Nicolae Ceausescu - Volume Three

Nicolae Ceausescu was born on January 26, 1918. He met future Romanian leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in prison, and succeeded him after his death in 1965. He ruled Romania according to orthodox Communist principles, causing food shortages by forcing the export of most of the country's agricultural products. The resulting unrest led to the collapse of Ceausescu's regime and his execution in 1989. Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania's iron-fisted Communist leader, was born on January 26, 1918 in the small, rural town of Scornicesti, just outside of Bucharest. The third of ten children, Ceausescu grew up poor, receiving only an elementary school education. By age 11, he was employed in one of the many factories that dotted the Bucharest landscape. No doubt shaped by these early struggles and the appeal of Communism's promise for a better future, Ceausescu joined Romania's worker movement in 1932.