States,
\ninstitutions and organizations in general are used to expressing their
\nrecognition for people’s special service by awarding distinctions. Romania has
\nalways rewarded those who have distinguished themselves through special
\npersonal merit with orders and medals. Phaleristics is the auxiliary science of
\nhistory and numismatics that studies medals, orders and other decorations. A
\nquick overview will tell us more about their history in Romanian space. Thus,
\nRomanian distinctions are broken down in national decorations, commemorative
\ndecorations, military decorations in times of peace, military decorations in
\ntimes of war, civilian decorations for various fields of activities and
\nhonorifics.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The first
\nRomanian decoration ever to be documented appears in the second half of the 19th
\ncentury, after the unification of the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia.
\nUnder the reign of the first ruler of the Romanian United Principalities,
\nColonel Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the Romanian State made its first attempts at
\nestablishing orders and decorations. In 1860, Cuza founded the Military Virtue
\nMedal (Pro Virtute Militari) to
\nreward the firefighters who had fought the Ottomans on Dealul Spirii battle of
\nSeptember 13, 1848. In 1864, Cuza wanted to establish the Order of the Union
\n(Ordinul Unirii), which would mark 5 years since the Union of the
\nPrincipalities, but eventually gave up the idea, fearing it might stir up
\ntensions with the Ottoman Empire. Another two medals, the Military Virtue
\n(Virtutea militar\u0103) and Devotion and Courage (Devotament \u0219i Curaj), were meant
\nto reward acts of bravery in the field of battle, a battle that resulted in a
\ngreat loss of lives during the War of Independence of 1877-1878. In 1864, two
\nyears before stepping down, Cuza created the Romanian Star (Steaua Rom\u00e2niei)
\nnational order, which was to become the highest distinction of the Romanian
\nstate. Floricel Marinescu, an expert in phaleristics, talked more about the
\nfirst decorations of Romania. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As bestowing
\norders is a prerogative of sovereign states only, Romania did not have a
\nnational order before the proclamation of independence, in May, 1877. Cuza’s
\nprevious attempts at creating a distinction were met with opposition by the
\nOttoman Empire and the Austrian Empire, which saw this undertaking as Romania
\nearning some rights that only sovereign states were entitled to. Hence the
\ndecorations Cuza commissioned remained unbestowed at the royal palace.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Cuza’s
\nsuccessor, Prince Carol I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, helped build a
\nfull-fledged modern state. Romania’s prerogatives as a sovereign state became
\ntransparent gradually during his rule, and were confirmed after the War of
\nIndependence. Although coerced by the Ottomans not to bestow any distinctions,
\nCarol played a smart game, steering the country towards independence. He
\ncarried over his predecessor’s attempts at establishing decorations and actually
\nsaw them through. One of these decorations with be the Military Virtue
\n(Virtutea MIlitar\u0103). The proclamation of independence of May 10, 1877 marked
\nthe establishment of the first Romanian order, the Romanian Star (Steaua
\nRom\u00e2niei), which had five ranks: knight, officer, commander, commanding officer
\nand the Great Cross. The Romanian Star was an echo of the Order of the Union
\nCuza had failed to create as an official distinction of the Romanian modern
\nstate. New distinctions emerged after the independence: the Crossing of the
\nDanube (Trecerea Dun\u0103rii) Cross, the Elizabeth Commemorative Cross, named
\nafter Queen Elizabeth, also known as the Mother of the Wounded, wife to King
\nCarol I, the Defenders of the Independence (Ap\u0103r\u0103torii Independen\u0163ei) Medal
\nand the Faithful Service (Serviciul Credincios) Medal. Also worth mentioning
\nis that Russia, Romania’s ally in the war against the Ottoman Empire, gave
\ndistinctions to Romanian soldiers, such as the Russian Medal for the Turkish
\nWar of 1877-1878 and the Saint George Cross. Russian military were in turn
\ndecorated with the Crossing of the Danube Cross. Professional distinctions
\nincluded the Fruit of Labor in Education Medal, awarded to teaching staff,
\nwhile in 1906 the Fruit of Labor for the Church was created, offered to the
\nclergy. The Bravery and Faith Medal was created in 1903, awarded to police
\nofficers. Over 1912-1913 new medals were introduced: the Commercial and
\nIndustrial Merit Medal, the Military Service Reward Medal, for reconscripted
\nsoldiers, the Glory of the Country medal for military who had taken part in
\nthe second Balkan war of 1913 and the Health Merit Cross. Floricel Marinescu
\nsays Romania developed a genuine system of distinctions after gaining the
\nindependence: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Other orders
\ncome into being over the years: in 1991, the ‘Romanian Crown’, then in 1906 the
\nKing Carol I’ order. Like other orders in the world, their number was strictly
\nlimited to members in the country. During the First World War and under the
\nrule of Carol I, a whole series of orders, medals and crosses was created,
\nwhich made up a well-rounded system. You could be rewarded for any type of
\nactivity, with a wide range of ranks. All these decorations disappeared in
\n1948, with the abolishment of the monarchy. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
After the Second
\nWorld War, Romania switched to the Soviet system of distinctions, from their
\nform and names to the fact that they could be bestowed infinitely. The value of
\nmedals was therefore lost, due to the large number of those actually wearing
\nthem, and to the ideology and propaganda circulated. The most prominent
\ndistinctions in communism were the Star of the Socialist Republic of Romania
\nand the Hero of Socialist Labor in the Socialist Republic of Romania Award.
\nThese too vanished after the anti-communist revolution of 1989. Romania’s
\ncurrent system of national orders was reintroduced in 1997 and, to a certain extent,
\nrestored the system used up until 1989. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by
\nV. Palcu) <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A short history of decorations in Romania<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":169611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[29828,42609,45585,44474,45584,45586,45587],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-169610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-alexandru-ioan-cuza","tag-carol-i","tag-orders-and-distinctions","tag-ottoman-empire","tag-phaleristics","tag-romanian-star","tag-soviet-system-of-distinctions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n