The Interwar Period, “A New Era”. Creating Favorable Circumstances for the Foundation of a Romanian Unified Nation-State
Iuliana Florentina TRIPON
Abstract. At the beginning of the 20th century, Romania had become an important state in Europe and the Great Powers wanted it on their side. World War I strongly influenced Romania‟s geo-political status as the year 1918 marked the forging of the unified nation-state, after the unification of the Romanian provinces. The most important goal of all Romanians had been achieved. After 1918, the economy began to rapidly develop due to the social reforms taking place immediately after the war. One of the factors contributing to the modernization was the implication in the political life. The former governments in the provinces were replaced by a fully Romanian government, which resulted in an increased number of Romanian officials. In urban areas, occupations became more diverse. Education and culture developed due to the interest for culture. Cities expanded significantly. The living conditions in rural areas enhanced a lot. As far as leisure time was concerned, besides the interest for social life, the Romanians became attracted by other ways of spending their free time. Due to those changes, the level of civilization of the Romanians had so much increased that it could be compared, under certain aspects, to that in Europe‟s developed states.
Keywords: nation-state, Great Union, Romanian government, social reforms, Romanian education