emperor, Trajan travelled to the frontier stretching from Pannonia to Moesia, where he worked to strengthen the fortifications. In 101–102AD Trajan assembled an army of up to 150,000 men to send against Decebalus' 50,000. The army was split into two and entered into Dacian territory at two points along the frontier. The columns met at Tibiscum and marched together towards Sarmizegetusa. At Tapae they encountered and defeated the Dacian force. This in turn forced Decebalus to sue for peace. Trajan agreed but imposed harsh terms against the Dacians. Decebalus failed to meet the terms of the peace, and in 105 Trajan launched a second campaign against him. By 106 Trajan had completed the conquest of Dacia, ending its existence as an independent kingdom. Legacy The image of fearless and noble Dacians as predecessors to modern Romanians was augmented and impressed by nationalist movements in the late 1920s and 1930s. On one hand, the Dacians were often used in discourses claiming an ethnically pure origin for the Romanian people. At the same time, however, the Romans were preferred instead when the objective was portraying Romania as a civilized and cosmopolitan nation. In the 1960s statues were erected for the two leaders of the Dacian kingdom, Burebista and Decebalus. These came as part of a gradual process of disassociating Socialist Romania from the Soviet Union. The statues depict the kings as freedom fighters, and nationwide celebrations were held for the anniversaries of ancient battles. Additionally, two government-funded film productions were created as part of this same process. Both films focus on the history of Dacia in the 1st and 2ndcentury AD and the exploits of Decebalus, while Burebista is almost ignored. Starting in the 1970s, the Nicolae Ceaușescu regime used nationalistic and questionable interpretations of ancient history (Protochronism) to legitimize its rule. In 1980 the Romanian government declared a celebration of the 2,050th anniversary of the founding of the "unitary and centralized" Dacian state of Burebista, drawing comparisons with Ceaușescu's Romania and claiming an uninterrupted existence of the state from Burebista to Ceaușescu. The epic movie Burebista (1980) based on the king's life was released the same year, and celebrated him as the Romanian pater patriae. This commemoration led the press to note "similarities" between Burebista and Ceaușescu, and even professional historians such as Ion Horațiu Crișan spoke about Burebista in ways similar to how party activists spoke about Ceaușescu. Burebista and