Nicolae Ceaușescu

Nicolae Ceaușescu}} ( 1918 – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician who led the Socialist Republic of Romania. He served as General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989 and as the first president of Romania from 1974 to 1989.

Born in Scornicești, Ceaușescu joined the banned Romanian Communist Party in his teens and was repeatedly imprisoned under the pre-war and wartime regimes for his communist activism. After World War II, he rose through the party ranks under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, the country’s Stalinist leader, whom he succeeded as general secretary.

Upon taking power, Ceaușescu eased press censorship and condemned the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in his speech of 21 August 1968, which resulted in a surge in popularity. However, this period of liberalisation was brief, as his regime soon became totalitarian and was widely considered to be one of the most repressive in the Eastern Bloc. His secret police, the Securitate, was responsible for mass surveillance as well as severe repression and human rights abuses within the country, and controlled the media and press. Ceaușescu's attempts to implement policies that would lead to a significant growth of the population led to a growing number of illegal abortions and increased the number of orphans in state institutions. Economic mismanagement due to failed oil ventures during the 1970s led to very significant foreign debts for Romania. In 1982, Ceaușescu directed the government to export much of the country's agricultural and industrial production in an effort to repay these debts. His cult of personality experienced unprecedented elevation, followed by the deterioration of foreign relations, even with the Soviet Union.

By the end of 1989, mounting discontent over the state of the nation and Ceaușescu’s totalitarian rule erupted into the Romanian Revolution. Ceaușescu perceived the demonstrations in Timișoara as a threat and ordered military forces to open fire on 17 December, causing many deaths and injuries. The demonstrations reached the capital Bucharest, forcing Ceaușescu and his wife Elena to flee in a helicopter, but were soon captured after the armed forces turned on them. After being tried and convicted of economic sabotage and genocide, both were sentenced to death, and they were immediately executed by firing squad on 25 December, bringing an end to four decades of communist rule in Romania. Provided by Wikipedia