A New Generation, a New Political Action: Terrorism in Romania (1920–1940)

Abstract

In the 1920s Romania underwent a major political, cultural, and social change. A new generation of young people attended universities and started being involved in political life in a bigger country where access to civil and political rights was granted to all citizens. Influenced by the international context characterized by the rise of ideologies and by the habit of violence inherited from the Great War, a part of them considered terrorism as a possible instrument of action. Corneliu Zelea Codreanu’s movement was the main representative of such an attitude. Political homicides were not only a settling of scores, also transmitting the message that there was a justice that was superior to that imposed by law and it was based on the authentical values of Romanian identity. After the death of Codreanu, the Iron Guard, led by Horia Sima, did not give up terrorism, but it became a conscious method of political action with the aim of destabilizing and creating a climate of uncertainty and terror.