Moments in history #2: Independence Day Traditional Geocache
Moments in history #2: Independence Day
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The beginning of a war. The cache is located close to the monument dedicated to the first shells fired during the Independence War of Romania.
The Romanian territories were under Ottoman suzerainty for many hundreds of years. Romania declared its independence on 9th of May 1877, in a very complicated international context.
A few days later Prince Carol I arrived to Calafat to inspect the Romanian troops ready for battle. The bombing of the enemy positions across the Danube started at this point and the town was hit by the Turkish shells.
It was a rather long war. The Russian and Romanian troops fought on the Ottoman territories helped by a small Finnish contingent and a limited number of local volunteers. The Romanians won the battles of Grivita and Rahova and played a crucial role in the siege of Pleven. Then they returned to the Danube and conquered Vidin (in the vicinity of Calafat) and Smardan.
More than 10000 Romanian soldiers (out of about 130000) died during the fights. Russia and Romania won the war and the independence of the country was acknowledged during the same year by the international community.
While being in Calafat at the beginning of the hostilities the Romanian Prince Carol I, listening to the sound made by the shells on both sides of the Danube, said: "This is the music I like". The Romanian shells were of a small caliber and with a somehow elongated shape - they were called in Romanian "mititei". On 10th of May 1877, a few hours after the Romanian minister of foreign affairs declared the independence, in a restaurant from Bucharest someone ordered a few "mititei" and a "battery", just to be in line with the war that was just beginning and with the "music" loved by the Prince Carol I. That person actually wanted some sausages and wine. Since then the traditional Romanian sausages are called "mititei". The cache is not much larger than such a sausage and there is no pen inside. Please be aware of muggles when you retrieve it.
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