(b. 20 August 1864, Florica, Argeș, d. 24 November 1927)

Image Description

He is a man of over 40 years, with short hair, big eyes, stuffy eyebrows and beard, a protruding nose, wearing a suit.

His thick eyebrows are fully colored, and the mustache is outlined by softly-curbed lines.

The pattern of small, crammed ‘x’ letters represent the curly hair, combed back, and the thick beard.

The collar of his shirt is illustrated by a pattern of circles.

The classic jacket is outlined by a curved pattern.

He is wearing a tie, made of full, accentuated and crammed rhombuses.

 

Historical information

Ion I. C. Brătianu was born on the 20th of August 1864, in Florica, Argeș County, the first-born of the liberal leader Ion C. Brătianu. He went to University in France, graduating from the Politehnica and School of Roads and Bridges. After his return in 1889, he worked as a railway engineer. Apparently, this decision was his father’s will, who thought that his involvement in politics should come after his professional recognition [Bibliography 1].

While he was working as an engineer, he had a relationship with Maria Moruzzi, with whom he had one son, the famous historian Gheorghe Brătianu, who died at the Main Sighet Prison, due to the torture and detention regime [Bibliography 2].

He enters politics in 1895, when he was elected deputy for Gorj. After that, he held several positions as Minister in liberal governments [Bibliography 3]. In 1907, during the Peasant’s Revolt, and after the formation of the government led by the liberal Dimitrie Sturdza, he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs. According to Ioan Scurtu, during the most important year of Carol I’s reign, Ion I. C. Brătianu “was involved in an action of reestablishing the order”, and alongside the General Alexandru Averescu, appointed Minister of War, he participated in “suppressing the revolted peasants” [Bibliography 4].

Next year, he was appointed, for the first time, president of the Council of Ministers. At the same time, after Dimitrie Sturdza steppd down from the National Liberal Party in 1909, he was elected president of the party, position which he held until his death in 1927. Also in 1909, he was a victim of an attempted murder, as he was shot three times. When the First World War begun he inclined towards neutrality. By secretly negotiating with the allies (Russia, France and England), he obtained recognition of Romanian rights over Romanian territories that were held under Austrian-Hungarian monarchy [Bibliography 5]. On the 4th of August 1916, the Convention between Romania and the Entente countries (Russia, France, England and Italy) is signed, through which these “recognized Romania’s demands (…) regarding Transylvania, Bucovina and the entire Banat”, but also the right to participate in the peace negotiations after the war ended in a position of equality [Bibliography 6].

After Romania entered the war on 14/27 August 1916 and in the context of the success of the Transylvanian campaign, the Romanian army, poorly equipped, is defeated. After Bucharest was occupied by the Germans, the King and Ion I.C. Brătianu’s government retreated in Iasi. In the Moldavian capital, he promoted universal vote, giving land to peasants and rewriting the Constitution, all of which will become reality after the war ended. Lucian Predescu describes him in the Romanian Encyclopedia, with these laudatory words:

“He presided over the greatest political events under King Ferdinand: giving land to the peasants, universal vote and entering the war with the purpose of making the country whole again. […] During the war he was Ferdinand’s most appreciated counselor, especially during the worst days in Iasi, during the Russian Revolution and Russian desertion” [Bibliography 7].

He stepped down from the government, to be followed by the General Averescu and then by Alexandru Marghiloman, who had received from the King the task of signing an armistice with the Central Powers, and then a separate peace. He comes back as president of the Council of Ministers in October/November 1918. The power he had in relation to King Ferdinand I brought him the surname of “Romania’s uncrowned king” [Bibliography 8] and the description as “Romania’s true leader, be it in power or in opposition” [Bibliography 9]. A biographical study made by Steriade Diamandi shows the negative side of I. C. Brătianu. Amongst these, he mentions the encouragement of hybrid parties to ostracize the national-peasantry opposition, the deterioration of relations between the Kingdom and the provinces that were annexed in 1918 (Bessarabia, Bucovina and Transylvania), and also jeopardizing the natural development of the National-liberal Party by concentrating all the power in his hands [Bibliography 10]. He died in 1927, the same year as King Ferdinand I.

 

Bibliography

  1. Ioan Scurtu, Portrete politice, Chișinău, Editura Prut Internațional, 2006, p. 99. Lucian Predescu, Enciclopedia României – Cugetarea. Material românesc, oameni și înfăptuiri, ediție anastatică, București, Editura Saeculum I. O./Editura Vestala, 1999, p. 128, Lucian Predescu, Enciclopedia României – Cugetarea. Material românesc, oameni și înfăptuiri, ediție anastatică, București, Editura Saeculum I. O./Editura Vestala, 1999, 70.
  2. Ioan Scurtu, Portrete politice, Chișinău, Editura Prut Internațional, 2006, p. 99, Aurel Pentelescu, Liviu Țăranu (editori), Gheorghe Brătianu in dosarele Securității. Documente, București, Editura Enciclopedică., 2006, passim.
  3. Lucian Predescu, Enciclopedia României – Cugetarea. Material românesc, oameni și înfăptuiri, ediție anastatică, București, Editura Saeculum I. O./Editura Vestala, 1999, p. 128.
  4. Ioan Scurtu, Portrete politice, Chișinău, Editura Prut Internațional, 2006, p. 103.
  5. Ioan Todea, Ion (Ionel) I. C. Brătianu. întregitpr și făuritor al României modern (1864-1927), București, Editura Universitară, 2014, pp. 79-99.
  6. Sterie Diamandi, Galeria oamenilor politici, București, Editura Gessa, [1991], p. 73.
  7. Lucian Predescu, Enciclopedia României – Cugetarea. Material românesc, oameni și înfăptuiri, anastatic edition, București, Editura Saeculum I. O./Editura Vestala, 1999, p. 128.
  8. Ion Bitoleanu, Șefi de partide politice priviți cu ochii vremii lor, Constanța, Ex Ponto, 2006, p. 88.
  9. Ion Bulei, Postfață, in Ioan Todea, Ion (Ionel) I. C. Brătianu. întregitor și făuritor al României modern (1864-1927), București, Editura Universitară, 2014, p. 345.
  10. Sterie Diamandi, Galeria oamenilor politici, București, Editura Gessa, [1991], pp. 90-91.

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