Kingdom of Romania

The Kingdom of Romania was a country in Southeastern Europe. It existed between 1881 and 1947.
Following unification of Ottoman provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859, the newelly proclaimed Romania gained independence in 1878 after the Russo-Turkish war. Following death of pro-German King, Carol I in 1914, with newly crowned Ferdinand I on the throne, it allied with the Entente powers in 1916 and joined World War I in order to gain several Austro-Hungarian lands. When The Great War was over, it united with Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania, forming Greater Romania (România Mare). Romania's interwar isolation made her lose one third of pre-war borders in 1940. After the fascist takeover, it joined Germany and Italy during World War II. The Kingdom changed sides shortly before the war's end. Despite that fact, the allies made the country's last king appoint communist government in 1945. New authorities forced the King to abdicate in 1947, leaving Romania in USSR's spheres of influence until late 1960s. 
==Coverage==
===Appearances===
*WW1 (Parts 1-2),
*Hitler (Parts 1-2; only on map)
*WW2,
*The Cold War (only on map).
==WW1==
Romania's intervention in the Second Balkan War made her the strongest out of many on the Balkans. When July Crisis started World War I, the country remained neutral. However, since it's early days of sovereignty, Romania was bound to Germany by an secret aid treaty, which was signed between pro-German King - Carol I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Only him and several of his ministers knew about it. After his death in October 1914, the newelly elected King - Ferdinand, whose wife was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria - decided to take up secret talks with Entente powers in order to enter the war. In the video WW1 (Part 2) it is mentioned that due to being inspired by Russian successes, Romania joined World War I on 27th August 1916. Despite early successes of the Romanian army against the Hungarians, they got heavily invaded by the Central Powers (described by the narrator as getting "pounded") with Bucharest being taken on 6th December 1916. In 1917 Romania defeated German armies in battles of Mărăști, Oituz and Mărășești, stopping German advance into Moldavia and securing its independence. Nevertheless, the outbreak of Bolshevik revolt in Russia meant that Romania was left alone on the front. The government signed armstice of Focșani and the Buftea treaty only to be forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Bucharest on 7th May 1918. The Peace of Bucharest made Romania pay massive war reperations to the occupiers, increase oil export to Germany (however, many oil plants were self-destructedStoenescu, C. G. (2018). Romania during the Interwar Period: an Economic Approach. Romanian Economic Journal.) and cede several territories in favour of Bulgaria and HungaryText of Treaty of Bucharest. Despite all odds, the treaty was never ratified by Ferdinand, so it had no official recognition. Fortunately for Romania, Germany and her allies started to crumble, persuading Romania to rejoin the war on 10th November 1918, one day before Armsitice of Compiègne. In the meantime, Romania united with Russian Bessarabia, later on with Bukovina and Transylvania (with parts of Maramureș and Crișana). In order to secure its gains, Romania had to face Hungarian aggression in 1919, only to crush the Hungarian Bolsheviks and occupy 60% of Hungarian, with Budapest itself. 
==Interwar Period==
===External policy===
Following disastrous WW1 campaign, Romania emerged victorious, sharing borders with countries that were unfavorable towards her. Thus, Romanian diplomacy did its best to form alliances across the Europe with stronger nations to prevent any form of aggression from Bulgaria, Hungary and Russia. The most important ones were: 
*Little Entente - alliance between Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia to prevent Hungarian irredentism,
*Polish-Romanian alliance - alliance between Romania and Poland in case of Soviet invasion of these two,
*Balkan Entente - alliance between Romania, Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia to prevent Bulgarian irredentism.
All of these alliances had its ups and downs. Members of Little Entente were divided if Poland should join the alliance (because of Polish friendly attitude towards Hungary and border conflicts with Czechs) and didn't prevent the partition of Czechoslovakia. From 1934 - 1936, during Nicolae Titulescu's term of office as Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Titulescu's main goal was to secure Romania's eastern borders and sign a non-aggression treaty with USSR (as, after establishment of Manchukuo, Japanese protectorate, the Soviet authorities were more and more suspicious about the Empire's intentions in the region. Because of that, Soviets showed greater willingness to normalize relations with its European neighbours) which was the opposite of the mutual policy expected of each other from the Polish perspective. To make the matters worse, Titulescu jointly with Edvard Beneš, his Czechoslovakian counterpart, acted against Polish interests in the League of NationsMichalopoulos, D. (2011). UN SINGUR POPOR CU DOUĂ DRAPELE": THE ROMANIAN-POLISH RELATIONS DURING THE INTERWAR PERIOD, Academia.edu.. After all, Titulescu was removed from his duties as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1936 by Prime Minister Gheorghe Tătărescu. As for the Balkan Entente - Bulgaria was a too poor, unstable and economically destroyed country to pose any threats (much more dangerous were the terrorist organizations operating in the area of Dobruja and Macedonia with pro-Bulgarian sentiments).
===Domestic policy===
TBA
===Economy===
During years of Central Powers' occupation, Romanian economy was used as a form of economic support for the occupiers, especially when it came to cattles, food and oil. Following the defeat of her enemies, Romanian economic growth was slow. Poverty seized across the country, with food crisis, being its peak in 1920. Overcoming the food catastrophe in late 1921, Kingdom's government enlarged foreign investment, increased the number of companies (as, also, the number of workplaces) and ensured to still be one of the most attractive markets in Europe for foreign capital, just like it was before The Great War.
In later years, efficiency of Romanian economy has highly increased. Economic boom in period of years 1922 - 1929 was highly supported by investments realized in industry but also in manufacturing, mining and international level of oil demand.Stefan, G. (2016). Romanian Economy in the Interwar Period. Academia.edu. Economic growth enabled Kingdom's government paying war debt 
TBA
==WW2==
TBA
==Gallery==
===WW1===
File:WW1 - Map of Europe (NEW).png|Romania as seen on the map of Europe in 1914.
File:WW1 - Map of The Balkans.png|Romania's borders as seen in the closeup of Balkan Peninsula in 1914.
File:WWI54.PNG|Romania's position in Eastern Europe after joining the Allies in 1916.
File:WW1 - Romania's furthest offenvise gains in Hungary.png|The Romanian Front after Transylvanian offensive.
File:The Romanian Front after German-led counteroffensive..png|The Romanian Front after the German-led counteroffensive.
File:Romania during WW1 in 1917.png|Romania as seen on on the map of Europe in late 1916.
File:Romania during WW1 in 1918.png|Romania as seeon on the map of Europe in late 1918.
File:Romania during WW1 - closeup.png|Romania's borders as seen in the closeup of Balkan Peninsula in late 1918.
===WW2===
File:WW2 - Romania on the interwar map.png|Romania as seen on the map of interwar Europe.
File:WW2 - Romania on the 1940 Europe map.png|Romania as seen on the map of Europe after the fall of France.
File:WW2 - Romania after 28th July 1940.png|Romania loosing Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia to the USSR.
File:WW2 - Closeup of Romania.png|Romania's borders as seen in the closeup of Balkan Peninsula after the Treaty of Craiova.
File:WW2 - Romania on the map of Operation Barbarossa.png|Romania during the early stage of Operation Barbarossa.
File:WW2 - Romania with annexed Transnistria Governorate (for some reason????).png|Romania with her war gains - Transnistria Governorate (note that the region was never annexed).
File:WW2 - Romania during Operation Barbarossa 2.png|Romania during war against USSR in 1943.
File:WW2 - Romania ass seen on the map of Europe after the battle of Kursk..png|Romania as seen on the map of Europe after the battle of Kursk.
File:WW2 - Romania as seen on the map of Europe after 23rd August 1944..png|Romania as seen on the map of Europe as a co-belligerent allied power.
File:WW2 - Romania on the map of the world after 1947..png|Romania as seen on the map of the world at the beginning of the Cold War.
===The Cold War===
File:Cold War - Romania at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa..png|Romania as seen on on the map of Europe as an Axis power.
File:Cold War - Romania under Soviet occupation..png|Romania as seen on the map of Europe under Soviet occupation.
File:Cold War - Stalin wants Romania.png| Joseph Stalin pointing on Romania.
Category:Country Characters
Category:Historical Country Characters
Category:WWI
Category:WWII
Category:Cold War
Category:Romanian-speaking countries