Constantin P. Olănescu (1845–May 14, 1928) was a

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

n, later

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n politician. Descended from an old

Oltenia Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...

n ''

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Russian nobility, Russia, Boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia, Wallachia and ...

'' family, his father Pană was also in politics. He was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

and studied at the

École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in Paris. Upon his return home, Olănescu was successively named head of public works for

Craiova Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...

(1869), department head at the Agriculture, Commerce and Public Works Ministry (1875),

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

Brăila County Brăila County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Brăila. Demographics In 2011, Brăila had a population of 304,925 and the population density was 64/km2. * Romanians – 98% * Romani, Russians, Lipo ...

(1876), professor of elementary and applied mechanics at the School of Bridges, Roads and Mines (1878-1880), teacher at the silviculture school outside Bucharest (1884-1885) and deputy general director of ''

Căile Ferate Române Căile Ferate Române (; abbreviated as the CFR) is the state railway carrier of Romania. As of 2014, the railway network of Romania consists of , of which (37.4%) are electrified. The total track length is , of which (38.5%) are electrifie ...

'' railway (1883).Grigore and Șerbu, p. 143 A member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

(PC), he was first elected to the Assembly of Deputies in October 1888, and won a term in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in 1905. From early 1891 to late 1895, he served as Public Works Minister in the two successive PC cabinets of

Ion Emanuel Florescu Ion Emanuel Florescu (7 August 1819, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Wallachia – 10 May 1893, Paris, France) was a Romanian army general who served as Prime Minister of Romania for a short time in a provisional government in 1876 (4 April – 26 Ap ...

and

Lascăr Catargiu Lascăr Catargiu ( or Lascăr Catargi; 1 November 1823 – ) was a Romanian conservative statesman born in Moldavia. He belonged to an ancient Wallachian family, one of whose members had been banished in the 17th century by Prince Matei Basarab, ...

. From July 1900 to February 1901, he served as

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

under the Conservatives'

Petre P. Carp Petre P. Carp (; also Petrache Carp, Francized ''Pierre Carp'', Ioana Pârvulescu"O adresă high-life", in ''România Literară'', Nr. 25/2010 occasionally ''Comte Carpe''; 28 Mircea Dumitriu"Petre P. Carp – un suflet, un caracter, o idee", in ...

. This government proposed a series of measures to solve an ongoing financial crisis; its unpopular decisions provoked social tensions. A law on

distilled spirits Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or hard li ...

provoked outright revolt in eight counties, mainly in northern Oltenia and

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the seldom used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in R ...

. As minister, Olănescu was responsible for maintaining public order. Olănescu served two terms as President of the Assembly: from June 1899 to September 1900, and from March 1911 to October 1912.Giurescu, p. 414 During his time at the helm, important national-security and economic legislation was adopted. In the first period, these dealt with the

Gendarmerie Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

and the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. Among those approved in his second term were laws on reducing the cost of living, antitrust, tax relief for the urban poor, industry promotion,

mortmain Mortmain () is the perpetual, inalienable ownership of real estate by a corporation or legal institution; the term is usually used in the context of its prohibition. Historically, the land owner usually would be the religious office of a church ...

and higher education.Grigore and Șerbu, p. 144 In the autumn of 1915, Olănescu belonged to the leadership of the Unionist Federation, an organization that advocated the entry of neutral Romania into World War I, in order to unite all ethnic Romanians into a single state. In August 1916, as a former Assembly president, he took part in a Crown Council meeting where he voted in favor of joining the war on the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

' side. In May 1918, he was among the Romanians living in Paris who signed a document denouncing the Treaty of Bucharest, through which Germany imposed a harsh peace on Romania.Grigore and Șerbu, pp. 144-45 He died in Bucharest ten years later.Grigore and Șerbu, p. 145

Notes

References

*Constantin Grigore and Miliana Șerbu,
Miniștrii de interne (1862–2007)
', Editura Ministerului Internelor și Reformei Administrative, Bucharest, 2007. * Dinu C. Giurescu, ''Dicționar biografic de istorie a României''. Bucharest: Editura Meronia, 2008, {{DEFAULTSORT:Olanescu, Constantin 1845 births 1928 deaths Politicians from Bucharest Nobility from Bucharest École Centrale Paris alumni Conservative Party (Romania, 1880–1918) politicians Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) Members of the Senate of Romania Romanian Ministers of Public Works Romanian Ministers of Interior Academic staff of the Politehnica University of Bucharest Romanian schoolteachers Romanian civil servants Căile Ferate Române people Prefects of Romania