Southern Dobruja or the Quadrilateral
\nas this region is also known, became part of Romania in 1913 following the
\nTreaty of Bucharest. In 1912, the Balkan League formed of Bulgaria, Greece,
\nSerbia and Montenegro had begun a military offensive against the Ottoman Empire.
\nAfter two months of fighting, they won Albania, Macedonia and Thrace. However, misunderstandings
\nbetween the allies over the division of conquered territory led to the start of
\nthe Second Balkan War between Bulgaria and Serbia, Greece and Montenegro.
\nRomania became involved in the dispute against Bulgaria and on 10th
\nAugust 1913 the peace treaty signed in Bucharest redrew the borders between the
\nBalkan states. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The competition among the
\nBalkan states over territories under the control of the Ottoman Empire dated
\nback to the 19th century and was indeed fierce, often leading to
\ncivil and military violence. This was the time of radical nationalism when the
\npolitical agenda was dominated by territorial claims. These claims were based
\non historical rights and the ethnic make-up of the different regions. Thus,
\neach Balkan state felt entitled to occupy as much territory as possible to the
\ndetriment of its neighbours. Western powers also got involved in the Balkans by
\nsupporting one nation or another and trying to redraw the maps according to
\ntheir own interests and the situation on the ground. France and Great Britain
\nsupported Greece and Serbia, Germany supported Romania and Bulgaria, and
\nAustro-Hungary and Italy supported Albania.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In this context, the
\nTreaty of Bucharest gave Romania Southern Dobruja, a territory whose ethnic
\nmake-up at the time was 47% Bulgarians, 37% Turks, 4% Roma, 4% Tartars and 2% Romanians.
\nSouthern Dobruja had first been promised to Romania under the Treaty of San
\nStefano and Berlin in the aftermath of the Russo-Romanian-Turkish war of
\n1877-1878. Russia had promised this territory to Romania in exchange for southern
\nBessarabia, but Romania only got Northern Dobruja. Romania felt it had been treated
\nunjustly and kept the issue on its agenda. After winning it in 1913, Romania
\ncould only retain Southern Dobruja for three years. In 1916, when it entered
\nthe war alongside France, Great Britain and Russia and was occupied by Germany,
\nRomania lost the whole of Dobruja, which was occupied by the Central Powers. At
\nthe end of the war, under the Treaty of Neuilly sur Seine, the border between
\nRomania and Bulgaria went back to that of 1913. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Between 1918 and 1940,
\nRomania aligned its foreign policy to that of France and Great Britain, which resulted in
\nthe collapse of its borders in 1940 under the new European order of Nazi
\nGermany. In June 1940, the Soviet Union, in agreement with Germany, occupied Bessarabia
\nand Northern Bukovina following two ultimatums to the government in Bucharest. At
\nthe end of August 1940, under the Treaty of Vienna, Hungary occupied Northern Transylvania
\nand on 7th September 1940 a treaty was signed in Craiova by which
\nRomania ceded the Quadrilateral to Bulgaria. Both treaties were imposed on
\nRomania by Germany and Italy. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We asked historian Ioan
\nScurtu if the fascist regime that had just come to power in Bucharest on 6th
\nSeptember 1940 could have prevented this loss of territory: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The issue of the
\nQuadrilateral had been settled by Hitler in a letter to Carol II dated 15th
\nJuly 1940 asking him to cede part of Transylvania to Hungary and the
\nQuadrilateral to Bulgaria. So the decision was taken as early as the time of Carol
\nII. Negotiations were held in Turnu Severin during August and it was
\nestablished, based on a decision of the Crown Council led by Carol II, that
\nRomania would cede the Quadrilateral to Bulgaria. So only the documents were
\nsigned during Antonescu’s time, the decision had already been taken.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Between 1918 and 1940, Romania
\nmade a lot of efforts to develop Southern Dobruja or the Quadrilateral. As it had
\npledged in the peace treaties signed in the aftermath of WWI, Romania had to respect
\nthe rights of the Bulgarian and Turkish minorities with respect to property,
\neducation and press in their own language, right to vote, legal assistance and
\nall the other rights enjoyed by Romanian citizens. In the 1920s, the Romanian military
\nauthorities had to consolidate the southern border to cope with the incursions carried
\nout by Bulgarian paramilitary troops in Southern Dobruja and which resulted in
\nplunder and murder. Through its population policy, Romania sought to eliminate
\nthe threat posed by the guerrilla forces across the border. Colonising Southern
\nDobruja with ethnic Romanians and Aromanians from the former Ottoman Macedonia who
\nwanted to emigrate was a solution that yielded results. Thus, the percentage of
\nthe Romanian population in Southern Dobruja increased constantly, and also
\nbecause parts of the Bulgarian population emigrated to Bulgaria. According to a
\ncensus from 1930, Bulgarians accounted for 37%, the Turks for 34%, the
\nRomanians for 20%, the Roma for 2% and the Tartars for 1%. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Apart from its
\npopulation policy, Romania developed the network of roads in Southern Dobruja,
\nmodernising existing roads and building new ones. The development of towns like
\nSilistra, Bazargic and Balcic also dates to the Romanian administration, with
\nBalcic becoming the final residence of Queen Marie, who played a great contribution
\nto the birth of Greater Romania. The queen’s castle and its famous gardens are still
\nthe main tourist attraction in Balcic today. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Southern Dobruja, today in northeastern Bulgaria, first became part of Romania in 1913.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":50395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[34623],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-quadrilateral"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n