Romania

Dacia — the kingdom that resisted Rome

The Kingdom of Dacia (c. 200 BCE – 106 CE) was the most powerful state north of the Danube — a sophisticated Geto-Dacian civilisation with hilltop fortresses, silver coinage, and a writing system, whose king Decebalus fought two devastating wars against Emperor Trajan before being defeated and whose gold treasury was plundered to fund Rome's greatest building programme.

Vlad the Impaler — the prince who became Dracula

Vlad III of Wallachia (r. 1456–1462 CE), nicknamed "the Impaler" for his preferred method of execution, was the ruthless ruler whose brutal resistance to Ottoman expansion inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula — yet in Romania he is remembered as a national hero who defended his people against impossible odds.

Stephen the Great of Moldavia — Europe's forgotten defender

Stephen the Great (r. 1457–1504 CE) was the ruler of Moldavia (eastern Romania) who defeated three Ottoman invasions in a reign of 47 years — the longest reigning European monarch of the 15th century — and was called "athlete of Christ" by Pope Sixtus IV, building a church after each military victory whose ruins still dot the Moldavian landscape.

The Union of Romanian Principalities — a nation is born

The union of Wallachia and Moldavia under Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859 CE) was the founding act of modern Romania — achieved through a constitutional loophole (both principalities separately elected the same man as prince), it created the Romanian national state, confirmed by the great powers in 1861 and leading to full independence in 1877.

Ceaușescu's megalomaniac palace — the most expensive building in history

The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, ordered by Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1984 CE, is the heaviest and second-largest administrative building in the world — covering 365,000 square metres, containing 1,100 rooms, requiring 700,000 tonnes of steel and bronze, it destroyed one-fifth of historic Bucharest and consumed Romania's entire state budget during a period of mass food shortages.

Romanian Revolution — Ceaușescu falls in 72 hours

The Romanian Revolution of December 1989 was the only violent overthrow of a communist regime in Eastern Europe — Nicolae Ceaușescu's 24-year dictatorship collapsed in four days of street fighting, ending with his arrest, summary trial, and execution by firing squad on Christmas Day, broadcast live on Romanian television.