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Pages of History Timisoara dates to before the existence of written documents. The diverse palette of neolithic archaeological material, dug out within the precincts of the town, attest to the existence of a longstanding settlement with a population of tillers and handicraftsmen. The Banat played an important part in the wars between the Dacians and the Romans, as well as during the Roman rule in the north of the Danube River. Many localities still bear the mark of those tumultuous times. In the south-west of the town one can still see fragments of solid entrenchments currently known under the name of the Roman-Moat . The historian Francesco Grisellini holds that the walls of the medieval fortress were built on the foundation of a former roman castrum. At a time of great unrest and anxiety brought about by the migratory populations and repeated raids, the inhabitants of the villages kept up their traditions and occupations. Their specific form of organisations was the territorial village communities ("popular Romanitiees"). For reasons of defence, strong fortifications were made in order to control the roads and crossings, and thus secure survival in those turbid days. Such fortifications were built in Timisoara, in an area encircled, today, by Pietroasa Street, Alba-Iulia Street, Iancu de Hunedoara Square and Bocsa Street. It may have been one and the same with "Castrensis of Tymes" recorded by early medieval sources: an indirect source in 1177, and a direct one in 1266. Besides the military and administrative role played by Timisoara, it has always had a major religious and political part since it came into being. The citadel was the religious centre of Romanians of the Banat, during the Xth-XIIIth centuries, until 1232. Timisoara's history is closely connected and directly engaged in the effort made for stemming the Ottoman advance towards the centre of Europe. It was often the gathering place for the Christian armies. At the beginning of the XVth century, ample Turkish forays threatened the town causing great casualties in the carnage of battle. Backed by the peasants battalion commanded by Romanian knezes, Timisoara's garrison heroically resisted attack and it was not only once that they did carry the resounding day. In his plans for the defence of Christian Europe's liberty Iancu de Hunedoara (John Huniadyi) kept Timisoara for a very special part to play. The citadel became the centre of a permanent military base. He gathered his army on the plain near the walls of the town and then left for "the long campaign" in the fall of 1443, to head for Varna. This town was also the place from where initiatives were started in order to grant assistance for Walachia and Moldavia. It was here that Iancu de Hunedoara brought his royal family after having consolidated and fortified the castle (fortress). During the second half of the XVth century Timisoara was the stage of violent struggle among the nobility, as well as devastating repeated attacks waged by the Ottoman armies. In the early XVth century, Timisoara knew dramatic social confrontations. The feudal rule, more and more oppresive, determined the bulk of the peasantry to rise up in arms under the leadership of Gheorghe Doja. In the summer of 1514, the peasants' army reached the town, trying to take possession of it and turn it into a centre of resistance. The long stretch of time under the Turkish domination (164 years) was also marked by political unrest and military confrontations. Timisoara also played an outstanding part in the anti-Otoman uprising of spring 1594, in which Romanians and Serbians united against their common foe. The uprising was also closely connected to the fight for independence initiated by Mihai Viteazul (Michael the Brave). In the summer of 1596, the Romanian Voivode sent 4000 of his soldiers to participate in the siege of Timisoara. In 1600 he resumed his plan and two reports show that the intention of Michael (the maker of the first union of the Romanian "lands") was "to snatch the citadel of Timisoara away" from the Turks hands. The Prince's assassination put an end to this project. The XVIIth century brought in even more turmoil, Timisoara was again in the foreground of the wars between the Ottoman and the Habsburg Empires (it was equally torn among the nobilities). The Imperial Habsburg army surrounded the town in 1689 and kept it under siege for two years, without succeeding to defeat the Turkish garrison. In 1696 the Habsburg troops resumed their attacks, and a fearful fight followed near the fortifications but the town could not be taken. In the summer of 1716 a stronger Habsburg army led by Eugene de Savoya reached the gates of the citadel. Minute engineering works were developed and repeated bombardments prepared the decisive assault of October 1, 1716. After twelve days of battles, the Ottoman garrison capitulated and left Timisoara never to return. On October 18, Eugene de Savoya entered the citadel triumphantly, imposing the new Habsburgic rule which was to last for two hundred years.In the second half of the XIXth century Timisoara was to become an active presence in the national and social movement. On the 18th and 19th of November 1860 it was the host of the National Conference of the Romanians of Banat, claiming Banat's autonomy and its breaking away from Hungary, thereby demanding guarantees for the Romanians. It was in Timisoara in 1860 that the foundations of the National Party of Romanians of the Banat and Hungary, led by Alexandru Mocionin were laid. Romania's efforts in the 1877 War of Independence were supported by the town's population with offerings of assistance. They also took part in political activities for national and social rights, and for the adoption of the universal suffrage. From this ample national movement, in which Timisoara had its major contribution, the 1918 Union of the Principalities would, eventually, become a reality. At Alba Iulia, on 1 December, many Romanians from Transilvania were present at the Grand National Assembly, where they upheld the unconditioned union of the Banat and Transylvania with Romania. The union of all the Romanian provinces created favourable possibilities
for a more rapid developement of Timisoara. In the period between the
two World Wars a substantial progress was felt in its economic, social
and cultural life. Timisoara become one of the most important urban
centres of Romania, a model of civilisation and of cohabitation. |
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