Nicolae Dabija (15 August 1837,

Huși Huși (, Yiddish/ he, חוש ''Khush'', hu, Huszváros, German: ''Hussburg'') is a city in Vaslui County, Romania, former capital of the disbanded Fălciu County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, Romanian Orthodox episcopal see, an ...

Vaslui County Vaslui County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historical region Western Moldavia, with the seat at Vaslui. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 395,499 and the population density was 74/km². * Romanians - over 98% * Rom ...

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

– 1 December 1884,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a Romanian general and politician. Born in

, in 1837, he attended the

Academia Mihăileană Academia Mihăileană was an institution of higher learning based in Iași, Moldavia, and active in the first part of the 19th century. Like other Eastern European institutions of its kind, it was both a high school and a higher learning institut ...

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

. In 1858 he was sent to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

to attend the

School of Applied Artillery The School of Applied Artillery ( French: ''École d'application de l'artillerie'') is an applied military academy of the French Army. It is based in Draguignan. Pre-Revolutionary history During the 18th Century, there were several artillery scho ...

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

. After graduation, he returned to Romania, joining the army, initially with the artillery.Compendium.ro - Dicționar de personalități: Nicolae Dabija
accessed 12 December 2014. His military career advanced, and in 1864 he was appointed subdirector of the artillery. He participated in the

Romanian War of Independence The Romanian War of Independence is the name used in Romanian historiography to refer to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), following which Romania, fighting on the Russian side, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. On , Romania and the R ...

(1877-1878), as commander of the Infantry Division Artillery, taking part in the battles of the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

at Plevna and

Vidin Vidin ( bg, Видин, ; Old Romanian: Diiu) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as o ...

. After the war, Col. Nicolae Dabija entered politics, being attracted by the liberal doctrine. He held several political and administrative functions in the governments that governed Romania after 1878: Minister of War (18 January - 10 July 1879), interim Minister of Finance (10-27 April 1881) and Minister of Public Works several times (24 October 1880 - 9 April 1881, 10 April - 8 June 1881, 9 June 1881 - 31 July 1884). The English company "Danube and Black Sea Railway Kustenge Harbor" built between 1856 and 1862 the Constanța-Cernavodă railway through Dobrogea. Per the

Treaty of Berlin (1878) The Treaty of Berlin (formally the Treaty between Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Italy, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire for the Settlement of Affairs in the East) was signed on 13 July 1878. In the aftermath of the R ...

, Dobrogea was given to Romania, the English company requested the redemption of the railway by the Romanian state, demanding 18,752,706 golden lei. Dabija, as representative of the Romanian state, and the delegate of the English company signed on 9 November 1882, the repurchase agreement for the sum of 16,800,000 lei, ratified on 21 May 1882 by the Assembly of Deputies, and paid in a lump sum in 1882. In 1883 Nicolae Dabija was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. He died only one year later (1 December 1884) in Paris, aged 47.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dabija, Nicolae 1837 births 1884 deaths Romanian expatriates in France Romanian generals Romanian Ministers of Defence Romanian Ministers of Finance Romanian Ministers of Public Works People from Huși Romanian military personnel of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) National Liberal Party (Romania) politicians