Changes

[[File:Ceausescu2.PNG|right|200px||thumb|Nicolae Ceausescu, 1978.]]

|image=Ceausescu2.PNG

|birth_place=Scornicesti, Olt County, Kingdom of Romania

|death_date=December 25, 1989 (aged 71)

|death_place=Targoviste, Dambovita County, Socialist Republic of Romania

|religion=

|spouse=[[Elena Ceausescu]] (m.1946)

|term_end=December 22, 1989

|succeeded=[[National Salvation Front Council]]

'''Nicolae Ceausescu''' was the [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] [[Communist]] [[dictator]] of [[Romania]] from the late 1960s until his overthrow in 1989.  He is most famous in the West for his [[totalitarian]] governance, personal extravagance, and for banning [[abortion]] in an effort to increase the Romanian population.  After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of Communism in Eastern Europe, Ceausescu was overthrown by a popular uprising.  Within days of being overthrown, he and his wife were both executed by an impromptu military court on a wide variety of charges.

'''Nicolae Ceausescu''' (January 26, 1918 - December 25, 1989) was the [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] [[Communist]] [[dictator]] of [[Romania]] from the late 1960s until his overthrow in 1989.  He is most famous in the West for his [[totalitarian]] governance, personal extravagance, and for banning [[abortion]] in an effort to increase the Romanian population.  After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of Communism in Eastern Europe, Ceausescu was overthrown by a popular uprising.  Within days of being overthrown, he and his wife were both executed by a biased, impromptu military court on a wide variety of charges.

[[Image:Ceausescu.jpg|left|thumb|Newspaper headline of Ceausesce's fall]]

[[Image:Ceausescu.jpg|left|thumb|Newspaper headline of Ceausesce's fall]]

During his rule, which lasted from 1967-1989, Ceausescu employed propaganda to create a cult of personality.  These measures ranged from painting him as having a much larger role in Communist philosophy than he actually did to the purely cosmetic:  Ceausescu's relatively small stature (at 5 foot 5 inches) was never emphasized.  During his role, Ceausescu oppressed any political dissent by imprisoning and even killing political enemies.  He did take a very independent route in terms of relations with the [[USSR]], most notably supporting the Czechs in the Prague Spring, when he strongly condemned Soviet intervention there.  Ceausescu initiated a series of disastrous economic policies that led to widespread poverty among the Romanian people, while he lived in a lavish palace that remains one of the biggest ever built to this day.  He was overthrown and, along with his wife [[Elena Ceausescu|Elena]], was executed on [[Christmas Day]] 1989 without a real trial, after revolutions had toppled Communist dictatorships in other Eastern European countries, such as [[Albania]], [[Hungary]], [[Poland]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Bulgaria]], and [[East Germany]].

During his rule, which lasted from 1967-1989, Ceausescu employed propaganda to create a cult of personality.  These measures ranged from painting him as having a much larger role in Communist philosophy than he actually did to the purely cosmetic:  Ceausescu's relatively small stature (at 5 foot 5 inches) was never emphasized.  During his role, Ceausescu oppressed any political dissent by imprisoning and even killing political enemies.  He did take a very independent route in terms of relations with the [[USSR]], most notably supporting the Czechs in the Prague Spring, when he strongly condemned Soviet intervention there.  Ceausescu initiated a series of disastrous economic policies that led to widespread poverty among the Romanian people, while he lived in a lavish palace that remains one of the biggest ever built to this day.  He was overthrown and, along with his wife [[Elena Ceausescu|Elena]], was executed on [[Christmas Day]] 1989 without a real trial, after revolutions had toppled Communist dictatorships in other Eastern European countries, such as [[Albania]], [[Hungary]], [[Poland]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Bulgaria]], and [[East Germany]].