Ceaușescu

The leader who ruled Romania for 24 years and was executed in the Revolution of 1989.

Life

Son of a farming family

Ceaușescu came from a peasant family, joined Communist Party activities as a teenager, and was imprisoned several times. In 1965 he became leader of the Romanian Communist Party, and in 1974 he became President.

Independent diplomacy

In his early years in power he pursued a foreign policy relatively independent of the Soviet Union, and in 1968 he publicly condemned the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, winning attention in the West; at home, however, the personality cult was extreme and the secret police were everywhere. In the 1980s he imposed extreme austerity to pay off foreign debt, leaving the population short of food and electricity, while demolishing old Bucharest to build the enormous "People's Palace."

1989

In December 1989 protests in Timișoara spread across the country; he and his wife fled and were arrested, and on December 25, after a brief trial by military tribunal, they were shot.

Legacy

Ceaușescu was the only ruler executed in the Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe, and the severe shortages of his later years left a deep mark on Romanians' memory.

Did you know? The "People's House" he built (today the Palace of the Parliament) is one of the largest administrative buildings in the world.

Key dates

• 1965Becomes leader of the Romanian Communist Party
• 1968Condemns the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
• 1974Becomes President
• 1984Begins building the People's Palace
• 1989Overthrown and executed