In 1989 the leader of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu, gave his annual speech in Bucharest just days after an anti-government protest in the city of Timisoara that left a number of people dead. The speech was broadcast live to the entire country. Thousands of people were transported into the square to give the impression the people supported the government. For the first few minutes the speech went off without incident until shots were fired in the distance. Shouting began and chants of "Timisoara" rose from somewhere in the crowd; in short, all hell broke loose. Ceausescu raised a hand to calm the crowd but once the people found their voice they couldn’t be silenced. The camera began filming the sky while audio continued to record.
This speech kicked off the Romanian Revolution, right in front of the dictator’s eyes. The next day he was evacuated by helicopter along with his wife. Within days the two of them were captured, put on trial, and executed. Only four days passed between the failed speech and the leader’s execution.
