Peace and war, 1919–1947

Abstract

Broad trends of political, economic, and social development discernible a century earlier reached their culmination in the two decades between the World Wars, as modern Romania achieved its fullest expression as a nation-state. It was an era of enormous vitality and creativity, as the leading classes experimented with new ideas and forms from politics to business and from philosophy to poetry. But it was also an era of contentiousness and division, as they were obliged to reorder long-established institutions, re-examine venerable traditions, and confront the problems of an urbanizing, middle-class society on the rise common to Europe as a whole. Economic and social life in certain respects followed familiar patterns. Agriculture remained the foundation of the Romanian economy, since it provided a livelihood for the majority of the population and supplied the bulk of exports, upon which the financial health of the country mainly depended. But at the same time industry was making substantial progress and was steadily increasing its share of the national income. The peasantry continued to form the majority of the population, and the urban working class grew as industry and commerce expanded. But it was the middle class that put its stamp on the interwar period. Although still relatively small, it came into its own in these two decades as the guiding force in both economic and political life.