2021-05-10 Mon

Carol-I was the first king of Romania, whose long reign brought notable military and economic development along Western lines but failed to solve the basic problems of an overwhelmingly rural country.

He was elected Prince of the Romanian United Principalities on 20 April 1866 after the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup d'etat. In May 1877, he proclaimed Romania an independent and sovereign nation. The defeat of the Ottoman Empire (1878) in the Russo-Turkish War secured Romanian independence, and he was proclaimed King on 26 March 1881.

He fostered the development of urban industrial and financial interests with a large measure of success and significantly built the national military establishment; but his neglect of rural problems—especially peasant land hunger—found its issue in the bloody peasant rebellion of 1907, which claimed perhaps several thousand lives. His rule brought a great measure of dignity and stability to the administration of government, but his manipulation of political parties also perpetuated some of the worst features of Romanian public life.

The above shown definitive stamp of value 10 Romanian Ban was issued in 1914 to honor Carol I.

Image Source: colnect.com