An aging dictator stood on a balcony overlooking Palace Square in Bucharest. 100,000 people stood before him, staring with blank faces. The dictator began is usual list of supposed achievements of his regime. However, the people watching him were starving, overworked, and suffered a year of having their electricity frequently turned off during the cold winters. Furthermore, all knew a rebellion had set the nearby city of Timișoara ablaze. As the dictators words dragged on, the patience of the crowd became more and more thin.

Soon, a lone person began repeating "Timi-șoa-ra, Timi-șoa-ra, Timi-șoa-ra…" The chant spread to the others in attendance, and became so loud, nobody could hear the dictator. He raised his hand in an attempt to silence them, too ignorant and arrogant to realize his people had enough. He stood in stunned silence before he was whisked away by his bodyguards. For the first time, the people of Romania had witnessed the weakness of their leader, Nicolae Ceaușescu, for the first time in his nearly 25 year reign. Four days later, he would be dead.

The Romanian Revolution was the last of the Eastern Bloc to overthrow its communist regime. Afterwords, the USSR would stand alone as its own system began to crumble.

Music

Deșteaptă-te, române!, Romanian National Anthem

Summit, Jonny Easton