The Union of all the Romanians – From Political Concept to National Ideal

Abstract

Preface: The work “THE UNION OF ALL THE ROMANIANS – FROM POLITICAL CONCEPT TO NATIONAL IDEAL” is published in a context dominated by important celebrations held on the occasion of the Great Union Centenary and the Paris Peace Conferences from 1919-1920 Centenary. It has been rightfully asserted that the Great Union represents the concretisation of the Romanian people’s dream to live freely, in one country, within its historical borders. The book of the historian Florin F. Nacu unfolds, in a unitary and synthetic vision, all the historical moments related to the Union. His endeavour is a worth appreciated one, being the author who started from the first elements and reaching the nowadays period. The author affirms that the Union was accomplished neither by chance, nor forced. It was the result of a historical, continuous action, an effort of generations of politicians. Furthermore, along the pages of the work, it is stated that the Romanians accomplished the Union in the same time when, in diverse historical stages, other peoples of Europe and around the world, such the French, the British, the Italian, the German or the American peoples, accomplished their national aspirations of state centralisation, union, and independence. Basically, the author shows that we rose neither above nor below other significant nations from the universal history. An incontestable merit of the work is that the author introduced and commented numerous fundamental texts that refer to different stages of the Union. Even if many of them are well-known, the majority was published in diverse chrestomathies, volumes of documents, which makes it difficult, for the people who are keen on reading history, to put down the historical analysis book and to search those texts published in different sources. The author managed to present the most important sources that are related to the Union, a fact that widens the chance for the book to be read by a larger public. The explanations are offered from the scientific point of view, nevertheless they do not represent an impediment for an uninitiated in the enigmas of history. The bibliography from the end of the work constitutes the certitude that the author emitted all the views on the subject, the conclusions of the book are the most important opinions, concretised in studies, articles, books, volumes of documents, memoires. Moreover, the author has analysed, in his so far research activity, all the directions presented in this work, his personal conclusions being presented within prestigious national and international conferences, and published in consecrated history magazines, as much as in volumes dedicated to these scientific manifestations. The author’s merit is that to have also included a cultural approach of the Union, by reading significant literary works of the authors from all the historical regions of Romania. Moreover, the author had the praising audacity to show which had been the imperfections that led to the collapse of Great Romania, in the tragic summer of 1940, along with the courage, also worth admiring, to answer some questions on addressing the future of the idea of union of all the Romanians. Thus, the present work enriches the historical research, bringing to the attention of the Romanian public a professional and correct analysis, from the scientific point of view.