Vasile Milea

Vasile Milea (1 January 1927 – 22 December 1989) was a Romanian politician and general who served as the 75th Minister of National Defense of Romania from 1985 until his suicide in 1989. Milea was Nicolae Ceaușescu's Minister of Defense during the Romanian revolution of 1989 and was involved in the reprisal phase of the revolution that caused the deaths of 162 people.

Vasile Milea
75th Minister of National Defense of Romania
In office 16 December 1985 – 22 December 1989
President	Nicolae Ceaușescu
Prime Minister	Constantin Dăscălescu
Preceded by	Constantin Olteanu
Succeeded by	Victor Stănculescu (acting)
89th Chief of the Romanian General Staff
In office 31 March 1980 – 16 February 1985
President	Nicolae Ceaușescu
Preceded by	Ion Hortopan [ro]
Succeeded by	Ștefan Gușă
Personal details
Born	(1927-01-01)1 January 1927 Lerești, Argeș County, Kingdom of Romania
Died	22 December 1989(1989-12-22) (aged 62) Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania
Profession	Military Officer
Military service
Rank	Colonel general

Biography

Milea was appointed Minister of Defence, replacing Constantine Olteanu, in December 1985.^[1] Milea was in severe disfavour for sending troops to quell the uprising in Timișoara without ammunition^[2] and for his refusal to order the army to shoot the protestors who had gathered around the Central Committee building.^[3]

Death

Milea committed suicide on 22 December 1989.^[4] His death is believed to have happened at about 10:40 a.m.^[3] and was announced on television, where he was described as a traitor, which may have been interpreted by other generals as a sign of growing distrust, leading to their loyalty wavering.^[5] Regardless, Milea's suicide caused the rank-and-file soldiers to go over en masse to the revolution, effectively ending the Communist rule in Romania.^[6] He was succeeded as Minister of Defence by Victor Stănculescu, who also disobeyed orders and returned the army to the barracks.^[7]

A report in 1989 indicated that he had been shot by Ceausescu's Securitate^[5], although this was contradicted by a report from 2005 after a full investigation including a post-mortem concluded that Milea killed himself using the weapon of one of his attendants. It was suggested that he only tried to incapacitate himself in order to be relieved from office, but the bullet hit an artery and he died soon afterwards.^[8]

Legacy

Boulevard General Vasile Milea, Bucharest, Sector 6

A boulevard in Sector 6 of Bucharest used to be named after him until 2021. A street in Ploiești^[9] is still named after him, as well as a central square in Pitești.

Works

• Vasile Milea, Victor Atanasiu, România în anii primului război mondial: caracterul drept, eliberator al participării României la război, vol. 2, Ed. Militară, Bucharest, 1987. OCLC 18616519