The Romanian Army Day
Romanians celebrate, on October 25, the Army Day.
Bogdan Matei, 25.10.2019, 13:50
On October 25, 1994, during WW2, the Romanian Army was freeing, by taking control of the town of Carei, in north-western Romania, the last portion of Romanian land in northern Transylvania that had previously been under Hungarian occupation. Historians and witnesses alike say the event could have taken place earlier, but that officers preferred to allow their troops get some rest for a few days before the final attack, so that the victory in Carei should coincide with the anniversary of King Mihai I, who was also the commander of the army.
Three years later, when the country was under Soviet military occupation and headed by a communist puppet government, the King was forced to abdicate and go into exile, where he was forced to stay until the anti-communist revolution of 1989. Thus, October 25 was set as the Romanian Army Day. Prisoners, for almost half a century, of the Soviet camp, Romanians ware free to validate their Western vocation only in the 2000s, at the end of the post-communist transition. In March 2004 Romania joined NATO as part of the Alliance’s most extensive enlargement towards the East.
It was the end of a process that Bucharest has started ever since October 1990, when it established diplomatic relations with NATO. Torn by internal political disputes, the political class and the citizens managed to reach, at the time, a remarkable consensus. On the right or left of the political spectrum, in power or in the opposition, all political parties agreed to the country’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration, the only guarantee for its prosperity and security.
An important detail is that, head of state at the moment of the accession, was former communist minister Ion Iliescu, who had studied in Moscow and had constantly been accused of being pro-Russian. The geostrategic importance, thde military potential and a strong pro-Western public opinion, were the most consistent arguments in favor of the NATO accession, doubled by a privileged strategic partnership between Bucharest and Washington. Romania hosts American military bases and components of the anti-missile shield and its soldiers have frequently taken part in military drills and missions alongside the American soldiers. Around 1 thousand military are part of international missions, and in the past years their number was significantly higher, up to 25 hundred. (Translated by Elena Enache)
