Ten Wisely Led..
Chapter I.
The First World War
The 1878-1914 period was a stage of extreme progress for Romania. Politics were then based around two huge parties - the conservative one (Lascar Catargiu, P.P. Carp, Gh. Grigore Cantacuzino, Titu Maiorescu, a.o.) and the liberal one (Ion C. Bratianu, Dimitrie A. Sturdza, Ion I.C. Bratianu, a.o.). They both came to power became the characteristic trait of the times politics. The expansionist policy of Russia determined Romania to sign in 1883 a secret alliance treaty with Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy; the treaty was renewed periodically until World War I. After staying neutral in the first Balkan war (1912-1913) Romania joined Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey against Bulgaria in the second Balkan war. The peace treaty of Bucharest (1913) marked the end of that conflict and under its provisions Southern Dobrudja - the Quadrilateral (the Durostor and Caliacra counties) became part of Romania.
August, of 1914. Rumania had initially declared neutrality in the Great War, however, in 1916 the Entente promised to help Rumania gain national unity (Mainly the Transylvania region of Northwestern Rumania; present day) if they would declare war on Austria-Hungary. Tensions were already high between the two nations at that time and with little debate the government, led by Ion I.C. Bratianu, started the mobilization process for war on the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The first Rumanian offensive of the First World War started soon after the declaration of war. The aim of the Trasylvanian Offensive was to retake disputed territory and to try and strike at the heart of the Austro-Hungarian empire from the East (As Russia had been attempting for 2 years). The assault started quickly and the startled Austro-Hungarian's were quickly overrun. In the 29 day operation Rumania had pushed 120km into Austria-Hungary before being slowed down. The organization of defensive positions began.
Rumanian troops marching in Transylvania
As a result of the 2nd Army’s offensive in Transylvania Bulgaria declared war on Rumania on August 19, 1916. Bulgarian units from the southern border of Romania launched the attack during the night of 18-19 On 22 August the battle of Bazargic started. The Bulgarian-German-Turkish troops quickly took the town and the 3rd Romanian Army troops were defeated at Turtucaia. Silistra was evacuated to avoid encirclement. The forces of the 3rd Bulgarian Army reached the Rasova, Cobadin, Topraisar alignment, where they were stopped on the 3rd of September.
Battle of Marasti
The Romanian General Headquarters together with the Russian High Command on the Moldavian Front had drawn up an offensive plan, which called for a double strike: one in the Marasti area and the other on the lower part of the Sereth River area. It was hoped that this way the German 9th Army would be encircled and destroyed and then the advance could continue to the heart of the enemy. The attack was launched in July of 1917. The Rumanian/Russian forces found much sucess in the opening days of the offensive. They manage to create a bulge in the enemy lines 20km deep and 30km wide. 2000 POW's were captured along with 70 artillery pieces. Rumanians took 4,500 casualties in the opening offensive, however. (1,500 dead: 3,000 wounded).
Rumanian trenches at Marasti
With reinforcements from the German 9th Army the Austro-Hungarians planned their counterattack in the Marasti area. The counteroffensive soon began. The Rumanians held their ground as long as they could. They were soon overwhelmed and pushed back from their forward positions. They fell back to second lines of defense, then third. The attack soon came to a stalemate, however. And with the last day of the Battle of Marasti's arrival both sides adopted a defensive stance. The Rumanian first army alone lost 27,510 men alone and the German 9th army took 47,000 casualties. The Battle of Marasti was the bloodiest of Rumania's battles in WWI and a memorial now stands to honor those who fought and died at the Marasti offensive.
The Rumanian's end of involvement in WWI soon came, however. With the Russian October revolution and their withdrawl from the war, their Rumanian allies were obliged to do the same. In March of 1918 Rumania signed the Bucharest treaty with the Central Powers. The treaty, however, was never ratified, and later in 1918 Rumania denounced the treaty and returned to the war where they fought a defensive one until November 11, 1919, the end of the First World War.
