Ion I.C. Bratianu was a Romanian politician who played a leading role in the Great Union of 1918 that united Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina and Bessarabia with Romania. As Prime Minister, he initiated important modernization reforms of the Romanian state. He welcomed the delegation from Transylvania that brought the resolution for union from Alba Iulia, saying that Romanians had waited 1,000 years for this moment and that it redeemed centuries of pain, as it meant the nations would never be divided again.