Cugir : Romania

Cugir (Hungarian: Kudzsir, German: Kudschir) is a city in Alba county, Romania,about 45 kilometers south-west of Alba-Iulia, the capital of the county, and 300 meters above sea level in the Surianu Mountains. It has a population of 30,244
Numerous archeological discoveries prove that life in the region flourished as early as the Bronze Age, around the 10th century BCE, Cugir being part of the territory known as “The Iron Gates of Transylvania�, a region famous for its natural iron resources. In 88-44 BC, king Burebista, the most powerful of the kings of Thrace, according to the historian Acronion, establishes the new capital in the area, at Sarmisegetusa Regia (located in the Surianu Mountains west of Cugir). In this period of time the settlement of Cugir(villa Kunentum) is known as an important center for metal extracting and processing with its famous workshops producing tools, weapons and coins. Throughout the history the name of the town is mentioned in many documents under different names in different languages, therefore the old settlement “villa Kunentum� becomes in 1493 villa Kudzyr, in 1566 Kwczyr, in 1599 – Kuchir, in 1656 – Kuchjir, in 1673 – Kucsir, in 1733 – Kuser, in 1750 – Kudsier, 1760-1762 – Kudzser, in 1805 Kudsir and in 1850 – Kusir.
In the mid 18th century, to counteract the numerous rebellions and the forces of the feudal aristocracy which wanted the authority over Transylvania, the empress Maria Theresa of Habsburg sends the general baron N. A. Buccov in Transylvania (1761) which ends the confessional fights, and to create a counter-weight capable to defeat the stubbornness of the arrogant nobles in Transylvania he organizes the institution of the “Frontier Police�. The institution also recruited with force and oppression romanians from the territory in between Baraolt and Orastie (1764). Like in many other places, in Cugir the locals put up a fierce resistance against the enrolment. Because of this the habsburg authorities adopted here as in the rest of Transylvania, the tactic of “breaking of the village�, which meant the forced removing of the locals from their houses and the colonization of the villages with foreigners from other regions of the empire, or with peasants from other regions of Transylvania. After the authorities leave the region, the locals come back and reclaim with force their houses chasing away the ‘frontier colonists’. As a result of this drastic action determines the comeback of the austrian authorities, which, while occupying the locality, organize a bloody massacre in the place known today as the old market of the town. Severe clashes occurred again in the area when the authorities decided to “brake� the neighboring villages Sibot and Vinerea to establish the 4th company. Therefore, in 1764, after severe conflicts and pressure, the regiments were established: two frontier police regiments of 3000 soldiers, one with residence at Orlat, the other one at Nasaud, two szekely infantry regiments, one romanian chivalry regiment (dragons) and one szekely hussar regiment of 1000 horsemen each. In 1768 another romanian frontier police battalion is being established in which the villages between Hateg and Caransebes were included, so that the total effective force of the romanian and szeckler frontier police in Transylvania was of approx. 17000 soldiers.
At the beginning of the Habsburgic reign over Transylvania, Vienna hadn’t encouraged the process of development of manufacturing in this principality, not to put in disadvantage the interests of Austrian industry. But after Austria-Hungary lost Silesia, one of the most industrialized provinces of Austria, the Viennese authorities noticed that the internal production couldn’t cover the always growing needs of the Empire, therefore, the Austrian business world and authorities begin to invest more and more founds in the mining and manufacturing industry in Transylvania. The authorities planned to cover the necessities of the army with equipment and armament, but also to value the immense richness of the Transylvanian land. To stimulate the development of the mining industry, in 1764 Queen Maria-Teresa begins to allow long-term loans without interest to concessionaires that pledge to exploit the mines. In spite of all these the manufacturing situation in Transylvania at the end of the 18th century was precarious. Three factors of vital importance were missing: raw material, money and work force.
The state and concessionaire manufactories used free workers brought from Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol, Slovakia or Dalmatia, but the local men, the peasants represented the main work force. The thirst of getting rich on behalf of the peasant population without defense that represented free labor pushed the feudal aristocracy in the 18th century to major actions like stealing and seizing of romanian villages and their grounds, pastures, agricultural land and forest. One of the methods used to dispossess the peasant of its land was to establish manufactories on the lands that belonged to the villages. The development of these events is forgoing the establishment of the factory in Cugir. The Austrian authorities decided to establish at the end of the 18th century, at the frontier between Transylvania and Tara Romaneasca (Wallachia), in Cugir and Sibisel factories for metal processing, just after 15 years after the suppression of the rebellion of Horia, Closca and Crisan, were meant to exploit the richness of the land but also to insufflate obedience towards the habsburgic Crown. According to documents, the factory in Cugir was established in the year 1799. It now produces -among other things – guns, sewing and washing machines