Wallachian Revolution of 1848 The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia . Part of the Revolutions of 1848 , and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia , it sought to overturn the administration imposed by Imperial Russian authorities under the " Regulamentul Organic " regime , and , through many of its leaders , demanded the abolition of boyar privilege . Led by a group of young intellectual s and officers in the Wallachian Militia , the movement succeeded in toppling the ruling Prince Gheorghe Bibescu , whom it replaced with a Provisional Government and a Regency , and in passing a series of major progressive reforms , first announced in the Proclamation of Islaz . Despite its rapid gains and popular backing , the new administration was marked by conflicts between the radical wing and more conservative forces , especially over the issue of land reform . Two successive abortive coups were able to weaken the Government , and its international status was always contested by Russia . After managing to rally a degree of sympathy from Ottoman political leaders , the Revolution was ultimately isolated by the intervention of Russian diplomats , and ultimately repressed by a common intervention of Ottoman and Russian armies , without any significant form of armed resistance . Nevertheless , over the following decade , the completion of its goals was made possible by the international context , and former revolutionaries became the original political class in united Romania . Origins . The two Danubian Principalities , Wallachia and Moldavia , came under direct Russian supervision upon the close of the Russo - Turkish War of 1828 – 1829 , being subsequently administered on the basis of common documents , known as " Regulamentul Organic " . After a period of Russian military occupation , Wallachia returned to Ottoman suzerainty while Russian oversight was preserved , and the throne was awarded to Alexandru II Ghica in 1834 — this measure was controversial from the onset , given that , despite the popular provisions of the Akkerman Convention , Ghica had been appointed by Russia and the Ottomans , instead of being elected by the Wallachian Assembly . As a consequence , the Prince was faced with opposition from both sides of the political spectrum , while also attempting to quell the peasantry ' s discontent by legislating against the abuse of estate lessors . The first liberal movement , taking inspiration from the French Revolution and having for its stated purpose the encouragement of culture , was " Societatea Filarmonică " ( the Philharmonic Society ) , established in 1833 . Hostility towards Russian policies erupted later in 1834 , when Russia called for an " Additional Article " ( " Articol adiţional " ) to be attached to the " Regulament " , as the latter document was being reviewed by the Porte . The proposed article sought to prevent the Principalities ' Assemblies from modifying the " Regulament " any further without the consent of both protecting powers . This move met with stiff opposition from a majority of deputies in Wallachia , among whom was the radical Ioan Câmpineanu ; in 1838 , the project was nonetheless passed , when it was explicitly endorsed by Sultan Abdülmecid I and by Prince Ghica . Câmpineanu , who had proposed a reformist constitution to replace the " Regulament " entirely , was forced into exile , but remained an influence on a younger generation of activists , both Wallachian and Moldavian . The latter group , comprising many young boyars who had studied in France , also took direct inspiration from reformist or revolutionary - minded societies such as the " Carbonari " ( and even , through Teodor Diamant , from Utopian socialism ) . It was this faction who would first explicitly publicize the demands for national independence and Moldo - Wallachian unification , which it included in a wider agenda of political reforms and European solidarity . " Societatea Studenţilor Români " ( the Society of Romanian Students ) was founded in 1846 , having the French poet Alphonse de Lamartine for its honorary president . Pre - revolutionary events and outbreak . In October 1840 , the first specifically revolutionary secret society of the period was repressed by Prince Ghica . Among those arrested and taken into confinement were the high - ranking boyar Mitică Filipescu , the young radical Nicolae Bălcescu , and the much older Dimitrie Macedonski , who had taken part in the uprising of 1821 . The new ruler , Gheorghe Bibescu , released Bălcescu and other participants in the plot during 1843 ; soon afterwards , they became involved in founding a new Freemason - inspired secret society , known as " Frăţia " ( " The Brotherhood " ) , which was to serve as the central factor in the revolution . Early on , " Frăţia " ' s nucleus was formed by Bălcescu , Ion Ghica , Alexandru G . Golescu , and Major Christian Tell ; by spring 1848 , the leadership also included Dimitrie and Ion Brătianu , Constantin Bălcescu , Ştefan and Nicolae Golescu , Gheorghe Magheru , C . A . Rosetti , Ion Heliade Rădulescu , and Ioan Voinescu II . It was especially successful in Bucharest , where it also reached out to the middle class , and kept a legal facade as " Soţietatea Literară " ( the Literary Society ) , whose meetings were attended by the Moldavians Vasile Alecsandri , Mihail Kogălniceanu , and Costache Negruzzi , as well as by the Austrian subject Constantin Daniel Rosenthal . During the early months of 1848 , Romanian students at the University of Paris , including the Brătianu brothers , witnessed and , in some cases , took part in the French republican uprising . Rebellion broke out in late June 1848 , after " Frăţia " ' s members came to adopt a single project regarding the promise of land reform . This resolution , which had initially caused dissension , was passed into the revolutionary program upon pressures from Nicolae Bălcescu and his supporters . The document itself , destined to be read as a proclamation , was most likely drafted by Heliade Rădulescu , and Bălcescu himself was possibly responsible for most of its ideas . It called for , among other issues , national independence , civil rights and equality , universal taxation , a larger Assembly , responsible government , a five - year term of office for Princes and their election by the Assembly , freedom of the press , and decentralization . Originally , the revolutionary grouping had intended to take over various military bases throughout Wallachia , and planned to simultaneously organize public gatherings in Bucharest , Râmnicu Vâlcea , Ploieşti , Romanaţi County and Islaz . On June 21 , 1848 , Heliade Rădulescu and Tell were present in Islaz , where , with the Orthodox priest Şapcă of Celei , they revealed the revolutionary program to a cheering crowd ( " see Proclamation of Islaz " ) . A new government was formed on the spot , comprising Tell , Heliade Rădulescu , Ştefan Golescu , Şapcă , and Nicolae Pleşoianu — they wrote Prince Bibescu an appeal , which called on him to recognize the program as the embryo of a constitution and to " listen to the voice of the motherland and place himself at the head of this great accomplishment " . The revolutionary executive left Islaz at the head of a gathering of soldiers and various others , and , after passing through Caracal , triumphantly entered Craiova without meeting resistance from local forces . According to one account , the gathering comprised as many as 150 , 000 armed civilians . As these events were unfolding , Bibescu was shot at in Bucharest by Alexandru or Iancu Paleologu ( the father of French diplomat Maurice Paléologue ) and his co - conspirators , whose bullets only managed to tear one of the Prince ' s epaulette s . Over the following hours , police forces clamped down of " Frăţia " , arresting Rosetti and a few other members , but failing to capture most of them . Provisional Government . Creation . Early on June 23 , Bibescu also attempted to regain the loyalty of his Militia forces by an order to take a renewed oath of allegiance — the officers agreed to do so , but added that under no circumstances did they agree to shed the blood of Romanians . In the afternoon , the Bucharest populace , feeling encouraged by this development , rallied in the streets ; around four o ' clock , the church bell s on Dealul Mitropoliei began sounding the tocsin ( by banging their tongues on only one side of the drum ) . Public readings of the Islaz Proclamation took place , and the Romanian tricolor was paraded throughout the city . At ten o ' clock in the evening , Bibescu gave in to the pressures , signed the new constitution , and agreed to support a Provisional Government as imposed on him by " Frăţia " . This effectively disestablished " Regulamentul Organic " , causing the Russian consul to Bucharest , Charles de Kotzebue , to leave the country for Austrian - ruled Transylvania . Bibescu himself and left into self - exile . On June 25 , the two proposed cabinets were reunited into " Guvernul vremelnicesc " ( the Provisional Government ) , based on the Executive Commission of the Second French Republic ; headed by the conservative Neofit II , the Metropolitan of Ungro - Wallachia , it consisted of Christian Tell , Ion Heliade Rădulescu , Ştefan Golescu , Gheorghe Magheru , and , for a short while , the Bucharest merchant Gheorghe Scurti . Its secretaries were C . A . Rosetti , Nicolae Bălcescu , Alexandru G . Golescu , and Ion Brătianu . The Government was doubled by " Ministerul vremelnicesc " ( the Provisional Ministry ) , which was dived into several offices : " Ministrul dinlăuntru " ( the Minister of the Interior , a position held by Nicolae Golescu ) ; " Ministrul dreptăţii " ( Justice - Ion Câmpineanu ) ; " Ministrul instrucţiei publice " ( Public Education - Heliade Rădulescu ) ; " Ministrul finanţii " ( Finance - C . N . Filipescu ) ; " Ministrul trebilor dinafară " ( Foreign Affairs - Ioan Voinescu II ) ; " Ministrul de războiu " ( War - Ioan Odobescu , later replaced by Tell ) ; " Obştescul controlor " ( the Public Controller - Gheorghe Niţescu ) . It also included Constantin Creţulescu as President of the City Council ( later replaced by Cezar Bolliac ) , Scarlat Creţulescu as Commander of the National Guard , and Mărgărit Moşoiu as Police Chief . The Wallachian revolutionaries maintained ambiguous relations with leaders of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 , as well as with the latter ' s ethnic Romanian adversaries in Transylvania . As early as April , Bălcescu , who maintained close contacts with many Romanian Transylvanian politicians , called on August Treboniu Laurian not to oppose the unification of Transylvania and revolutionary Hungary . In parallel , secretive negotiations were carried out between Lajos Batthyány and Ion Brătianu , which were in connection to a project of creating a Wallachian - Hungarian confederation . Although it drew support from radicals , the proposal was ultimately rejected by the Hungarian side , who notably argued that this carried the danger of deteriorating relations with Russia . Progressively , Romanian Transylvanians distanced themselves from the rapprochement , and clarified that their goal was the preservation of Austrian rule , coming into open conflict with the Hungarian revolutionary authorities . Early reforms . The following day , the new administrative bodies issued their first decrees . One of them instituted the horizontal tricolor with the inscription " DPEПTATE - ФРЪЦIE " ( " Justice - Brotherhood " in Romanian Cyrillic as used at the time ) . It proclaimed all traditional civil ranks to be destitute , indicating that the only acceptable distinctions were to be made on the basis of " virtues and services to the motherland " , and creating a national guard . The Government also abolished censorship , as well as capital and corporal punishment , while ordering all political prisoners to be set free . In line with earlier demands , a call for unification of all Romanian - inhabited lands , as " one and indivisible [ nation ] " , was officially voiced during that period . However , this view was still only shared by a relatively small and highly factionalized section of the intelligentsia . The official abolition of Roma slavery was sanctioned by a decree also issued on June 26 . This was the culmination of a process begun in 1843 , when all state - owned slaves had been liberated , and continued in February 1847 , when the Orthodox Church had followed suit and set free its own Roma labor force . The decree notably read : " The Romanian people discards the lack of humanity and the shameful sin of owning slaves and declares the freedom of privately owned slaves . Those who have so far had the sinful shame of owning slaves are forgiven by the Romanian people ; and the motherland , as a good mother , shall compensate , out of its treasury , whosoever shall complain of detriment as a result of this Christian deed " . A three - member Commission was left to decide on the matters of legal implementation and compensation for slave owners — it comprised Bolliac , Petrache Poenaru , and Ioasaf Znagoveanu . The authorities publicized their reforms by making use of new press institutions , the most circulated of which were " Poporul Suveran " ( a magazine edited by Bălcescu , Bolliac , Grigore Alexandrescu , Dimitrie Bolintineanu and others ) and " Pruncul Român " ( published by Rosetti and Eric Winterhalder ) . In parallel , the Bucharest populace could regularly hear public communiques read on the fields of Filaret ( known as the " Field of Liberty " ) . Disputes and intrigue . Support for the Provisional Government began to be tested when the issue of land reform and corvée s was again brought to the forefront . Aside from the important conservative forces , opponents of the measure were to be found inside the leadership body itself , and included the moderates Heliade Rădulescu and Ioan Odobescu . Revolutionaries who favored passing land into the property of peasants were divided over the amount that was to be ceded , as well as over the issue of compensation to be paid to boyars . A compromise was reached through postponing , with a decision taken to submit all proposals to the vote of the Assembly , which was yet to be convened , instead of drafting a decree . Nevertheless , a Proclamation to estate - holders was issued ( June 28 , 1848 ) , indicating that the reform was to be eventually enforced in exchange for unspecified sums , and calling on peasants to fulfill their corvées until autumn of the same year . This appeal caused a reaction from the opposition forces : Odobescu rallied to the cause of conservatives , and , on July 1 , 1848 , together with his fellow officers Ioan Solomon and Grigorie Lăcusteanu , arrested the entire Government . The coup almost succeeded , being ultimately overturned by the reaction of Bucharesters , who organized street resistance against mutinied troops , mounted barricade s , and , eventually , stormed into the executive ' s headquarters . The latter assault , led by Ana Ipătescu , resulted in the arrest of all coup leaders . Despite this move , disputes regarding the shape of land reform continued inside the Government . On July 21 , 1848 , Nicolae Bălcescu obtained the issuing of a decree to create " Comisia proprietăţii " ( the Commission on Property ) , comprising 34 delegates , two for each Wallachian county , representing respectively peasants and landlords . The new institution was presided over by the landowner Alexandru Racoviţă , and had the Moldavian - born Ion Ionescu de la Brad for its vice president . During the proceedings , a number of boyars had switched to supporting peasants : the liberal boyar Ceauşescu , a delegate to the Commission ' s fourth session , made a celebrated speech in which he addressed laborers as " brothers " and deplored his own status as a landowner . An emotional audience applauded his gesture , and peasants proclaimed that God forgave Ceauşescu ' s deeds . Other landowners , more circumspect , asked peasants what they planned to use for compensation , for which they were to be largely responsible ; according to Mihail Kogălniceanu , their answer was " With these two slave ' s arms , we have been working for centuries and provided for all the landowners ' expenses ; once freed , our arms would work twice as much and rest assured that we will not leave you wanting of what the country ' s judgment will decide we should pay you " . This reportedly caused an uproar inside the Commission . Peasants and their supporters advocated the notion that each family was supposed to receive at least four hectares of land ; in their system , which made note of differences in local traditional , peasants living in wetland s were to be assigned 16 " pogoane " ( approx . eight hectares ) , those living in plains 14 ( approx . seven hectares ) , inhabitants of hilly areas 11 ( between five and six hectares ) , while people inhabiting the Southern Carpathian areas were supposed to receive eight " pogoane " ( approx . four hectares ) . This program was instantly rejected by many landowners , and the negotiations were ended through a decision taken by Heliade Rădulescu , when it was again decided that the ultimate resolution was a prerogative of the future Assembly . The failure to address this most significant of the problems faced by Wallachians contributed to weakening support for the revolutionary cause . Diplomatic efforts and regency . Faced with the clear hostility of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I , Wallachian revolutionaries sought instead a rapprochement with the Ottoman leadership . Efforts were made to clarify that the movement did not seek to reject Ottoman suzerainty : for this purpose , Ion Ghica was sent to Istanbul as early as May 29 , 1848 ; his mission was initially successful , but later events led Sultan Abdülmecid I to reconsider his position , especially after being faced with Russian protests . Süleyman Paşa , Abdülmecid ' s brother - in - law , was dispatched to Bucharest with orders to report on the situation and take appropriate measures . Warmly received by the city ' s inhabitants and authorities , Süleyman opted to impose a series of formal moves , which were intended to appease Russia . He replaced the Government with a regency , " Locotenenţa domnească " , and asked for some changes to be operated in the text of the constitution ( promising that these were to ensure Ottoman recognition ) . The new ruling body , a triumvirate , comprised Heliade Rădulescu , Nicolae Golescu , and Christian Tell . On Süleyman ' s explicit advice , a revolutionary delegation was dispatched to Istanbul , where it was to negotiate the movement ' s official recognition — among the envoys were Bălcescu , Ştefan Golescu , and Dimitrie Bolintineanu . By that moment , Russian diplomats had persuaded the Porte to adopt a more reserved attitude , and to replace Süleyman with a " rapporteur " for the Divan , Fuat Pasha . In parallel , Russia ordered its troops in Bessarabia to prepare for an intervention over the Prut River and into Bucharest — the prospect of a Russo - Turkish war was inconvenient for Abdülmecid , at a time when the French Second Republic and the United Kingdom failed to clarify their positions in respect to Ottoman policies . Stratford Canning , the British Ambassador to the Porte , even advised Ottoman officials to intervene against the Revolution , thus serving Prime Minister Palmerston ' s policy regarding the preservation of Ottoman rule in the face of outside pressures . The Wallachian delegation was denied reception , and , after a prolonged stay , had to return to Bucharest . Metropolitan Neofit ' s coup . On July 11 , 1848 , the false rumor that the Imperial Russian Army had left Bessarabia and was moving southwards cause the regency to leave Bucharest and take refuge in Târgovişte . This occurred after Russia had occupied Moldavia in April , a result of the unsuccessful revolt in that country . The moment was seized by conservatives : headed by Metropolitan Neofit , the latter grouping took over , and announced that the revolution had ended . When a revolutionary courier returned from the Moldavian town of Focşani with news that Russian troops had not left their quarters , the population in the capital prepared for action — during the events , Ambrozie , a priest from the Buzău Bishopric , made himself the revolutionary hero of the hour and earned the nickname " Popa Tun " , the " Cannon Priest " , after ripping out the lit fuse of a gun aimed at the crowds . The outcome caused Neofit to invalidate his own proclamation , and to transfer his power back to the Provisional Government ( July 12 ) . Over the following months , the population radicalized itself , and , on September 18 , 1848 , just one week before the Revolution was crushed , crowds entered the Interior Ministry , taking over the official copies of " Regulamentul Organic " and the register of boyar ranks ( " Arhondologia " ) . The documents were subsequently paraded through the city in a mock funeral cortege , and burned down , one sheet at a time , in the public square on Mitropoliei Hill . Neofit reluctantly agreed to preside over the ceremony and to issue a curse on both pieces of legislation . Suppression . On , Ottoman troops headed by Omar Pasha and assisted by Fuat Pasha stormed into Bucharest , partly as an attempt to prevent the extension of Russian presence over the Milcov River . On the morning of that day , Fuat met with local public figures at his headquarters in Cotroceni , proclaiming the reestablishment of the " Regulament " and appointing Constantin Cantacuzino as " Kaymakam " of Wallachia . While all revolutionaries who attended the meeting were placed under arrest , Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell sought refuge at the British consulate in Bucharest , where they were received by Robert Gilmour Colquhoun in exchange for a sum of Austrian florins . The radical faction around Nicolae Bălcescu and Gheorghe Magheru had planned resistance on the Danube , but their opinion had failed to rally significant appeal . A group of several thousands soldiers , comprising Oltenia n " pandurs " and volunteers from throughout the land , rallied in Râmnicu Vâlcea under Magheru ' s command , without ever going into action . In Bucharest itself , as Fuat prepared to lead his troops into the garrison on Dealul Spirii , a detachment of firemen met him with resistance , provoking a brief exchange of fire , during which several soldiers on both sides were killed . In the evening , the entire city had been pacified . On September 27 , a Russian force under Alexander von Lüders joined the occupation of Bucharest , taking over administration over one half of the city . Russia ' s expedition into the two Danubian Principalities was the only independent military initiative of her foreign interventions against the Revolutions of 1848 . Immediately after the events , 91 revolutionaries were sentenced to exile . Of these , a small group was transported by barges from Giurgiu , on their way to the Austrian - ruled Sviniţa , near the Danube port of Orschowa . The revolutionary artist Constantin Daniel Rosenthal and Maria Rosetti , both of whom had been allowed to go free and had subsequently followed the barges on shore , pointed out that the Ottomans had stepped out of their jurisdiction , and were able to persuade the mayor of Sviniţa to disarm the guards , which in turn allowed the prisoners to flee . The escapees then made their way to Paris . Most other revolutionaries were detained in areas of present - day Bulgaria until spring 1849 , and , passing through Rustchuk and Varna , were taken to the Anatolian city of Brusa , where they lived at the expense of the Ottoman state . They were allowed to return after 1856 . During their period of exile , rivalry between the various factions became obvious , a conflict which became the basis for political allegiances in later years . In the meantime , Magheru , upon the advice of Colquhoun , ordered the demobilization of his troops ( October 10 ) , and , accompanied by a few of his officers , passed the Southern Carpathians into Hermannstadt — at the time , the Transylvanian city was nominally in the Austrian Empire , but gripped by the Hungarian Revolution . Aftermath . Wallachian activities in Transylvania . Starting in December 1848 , a number of Wallachian revolutionaries who had escaped or had been set free from arrest began mediating an understanding between Hungary ' s Lajos Kossuth and those Romanian Transylvanian activists and peasants who , under the leadership of Avram Iancu , were mounting military resistance to the " Honvédség " troops of Józef Bem . Nicolae Bălcescu emerged from his refuge in the Principality of Serbia , and , together with Alexandru G . Golescu and Ion Ionescu de la Brad , began talks with Iancu in Zlatna . The Wallachians presented Kossuth ' s proposal that Iancu ' s fighters should leave their base in the Apuseni and help rekindle revolution in Wallachia , leaving room for Hungary to resist Russian invention , but the offer was dismissed on the spot . In parallel , Magheru reached out to Hungarian authorities , asking them to consider confederating Hungary - proper and Transylvania ; this plan was also rejected . On May 26 , 1849 , Nicolae Bălcescu met with Kossuth in Debrecen , and , despite his personal disappointment with the Hungarian discourse and his ideal of full political rights for Romanians in the region , agreed to mediate an understanding with Iancu , which resulted in a ceasefire and a series of political concessions . This came as Russian troops were entering Transylvania , a military operation culminating in Hungarian defeat at the Battle of Segesvár in late July . Political outcome . The Ottoman - Russian occupation prolonged itself until 1851 , while the 1849 Convention of Balta Liman awarded the Wallachian crown to Barbu Dimitrie Ştirbei . In contrast to the 1848 – 1849 setbacks , the period inaugurated by the Crimean War disestablished both Russian domination and the " Regulamentul Organic " regime , and , within the space of one generation , brought about the fulfillment of virtually all revolutionary projects . The common actions of Moldavians and Wallachians , in pace with the presence of Wallachian activists in Transylvania , helped circulate the ideal of national unity , with the ultimate goal of reuniting all majority - Romanian territories within one state . In early 1859 , at the close of a turbulent period , Wallachia and Moldavia entered a personal union , later formalized as the Romanian United Principalities , under Moldavian - born " Domnitor " Alexandru Ioan Cuza ( himself a former revolutionary ) . Having been allowed to return from exile after the Treaty of Paris , most of the surviving revolutionaries played a major part in the political developments , and organized themselves as " Partida Naţională " , which promoted Cuza during simultaneous elections for the " ad hoc " Divan s . The role of Paris - based Wallachian " émigrés " in promoting sympathy for common Romanian goals was decisive . " Partida " succeeded in becoming the major factor in Romanian political life , before forming the basis of the liberal current . With Cuza ' s rule , the pace of Westernization increased , and , during the 1860s , a moderate land reform was carried out , monastery estates were secularized , while corvée s and boyar ranks were outlawed . Following an 1866 conflict between the increasingly authoritarian Cuza and the political class , various trends organized a coup which brought Prince Carol , a Hohenzollern , to the Romanian throne — echoing a will expressed by some of the 1848 activists to have a foreign dynasty rule over a unified state . In 1877 , as a consequence of the Russo - Turkish War , Romania proclaimed her independence .