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Timisoara - History |
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In the summer of 1514, the peasants army reached the town, trying to take possession of it and turn it into a centre of resistance. The long stretch of time under the Turkish domination (164 years) was also marked by political unrest and military confrontations. Timisoara also played an outstanding part in the anti-Otoman Uprising of the 1594 spring, in which Romanians and Serbians united against their common foe. The uprising was also closely connected to the fight for independence initiated by Mihai Viteazul (Michael the Brave). In the summer of 1596, the Romanian Voivode sent 4000 of his soldiers to participate in the siege of Timisoara. In 1600 he resume his plan; two reports show that the intention of Michael (the maker of the first union of the Romanian "lands") was "to snatch the citadel of Timisoara away" from the Turks hands. The Prince's assasination put an end to this project. The XVIIth century brought in even more turmoil, Timisoara was again in the foreground of the wars between the Ottoman and the Habsburg Empires; it was equally torn among the nobler parties. The Imperial Habsburg army surrounded the town in 1689 and kept it under siege for two years, without succeeding to defeat the Turkish garrison. In 1696 the Habsburg troops resumed their attacks; a fearful fight followed near the fortifications but the town could not be taken. In the summer of 1716 a stronger Habsburg army led by Eugene de Savoya reached the gates of citadel. Minute engineering works were developed and repeated bombardments prepared the decisive assault of October 1, 1716. After twelve days of battles, the Ottoman garrison capitulated and left Timisoara never to return. On October 18, Eugene de Savoya entered the citadel triumphantly, imposing the new Habsburgic rule which was to last for two hundred years. In the second half of the XIXth century Timisoara was to become an active presence in the national and social movement. On the 18th and 19th of November 1860 it was the host of the National Conference of the Romanians of Banat, claiming the Banat s autonomy and its tearing off from Hungary, demanding guarantees for the Romanians. It was in Timisoara that they laid the foundations of the National Party of Romanians of the Banat and Hungary, in 1860, led by Alexandru Mocioni. Romania s efforts in the 1877 War of Independence were supported by the town s population with offerings; they also took part in political activities for national and social rights, for the adoption of the universal suffrage. From this ample national movement, in which Timisoara had its major contribution, the 1918 Union of the Principalities would, eventually, become a reality. At Alba Iulia, on 1 December, many Romanians from Transilvania were present at the Grand National Assembly, where they upheld the unconditioned union of the Banat and Transylvania with Romania. The union of all the Romanian provinces created favorable possibilities for a more rapid development of Timisoara. In the period between the two World Wars a substantial progress was felt in its economic, social and cultural life. Timisoara become one of the most important urban centres of Romania, a model of civilization and of co inhabiting. In December 1989 a major revolt against the rule of Ceausescu broke out here in Timisoara. This revolt spread all over the country and eventually led to the collapse of the ruling regime and the execution of Ceausescu and his wife Elena. Ceausescu's son was accused of being involved in all kinds of criminal "against the interests of the people" activities. But the revolt was not without heavy losses in terms of human lives; 1104 people died in December 1989. Before December 22nd 162 people died, 73 in Timisoara, 48 in Bucharest and 41 somewhere else in Romania. 3352 people were wounded. Some of the first victims were sent to Bucharest and cremated. The military had 260 dead, and 545 wounded. The "Securitatea" 65 dead and 73 wounded. Ten years after the Coup d'Etat of December 1989, many questions were still un-answered. |
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reason of defense, strong fortifications were made in order to control
the roads and crossings, and thus secure survival in those turbid days.
Such fortifications were built in Timisoara, in an area encircled, today,
by Pietroasa Street, Alba-Iulia Street, Iancu de Hunedoara Square, Bocsa
Street. It may have been one and the same with "Castrensis of Tymes" or
"Castrum regium Themes" recorded by the early medieval sources: an indirect
source in 1177, and a direct one in 1266. Besides the military and administrative
role played by Timisoara, it has always had a major religious and political
part since it came into being. The citadel was the religious centre of
Romanians of the Banat, during the Xth-XIIIth centuries, until 1232. Timisoara's history is closely connected and directly engaged inthe effort made
for stemming the Ottoman advance towards the centre of Europe. It was
often the gathering place for the Christian armies. At the beginning of
the XVth century, ample Turkish forays threatened the town causing great
casualties in the carnage of battle. Backed by the peasants battalion
commanded by Romanian knezes, Timisoara s garrison resisted heroically
and it was not only once that they did carry the resounding day. In his
plans for the defense of Christian Europe's liberty Iancu de Hunedoara
(John Huniadyi) kept Timisoara for a very special part. The citadel became
the centre of a permanent military base. He gathered his army on the plain
near the walls of the town and then left for "the long campaign" in the
fall of of 1443, and then for Varna. This town was also the place from
where initiatives were started in order to grantassistance for Walachia
and Moldavia. It was here that Iancu de Hunedoara brought his royal family
after having consolidatedand fortified the castle (fortress). During the
second half of the Xvth century Timisoara was the stage of violent struggle
among the nobler parties, as well as of devastating repeated attacks
waged by the Ottoman armies. In the early Xvth century, Timisoara knew
dramatic social confrontations. The feudal rule, more and more oppresive,
determined the bulk of peasantry to rise in arms under the leadership
of Gheorghe Doja.
