The Romanian army began its World War One operations in August 1916
\nafter the conclusion of a military convention between Romania and the Triple
\nEntente and consisted of an offensive in Transylvania. The Central Powers
\ncounterattacked, however, and obtained a resounding victory in Turtucaia in
\nSeptember 1916, an event that went down in history as the disaster of
\nTurtucaia. In December 1916, Bucharest was under the occupation of the German,
\nAustro-Hungarian, Bulgarian and Turkish armies. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The devastating outcome of the first part of the Romanian army’s
\ncampaign was blamed on the poor preparation of the army. However, the historian
\nSorin Cristescu of the Spiru Haret University in Bucharest is of the opinion
\nthat had Romania entered the war from the very beginning, the situation would
\nhave been different. He blamed the Romanian army’s lack of war experience on
\nthe fact that Russia had refused to accept Romania as an ally. Historian Sorin
\nCristescu explains: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
First of all, Russia was opposed to the creation of a Greater
\nRomania. Despite the pressure of the public opinion in Bucharest, Romania was
\nnot invited to enter the war, but kept at arm’s length. An opportunity appeared
\nin September 1914, when Lviv ell into the hands of the Russian army. Italy entered the war on May 23rd 1915 and if Romania had also
\nentered the war at the time, the effects could have been devastating. A third
\nopportunity arose on June 4th 1916, when the offensive of the
\nRussian armies lead by Brusilov appeared to be victorious, so Romania’s entry
\ninto the war was only allowed when Brusilov’s campaign reached a deadlock. The
\nidea for Romania to enter the war reflected the interests of the members of the
\nEntente who were willing to do anything to put a stop to the export of vital
\nraw materials from Romania to the Central Powers. Speaking about how valuable
\nthe Romanian exports were, the German general Ludendorff said in 1918 that the
\nraw materials coming from Romania helped the Central Powers ‘keep their head
\nabove water’, to use his expression.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Sorin Cristescu said that contrary to what Romanians
\nbelieve, the assault on Bucharest was initiated by German and Austro-Hungarian
\ntroops in the west: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
When strong pressure was put on the Southern Carpathians
\nby mountain troops, the Central Powers broke through the front around 11
\nNovember 1916 in the area furthest away from Bucharest. Through Lainici Pass,
\nnear Targu Jiu, the German troops advanced towards Craiova. The moment when
\nCraiova fell and they crossed the Olt, around 23 November 1916, coincides with
\nthe German army crossing the Danube in a place they had crossed before, in
\n1877, at Zimnicea. The two coinciding operations, crossing the Olt and crossing
\nthe Danube, had a devastating effect. One month before on October 26, Dobrogea
\nhad been taken over. Mackensen walked on the Cernavoda Bridge, seeing for
\nhimself that it was usable, that it had not been completely destroyed. The
\nGermans were well on their way to Bucharest on the two prongs, one with the 9th
\nArmy Corps, headed by the former head of the general staff of the German army,
\nGeneral Falkenhayn and the other headed by Mackensen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The last attempt by the Romanian army to stop the
\nadvance of the armies of the Central Powers was doomed to fail. Here is
\nhistorian Sorin Cristescu once again: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The moment that was supposed to be decisive was the
\nso-called battle on Neajlov River. The Romanian army, lacking Russian
\nreinforcements, which were late in arriving, tried to isolate one by one the
\ntwo German armies in an offensive such as had not been seen since 1914, so as
\nto defeat or at least stall them. This didn’t happen, because of the clear
\nsuperiority of the German armies and because of bad luck as the vehicle of the
\nRomanian officers carrying deployment orders fell into German hands. That put
\nthe finishing touch on the disaster. But even without that episode, the result
\nwould have been the same. On 4 December 1916, it was obvious that Bucharest
\ncould not be defended. The forts of Bucharest had been dismantled even before
\nthe signing of the Convention signed on August 4, 1916, and Bucharest was open
\nfor the taking.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The offensive of the Central Powers was halted on the
\nFocsani-Namoloasa line on December 9 1916 in the Battle of Casin. The Romanian armed
\nforces, which finally had got help from the Russian forces, stopped the German
\nassaults, and went on the counteroffensive to stabilise the front. The fall of
\nBucharest, however, marked the beginning of an occupation regime. Historian
\nSorin Cristescu:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romania would taste the drama of retreat. The
\nrailroads became extremely crowded, as all kinds of material was being
\ntransported to Moldavia. Parliament, the government and the royal family all
\nfled the capital, soon after the royal family had suffered a tragedy. Their
\nyoungest, Prince Mircea, had died of typhoid, even though no one around him had
\nbeen sick. The decision to abandon Bucharest without a fight was made on 6
\nDecember 1916. It was Field Marshall Mackensen’s 67th birthday. One
\nday before that, a great honour was bestowed upon him, as the 129th
\nInfantry Regiment was named after him.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The occupation regime in southern Romania and
\nBucharest, which lasted until November 1918, was a harsh one. Romania lost
\nterritory in the mountain area and was under complete German economic control.
\nIn 1918, however, things turned on their head, and Romania had its greatest
\ntriumph in its modern history. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Romanian army began its World War One operations in August 1916 after the conclusion of a military convention between Romania and the Triple Entente.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":129786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[42674,30786],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-129785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-battle-for-bucharest","tag-world-war-one"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n