Romanian History A Captivating Guide to the History of Romania and Vlad the Impaler Author: Captivating History

by Captivating History

Two captivating manuscripts in one book:
History of Romania: A Captivating Guide to Romanian History, Including Events Such as the First Roman–Dacian War, Raids of Vlad III Dracula against the Ottoman Empire, the Great War, and World War 2
Vlad the Impaler: A Captivating Guide to How Vlad III Dracula Became One of the Most Crucial Rulers of Wallachia and His Impact on the History of Romania
Romania was internationally recognized in 1878, but its history is much older. To understand the people who inhabit this country, one must go back thousands of years and meet the first king who united the local tribes, Burebista. He and his successor, Decebal, warred against Roman legions, and although they displayed extraordinary bravery and military prowess, it wasn’t enough to preserve their independence. In this book, you will discover how Romania developed from a distant Roman province on the fringes of the Roman Empire to a modern state in eastern Europe, one ready to adopt Western values.

Romania lies on Europe’s eastern border, and as such, it is often neglected in history. Although it is a culturally very rich country, the world displayed little interest in its promotion. By reading this captivating history of Romania, you will learn about the turbulent past of the region, the many wars it fought, and the people who led them. You will also learn the truth behind the character of Vlad the Impaler and decide for yourself if he was a ruthless, bloodthirsty ruler or a politician, tactician, and national hero.

Here are just some of the topics covered in part 1 of this book:
Who the Dacians were and if they really are the ancestors of the Romanian people
How Romania connected the West and East
How the first independent Romanian kingdoms formed and took the role of guarding Europe against Ottoman invasions
Vlad Tepes, Stephen the Great, and Michael the Brave, three medieval heroes who are still celebrated today
The Phanariots, the Greek rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia
The unification of the country and its international recognition
The position of minorities and how gypsies and women were treated in Romania’s past
What role Romania played during the two world wars
How communism almost destroyed the nation
And much, much more!
Communism Rising
The Ceausescu Regime
Here are just some of the topics covered in part 2 of this book:
Early Years: Birth, Captivity, First Reign, and Exile; Wallachia and the Balkans in the Early 15th Century
Second Reign: Vlad as a Ruler, Domestic Affairs, Foreign Relations, Wars, Dethroning, and Capture
Final Years: A Decade and a Half of Captivity, Third Reign, Death
Spreading the Story: Myths about Dracula and His Public Image, Portraits, and Depictions
The Character of Dracula: Personality Traits, Motivations
Dracula’s Successors: Descendants of the Impaler
Legacy of Dracula: Historical Importance, Bram Stoker’s Novel, Popular View Today
And much, much more!

Genres: History

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 2021

Reviews

[Jerry Jares · Rating 5 out of 5]

ROMANIAN HISTORY --
Romania is made up of three provinces: Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia. Because this territory is at a crossroads; much history took place there. For hundreds of years, the Romanian lands were battlegrounds for their neighbor's ambitions. Romanians have been buffeted by the conflicting wars with the Byzantines, Ottoman Turks, Habsburgs, and Russia. Much of Romanian history has been the conflict between their Eastern heritage and their desire for more Western innovation and progress.

In 1866, Romania (Wallachia and Moldavia), became a constitutional monarchy. During that time, Transylvania was part of the Habsburg Empire, while Wallachia and Moldavia were more independent. There are several fascinating paragraphs about the Gypsies (Roma, not to be confused with Romanians) and how the Romanian government freed them (they were virtually slaves) and included them into Romanian life.

Romania was reluctantly pulled into World War I, but in 1920, Romania gained Transylvania as part of their nation. Between the wars, there was considerable discussion in the country about which way to go -- west with modernization or east with a traditional agrarian economy. However, in 1938, a dictatorship was established in Romania. With the rise of Hitler, the whole Romanian economy became subject to Germany's war aspirations.

Because of the tightrope the Romanians walked during World War II, they were a pawn in the armistice. Essentially, Russia took Romania into its sphere. They forced the king to abdicate and the Russians renamed the state, the Romanian People's Republic. It took 40+ years for the Romanians to wrest their country from the Soviet block.

VLAD THE IMPALER --
Vlad the Impaler lived in an extremely violent and unsettling time in world history. Life during these times must have been truly terrifying. People who lived in the fortified cities had a very high chance of dying (gruesomely). This book talks about the 'scorched earth' policy followed by the military leaders. Life seems to have been short and often violent during the time outlined in this book. Think about it -- they only had what they could glean from the forests because they were in hiding and could not farm to feed themselves. Unrest and wars seemed to be the most common state of their lives.

Obviously, Vlad the Impaler was a complex person. Forced to live amongst the Turks during his formative years, he seems to have learned what he could from these people and used the military skills he learned from the Turks against them later. Because Vlad was such a blood-thirsty fighter, he seemed to do a great deal (with the smaller number of people on his side) because he must have created terror wherever he went.

[Sarah Beall · Rating 2 out of 5]

I visited Romania this year, and wanted a book to read to give me some background on the country's history. I did get exactly that, hence the two stars, but the book itself is very poorly written. The biggest offender is passages where sentence after sentence begins with some version of "However..." I swear I got mental whiplash the number of times the author "however-ed" me in yet another unexpected direction.

So while I learned some things (always my main objective), this book needs some serious editing. Skip this one; there are certainly better books on Romanian history.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty dry book, reads like a textbook, but crams a lot of information into few pages. As someone who is Romanian and already knew of the historical figures discussed, I would have preferred their names being written as they are in Romanian because I found myself not recognizing people’s names, but that’s a personal preference.

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fascinating country, important history. Garbage book. Steer clear of the “Captivating History” series.