Romania

B

World War I

When World War I began, Carol, despite his friendship with Germany and Austria, declared Romania neutral. The king’s death, in October 1914, placed his nephew Ferdinand I on the throne. The kingdom remained officially neutral until 1916, when Romanian forces invaded Hungarian Transylvania, but Austro-German and Bulgarian armies shattered Romanian power in less than six months and by the end of January 1917 controlled most of the country. With the triumph of the Allies in November 1918, however, Romania re-entered the war on November 10 and reoccupied Transylvania and other territories. By the Treaty of St Germain (with Austria) and Trianon (with Hungary), Romania was awarded sovereignty over most of Bukovina, all of Transylvania, a strip of the Hungarian plain west of the Transylvanian uplands (Crişana-Maramures), and the eastern portion of the Banat, a total of 133,765 sq km (51,647 sq mi). Romania also occupied Bessarabia and was confirmed in its position there by the Allies, although Russia refused to acknowledge Romanian sovereignty of the area. As a result of the post-war settlements, Romania more than doubled its area.

After World War I the Romanian government struggled with domestic problems of constitutional reform, agrarian reform, and lagging economic reconstruction. The Liberal Party was in power, led by Ion Brătianu, who from 1922 to 1926, and again in 1927, was virtually dictator. A new constitution was adopted in 1923; one of its provisions was the political emancipation of the Jews. Peasant opposition to the Liberal government and the regime’s dictatorial policies caused almost constant political discord, however. In foreign relations, dissension continued with the Soviet Union concerning the ownership of Bessarabia. In 1925 the Crown prince renounced his right to the throne, preferring to live in exile with his mistress, Magda Lupescu; his son Michael was declared heir-apparent and succeeded to the throne in 1927, with his uncle as regent.

In 1928 opposition to the policies of Brătianu resulted in the rise to power of the National Peasants’ Party, under the leadership of Iuliu Maniue. Maniue became the premier in 1928 and supported the exiled Crown prince, who returned to Bucharest in 1930 as King Carol II, despite bitter opposition by the Liberals. The new king imposed a fascist regime, and economic conditions within Romania became increasingly grave. Political dissension was heightened by the growth of the Romanian Fascist Party, the so-called Iron Guard, under Corneliu Zelea-Codreanu. A growing tendency towards fascism in government was evidenced by severe anti-Jewish laws, rigid censorship, and attempts by King Carol to make himself dictator, in which he ultimately succeeded (1938).

C

World War II

Although Romania was initially neutral in World War II, its internal policies aligned it with the Axis powers and led to a policy of friendship towards Germany. In June 1940, without opposition from Germany, with which it had signed a non-aggression pact in August 1939, the Soviet Union occupied Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. On August 20, at the demand of Germany and Italy, Romania ceded 44,988 sq km (17,370 sq mi) of northern Transylvania to Hungary, and on September 7, southern Dobruja was ceded to Bulgaria. The German army occupied Romania, whose oil pipelines were crucial to the Reich’s energy supplies. In the ensuing unrest Carol named General Ion Antonescu, a sympathizer with the Iron Guard, as dictator. The king was forced to abdicate on September 6, 1940, and left the country. Carol’s successor, Michael, was king only in name, the real power being held by General Antonescu and the Iron Guard. Popular riots were met with massacres.

Romania, led by Antonescu, entered World War II in June 1941 by attacking the Soviet Union at the same time as Germany did. Romanian troops reoccupied Bessarabia and Bukovina and by October 1941 had penetrated as far as Odesa. In December the kingdom declared war on the United States. Opposition to Antonescu and political unrest continued, led on one hand by the anti-German Iron Guard and on the other by the National Peasants’ Party. The swift Soviet advance in the spring of 1944 brought the Red Army back to Bessarabia and Bukovina and deep into Romanian territory. Aided by the imminent arrival of Soviet troops, King Michael and several loyal generals led a coup on the night of August 23, arrested Antonescu and his Cabinet, and announced the surrender of Romania. On September 12, the Soviet Union signed an armistice with Romania in Moscow.

The Democratic Front, approved by the USSR, took over Romanian administration as a coalition of Communist, Liberal, and National Peasants’ parties. Gradually the Communist Party acquired supreme control. In March 1945 a coalition Cabinet was formed under Petru Groza, leader of the Ploughmen’s Party (a splinter group of the National Peasants), with the key positions held by Communists. In January 1946, at the request of the Council of Foreign Ministers (Great Britain, United States, USSR), two opposition members were added, but they had little voice. On official pledges by the Romanian government that free elections would be held, the United States and Great Britain recognized the government on February 5.

The results of the election on November 19, 1946, were declared fraudulent by the various opposition parties, who received a total of 66 out of 414 seats. On December 30, 1947, King Michael abdicated under Communist pressure, and the government at once proclaimed Romania a people’s republic and vested supreme authority in a five-member state council. A new constitution was adopted on April 13, 1948, based on that of the USSR.

By the peace treaty signed in Paris on February 10, 1947, between Romania and the Allies, northern Transylvania was returned to Romania, and the other land transfers of 1940 were validated. Reparations to the Soviet Union of US$300 million in raw materials, machinery, sea and river craft, and other commodities were designed to be paid within eight years but were reduced by half in 1948. The peace treaty also limited the strength of the Romanian armed forces and stipulated that the Romanian people should be granted personal liberties.

D

Soviet Influence

The reorganization of Romanian cultural institutions to conform with Soviet models was the chief domestic development during 1948 and 1949. The process of sovietization included frequent purges of dissidents, and twice in 1949 the United States and Great Britain accused Romania of systematic violation of human rights guarantees in the peace treaty. In November 1950 the charge was upheld by the UN General Assembly.

New constitutions were adopted in 1952 and 1965, but the Soviet pattern of government was followed in each change. Throughout the post-war period Romanian leadership remained stable. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Secretary of the Communist Party since 1945, became premier in 1952. He turned the latter office over to Chivu Stoica in 1955. Petru Groza, who had assumed the largely ceremonial title and office of President in 1952, died in 1958 and was succeeded by Ion Gheorghe Maurer, who in turn became Premier in 1961, Gheorghiu-Dej assuming the presidency. At the latter’s death in 1965, Stoica assumed the presidency, and Nicolae Ceauşescu became Party Secretary. Ceauşescu, Maurer, and Stoica functioned as a collective leadership, but Ceauşescu was the dominant figure, becoming President in 1967.

Throughout the 1950s the government emphasized the nationalization and development of industry. This effort proved successful in the short term, and in the 1960s the official estimates of the national industrial growth rate averaged about 12 per cent annually—among the highest in Eastern Europe. Agricultural collectivization was begun in July 1949, and in 1962 the government announced that all arable land had been absorbed into the socialized sector. Farmers were permitted, however, to retain half-acre plots for private use.

In the early post-war years, under Soviet domination, Romania cooperated fully in the Cominform, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, known as COMECON, or CMEA, and, after 1955, the Warsaw Pact. From the early 1960s on, however, Romania began to exercise a considerable degree of independence. In 1963 the government rejected COMECON plans for the integration of the economies of the Communist states, chiefly because the plans restricted Romania to a role as supplier of oil, grains, and primary materials. Romanians thought these plans would hinder their rate of industrial growth, which had been higher in the past several years than that of any other satellite country. Romanian protests gained some concessions in the form of Soviet aid for the development of a major steel plant at Galaţi. The government nevertheless issued a so-called declaration of independence from COMECON proposals in 1964.

E

Trade Relations

While the USSR and the Eastern European states were the primary Romanian trade partners in the 1960s, trade and diplomatic relations with the non-Communist world improved steadily. In January 1967 Romania became the only Communist nation other than the USSR to establish full diplomatic relations with West Germany, and at about the same time the first Communist nation to open consular relations with Spain. Trade with the Soviet Union, which had accounted for more than 50 per cent of Romanian foreign trade in the late 1950s, was reduced to an estimated 30 per cent in 1967.

F

Foreign Affairs

In 1964 Premier Maurer visited Beijing and Moscow in an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the two Communist powers. Thereafter, Romanian foreign policy indicated continuing independence. Ceauşescu urged the withdrawal of Soviet troops from East Germany, Poland, and Hungary. Also, in the face of Soviet attempts to strengthen the Warsaw Pact, Ceauşescu suggested the abolition of the Warsaw Pact and of NATO. He refused to participate in the pact manoeuvres. In mid-1967 Romania boycotted a conference of Communist countries called by the USSR, chiefly to criticize US activity in Vietnam. When the Warsaw Pact nations, led by the Soviet Union, invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968, Romania took a strongly anti-Soviet stand.