The ''Lăncieri'' ("

Lancer A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used for mounted warfare in Assyria as early as and subsequently by Persia, India, Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome. The weapon was widely used throughout Eurasia during the M ...

s", ) were a

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 ...

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

movement initially attached to the

National-Christian Defense League The National-Christian Defense League ( ro, Liga Apărării Național Creștine, LANC) was a Far-right politics, far-right political party of Romania formed by A. C. Cuza. Origins The LANC had its roots in the National Christian Union, formed in ...

, and following the merger on 16 July 1935 of the NCDL and the

National Agrarian Party The National Agrarian Party ( ro, Partidul Național-Agrar or ''Partidul Național-Agrarian'', PNA) was a right-wing agrarian party active in Romania during the early 1930s. Established and led by poet Octavian Goga, it was originally a schism fro ...

to form the

National Christian Party The National Christian Party ( ro, Partidul Național Creștin) was a radical-right authoritarian and strongly antisemitic political party in Romania active between 1935 and 1938. It was formed by a merger of Octavian Goga's National Agrarian Part ...

, the ''Lăncieri'' became associated with the merged party. Members of the group adopted a blue shirt uniform and contributed to the country's political street battles in the 1920s and 1930s, and were noted in the 1920s for their attacks on that party's main target, the

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s, as well as general disruption of university life.''Background and Precursors to the Holocaust'', p. 26 Following the merger that formed the National Christian Party, the ''Lăncieri'' continued their wild ways, rivalling the

Iron Guard The Iron Guard ( ro, Garda de Fier) was a Romanian militant revolutionary fascist movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel Michael () or the Legionnaire Movement (). It was strongly ...

(with whom they frequently clashed) in their violence and mayhem. Between 1935 and 1937, the ''Lăncieri'' carried out more terrorist actions and pogroms throughout Romania than the Iron Guard. The 1937 general election campaign in particular was marred by clashes between the two fascist groups and not even the intervention of

Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head of ...

could unite the warring factions. Clashes between the two groups would continue, although the Lăncieri owed much of their organisation to the Iron Guard and indeed their continuing existence was as much an attempt to attract interest away from that group.F. Veiga, ''Istoria Gărzii de Fier, 1919-1941: Mistica ultranaţionalismului'', Humanitas, Bucharest, 1993, pp. 245-247

References

External links

'Background and Precursors to the Holocaust'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancieri Fascism in Romania Paramilitary organizations based in Romania Political organizations based in Romania Fascist organizations