To say that Nicolai Ceausescu was a loon is an understatement to say the least. History has recorded him an absolute nut with good cause. While the body of this entry will only list one example of his lunacy I can assure you gentle readers there is much, much more....

Emperor Caligula briefly controlled the Roman Empire from AD 37-41. He too was quite mad, and has in historical articles been compared with Ceausescu. This is probably why. Caligula at one time named his horse a Roman Senator, while Ceausescu appointed his black Labrador dog named Corbu a colonel in the Romanian army.

Colonel Corbu was often seen riding about in the back of his limousine through the streets of Bucharest with his very own motorcade. The Ambassador from Britain wrote, "I saw this black dog sitting all on it's own in the back of a Dacia, looking rather pompous with it's nose in the air, as black Labradors often do."

Security surrounding the colonel was very tight. A statement made by one of the maids explains, "The secret police told us never to feed the dogs. There was a special doctor who checked the food - it was the best sort of meat. Only when the doctor had tasted the food could they be fed."

Corbu was spoiled as well. The Romanian Ambassador in Britain was under strict orders to go to Sainsbury's every week to purchase Winalot, and British dog biscuits for the colonel. These were then shipped back to Romania via the diplomatic bag.

One day Colonel Corbu accompanied the President on a visit to the Brancovenesc Hospital. The hospital, which treated up to 50,000 Romanians per year was infested with rats, and to keep down the rodent population the medical facility employed the use of cats. Upon entering the hospital the colonel spotted one of these cats, and did what all dogs do naturally...he gave chase. A fight between dog, and cat ensued with the cat coming out victorious having bloodied the colonel's nose.

President Ceausescu was furious, I mean how dare this lowly cat assault a colonel in his army! As they drove away in a huff the staff at the hospital knew that Ceausescu would never let this go without punishment. And they were right within days came an official order to shut the hospital down permanently, after all the colonel had been attacked!

In December of 1989 President Ceausescu was violently overthrown, captured while trying to flee Romania with his equally nutty wife, tried, convicted, and executed for crimes against his people. Romania is still in many ways recovering from the tyranny of this nutcase.

Source: Let Them Eat Cake, By Geoffrey Regan (c) 1994