page_title: Michael I of Romania
section_title: Turning against Nazi Germany
hierarchical_section_title: Michael I of Romania / Rule / Turning against Nazi Germany
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Почтовая марка Румынии. Бендерская крепость
context_page_description: Michael I was the last King of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947.
  Shortly after Michael's birth, his father, Crown Prince Carol of Romania, had become involved in a controversial relationship with Magda Lupescu. In 1925, Carol was pressured to renounce his rights to the throne and moved to Paris in exile with Lupescu. In 1927, Michael ascended the throne, following the death of his grandfather King Ferdinand I. As Michael was still a minor, a regency council was instituted, composed of his uncle Prince Nicholas, Patriarch Miron Cristea, and the president of the Supreme Court, Gheorghe Buzdugan. The council proved to be ineffective and, in 1930, Carol returned to Romania and replaced his son as monarch, reigning as Carol II. As a result, Michael returned to being heir apparent to the throne and was given the additional title of Grand Voievod of Alba-Iulia.
  Carol II was deposed in 1940, and Michael once again became king. Under the government led by the military dictator Ion Antonescu, Romania became aligned with Nazi Germany.
context_section_description: In 1944, World War II was going badly for the Axis powers, but the military dictator Prime Minister Marshal Ion Antonescu was still in control of Romania. By August 1944, the Soviet conquest of Romania had become inevitable, and was expected in a few months. On 23 August 1944, Michael joined the pro-Allies politicians, a number of army officers, and armed Communist-led civilians in staging a coup against Antonescu. King Michael ordered his arrest by the Royal Palace Guard. On the same night, the new Prime Minister, Lt. General Constantin Sănătescu— appointed by King Michael—gave custody of Antonescu to the communists (in spite of alleged instructions to the contrary by the King), and the latter delivered him to the Soviets on 1 September. In a radio broadcast to the Romanian nation and army, Michael issued a cease-fire just as the Red Army was penetrating the Moldavian front, proclaimed Romania's loyalty to the Allies, announced the acceptance of the armistice offered by the United Kingdom, the United States, and the USSR, and declared war on Germany. However, this 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.
  Although the country's alliance with Nazi Germany was ended, the coup sped the Red Army's advance into Romania. The armistice was signed three weeks later on 12 September 1944, on terms the Soviets virtually dictated. Under the terms of the armistice, Romania recognized its defeat by the USSR and was placed under occupation of the Allied forces, with the Soviets, as their representative, in control of media, communication, post, and civil administration behind the front. The coup effectively amounted to a "capitulation", an "unconditional" "surrender". It has been suggested that the coup may have shortened World War II by six months, thus saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
  At the end of the war, King Michael was awarded the highest degree (Chief Commander) of the American Legion of Merit by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. He was also decorated with the Soviet Order of Victory by Joseph Stalin "for the courageous act of the radical change in Romania's politics towards a break-up from Hitler's Germany and an alliance with the United Nations, at the moment when there was no clear sign yet of Germany's defeat", according to the official description of the decoration.  With the death of Michał Rola-Żymierski in 1989, Michael became the sole surviving recipient of the Order of Victory.
caption: Romanian stamp from 1942, commemorating the first anniversary of the recapture of Bessarabia from Soviet occupation, featuring Michael and dictator Antonescu below the text Un an de la desrobire ("A year since liberation"), a portrait of Stephen the Great and the fortress of Bender in the background
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