The Romanian Revolution of 1989 resulted in more than 1,000 deaths in Timișoara and Bucharest, and brought about the fall of Ceauşescu and the end of the Communist regime in Romania.
Ion Iliescu, a former Communist Party official marginalized by Ceauşescu, attained national recognition as the leader of an impromptu governing coalition, the National Salvation Front (FSN) that proclaimed the restoration of democracy and civil liberties on 22 December 1989.