Romania Clasa a XII-a History

1. Peoples and historical spaces

Romanians' Roman origin in historians' views · Explorers of new lands and cultures

• State Building: How New States Are Born – A state needs territory, people, a government and sovereignty, and usually recognition by other states. When the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires collapsed in 1917–1918, nations used the idea of self-determination to create or restore states such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Finland and the Baltic states, while Romania was enlarged. Borders were set by treaties, plebiscites and sometimes war. Then each state had to build institutions: a constitution, parliament, courts, one currency, an army, schools and connected transport. New states came in later waves too (decolonisation after 1945, 1991), and fragile states today are rebuilt through peace, fair elections, the rule of law and careful outside help.

2. People, society and ideas

Villages, market towns and cities · Visions of modernisation · Diversity and minorities · Democracy and totalitarianism · Romania's constitutions

• Urbanisation: Why Cities Grow and How to Make Them Work – Urbanisation is the rise in the share of a country's or the world's people who live in towns and cities. In 1950 about 30% of the world was urban; since 2007 more than half is, and about 68% is expected by 2050. Cities grow by rural–urban migration (push factors from the countryside, pull factors to the city) and by natural increase. Today the fastest growth is in lower-income and newly emerging countries of Asia and Africa, where megacities of 10 million or more are forming; in many rich countries growth is slow and people also move out to suburbs (suburbanisation and counter-urbanisation). Fast growth brings opportunities (jobs, services) and problems (informal housing, traffic, pollution, waste, flooding, the urban heat island). Sustainable urban development tries to fix these with public transport, green spaces, clean water, recycling, affordable housing and renewable energy.
• Human Rights: Meaning, History, Types and Protection – Human rights are the basic freedoms and protections that belong to every person because they are human. They are universal, inalienable, indivisible and rooted in dignity. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) set a common standard, later made binding through treaties. Rights are protected by constitutions, courts, commissions, the UN and civil society, and they can be limited only by fair laws that protect others.
• Totalitarianism – A totalitarian regime is a one-party state that tries to control every part of life — politics, the economy, the media, schools and even people's thoughts — using one leader, propaganda and terror. After the First World War and the 1929 depression, such regimes arose in Fascist Italy (1922), Stalin's Soviet Union (late 1920s) and Nazi Germany (1933). Their aims and ideas differed, but their methods were alike, and their rise helped lead to the Second World War.
• Constitutional History: How Rules Came to Limit Rulers – A constitution is the supreme law that sets out who holds power, how that power is limited and what rights people have. Limits on rulers grew slowly: Magna Carta (1215), noble parliaments such as the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with its elected kings (from 1569–1573), and England's Bill of Rights (1689). Enlightenment thinkers added the ideas of natural rights, the social contract, national sovereignty and separation of powers. The first written national constitutions followed: the United States (1787), Poland–Lithuania's 3 May Constitution and France (1791), and Spain's Cádiz Constitution (1812). In the 19th century liberal regimes were constitutional monarchies with census suffrage; the vote widened to all men and then all adults in the 20th century. Modern constitutions, such as India's (1950) and the post-1989 constitutions of Central and Eastern Europe, add guaranteed rights and constitutional courts.

3. State and politics

Local autonomy and central institutions · Modern Romanian state · Changing role of the state · Post-war Romania

• State Building: How New States Are Born – A state needs territory, people, a government and sovereignty, and usually recognition by other states. When the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires collapsed in 1917–1918, nations used the idea of self-determination to create or restore states such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Finland and the Baltic states, while Romania was enlarged. Borders were set by treaties, plebiscites and sometimes war. Then each state had to build institutions: a constitution, parliament, courts, one currency, an army, schools and connected transport. New states came in later waves too (decolonisation after 1945, 1991), and fragile states today are rebuilt through peace, fair elections, the rule of law and careful outside help.
• State and Government: What Makes a State – A state is a political community with four elements: a permanent population, a territory, a government and sovereignty (supreme power inside, independence outside). The government is the team that runs the state and can change; the state stays. States differ in who decides (democracy, monarchy, dictatorship), how power is shared (unitary or federal) and how much they do for citizens.
• Totalitarianism – A totalitarian regime is a one-party state that tries to control every part of life — politics, the economy, the media, schools and even people's thoughts — using one leader, propaganda and terror. After the First World War and the 1929 depression, such regimes arose in Fascist Italy (1922), Stalin's Soviet Union (late 1920s) and Nazi Germany (1933). Their aims and ideas differed, but their methods were alike, and their rise helped lead to the Second World War.

4. International relations

Diplomacy and conflict in early times · Romania and the European concert · Romania in the Cold War

• International Relations: How States Deal with Each Other – International relations (IR) studies how states and other actors (international organisations, companies, NGOs) interact. States are sovereign and there is no world government, so each state follows its national interest through foreign policy: diplomacy, trade, aid, alliances and, at worst, force. Conflicts arise from clashing interests over territory, resources, power and identity, and from the security dilemma. Cooperation grows through mutual gain, treaties, international law and organisations. Realism stresses power and security; liberalism stresses cooperation, trade and institutions. Peace is built by negotiation, mediation, peacekeeping and justice.
• The Cold War (1945–1991) – The Cold War was a long contest (1945–1991) between two superpowers: the USA with its Western allies (capitalism, multi-party elections) and the USSR with its Eastern allies (communism, one-party rule). They never fought each other directly. Instead they formed rival alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact), raced to build nuclear weapons and reach space, backed opposite sides in proxy wars (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan) and came close to nuclear war in Cuba in 1962. Many new nations, led by India and others, stayed non-aligned. Détente eased tension in the 1970s. Reforms in the USSR, the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) and the break-up of the USSR (1991) ended it.

5. Religion and religious life

Church and school · Religious protection and cultural identity

Coming soon