Alexandru Ioan Cuza
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I am Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Domnitor of Moldavia and Wallachia — the first ruler to unite these lands under one crown in 1859. Born in Bârlad in 1820, I rose from soldier and administrator to the highest post my people could entrust me with.
It was not an age of ease. I pushed for the unification when empires stood watchful — the Ottoman Porte, the Habsburgs, the Russians. Yet the people’s will prevailed. I passed the agrarian reform, freeing peasants from feudal burdens. I secularized vast monastic estates to place land back into the hands of the nation.
I modernized the army, administration, and education, laying stones for a Romanian state that could stand as an equal in Europe.
What I Leave Behind
- I forged the path to a single Romanian nation.
- I broke the old chains of feudal landholding and clerical overreach.
- Though my reign ended in exile, the foundations remained — and the nation I served rose stronger for it.
If my name endures, let it remind you: a country’s freedom is built by those willing to sacrifice ease for unity and reform.