Greater Romania. From Democracy to Dictatorship

GREATER ROMANIA. FROM DEMOCRACY TO DICTATORSHIP

In 1918, Romania's political unity, based on the principles of peoples' right to self-determination, was completed. On March 27, 1918, the Council of the Country (Sfatul Tarii) convened in Kishinew, and decided on the "unification of Bessarabia with Romania for now and all times". On November 28, 1918, the General Congress of Bukovina cast a unanimous vote for the "unconditioned and everlasting unification of Bukovina within its old borders up to Ceremus, Colacin and the Dnestr, with the kingdom of Romania". On the 1st of December, 1918, the great national assembly in Alba Iulia proclaimed the "unification of all Romanians from Transylvania, the Banat, Crisana and Maramures with Romania for all ages to come". Romanian forces in Transylvania drove into Hungary in 1919, after the communist forces there gained ground under Bela Kun, who, starting from early 1919, had launched an attack across the Tisza River against the Romanians. In 1919, the Romanians seized Budapest and occupied it for several months. The unification of all the lands inhabited by Romanians was mentioned in the Versailles peace treaties (1919-1920) after the First World War, and sanctioned by the crowning of King Ferdinand I and Queen Maria at Alba Iulia in the year 1922.

After 1918, Romania made important steps forward toward strengthening national state life, by enacting major reforms the universal ballot (1918), the land reform (1921) and the Constitution of 1923. Benefitting from large natural resources and boasting a constitutional regime based on a democratic system, the country recorded a strong upsurge of development. The depression of 1929-1933 caused social unrest and instability within the country and paved the way for Carol, King Ferdiand's son, who was in exile with Elena Lupescu, his mistress. He ascended the throne in 1930, as Carol II, and brought Elena along. A fascist movement was founded in 1927 by Corneliu Codreanu, who later renamed his followers the Iron Guard. The Iron Guard grew in strength during the 1930s, and King Carol had thousands of them imprisoned, and Codreanu shot. In 1938, King Carol II abolished the constitution and proclaimed a royal government. As far as foreign policy - as represented by the great Romanian diplomat Nicolae Titulescu - was concerned, it militated for European security, with Romania playing a major role within the Society of Nations at Geneva; it also masterminded regional alliances like the Little Entente (1921), comprising Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and the Balkan Entente (1934), including Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey.

In 1940, Romania underwent severe territorial losses Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina were snatched by the Soviet Union (June 26-28), northern Transylvania was annexed by Hungary under the Vienna Diktat (August), while Bulgaria seized the southern part of Dobrudja i.e. the Quadrilateral area (September). This was mainly due to the fact that Romania had strained relations with both the U.S.S.R. and Germany, which joined together in the Ribentropp-Molotov Pact (1939), establishing the spheres of influence in Central and Eastern Europe.

The serious crisis of 1940 led to the abdication of King Carol II in favour of his son, Mihai I (Michael of Romania). In the fall of 1940, a Nazi military mission entered Romania. This situation, together with the hope of regaining Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina, and the danger of Bolshevism, made the government (led by Ion Antonescu) decide to side with Germany, and declare war on the Soviet Union (June 22, 1941), and subsequently, on the U.S.A. and the U.K. Ion Antonescu became Romania's state leader. The military defeats after 1942 led to many attempts made by Antonescu's government and the democratic opposition to break Romania from the alliance with Germany.

As a result of a coup d'état supported by the major political parties and King Michael's personal involvement, on August 23, 1944, the Antonescu regime was overthrown. Romania turned arms against Germany and placed its whole military and economic capability at the service of the anti-fascist coalition. Romania took part in the war until the May 1945 victory. After having pushed the enemy out of the country, the Romanian army fought to liberate Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

The Paris Peace Treaty (1947), stating the 1940 Vienna Diktat null and void, made Romania re-establish its sovereign rights over Transylvania. But Bessarabia, northern Bukovina and the Herta area passed under Soviet occupation.