Gheorghe I. Brătianu

Who was Gheorghe I. Brătianu?

Gheorghe I. Brătianu was a Romanian politician and historian. A member of the Brătianu family and initially affiliated with the National Liberal Party, he broke away from the movement to create and lead the National Liberal Party-Brătianu.

Born in Ruginoasa, Baia County to Ion I.C. Brătianu and Maria Moruzi, he studied at the National High School of Iaşi. In 1916, he joined the Romanian Army as a volunteer, in order to fight in the World War I Romanian Campaign. He fought on the Moldavian front in the summer of 1917, being wounded at Cireşoaia.

In 1917, Brătianu began studying Law at the University of Iaşi, from which he graduated in 1920. After obtaining a Ph.D. degree from the University of Cernăuţi in 1923, he started teaching history at the University of Iaşi. He married in 1925 Helene Sturdza and they had three children. He later pursued his history studies at the University of Paris, from where he obtained a second Ph.D. degree in 1929, under the direction of Ferdinand Lot. In 1940, he became a history professor at the University of Bucharest. In 1942, he was elected to the Romanian Academy.