Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod | |
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Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania | |
In office 1 December 1919 – 9 January 1920 | |
Prime Minister | Himself |
Preceded by | Nicolae Mișu |
Succeeded by | Duiliu Zamfirescu |
Minister of Internal Affairs | |
In office 10 November 1928 – 7 June 1930 | |
Prime Minister | Iuliu Maniu |
Preceded by | Ion G. Duca |
Succeeded by | Mihai Popovici |
In office 13 June 1930 – 8 October 1930 | |
Prime Minister | Iuliu Maniu |
Preceded by | Mihai Popovici |
Succeeded by | Ion Mihalache |
In office 6 June 1932 – 10 August 1932 | |
Prime Minister | Himself |
Preceded by | Constantin Argetoianu (acting) |
Succeeded by | Ion Mihalache |
President of the Romanian Front | |
In office 12 March 1935 – 30 March 1938 | |
Succeeded by | Armand Călinescu (party merged with National Renaissance Front) |
President of the National Peasants' Party | |
In office January 1933 – March 1935 | |
Preceded by | Iuliu Maniu |
Succeeded by | Ion Mihalache |
Personal details | |
Born | Alparét, Bobâlna, Romania) | 27 February 1872
Died | 19 March 1950 Sibiu, Romania | (aged 78)
Resting place | Church between the Fir trees |
Political party | Romanian National Party (before 1926) National Peasants' Party (1926-1935) Romanian Front (1935-1938) National Renaissance Front (1938-1940) |
Signature | |
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Alexandru Vaida-Voevod or Vaida-Voievod (27 February 1872 – 19 March 1950) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician who was a supporter and promoter of the union of Transylvania (before 1920 part of Hungary) with the Romanian Old Kingdom. He later served as 28th Prime Minister of Romania.
Transylvanian politics
Vaida-Voevod was born to a
In 1906, Vaida-Voevod joined a group of Romanian
Union with Romania
In October 1918, United States President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points were published in the German press. While in his native village of Olpret, Vaida-Voevod read about the Wilsonian principles in a newspaper from Munich, which made him realize that instead of demanding the federalization of Austria-Hungary, the only valid alternative was to push towards the union with the Romanian Kingdom.[1] He drafted quickly a proposal in that respect and went to his good friend Iuliu Hossu in Gherla to seek his advice.[1] Pondering over the words in the draft, they decided to replace the most radical proposal with the following generic statement: "Starting now, whatever the Great Powers will decide, the Romanian nation from Hungary and Transylvania is determined to rather perish than to endure slavery and subjugation any further".[1]
On 18 October 1918, Vaida-Voevod presented this proposal in the Hungarian Diet, asking for the right to self-determination of the Romanians in Hungary.[1] He began his discourse in a dull tone, then he suddenly read the declaration of self-determination, to the shock of his fellow deputies, who started to throw objects at him.[1] Having prepared his exit in advance, Vaida-Voevod narrowly escaped lynching by leaving quickly through a back door of the Parliament building and hiding in a workers' neighborhood in Budapest, where many ethnic Romanians lived.[1]
In December 1918, after the
In Romania
Vaida-Voevod joined the Romanian delegation to the
First Term as Prime Minister
The elections of November 1919 were successful for his party, and Vaida-Voevod replaced the
Second and Third Cabinet
Vaida-Voevod's second cabinet existed from 11 August until 17 October 1932; he resigned and was succeeded by Iuliu Maniu. After Maniu resigned as prime minister in January 1933, Vaida-Voevod returned as prime minister.[3]
"Vaida and his supporters, who formed the National Peasants' Party's right wing, were acting more like Liberals than Peasantists. They crushed strikes by oil workers in Ploiești and by railway workers in Bucharest in February 1933, dissolved Communist Party front organizations and all other 'anti-state' organizations, and proclaimed martial law in a number of cities."[3]
Nonetheless, the problems posed by his new cabinets (in 1932 and 1933) – the Legionary Movement's intimidation of the political scene, and Vaida-Voevod's own antisemitism (which began to manifest itself in measures of repression encouraged by the Legionaries), led to a split between the prime minister and his Party. His second government fell because of Armand Călinescu, who was a staunch opponent of the Legionary Movement.
Later
On 25 February 1935, Vaida-Voevod created his own movement, the
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Alexandru Vaida Voevod, omul-cheie al Marii Uniri" [Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, the key figure of the Great Union]. Digi24 (in Romanian). 29 June 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ (in Romanian) Remus Florescu, "Alexandru Vaida Voevod a intrat în masonerie pentru a ajuta România la Conferinţa de Pace de la Paris din 1919", Adevărul, 7 November 2013; accessed 10 November 2013
- ^ ISBN 0198221266.
Bibliography
- Vasile Ciobanu, Activitatea diplomatică a lui Alexandru Vaida Voevod la Paris (1918) ("The Diplomatic Activities of Alexandru Vaida Voevod in Paris (1918)")
- Liviu Maior, Alexandru Vaida-Voevod între Belvedere și Versailles ("Alexandru Vaida-Voevod Between Belvedere and Versailles"), Cluj-Napoca, 1993
- Vasile Niculae, Ion Ilincioiu, Stelian Neagoe, Doctrina țărănistă în România. Antologie de texte ("Peasant Doctrine in Romania. Collected Texts"), Editura Noua Alternativă, Social Theory Institute of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, 1994
- Ioan Scurtu (1973). "Mit și realitate. Alexandru Averescu" [Myth and Reality. Alexandru Averescu]. Magazin Istoric. Archived from the original on 15 July 2007.