Ottoman Empire (South - Wallachia), the old Russian Empire (East - Moldavia ) and the Habsburgic Empire(North-West - Transylvania). Romanian intellectuals were looking at ways to coagulate the diverging culture and language, and offer a ideological framework for unifying the three territories and create a new statal entity under similar principles of the French Revolution. A cultural manifesto was drafted to advance these ideas. Nicolae Balcescu is one of the most prominent figures of the time.
As part of this manifesto, the Latin inheritance was emphasized (as a connection with the French culture, which is also Romance). New books have been written avoiding Slavic words, Italian words have been imported into the language, magazines and newspapers advanced the new trend, and a general shift from the Slavic world tothe Western, Latin and French one has started. 
Further reforms saw the Cyrillic alphabet replaced with the Latin one (1917), the law system was Westernized, Wallachia and Moldavia united (1856), education has been made available to all (1861), and the process was completed in 1918 when Transylvania joined the now-independent state of Romania.

A:

Disclaimer: I am not a historian, however I do have a passion for history, and have researched some of the theories regarding the origins of my language and culture. If my answer doesn't meet H SE standards please let me know and I'll try and improve it (it's my first post)

I noticed this question in the HNQ list and joined the site simply so I could get my two cents in. As my name might clue