Focșani

Focșani (Romanian: [fokˈʃanʲ] ⓘ; Yiddish: פֿאָקשאַן, romanized: Fokshan) is the capital city of Vrancea County in Romania on the banks the river Milcov, in the historical region of Moldavia.

Near the town, the Ottomans suffered a severe defeat at the hands of the allied forces of the Habsburg monarchy under Prince Frederick Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Imperial Russia under Alexander Suvorov in 1789 (see Battle of Focșani).

In the 1850s (after the Crimean War), Focșani grew in importance as the center of activities in favor of the union between Wallachia and Moldavia (the Danubian Principalities), leading up to the double election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza in Iași and Bucharest in 1859.

On 30–31 December 1881, following the impact of Zionism on the Romanian Jewish community, the First Congress of all Zionist Unions in Romania for the promotion of the return to Eretz Israel was held at Focșani.

In 1944, during World War II, Focșani was supposed to be part of the fortified Focșani–Nămoloasa–Galați line, where 9 elite divisions were preparing to resist the Soviet Red Army's advance after the Battle of Târgu Frumos.

[7] The ethnic makeup was as follows: Focșani's location on the Milcov (the river that divided Wallachia and Moldavia) inspired the design of its coat of arms, which depicts the handshake of two women personifying both principalities as a symbol of the union, with the motto "Unirea face puterea" ("Unity makes strength").

The Union of the Principalities , Theodor Aman , 1857
The former Administrative Palace from Focșani
Coat of arms in the interwar period