Editing History of Romania (section)

== World War II and aftermath (1940–1947) ==
{{Main|Romania during World War II|Bombing of Romania in World War II}}
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2022}}
[[File:Romania 1930 ethnic map EN.png|thumb|right|Ethnic map of Greater Romania according to the [[Demographic history of Romania#29 December 1930 census|1930 census]]. Sizeable ethnic minorities put Romania at odds with Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union throughout the interwar period.]]

Eight days later Nazi Germany invaded the [[Second Polish Republic]]. Expecting military aid from Britain and France, Poland chose not to activate the [[Polish-Romanian Alliance]] in order to be able to use the [[Romanian Bridgehead]] strategy. A neutral Romania would be used to resupply the Polish troops and could be used as an escape corridor in case of defeat. Following the fall of Poland, the Polish government, the treasury of the [[National Bank of Poland]] and about 120,000 Polish troops withdrew through the Romania, the majority of those troops joined the newly formed [[Polish Armed Forces in the West]] in France and the [[United Kingdom]] during 1939 and 1940.<ref name="FT06">Kwan Yuk Pan, [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0d441dfa-ecf1-11d9-9d20-00000e2511c8.html "Polish veterans to take pride of place in victory parade"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318131325/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0d441dfa-ecf1-11d9-9d20-00000e2511c8.html |date=2007-03-18 }}, ''[[Financial Times]]'', May 25, 2007. Last accessed on 31 March 2006.</ref>

Romania officially remained neutral and, under pressure from the Soviet Union and Germany, interned the fleeing Polish government after its members had crossed the Polish–Romanian border on 17 September, forcing them to relegate their authority to what became the [[Polish government-in-exile]].<ref>Michael Alfred Peszke. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zhb2doihL1wC&pg=PA25 ''The Polish Underground Army, the Western Allies and the Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II''], McFarland, 2005, {{ISBN|0-7864-2009-X}}</ref> After the assassination of Prime Minister [[Armand Călinescu]] on 21 September King Carol II tried to maintain neutrality for several months longer, but the surrender of the [[Third French Republic]] and the retreat of British forces from continental Europe rendered the assurances that both countries had made to Romania meaningless.<ref name="Study" />

[[File:PérdidasTerritorialesRumanas1940-ro.svg|thumb|right|Romania after the territorial losses of 1940. The recovery of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina was the catalyst for Romania's entry into the war on Germany's side.]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B03212, München, Staatsbesuch Jon Antonescu bei Hitler.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ion Antonescu|Antonescu]] and [[Adolf Hitler]] at the ''[[Hochschule für Musik und Theater München|Führerbau]]'' in [[Munich]], June 1941]]

In 1940 Romania's territorial gains made following [[World War I]] were largely undone. In July, after a Soviet ultimatum, Romania agreed to [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|give up Bessarabia and northern Bukovina]] (the Soviets also annexed the city of [[Hertsa]], which was not stated in the ultimatum). Two-thirds of Bessarabia were combined with a [[Moldavian ASSR|small part of the Soviet Union]] to form the [[Moldavian SSR|Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. The rest (northern Bukovina, the northern half of [[Hotin county]] and [[Budjak]]) was apportioned to the [[Ukrainian SSR|Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]].

Shortly thereafter, on 30 August, under the [[Second Vienna Award]], Germany and [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] mediated a compromise between Romania and the [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Kingdom of Hungary]]: Hungary received a region referred to as '[[Northern Transylvania]]', while 'Southern Transylvania' remained part of Romania. Hungary had lost [[Transylvania]] after [[World War I]] in the [[Treaty of Trianon]]. On 7 September, under the [[Treaty of Craiova]], [[Southern Dobruja]] (which Bulgaria had lost after the Romanian invasion during the [[Second Balkan War]] in 1913), was ceded to Bulgaria under pressure from Germany. Despite the relatively recent acquisition of these territories, they were inhabited by a majority of Romanian speaking people (except Southern Dobruja), so the Romanians had seen them as historically belonging to Romania, and the fact that so much land was lost without a fight shattered the underpinnings of King Carol's power.

On 4 July, [[Ion Gigurtu]] formed the first Romanian government to include an Iron Guardist minister, [[Horia Sima]]. Sima was a particularly virulent [[Antisemitism|antisemite]] who had become the nominal leader of the movement after the death of [[Corneliu Codreanu]]. He was one of the few prominent far-right leaders to survive the bloody infighting and government suppression of the preceding years.

In the immediate wake of the loss of Northern Transylvania, on 4 September the Iron Guard (led by Horia Sima) and General (later Marshal) [[Ion Antonescu]] united to form the "[[National Legionary State]]", which forced the abdication of Carol II in favor of his 19-year-old son [[Michael of Romania|Michael]]. Carol and his mistress [[Magda Lupescu]] went into exile, and Romania, despite the unfavorable outcome of recent territorial disputes, leaned strongly toward the [[Axis powers|Axis]]. As part of the deal, the Iron Guard became the sole legal party in Romania. Antonescu became the Iron Guard's honorary leader, while Sima became deputy premier.

In power, the Iron Guard stiffened the already harsh antisemitic legislation, enacted legislation directed against minority businessmen and wreaked vengeance upon its enemies. On 8 October German troops began crossing into Romania. On 23 November Romania joined the Axis powers. On 27 November, 64 former dignitaries or officials were executed by the [[Iron Guard]] in [[Jilava]] prison while awaiting trial (see ''[[Jilava Massacre]]''). Later that day, historian and former prime minister [[Nicolae Iorga]] and economist [[Virgil Madgearu]], a former government minister, were assassinated.

The cohabitation between the Iron Guard and Antonescu was never an easy one. On 20 January 1941, the Iron Guard attempted a [[Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom|coup, combined with a pogrom against the Jews]] of [[Bucharest]]. Within four days, Antonescu had successfully suppressed the coup. The Iron Guard was forced out of the government. Sima and many other legionnaires took refuge in Germany;<ref>{{Cite book|title=The legionary movement after Corneliu Codreanu : from the dictatorship of King Carol II to the communist regime (February 1938 – August 1944)|last=Țiu, Ilarion.|date=2010|publisher=East European Monographs|isbn=978-0-88033-659-8|pages=184–186|oclc=630496676}}</ref> others were imprisoned. Antonescu abolished the National Legionary State, in its stead declaring Romania a "National and Social State."

[[File:Romania1941.png|thumb|Romania [[Transnistria Governorate|administered Transnistria]], the area between the [[Dniester]] and [[Southern Bug]], in July 1941]]
[[File:Razboiul Sfant Contra Bolsevismului (1941 stamp).svg|thumb|1941 stamp depicting a Romanian and a German soldier in reference to the two countries' common participation in Operation Barbarossa, the text below reads ''the holy war against [[Bolshevism]]'']]

On 22 June 1941, German armies with Romanian support attacked the Soviet Union. German and Romanian units conquered Bessarabia, Odessa, and Sevastopol, then marched eastward across the Russian steppes toward Stalingrad. Romania welcomed the war because they were allies with Germany. Hitler rewarded Romania's loyalty by returning Bessarabia and northern Bukovina and by allowing Romania to administer Soviet lands immediately between the Dniester and the Bug, including Odessa and Nikolaev.<ref>Vladimir Solonari, ''A satellite empire: Romanian rule in southwestern Ukraine, 1941–1944'' (2019).</ref> Romanian jingoes in Odessa even distributed a geography showing that the Dacians had inhabited most of southern Russia.<ref name="Study" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/romaniacountryst00bach_0|title=Romania : a country study|last1=Bachman|first1=Ronald D.|last2=Keefe|first2=Eugene K. Area handbook for Romania|last3=Library of Congress. Federal Research Division|date=1991|publisher=Washington, D.C. : The Division : For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O.|others=The Library of Congress|pages=[https://archive.org/details/romaniacountryst00bach_0/page/41 41]}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> After recovering Bessarabia and Bukovina ([[Operation München]]), Romanian units fought side by side with the Germans onward to [[Odessa]], [[Sevastopol]], [[Stalingrad]] and the [[Caucasus]]. The total number of troops involved on the Eastern Front with the [[Third Army (Romania)|Romanian Third Army]] and the [[Fourth Army (Romania)|Romanian Fourth Army]] was second only to that of Nazi Germany itself. The Romanian Army had a total of 686,258 men under arms in the summer of 1941 and a total of 1,224,691 men in the summer of 1944.<ref name='Sources'>{{cite book|editor-last=Axworthy|editor-first=Mark| editor2-last=Scafes |editor2-first=Cornel|editor3-last=Craciunoiu|editor3-first=Cristian |title=Third axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces In the European War 1941–1945|publisher=Arms & Armour Press|year=1995| location=London|pages=1–368|isbn=963-389-606-1}}</ref> The number of Romanian troops sent to fight in the Soviet Union exceeded that of all of Germany's other allies combined. A ''[[Library of Congress Country Studies|Country Study]]'' by the U.S. Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress attributes this to a "morbid competition with Hungary to curry Hitler's favor... [in hope of]... regaining northern Transylvania."<ref name="Study" />

[[Bessarabia]] and the [[Northern Bukovina]] were now fully re-incorporated into the Romanian state after they had been [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|occupied by the USSR a year earlier]]. As a substitute for Northern Transylvania, which had been given to Hungary following the [[Second Vienna Award]], Hitler persuaded Antonescu in August 1941 to also take control of the [[Transnistria]] territory between the [[Dniester]] and the [[Southern Bug]], which would also include [[Odessa]] after its eventual [[Battle of Odessa (1941)|fall in October 1941]]. Although the Romanian administration set up a civil government, the [[Transnistria Governorate]], the Romanian state had not yet formally incorporated Transnistria into its administrative framework by the time it was retaken by Soviet troops in early 1944.

Romanian armies advanced far into the Soviet Union during 1941 and 1942 before being involved in the disaster at the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] in the winter of 1942–43. [[Petre Dumitrescu]], one of Romania's most important generals, was commander of the Third Army at Stalingrad. In November 1942, the [[6th Army (Wehrmacht)|German Sixth Army]] was briefly put at Dumitrescu's disposal during a German attempt to relieve the Third Army following the devastating Soviet [[Operation Uranus]]. Prior to the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad, the Antonescu government considered a war with Hungary over Transylvania an inevitability after the expected victory over the Soviet Union.<ref name="Study" />

=== King Michael's Coup ===

On 23 August 1944, with the Red Army penetrating German defenses during the [[Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive|Jassy–Kishinev Offensive]], King [[Michael I of Romania]] led a successful coup against the Axis with support from opposition politicians, most of the army and [[Romanian Communist Party|Communist]]-led civilians.<ref name="Library" /> Michael I, who was initially considered to be not much more than a figurehead, was able to successfully depose the Antonescu dictatorship. The King then offered a non-confrontational retreat to German ambassador [[Manfred von Killinger]]. But the Germans considered the coup "reversible" and attempted to turn the situation around by military force. The Romanian [[First Army (Romania)|First]], [[Second Army (Romania)|Second (forming)]], and what little was left of the [[Third Army (Romania)|Third]] and the [[Fourth Army (Romania)|Fourth Armies]] (one corps) were under orders from the King to defend Romania against any German attacks. King Michael offered to put the Romanian Army, which at that point had a strength of nearly 1,000,000 men,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rohistory.ici.ro/eng09.htm |title=Romania During the Second World War (1941–1945) |access-date=2011-01-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713084246/http://rohistory.ici.ro/eng09.htm |archive-date=2012-07-13 }}</ref> on the side of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. Stalin immediately recognized the king and the restoration of the conservative Romanian monarchy.<ref>Deutscher, Stalin. 1967, p.&nbsp;519</ref>

In a radio broadcast to the Romanian nation and army on the night of 23 August King Michael issued a cease-fire,<ref name="Library">[http://countrystudies.us/romania/23.htm ''Country Studies: Romania''], Chap. 23, [[Library of Congress]]</ref> proclaimed Romania's loyalty to the Allies, announced the acceptance of an armistice (to be signed on September 12)<ref>{{in lang|ro}} Delia Radu, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/romanian/news/story/2008/08/080801_serial_antonescu_episod3.shtml "Serialul 'Ion Antonescu și asumarea istoriei' (3)"], [[BBC]] Romanian edition, August 1, 2008</ref> offered by Great Britain, the United States, and the [[USSR]], and declared war on Germany.<ref>{{in lang|ro}} [http://www.curierulnational.ro/Specializat/2004-08-07/“Dictatura+a+luat+sfarsit+si+cu+ea+inceteaza+toate+asupririle” ''"The Dictatorship Has Ended and along with It All Oppression" – From The Proclamation to The Nation of King Michael I on The Night of August 23 1944''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160228102833/http://www.curierulnational.ro/Specializat/2004-08-07/%E2%80%9CDictatura+a+luat+sfarsit+si+cu+ea+inceteaza+toate+asupririle%E2%80%9D |date=2016-02-28 }}, ''[[Curierul Național]]'', August 7, 2004</ref> The coup accelerated the [[Red Army]]'s advance into Romania, but did not avert a rapid Soviet occupation and capture of about 130,000 Romanian soldiers, who were transported to the Soviet Union, where many perished in prison camps. The armistice was signed three weeks later on 12 September 1944, on terms virtually dictated by the Soviet Union.<ref name="Library" /> Under the terms of the armistice, Romania announced its unconditional surrender<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1944/08/24/archives/break-in-balkans-king-proclaims-nations-surrender-and-wish-to-help.html?scp=1 ''"King Proclaims Nation's Surrender and Wish to Help Allies"''], ''[[The New York Times]]'', August 24, 1944</ref> to the USSR and was placed under occupation of the Allied forces with the Soviet Union as their representative, in control of media, communication, post, and civil administration behind the front.<ref name="Library" /> Some attribute the postponement of a formal Allied recognition of the ''de facto'' change of orientation until 12 September (the date the armistice was signed in Moscow) to the complexities of the negotiations between the USSR and UK.<ref name="Honest">{{in lang|ro}} Constantiniu, Florin, ''O istorie sinceră a poporului român'' ("An Honest History of the Romanian People"), Ed. Univers Enciclopedic, București, 1997, {{ISBN|973-9243-07-X}}</ref>

[[File:1944soviet1.png|thumb|left|[[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] and others welcome the Red Army as it enters Bucharest on 30 August 1944]]
[[File:WWII Southern Central Europe 1944-1945.png|thumb|[[Allies of World War II|Allies]] operations against the [[Axis powers|Axis]]]]

During the [[Moscow Conference (1944)|Moscow Conference]] in October 1944 [[Winston Churchill]], [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]], proposed an [[Percentages agreement|agreement]] to [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet leader]] [[Joseph Stalin]] on how to split up [[Eastern Europe]] into spheres of influence after the war. The Soviet Union was offered a 90% share of influence in Romania.<ref>European Navigator: [http://www.ena.lu?lang=2&doc=4272 The division of Europe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927220124/http://www.ena.lu/?lang=2&doc=4272 |date=2007-09-27 }}</ref>

The Armistice Agreement of 12 September stipulated in Article 18 that "An Allied Control Commission will be established which will undertake until the conclusion of peace the regulation of and control over the execution of the present terms under the general direction and orders of the Allied (Soviet) High Command, acting on behalf of the Allied Powers". The Annex to Article 18 made clear that "The Romanian Government and their organs shall fulfil all instructions of the Allied Control Commission arising out of the Armistice Agreement." The Agreement also stipulated that the [[Allied Control Commission#Romania|Allied Control Commission]] would have its seat in [[Bucharest]]. In line with Article 14 of the Armistice Agreement, two [[Romanian People's Tribunals]] were set up to try suspected war criminals.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/rumania.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820014103/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/rumania.htm|url-status=dead|title=The Armistice Agreement with Romania|archive-date=August 20, 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Romania WWII.png|thumb|right|Map of Romania after World War II indicating lost territories]]

As the country declared war on Germany on the night of 23 August 1944, border clashes between Hungarian and Romanian troops erupted almost immediately. On 24 August, German troops attempted to seize Bucharest and suppress Michael's coup, but were repelled by the city's defenses, which received some support from the United States Air Force. Other Wehrmacht units in the country suffered severe losses: remnants of the Sixth Army retreating west of the [[Prut River]] were cut off and destroyed by the Red Army, which was now advancing at an even greater speed, while Romanian units attacked German garrisons at the [[Ploiești]] oilfields, forcing them to retreat to Hungary. The Romanian Army captured over 50,000 German prisoners around this time, who were later surrendered to the Soviets.<ref name="jn">{{in lang|ro}} Florin Mihai, [http://www.jurnalul.ro/articole/106834/sarbatoarea-armatei-romane "Sărbătoarea Armatei Române"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616194953/http://jurnalul.ro/articole/106834/sarbatoarea-armatei-romane |date=2013-06-16 }}, ''[[Jurnalul Național]]'', October 25, 2007</ref>

In early September, Soviet and Romanian forces entered Transylvania and captured the towns of [[Brașov]] and [[Sibiu]] while advancing toward the [[Mureș River]]. Their main objective was [[Cluj]] (Cluj-Napoca), a city regarded as the historical capital of Transylvania. However, the [[Second Army (Hungary)|Second Hungarian Army]] was present in the region, and together with the [[8th Army (Wehrmacht)|Eighth German Army]] engaged the Allied forces on 5 September in what was to become the [[Battle of Turda]], which lasted until 8 October and resulted in heavy casualties for both sides. Also around this time, the Hungarian Army carried out its last independent offensive action of the war, penetrating [[Arad County]] in western Romania. Despite initial success, a number of ad hoc Romanian cadet battalions managed to stop the Hungarian advance at the [[Battle of Păuliș]], and soon a combined Romanian-Soviet counterattack overwhelmed the Hungarians, who gave ground and evacuated [[Arad, Romania|Arad]] itself on 21 September.

The [[Romanian Army]] ended the war fighting against the [[Wehrmacht]] alongside the Red Army in Transylvania, Hungary, [[Yugoslavia]], Austria and the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]], from August 1944 until the [[End of World War II in Europe|end of the war in Europe]]. In May 1945, the [[Romanian First Army|First]] and [[Romanian Fourth Army|Fourth]] armies took part in the [[Prague Offensive]]. The Romanian Army incurred heavy casualties fighting Nazi Germany. Of some 538,000 Romanian soldiers who fought against the Axis in 1944–45, some 167,000 were killed, wounded or went missing.<ref>Third Axis Fourth Ally, p. 214</ref>

Under the [[Paris Peace Treaties, 1947|1947 Treaty of Paris]],<ref>*[https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%2049/v49.pdf United Nations Treaty Series volume 49]</ref> the Allies did not acknowledge Romania as a co-belligerent nation but instead applied the term "ally of Hitlerite Germany" to all recipients of the treaty's stipulations. Like Finland, Romania had to pay $300 million to the Soviet Union as war reparations. However, the treaty specifically acknowledged that Romania switched sides on 24 August 1944, and therefore "acted in the interests of all the United Nations". As a reward, Northern Transylvania was, once again, recognized as an integral part of Romania, but the border with the USSR and Bulgaria was fixed at its state in January 1941, restoring the pre-Barbarossa status quo (with [[Tătaru Mare Island|one exception]]). Following the [[History of the Soviet Union (1985–1991)|dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, the Eastern territories became part of Ukraine and the [[Moldova|Republic of Moldova]].