The Romania of the Kings

The Romanians – especially the elites, the well-educated — were Europeans who had inherited the cultural and spiritual heritage of the East and had been attracted to the dynamism of the West. Between the accession of Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as Prince of Romania in 1866 and the abdication of King Mihai in 1947 modern Romania came fully into being. In these times the Romanians engaged in a bold experiment: the forging of a synthesis of East and West, an experiment that is, the essential characteristic of modern and contemporary Romania. From this perspective, the Romania of the Hohenzollerns was a remarkable era. It was a time when Romania was entering the modern world at a steadily accelerating pace and when she was thus destined to share its benefits as well as its misfortunes. It is perhaps too early to say precisely where the Romania of the Kings belongs in the broad sweep of Romanian history. After all, the experiment continues.