Wallachian Revolution of 1848

The two Danubian Principalities, Wallachia and Moldavia, came under direct Russian supervision upon the close of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, being subsequently administered on the basis of common documents, known as Regulamentul Organic. After a period of Russian military occupation, Wallachia returned to Ottoman suzerainty while Russian oversight was preserved, and the throne was awarded to Alexandru II Ghica in 1834—this measure was controversial from the onset, given that, despite the popular provisions of the Akkerman Convention, Ghica had been appointed by Russia and the Ottomans, instead of being elected by the Wallachian Assembly. As a consequence, the Prince was faced with opposition from both sides of the political spectrum, while also attempting to quell the peasantry's discontent by legislating against the abuse of estate lessors. The first liberal movement, taking inspiration from the French Revolution and having for its stated purpose the encouragement of culture, was Societatea Filarmonică (the Philharmonic Society), established in 1833. Hostility towards Russian policies erupted later in 1834, when Russia called for an "Additional Article" (Articol adițional) to be attached to the Regulament, as the latter document was being reviewed by the Porte. The proposed article sought to prevent the Principalities' Assemblies from modifying the Regulament any further without the consent of both protecting powers. The latter group, comprising many young boyars who had studied in France, also took direct inspiration from reformist or revolutionary-minded societies such as the Carbonari (and even, through Teodor Diamant, from Utopian socialism). It was this faction who would first explicitly publicize the demands for national independence and Moldo-Wallachian unification, which it included in a wider agenda of political reforms and European solidarity. Societatea Studenților Români (the Society of Romanian Students) was founded in 1846, having the French poet Alphonse de Lamartine for its honorary president. ==Pre-revolutionary events and outbreak==

In October 1840, the first specifically revolutionary secret society of the period was repressed by Prince Ghica. Among those arrested and taken into confinement were the high-ranking boyar Mitică Filipescu, the young radical Nicolae Bălcescu, and the much older Dimitrie Macedonski, who had taken part in the uprising of 1821. of a group portrait by Constantin Daniel Rosenthal, showing Paris-based revolutionaries during the early 1840s. From left: Rosenthal (wearing a Phrygian cap), C. A. Rosetti, anonymous Wallachian The new ruler, Gheorghe Bibescu, released Bălcescu and other participants in the plot during 1843; soon afterwards, they became involved in founding a new Freemason-inspired secret society, known as Frăția ("The Brotherhood"), which was to serve as the central factor in the revolution. Early on, Frăția's nucleus was formed by Bălcescu, Ion Ghica, Alexandru G. Golescu, and Major Christian Tell; by spring 1848, the leadership also included Dimitrie and Ion Brătianu, Constantin Bălcescu, Ștefan and Nicolae Golescu, Gheorghe Magheru, C. A. Rosetti, Ion Heliade Rădulescu, and Ioan Voinescu II. It was especially successful in Bucharest, where it also reached out to the middle class, During the early months of 1848, Romanian students at the University of Paris, including the Brătianu brothers, witnessed and, in some cases, took part in the French republican uprising. Rebellion broke out in late June 1848, after Frăția's members came to adopt a single project regarding the promise of land reform. This resolution, which had initially caused dissension, was passed into the revolutionary program upon pressures from Nicolae Bălcescu and his supporters. A new government was formed on the spot, comprising Tell, Heliade Rădulescu, Ștefan Golescu, Șapcă, and Nicolae Pleșoianu—they wrote Prince Bibescu an appeal, which called on him to recognize the program as the embryo of a constitution and to "listen to the voice of the motherland and place himself at the head of this great accomplishment". As these events were unfolding, Bibescu was shot at in Bucharest by Alexandru or Iancu Paleologu (the father of French diplomat Maurice Paléologue) and his co-conspirators, whose bullets only managed to tear one of the Prince's epaulettes. Over the following hours, police forces clamped down of Frăția, arresting Rosetti and a few other members, but failing to capture most of them. ==Provisional Government==

Creation Early on June 23, Bibescu also attempted to regain the loyalty of his Militia forces by an order to take a renewed oath of allegiance—the officers agreed to do so, but added that under no circumstances did they agree to shed the blood of Romanians. At ten o'clock in the evening, Bibescu gave in to the pressures, signed the new constitution, and agreed to support a Provisional Government as imposed on him by Frăția. This effectively disestablished Regulamentul Organic, causing the Russian consul to Bucharest, Charles de Kotzebue, to leave the country for Austrian-ruled Transylvania. Bibescu himself abdicated and left into self-exile. On June 25, the two proposed cabinets were reunited into Guvernul vremelnicesc (the Provisional Government), based on the Executive Commission of the Second French Republic; headed by the conservative Neofit II, the Metropolitan of Ungro-Wallachia, it consisted of Christian Tell, Ion Heliade Rădulescu, Ștefan Golescu, Gheorghe Magheru, and, for a short while, the Bucharest merchant Gheorghe Scurti. It also included Constantin A. Kretzulescu as President of the City Council (later replaced by Cezar Bolliac), as Commander of the National Guard, and Mărgărit Moșoiu as Police Chief. In parallel, secretive negotiations were carried out between Lajos Batthyány and Ion Brătianu, which were in connection to a project of creating a Wallachian–Hungarian confederation. Progressively, Romanian Transylvanians distanced themselves from the rapprochement, and clarified that their goal was the preservation of Austrian rule, coming into open conflict with the Hungarian revolutionary authorities. Early reforms of Roma slavery, drawing by Theodor Aman The following day, the new administrative bodies issued their first decrees. One of them instituted the horizontal tricolor with the inscription DPEПTATE – ФРЪЦIE ("Justice – Brotherhood" in Romanian Cyrillic as used at the time). It proclaimed all traditional civil ranks to be destitute, indicating that the only acceptable distinctions were to be made on the basis of "virtues and services to the motherland", and creating a national guard. The Government also abolished censorship, as well as capital and corporal punishment, while ordering all political prisoners to be set free. However, this view was still only shared by a relatively small and highly factionalized section of the intelligentsia. The official abolition of Roma slavery was sanctioned by a decree also issued on June 26. This was the culmination of a process begun in 1843, when all state-owned slaves had been liberated, and continued in February 1847, when the Orthodox Church had followed suit and set free its own Roma labor force. The decree notably read: "The Romanian people discard the lack of humanity and the shameful sin of owning slaves and declares the freedom of privately owned slaves. Those who have so far had the sinful shame of owning slaves are forgiven by the Romanian people; and the motherland, as a good mother, shall compensate, out of its treasury, whosoever shall complain of detriment as a result of this Christian deed". A three-member Commission was left to decide on the matters of legal implementation and compensation for slave owners—it comprised Bolliac, Petrache Poenaru, and Ioasaf Znagoveanu. The authorities publicized their reforms by making use of new press institutions, the most circulated of which were Poporul Suveran (a magazine edited by Bălcescu, Bolliac, Grigore Alexandrescu, Dimitrie Bolintineanu and others) and Pruncul Român (published by Rosetti and Eric Winterhalder). In parallel, the Bucharest populace could regularly hear public communiques read on the fields of Filaret (known as the "Field of Liberty"). ==Disputes and intrigue==

(a reference to the field of Filaret) Support for the Provisional Government began to be tested when the issue of land reform and corvées was again brought to the forefront. Aside from the important conservative forces, opponents of the measure were to be found inside the leadership body itself, and included the moderates Heliade Rădulescu and Ioan Odobescu. A compromise was reached through postponing, with a decision taken to submit all proposals to the vote of the Assembly, which was yet to be convened, instead of drafting a decree. The new institution was presided over by the landowner Alexandru Racoviță, and had the Moldavian-born Ion Ionescu de la Brad for its vice president. An emotional audience applauded his gesture, and peasants proclaimed that God forgave Ceaușescu's deeds. ==Diplomatic efforts and regency==

envoy Süleyman Pașa entering Bucharest in August 1848 Faced with the clear hostility of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I, Wallachian revolutionaries sought instead a rapprochement with the Ottoman leadership. Efforts were made to clarify that the movement did not seek to reject Ottoman suzerainty: for this purpose, Ion Ghica was sent to Istanbul as early as May 29, 1848; his mission was initially successful, but later events led Sultan Abdülmecid I to reconsider his position, especially after being faced with Russian protests. Süleyman Pașa, Abdülmecid's brother-in-law, was dispatched to Bucharest with orders to report on the situation and take appropriate measures. By that moment, Russian diplomats had persuaded the Porte to adopt a more reserved attitude, and to replace Süleyman with a rapporteur for the Divan, Fuat Pasha. In parallel, Russia ordered its troops in Bessarabia to prepare for an intervention over the Prut River and into Bucharest—the prospect of a Russo-Turkish war was inconvenient for Abdülmecid, at a time when the French Second Republic and the United Kingdom failed to clarify their positions in respect to Ottoman policies. Stratford Canning, the British Ambassador to the Porte, even advised Ottoman officials to intervene against the Revolution, thus serving Prime Minister Palmerston's policy regarding the preservation of Ottoman rule in the face of outside pressures. The Wallachian delegation was denied reception, and, after a prolonged stay, had to return to Bucharest. ==Metropolitan Neofit's coup==

'' and of the register of boyar ranks On July 11, 1848, the false rumor that the Imperial Russian Army had left Bessarabia and was moving southwards cause the regency to leave Bucharest and take refuge in Târgoviște. The moment was seized by conservatives: headed by Metropolitan Neofit, the latter grouping took over, and announced that the revolution had ended. The documents were subsequently paraded through the city in a mock funeral cortege, and burned down, one sheet at a time, in the public square on Mitropoliei Hill. Neofit reluctantly agreed to preside over the ceremony and to issue a curse on both pieces of legislation. ==Suppression==

On , Ottoman troops headed by Omar Pasha and assisted by Fuat Pasha stormed into Bucharest, partly as an attempt to prevent the extension of Russian presence over the Milcov River. On the morning of that day, Fuat met with local public figures at his headquarters in Cotroceni, proclaiming the reestablishment of the Regulament and appointing Constantin Cantacuzino as Kaymakam of Wallachia. In Bucharest itself, a force of 6000 troops under Kerim Pasha was led to the garrison on Dealul Spirii. A 900-strong force consisting of the 2nd Line Infantry Regiment, the 7th Company of the 1st Line Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Radu Golescu, and the fire company led by Captain Pavel Zăgănescu, met the Ottomans with resistance, provoking a brief that lasted two and a half hours during which 158 Turks and 48 Romanians died and 400 Turks and 57 Romanians were wounded. Immediately after the events, 91 revolutionaries were sentenced to exile. The revolutionary artist Constantin Daniel Rosenthal and Maria Rosetti, both of whom had been allowed to go free and had subsequently followed the barges on shore, pointed out that the Ottomans had stepped out of their jurisdiction, and were able to persuade the mayor of Svinița to disarm the guards, which in turn allowed the prisoners to flee. The escapees then made their way to Paris. Most other revolutionaries were detained in areas of present-day Bulgaria until spring 1849, and, passing through Rustchuk and Varna, were taken to the Anatolian city of Brusa, where they lived at the expense of the Ottoman state. They were allowed to return after 1856. In the meantime, Magheru, upon the advice of Colquhoun, ordered the demobilization of his troops (October 10), and, accompanied by a few of his officers, passed the Southern Carpathians into Hermannstadt—at the time, the Transylvanian city was nominally in the Austrian Empire, but gripped by the Hungarian Revolution. ==Aftermath==

Wallachian activities in Transylvania Starting in December 1848, a number of Wallachian revolutionaries who had escaped or had been set free from arrest began mediating an understanding between Hungary's Lajos Kossuth and those Romanian Transylvanian activists and peasants who, under the leadership of Avram Iancu, were mounting military resistance to the Honvédség troops of Józef Bem. Nicolae Bălcescu emerged from his refuge in the Principality of Serbia, and, together with Alexandru G. Golescu and Ion Ionescu de la Brad, began talks with Iancu in Zlatna. The Wallachians presented Kossuth's proposal that Iancu's fighters should leave their base in the Apuseni and help rekindle revolution in Wallachia, leaving room for Hungary to resist Russian invention, but the offer was dismissed on the spot. In parallel, Magheru reached out to Hungarian authorities, asking them to consider confederating Hungary proper and Transylvania; this plan was also rejected. On May 26, 1849, Nicolae Bălcescu met with Kossuth in Debrecen, and, despite his personal disappointment with the Hungarian discourse and his ideal of full political rights for Romanians in the region, agreed to mediate an understanding with Iancu, which resulted in a ceasefire and a series of political concessions. This came as Russian troops were entering Transylvania, a military operation culminating in Hungarian defeat at the Battle of Segesvár in late July. Political outcome The Ottoman–Russian occupation prolonged itself until 1851, while the 1849 Convention of Balta Liman awarded the Wallachian crown to Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei. In contrast to the 1848–1849 setbacks, the period inaugurated by the Crimean War disestablished both Russian domination and the Regulamentul Organic regime, and, within the space of one generation, brought about the fulfillment of virtually all revolutionary projects. The common actions of Moldavians and Wallachians, in pace with the presence of Wallachian activists in Transylvania, helped circulate the ideal of national unity, with the ultimate goal of reuniting all majority-Romanian territories within one state. The role of Paris-based Wallachian émigrés in promoting sympathy for common Romanian goals was decisive. With Cuza's rule, the pace of Westernization increased, and, during the 1860s, a moderate land reform was carried out, monastery estates were secularized, while corvées and boyar ranks were outlawed. Following an 1866 conflict between the increasingly authoritarian Cuza and the political class, various trends organized a coup which brought Prince Carol, a Hohenzollern, to the Romanian throne—echoing a will expressed by some of the 1848 activists to have a foreign dynasty rule over a unified state. In 1877, as a consequence of the Russo-Turkish War, Romania proclaimed her independence. ==Notes==