believe i won't need to explain how deep withing the party's structure you need to be to have convinced the dictator to entrust his survival to you.

I applaud you for saying Ceauseacu's name correctly. Also, the 's' in Timisoara is spelled as 'sh', like in 'sheep'.

0:38 the guy with the funny hat is Mihai Viteazul (Mihai the Brave), the first ruler to successfully unite the romanian countries at the start of the 17th century....for about a year before being killed. The one with the funny moustache is Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the ruler to successfully unite unite the romanian countries for good (also reformed the education system by making elementary and high school learning free)

I am simple man I see history matters doing another video on Romania I click (Good video btw)

coming from a romanian, you hit the nail right on the head. great job!

Finally a video about Romania, I love your work, it really inspired me to learn more about history. Keep up the great work you do, greetings from Romania :D

Brace yourselves! The "at least we had jobs and houses" fellow countrymen are coming.

Please make more videos about Romania! I really enjoy your work! Keep it on, you’re very talented!

Details as the flag with the hole is what makes this channel my absolute fav on RU-vid.

Been waiting years for this video from History Matters. God damn awesome!

You really do make some of the best videos.

Its a good day when history matters uploads

This is down right accurate, good job man

I was born during this revolution. I turned 30 on 18 December.

My mom lived in Timisoara where the revolution started, she was 19 years old and went to the communist prison after being caught with a bible. She went to prison for 2 weeks until Ceausescu was killed on Christmas and then she was released, she came to America in 1990.

We watched the Romanian revolution on CNN in school. I remember watching it in history class and out teacher telling us that we were witnessing history. It was on the last day before Christmas break.

Again a great video keep it up man

Could you do a video explaining the London and Washington Naval Treaties? They were a very important yet quite unknown factor during the Interwar Period.

Nice video man! A pleasure to watch as always. Would you be at all willing to do the same video for Bulgaria? I would be flattered :)

The last sentence actually applies to Bulgaria as well. Until this very day.

Most important thing is that my guy James B is back supporting the channel.

I love your channel keep up the great stuff!

If you guys don't know, he is the second longest ruling leader of the country, with 25 years in power The first one being King Carol with 48

Excellent video. I went to Romania in 1992 love the country. 🇷🇴👍♥️

Great video, I love the flag with the hole in it, good detail.

This video introduced me to your channel

The people running Bulgaria after 1989 were(mostly) also previously part of the BCP and the Committee of National Security(basically secret police). They simply removed the man running the country until 1989, and "transitioned" the country to the free market by privatizing all of the important companies to their own guys. Pretty much what also happened in Russia.

"Hello! Comrades! Silence! Comrades!"

OMG the signs always crack me up. I've watched every one of your videos and yet, I chuckle at the signs and the running through the flowers. On a side note,what would happen if Spinning Three Plates lost a plate?

I love the attentions detail with the flag (with and without the hole in it).

I like the background of the credits. It's inspired from the Moldavian-Romanian lead singer of a band called The Motans :))

1:16 "Save money, reuse syringes" had me chuckling

Love your videos

Man, beautiful content 😂 Well put👍

Awesome! I would love to see Bulgaria's story from this time

I demand you stop reading my mind. I was thinking about this yesterday, and I know you used your evil mind reading device on me. But WOW you animate fast! All this in one day?

Every single guy that History Matters draws is beautifully executed. Now I wanna see a video about Vlad.

Good Job from Romania. Love your vids.

Bulgaria also had a similar situation where it became a democratic state, but those who had been in charge of the communist government remained in charge. The Bulgarian Communist Party just changed its name to the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

In Montenegro former communists still rule the country. There are huge protests there at the moment as the country tries to seize almost all church property to be sold for profits. Their excuse for this action is that in Montenegro dominant church is Serbian orthodox church, and since Montenegro became independent they try to prove they are a completely different nation than Serbs. They have proclaimed that official language in the country is Montenegrin despite it being almost identical to Serbian (there are for example even less differences than between American and British English). They have invented 2 new letters in their alphabet just to prove that. They also prefer Latin alphabet since Serbs use Cyrillic. Despite all this there is still a huge Serbian minority in Montenegro, so they try to destroy them in various ways (in peaceful ways, but intolerance is obvious). There are almost no Serbs in police, many Serbs are paid 500 € (around 550$ which is a lot of money here) to declare themselves as Montenegrins and few days ago just before protests started they have arrested Serbian minority in their parliament. As they try to promote unofficial and unrecognised Montenegrin orthodox church instead of official, recognized Serbian orthodox church, many Montenegrins also joined the protests. It is also worth noting that in both Serbia and Montenegro there are sort of "soft dictatorships", as presidents of both these countries try to present themselves as democratically chosen presidents while rigging elections in their favor, destroy counties economies for their personal profits and try to promote nationalism to divert public attention from their actions.

Caucescu:gives a speech crowd:hates him caucescu:you weren’t supposed to do that

I like how he's the only non-Romanian to pronounce "Ceaușescu" correctly, but then he just gives up and starts saying "che-ow-che-skoo"

One very visible example of Bucharest's quasi-independence from Moscow was that they were the only Eastern Bloc country to ignore the boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games in LA and send their team. As their female gymnastics were the greatest in the world, they were not going to miss out on glory. Side note: Mary Lou Renton, the US darling of those games, was trained by the Romanian defector and former coach of the great Nadia Comaneci, Bela Karolyi.

Can you do the Texas revolution please?

Great content!

Totally love how the treatment by the Ceausescus of dissenters totally boomeranged back on them.

"Unlike other former Eastern block states, it was still run by people who were in the Communist party." I believe that within the former USSR this was a much more common trait, like in Ukraine or in Central Asia.

I still giggle every time someone is smiling and runs through a field of daisies on these videos.

Great video, facinating country!

You should do a video about Vlad the Impaler at some point in the future. Want to know more about them.

hey my dad is from timisoara, he emigrated to the us in 1980

0:19 Oh so that's how you pronounce Ceaușescu. My previous idea of how to pronounce it was "That jerkish Communist Romanian guy" because I couldn't wrap my head around any of it.

Yes. Very honest documentary. Chapeau bas !

2:51 Iliescu on stage: "We've heard you."

Could you do a video on Greece during the Cold War please?

Could you please do more videos on the balkan nations. I really enjoy seeing less well known countries get the spotlight. I would love to hear about the yugoslav wars or the first balkan war. A video about catherine the great would also be nice though.

My father was witness to all of this , he had friends from school murdered , later that year he escaped to Yugoslavia then to Italy then to the United States where I live today 1:46

Great episode

The Romanian Revolution was the only violent overthrow of communism. Interesting part of history. Thanks for covering.

This is the only guy who pronounces Ceaușescu faintly all right.

Thanks for the excellent tutorial, particularly the directions on how to remove the ear padding. The Turtle Beach explanations were nowhere near this good

Ceausescu’s Romania is basically my Korea

Aaaaand nowadays Romanians experience a national wide anxiety whenever they see comunism

2:37 was pretty hilarious aha

@History Matters when are you going to do the Yugoslav wars from the 90s?

I really