The ‘Convening of the Assembly’, published in the newspaper Românul on 20 November 1918, is especially relevant with regards to how participants were selected for this important national gathering. The document, which is realistic and well designed, is remarkable because its provisions were executed as planned.

Through its guidance on the selection of delegates, the ‘Convening’ document envisioned the structure of the Great National Assembly. It established a hierarchy of the institutions which had heretofore worked towards the progress of national life. All Romanian bishops and Orthodox and Greek Catholic archpriests were called upon to participate. Furthermore, it required the participation of delegates of cultural associations, women’s organisations reunions, educational institutions, National Guards, craftsmen reunions and student organisations. It was also required each of the 130 electoral circles in Transylvania to elect, through universal vote, five Romanian delegates. A final assessment of the social and professional structure of the assembly – 1228 persons – indicates a predominance of farmers, followed by clergy, lawyers, teachers and professors, students, military personnel, representatives of Romanian banks, and other categories in smaller proportions.

At dawn on 1 December 1918, in Alba Iulia, the delegates participated in religious services in the two archpriest rank churches. The assembly began its work at 10 a.m. in the ceremonial room of the Military Casino, the only place spacious enough to host such a large group. Eight people gave speeches, but the main orator was Vasile Goldiș. He presented the ‘Resolution’ to the members: a complex constitutional document, in nine paragraphs, which opened with an unequivocal statement regarding unification:

“The National Assembly of all Romanians of Transylvania, the Banat and Hungary, assembled through their rightful representatives in Alba Iulia, on 1 December 1918, decree the unification of those Romanians and of all territories inhabited by them with Romania.”

The next provisions of the Resolution enumerated the elements of the broadest political and social democracy of the Romanian state which was to be created from the unification deeds: autonomy for the cohabitating nations and for all allegiances, universal voting, freedom of the press, freedom of association and assembly, a radical agrarian reform, and rights for industrial workers at the level of the advanced western states.

Unfortunately, no photos were taken in this room (which after the meeting came to be known as the Hall of Unification); thus, the only information we have on how the assembly unfolded are from the testimonies of the participants.

The text of the ‘Convening’ document was responsible for the two levels on which the Great National Assembly took place. While the 1,228 official delegates convened in the Hall of Unification, a multitude of participants gathered outside the walls of the Fortress, on the Field of Horea. The collective authors of the call to convene, published on 20 November, expressed the hope that “the Romanian people themselves” will come to Alba Iulia “in a number worthy of such a great and holy cause.” This indirect call to participate was successful, and an unprecedented multitude travelled to Alba Iulia. The six images shot by photographer Samoilă Mârza, along with the memoirs of the participants, breathe life into the history of this moment. From these sources, we learn of long trains with “mutilated waggons darkened by smoke” crossing Transylvania to bring the people to Alba Iulia, and of roads covered by long human throngs in a show of “caps, long peasant coats, and sheepskins.” We learn also on the day, the participants were organized by members of the National Guard into large groups, separated by wide aisles, so that Aurel Vlad, Bishops Iuliu Hossu and Miron Cristea could address them from pre-prepared platforms to announce the contents and meaning of the Resolution adopted in the Hall of Unification. (V.M.)