The iconography of national awakening was consciously modified. Michael the Brave, previously depicted as a national unifier, was presented as a tool of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. The Transylvanian School was renamed the "Latinist School", its leaders accused of hiding Slavic and Russian influence on Romanians and of promoting chauvinism. The 1848 rebellions, and in particular the successful Wallachian Revolution, were described as precursors of Marxism-Leninism. Of the leaders, only Nicolae Bălcescu was appreciated for combating feudalism and siding with Tsarist Russia; at the other end, Avram Iancu was chided for collaborating with the Austrian Empire. Roller's views of Bălcescu were almost entirely positive, and developed into a communist personality cult: counterfactually, Roller described Bălcescu's left-liberalism as a highly advanced form of utopian socialism and proto-Marxism. The 1859 union of the principalities only benefited the bourgeoisie by expanding the market for their products, and favored their class only, rather than the masses and the nation as a whole. Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who ruled over the unified state, was criticized as a hesitant reformer.