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Nicolae Ceaușescu

Nicolae Ceaușescu
Nicolae Ceausescu.jpg
General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party
(to 23 July 1965 as First Secretary of the Romanian Workers' Party)
In office
22 March 1965 – 22 December 1989
Preceded by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Succeeded by Position abolished
1st President of Romania
In office
28 March 1974 – 22 December 1989
Prime Minister Manea Mănescu
Ilie Verdeț
Constantin Dăscălescu
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Ion Iliescu
President of the State Council
In office
9 December 1967 – 22 December 1989
Prime Minister Ion Gheorghe Maurer
Manea Mănescu
Ilie Verdeț
Constantin Dăscălescu
Preceded by Chivu Stoica
Succeeded by Position abolished
Personal details
Born (1918-01-26)26 January 1918
Scornicești, Olt, Romania
Died 25 December 1989(1989-12-25) (aged 71)
Târgoviște, Dâmbovița, Romania
Resting place Ghencea Cemetery, Bucharest, Romania
Nationality Romanian
Political party Romanian Communist Party
Spouse(s) Elena Petrescu (m. 1947–1989)
Children Valentin
Zoia
Nicu
Signature
Military service
Allegiance  Romania
Service/branch Romanian Army
Years of service 1948–1989
Rank RO-Army-OF7.png Lieutenant General

Nicolae Ceaușescu GColSE (Romanian: [nikoˈla.e t͡ʃe̯awˈʃesku]; 26 January 1918 – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian Communist politician. He was general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader. He was also the country's head of state from 1967 to 1989.

A member of the Romanian Communist youth movement, Ceaușescu rose up through the ranks of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej's Socialist government and, upon the death of Gheorghiu-Dej in 1965, he succeeded to the leadership of Romania’s Communist Party as General Secretary.

After a brief period of relatively moderate rule, Ceaușescu became increasingly brutal and repressive. By some accounts, his rule was the most rigidly Stalinist in the Soviet bloc. He maintained controls over speech and the media that were very strict even by Soviet-bloc standards, and internal dissent was not tolerated. His secret police, the Securitate, was one of the most ubiquitous and brutal secret police forces in the world. In 1982, with the goal of paying off Romania's large foreign debt, Ceaușescu ordered the export of much of the country’s agricultural and industrial production. The resulting extreme shortages of food, fuel, energy, medicines, and other basic necessities drastically lowered living standards and intensified unrest. Ceaușescu's rule was also marked by extensive cult of personality, nationalism, a continuing deterioration in foreign relations even with the Soviet Union, and nepotism.

After he ordered security forces to fire on anti-government demonstrators in Timișoara, on December 17, 1989, the communist government collapsed. The demonstrations spread to Bucharest and became known as the Romanian Revolution, which was the only violent removal of a Communist government in the course of the revolutions of 1989. Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena, fled the capital in a helicopter but were captured by the armed forces. On 25 December the couple were hastily tried and convicted by a special military tribunal on charges of genocide and sabotage of the Romanian economy in an approximately one-hour long show trial. Ceaușescu and his wife were then immediately executed by a firing squad.


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