Transylvania

For other uses, see Transylvania (disambiguation).

Transylvania (Romanian: Transilvania or Ardeal; Hungarian: Erdély; German: Siebenbürgen; see also other languages) forms the western and central parts of Romania. Transylvania was a principality during the Middle Ages.

Geography

Map of Romania with Transylvania in yellow

The territory known today as Transylvania, consists of a region of 16 counties (Romanian: judeţ), which cover nearly 103 600 km² in central and northwest Romania. The 16 counties are Alba, Arad, Bihor, Bistriţa-Năsăud, Braşov, Caraş-Severin, Cluj, Covasna, Harghita, Hunedoara, Maramureş, Mureş, Sălaj, Satu Mare, Sibiu, and Timiş.

The Transylvanian plateau, 300 to 500 metres (1,000-1,600 feet) high, is drained by the Mureş, Someş, Criş, and Olt rivers, as well as other tributaries of the Danube. Cluj-Napoca (318,027) is the chief city; other major urban centers are Timişoara (317,651), Braşov (283,901), Oradea (206,527), Arad (172,824), Sibiu (155,045), Târgu Mureş (149,577), Baia Mare (137,976), and Satu Mare (115,630).

Economy

Transylvania is rich in mineral resources, notably lignite, iron, lead, manganese, gold, copper, natural gas, salt, and sulfur. There are large iron and steel, chemical, and textile industries. Stock raising, agriculture, wine production, and fruit growing are important occupations. Timber is another valuable resource.

Transylvania accounts for around 35% of Romania's GDP, and has a GDP per capita (PPP) of around $9,000, around 8.5% higher than the Romanian average.

Population

According to the census in 2002, the province has a population of 7,221,733 persons, with a large Romanian majority. In addition, sizable Hungarian (1,415,718 in all Romania), Roma and German communities live in Transylvania.

Etymology

Transylvania was first referred to in a Latin language document in 1075 as "Ultra silvam," meaning "beyond the forest."

In 1075 King Géza I of Hungary when endowing the Benedictine abbey of Garamszentbenedek (now in Slovakia: Hronský Beňadik) granted to it half of the royal salt duty to be collected on the lading point of Arieş (Hungarian: Aranyos) riverside ("in loco, qui dicitur hungarice Aranas, latine autem Aureus"), near the Turda (Hungarian: Torda, German: Thorenburg) salt mine, located "ultra silvam" (Source: Diplomata Hungariae Antiquissima, vol. I. Budapest 1992, Nr. 73, S. 217f.)

The province of Transylvania later was referred to as "Ultra Silvania" or "Ultra Silvanus", alternating with "Transsilvania". Finally, the "Transylvania" form was unanimously accepted in Latin language documents. (Latin was the official language of Hungary until late 18^th century.)

The German name Siebenbürgen means "seven cities", after the Transylvanian Saxons' cities in this region. The Hungarian name Erdély (old Hungarian: Erdőelve, spelled Erdoelue in Latin documents) means the region beyond the forest (Erdő is forest, elve is the ancient form of "elő", meaning "in front of" something). In Latin documents, it was either left in its original (Hungarian) form or translated.

The Romanian name Ardeal may come from the Hungarian name "Erdély". It first appeared in a Slavonic language document dated 1432, under the form of "Ardeliu". (At that time, Slavonic was the language of Orthodox liturgy.)

History

Ancient History: Transylvania as the heartland of the Dacian state

Dacian Kingdom, during the rule of Burebista, 82 BC

Herodotus gives an account of the Agathyrsi, who lived in Transylvania during the 5th century BC.

A kingdom of Dacia was in existence at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC under a king, Oroles. Under Burebista, the greatest king of Dacia and a contemporary of Julius Caesar, the Dacian kingdom reached its maximum extent. The area now constituting Transylvania was the political center of Dacia.

The Dacians are often mentioned under Augustus, according to whom they were compelled to recognize Roman supremacy. However they were by no means subdued, and in later times seized every opportunity of crossing the frozen Danube during winter and ravaging the Roman cities in the recently acquired Roman province Moesia.

The Dacians built several important fortified cities, among them Sarmizegetusa, near today's Hunedoara.

The Roman Empire expansion in the Balkans brought the Dacians into open conflict with Rome. During the reign of Decebalus, the Dacians were engaged in several wars with the Romans (from 85 to 89). After two severe reverses, the Romans gained an advantage, but were obliged to make peace owing to the defeat of Domitian by the Marcomanni. As a result, the Dacians were left independent, but had to pay an annual tribute to the Emperor.

In 101-102 Trajan began a military campaign (Dacian Wars) against the Dacians which included the siege of the Dacian capital Sarmizegetusa and the occupation of part of the country. Decebalus was left as a client king under a Roman protectorate. Three years later, the Dacians rebelled and destroyed the Roman troops in Dacia. The second campaign (105-106) ended with the suicide of Decebalus and the conversion of parts of Dacia into the Roman province Dacia Trajana. The history of the Dacian Wars is given in Dio Cassius, but the best commentary upon it is the famous Column of Trajan in Rome.

Early Middle Ages: From Dacia to the Great Migrations

The Romans exploited the gold mines in the province extensively, building access roads and forts to protect them, like Abrud. The region developed a atrong infrastructure and economy, based on agriculture, cattle farming and mining. Colonists from Thracia, Moesia, Macedonia, Gaul, Syria, and other Roman provinces were brought in to settle the land, developing cities like Apulum (now Alba Iulia) and Napoca (now Cluj Napoca) into municipiums and colonias.

The Dacians rebelled frequently, with the biggest rebellion occurring at the death of Trajan. Sarmatians and Burs were allowed to settle inside Dacia Trajana after repeated clashes with the roman administration. During the 3rd century increasing pressure from the free Dacians (Carpians) and Visigoths forced the Romans to abandon exposed Dacia Trajana.

In 271, the Roman emperor Aurelian abandoned Dacia Trajana and reorganised a new Dacia Aureliana inside former Moesia Superior. The abandonment of Dacia Trajana by the Romans is mentioned by Eutropius in his BREVIARIVM LIBER NONVS.

The province of Dacia, which Trajan had formed beyond the Danube, he gave up, despairing, after all Illyricum and Moesia had been depopulated, of being able to retain it. The Roman citizens, removed from the town and lands of Dacia, he settled in the interior of Moesia, calling that Dacia which now divides the two Moesiae, and which is on the right hand of the Danube as it runs to the sea, whereas Dacia was previously on the left.

On the basis of historical work of Stefan Zamosius (István Szamosközy) (Analecta lapidum vetustorum et nonnularum in Dacia antiquitatum, Padua 1593), Romanian scholars of the 18th century (Dimitrie Cantemir, Inocenţiu Micu-Klein) exposed the theory that only the Roman administration and military force retreated. The Latin-speaking colonists remained and the Vulgar Latin as a common language mentained a very strong influence. According to this theory, in Transylvania took place the formation of the Romanian language and people. In this process the new influences were assimilated and integrated in the existing Daco-Roman substrate. However, in light of more recent research, it is more probable that the Vlach (Romanian) people and language formed south of the Danube, in the basin of Timok river. This is proven by the fact that the Timok river basin (now in Serbia) is still inhabited by an ethnic minority that calls itself "Vlach" or "Wlach". Vlachs may have immigrated in huge masses in Transylvania from that region, and this is an explanation why the Romanian Orthodox church of Transylvania was under the control of Serbian Orthodox church and the ceremony language of Romanian Orthodox church in Transylvania was the Slavonic language until late 18th century (19th century?). In early medieval Latin documents Vlachs were also referred to as "Timocanis". Also, the term "moţ", used to designate Romanians living in Western Carpathian mountains, may have its root in the Timok word. (Ti-mok => ti=Hungarian "you" + mok-> moţ (say: motz)).

The first wave of the Great Migrations, (300 to 500 AD) brought the influence of migratory tribes, especially the Germanic tribes. The Visigoths established a kingdom north of Danube and Transyilvania between 270-380. The region was known by Romans as Guthiuda and includes the region between Alutus (Olt) and Ister (Danube) too. It is unclear whether they used the term Kaukaland (land of the mountains) for Transylvania proper or the whole Carpathians. The (Vizi)Goths were unable to preserve the region's Roman era infrastuctures. The goldmines of Transylvania were ruined and unused during the Early Middle Age. Ulfilas had carried (around 340) Homoean Arianism to the Goths living in Guthiuda with such success that the Visigoths and other Germanic tribes became staunch Arians. When the Goths entered the Roman Empire (around 380) and founded successor-kingdoms, most had been Arian Christians.

In 380 a new power reached Transylvania, the Huns. They drow back every Germanic people from the Carpathian Basin exept the Gepids. The Alans, Vandals, Quads left the region toward the Roman Empire. The Huns extended their rule over Transylvania after 420AD. After the disintegration of Attila's empire, Transylvania was inhabited by the remnants of various Hunnic, and a Germanic tribe, the Gepids. The Transyilvanain Gepids had a semiindependent status inside the Kingdom of Gepids, but this relative autonomy came to an end in the late 6th century.

The rule of Gepids was crushed by a Langobards and Eurasian Avars attack in year 567 AD. In fact the Gepids were exterminated from the region. We know only about slight Gepid remnants (cemeteries) in the Banat region after 600. In Transyilvania we have no traces wich indicate a Gepids continuity after 567. By 568, the Avars under the capable leadership of their Kagan, Bayan, established in the Carpathian Basin an empire that lasted for 250 years. During this 250 year the Slavs were allowed to settle inside Transylvania and they started to clear the Carpathian's virgin forests. (We have archeological proofs which shows during the Gepids the Carpathians became an unpenetrable forest - the Avars simply did not find passage way over Carpathians) The Avars meet their demise with the rise of Charlemagne's Frankish empire. After a fierce seven year war and civil war between the Kagan and the Yugurrus (see: dual power), which lasted from 796-803 A.D., the Avars were defeated. The Transylvanian Avars were, subjugated by the Bulgars under Khan Krum at the beginning of the 9th century and Transylvania, along with eastern Pannonia, was incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire.

In 862, Moravian Prince Ratislav rebelled against his lord, hired Magyar troops to help him, and with their aid he won his independence. this is the first time when Magyar expedition troops entered the Carpathians Basin. After a devastating Bulgar and Pecheneg attack the Magyar tribes crossed the Carpathians and occupied the entire basin without significant resistance. According to the prime Gesta Ungarorum from the 11th century they entered Transylvania first, where Prince Almos was killed: "Almus in patria Erdelw occisus est, non enim potuit in Pannoniam introire". According to some archeological findigs near Turda (Golds of Prince Berthold of Bavaria) Transylvanian Magyars also participated in several raids against the West, Italy, or the Balkans. Although the defeat in the Battle of Lech in 955 stopped the Magyar raids against western Europe, the raids on the Balkan Peninsula continued for one more decade.

According to Gesta Hungarorum, a chronicle dating from the 12th century, the states of Gelou - ruler of the Vlachs (Romanians) in Ardeal (Transylvania proper), Glad in Banat, and Menumorut in Byhor (Bihor and Bihar counties), were defeated by the Magyars in Transylvania during the 10th century. Gesta Hungarorum and De Administrando Imperio also speak of three rulers called Geula/Gyyla/Gylas in Transylvania. (see Gyula article). The existence of these leaders is a subject of debate between various historians. According to some recent research, the Bulgars might have retained at least nominal control of parts of the Carpathian Basin until around 1000.

The history of Transylvania during the early Middle Ages is difficult to ascertain due to the scarcity of reliable written or archeological evidence. There are two major conflicting theories concerning whether or not the Romanized Dacian population (one of the ancestors of the Romanians) continued to live in Transylvania after the withdrawal of the Romans, and therefore whether or not the Romanians were present in Transylvania at the time of the Great Migrations, particularly at the time of the Magyar migration; see: Origin of Romanians. These conflicting hypotheses are often used to back competing nationalistic claims by Hungarian and Romanian chauvinists.

Late Middle Ages: Transylvania as part of the Kingdom of Hungary

In 1000 Stephen, prince of Hungary, swore allegiance to Rome, and became King Stephen I of Hungary, adopting Catholicism and bringing about the Christianization of the Magyars. Stephen's maternal uncle Gyula, the ruler of Transylvania, antagonised the new king by giving refuge to his opponents. Gyula also maintained control of the economically important Transylvanian salt mines. In 1003, Stephen led an army into Transylvania and Gyula surrendered without a fight. This made possible the organisation of the Transylvanian Catholic episcopacy which was finished in 1009 when the bishop of Ostia as the legate of the Pope paid a visit to Stephen; together they approved the division of the dioceses and their boundaries.

The Szeklers, a Hungarian-speaking community of uncertain origin, may have entered Transylvania before the Magyars conquered the Carpathian basin. By the 12th century the Szeklers were established in eastern and southeastern Transylvania as border guards.

East-Hungary in the 13th century

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the areas in the south and northeast were settled by German colonists called (then and now) Saxons. Siebenbürgen, the German name for Transylvania, derives from the seven principal fortified towns founded by these Transylvanian Saxons. The German influence became more marked when, early in the 13th century, King Andrew II of Hungary called on the Teutonic Knights to protect Transylvania in the Burzenland from the Cumans. After the Order began expanding their territory outside of Transylvania and acting independently, Andrew expelled the knights in 1225.

In 1241 three great Mongol armies invaded Hungary, two of which attacked Transylvania. The first army led by Kadan Khan crossed the Carpathians at the Rodna pass and attacked the Saxon-populated town Rodna, Bistriţa, Cluj-Napoca, and the Mezőség region. The other army led by Bogutaj Khan marched into the country at the Oituz pass and ravaged southern Transylvania. A separate Mongol division destroyed the western Cumans near the Siret river in the Carpathian region and annihilated the Cuman Bishopric of Milcov. Estimates of population decline in Transylvania owing to the Mongol invasion range from 15-20% to 50%.

The Western and Eastern Cumans converted to Roman Catholicism, and, after they were defeated by the Mongols, looked for refuge in central Hungary; Erzsebet, a Cumanian princess, married Stephen V of Hungary in 1254.

The administration of Transylvania was in the hands of a voivod appointed by the King. The word voivod or voievod first appeared in historical documents in 1193. Prior to that, the term ispán was used for the chief official of the County of Alba. The whole historical territory of Transylvania came under the rule of the voievod after 1263, when the functions of Count of Szolnok (Doboka) and Count of Alba were terminated. The voivod controled seven comitatus. According to Chronica Pictum, Transylvania's first voivod was Zoltán Erdoelue, King Stephen's relative.

John Hunyadi

The three most important dignitaries of the 14th century were the voivod, the Bishop of Transylvania and the Abbot of Kolozsmonostor (outskirt of present day Cluj-Napoca).

After the suppression of the Budai Nagy Antal-revolt in 1437, the political system was based on Unio Trium Natiorum (The Unity of the Three Nations). Society was divided into three privileged nations, the nobility (mostly Magyars), the Szeklers, and the Saxon burghers. These nations, however, corresponded more to social and religious rather than ethnic divisions. The Romanians were Orthodox Christians and as such, had the right to own land, but they could only access the nobility through conversion to Roman Catholicism. The "carreer" of John Hunyadi and his son, Mathias Corvinus, as well as that of Esztergom Archbishop Nicolaus Olahus (Michael, the Vlach) shows that the Vlachs (Romanians) could raise up to the highest ranks in medieval Hungarian and Transylvanian society. So, there was no discrimination based on ethnic origin, as present day Romanian historians would like to make us to believe so.

A key figure to emerge in Transylvania in the first half of the 15th century was John Hunyadi, son of a Magyarized Romanian or Serbian noble, who married Erzsébet Szilágyi (cca. 1410-1483), a Hungarian noblewoman. Hunyadi was awarded numerous estates and a seat in the royal council for his services to Sigismund, King of Hungary and Holy Roman Emperor. After supporting the candidature of Ladislaus III of Poland to the throne of Hungary, he was rewarded in 1440 with the captaincy of the fortress of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) and the voivodship of Transylvania. His subsequent military exploits against the Ottoman Empire brought him further status as the governor of Hungary in 1446 and papal recognition as the Prince of Transylvania in 1448. John Hunyadi was also the father of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.

Transylvania as an independent principality

Transylvania in the 16th century

When the main Hungarian army and King Louis II Jagiello were slain by the Ottomans in the Battle of Mohács (1526), John Zapolya, governor of Transylvania, took advantage of his military strength and put himself at the head of the nationalist Hungarian party, which opposed the succession of Ferdinand of Austria (later Emperor Ferdinand I) to the Hungarian throne. As John I he was elected king of Hungary, while another party recognized Ferdinand. In the ensuing struggle Zapolya received the support of Sultan Suleiman I, who after Zapolya's death in 1540 overran central Hungary on the pretext of protecting Zapolya's son, John II. Hungary was now divided into three sections: West Hungary, under Austrian rule; central Hungary, under Turkish rule; and semi-independent Transylvania, where Austrian and Turkish influences vied for supremacy for nearly two centuries.

File:Mihai viteazul.jpg

Michael the Brave

Transylvania was now beyond the reach of Catholic religious authority, allowing Lutheran and Calvinist preaching to flourish. In 1563, Giorgio Blandrata was appointed as court physician, and his radical religious ideas increasingly influenced both the young king John II and the Calvinist bishop Francis David, eventually converting both to the Anti-Trinitarian (Unitarian) creed. In a formal public disputation, Francis David prevailed over the Calvinist Peter Melius; resulting in 1568 in the formal adoption of individual freedom of religious expression under the Edict of Turda (the first such legal guarantee of religious freedom in Christian Europe).

The Báthory family, which came to power on the death of John II in 1571, ruled Transylvania as princes under the Ottomans, and briefly under Habsburg suzerainty, until 1602. The younger Stephen Báthory, a Hungarian Catholic who later became King Stephen Bathory of Poland, undertook to maintain the religious liberty granted by the Edict of Turda, but interpreted this obligation in an increasingly restricted sense. The latter period of Báthory rule saw a four-sided conflict in Transylvania involving the Transylvanians, the Austrians, the Ottomans, and the Romanian voivod of Wallachia, Prince Michael the Brave.

File:Romania 1600 02.gif

Union of Transylvania with Wallachia and Moldavia by Michael the Brave

Michael gained control of Transylvania in 1599 after the Battle of Şelimbăr in which he defeated Andrew Báthory's army. Báthory was killed by Szeklers (Székelys) who hoped to regain their old privileges with Michael's help. In May 1600 Michael also gained control of Moldavia, uniting Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania (the territory roughly corresponding to present-day Romania). The one year during which Michael, the Prince of Wallachia, controlled the three principalities is proudly remembered by most Romanians as a successful attempt to create a Romanian state in the Middle Ages. Michael was never made a prince by the Transylvanian nobility, and the governments of the principalities remained separate. He did install Wallachian boyars in certain offices, but he did not interfere with the Transylvanian Estates, and sought support from the Hungarian nobility. The rule of Michael was marred by the pillaging of Wallachian and Serbian merceneries as well as Szeklers (Székelys) avenging the Szárhegy Bloody Carnival of 1596. After the defeat of Michael by the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta at the Battle of Mirăslău in 1600, the Transylvanian Estates swore allegiance to Emperor Rudolf II. Michael was assassinated by Walloon mercenaries under the command of general Basta in August 1601. Basta finally subdued Transylvania in 1604 and initiated a reign of terror in which he was authorised to appropriate the land for noblemen, Germanize the population, and reclaim the principality for Catholicism through the Counter Reformation.

Stephen Bocskai

From 1604-1606, the Calvinist magnate of Bihar county Stephen Bocskai led a successful rebellion against Austrian rule. Bocskai was elected Prince of Transylvania on 5 April 1603 and prince of Hungary two months later. The two main achievements of Bocskai's brief reign (he died 29 December, 1606) were the Treaty of Vienna (June 23, 1606), and the Treaty of Zsitvatorok (November 1606). By the Peace of Vienna, Bocskai obtained religious liberty and political autonomy, the restoration of all confiscated estates, the repeal of all "unrighteous" judgments, and a complete retroactive amnesty for all Hungarians in Royal Hungary, as well as his own recognition as independent sovereign prince of an enlarged Transylvania. Almost equally important was the twenty years Treaty of Zsitvatorok, negotiated by Bocskai between Sultan Ahmed I and Emperor Rudolf II.

Gabriel Bethlen

Under Bocskai's successors Transylvania had its golden age, especially under the reigns of Gabriel Bethlen and George I Rákóczi. Gabriel Bethlen, who reigned from 1613 to 1629, perpetually thwarted all efforts of the emperor to oppress or circumvent his subjects, and won reputation abroad by championing the Protestant cause. Three times he waged war on the emperor, twice he was proclaimed King of Hungary, and by the Peace of Nikolsburg (December 31, 1621) he obtained for the Protestants a confirmation of the Treaty of Vienna, and for himself seven additional counties in northern Hungary. Bethlen's successor, George I Rákóczi, was equally successful. His principal achievement was the Treaty of Linz (September 16, 1645), the last political triumph of Hungarian Protestantism, in which the emperor was forced to confirm again the articles of the Treaty of Vienna. Gabriel Bethlen and George I Rákóczi also did much for education and culture, and their era has justly been called the golden era of Transylvania. They lavished money on the embellishment of their capital Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia, Weißenburg), which became the main bulwark of Protestantism in Eastern Europe. During their reign Transylvania was also one of the few European countries where Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans, and Unitarians lived in mutual tolerance (See: Edict of Turda). Orthodox Romanians, however, were denied equal rights. Despite the efforts of Inochentie Micu-Klein, a Romanian Greek Catholic bishop, the nation status promised to those Romanians who converted to Catholicism was also not granted. In a letter sent in 1650 to the Turkish Sultan, the Prince Vasile Lupu of Moldova stated that about one third of Transylvania's population were Vlachs, i.e. Romanians.

Austrian Rule and the Austro-Hungarian Empire

After the defeat of the Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Habsburgs gradually began to impose their rule on the formerly autonomous Transylvania. Apart from strengthening the central government and administration, the Habsburgs also promoted the Roman Catholic Church, both as a uniting force and also as an instrument to reduce the influence of the Protestant nobility. By creating a conflict between Protestant and Catholic elements, the Habsburgs hoped to weaken the estates. In addition, they tried to persuade Orthodox clergymen to join the Uniate (Greek Catholic) Church, which accepted four key points of Catholic doctrine and acknowledged papal authority, while still retaining Orthodox rituals and traditions. In 1699 and 1701, Emperor Leopold I decreed Transylvania's Orthodox Church to be one with the Roman Catholic Church. Many, but not all, priests converted, although it was not clear to them what the difference was between the two denominations.

After the independence war of Francis II Rákóczi failed in Hungary in 1711, Austrian control over Transylvania could be consolidated, and the princes of Transylvania were replaced with Austrian governors. The proclamation (1765) of Transylvania as a grand principality was a mere formality. The pressure of Austrian bureaucratic rule gradually eroded the traditional independence of Transylvania. In 1791 the Romanians petitioned Emperor Leopold II for recognition as the fourth "nation" of Transylvania and for religious equality, but the Transylvanian Diet rejected their demands, restoring the Romanians to their old status.

Map of Romania with "Transylvania proper" in yellow

In early 1848, the Hungarian Diet took the opportunity presented by the revolution to enact a comprehensive legislative program of reforms, referred to as the April Laws, which also included provision for the union of Transylvania and Hungary. The Romanians of Transylvania initially welcomed the revolution believing that they would benefit from the liberal reforms. However, their position changed due to the opposition of Transylvanian nobles to reforms such as emancipation of the serfs, and the failure of the Hungarian revolutionary leaders to recognise Romanian national interests. A Romanian national assembly at Blaj in the middle of May, produced its own revolutionary program calling for proportionate representation of Romanians in the Transylvanian Diet and an end to social and ethnic oppression. The Saxons were worried from the start about the idea of union with Hungary, fearing the loss of their traditional privileges. When the Transylvanian Diet met on 29 May the vote for union was pushed through despite the objection of many Saxon deputies. On June 10, the Emperor sanctioned the union vote of the Diet. Military executions, the arrest of revolutionary leaders and other activities which followed the union hardened the position of the Saxons. In September 1848, another Romanian assembly in Blaj denounced union with Hungary and called for an armed rising in Transylvania. Warfare erupted in November with both Romanian and Saxon troops, under Austrian command, battling the Hungarians led by the Polish general Józef Bem. Within four months, Bem had ousted the Austrians from Transylvania. However, in June 1849, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia responded to an appeal from Emperor Franz Joseph to send Russian troops into Transylvania. After initial successes against the Russians, Bem's army was defeated decisively at the Battle of Temesvár (Timişoara) on 9 August; the surrender of Hungary followed.

After quashing the revolution, Austria imposed a repressive regime on Hungary and ruled Transylvania directly through a military governor, with German again becoming the official language. Austria abolished the Union of Three Nations and granted citizenship to the Romanians. Although the former serfs were given land by the Austrian authorities, it was often barely sufficient for subsistence living. These poor conditions obliged many Romanian families to cross into Wallachia and Moldavia searching for better lives. However, in the compromise (Ausgleich) of 1867 which established the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the special status of Transylvania ended and it became a province under Hungarian control. While part of Austria-Hungary, Transylvania's Romanians were oppressed by the Hungarian administration through Magyarization; the German Saxons were also subject to this policy, but not as heavily as were Romanians.

During this historical period, when Transylvania was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under Hungarian administration, "Transylvania proper" consisted of a 15-county (Hungarian: megye) region, covering 54,400 km² in the southeast of the former Kingdom of Hungary. The former Hungarian counties were Alsó-Fehér, Beszterce-Naszód, Brassó, Csík, Fogaras, Háromszék, Hunyad, Kis-Küküllő, Kolozs, Maros-Torda, Nagy-Küküllő, Szeben, Szolnok-Doboka, Torda-Aranyos, and Udvarhely. Today, Transylvania proper includes only 9 of the aforementioned 16 Romanian counties: Alba, Bistriţa-Năsăud, Braşov, Cluj, Covasna, Harghita, Hunedoara, Mureş, and Sibiu. In addition to Transylvania proper, modern Transylvania includes part of the Banat, part of the Pannonian plain, and the former Partium.

Transylvania as part of Romania

Although Kings Carol I and Ferdinand I were of the German Hohenzollern dynasty, the Kingdom of Romania refused to join the Central Powers and stayed neutral when the First World War began. In 1916 Romania joined the Triple Entente by signing the Military Convention with the Entente, which recognised Romania's rights over Transylvania. As a consequence of the Convention, Romania declared war against the Central Powers on 27 August 1916, and crossed the Carpathian mountains into Transylvania, thus forcing the Central Powers to fight on yet another front. A German-Bulgarian counter-offensive began the following month in Dobruja and in the Carpathians, driving the Romanian army back into Romania by mid-October and eventually leading to the capture of Bucharest. The exit of Russia from the war in March 1918 in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk left Romania alone in Eastern Europe, and a peace treaty between Romania and Germany was negotiated in May 1918. However, the resulting Treaty of Bucharest, never ratified in Romania, was denounced in October 1918 by the Romanian government, which then re-entered the war on the Allied side. The Romanian Army advanced to the Mureş river in Transylvania.

By mid-1918 the Central Powers were losing the war, and the Austro-Hungarian empire had begun to disintegrate. The nations living inside Austria-Hungary proclaimed their independence from the empire during September and October 1918. The leaders of Transylvania's National Party met and drafted a resolution invoking the right of self-determination (Woodrow Wilson's 14 points) of Transylvania's Romanian people, and proclaimed the unification of Transylvania with Romania. In November, the Romanian National Central Council, which represented all the Romanians of Transylvania, notified the Budapest government that it had assumed control of twenty-three Transylvanian counties and parts of three others. A mass assembly on 1 December in Alba Iulia passed a resolution calling for unification of all Romanians in a single state. The National Council of the Germans from Transylvania approved the Proclamation, as did the Council of the Danube Swabians from the Banat. In response, the Hungarian General Assembly of Cluj reaffirmed the loyalty of Hungarians from Transylvania to Hungary on December 22 1918.

In December 1918 the Romanian army was stationed on the Mureş river, but crossed the demarcation zone and advanced up to Cluj and then up to Sighet, after making a request to the Powers of Versailles on the grounds of protecting the Romanians in Transylvania. In February 1919, the escalating violence in the area - Bolshevik elements were making efforts to spread the "Bolshevik Revolution" - led to the creation of a Neutral Zone between Romania and Hungary.

The Prime Minister of the newly proclaimed independent Republic of Hungary resigned in March 1919, refusing to officially recognize the Treaty of Versailles which placed Transylvania under the sovereignty of Romania. When the Communist Party of Hungary, led by Béla Kun, came to power in March 1919 it proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic and after promising that Hungary would regain the lands that were under its control during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it decided to attack Czechoslovakia and Romania. The Hungarian Army began the offensive in Transylvania in April 1919 along the Someş, and Mureş rivers. A Romanian counter-offensive pushed forward to reach - and halt at - the Tisa River in May. A new Hungarian offensive in July penetrated 60 km into Romanian lines before a further Romanian counter-offensive led to the occupation of the Hungarian capital Budapest in August, putting an end to the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The Romanian army withdrew from Hungary between October 1919 and March 1920.

The Treaty of Versailles, formally signed in June 1919, recognised the sovereignty of Romania over Transylvania. The Treaties of St. Germain (1919) and Trianon (signed on June 1920) further elaborated the status of Transylvania and defined the new border between the states of Hungary and Romania. King Ferdinand I of Romania and Queen Maria of Romania were crowned at Alba Iulia in the year 1922.

In August 1940, during the Second World War, Germany and Italy, as arbitrating powers, returned the northern half of Transylvania to Hungary (the second Vienna Arbitration, accepted by both Romania and Hungary). The Treaty of Paris (1947) after the end of the Second World War rendered the Vienna Arbitration, and the territory of northern Transylvania was returned to Romania. The post-WWII borders with Hungary, agreed on at the Treaty of Paris were identical with those set out in 1920.

Historical population

Year	Total	Romanians	Hungarians	Germans
1713	860,000	34%	47%	19.0%
1850	1,823,222	57.2%	26.8%	10.5%
1869	4,224,436	59%	25%	9.5%
1880	4,032,851	57%	26%	9.0%
1890	4,429,564	56%	27.1%	12.5%
1900	4,840,722	55%	29.5%%	11.9%
1910	5,262,495	53.7%	31.6%	10.7%
1919	5,259,918	57.1%	26.5%	9.8%
1920	5,208,345	57.3%	25.5%	10.6%
1930	5,114,214	58.3%	26.7%	9.7%
1941	5,548,363	55.9%	29.5%	9%
1948	5,761,127	65.1%	25.7%	5.8%
1956	6,232,312	65.5%	25.9%	6%
1966	6,736,046	68%	24.2%	5.6%
1977	7,500,229	69.4%	22.6%	4.6%
1992	7,723,313	75.3%	21%	1.2%

Coat of Arms of Transylvania

Coat of arms of Transylvania

The Transylvanian Diet of 1659 codified the representation of the privileged nations in Transylvania's coat of arms. While the Hungarians, Saxons, and Szeklers were represented, the Romanians were not, despite their proposal to include a representation of Dacia. Because the Romanian administrative divisions are not regions but counties (judeţe), the historical arms is now only used within the coat of arms of Romania. The historical Transylvanian arms depicts:

• on a blue background, a lammergeier (a bearded vulture) representing the medieval nobility, which was primarily Magyar. The Sun and the waning crescent Moon above the lammergeier represent the Szeklers.
• a red dividing band
• seven red towers on a yellow background representing the seven castles of the Transylvanian Saxons

See also

• Aftermath of World War I
• Austria-Hungary
• History of Hungary
• History of Romania
• List of Transylvanian rulers

Tourist attractions

• The medieval cities of Alba Iulia, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Sighişoara and Mediaş
• The city of Braşov and the nearby Poiana Braşov ski resort
• The city of Hunedoara with the 14th century Hunyadi Castle
• The Wooden Churches of the Maramureş area
• The Dacian Fortresses of the Orăştie Mountains, including (Sarmizegetusa
• The Saxon fortified churches

Culture

• Endre Ady, Hungarian poet
• Gábor Áron, Hungarian revolutionary
• Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer
• Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher
• Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician
• János Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician
• Sámuel Brassai, Hungarian teacher, musician and artist
• Emil Cioran, Romanian essayst and philosopher
• Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary
• George Cosbuc, Romanian poet
• Octavian Goga, Romanian poet
• John Hunyadi, Regent of Hungary
• Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, Hungarian explorer and researcher
• Johannes Honter, Renaissance humanist and Reformer
• Avram Iancu, Romanian revolutionary
• Károly Kós, Hungarian architect and writer
• György Ligeti, Hungarian composer
• Kelemen Mikes, Hungarian composer
• Andrei Muresanu, Romanian poet and revolutionary
• Dumitru Prunariu, Romanian cosmonaut
• Hermann Oberth, German physicist
• Liviu Rebreanu, Romanian novelist
• Ioan Slavici, Romanian writer
• Aurel Vlaicu, Romanian aviation pioneer
• Traian Vuia, Romanian inventor and aviation pioneer
• Albert Wass, Hungarian writer
• Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984), German actor ("Tarzan")

• Transylvania in fiction - in the Western world, Transylvania is famously the home of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• The Real Transylvania - about contemporary Transylvania
• Historical Literature about Transilvania and Neighbouring Territories, Klaus Popa, Germany
• Subjective Transylvania: A case study of post communist nationalism, Alina Mungiu Pippidi, Bucharest, Romania
• Tolerant Transylvania-Why Transylvania will not become another Kosovo, Katherine Lovatt, in Central Europe Review, Vol 1, No 14 27 September 1999.
• An Outline of Transilvanian-Saxon History, Klaus Popa, Germany
• The History Of Transylvania And The Transylvanian Saxons, Dr. Konrad Gündisch, Oldenburg, Germany
• The map of the Hungarian minority in Transylvania after the official census of 1992, László Sebők
• The Hungarian Academy Of Sciences, History of Transylvania