The way Romania views World War II is different from what you may expect.
Being an Axis power you’d think that Romanians views World War II with shame, similary to Germany or Japan, but the Romanians’ view World War II is more similar to that of the Finns, Cezchs and Polish. In some ways, it is seen as a western betrayal. To understand why, we must explore that time in history from Romania’s perspective.
Romania was traditionally an ally of France ever since it was established in 1859, joined the Entente in 1916 and won World War I in 1918. In the aftermath of World War I Romania took territory from Austria- Hungary (Transylvania and Bukovina) and what became the Soviet Union (Bessarabia).
It is very important (at least to Romanians) how and why those territories were taken because it wasn’t just a simple land grab. Those territories had a long history with the Romanians and already had a Romanian majority, although also significant minorities of other nationalities.
This was the territory Romania took in 1918:
And this was the population census in 1930:
No population exchanges were made between 1918 and 1930. Out of 18 million people, 13 millions (72%) were Romanian.
Considering the historical background as well, that Bessarabia and Bukovina used to be part of Moldavia ever since its founding in 1346 before being annexed by the Russian and Austrian Empires, while Transylvania was part of Dacia and later the Voivodeship of Gelou, Glad and Menumorut before the Hungarian conquest, it’s no wonder that Romania views those territories as rightfully theirs (except for Southern Dobruja - Durostor and Caliacra, those are another story).
At the end of World War I Romania already achieved its national dream. Every territory with a Romanian majority was now under a single Romanian state. As such Romania lost interest in warfare. It was a founding member of the League of Nations in which it had an active implicaiton and focused more on economy.
But it’s neighbours who lost World War I (Hungary and Bulgaria) weren’t as content with the current state of affairs, as such Romania joined the Little Entente and later the Balkan Entente to protect against revanchism.
In the intewar period, Romania’s fascist party was the Iron Guard, which in the last year with free election, 1937, only won 15% of the votes.
Things weren’t going well, the current King, Carol II, was a less than competent hendonist that is hated to this day by many.
But at least Romania was a democracy (constitutional monarchy) and western-aligned (which at that time only meant France, UK didn’t really care about Romania and USA was isolationalist).
Since 1920s, Romania's system of security was based on the goodwill of England and France and a web of alliances against neighbours that claimed Romania's territory.
1. The defense against Hungary was based on the "Little Entente" with Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
2. The defense against Bulgaria was based on the "Balkan Entente" with Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey.
3. The defense against USSR was based on wased on the "Polish - Romanian Alliance" with Poland.
In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria under the pretext of a voluntary unification. Then Nazi Germany annexed Czechoslovakia. For Romania the most worrisome part was Hungary's share of Czechoslovakia as Hungary remained hostile towards Romania after they lost Transylvania in World War I. And Romania in order to prevent Hungarian revanchism made an alliance "The Little Entente" with Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. But after Czechoslovakia was annexed and Hungary expanded its borders, Romania found itself exposed. Romania wasn't only worried about Hungarian aggression, but also about German aggression, with or without Hungary's claims.
Under the justification to protect the country against from the Iron Guard led by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, King Carol II established a personal dictatorship in 1938. He had the last word when it came to Romania's external policy, but he would often consult with his ministers and royal counselors: Slavescu, Armand Calinescu (the pirate!), Urdareanu, Gafecu, Nicolae Iorga, Malaxa (the industrialist!).
In 1939, following the Italian invasion of Albania, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier Edouard Dadadier announced a joint Anglo-French "guarantee" of the independence of Romania and Greece. Carol promptly accepted the guarantee. On 5th of May the French Marshal Maxime Weygand visited Bucharest to meet with Carol to discuss Romania's possible participation in the "Peace Front". King Carol II was supportive, but evasive, saying that he would welcome having the Soviet Union fight against Germany, but would never allow the Red Army to enter Romania even if Germany should invade. King Carol II told French Marshal Maxime Weygand: "I do not wish to let my country be engaged in a war which would result, in a few weeks, in the destruction of its army and the occupation of its territory. We do not wish to be the lighting conductor for the coming storm."
At the outbreak of World War II Romania had an alliance with Poland and was ready to assist them. But Poland declined Romanian military assistance because it expected to receive assistance from its British and French allies through Romanian ports, the Romanian Bridgehead Plan.
When the Soviet Union also attacked, the Polish high command abandoned the plan and ordered its units to evacuate, many units went through Romanian borders, to the Black Sea ports and then to France. King Carol II was so concerned about Romania's safety that he didn't apply the "Polish - Romanian Alliance" against the Soviet Union that was established with Poland in 1921.
The guarantees from England and France made in 1939, seemed impossible to fulfill, so Romania's strategy switched in 1939 from western protection to German appeasement in order to improve relations with Germany. The government of Romania turned to Germany in hopes of a guarantee, unaware of the secret Ribbertrop-Molotov Pact between Germany and Russia who would also split Romania. King Carol II reasoned that a oil trade agreement between Romania and Germany should make Germany more concerned about Romania's safety. With Germany's trust won due to the oil trade, Romania adopted a "neutral benevolent" position towards the invaded Poland. Giving Germany insurance that Romania will stay neutral while allowing British shippments of weaponry to Poland from its Black Sea ports.
When Poland's defeat seemed inevitable, Romania allowed Poland to evacuate their gold reserves, tens of thousands of civillians, 60.000 Polish soldiers, the Polish president and the Polish government through their shared border in Bukovina. While the Polish government was in exile in Romania, Romania's prime minister Armand Calimanescu (the pirate!) was assassinated by the fascist Iron Guard party.
This wasn't because Romania allowed Poland to take refugee or because the Iron Guard was pro-Hitler, but because Armand Calimanescu helped the authorities suppress the Iron Guard a year earlier. The assassin's didn't have time to explain their motives because they were executed on sight.
Eventually, the Polish government left Romania through the Black Sea port in Constanta for England. From there, the new Polish government in exile continued the fight with Nazi Germany. After the double-invasion of Poland, Romania started to suspect a secret German-Soviet agreement. After USSR attacked Finland and the Baltic States, Romania became wary of USSR's next hit.
In 1940, after Nazi Germany got half of Poland and became well-armed, it went to strike France and England as well as the Northern States to prevent an eventual British landing. After Germany defeated France Romania found itself in a dangerous position: It was a winner of World War I, the war whose outcome Nazi Germany hated, it was an western-aligned country and it helped the Polish escape.
But the USSR was equally worried seeing Nazi Germany's power rising and hurried the occupation of their influence zone established in the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. While France got its coup de grace from Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union invaded Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The next day after the French armistice, Stalin informed Hitler that he will demand Romania to immediatly give up Bessarbia and Bukovina and in case of a refusal he will use force. Nazi Germany didn't like that USSR also wanted to demand Bukovina as it wasn't part of the agreement, and determined USSR to take a step back and only take Northern Bukovina.
Romania got the Soviet ultimatum on 26 June 1940 where it was asked to give up Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. King Carol II wished to fight back, but the Romanian army was under underequipped and less numerous than the Soviet Union. Besides, nobody could guarnatee that Hungary wouldn't attack Romania as well.
Nazi Germany rejected the idea of military help and advised King Carol II to accept the Soviet ultimatum. In that moment, Nazi Germany didn't simply please USSR, they were interested not to make Romania a theater of war so that they ensure the Romanian oil keeps flowing. After Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were given, King Carol II gave up the English and French guarantees, considering them useless, and started seeking protection from Nazi Germany requesting a "German military mission".
To please Nazi Germany, he made a new pro-Nazi government where he included the Iron Guard. But Hitler knew Romania's weakness and conditioned the "German military mission" on solving the differences with Hungary and Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania met at Turnu Severin to solve their disputes but it became clear that their expectations were completly opposite. While Romania was only willing to accept a small border modification, Hungary wanted all of Transylvania except for Banat region. King Carol II hoped that he will gain Hiter's good will by giving up Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria, but Hungary had better relations with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy alike.
Because the Hungarian - Romanian negiciations failed and the German spies reported Soviet troops massed on the Romanian border. Hitler decided to take Transylvania's problem into his own hands and established the Second Vienna Award. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy proposed to Romania a slightly modified version of Hungary's demands. A southern part of Transylvania will remain part of Romania but the rest will become part of Hungary. This was the end of Greater Romania. King Carol II accepted the dictate in hopes that the agreement will ensure Romania's independence, or what was left of it.
The other political leaders and the public were against accepting the agreement, but they didn't know that in the event that Romania doesn't accept the Second Vienna Award, Nazi Germany had prepared an expeditionary corps to occupy the petroleum region of Romania before USSR. After the agreement Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy guaranteed Romania, discouraging further USSR's aggression.
As such in a few months Russia took Bessarabia with Northern Bukovina, Bulgaria took Southern Dobruja and Hungary took Northern Transylvania. One third of Romania's 1939 area was taken in 1940 and with it Romania's population shrank from 20 million to 13 million, half of the lost population was ethnically Romanian.
Inside Romania, these territorial losses caused the popularity of Romania’s king and the government to plummet, further reinforcing the fascist and military factions who eventually staged a coup that turned the country into fascist dictatorship under Marshal Ion Antonescu and forced King Carol II to abdicate in favor of his son, King Michael I. When he took the throne, King Michael I was merely 18 years old and was more passionate about cars than politics.
The real leader of Romania was Marshal Ion Antonescu (the in-game fascist leader) that King Carol II himself named him "Prime minister with complete power". Immediatly after he was named "Prime minister with complete power", Ion Antonescu forced King Carol II to leave the country and established a fascist regime where he shared the power with the Iron Guard led by Horia Sima.
Ion Antonescu assured Nazi Germany that he will stand by Hitler who promised Romania's security and finally agreed for the "German military mission" in Romania. Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard merely continued King Carol II's external politics, but their similar ideology to Nazi Germany couldn't take them in another direction anyway.
The new regime firmly set the country on a course towards the Axis, Romania officially joined the "Tripartite Pact" on 23 November 1940. Led by: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan and with: Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and now Romania as well.
Ion Antonescu had 2 main objectives:
1. Keep USSR away from Romania. -> After the annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, USSR didn't want to stop there. USSR requested that Nazy Germany and Fascist Italy give up their guarantee on Romania, Nazi Germany refused. USSR requested that Nazy Germany and Fascist Italy allows USSR to take Southern Bukovina as well, Nazi Germany refused. USSR occupied a few Romanian islands on the Black Sea to test Romania's reaction. At the same time, the relationships between USSR and Nazi Germany were getting colder, suspicions were rising, and Nazi Germany took the decision to attack USSR as fast as possible to make it easier to invade Britain afterwards.
2. Take back Northern Transylvania from Hungary, via German arbitration. -> This is why, throught the war, Ion Antonescu tried to show Nazi Germany that Romania was more cooperative than Hungary. But Nazi Germany used this Romanian - Hungarian competition in his interest and didn't rush to fulfill Romania's wish.
Inside Romania, the Iron Guard's crimes and desire for power determined Ion Antonescu to get rid of them after he made sure Hitler was on his side. A coup attempt of the Iron Guard on 23 Jannuary 1941 was the right moment for Ion Antonescu to get rid of the Iron Guard, who eventually seeked asylum in Germany.
In spring, Nazi Germany occupied Yugoslavia and Greece to get avoid the danger of a British naval landing and secure his southern flank in his next campaign in USSR. On 12 June 1941 when Nazi Germany troops came to Romania, Hitler told Ion Antonescu his big secret, he was about to invade USSR. But Ion Antonescu anticipated this and already had a plan, he already made battle plans to get back Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia as well as occupy Transnistria. Thus Ion Antonescu offered to join the war in June 1941 against the Soviet under the pretext of recovering northern Bukovina and Bessarabia.
Hitler gave Ion Antonescu the command of German troops in Romania called "Army Corps General Antonescu".
- The 3rd Romanian army was to attack in north, in Northern Bukovina.
- The 4th Romanian army was to attack in south, in Southern Bessarabia.
- The 11th German army was to attack in the center, in Northern Bessarabia.
Nazi Germany attacked USSR on 22 June 1941 on the whole eastern front. The Romanian advance in Northern Bukovina and Bessarbia was pretty easy, on 5th of July the city of Cernauti was liberated, on 15th of July the city of Chisinau was liberated and on 17th of July Northern Bukovina and Bessarbia were completly liberated.
Ion Antonescu was 100% certain to continue the war, even if the leaders of the democratic parties Iuliu Maniu and Dinu Bratianu warned him that Romania's mission was over and this aggression will anger both USSR and England. At that moment, USSR was already in agreement with England and USA's lend-leaseing the Allies was a clear message against the Axis. King Michael I later said about the event: "Antonescu's biggest mistake was going to Stalingrad. This couldn't be accepted in Romania. What were we doing out there? Everyone agreed to retake Bessarabia, but no centerpiece from the Dniester".
But being completly confident in Nazi Germany's victory, Ion Antonescu promised Hitler that we will fight the war to the end against USSR and didn't ask any conditions for collaboration. In reality, Ion Antonescu hoped that his loyality will be rewarded with Northern Transylvania.
While the 3rd Romanian army and 11th German army advanced in Ukraine, the 4th Romanian army remained under Ion Antonescu's command and at Hitler's request attacked Odessa. The siege of Odessa was extremly bloody, after 2 months of fighting and 90.000 casualites the 4th Romanian army captured Odessa. After taking back Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia in July 1941, Ion Antonescu ordered the occupation of the Soviet territory between rivers Dnister and Bug.
According to his understanding with Hitler, this territory named Transnistria will be administrated by Romanian autorities. Antonescu wanted this territory before the invasion of the Soviet Union and when the opportunity came the told the new governor: "Govern like Romania was installed there for 2.000 years". The fact that Antonescu wanted the colonization of Transnistria was proven by the colonization of the territory by 150.000 Romanian peasants from east of Bug river.
Transnistria became an agricultural reserve for Romania and the troops in the east. The over 2 million people, mostly Ukrainians, were forced to work in a regime of economic exploitiation similar to what the Germans were doing in the rest of Ukraine. Ion Antonescu said: "Take as much as you can from Transnistria, but without doccuments, so that the Russians won't be able to take the doccuments and use them on the peace table." The governor of Transnistria, Gheorghe Alexianu, thought and acted similary to Antonescu and had free hand from Antonescu to "romanize" the former Soviet territory where less than 10% of the population was romanian.
It didn't take long until Ion Antonescu realised that Transnistria could be used by Hitler as compensation for Northern Transylvania that may remain forever as part of Hungary. Indeed, Hitler wanted to defuse the conflict between Romania and Hungary by offering Antonescu as much territory as he wanted in the east. Hitler offered Ion Antonescu to take as much as he wants from Russia. As an answer, the Romanian diplomacy declared that they won't give up their claims on Northern Transylvania. Ion Antonescu reached the conclusion that Transnistria should be only temporarly occupied and be used as a trade for Northern Transylvania at the end of the war.
Ion Antonescu was certain that 1942 is going to be the decisive year as far as the military opperations were concerned and offered Hitler the same number of divisions that he offered in 1941. The size of the Romanian army on the eastern front was second only to that of Germany and during the Battle of Stalingrad had over 350.000 troops.
But not every general agreed with Antonescu's volunteering. General Iosef Iacobici, commander of the 4th Army, who knew how bloody was the victory at Odessa, anticipated the failures on the eastern front and resigned as a sign of protest. According to a deal from Jannuary 1942, the Romanian troops were to be equipped with weapons from Germany, but during every provision crysis the Romanian troops were left behind.
The victories at Sevastopol and Kerci caused 18.000 losses. The blocking of the Russian offensive at Harkov caused other 14.000 losses. And the advancement in Caucas added 14.000 more losses. Meanwhile, not only the perspective of a new Russian winter made the Romanians worry, but also the realisation that the Romanian Anti-Tank equipment could not penetrate Russian T-34 tanks.
The vulnerability of the Romanian troops was seen at its height during the Battle of Stalingrad. While the 6th German army assulted the city, the Romanian divisions had the task of protecting the flanks. Autumn was about to end and everybody expected a Russian offensive during winter.
The reports of Romanian commanders stated the following:
- Their troops were obligated too cover a territory too large for their numbers.
- They had no anti-tank.
- They had no gas.
- The defensive workings were incomplete.
- They had no protection from aviation or artilery
- There were still Russian troops over the Volga river.
When Stalin started opperation Uranus, the Soviet tank focused on the center of the Romanian army, where no German units were present. Due to the lack of tanks and anti-tank guns, most Romanian troops were routed, only a few tens of thousands of people died and the connection with the German army in Stalingrad was cut. Yet the remains of the 3rd Romanian army now under the command of General Mihail Lascar were encircled early on and fought well for 4 days before being slowly defeated. Even Hitler himself noted the bravery of these troops. The Soviet Offensive afterwards causesd a total of 110.000 deaths. Half of all soldiers that saw action.
By the end of 1942, the German and Romanian commanders were busy to blame each other for the failure at Stalingrad, while morale of the army was 6 feet below. Ion Antonescu promised Hitler that he will remake the Romanian Army and will continue to fight side by side with Germany. But this time, the Axis was on defensive. At the end of Winter 1942, 6 Romanian divisions under the command of the German Army could barely hold the region of Kuban that was supposed to be the starting point for a new German offensive. The 3rd and 4th Army were on the Don river and 2 other divisions were defending Crimeea.
While the Germans tried to regain the initiative with the Battle of Kursk, the Soviet Union continued to push the Axis until they reached the Dniper river that splits Ukraine. In the autumn of 1943, the troops from Kuban had to retreat to Crimeea, leaving behind 10.000 deaths. Now, 75.000 Romanian troops were in Crimeea, but the Soviet Union pushed in October from Dnister to Perekop, cutting off the Romanian troops from the main frontline. Hitler told the commanders not to retreat and to keep holding so that the Axis would win some time and keep the Soviet bombers away from the Romanian oil fields.
But where the Soviet planes couldn't reach, the American and British planes reached. Romania was at war with the United Kingdom ever since 6th of December 1941 when the Romanian troops crossed over Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina and started advancing in Transnistria. The Romanian declaration of war to the United States came on 12th of December 1941 right after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but US President Roosevelt deemed it as a forced declaration due to subordination to Germany and didn't retaliate. That was until 6th of June 1942, where after insistence from the Soviet Union, the United States also declared war to Romania. One week later, the first American bombers attacked Poliesti but the mission was a failure. In 1943 however, the Americans came to take their revenge with opperation "Tidal Wave".
On 1st of August 1943, 177 American bombers attacked from Lybia the oil refinery in Poliesti, destroying half of the production capacity. USA's objective wasn't to cripple Romania's economy, but to destroy everything that could be used in the German war machine. The oil from Romania represented 25% of Germany's total use of oil.
For Ion Antonescu, the United Kingdom and United States were unwanted enemies, his goal being only the destruction of the Soviet Union. This is why, in the spring of 1943 he tried to present to both Hitler and the Allies, the danger of the Soviet Union in Europe. Arguing that a peace in west would ensure a complete concentration of forces in east and the defeat of the Soviet Union. Whether is was just a pretext to start negociating peace with the Allies without alerting is unknown. What is certrain in that Ion Antonescu tried to convince Benito Mussolini to ask for peace in the name of Germany's allies, which Mussolini refused, and that Hitler got mad when he found out that Romanian diplomats were talking with the Allies through neutral countries such as Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.
While the eastern front was getting closer and closer to Romania, Ion Antonescu tried to encourage an Allied landing in Greece. In Ankara, Turkey, the Romanian diplomats told the Allies that Ion Antonescu was ready to cooperate with the Allies and offer them gold, food, oil and the Romanian Army should they land in the Balkans and reach Romania before the Soviet Union. But the Allies had an agreement not to make separate treaties and that for any captulation to be made towards all 3 powers at the same time, including the Soviet Union. More than that, at the Tehran Conference the Allies gave up on the idea of a Balkan landing and agreed to a French landing, fact that the Romanians were unaware of.
Meanwhile, Italy has left the Axis and became a theatre of war for the Allies and the Axis, while the Soviet Union managed to break the defense at Dniper worring the Romanians even more. Hitler demanded Ion Antonescu to bring all his available units to the frontline, but Ion Antonescu refused stating the reason that the troops were not equipped yet. In reality, Ion Antonescu refused to send troops because the Hungarian army was well conserved and armed, while the Romanian army was tired and partially destroyed. And because everyone fearted that a theatre of war on Romanian territory was inevitable.
By 1944, when the Soviet Union reached the Romanian borders, discontent among the elite and the populace had grown which led to Prince Michael leading a coup against Marshal Ion Antonescu and Romania switching sides to the Allies.
The political parties of Romania, even though they had no power anymore, were left alone even during Ion Antonescu's dictatorship, they maintained contact and discussions with the Allies under the leadership of Iuliu Maniu in Turkey and Egypt. In the Allies' negociations with Iuliu Maniu, at Stalin's request, the condition for switching sides was that the Communists will have to be part of the new government.
On 23 March 1944 Marshal Ion Antonescu was in an official visit in Germany, King Michael I sent General Constantin Sănătescu, who served in World War II ever since 1941 and was vocal about his anti-fascist sentiments, however Ion Antonescu left him in charge due to his competence as a general, to ask the generals next to the Minister of War who he thought opposed Antonescu, whether they are willing to move to action, but the ressult was dissapointing, arguing that now it's not the time for a coup d'etat.
After a few days, during the working lunch, King Michael I realised there's no point trying to convince Ion Antonescu to change the external policy of the country. If an ultimatum for surrender were to come from the Allies, King Michael I asked thte political leaders to assume the responsability of accepting it, in that case he would publically request Ion Antonescu's resignation. This however didn't happen, and King Michael I now disillusioned, was convinced that he would need the army to depose Ion Antonescu, the army that after asked by Constantin Sănătescu, considered that it wasn't the time yet.
On August 1944 King Michael I found a good moment for the coup d'etat, as Germany Army retreated their tank divisions from the Romanian front and the Soviet Army was regrouping for a few months on the frontline and could initiate a large attack at any moment. The Germany Secret Police became suspicious and Queen Mother Elena was interogated, without revealing that she was aware of her son's plans. To weaken the suspicions, King Michael I left for a hunting between 16 and 18 August, and staying for the next 2 days at his castle in Sinaia.
On 20 August 1944, the news came that the Russians started the Opperation Iasi-Chisinau, thus King Michael I left quickly towards Bucharest followed by secretary Mircea Ionnitiu, adjutant Emilian Ionescu and general Gheorghe Mihail, his military adviser. In Bucharest he held a metting with the military leaders, and they were in favor of a coup d'etat. Among them was general Dumitru Dămăceanu, who was the Chief of Staff of Bucharest's Military Command. Constantin Sănătescu, Ioan Mocsony-Stârcea, Grigore Niculescu-Buzești, Mircea Ionnițiu and Aurel Aldea also participated at the meeting. Dumitru Dămăceanu was asked how much time he needs to gather troops to occupy the strategic points in Bucharest, he answered that he needs 5 days, as such the time of the coup d'etat was set on 26 August.
On the night of 21 August the political leaders Iuliu Maniu, Constantin Brătianu, Titel Petrescu and Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu had a meeting where the political class agreed over the plan established a night before. King Michael I delegated Iuliu Maniu and Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu to form the list of new ministers for the new government until 23 August. During the meeting, the political class approved the text of a telegram that was to be send to British General Maitland Wilson, the commander of the Allies in Egypt.
In that telegram, the Romanian plotters requested the support of the coup d'etat through the Allied bombardment of the German units in Northern Bucharest, next to Baneasa Airport, and of the railways at the border with Hungary and Yugoslavia. Mocsoni Styrcea, who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, went to Snagov and crypted 2 telegrams, one to be send through Turkey and another through a transmission apparatus owned by Iuliu Maniu.
In the morning of 22 August, before going back to Bucharest, the decided to swim in the lake and met with the general secretary of the minister, Davidescu, who informed him that Marshal Antonescu will return from the frontline and will have to leave Bucharest the next day, which will ruin the plans of the coup d'etat. Being informed of such things, King Michael I quickly moved the date to 23 August, without consulting the political leaders.
On 23 August 1944, Ion Antonescu gave the command to request an audience with King Michael I at 4:00 PM. King Michael I offered him a private audience at 3:30 PM. The discussion went for an hour, Ion Antonescu offered in-depth details of the frontline situation and said that we would only accept a truce with Hitler's consnet and refused to accept surrender, justifiny his position as "I gave my word to Adolf Hitler, that I will stand by him to the end". To which King Michael I replied: "If this is how things are, then there's nothing left to do" and called colonel Emilian Ionescu with a group of 4 soldiers taht arrested Marshal Ion Antonescu and his lawyer Mihai Antonescu. They were given to Emil Bodnaras, the leader of a group of partizans called "the Patriotic Guards", who transfered them in a conspirative house in Bucharest. Other pro-Antonescu ministers and generals were sent there as well: Constantin Pantazi, Dumitru Popescu, Constantin Vasiliu, Mircea Elefterescu and Eugen Cristescu. King Michael I later said about the event: "Antonescu and the rest considered me a child. When I took the state under their noses they were so surprised they didn't know what to do".
After Ion Anontescu was arreted, King Micahel I called the political leaders of the democratic parties: Constantin Brătianu, Iuliu Maniu and Titel Petrescu, as well as Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, representing the Communist Party. However, they weren't to be found, expeting the coup to take place on 26 August, the first to reach King Micahel I was Titel Petrescu, after the new government was already formed by people King Michael I trusted, while the former political ledaers were given the title of minister without a given position.
As the troops prepared by King Michael I and Iuliu Maniu were not available quickly, the only troops available were that of the communist Emil Bodnaras, fact eventually expolited by the communist propaganda, who argued that the Community Party played the leading role in the coup d'etat.
Before 8:00 PM, King Michael I recorded a message for the country to be broadcast on radio at 10:00 PM, which announced the change of government and the changing sides to the Allies. Solidarity with King Micahel I was general, with all the important officers being on his side. Following the broadcast of the message on the radio, popular demonstrations of enthusiasm broke out.
Around 9:00 PM, the German ambassador, Manfred von Killinger, came to visit King Michael I to learn about what happened. In order to buy time, King Michael I denied what happened, saying that Ion Anontescu is free. The next day, the German Army launched an attack on Bucharest, King Michael I however, already took refugee with Queen Mother Elena in Dobrita, Oltenia. With support from the American Airforce, the Romanian Army resisted the German attack on Bucharest. The Romanian Army fought against the Garmany Army until 28 August when the German Army in Bucharest and surrounding areas was whiped out. Around 56.000 German troops were taken prisoner. King Michael I later said about the event: "After August 23, the Russian offensive stopped. I suppose they wanted the same result as in Warsaw, where they stopped the offensive, letting the Germans destroy the Poles, then resumed the offensive".
Meanwhile, the Soviet Army started to advance in Romania, still counting Romania as an enemy territory and acting as such, confiscating munition and goods on their way to Bucharest, both public and civillian goods, and taking thousands of Romanian soldiers and officers as prisoners, who stopped fighting since 23 August. Still, starting with 23 August, the Romanian territory was exempted from being a theater of war, the Romanian-Soviet Truce was formally signed on 12 September 1944. When the Soviet Army reached Bucharest on 31 August, the pro-Antonescu regime, including Ion Anontescu, were given to the Red Army.
In 1980's, a document came out that Captain Gheorghe Teodorescu from the guard of the royal palace, who was stationed on August 23, claimed that it was written by Ion Antonescu the day immediately after his arrest. Ion Antonescu said that he did not in principle oppose the exit from the war, but that he refused it, arguing both with the difficult conditions of armistice in relation to the Soviet Union, signing a political act of surrender of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, accepting Soviet occupation, payment of indefinite damages, as well as most importantly with his total refusal to turn arms against Nazi Germany, a refusal assumed as the main argument and understood as such by the other participants. The document was published after the 1989 Romanian Revolution in the Romanian nationalist newspaper, published by circles seeking the rehabilitation of Antonescu and was included in several anthologies of period documents and works of other nationalist historians, but it is not difficult to revise the vision in any way.
After Ion Anontescu was given to the Soviet Army, general Constantin Sănătescu was tasked with forming a new government formed of democratic parties, the communist party and officers of the Romanian Army. This government negociated the truce with the Soviet Union and was forced to play war reparations, admit the territorial losses in 1940 and give more important functions to the communists. The Soviet Army completly occupied Romania, although initally the Romanian soldiers and officers were taken prisoner, the Soviet Union eventually accepted Romanian collaborations against Nazi Germany.
British Field Marshal and military advisor to Winston Churchill, Alan Brooke, declared that through the coup d'etat on 23 August 1944, Romania opened up the Balkans to the Soviet Union and contributed to the liberation of this region, shortening the war by 6 months and saving hundreds of thousands of lives. German General Johannes Friessner, commander of German Army Corps South, declared that the coup d'etat on 23 August 1944 was a betrayal of Romania towards the German Reich.
The Sovet Army gave Marshal Ion Antonescu to Soviet General Burenin, he was kept prisoner in the Soviet Union, not being judged at the Nurnberg Trials. Eventually, he was brought to Romania and judged by the People's Tribunal in a facade trial. Although he would have asked for a pardon, Marshal Ion Antonescu refused to sign the request for pardon brought to him by his lawyer, in order not to put King Michael I in a difficult situation, where King Micahel I would have been accused of pro-nazi sentiments if he would have accepted it and anti-Romanian sentiments if he would have rejected it. Marshal Ion Antonescu said during his trial: "If I had won the war, you would have built me statues in every city, but because I lost I will have to die. I ask to be sentenced to death and refuse any pardon". And then told the Romanian Communists "I foresee a third world war that will put humanity on its true social foundations. As such, you and your followers will do tomorrow what I tried to do today". Marshal Ion Antonescu was sentenced to death and executed on 1 June 1946 next to Jilava prison.
When the truce with the United Nations was formally signed on 12 September 1944, Romania assumed the obligation to contribute with 38 divisions against the anti-Nazi struggle effort. On October 25, the last Romanian towns are liberated: Carei and Satu-Mare. For the offensives in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, Romania mobilized approximately 567,000 soldiers. The heaviest battles took place in the siege of Budapest and in the Tatra Mountains, with heavy losses of human lives.
During Operation Barbarossa when Romania entered the Second World War on 22 June 1941, the 1st Romanian army was inside Romania while the 3rd and 4th armies formed the main Romanian assault force. After King Micahel's Coup, the 1st Romanian army became one of the main Romanian armies fighting for the Red Army on the Eastern Front. In its campaign from August 1944 to May 1945, the Romanian army lost about 64,000 men. At the Battle of Debrecen in October 1944, the Romanian units played a key part in the overall Soviet offensive, then took part in the Budapest Siege as part of the Red Army's 3rd Ukrainian Front.
Dr. Florin C. Stan, adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that most of the 20 points of the armistice required the Romanian state to be subordinated to the Soviets. "Not without significance was the signing of the Armistice only by Romanians and Soviets, the Anglo-Americans accepting representation through Soviet delegates. In the watermark, the message was obvious: Moscow was free to impose its own political interests on Bucharest". The only positive point was the 19th, which provided that the Second Vienna Award of 1940 is "null and void", this territory is to be returned to Romania. On the one hand, the armistice shortened the war by several months, saving hundreds of thousands of soldiers from death. However, on the other hand, it allowed the occupation of the country by the Red Army, which lasted until 1958, during which time the Soviets ensured the establishment of communism.
Year 1945 was one of internal disputes between the democrats and the communists. The great material shortcomings faced by the Romanians, due to the state of war and the obligations imposed by the Armistice Convention, facilitated the communist action to bring out the Romanians in the streets and to cause many to support the expected political and social changes. To participate in the removal by force of the state institutions and to impose on the leadership the political regime agreed by Moscow.
In January 1945, the leader of the Communist Party of Romania, Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej, is summoned to Moscow together with Ana Pauker. Stalin gives them clear instructions for the rapid seizure of power in Romania: the army, the interns, the public administration.
On 11 February 1945, in the face of this situation, General Nicolae Rădescu, now Prime Minister of the Romania, made known the main points of his government program. Among the most important were the continuation of the war, with all the power, together with the Allies, until the total defeat of Nazism, the loyalty and unobtrusive fulfillment of the clauses of the armistice concluded with the Allied Powers, the keeping of the order so that we could work in peace and as much as possible, more intensively in order to increase production and thus be able to cope with the contracting duties through the concluded truce.
Former General and now Prime Minister Nicolae Rădescu also said "I will defend, at any cost, the peace and order in the country, nobody should be afraid of anything if he steps on the right path, and I ask the Romanian people for reasonableness, keeping the most perfect order and peace, eagerness for hard and sporadic work, this are the only means of not slipping on the slope of the collapse”. These statements were received by Communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej as "an act of hostility towards our whole people, an act of defiance, an act of hostility towards our great allies and in the first place towards the Soviet Union”. Demonstrating firmness in maintaining the country's internal peace and the democratic structures, Prime Minister Nicolae Rădescu ordered that: "if the demonstrators, who are trying to occupy the institutions, do not withdraw, at the warning, to be fired", admitting even the possibility of reaching civil war.
Given the existence of the Soviet troops in Romania due to the armistice, in case of civil war there was a real danger of the direct intervention of the Soviet troops, marching through the streets, and of the military occupation of the country, which could easily be triggered by the patriotic guards, organized by the communists, they were ready to move to "the occupation by force of the main state institutions". At the order of the Soviet Union, 15 military bases from Bucharest were disarmed, including the Great General Staff.
In some cities such as Craiova, Caracal and Bucharest, in the attempt of the protesters to occupy, by force, the headquarters of the mayors and prefectures, the military and the police forces fired, being dead and injured, at the order of Prime Minister Nicolae Rădescu. Historian Alesandru Duţu said that: "It is worth mentioning that bullets of another caliber, which did not belong to the Romanian Army, were also fired”. The ministers of the National Democratic Front and the communist press accused the Romanian Army of being "fascist", assassinating the peaceful citizens of the country.
Afterwards, some of the military who had executed the order of Nicolae Rădescu were arrested and sentenced to prison, including General Iosif Teodorescu, the military commander of Bucharest. In most of the garrisons however, no weapon was used and the commanders avoiding bloodshed, by talking with the leaders of the protesters or with the commanders of the Soviet troops in the area.
Whenever an action by the communists was trying to be blocked by the Romanian authorities, the tanks of the Red Army were moved on the streets of Bucharest. The army, the police, the gendarmerie and the press were all in the hands of the Soviets, and the British and the Americans were just spectators of the play that Stalin had staged in Bucharest.
On 24 February 1945, the Communists summon a huge rally against the government in Bucharest. Over 25,000 people, led by Ana Pauker, pour into the square in front of the Government and the Royal Palace. The Soviets create diversion: they shoot a few gunshots in the crowd, kill people and then accuse the prime minister of having ordered the army to fire.
On 27 February 1945, Gheorghe Ghiorghiu Dej and Ana Pauker are helped by Moscow to seize power. Their political opponents, among whom Iuliu Maniu and Dinu Brătianu are labeled as enemies of the people. Stalin sends Andrei Vashinsky, the prosecutor who has instrumentalized the political processes in Moscow during the great purge, to Bucharest. Andrei Vashinsky comes directly to the Elisabeta Palace and asks King Michael I to dismiss Prime Minister Rădescu and replace him with communist Petru Groza.
King Micahel I asks for a break of thought. And makes a desperate appeal to Americans in an attempt to help him not appoint a Communist prime minister. The reply of the US representative in Bucharest, however, is a plastic one, telling King Michael I that "We don't want to put our fingers in the Romanian political soup". Irritated and frustrated, King Michael I responds in the same way: "Why do you refuse to put your fingers in my soup, when you know very well that your ally has put his hand in my throat?".
On 28 February 1945, however, Vashinsky returns, slamms the table, slamms the cabinet door and forces King Micahel I to dismiss Prime Minister Nicolae Radescu. In face of the Soviet tanks patrolling the streets of Bucharest and without any Western ally next to him, King Michael I accepts the demand and Prime Minister Nicolae Radescu is dismissed. King Michael I later said about the events: "During the period from 1944 to 1947 I was very unhappy. I can't say I was very hurt, but I was upset and disappointed, because I really hoped that the US and the UK would do something to stop the Russians".
On 6 March 1945, Andrei Vashinsky forces King Micahel I to appoint the pro-Soviet prime minister Petru Groza, who would shortly authorize the faithful military forces, especially the Division "Tudor Vladimirescu-Debrecen", established in 1943 on the Soviet territory from Romanian prisoners of war, to intervene in the street, this time against the opposition protesters represented by the democratic parties, in particular.
The Romanian government run by the Communists for the first time, who call themselves "the democratic force". The Petru Groza Government begins to purge the administration and intellectuals. And make a new land reform. He confiscates the large agricultural properties, divides them into small strips and gives them to the peasants. King Michael I went on a royal strike to block the government decisions imposed by the pro-Soviet regime.
The last offensive the 1st Romanian army took part in World War II was the Prague Offensive in May 1945. During the Prague Offensive, the 1st Romanian army operated together with the 4th Romanian army as part of the Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front. Marshal Ivan Koniev, the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, was the main Soviet commander in the area. Together with Marshal Georgy Zhukov's 1st Byelorussian Front, Koniev had launched the great attack on April 16 that resulted in the fall of Berlin and Soviet victory on the Eastern Front. The 260 days of participation in the anti-Nazi war ended on 12 May 1945 when Nazi Germany surrended, leaving room for the strengthening of Soviet influence in Romania.
With the first step already taken, the communists did not find it difficult to take complete and exclusive control of the country in the following years: they falsified the parliamentary elections of 1946, arrested the leaders of the National Liberal Party and the Peasant National Party, they forbade any opposition party and eventually ousted the king from the country. What started on 6 March 1945 ended on 30 December 1947 with the proclamation of the Romanian People's Republic and would last for almost half a century.
During the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947, Romania gained back Northern Transylvania, but not Southern Dobruja, Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia. Former democratic prime minister Gheorge Tatarescu said about the the Paris Peace treaties that: "This must be seen as an end, and at the same time as a beginning, it wipes out a lost war and it is a starting point for a new life." and later added that "The Russians will continue to stay. I do not believe in a war between the West and communism. My duty is to sign the Peace Treaty and save what is left of Romania".
In 1947 King Michael was forced to abdicate by the communists and Romania became a communist state. However, the communist propaganda made it that he left Romania willingly with all his wealth. King Michael I later said about the event: "Many think I'm a millionaire. Communist propaganda said that I left with dozens of cars full of gold and riches. And that has caught some people".
As such World War II is viewed by Romanians as a great injustice and as a war that they were forced into.
Romanians today usually blame the king for being incompetent and giving up that territory. He had his flaws, but I don’t think there’s anything he or the government could have done trapped between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union who both didn’t like Romania due to its previous western stance. Fighting back would have only ensured that more territory is lost. It's not like Hearts of Iron 4 where you can turn fascist or communist and they will suddenly be friendly.
Some see Romania as being sold by the Allies, but I don’t see what the Allies could have done after Germany defeated France. The only thing the Allies can be blamed is not attacking the Soviet Union in 1945 as Churchill urged them to do.
Ion Antonescu is controversed. He was definetly a patriot, had integrity and was a good strategist. But some see him as a villain who allied with Nazi Germany taking part in stuff that must not be named, although reluctantly; others see him as a hero trying to recover Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia, while others see him as a pragmatic leader who didn’t care for the fascist ideology but was confident Germany will win and wanted to be on the winning side.
There was no way World War II could have ended well for Romania, the choice was either Communism or Nazism. Romania was positioned between the Fascist hammer and the Communist anvil.
Being an Axis power you’d think that Romanians views World War II with shame, similary to Germany or Japan, but the Romanians’ view World War II is more similar to that of the Finns, Cezchs and Polish. In some ways, it is seen as a western betrayal. To understand why, we must explore that time in history from Romania’s perspective.
Romania was traditionally an ally of France ever since it was established in 1859, joined the Entente in 1916 and won World War I in 1918. In the aftermath of World War I Romania took territory from Austria- Hungary (Transylvania and Bukovina) and what became the Soviet Union (Bessarabia).
It is very important (at least to Romanians) how and why those territories were taken because it wasn’t just a simple land grab. Those territories had a long history with the Romanians and already had a Romanian majority, although also significant minorities of other nationalities.
This was the territory Romania took in 1918:
And this was the population census in 1930:
No population exchanges were made between 1918 and 1930. Out of 18 million people, 13 millions (72%) were Romanian.
Considering the historical background as well, that Bessarabia and Bukovina used to be part of Moldavia ever since its founding in 1346 before being annexed by the Russian and Austrian Empires, while Transylvania was part of Dacia and later the Voivodeship of Gelou, Glad and Menumorut before the Hungarian conquest, it’s no wonder that Romania views those territories as rightfully theirs (except for Southern Dobruja - Durostor and Caliacra, those are another story).
At the end of World War I Romania already achieved its national dream. Every territory with a Romanian majority was now under a single Romanian state. As such Romania lost interest in warfare. It was a founding member of the League of Nations in which it had an active implicaiton and focused more on economy.
But it’s neighbours who lost World War I (Hungary and Bulgaria) weren’t as content with the current state of affairs, as such Romania joined the Little Entente and later the Balkan Entente to protect against revanchism.
In the intewar period, Romania’s fascist party was the Iron Guard, which in the last year with free election, 1937, only won 15% of the votes.
Things weren’t going well, the current King, Carol II, was a less than competent hendonist that is hated to this day by many.
But at least Romania was a democracy (constitutional monarchy) and western-aligned (which at that time only meant France, UK didn’t really care about Romania and USA was isolationalist).
Since 1920s, Romania's system of security was based on the goodwill of England and France and a web of alliances against neighbours that claimed Romania's territory.
1. The defense against Hungary was based on the "Little Entente" with Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
2. The defense against Bulgaria was based on the "Balkan Entente" with Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey.
3. The defense against USSR was based on wased on the "Polish - Romanian Alliance" with Poland.
In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria under the pretext of a voluntary unification. Then Nazi Germany annexed Czechoslovakia. For Romania the most worrisome part was Hungary's share of Czechoslovakia as Hungary remained hostile towards Romania after they lost Transylvania in World War I. And Romania in order to prevent Hungarian revanchism made an alliance "The Little Entente" with Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. But after Czechoslovakia was annexed and Hungary expanded its borders, Romania found itself exposed. Romania wasn't only worried about Hungarian aggression, but also about German aggression, with or without Hungary's claims.
Under the justification to protect the country against from the Iron Guard led by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, King Carol II established a personal dictatorship in 1938. He had the last word when it came to Romania's external policy, but he would often consult with his ministers and royal counselors: Slavescu, Armand Calinescu (the pirate!), Urdareanu, Gafecu, Nicolae Iorga, Malaxa (the industrialist!).
In 1939, following the Italian invasion of Albania, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier Edouard Dadadier announced a joint Anglo-French "guarantee" of the independence of Romania and Greece. Carol promptly accepted the guarantee. On 5th of May the French Marshal Maxime Weygand visited Bucharest to meet with Carol to discuss Romania's possible participation in the "Peace Front". King Carol II was supportive, but evasive, saying that he would welcome having the Soviet Union fight against Germany, but would never allow the Red Army to enter Romania even if Germany should invade. King Carol II told French Marshal Maxime Weygand: "I do not wish to let my country be engaged in a war which would result, in a few weeks, in the destruction of its army and the occupation of its territory. We do not wish to be the lighting conductor for the coming storm."
At the outbreak of World War II Romania had an alliance with Poland and was ready to assist them. But Poland declined Romanian military assistance because it expected to receive assistance from its British and French allies through Romanian ports, the Romanian Bridgehead Plan.
When the Soviet Union also attacked, the Polish high command abandoned the plan and ordered its units to evacuate, many units went through Romanian borders, to the Black Sea ports and then to France. King Carol II was so concerned about Romania's safety that he didn't apply the "Polish - Romanian Alliance" against the Soviet Union that was established with Poland in 1921.
The guarantees from England and France made in 1939, seemed impossible to fulfill, so Romania's strategy switched in 1939 from western protection to German appeasement in order to improve relations with Germany. The government of Romania turned to Germany in hopes of a guarantee, unaware of the secret Ribbertrop-Molotov Pact between Germany and Russia who would also split Romania. King Carol II reasoned that a oil trade agreement between Romania and Germany should make Germany more concerned about Romania's safety. With Germany's trust won due to the oil trade, Romania adopted a "neutral benevolent" position towards the invaded Poland. Giving Germany insurance that Romania will stay neutral while allowing British shippments of weaponry to Poland from its Black Sea ports.
When Poland's defeat seemed inevitable, Romania allowed Poland to evacuate their gold reserves, tens of thousands of civillians, 60.000 Polish soldiers, the Polish president and the Polish government through their shared border in Bukovina. While the Polish government was in exile in Romania, Romania's prime minister Armand Calimanescu (the pirate!) was assassinated by the fascist Iron Guard party.
This wasn't because Romania allowed Poland to take refugee or because the Iron Guard was pro-Hitler, but because Armand Calimanescu helped the authorities suppress the Iron Guard a year earlier. The assassin's didn't have time to explain their motives because they were executed on sight.
Eventually, the Polish government left Romania through the Black Sea port in Constanta for England. From there, the new Polish government in exile continued the fight with Nazi Germany. After the double-invasion of Poland, Romania started to suspect a secret German-Soviet agreement. After USSR attacked Finland and the Baltic States, Romania became wary of USSR's next hit.
In 1940, after Nazi Germany got half of Poland and became well-armed, it went to strike France and England as well as the Northern States to prevent an eventual British landing. After Germany defeated France Romania found itself in a dangerous position: It was a winner of World War I, the war whose outcome Nazi Germany hated, it was an western-aligned country and it helped the Polish escape.
But the USSR was equally worried seeing Nazi Germany's power rising and hurried the occupation of their influence zone established in the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. While France got its coup de grace from Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union invaded Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The next day after the French armistice, Stalin informed Hitler that he will demand Romania to immediatly give up Bessarbia and Bukovina and in case of a refusal he will use force. Nazi Germany didn't like that USSR also wanted to demand Bukovina as it wasn't part of the agreement, and determined USSR to take a step back and only take Northern Bukovina.
Romania got the Soviet ultimatum on 26 June 1940 where it was asked to give up Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. King Carol II wished to fight back, but the Romanian army was under underequipped and less numerous than the Soviet Union. Besides, nobody could guarnatee that Hungary wouldn't attack Romania as well.
Nazi Germany rejected the idea of military help and advised King Carol II to accept the Soviet ultimatum. In that moment, Nazi Germany didn't simply please USSR, they were interested not to make Romania a theater of war so that they ensure the Romanian oil keeps flowing. After Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were given, King Carol II gave up the English and French guarantees, considering them useless, and started seeking protection from Nazi Germany requesting a "German military mission".
To please Nazi Germany, he made a new pro-Nazi government where he included the Iron Guard. But Hitler knew Romania's weakness and conditioned the "German military mission" on solving the differences with Hungary and Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania met at Turnu Severin to solve their disputes but it became clear that their expectations were completly opposite. While Romania was only willing to accept a small border modification, Hungary wanted all of Transylvania except for Banat region. King Carol II hoped that he will gain Hiter's good will by giving up Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria, but Hungary had better relations with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy alike.
Because the Hungarian - Romanian negiciations failed and the German spies reported Soviet troops massed on the Romanian border. Hitler decided to take Transylvania's problem into his own hands and established the Second Vienna Award. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy proposed to Romania a slightly modified version of Hungary's demands. A southern part of Transylvania will remain part of Romania but the rest will become part of Hungary. This was the end of Greater Romania. King Carol II accepted the dictate in hopes that the agreement will ensure Romania's independence, or what was left of it.
The other political leaders and the public were against accepting the agreement, but they didn't know that in the event that Romania doesn't accept the Second Vienna Award, Nazi Germany had prepared an expeditionary corps to occupy the petroleum region of Romania before USSR. After the agreement Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy guaranteed Romania, discouraging further USSR's aggression.
As such in a few months Russia took Bessarabia with Northern Bukovina, Bulgaria took Southern Dobruja and Hungary took Northern Transylvania. One third of Romania's 1939 area was taken in 1940 and with it Romania's population shrank from 20 million to 13 million, half of the lost population was ethnically Romanian.
Inside Romania, these territorial losses caused the popularity of Romania’s king and the government to plummet, further reinforcing the fascist and military factions who eventually staged a coup that turned the country into fascist dictatorship under Marshal Ion Antonescu and forced King Carol II to abdicate in favor of his son, King Michael I. When he took the throne, King Michael I was merely 18 years old and was more passionate about cars than politics.
The real leader of Romania was Marshal Ion Antonescu (the in-game fascist leader) that King Carol II himself named him "Prime minister with complete power". Immediatly after he was named "Prime minister with complete power", Ion Antonescu forced King Carol II to leave the country and established a fascist regime where he shared the power with the Iron Guard led by Horia Sima.
Ion Antonescu assured Nazi Germany that he will stand by Hitler who promised Romania's security and finally agreed for the "German military mission" in Romania. Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard merely continued King Carol II's external politics, but their similar ideology to Nazi Germany couldn't take them in another direction anyway.
The new regime firmly set the country on a course towards the Axis, Romania officially joined the "Tripartite Pact" on 23 November 1940. Led by: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan and with: Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and now Romania as well.
Ion Antonescu had 2 main objectives:
1. Keep USSR away from Romania. -> After the annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, USSR didn't want to stop there. USSR requested that Nazy Germany and Fascist Italy give up their guarantee on Romania, Nazi Germany refused. USSR requested that Nazy Germany and Fascist Italy allows USSR to take Southern Bukovina as well, Nazi Germany refused. USSR occupied a few Romanian islands on the Black Sea to test Romania's reaction. At the same time, the relationships between USSR and Nazi Germany were getting colder, suspicions were rising, and Nazi Germany took the decision to attack USSR as fast as possible to make it easier to invade Britain afterwards.
2. Take back Northern Transylvania from Hungary, via German arbitration. -> This is why, throught the war, Ion Antonescu tried to show Nazi Germany that Romania was more cooperative than Hungary. But Nazi Germany used this Romanian - Hungarian competition in his interest and didn't rush to fulfill Romania's wish.
Inside Romania, the Iron Guard's crimes and desire for power determined Ion Antonescu to get rid of them after he made sure Hitler was on his side. A coup attempt of the Iron Guard on 23 Jannuary 1941 was the right moment for Ion Antonescu to get rid of the Iron Guard, who eventually seeked asylum in Germany.
In spring, Nazi Germany occupied Yugoslavia and Greece to get avoid the danger of a British naval landing and secure his southern flank in his next campaign in USSR. On 12 June 1941 when Nazi Germany troops came to Romania, Hitler told Ion Antonescu his big secret, he was about to invade USSR. But Ion Antonescu anticipated this and already had a plan, he already made battle plans to get back Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia as well as occupy Transnistria. Thus Ion Antonescu offered to join the war in June 1941 against the Soviet under the pretext of recovering northern Bukovina and Bessarabia.
Hitler gave Ion Antonescu the command of German troops in Romania called "Army Corps General Antonescu".
- The 3rd Romanian army was to attack in north, in Northern Bukovina.
- The 4th Romanian army was to attack in south, in Southern Bessarabia.
- The 11th German army was to attack in the center, in Northern Bessarabia.
Nazi Germany attacked USSR on 22 June 1941 on the whole eastern front. The Romanian advance in Northern Bukovina and Bessarbia was pretty easy, on 5th of July the city of Cernauti was liberated, on 15th of July the city of Chisinau was liberated and on 17th of July Northern Bukovina and Bessarbia were completly liberated.
Ion Antonescu was 100% certain to continue the war, even if the leaders of the democratic parties Iuliu Maniu and Dinu Bratianu warned him that Romania's mission was over and this aggression will anger both USSR and England. At that moment, USSR was already in agreement with England and USA's lend-leaseing the Allies was a clear message against the Axis. King Michael I later said about the event: "Antonescu's biggest mistake was going to Stalingrad. This couldn't be accepted in Romania. What were we doing out there? Everyone agreed to retake Bessarabia, but no centerpiece from the Dniester".
But being completly confident in Nazi Germany's victory, Ion Antonescu promised Hitler that we will fight the war to the end against USSR and didn't ask any conditions for collaboration. In reality, Ion Antonescu hoped that his loyality will be rewarded with Northern Transylvania.
While the 3rd Romanian army and 11th German army advanced in Ukraine, the 4th Romanian army remained under Ion Antonescu's command and at Hitler's request attacked Odessa. The siege of Odessa was extremly bloody, after 2 months of fighting and 90.000 casualites the 4th Romanian army captured Odessa. After taking back Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia in July 1941, Ion Antonescu ordered the occupation of the Soviet territory between rivers Dnister and Bug.
According to his understanding with Hitler, this territory named Transnistria will be administrated by Romanian autorities. Antonescu wanted this territory before the invasion of the Soviet Union and when the opportunity came the told the new governor: "Govern like Romania was installed there for 2.000 years". The fact that Antonescu wanted the colonization of Transnistria was proven by the colonization of the territory by 150.000 Romanian peasants from east of Bug river.
Transnistria became an agricultural reserve for Romania and the troops in the east. The over 2 million people, mostly Ukrainians, were forced to work in a regime of economic exploitiation similar to what the Germans were doing in the rest of Ukraine. Ion Antonescu said: "Take as much as you can from Transnistria, but without doccuments, so that the Russians won't be able to take the doccuments and use them on the peace table." The governor of Transnistria, Gheorghe Alexianu, thought and acted similary to Antonescu and had free hand from Antonescu to "romanize" the former Soviet territory where less than 10% of the population was romanian.
It didn't take long until Ion Antonescu realised that Transnistria could be used by Hitler as compensation for Northern Transylvania that may remain forever as part of Hungary. Indeed, Hitler wanted to defuse the conflict between Romania and Hungary by offering Antonescu as much territory as he wanted in the east. Hitler offered Ion Antonescu to take as much as he wants from Russia. As an answer, the Romanian diplomacy declared that they won't give up their claims on Northern Transylvania. Ion Antonescu reached the conclusion that Transnistria should be only temporarly occupied and be used as a trade for Northern Transylvania at the end of the war.
Ion Antonescu was certain that 1942 is going to be the decisive year as far as the military opperations were concerned and offered Hitler the same number of divisions that he offered in 1941. The size of the Romanian army on the eastern front was second only to that of Germany and during the Battle of Stalingrad had over 350.000 troops.
But not every general agreed with Antonescu's volunteering. General Iosef Iacobici, commander of the 4th Army, who knew how bloody was the victory at Odessa, anticipated the failures on the eastern front and resigned as a sign of protest. According to a deal from Jannuary 1942, the Romanian troops were to be equipped with weapons from Germany, but during every provision crysis the Romanian troops were left behind.
The victories at Sevastopol and Kerci caused 18.000 losses. The blocking of the Russian offensive at Harkov caused other 14.000 losses. And the advancement in Caucas added 14.000 more losses. Meanwhile, not only the perspective of a new Russian winter made the Romanians worry, but also the realisation that the Romanian Anti-Tank equipment could not penetrate Russian T-34 tanks.
The vulnerability of the Romanian troops was seen at its height during the Battle of Stalingrad. While the 6th German army assulted the city, the Romanian divisions had the task of protecting the flanks. Autumn was about to end and everybody expected a Russian offensive during winter.
The reports of Romanian commanders stated the following:
- Their troops were obligated too cover a territory too large for their numbers.
- They had no anti-tank.
- They had no gas.
- The defensive workings were incomplete.
- They had no protection from aviation or artilery
- There were still Russian troops over the Volga river.
When Stalin started opperation Uranus, the Soviet tank focused on the center of the Romanian army, where no German units were present. Due to the lack of tanks and anti-tank guns, most Romanian troops were routed, only a few tens of thousands of people died and the connection with the German army in Stalingrad was cut. Yet the remains of the 3rd Romanian army now under the command of General Mihail Lascar were encircled early on and fought well for 4 days before being slowly defeated. Even Hitler himself noted the bravery of these troops. The Soviet Offensive afterwards causesd a total of 110.000 deaths. Half of all soldiers that saw action.
By the end of 1942, the German and Romanian commanders were busy to blame each other for the failure at Stalingrad, while morale of the army was 6 feet below. Ion Antonescu promised Hitler that he will remake the Romanian Army and will continue to fight side by side with Germany. But this time, the Axis was on defensive. At the end of Winter 1942, 6 Romanian divisions under the command of the German Army could barely hold the region of Kuban that was supposed to be the starting point for a new German offensive. The 3rd and 4th Army were on the Don river and 2 other divisions were defending Crimeea.
While the Germans tried to regain the initiative with the Battle of Kursk, the Soviet Union continued to push the Axis until they reached the Dniper river that splits Ukraine. In the autumn of 1943, the troops from Kuban had to retreat to Crimeea, leaving behind 10.000 deaths. Now, 75.000 Romanian troops were in Crimeea, but the Soviet Union pushed in October from Dnister to Perekop, cutting off the Romanian troops from the main frontline. Hitler told the commanders not to retreat and to keep holding so that the Axis would win some time and keep the Soviet bombers away from the Romanian oil fields.
But where the Soviet planes couldn't reach, the American and British planes reached. Romania was at war with the United Kingdom ever since 6th of December 1941 when the Romanian troops crossed over Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina and started advancing in Transnistria. The Romanian declaration of war to the United States came on 12th of December 1941 right after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but US President Roosevelt deemed it as a forced declaration due to subordination to Germany and didn't retaliate. That was until 6th of June 1942, where after insistence from the Soviet Union, the United States also declared war to Romania. One week later, the first American bombers attacked Poliesti but the mission was a failure. In 1943 however, the Americans came to take their revenge with opperation "Tidal Wave".
On 1st of August 1943, 177 American bombers attacked from Lybia the oil refinery in Poliesti, destroying half of the production capacity. USA's objective wasn't to cripple Romania's economy, but to destroy everything that could be used in the German war machine. The oil from Romania represented 25% of Germany's total use of oil.
For Ion Antonescu, the United Kingdom and United States were unwanted enemies, his goal being only the destruction of the Soviet Union. This is why, in the spring of 1943 he tried to present to both Hitler and the Allies, the danger of the Soviet Union in Europe. Arguing that a peace in west would ensure a complete concentration of forces in east and the defeat of the Soviet Union. Whether is was just a pretext to start negociating peace with the Allies without alerting is unknown. What is certrain in that Ion Antonescu tried to convince Benito Mussolini to ask for peace in the name of Germany's allies, which Mussolini refused, and that Hitler got mad when he found out that Romanian diplomats were talking with the Allies through neutral countries such as Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.
While the eastern front was getting closer and closer to Romania, Ion Antonescu tried to encourage an Allied landing in Greece. In Ankara, Turkey, the Romanian diplomats told the Allies that Ion Antonescu was ready to cooperate with the Allies and offer them gold, food, oil and the Romanian Army should they land in the Balkans and reach Romania before the Soviet Union. But the Allies had an agreement not to make separate treaties and that for any captulation to be made towards all 3 powers at the same time, including the Soviet Union. More than that, at the Tehran Conference the Allies gave up on the idea of a Balkan landing and agreed to a French landing, fact that the Romanians were unaware of.
Meanwhile, Italy has left the Axis and became a theatre of war for the Allies and the Axis, while the Soviet Union managed to break the defense at Dniper worring the Romanians even more. Hitler demanded Ion Antonescu to bring all his available units to the frontline, but Ion Antonescu refused stating the reason that the troops were not equipped yet. In reality, Ion Antonescu refused to send troops because the Hungarian army was well conserved and armed, while the Romanian army was tired and partially destroyed. And because everyone fearted that a theatre of war on Romanian territory was inevitable.
By 1944, when the Soviet Union reached the Romanian borders, discontent among the elite and the populace had grown which led to Prince Michael leading a coup against Marshal Ion Antonescu and Romania switching sides to the Allies.
The political parties of Romania, even though they had no power anymore, were left alone even during Ion Antonescu's dictatorship, they maintained contact and discussions with the Allies under the leadership of Iuliu Maniu in Turkey and Egypt. In the Allies' negociations with Iuliu Maniu, at Stalin's request, the condition for switching sides was that the Communists will have to be part of the new government.
On 23 March 1944 Marshal Ion Antonescu was in an official visit in Germany, King Michael I sent General Constantin Sănătescu, who served in World War II ever since 1941 and was vocal about his anti-fascist sentiments, however Ion Antonescu left him in charge due to his competence as a general, to ask the generals next to the Minister of War who he thought opposed Antonescu, whether they are willing to move to action, but the ressult was dissapointing, arguing that now it's not the time for a coup d'etat.
After a few days, during the working lunch, King Michael I realised there's no point trying to convince Ion Antonescu to change the external policy of the country. If an ultimatum for surrender were to come from the Allies, King Michael I asked thte political leaders to assume the responsability of accepting it, in that case he would publically request Ion Antonescu's resignation. This however didn't happen, and King Michael I now disillusioned, was convinced that he would need the army to depose Ion Antonescu, the army that after asked by Constantin Sănătescu, considered that it wasn't the time yet.
On August 1944 King Michael I found a good moment for the coup d'etat, as Germany Army retreated their tank divisions from the Romanian front and the Soviet Army was regrouping for a few months on the frontline and could initiate a large attack at any moment. The Germany Secret Police became suspicious and Queen Mother Elena was interogated, without revealing that she was aware of her son's plans. To weaken the suspicions, King Michael I left for a hunting between 16 and 18 August, and staying for the next 2 days at his castle in Sinaia.
On 20 August 1944, the news came that the Russians started the Opperation Iasi-Chisinau, thus King Michael I left quickly towards Bucharest followed by secretary Mircea Ionnitiu, adjutant Emilian Ionescu and general Gheorghe Mihail, his military adviser. In Bucharest he held a metting with the military leaders, and they were in favor of a coup d'etat. Among them was general Dumitru Dămăceanu, who was the Chief of Staff of Bucharest's Military Command. Constantin Sănătescu, Ioan Mocsony-Stârcea, Grigore Niculescu-Buzești, Mircea Ionnițiu and Aurel Aldea also participated at the meeting. Dumitru Dămăceanu was asked how much time he needs to gather troops to occupy the strategic points in Bucharest, he answered that he needs 5 days, as such the time of the coup d'etat was set on 26 August.
On the night of 21 August the political leaders Iuliu Maniu, Constantin Brătianu, Titel Petrescu and Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu had a meeting where the political class agreed over the plan established a night before. King Michael I delegated Iuliu Maniu and Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu to form the list of new ministers for the new government until 23 August. During the meeting, the political class approved the text of a telegram that was to be send to British General Maitland Wilson, the commander of the Allies in Egypt.
In that telegram, the Romanian plotters requested the support of the coup d'etat through the Allied bombardment of the German units in Northern Bucharest, next to Baneasa Airport, and of the railways at the border with Hungary and Yugoslavia. Mocsoni Styrcea, who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, went to Snagov and crypted 2 telegrams, one to be send through Turkey and another through a transmission apparatus owned by Iuliu Maniu.
In the morning of 22 August, before going back to Bucharest, the decided to swim in the lake and met with the general secretary of the minister, Davidescu, who informed him that Marshal Antonescu will return from the frontline and will have to leave Bucharest the next day, which will ruin the plans of the coup d'etat. Being informed of such things, King Michael I quickly moved the date to 23 August, without consulting the political leaders.
On 23 August 1944, Ion Antonescu gave the command to request an audience with King Michael I at 4:00 PM. King Michael I offered him a private audience at 3:30 PM. The discussion went for an hour, Ion Antonescu offered in-depth details of the frontline situation and said that we would only accept a truce with Hitler's consnet and refused to accept surrender, justifiny his position as "I gave my word to Adolf Hitler, that I will stand by him to the end". To which King Michael I replied: "If this is how things are, then there's nothing left to do" and called colonel Emilian Ionescu with a group of 4 soldiers taht arrested Marshal Ion Antonescu and his lawyer Mihai Antonescu. They were given to Emil Bodnaras, the leader of a group of partizans called "the Patriotic Guards", who transfered them in a conspirative house in Bucharest. Other pro-Antonescu ministers and generals were sent there as well: Constantin Pantazi, Dumitru Popescu, Constantin Vasiliu, Mircea Elefterescu and Eugen Cristescu. King Michael I later said about the event: "Antonescu and the rest considered me a child. When I took the state under their noses they were so surprised they didn't know what to do".
After Ion Anontescu was arreted, King Micahel I called the political leaders of the democratic parties: Constantin Brătianu, Iuliu Maniu and Titel Petrescu, as well as Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, representing the Communist Party. However, they weren't to be found, expeting the coup to take place on 26 August, the first to reach King Micahel I was Titel Petrescu, after the new government was already formed by people King Michael I trusted, while the former political ledaers were given the title of minister without a given position.
As the troops prepared by King Michael I and Iuliu Maniu were not available quickly, the only troops available were that of the communist Emil Bodnaras, fact eventually expolited by the communist propaganda, who argued that the Community Party played the leading role in the coup d'etat.
Before 8:00 PM, King Michael I recorded a message for the country to be broadcast on radio at 10:00 PM, which announced the change of government and the changing sides to the Allies. Solidarity with King Micahel I was general, with all the important officers being on his side. Following the broadcast of the message on the radio, popular demonstrations of enthusiasm broke out.
Around 9:00 PM, the German ambassador, Manfred von Killinger, came to visit King Michael I to learn about what happened. In order to buy time, King Michael I denied what happened, saying that Ion Anontescu is free. The next day, the German Army launched an attack on Bucharest, King Michael I however, already took refugee with Queen Mother Elena in Dobrita, Oltenia. With support from the American Airforce, the Romanian Army resisted the German attack on Bucharest. The Romanian Army fought against the Garmany Army until 28 August when the German Army in Bucharest and surrounding areas was whiped out. Around 56.000 German troops were taken prisoner. King Michael I later said about the event: "After August 23, the Russian offensive stopped. I suppose they wanted the same result as in Warsaw, where they stopped the offensive, letting the Germans destroy the Poles, then resumed the offensive".
Meanwhile, the Soviet Army started to advance in Romania, still counting Romania as an enemy territory and acting as such, confiscating munition and goods on their way to Bucharest, both public and civillian goods, and taking thousands of Romanian soldiers and officers as prisoners, who stopped fighting since 23 August. Still, starting with 23 August, the Romanian territory was exempted from being a theater of war, the Romanian-Soviet Truce was formally signed on 12 September 1944. When the Soviet Army reached Bucharest on 31 August, the pro-Antonescu regime, including Ion Anontescu, were given to the Red Army.
In 1980's, a document came out that Captain Gheorghe Teodorescu from the guard of the royal palace, who was stationed on August 23, claimed that it was written by Ion Antonescu the day immediately after his arrest. Ion Antonescu said that he did not in principle oppose the exit from the war, but that he refused it, arguing both with the difficult conditions of armistice in relation to the Soviet Union, signing a political act of surrender of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, accepting Soviet occupation, payment of indefinite damages, as well as most importantly with his total refusal to turn arms against Nazi Germany, a refusal assumed as the main argument and understood as such by the other participants. The document was published after the 1989 Romanian Revolution in the Romanian nationalist newspaper, published by circles seeking the rehabilitation of Antonescu and was included in several anthologies of period documents and works of other nationalist historians, but it is not difficult to revise the vision in any way.
After Ion Anontescu was given to the Soviet Army, general Constantin Sănătescu was tasked with forming a new government formed of democratic parties, the communist party and officers of the Romanian Army. This government negociated the truce with the Soviet Union and was forced to play war reparations, admit the territorial losses in 1940 and give more important functions to the communists. The Soviet Army completly occupied Romania, although initally the Romanian soldiers and officers were taken prisoner, the Soviet Union eventually accepted Romanian collaborations against Nazi Germany.
British Field Marshal and military advisor to Winston Churchill, Alan Brooke, declared that through the coup d'etat on 23 August 1944, Romania opened up the Balkans to the Soviet Union and contributed to the liberation of this region, shortening the war by 6 months and saving hundreds of thousands of lives. German General Johannes Friessner, commander of German Army Corps South, declared that the coup d'etat on 23 August 1944 was a betrayal of Romania towards the German Reich.
The Sovet Army gave Marshal Ion Antonescu to Soviet General Burenin, he was kept prisoner in the Soviet Union, not being judged at the Nurnberg Trials. Eventually, he was brought to Romania and judged by the People's Tribunal in a facade trial. Although he would have asked for a pardon, Marshal Ion Antonescu refused to sign the request for pardon brought to him by his lawyer, in order not to put King Michael I in a difficult situation, where King Micahel I would have been accused of pro-nazi sentiments if he would have accepted it and anti-Romanian sentiments if he would have rejected it. Marshal Ion Antonescu said during his trial: "If I had won the war, you would have built me statues in every city, but because I lost I will have to die. I ask to be sentenced to death and refuse any pardon". And then told the Romanian Communists "I foresee a third world war that will put humanity on its true social foundations. As such, you and your followers will do tomorrow what I tried to do today". Marshal Ion Antonescu was sentenced to death and executed on 1 June 1946 next to Jilava prison.
When the truce with the United Nations was formally signed on 12 September 1944, Romania assumed the obligation to contribute with 38 divisions against the anti-Nazi struggle effort. On October 25, the last Romanian towns are liberated: Carei and Satu-Mare. For the offensives in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, Romania mobilized approximately 567,000 soldiers. The heaviest battles took place in the siege of Budapest and in the Tatra Mountains, with heavy losses of human lives.
During Operation Barbarossa when Romania entered the Second World War on 22 June 1941, the 1st Romanian army was inside Romania while the 3rd and 4th armies formed the main Romanian assault force. After King Micahel's Coup, the 1st Romanian army became one of the main Romanian armies fighting for the Red Army on the Eastern Front. In its campaign from August 1944 to May 1945, the Romanian army lost about 64,000 men. At the Battle of Debrecen in October 1944, the Romanian units played a key part in the overall Soviet offensive, then took part in the Budapest Siege as part of the Red Army's 3rd Ukrainian Front.
Dr. Florin C. Stan, adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that most of the 20 points of the armistice required the Romanian state to be subordinated to the Soviets. "Not without significance was the signing of the Armistice only by Romanians and Soviets, the Anglo-Americans accepting representation through Soviet delegates. In the watermark, the message was obvious: Moscow was free to impose its own political interests on Bucharest". The only positive point was the 19th, which provided that the Second Vienna Award of 1940 is "null and void", this territory is to be returned to Romania. On the one hand, the armistice shortened the war by several months, saving hundreds of thousands of soldiers from death. However, on the other hand, it allowed the occupation of the country by the Red Army, which lasted until 1958, during which time the Soviets ensured the establishment of communism.
Year 1945 was one of internal disputes between the democrats and the communists. The great material shortcomings faced by the Romanians, due to the state of war and the obligations imposed by the Armistice Convention, facilitated the communist action to bring out the Romanians in the streets and to cause many to support the expected political and social changes. To participate in the removal by force of the state institutions and to impose on the leadership the political regime agreed by Moscow.
In January 1945, the leader of the Communist Party of Romania, Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej, is summoned to Moscow together with Ana Pauker. Stalin gives them clear instructions for the rapid seizure of power in Romania: the army, the interns, the public administration.
On 11 February 1945, in the face of this situation, General Nicolae Rădescu, now Prime Minister of the Romania, made known the main points of his government program. Among the most important were the continuation of the war, with all the power, together with the Allies, until the total defeat of Nazism, the loyalty and unobtrusive fulfillment of the clauses of the armistice concluded with the Allied Powers, the keeping of the order so that we could work in peace and as much as possible, more intensively in order to increase production and thus be able to cope with the contracting duties through the concluded truce.
Former General and now Prime Minister Nicolae Rădescu also said "I will defend, at any cost, the peace and order in the country, nobody should be afraid of anything if he steps on the right path, and I ask the Romanian people for reasonableness, keeping the most perfect order and peace, eagerness for hard and sporadic work, this are the only means of not slipping on the slope of the collapse”. These statements were received by Communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej as "an act of hostility towards our whole people, an act of defiance, an act of hostility towards our great allies and in the first place towards the Soviet Union”. Demonstrating firmness in maintaining the country's internal peace and the democratic structures, Prime Minister Nicolae Rădescu ordered that: "if the demonstrators, who are trying to occupy the institutions, do not withdraw, at the warning, to be fired", admitting even the possibility of reaching civil war.
Given the existence of the Soviet troops in Romania due to the armistice, in case of civil war there was a real danger of the direct intervention of the Soviet troops, marching through the streets, and of the military occupation of the country, which could easily be triggered by the patriotic guards, organized by the communists, they were ready to move to "the occupation by force of the main state institutions". At the order of the Soviet Union, 15 military bases from Bucharest were disarmed, including the Great General Staff.
In some cities such as Craiova, Caracal and Bucharest, in the attempt of the protesters to occupy, by force, the headquarters of the mayors and prefectures, the military and the police forces fired, being dead and injured, at the order of Prime Minister Nicolae Rădescu. Historian Alesandru Duţu said that: "It is worth mentioning that bullets of another caliber, which did not belong to the Romanian Army, were also fired”. The ministers of the National Democratic Front and the communist press accused the Romanian Army of being "fascist", assassinating the peaceful citizens of the country.
Afterwards, some of the military who had executed the order of Nicolae Rădescu were arrested and sentenced to prison, including General Iosif Teodorescu, the military commander of Bucharest. In most of the garrisons however, no weapon was used and the commanders avoiding bloodshed, by talking with the leaders of the protesters or with the commanders of the Soviet troops in the area.
Whenever an action by the communists was trying to be blocked by the Romanian authorities, the tanks of the Red Army were moved on the streets of Bucharest. The army, the police, the gendarmerie and the press were all in the hands of the Soviets, and the British and the Americans were just spectators of the play that Stalin had staged in Bucharest.
On 24 February 1945, the Communists summon a huge rally against the government in Bucharest. Over 25,000 people, led by Ana Pauker, pour into the square in front of the Government and the Royal Palace. The Soviets create diversion: they shoot a few gunshots in the crowd, kill people and then accuse the prime minister of having ordered the army to fire.
On 27 February 1945, Gheorghe Ghiorghiu Dej and Ana Pauker are helped by Moscow to seize power. Their political opponents, among whom Iuliu Maniu and Dinu Brătianu are labeled as enemies of the people. Stalin sends Andrei Vashinsky, the prosecutor who has instrumentalized the political processes in Moscow during the great purge, to Bucharest. Andrei Vashinsky comes directly to the Elisabeta Palace and asks King Michael I to dismiss Prime Minister Rădescu and replace him with communist Petru Groza.
King Micahel I asks for a break of thought. And makes a desperate appeal to Americans in an attempt to help him not appoint a Communist prime minister. The reply of the US representative in Bucharest, however, is a plastic one, telling King Michael I that "We don't want to put our fingers in the Romanian political soup". Irritated and frustrated, King Michael I responds in the same way: "Why do you refuse to put your fingers in my soup, when you know very well that your ally has put his hand in my throat?".
On 28 February 1945, however, Vashinsky returns, slamms the table, slamms the cabinet door and forces King Micahel I to dismiss Prime Minister Nicolae Radescu. In face of the Soviet tanks patrolling the streets of Bucharest and without any Western ally next to him, King Michael I accepts the demand and Prime Minister Nicolae Radescu is dismissed. King Michael I later said about the events: "During the period from 1944 to 1947 I was very unhappy. I can't say I was very hurt, but I was upset and disappointed, because I really hoped that the US and the UK would do something to stop the Russians".
On 6 March 1945, Andrei Vashinsky forces King Micahel I to appoint the pro-Soviet prime minister Petru Groza, who would shortly authorize the faithful military forces, especially the Division "Tudor Vladimirescu-Debrecen", established in 1943 on the Soviet territory from Romanian prisoners of war, to intervene in the street, this time against the opposition protesters represented by the democratic parties, in particular.
The Romanian government run by the Communists for the first time, who call themselves "the democratic force". The Petru Groza Government begins to purge the administration and intellectuals. And make a new land reform. He confiscates the large agricultural properties, divides them into small strips and gives them to the peasants. King Michael I went on a royal strike to block the government decisions imposed by the pro-Soviet regime.
The last offensive the 1st Romanian army took part in World War II was the Prague Offensive in May 1945. During the Prague Offensive, the 1st Romanian army operated together with the 4th Romanian army as part of the Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front. Marshal Ivan Koniev, the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, was the main Soviet commander in the area. Together with Marshal Georgy Zhukov's 1st Byelorussian Front, Koniev had launched the great attack on April 16 that resulted in the fall of Berlin and Soviet victory on the Eastern Front. The 260 days of participation in the anti-Nazi war ended on 12 May 1945 when Nazi Germany surrended, leaving room for the strengthening of Soviet influence in Romania.
With the first step already taken, the communists did not find it difficult to take complete and exclusive control of the country in the following years: they falsified the parliamentary elections of 1946, arrested the leaders of the National Liberal Party and the Peasant National Party, they forbade any opposition party and eventually ousted the king from the country. What started on 6 March 1945 ended on 30 December 1947 with the proclamation of the Romanian People's Republic and would last for almost half a century.
During the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947, Romania gained back Northern Transylvania, but not Southern Dobruja, Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia. Former democratic prime minister Gheorge Tatarescu said about the the Paris Peace treaties that: "This must be seen as an end, and at the same time as a beginning, it wipes out a lost war and it is a starting point for a new life." and later added that "The Russians will continue to stay. I do not believe in a war between the West and communism. My duty is to sign the Peace Treaty and save what is left of Romania".
In 1947 King Michael was forced to abdicate by the communists and Romania became a communist state. However, the communist propaganda made it that he left Romania willingly with all his wealth. King Michael I later said about the event: "Many think I'm a millionaire. Communist propaganda said that I left with dozens of cars full of gold and riches. And that has caught some people".
As such World War II is viewed by Romanians as a great injustice and as a war that they were forced into.
Romanians today usually blame the king for being incompetent and giving up that territory. He had his flaws, but I don’t think there’s anything he or the government could have done trapped between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union who both didn’t like Romania due to its previous western stance. Fighting back would have only ensured that more territory is lost. It's not like Hearts of Iron 4 where you can turn fascist or communist and they will suddenly be friendly.
Some see Romania as being sold by the Allies, but I don’t see what the Allies could have done after Germany defeated France. The only thing the Allies can be blamed is not attacking the Soviet Union in 1945 as Churchill urged them to do.
Ion Antonescu is controversed. He was definetly a patriot, had integrity and was a good strategist. But some see him as a villain who allied with Nazi Germany taking part in stuff that must not be named, although reluctantly; others see him as a hero trying to recover Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia, while others see him as a pragmatic leader who didn’t care for the fascist ideology but was confident Germany will win and wanted to be on the winning side.
There was no way World War II could have ended well for Romania, the choice was either Communism or Nazism. Romania was positioned between the Fascist hammer and the Communist anvil.
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