Reenactors in Oradea

The things are not so simple. Along 18th-19th centuries, soldiers of different ethnic origin of Transylvania fought in many battles for their country that then was the Austrian empire. It was a special link between the Romanians of Transylvania and the good old emperor Franz Jozef. When the mobilization was declared in Austro-Hungary, in July 1914, thousand of Romanian Transylvanians who were for different reasons in Romania, came back to their homes to join their units. At least until 1916, the Romanians honourably make their duty towards the Habsburg monarchy.

It is pity to forget those soldiers of Romanian origin who bravely fought for more than two centuries in most of European wars. As other nations in Transylvania they fought for their unique country in a period when Romanian territories outside the Carpathians were Ottoman provinces (until 1877), longtime administrated by corrupted Fanariot (Greek) rulers.

In my opinion, if some people in Transylvania would like to reenact pre-1918 soldiers, they should select a particular unit of the Austrian army in which the number of the Romanians (officers and men) was important, maybe the unit that was then located in their home city, as a tribute for their ancestors who make their service in there. There are many regular KuK regiments or Grenz troops with a strong Romanian composition to commemorate.

That's correct. That's why I referred to the soldier's ethnicity in my previous post.
However, if one intends to take history seriously and accurately, the historical facts have to be set straight. That's what I intended to point out, after reading your posts.

The US is a totally different matter. Let's not mix apples with oranges.
There, everyone (except for the natives, of course) came from somewhere as immigrant. While in Transylvania, the Rumanians (and other historical ethnic populations) were there for many-many centuries as indigenous people. Huge difference.

Setting these 'technicalities' aside, your intentions with re-enacting, as I said, are commendable, and deserve to be fulfilled. Good luck and perseverence!

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on January 11, 2007 08:49 pm

To Kepi, I fully agree with everything you've written. Well said.

Gen. Dénes