Challenge: An East European North Korea

He also had a "Uday Hussein" type playboy son, Nicu, who was groomed to take over upon Nicolai's death.

At the time of Ceausescu's death, son Nicu was in eclipse -- he got ideas above his station (like, replacing Daddy before Daddy was ready to go) and got exiled to a provincial Party post. (1)

By all accounts, Nicu was a classic dictator's kid. (2) That is, he was a sullen, mean-spirited spoiled brat, hard-drinking, womanizing, arrogant, and pretty generally wretched and worthless. (3) After Ceausescu's fall, Nicu moved to Russia, where he drank himself to death fairly quickly, dying of cirrhosis at the age of 45.

Point being, unless you provide Nicu with a brain transplant, he's probably not going to last long as absolute leader.


Doug M.

(1) He was party boss of Sibiu, a small industrial city in Transylvania -- a very strange choice for the dictator's son.

Defector Ion Pacepa claims Ceausescu exiled Nicu to Sibiu for plotting against him. It's also possible that Nicu's mother Elena moved him there prophlactically because he was planning something stupid.

(2) The Ceausescus had an older son -- Valentin -- who was adopted; he was a war orphan, and the postwar Party had a program of encouraging up-and-coming members to adopt. Whether because of heredity, or just because he was already a young adult when the Ceausescus took absolute power (Nicu was just 13), Valentin grew up surprisingly sane; he became a physicist and showed no signs of political ambition.

(3) "Womanizing" is the kindest interpretation. There are stories of Nicu keeping a rape chamber, and having his Securitate guards simply seize attractive women who caught his eye. These may be exaggerated, but on the other hand it's not entirely impossible to believe.
 
At the time of Ceausescu's death, son Nicu was in eclipse -- he got ideas above his station (like, replacing Daddy before Daddy was ready to go) and got exiled to a provincial Party post. (1)

By all accounts, Nicu was a classic dictator's kid. (2) That is, he was a sullen, mean-spirited spoiled brat, hard-drinking, womanizing, arrogant, and pretty generally wretched and worthless. (3) After Ceausescu's fall, Nicu moved to Russia, where he drank himself to death fairly quickly, dying of cirrhosis at the age of 45.

Point being, unless you provide Nicu with a brain transplant, he's probably not going to last long as absolute leader.


Doug M.

(1) He was party boss of Sibiu, a small industrial city in Transylvania -- a very strange choice for the dictator's son.

Defector Ion Pacepa claims Ceausescu exiled Nicu to Sibiu for plotting against him. It's also possible that Nicu's mother Elena moved him there prophlactically because he was planning something stupid.

(2) The Ceausescus had an older son -- Valentin -- who was adopted; he was a war orphan, and the postwar Party had a program of encouraging up-and-coming members to adopt. Whether because of heredity, or just because he was already a young adult when the Ceausescus took absolute power (Nicu was just 13), Valentin grew up surprisingly sane; he became a physicist and showed no signs of political ambition.

(3) "Womanizing" is the kindest interpretation. There are stories of Nicu keeping a rape chamber, and having his Securitate guards simply seize attractive women who caught his eye. These may be exaggerated, but on the other hand it's not entirely impossible to believe.

Sibiu's a fairly nice place as far as Romanian cities go.

The problem with turning Romania into the North Korea of East Europe is that if the Ceausescu dynasty can't be secured then either the regime will be overthrown later than in OTL or the rest of the party will grab power.

The Romanian Communist Party was full of people marginalized by the Ceausescus' hunger for power; all they needed was the army's supports. Once these guys grab power they'll either give in to outside pressure and allow eventual democratization or try to rough it out as one of Europe's last dictatorship - but even then they'd avoid the insanity of North Korea. It'd be more like Vietnam.
 
The problem with turning Romania into the North Korea of East Europe is that if the Ceausescu dynasty can't be secured then either the regime will be overthrown later than in OTL or the rest of the party will grab power.

Hmm, did they have more children than just Valentin and Nicu? Or, say if Nicu's "plotting" was more successful, then could it work?
 
Hmm, did they have more children than just Valentin and Nicu?

A daughter, Zoia, who was a doctor in mathematics and died 2 years ago. I don't think she would've amounted to much. Her parents controlled her life; they broke up one love affair because the guy was half-Jewish and another because he was Hungarian; some other guy got shipped to Guinea. I suspect she wasn't that fond of the regime.

Or, say if Nicu's "plotting" was more successful, then could it work?
The rest of the party will try to pull his chair from under him so he'll need the army and preferably the Securitate as well. Expect a power struggle. I don't know who would've won; ask the other Romanians on the board for suggestions (Andrei, Magnum, thor2006, Zajir).
 
At the time of Ceausescu's death, son Nicu was in eclipse -- he got ideas above his station (like, replacing Daddy before Daddy was ready to go) and got exiled to a provincial Party post. (1)

By all accounts, Nicu was a classic dictator's kid. (2) That is, he was a sullen, mean-spirited spoiled brat, hard-drinking, womanizing, arrogant, and pretty generally wretched and worthless. (3)

(1) He was party boss of Sibiu, a small industrial city in Transylvania -- a very strange choice for the dictator's son.

Defector Ion Pacepa claims Ceausescu exiled Nicu to Sibiu for plotting against him. It's also possible that Nicu's mother Elena moved him there prophlactically because he was planning something stupid.

(2) The Ceausescus had an older son -- Valentin -- who was adopted; he was a war orphan, and the postwar Party had a program of encouraging up-and-coming members to adopt. Whether because of heredity, or just because he was already a young adult when the Ceausescus took absolute power (Nicu was just 13), Valentin grew up surprisingly sane; he became a physicist and showed no signs of political ambition.

(3) "Womanizing" is the kindest interpretation. There are stories of Nicu keeping a rape chamber, and having his Securitate guards simply seize attractive women who caught his eye. These may be exaggerated, but on the other hand it's not entirely impossible to believe.

Nicu does sound remarkably similar to Saddam's son, Uday. Wonder if they ever met up for a night on the town? ;)
 
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