What did Romania risk and what it had to gain if the war continued in 1918?
The decision of the Russian Bolsheviks to conclude peace with the Central Powers exposed Romania to a dramatic situation. Either continue the war alone with the Central Powers, without having the possibility to be resupplied by the Entente, or, as it happened,...
Winston Churchill in 1919: “Of all the forms of tyranny in history, Bolshevik tyranny is the worst, most destructive and degrading”
Winston Churchill, who during the 1919 Paris Peace Conference was the British Secretary of State for War and Air, was one of the few Allied leaders who understood that Lenin and his Bolsheviks were a new phenomenon on the political scene and that, behind the Marxist...
Was Bolshevism a danger to Western countries?
The installation of the Bolsheviks at the helm of Russia in late 1917 would pose a real danger to Eastern European countries, but the virus continued to spread to other European countries. How much of a threat was Bolshevism to the victors of the First World War,...
Lloyd George, the Russian Bolsheviks and the Paris Peace Conference
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, said during the Paris Peace Conference that Russia had become a land of the unknown: “Russia was a jungle where no one could say exactly what was happening”. The Great Powers did not understand what the situation in Russia...
The Belgrade Convention and Romania’s interests
Romania was in a critical situation at the end of the First World War. With most of the country still occupied by the troops of the Central Powers, with its leadership in Iași and its army partially demobilized, Romania was forced to move as quickly as possible to...
The recognition of Romania as an ally of the Entente
Romania was officially recognized as an ally of the Entente at the end of December 1918 by France, Great Britain, Italy and the US, just a few weeks before the beginning of the Paris Peace Conference in January 1919. The decision of the Russian Bolsheviks to conclude...
The US to Romania: Romania’s integrity, freedom and independence is a matter of honour for the Allied Powers
Soon after Romania’s entry into the war, the Central Powers started a powerful counter-offensive and by late October their forces had managed to advance deep into Romania. This is when the US sent a message of support to the Romanian authorities. The telegram,...
The telegram of union with Bessarabia
On March 27, 1918, Bessarabia, through the Council of the Country, decided to unite with the Motherland. 86 votes were for and only three against. The Romanians welcomed their brethren from beyond the Prut and on the next day the Romanian authorities decided that the...
The promulgation of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania on 27 March/ 9 April 1918
The Royal Decree promulgating the act of the union of Bessarabia with Romania, signed by the President of the Council of Ministers Alexandru Marghiloman, the Justice Minister D. Dobrescu and King Ferdinand I: “Ferdinand I, By the Grace of God and the National Will,...
Official reports about Bucharest falls – December 8
On Monday, Bucharest fell to German forces, Romanian forces are retreating in utter confusion. The chief focus of the Teutonic advance seemed however not to have been Bucharest, but Ploechti, an important railway junction town 36 miles northwest of Bucharest. The goal...
The political and diplomatic battle of Romania at the Paris Peace Conference (1919)
At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Romania fought fiercely to have its rights recognized regarding the incorporation of the territories inhabited by Romanians from Austria-Hungary. On August 17, 1916, the Romanian Prime Minister, Ionel Brătianu, signed with the...
The first repercussions of the Paris Peace Conference. “In Romania, you have to throw the body out to save the boat”
The treaties between the Allied Powers and the defeated states began to be signed beginning with the end of June 1919. Standing in between the great powers, the delegations of the smaller states each tried to have their claims recognized, while the delegations of the...
The US is at war. “We couldn’t believe it, even though it was something great”
After three years of neutrality, the US was at war. At the beginning of 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. This fact, combined with the indignation of the US public who had found out about the Zimmermann Telegram, led to a break in diplomatic...
1919- the time of financial restitution. “Germany is unable to pay”
The Paris Peace Conference was about more than determining the victors and the losers or resolving territorial claims. There was the question of compensation. Clemenceau wanted to get as much of the war reparations as possible: to slow down Germany’s recovery, while...
The unsuccessful attempt to renegotiate the Treaty of Bucharest (1918)
The failure of the German offensive on the Western Front and the Entente’s subsequent counteroffensive on all fronts in the fall of 1918 weakened the position of the Romanian government. Installed in the spring of the same year with full backing from the Central...
The elections of June 1918: «The Marghiloman Parliament»
Following the toppling of the first Averescu cabinet (January 29-March 4, 1918), King Ferdinand I was forced to entrust the formation of a new executive to Alexandru Marghiloman, a conservative politician and avowed Pro-German, with the hope that he would be able to...