Despite the defeats at the hands of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, the Romanian government managed once again to mobilise the nation at the turn of the year 1916/17. King Ferdinand promised an agricultural reform and so succeeded in getting the peasant population on his side. Furthermore, French support at the frontline made itself felt. Romania’s situation seemed to improve when the events in St. Petersburg started to make an impact, too.
As a result of the ‘October Revolution’, Romania under King Ferdinand finally agreed to a ceasefire at the end of 1917. A few months later, a peace treaty with the Central Powers on May 7, 1918 resulted in territorial losses in Dobruja and the border areas of the Danube Monarchy. Moreover, Berlin, Vienna and Sofia demanded substantial economic reparations without ending the military occupation of the country and recognising their full sovereignty in return.
Thus the Hohenzollern Empire showed its desire to inflict extremely harsh peace terms on its former opponents on the Eastern and South Eastern battlefields, not only in the agreement reached with the new Soviet government in Russia, but also in the treaty of May 7.
The course of action adopted by the governments in Sofia, Vienna and especially Berlin were guided by expansionist and hegemonic ambitions, which proved, however, to be illusory in view of the deteriorating overall military situation from the Central Powers’ perspective. The defeat of Germany and its allies led to a renewed entry into the war for Romania and its previously already demobilised army, in favour of the Entente. Now on the side of the victors once and for all, the Romanian government fulfilled its dream of ‘Great Romania’: gaining Transylvania including the Banat as well as Bucovina, Bessarabia and the Southern Dobruja led to a doubling of the nation’s territory and a tripling of the total population.
Bornemann, E.: Der Friede von Bukarest 1918, Frankfurt am Main 1978
Hitchins, Keith: Romania 1866–1947, Oxford 1994
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Chapters
- The Fading-Out of the Balkan Front
- The War before the War
- Sarajevo and the July Crisis
- Ethnic Conflicts and the Brutalisation of the Battles
- Disillusionment for the Army – The Failed ‘Punitive Expedition’
- ‘The Allies’ Successes’
- The Occupying Regime in Different Regions
- Romania's Entry into the War and Defeat by the Central Powers
- Greece on the Side of the Entente
- 1918 – Peace between Romania and the Central Powers
- Consequences of the War on the Balkans
