Thread by @Miyhnea

29 years ago the Romanian revolution begins in the western city of Timisoara. It would spread in a week in all the country and in less than 2 it would bring down the most brutal communist regime in E.Europe

"Today in Timisoara, tomorrow in all the country".
Dozens in the city would die for demanding freedom, when the army entered the city, the following day

On the 16th of December the government planned to arrest Hungarian Catholic priest, Laszlo Tokes for the interviews he gave to a Hungarian radio station where he criticized the government.
The ethnic Hungarian tried to protect him. The police repressed them brutally. 1/2

That evening, and the next day the entire city would rise in open revolt.
On the 18th the army would be sent, and ordered to fire with live munition on the people

@VoCommunism

Small correction Mr.Tokes is a Calvinist not a Catholic

Following the repression the previous day, people would take again to the streets to demand the fall of the regime. Ceausescu declares a ''state of necessity'' and orders army divisions from around the city to enter and put down the revolt.

That night dozens would be massacred

Secret service militias accompanied the army. They would take away the bodies of the dead and proceed to bury them in mass graves outside the city in an attempt to try and hide their crimes.

After the revolution numerous fresh mass graves would be found outside the city

On the 18th of December '89, the repression in Timisoara enters its 2nd day. More people take to the streets after the massacre the previous day.
The regime fully closes the borders, nobody is allowed in or out.

Meanwhile Ceausescu leaves for a state visit in Iran

The country is now ruled by his wife, Elena, and the Min of Interior.
Important to remember she was no figure head, she had real powers within the party and was central in the cult of personality and propaganda. Ceausescu wouldn't decide anything without talking to her first

Elena was ruthless. She fully supported the regimes violent crackdown and encouraged her husband to be uncompromising.

The army would enter Timisoara again on the 18th. Dozens would be shot dead, hundreds injured and arrested.

On the 19th of December the first big break in the regime happens in Timisoara.
Workers from the factories around the city declare a general strike and join the revolt.
A day of street fights between the army and protesters follows.

The evening of the same day, General Gusa, who's in charge of suppressing the revolt, informs the higher-ups in the capital that he has lost control of the city and his men are refusing to fire on the people. To avoid mass desertions, he orders the troops back in the barracks

The people declare that Timisoara is a free city.
By this point news of the protests and massacres spread throughout the region. Nearby cities of Arad, Oradea, Cluj, Sibiu rise in solidarity with Timisoara, more workers from all over the country enter general strikes.

Ceausescu cuts his visit to Iran and returns to the country.

On the 20th of December protests in solidarity with Timisoara would spread to most Transylvanian cities. Cluj and Brasov especially would see big protests, the army would open fire.
The workers from the factories there would declare a general strike that day.

That night Ceausescu holds a speech on the national TV. He calls the protesters in Timisoara and Cluj hooligans and thugs says they are foreign agents working to subvert the sovereignty of the country
He announces a massive pro-regime rally for the next day in the capital

The 21st of December perhaps one of the most famous days of the revolution. Ceausescu's famous final speech in Bucharest. But the day would also begin with more death in the city of Cluj, where half a dozen people are shot dead for protesting in solidarity with Timisoara

The main event of the day though is without debate Ceausescu's speech and the beginning of protests in Bucharest.
Ceausescu had called for a grand rally in support of the regime and hundreds of thousands where brought by the party in a show of support

Ceausescu's speech is slow, wooden and he rages against the hooligans in Timisoara and the foreign conspiracy against Romania.
Slowly though the crowds start booing, dropping the propaganda banners, pushing eachother.
Ceusescu is clearly affected, doesn't know what to say

He tries to calm the crowds, and his wife attempts to calm him. But the crowd begins to boo even more. Finally he goes off script and promises to raise the minimun wage by 200 Lei.
The crowd starts chanting ''Timisoara''

His speech is cut from the television as the crowds starts chanting ''Down with the Tyrant''. Ceausescu goes inside and the police start dispersing the crowds, who would begin marching throughout the capital

What follows is a day and night of street battles between the protesters, army and anti-terrorist units

48 people would be shot dead or killed when the tanks drove in the crowds. the bloodiest place was the InerContinental Hotel where protesters build a barricade to fight back.

On the 22nd, following the massacre the previous day and night, the capital would rise in open revolt against the regime.
The workers from around the capital enter a general strike and together with the people prepare to march towards the HQ of the Communist Party

The checkpoints build by the army eventually are overrun by protesters. The mob finally reaches the party HQ, and storm the building.
Just as people burst in, Ceausescu, his wife and a bodyguard flee with a helicopter. The bodyguard holds a pistol to the pilots head.

Before this, the people overrun the national television building. Having been freed by the protesters from house arrest Mircea Dinescu appears live and informs the country of the revolution.
When Ceausescu flees Dinescu would famously declare ''We have won! The dictator has fled"

Ceausescu would reach far, just a bit outside the capital. The pilot simply refused to fly them further. ''There has been a revolution. You're on your own'' he tells them.
He would be arrested later that day.

Meanwhile the capital descends into pure anarchy. The Minister of Defense commits suicide. The army basically becomes leaderless. Many troops start defecting to the people, others though still obey their orders and still fire on the people.
over 800 would die in the next 3 days

Wouldn't*

The days following Ceausescu's escape and until his execution, where complete and utter anarchy. Soldiers who deserted where giving weapons to civilians. More people would die in this period than in the previous 6 days combined

Nobody knew exactly who was fighting who. A mix of deserted soldiers, hardcore loyalists and confused officers who where still following their orders.
It would be Ion Iliescu who would take advantage most of the chaos in the streets and end up eventually in charge of the country

Iliescu was not only a member of the Communist Party, but for years and years he was groomed by Ceausescu and it was expected he would be the eventual successor,
But they ended up breaking, Ceausescu became more hardcore, believing in a North Korean style rule...

While Iliescu, who was educated in Moscow, was a believer in a more moderate Communism. He was also very close to Gorbachev, whom Ceausescu strongly disliked

Iliescu ended up being exiled to the city of Iasi, a fact he'd often bring up to argue that they had always been rivals

Iliescu returned to the capital after Ceausescu fled, and quickly declared the creation of FSN, the National Salvation Front.
As there where no other organized groups, it was easy for them to quickly take center stage.

For weeks Iliescu continued to babble about the ''Socialist revolution'', it would take him a bit to accept that a simple change in the leadership of the Communist Party would simply not suffice. The people wanted democracy, not a more moderate communism

FSN was in truth nothing but a vehicle to save the rank and file members of the previous regime. Only Ceausescu's closest loyalists would be removed, the rest saved themselves by joining Iliescu's FSN

3 days ago. 29 years later. Prosecutors officially charged Iliescu and 3 other FSN members of crimes against humanity. They say that FSN's leaders fed the anarchy in a coordinated and planned fashion with the goal of masking their takeover of power

The army divisions would receive contradictory orders. For example one division would be ordered to defend the airport in the capital from terrorists, while another was ordered to take the airport.

Iliescu was warning on TV of non-existent terrorists trying to take over

All of this would result in hundreds of unnecessary deaths.

Meanwhile Ceausescu was held in a military base near Targoviste. When FSN managed to somewhat consolidate they organised a trial. The trial was held by a military court on Christmas day, the 25th.

Iliescu had visited them before the final sentence. Nobody knows what they talked, but during the trial Ceausescu was as determined, if a bit senile, as ever demanding a party congress.
They where found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and subversion of the economy.

Sentence was execution by firing squad. They where taken into the courtyard and executed by a firing squad.
The cameramen supposed to film it was late and managed to film only the aftermath. Their dead bodies where shown on the national television

After their execution, fighting would slowly end. FSN would manage to restore the chain of command in the army and Iliescu's terrorists would magically vanish.

By the 31st most fighting was over entirely, the revolution had ended. FSN and Iliescu where now in power.

We where the last E.European country where communism fell in '89. Also the only one where so many people died, in total over 1.200 thousand had died from 16th to 25th of December.