A
European region, in the
Balkan Peninsula, lying between the
Carpatii Meridionali (
Transylvanian Alps) on the north, and the
Danube River (which itself lies at the feet of the
Balkan Mountains) on the south.
Transylvania lies to the north,
Moldavia to the northeast,
Dobruja to the east,
Bulgaria to the south. The largest city is
Bucuresti, the capital of
Romania. The region also contains the
Piloesti Oil Fields, and is the most industrualized and densely populated part of Romania.
Although of no administrative signifigance today, Wallachia is of paramount importance to the history of Romania, as it was one of the two principalities (Moldavia being the other) which united to form Romania in
1859.
When
Trajan conquered
Dacia in the second century BC, he sent the apparatus of the Empire there, as well as retired soldiers to whom he had given land, and Dacia acquired the trappings of a Roman province.
Later, as Rome fell apart, the region's unique position made it a principal conduit for the various peoples that invaded Europe to plunder the Empire. Indeed, Dacia was the first province to go, lost when Emperor
Aurelian withdrew south of the Danube in
271, leaving Dacia to the
Visigoths. These were followed by the
Ostrogoths,
Huns,
Gepids,
Avars,
Bulgars,
Magyars,
Patzinaks,
Cumans, and finally, in the
13th Century, the
Mongols.
As the
Mongol Empire began to disintegrate in the late 13th century, the local inhabitants began to assert themselves. Although the
Vulach people themselves were not so much descendants of the Roman settlers as much as a mixture of the various invaders who had swept the land over the preceding
millennium, they spoke a
language derived from Latin and kept the a form of the
Orthodox Christian religion. Wallachia's sister state
Moldavia arose at approximately the same time.
Two regions,
Oltenia and
Arges, were vassals of the Kingdom of Hungary by
1273. In
1330,
Basarab overthrew Hungarian overlordship, and founded independent principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia.
Wallachia's taste of independence was brief. A new invader arose, this time from the south.
The Ottoman Empire, although it had not yet entirely consumed the
Byzantine Empire, received tribute from Wallachia starting in
1391. The 15th Century repeatedly saw Wallachia falling in and out of Ottoman control. It was a time of ruthless men such as
Radu II and
Dan II who exchanged the throne nine times between
1420 and
1431, and the infamous Vlad III
Dracula, also known as
Vlad the Impaler. Eventually, though, it became an Ottoman vassal entirely.
Begining in
1700, The Sultan appointed
Greek governors known as "
Phanariots" to rule the area. Except for brief periods of being captured by
Transylvania,
Russia, and
Austria, this was the situation up until
1771, when a
Russian army occupied it.
1774's treay of
Kucuk Kaynarka gave
Catherine the Great a say in the Wallachia's governance, although the hated Phanariots continued to rule. A Russian invasion in
1806 was followed by an
1808 rebellion, and a return to Ottoman control in
1812.
The "
sick man of Europe" became less and less able to hold onto its provinces. An
1821 revolt overthrew the Phanariots, but this was followed by an Ottoman reconquest, a Russian occupation, and yet another rebellion. This cycle repeated itself several times until, in the wake of the
Crimean War, the Sultan decided he had had enough. Wallachia and Moldavia were joined to form Romania in
1859, officially independent in
1881.