The Romanian government falls. The Romanian army’s defection to anti-communist protesters marks the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu’s regime. The end of 42 years of communism comes three days after government security forces opened fire on protesters in Timisoara. After the army’s defection, Ceausescu and his wife flee Budapest by helicopter, but are captured and charged with mass murder in a hasty military trial. On December 25, they are executed by firing squad. Ceausescu, Romania’s leader since 1965, had resisted the liberalization of the USSR and other Soviet bloc countries in the late 1980s. Until 1989, Romania was the most repressive and economically backward country in Europe.
