106 Formed the heartland of the ancient region of Dacia, which was conquered by Roman Emperor Trajan and became a province of the Roman Empire; Christianity introduced.
275 Taken from Rome by invading Goths, a Germanic people.
4th-10th centuries Invaded by successive waves of Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Magyars, and Mongols.
c. 1000 Transylvania, in the N, became an autonomous province under the Hungarian crown.
mid-14th century Two Romanian principalities emerged, Wallachia in the S, around Bucharest, and Moldova in the NE.
15th-16th centuries The formerly autonomous principalities of Wallachia, Moldova, and Transylvania became tributaries to the Ottoman Turks, despite peasant uprisings and resistance from Vlad Tepes (`the Impaler´), the ruling prince of Wallachia.
late 17th century Transylvania conquered by the Austrian Habsburgs.
1829 Wallachia and Moldova brought under tsarist Russian suzerainty.
1859 Under Prince Alexandru Ion Cuza, Moldova and Wallachia united to form a Romanian state.
1878 Romania's independence recognized by the Great Powers in the Congress of Berlin.
1881 Became a kingdom under Carol I.
1916-18 Fought on the Triple Entente side (Britain, France, and Russia) during World War I; acquired Transylvania and Bukovina, in the N, from the dismembered Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Bessarabia, in the E, from Russia. This made it the largest state in the Balkans.
1930 To counter growing popularity of fascist and antisemitic `Iron Guard´ mass movement, King Carol II abolished democratic institutions and established a dictatorship.
1940 Forced to surrender Bessarabia and N Bukovina, adjoining the Black Sea, to the Soviet Union, and N Transylvania to Hungary; King Carol II abdicated, handing over effective power to General Ion Antonescu, who signed the Axis Pact with Germany.
1941-44 Fought on Germany's side against the Soviet Union; thousands of Jews massacred.
1944 Antonescu ousted; Romania joined the war against Germany.
1945 Occupied by Soviet Union; communist-dominated government installed.
1947 Paris Peace Treaty reclaimed Transylvania for Romania, but lost S Dobruja to Bulgaria and N Bukovina and Bessarabia to Soviet Union; King Michael, son of Carol II, abdicated and People's Republic proclaimed.

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