Abstract
The study is a synthesis on the internal and external historical events which contributed, either directly or indirectly, to bringing to an end the ample and complex process of accomplishing the Romanian national unity. Despite its slow start, consisting in the formation of the Romanian nation and the assertion of its own national consciousness, this process progressed at an increased rate after the creation of the Romanian modern state, formed by the union of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859. The existence of the Romanian unitary state and its consolidation through the structural reforms implemented by the first elected ruler of the country, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, and carried further by its successor, Carol I of Hohenzollern, created and constituted the premises of the achievement and international recognition of state independence (1878) together with the recovery of the old Romanian region alienated more than four and a half centuries, Dobruja.
Claimed by the Romanians under foreign rule as far back as the Revolution of 1848, the union with the Country was accomplished after another four decades, during the extremely complicated circumstances of the end of World War I, in the same year, 1918. In this study, the author equally outlines the contribution of the internal factor, which paved the way for the achievement of the national dream of ensuring a state for all Romanians, and of the external factor, the international context that greatly facilitated the achievement of the supreme goal. The year of grace 1918, when one after the other Bessarabia (March 27/April 9), Bukovina (November 15/28) and Transylvania (November 18/December 1) have joined the Motherland, constitutes a persuasive argument to this end and, at the same time, the culmination of an heroic and ceaseless effort of generations of militants (not only political ones) who contributed to the foundation of the Greater Romania.
Keywords: Union of the Principalities, Romania, Dobruja, Bessarabia, Bukovina, Transylvania, national state, Independence, World War I.
Cuvinte-cheie: Unirea Principatelor, România, Dobrogea, Basarabia, Bucovina, Transilvania, stat naţional, Independenţă, Primul Război Mondial.