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Alexandru Ioan Cuza (March 20 / April 1, 1820, Barlad, Moldova - May 3, 1873, Heidelberg, German Empire) was the first ruler of the United Principalities and the Romanian state. He actively participated in the revolutionary movement of Moldova in 1848 and in the struggle for the unity of the Principalities. On January 5, 1859, Cuza was elected president of Moldova, and on January 24, 1859, and Wallachia, thus unifying the two principalities. Being a ruler, Cuza led and sustained political and diplomatic activity to recognize the union of Moldavia and Wallachia by the Sovereign Power and the Guaranteed Powers, and to complete the union of the Romanian Principalities on the road to the implementation of the constitutional and administrative the unity that took place in January 1862, when Moldova and Wallachia formed a unitary state, officially adopting the name of Romania in 1862 and forming the modern Romanian state [2] with its capital in Bucharest, with a single assembly and a single government. [3]

Cuza was forced to abdicate in 1866 by a large coalition of parties of the times, also called the Monastic Coalition, because of the different political orientations of its members, who thus reacted to the ruler's authoritarian manifestations.

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Alexandru Ioan Cuza (or Alexandru Ioan I; March 20 / April 1, 1820, Barlad, Moldova - May 3, 1873, Heidelberg, German Empire) was the first ruler of the United Principalities and the Romanian state. He actively participated in the revolutionary movement of Moldova in 1848 and in the struggle for the unity of the Principalities. On January 5, 1859, Cuza was elected president of Moldavia, and on January 24, 1859, and Wallachia, thus unifying the two principalities. Becoming a ruler, Cuza led a sustained political and diplomatic activity to recognize the union of Moldavia and Wallachia by the Sovereign Power and the Guaranteed Powers, and then to complete the union of the Romanian Principalities on the road to the implementation of the constitutional and administrative unity that took place in January 1862, when Moldova and Wallachia formed a unitary state, officially adopting the name of Romania in 1862 and forming the modern Romanian state [2] with its capital in Bucharest, with a single assembly and a single government. [3]

Cuza was forced to abdicate in 1866 by a large coalition of parties of the times, also called the Monastic Coalition, because of the different political orientations of its members, who thus reacted to the ruler's authoritarian manifestations.