Transcript Slide 1

Alexandru Ioan Cuza (20
March 1820 – 15 May 1873)
was a Romanian politician
who ruled as the first Prince
of the United Principalities of
Wallachia and Moldavia
between 1859 and 1866. He
remained in our history as an
important figure also for the
series of reforms he initiated
that contributed to the
modernization of Romanian
society and of state
structures.
Cuza was elected
independently by popular
vote in both Moldavia (on
the 5th January 1859) and
Wallachia (on the 24th,
which is celebrated today as
the day of the Union of the
two Principalities). The
name of the new country
became Romania and the
capital was set in Bucharest.
This became the basis for
the Romanian nation-state.
This is whatRomania looked like after the Union of
the Two Principalities. (the section in WHITE)
Cuza’s name can be associated with a series of
reforms realized among the seven years under his
reign that contributed to the modernization of
Romanian society and state structures.
The 1864 Land Reform was the first one in
Romania. It came on the heels of the secularization
of monastery estates, achieved in December 1863
at Mihail Kogălniceanu's initiative and taking over a
quarter of the land owned by the Orthodox Church.
The question of Land Reform was an essential point
of Cuza's political program, and he and
Kogălniceanu had wider aims: the abolition of
compulsory labour and the establishment of private
small holdings.
Cuza's reforms also included the adoption of
the Criminal Code and the Civil Code based on
the Napoleonic code (1864), a Law on
Education -establishing tuition-free-,
compulsory public education for primary
schools (1864; the system, nonetheless,
suffered from drastic shortages in allocated
funds). He founded the University of Iaşi (1860)
and the University of Bucharest (1864), and
helped the development of a modern
European-style Romanian Army, under a
working relationship with France. His reforms
had a modern and European character.
The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iaşi.
There are two pictures by Theodor Aman, The Union of
the Principalities (1857) on the left side and Proclamation
of the Moldo-Wallachian union on the right side.
In our city, we have a museum known as Cuza Voda
House. It’s a memorial house hosting a permanent
exhibition dedicated to the prince, which has the
quality of reconstructing the Galati ambience at the
end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th
century. Alexandru Ioan Cuza lived in this building
between 1844 and 1859, while he was the president
of the Court of Justice.
Also, there’s a statue of the Prince on one of the
main streets of our city.
Cuza remained in the
conscience of his epoch not
only due to his qualities, his
dedication, skills and
patriotism shown in
administrating the country
and fulfillment of the
national program, but
mostly because of the
importance of the Union ,
and of the period which,
beyond doubt, ranks
among the most beautiful
pages of the national
history.
Project made by:
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Ciocan Andra-Elena
Teodor Solca
Balaban Claudia
Bancescu Ana-Maria
Ghintuiala Raluca
Toma Vlad Florin
Stan Cosmin
Penes Diana
Negoita Ovidiu
Baban Angelin
Mihalcea Irena
Rosca Mirela
Dragomir Catalina