ABSTRACT
The Romanian regime's leaders blare their historical analyses from the balconies of power. History colors the perceptions of all Romanians as they look at their reality, their surroundings, and the outside world. Earlier official Romanian historiography claimed that the Roman influence helped raise the cultural level of the Dacian inhabitants. Moldavia and Wallachia thus possessed the necessary ingredients for the successful expression of national interests as defined by the elites and, presumably, understood and accepted by the masses. At the elite level, the Romanian leaders were boyars, members of the landed aristocracy or the emerging commercial and entrepreneurial elites of the cities who had no experience in or inclination toward political pluralism or even limited democracy. Romanian nationalism was also somewhat egalitarian, and it stressed the need for redistribution of wealth, land reform, and a return to the simple life of the village.
