Editing History of Romania (section)

== World War I ==
{{Main|Romanian Campaign (World War I)}}

[[File:Romanians before WW1.jpg|thumb|Territories inhabited by Romanians before WWI]]

Due to Romania's unfavorable location between the [[Russian Empire]] and [[Kingdom of Bulgaria]] as well as [[King Carol I of Romania]]'s German heritage, Romania had a secret treaty of alliance with [[Germany]] and [[Austria-Hungary]] since 1883. When the war began in 1914, King Carol I summoned an emergency midnight council where he revealed the secret treaty of alliance. While the king favored Germany, the nation's political elite favored the Entente. As such, the crown council took the decision to remain neutral.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwcWDFZWuJgC&q=Carol+romania+war+secret&pg=PA102 |title=Brief Romanian Military History |author-first=Călin |author-last=Hentea |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |year=2007 |access-date=2014-03-02 |page=102 |isbn=978-0-8108-5820-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjZHLXRKjtEC&q=Carol+romania+war+secret&pg=PA208 |title=A Companion to World War I |author-first=Jean-Jacques|author-last=Becker |chapter=Chapter Fourteen: War Aims and Neutrality |editor-first=John |editor-last=Horne |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]] |date=2012-01-30 |access-date=2014-03-02 |page=208 |isbn=978-1-4051-2386-0}}</ref> When the Austro-Hungarian Empire invoked a [[casus foederis]] on Romania and Italy linked to the secret treaty of alliance since 1883, both Italy and Romania refused to honor the treaty on the grounds that the attacks on Austria were not ''"unprovoked"'', as stipulated in the treaty of alliance.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwcWDFZWuJgC&pg=PA102 |title=Brief Romanian Military History |author-first=Călin |author-last=Hentea |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |year=2007 |access-date=2014-03-02 |page=102 |isbn=978-0-8108-5820-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjZHLXRKjtEC&pg=PA208 |title=A Companion to World War I |author-first=Jean-Jacques|author-last=Becker |chapter=Chapter Fourteen: War Aims and Neutrality |editor-first=John |editor-last=Horne |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]] |date=2012-01-30 |access-date=2014-03-02 |page=208 |isbn=978-1-4051-2386-0}}</ref>

King Carol I died on 10 October 1914, and his successor, [[King Ferdinand I of Romania]] was much more favorable towards the Entente. In August 1916, Romania received an ultimatum to decide whether to join the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]]. The Romanian government agreed to enter the war on the side of the Entente, although the situation on the battle fronts was not favorable. For Romania, the highest priority was taking [[Transylvania]] from [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]], with around 2,800,000 Romanians out of around 5,000,000 people. [[Allies of World War I|The Allies]] wanted Romania to join their side in order to cut rail communications between Germany and [[Turkey]], and to cut off Germany's oil supplies. [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] made loans, [[French Third Republic|France]] sent a [[French military mission to Romania (1916–1918)|military training mission]], and Russia promised modern munitions. The Allies promised at least 200,000 soldiers to defend Romania against Bulgaria to the south, and help it invade Austria-Hungary.<ref>Marcel Mitrasca, ''Moldova: A Romanian Province under Russian Rule. Diplomatic History from the Archives of the Great Powers'', pg. 56</ref>

On 4 August 1916, Romania and the Entente signed the Political Treaty and Military Convention, which established the parameters of Romania's participation in the war. The Allies promised to Romania the Austro-Hungarian regions of [[Bukovina]], [[Transylvania]] up to [[Tisza]] river and all of [[Banat]]. Joining the Entente had large popular support.<ref>Laurentiu-Cristian Dumitru, Preliminaries of Romania's entering the World War I, No. 1/2012, Bulletin of "Carol I" National Defence University, Bucharest, p.171</ref> The Romanian campaign plan ([[Hypothesis Z]]) consisted in attacking Austria-Hungary in Transylvania, while defending Southern Dobruja and [[Giurgiu County|Giurgiu]] from Bulgaria in the south.<ref name="Emporia">{{cite journal | url=https://esirc.emporia.edu/bitstream/handle/123456789/311/136.pdf?sequence=1 | title=Romania's Entry into the First World War: The Problem of Strategy|author=Torrie, Glenn E. |journal=Emporia State Research Studies|date=Spring 1978|volume=26|issue=4|pages=7–8|publisher=[[Emporia State University]]}}</ref>

[[File:RomaniaLosses1918.jpg|thumb|Romanian territorial losses in the Treaty of Bucharest in May 1918]]

The German high command was seriously worried about the prospect of Romania entering the war, [[Paul von Hindenburg]] writing:

<blockquote>It is certain that so relatively small a state as Rumania had never before been given a role so important, and, indeed, so decisive for the history of the world at so favorable a moment. Never before had two great Powers like Germany and Austria found themselves so much at the mercy of the military resources of a country which had scarcely one twentieth of the population of the two great states. Judging by the military situation, it was to be expected that Rumania had only to advance where she wished to decide the world war in favor of those Powers which had been hurling themselves at us in vain for years. Thus everything seemed to depend on whether Rumania was ready to make any sort of use of her momentary advantage.<ref>Paul von Hindenburg, ''Out of My Life, Vol. I, ''trans. F.A. Holt (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1927), 243.</ref></blockquote>

On 27 August 1916, the Romanian Army [[Battle of Transylvania|launched an attack]] against Austria-Hungary, with limited Russian support. The Romanian offensive was initially successful and Romania managed to occupy 1/3rd of Transylvania, but when the German army arrived in Transylvania the Romanians began to be pushed back.<ref>Michael B. Barrett, ''Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania'' (2013)</ref> While on the southern front, a combined German-Bulgarian-Turkish offensive gradually occupied all of [[Dobruja]] and captured Giurgiu. The bulk of the Romanian army managed to escape encirclement from Giurgiu and retreated to [[Bucharest]]. As a result of the [[Battle of Bucharest]], the Central Powers occupied Bucharest on 6 December 1916.<ref>România în anii primului război mondial, vol.2, p. 831</ref>

In the summer of 1917, one of the largest concentrations of forces in World War I was present in Romania: 9 armies, 80 infantry divisions and 19 cavalry divisions, totaling 974 battalions, 550 squadrons and 923 artillery batteries. 800,000 combatants and 1,000,000 reservists were present.<ref>România în anii primului război mondial, vol. 2, Ed. Militară, Bucharest, 1987</ref>

In 1917, a new [[Central Powers]] offensive began, leading to the battles of [[Răcoasa|Mărăști]], [[Mărășești]], and [[Oituz]], where the Romanian army managed to defeat the [[Central Powers]] offensives and take back some territory in a counter-offensive.<ref>România în anii primului război mondial, vol. 2, pp. 834–835</ref><ref>Sanders Marble, Brill, 2016, King of Battle: Artillery in World War I, pp. 343–349</ref> Romania lost over 27,000 men while Germany and Austria-Hungary lost over 60,000. Notably, the Romanian heroine [[Ecaterina Teodoroiu]] and German General [[Karl von Wenninger]] were killed at the end of the [[Battle of Mărășești]].<ref>Keith Hitchins, Clarendon Press, 1994, Rumania 1866–1947, p. 269</ref> However, shortly after the military victories, the [[October Revolution]] threw the [[Russian Empire]] out of the war leaving Romania alone on the Eastern Front, completely surrounded by the Central Powers. This forced Romania to drop out of the war, and it signed the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1918)|Treaty of Bucharest]] with the Central Powers in May 1918.<ref name="auto">John Keegan, ''World War I'', pg. 308</ref>
[[File:Emil Rebreanu.png|thumb|Military officer [[Emil Rebreanu]] (1891–1917), here wearing his [[Medal for Bravery (Austria-Hungary)|Medal for Bravery]], was among the Romanians executed during [[World War I]] by the Russian Empire]]
In 1939, General August von Mackensen would describe the Central Powers offensive from 1917 as following:

<blockquote>After fighting with the Rumanians in 1916, I thought the Rumanian army had disappeared, that it did not exist in 1917 when I had to make a new effort to conquer the rest of Rumania. But when the battles started in Mărășești, Mărăști, Oituz, I was told that in front of me was the Rumanian army that I was convinced had disappeared. But the Rumanian army has risen from its ashes like the Phoenix bird. The attacks on the bayonet scared everyone, and they were running, the Germans, who didn't usually run, this time they were running.<ref>Ioan Scurtu, Octavian Silivestru, Oral History Archive, 1994</ref></blockquote>

Under the terms of the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1918)|Treaty of Bucharest]], Romania would lose all of Dobruja to Bulgaria, all the Carpathian passes to Austria-Hungary and would lease all of its oil reserves to Germany for 99 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/routreat.html|title=Article X of the Treaty|access-date=17 September 2017|archive-date=24 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324234829/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/routreat.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="ropeace">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=joHTAAAAMAAJ|title=Texts of the Roumanian "Peace"|author=United States Department of State|author-link=United States Department of State|publisher=Washington Government Printing Office|year=1918}}</ref> However, the [[Central Powers]] recognized Romania's union with [[Bessarabia]] who had recently declared independence from the Russian Empire following the October Revolution and voted for union with Romania in April 1918.<ref>R. J. Crampton, ''Eastern Europe in the twentieth century'', Routledge, 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-415-05346-4}}, p. 24–25</ref> The parliament signed the treaty, however [[Ferdinand I of Romania|King Ferdinand]] refused to sign it, hoping for an Allied victory on the western front.<ref name="auto" /> In October 1918, Romania renounced the treaty and on 10 November 1918, one day before the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|German armistice]], Romania reentered the war after the successful Allied advances on the [[Macedonian front]] and advanced in Transylvania. The next day, the Treaty of Bucharest was nullified by the terms of the Armistice of [[Compiègne]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Béla |first=Köpeczi |title=Erdély története |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |url=http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02109/html/571.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Béla |first=Köpeczi |title=History of Transylvania |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |url=http://mek.niif.hu/03400/03407/html/429.html |isbn=978-84-8371-020-3 |year=1998}}</ref> Total Romanian deaths from 1914 to 1918, military and civilian, within contemporary borders, were estimated at 748,000.<ref>{{cite book |title=Потери народонаселения в 20. веке |language=ru |trans-title=The loss of population in the 20th Century |last=Erlikman |first=Vadim |year=2004 |location=Moscow |publisher=Русская панорама |isbn=978-5-93165-107-1}}</ref>

=== Transylvanian, Bukovinian and Bessarabian Romanians ===

In Austria-Hungary, ethnic Romanians entered the war from the very beginning, with hundreds of thousands of Transylvanian and Bukovinian Romanians being mobilized throughout the war. Although most Transylvanian Romanians were loyal to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, over time, reactionary sentiments emerged, especially after Romania joined the war in 1916. Many of the previously loyal soldiers decided that it was much better to risk their lives through desertion, rather than shoot their ethnic conationals.<ref name="auto1">Erlikman, Vadim (2004). Poteri narodonaseleniia v XX veke : spravochnik. Moscow. Page 51</ref> According to studies made by the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the dedication of the Romanian military to the interest of Austria-Hungary was reduced, only ethnic Italians of the same empire can compete with them for the last place in a ranking according to devotion to the state per 100 soldiers, out of about 300,000 Austro-Hungarian deserters, 150,000 were ethnic Romanians.<ref name="auto2">Volantini di guerra: la lingua romena in Italia nella propaganda del primo conflitto mondiale, Damian, 2012</ref>

The Austro-Hungarian Romanian prisoners of war in the Russian Empire would eventually form the [[Romanian Volunteer Corps in Russia]] who would eventually be repatriated to Romania in 1917 and take part in the battles of Mărăști, Mărășești and Oituz<ref>Mamina ''et al.'', p.41; Șerban (1997), p.104-105; (2001), p.149; (''AUASH'' 2004), p.179-180</ref><ref>Părean, [p.4]; Șerban (1997), p.103; (''AUASH'' 2004), p.179</ref> and the Romanian Legion in Siberia who resisted the [[Bolsheviks]] in cooperation with the [[Czechoslovak Legion]] and the [[White movement]] during the [[Russian Civil War]], these units were ultimately repatriated to Greater Romania in 1920.<ref>Șerban (2003), p.153</ref><ref>Cazacu, p.117</ref> While the Austro-Hungarian Romanian prisoners of war in Italy would form the Romanian Volunteer Legion from Italy, which joined the fighting during the last battles on the [[Italian Front (World War I)|Italian front]] and later, after the end of the war, participated in the [[Hungarian-Romanian War]]. Out of a total of 60,000 prisoners of war of Romanian origin, 37,000 Romanians requested to join the Romanian Legion in Italy.<ref name="auto2" /> The ranks of the Austro-Hungarian soldiers enlisted in the Romanian Legion were equivalated to those corresponding of the Italian Royal Army.<ref>Legiunea Voluntarilor Români din Italia, Bușe, 2007, p. 12.</ref> The sedentary part of the Romanian Legion, under the command of Colonel Camillo Ferraioli, was established at [[Albano Laziale]], and the base camp in the [[Avezzano]] camp.<ref>Legiunea Română din Italia, Grecu. p. 3.</ref>

It is estimated that in the period 1914–1918 between 400,000 and 600,000 soldiers of Romanian origin fought on different fronts of Austria-Hungary, which represented a significant percentage of the Romanian ethnics who lived in those times in the Empire. In total, up to 150,000 Romanians were killed in action while fighting as part of the Austro-Hungarian Army.<ref name="auto1" />