Lajos Kazar: Facts against fiction

JAPAN

Transylvania (Toranshirubania; Rumanian Ardeal; Hungarian Erdély, German Siebenbürgen) is an area in the northwest of Rumania. Historically the name refers to a tableland surrounded from the east, south and west by the Carpathian Mountains. Besides Rumanians a large number of Hungarian and German inhabitants live there. In ancient Roman times the area in question was a part of Dacia. According to Rumanian historians the Dacian people, who had become influenced by roman customs and culture, continued to live on this land without a break. However, Hungarian historiography says that in the 3rd century, when due to pressure from the Goths Rome's power declined, the Dacian people were either wiped out or moved altogether to the south. The area of later Transylvania was conquered by the Hungarians in the 9th century. In 1540 Transylvania became a principality governed by Hungarians. At the beginning of the 17th century it came under Turkish control and so remained until 1699 when it was returned to Habsburg rule. In 1867 it again became fully controlled by Hungary. In December 1918 at a meeting in Alba Iulia the Rumanians decided to unite with Rumania. This was confirmed by the Paris Peace Treaty in 1920. In August 1940 North Transylvania reverted to Hungary. After WW II the whole of Transylvania was allotted to Rumania.

N.B. This article presents the Rumanian continuity theory and the Hungarian stance opposing it. It is interesting to note that by 1987 Rumanian historiography insisted on the continuity of a Dacian population and less on a Roman descent. The likely reason was that by 1987 Nicolae Ceausescu had directed his historians to emphasize the Dacian descent of the Rumanians because that would allow them to take back the birth of the Rumanian state to 70 B.C., the year in which the Dacian king Burebista began his reign - again according to Ceausescu's historians.

Lajos Kazar: Facts against fiction