Romania conceded defeat in May 1918, and the Academy could resume work in Bucharest under a German-friendly Conservative regime, with Alexandru Marghiloman as Prime Minister. In October, Bianu joined his returning peers and reported on the damages incurred during the previous years. He scandalized public opinion further after ordering public mourning at the Academy after the death of a pro-Austrian cleric, Vasile Mangra. The loyalist government was fully restored in Bucharest within a month, following the unexpected defeat of Germany, which led to the establishment of Greater Romania (which included united Transylvania). In December, Prime Minister Ion I. C. Brătianu was welcomed by the Academy. According to the now-disgraced Marghiloman, his supporters were either barred from attending or, in Bianu's case, silenced. In this new climate, Bianu was investigated by an Academy commission as a wartime collaborator in March 1919, but refused to present himself for questioning. As he put it, the group investigating him only relied on cut-outs from the anti-Germanophile press.