Editing Avram Iancu (section)

== Initial stages of 1848 Revolutions ==
[[File:Misu Popp - Portretul lui Avram Iancu.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Iancu by [[Mișu Popp]], undated]]
Iancu became a [[law clerk]] in [[Târgu Mureș]], and it was there that he learned about the events of March 1848 in [[Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire#Revolution in the Austrian lands|Vienna]] and [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848#The one day bloodless revolution in Pest and Buda|Pest]]. His attitude at the time showed the nature of the conflict that was to engulf [[Transylvania]]: while Iancu welcomed the transition, he was indignant that Hungarian revolutionaries (many of whom were landowners) refused to debate the abolition of [[serfdom]] (which at the time was the state of the majority of the Romanian population in Transylvania).<ref name="ReferenceB">Ioan N. Ciolan, Constantin Voicu, Mihai Racovițan, "Transylvania:Romanian history and perpetuation, or, what official Hungarian documents say", Military Publishing House, 1993</ref>

In the [[Apuseni Mountains]], he started rallying peasants in [[Câmpeni]]. The protests he organized were recognized as peaceful by the authorities, but nevertheless worried them. Iancu and his associate [[Ioan Buteanu]] quickly became the main figures of the Romanian-led actions in the area, especially after they took part in the [[Blaj]] Assemblies starting in April, where over 40,000 Romanians met to protest against Transylvania becoming part of Hungary.<ref name=Stoica1>{{Cite book|last=Stoica|first=Vasile|title=The Roumanian Question: The Roumanians and their Lands|year=1919|publisher=Pittsburgh Printing Company|location=Pittsburgh|page=23|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7314/view/1/23/}}</ref> In Blaj ({{langx|hu|Balázsfalva}}; {{langx|de|Blasendorf}}) both opted for the main, radical wing of the movement. Centered on [[Alexandru Papiu Ilarian]], the group opposed the Hungarian revolutionary option of uniting Transylvania and Hungary. It got into conflict with the minority wing around [[Romanian Greek Catholic Church|Greek-Catholic]] Bishop [[Ioan Lemeni]], which chose not to boycott the elections for the [[Hungarian Parliament]].

While the union was carried of on May 30, 1848, the majority of Romanian activists looked towards [[Vienna]] and [[Ferdinand I of Austria|Emperor Ferdinand]], sharing the cause of the [[Transylvanian Saxons]]. Things became heated after July 11, when Hungary declared its independence. Austria started to open itself to the Romanian demands, while bloody conflicts ensued between the Hungarian nobles and their Romanian serfs. The last Assembly in Blaj saw the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburg]] governor, [[Anton Freiherr von Puchner]], approve of the arming of National Guards for Romanians and Saxons. On September 27, the [[lynching]] of Austrian [[plenipotentiary]] [[Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg|Count Lamberg]] by a Pest crowd cut off any dialogue between the two centers. The new Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph]] and the Austrian government granted the Romanians numerous liberties and rights; although [[Lajos Kossuth]]'s government abolished serfdom, this was no longer a match for the Imperial offer.