Development and early governance (1875–1918)
The National Liberal Party was founded on May 24, 1875, as a unified force against Conservative rule, integrating various liberal factions into a cohesive national structure. Led by prominent figures such as Ion C. Brătianu, Mihail Kogălniceanu, Ion Ghica, and C. A. Rosetti, the party primarily represented the interests of Romania's nascent local bourgeoisie. Until World War I, the PNL and the Conservative Party maintained a de facto two-party system within a political framework that severely limited the representation of the peasant majority through census suffrage.
During the reign of King Carol I, the PNL functioned as the left-leaning counterpart to the right-wing Conservatives; while the latter represented the landed aristocracy and high bourgeoisie, the PNL championed the interests of the small bourgeoisie and small property owners. By leveraging radical organizational networks and grassroots propaganda, the party rapidly expanded its reach from urban centers to rural areas. Through this mobilization, the PNL established itself as Romania’s most formidable political force within its first year of operation, setting the stage for its long-term dominance in the country's modernization.
Dominated for much of the pre-communist period by the Brătianu family, the PNL was characterized by both centralized power and recurring factionalism. A significant early split occurred in the late 1880s when co-founder C. A. Rosetti and his followers formed the Radical Party, seeking more extensive social reforms than the PNL leadership. Domestically, the PNL championed the development of a local middle class and the expansion of Romanian industry through a combination of protectionist trade policies and government subsidies. This economic nationalism, famously encapsulated by the slogan "Prin noi înșine!" (Through ourselves alone!), allowed party elites to maintain control over major Romanian-owned enterprises and a significant portion of the local finance sector, including the National Bank of Romania.
The PNL was also defined by a mainstream platform of antisemitism, primarily manifesting in its long-standing opposition to granting citizenship to Romanian Jews. Under the premiership of Ion C. Brătianu, the state enforced discriminatory laws that prohibited Jews from settling in the countryside and labeled many urban Jewish residents as "vagrants" to justify their expulsion. According to the 1905 Jewish Encyclopedia, these policies led to international condemnation after several Jews were reportedly drowned in the Danube during botched deportations. This exclusionary stance persisted under later leaders like Dimitrie Sturdza, who blocked non-Romanians from various social positions and orchestrated the exile of Jewish intellectuals such as Moses Gaster and Lazăr Șăineanu. During this period, even the rival Conservative Party was largely unable to improve the condition of Romanian Jews due to sustained PNL opposition.
At the dawn of the 20th century, the PNL, bolstered by former leaders of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Romania, began advocating for electoral franchise expansion and limited agrarian reform. However, this progressive lean did not prevent the National Liberal government from violently suppressing the 1907 Peasants' Revolt. In the years leading up to World War I, the party adopted a nationalist and irredentist discourse, championing the cause of ethnic Romanians living outside the borders, primarily those in Transylvania and other Austro-Hungarian territories. While their rhetoric was often pragmatic in office, the PNL's traditional Francophilia placed them at odds with King Carol I, who favored the Central Powers. Under the leadership of Ion I. C. Brătianu, the party was instrumental in Romania's 1916 decision to join the Triple Entente, a move that ultimately resulted in the acquisition of Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transylvania.
