Europe

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As the name might suggest, Romania can trace its history back to the Roman Empire, naturally there have been a few changes over 2000 years. At the time of the Roman invasion in 106 AD tht Greeks had a few settlements along the Black Sea coast, but had not tried to dominate the interior. The province received its name Romania at this time. The local people adopted Latin as their language (from which modern Romanian has evolved with influences from Slavic, Maygar and Turkish) and intermarried with Roman settlers. The Roman armies withdrew in 271 AD as part of the general contraction of empire due to hostile pressures from outside.
For the next 1600 years there were various overlords, sporadic episodes of resistance, and occasional degrees of autonomy. But even though split into two sometimes three principalities, the Romanians never lost their idenitities. From the 4th to the 15th centuries, the overlords were generally German Saxon, or Magyar (Hungarian), then from the early 15th century until the 19th the Ottoman Empire held sway. Only when the Empire began to decay, was Romania able to begin the process toward freedom. In 1829 the Ottoman armies withdrew, only to be replaced promptly by Russian, who moved in to prevent the Austrians from doing the same. The Russians stayed five years then withdrew, and the Romanian speaking principalities of Walachia and Moldavia united, and re-adopted the old name, Romania. 18 years later, a combined Romanian / Russian attack defeated Turkish forces at Plevna, (Pleven, northen Bulgaria) the Ottoman period was over. On may 22, 1881 the first Romanian King accepted his crown in Bucharest Cathedral.
Beginning in 1859, the peasant farmers had reason to hope for some improvement in their lives, but all that happened was that foreign boyars (minor nobility / tax collectors) were replaced by Romanian. This lead to regional revolts in 1887-8 and nationwide in 1907. The suppression of the 1907 revolts left 11,000 peasnts dead. The government was shocked at the scale of the carnage, and brought in at least the beginnings of much need agrarian reform.
When World War One broke out in 1914, Romania wa courted by both sides, but knowing the cosequences for a small nation to end up on the losing side, elected to remain neutral, and did quite well financially selling its produce to both sides. In 1916, the Romanians entered the war on the side of the allies and attacked Hungarian Transylvania, the immediate cost was horrific, German, Bulgarian and Turkish forces attacked from the south, and Romania was crushed. But, despite 800,000 military and civilian deaths, Romania joined in again in the last days of the war, once more attacking Hungary. Ignoring the 11.11.1918 armistice of the main combatants, occupied Budapest and stayed there until 1920, when pressured by the Western Powers. The Romanian army withdrew, taking with it everthing of value that could be moved by road or rail. The Romanians also achieved virtually every territorial demand made.
Mindful of one of the major causes of the revolution in Russia, further reforms were pushed through in the post-war years, agrarian and otherwise. Industry was modernised and oil production increased, by 1938 there had been substantial improvements in standards of living, for townsflok and farmers. Unfortunately, at the same time the country had been drifting toward fascism, and with the start of World War Two, was drawn into the maelstrom. Between June and August 1940, they were forced to cede large chunks of territory to Hungary Bulgaria and Russia; in September, the King was forced to abdicate, and fled into exile, and in October the German army was 'invited' in to protect Romanian oil resources. On November 23, Romania formally joined the axis alliance. Romania took an active (but beyond old Romania territory, not very willing) part in the 1941 invasion of Russia, but when in 1943 the war started to turn against the Axis Powers, they were fearful of the likely ferocity of Russian revenge, and secretly and unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a separate peace with the Western Allies. In August 1944, the Soviet army crossed into Romanian Moldavia; a few days later a coup threw out the pro-German govt, and for the rest of the war the Romanians fought alongside the Russians.
The post war border adjustments saw that territory that had been confiscated by the Russians in 1940 remain with Russia, and over a period of three years the communist party squeezed out all others in parliament. Unlike the Yugoslavs who managed to break free of Soviet dominated communism by 1948, Romania remained in the Soviet orbit for quite a few years, but with diplomatic skill gradually loosened the ties. In 1968, when the Soviets and some of their East European allies invaded Czechoslovakia, the Romanians refused to participate, and continued from there to follow their own communist road. Unfortunately within Romania a situation was building up as bad as being under Soviet Directive. Communist Leader Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena were establishing themselves in a dictatorship role beyond the control of the Communist Party, and some of the worst excesses of brutality and inhumanity were result of their orders, not the Party's. In 1989, as in some other parts of Europe, communism was starting to collapse. In Romania the Ceausescus were dragged out of the Palace and hung.