Iuliu Maniu was a prominent Romanian politician who played a key role in the unification of Transylvania with Romania in 1918. As the chairman of the Congressional Council, he successfully integrated the Transylvanian administration into reunited Romania. Throughout his 56-year political career, Maniu fought against authoritarianism and defended democracy. He opposed Austrian-Hungarian oppression in Transylvania, the domination of Ionel Bratianu in politics, and the Sovietization of Romania by communist authorities. Maniu gave a memorable speech at the National Assembly in Alba Iulia on December 1, 1918 in support of the union, arguing for the freedom and rights of all nations and citizens within the newly united country.

1. 100 years since the Great
Union in 1918.
Student : Stinga Antonela
Group: 8312

2. Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu (born 8 January 1873, Şimleul
Silvaniei, Sălaj county - d. 5 February 1953,
Sighet), jurist, one of the most prestigious
politicians in the history of Romania, honorary
member of the Romanian Academy of June 7,
1919. a political career that had lasted for 56
years, Iuliu Maniu was among the great
statesmen of our country, fighting with
perseverance against authoritarian tendencies as
a true defender of democracy.

3. • He was actively involved in the realization of the Great Union on
December 1, 1918, and from the position of chairman of the
Congressional Council succeeded the rapid integration of the
Transylvanian administration into the reunited Romania. The
quality that put him at the forefront of the political scene was
impeccable morality, which is why he was called the "Bardinian
sphinx", the place where he had grown up and where he matured to
retire to rest. However, Iuliu Maniu remained in the public
consciousness as the permanent leader of the opposition, a field that
could not be equaled. He fought an unceasing struggle against the
Austro-Hungarian oppression of the Romanian Transylvania,
against the domination of Ionel Bratianu in the political life and
against the sovietisation of the country by the communist
authorities.

5. • To illustrate the political belief of Iuliu Maniu is a significant
episode of 1946, during the process of communist authorities
against Ion Antonescu. Controversy, Maniu did not hesitate
to take the marshal's defense before the courtroom, which is
why he insinuated that he would have supported his
dictatorial policy. At these, Iuliu Maniu gave a memorable
reply: "Political people are opponents, not cannibals".

6. • The Romanian National Council, convening the meeting in Alba Iulia on
1 December 1918, instructed Iuliu Maniu to organize the National
Assembly. On his way to Alba Iulia, he stops at Blaj, and here he makes
a speech in which he paid a last tribute to that citadel of Romanianism.
• The attitude of the Hungarian government in Budapest towards the
National Assembly convened in Alba Iulia. For this purpose, Maniu
made a trip to Budapest. Arriving in the Hungarian capital, he
immediately sought to meet Jaszi Oskar, the minister (for minorities), to
settle the matter. After about 15 years, Oskar Jaszi, then a professor at a
university in the United States, visiting Iuliu Maniu on his life from
Bădăcin - reminding him of the past - told that at that time the Social
Democrats and count Count Teodor Batthany, the interior minister in
that government, demanded that Maniu be immediately arrested and
sued for high treason.

7. • December 1, 1918, was the day of Sunday, beginning with the Divine
Liturgy. At the sound of the bells, all the Romanians turned to the church.
After the Liturgy, the 1 228 representatives of the Romanians gather in the
large hall of the Military Casinos in Alba Iulia. The approximately 100,000
Romanians were waiting outside, on the Field of Horea, for the coming of
the orators, to present the act of union. Famous memoirs George Pop de
Băseşti, who is elected and honorary chairman of the assembly, Vasile
Goldiş and Iuliu Maniu, are today, and they are true oratory lessons today.
• The Alba Iulia speech and Maniu's contribution to the Great Union did
not enjoy much attention from historians during the communist era,
because it could not be forgiven that after the Second World War it was
the symbol of anticommunist resistance in Romania. Maniu's speech from
1 December 1918 is a historical approach framed in the Mantutian spirit,
echoing from the Blaj Cathedral, in the voice of Treboniu Laurian, on the
Freedom Plain here. Iuliu Maniu played a decisive role in all the great
moments of 1918 and in what was decided at Alba Iulia.

8. • His importance within the generation of the Great Union is
overwhelming:
• "We,thehonoredNationalAssembly,lookat therealizationofournational
unityasa trimof humanfreedom.We do notwantto becomeoppressed
oppressors,oppressedoppressors.We wanttoconfinetheselandstothe
freedomof allnationsandallcitizens.We proposethedecreeof theunion
withtheKingdomof Romaniaof thewholeof Transylvania,ofBanatandof
theentireterritoryinhabitedby Romaniansof Hungary.Onthese
territories,therearealsoothernations,withothertraditionsandtraditions.
We do notwanttoabductethnicity,northenationalbeingsofthese
nations.We do notwantto kidnapthetongueof anybody,butwewant
everypersontofreelychoosethelanguageandfaithin whichhewantsto
livebothin hisprivatelifeandin connectionwithstatelife.We do notwant
totearanytearswehaveshedforsomanycenturies,andwedo notwantto
suckthepowerof anyone,asit hasbeenforcenturiesin ourturn.“
• Speech by Iuliu Maniu on 1 December 1918 at Alba Iulia

9. • On December 2, 1918, the Transylvanian governing structures, the Grand National
Council, as the legislative body and the Conducting Council, the executive body,
were elected. The presidents of the two leaders were elected leading p
• oliticians, George Pop, to the legislature and Iuliu Maniu, to the executive. Asked
by Corneliu Coposu, in the peaceful evenings spent together with Iuliu Maniu in
Bădăcin, which are the most important achievements in his life, he replied that
after the Union of 1918, which is by far the greatest achievement, followed the
introduction of the Romanian regime in Transylvania.
• That was a crucial moment when 80% of the officials of the old Austro-Hungarian
regime rejected the oath before the Romanian National Council. It was then the
volunteering of 420 priests, 180 doctors and 600 Romanian lawyers who gave up
their jobs to take pre-school, notary positions, to enter the magistracy to break the
administration of Transylvania. The third important moment in Iuliu Maniu's
biography, according to his own appreciation, was the action in the autumn of
1918 in Vienna when he organized the Romanian Army in Transylvania and for 55
days assured the order in Vienna during the Viennese police strike.