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Alexandru Ioan Cuza

Alexandru Ioan Cuza
Alexander Johann Cuza Kriehuber.jpg
Alexandru Ioan Cuza, lithography by Josef Kriehuber, 1861
Domnitor of Romania
Reign 5 February 1862 – 22 February 1866
Predecessor Title created
Successor Carol I
Prince of Moldavia
Reign 5 January 1859 – 5 February 1862
Predecessor Grigore Alexandru Ghica
Successor Title abandoned
Prince of Wallachia
Reign 24 January 1859 – 5 February 1862
Predecessor Barbu Știrbei
Successor Title abandoned
Born (1820-03-20)20 March 1820
Moldavia Bârlad, Moldavia
Died 15 May 1873(1873-05-15) (aged 53)
German Empire Heidelberg, Germany
Burial Three Holy Hierarchs Church, Iași
Spouse Elena Cuza (née Rosetti)
Issue Sașa Cuza
Dimitrie Cuza
House Cuza
Father Ioan Cuza
Mother Sultana Cuza (née Cozadini)
Religion Romanian Orthodox
Signature
Styles of
Alexandru Ioan Cuza
Royal Monogram of Alexander John Cuza.svg
Reference style His Royal Highness
Spoken style Your Royal Highness
Alternative style Sir

Alexandru Ioan Cuza (pronounced [alekˈsandru iˈo̯an ˈkuza], or Alexandru Ioan I, also anglicised as Alexander John Cuza; 20 March 1820 – 15 May 1873) was Prince of Moldavia, Prince of Wallachia, and later Domnitor (ruler) of the Romanian Principalities. He was a prominent figure of the Revolution of 1848 in Moldavia. He initiated a series of reforms that contributed to the modernization of Romanian society and of state structures.

Born in Bârlad, Cuza belonged to the traditional boyar class in Moldavia, being the son of Ispravnic Ioan Cuza (who was also a landowner in Fălciu County) and his wife Sultana (or Soltana), a member of the Cozadini family of Phanariote origins. Alexander received an urbane European education, becoming an officer in the Moldavian Army (rising to the rank of colonel). He married Elena Rosetti in 1844. In 1848, known as the year of European revolutions, Moldavia and Wallachia fell into revolt. The Moldavian unrest was quickly suppressed, but in Wallachia the revolutionaries took power and governed during the summer (see 1848 Wallachian revolution). Young Cuza played a prominent enough part so as to establish his liberal credentials during the Moldavian episode and to be shipped to Vienna as a prisoner, where he made his escape with British support.


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