United Principalities

Origins

After the Crimean War the Paris settlement allowed Moldavia and Wallachia separate assemblies under a common commission. Exploiting a loophole, both assemblies elected the same man, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, as prince in January and February 1859. The personal union became a single state with one government and parliament in Bucharest in 1862, taking the name Romania.

Rule and society

Cuza secularised the vast monastery estates in 1863, carried out a land reform in 1864, introduced a civil code and founded the universities of Iași and Bucharest. His authoritarian methods provoked a coup in 1866, and Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was installed as prince under a liberal constitution modelled on Belgium's. Grain exports through Galați and Brăila drove the economy.

Decline and legacy

Romania declared independence in 1877 and fought alongside Russia against the Ottomans. The Congress of Berlin in 1878 recognised independence, adding Northern Dobruja but returning southern Bessarabia to Russia. In 1881 Carol was crowned king, founding the Kingdom of Romania.