Romania had grown from this to this after the First World War.
It formed a so-called Little Entente during the interwar years, backed by France.
Yet, in 1940 the country signed the Triparte Pact and thus became an Axis Power.
Why was that?
Why did Romania join the Axis powers?
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During the First World War Romania joined the side of the Entente after the successful
Russian Brusilov Offensive in 1916.
However, when the tide turned Romania found itself in a very bad position.
Its capital Bucharest was taken by the Central Powers near the end of that year and a peace
treaty was signed in 1918.
Towards the end of that year the tide shifted in Romania's favour.
The country re-joined the Entente and thus belonged to the winning team.
In the aftermath of the First World War the Romanians fought a war against the Hungarians.
The Hungarians were defeated.
Romania also took lands from the former Russian Empire, that was now embroiled in the Russian
Civil War, notably: Bessarabia.
And thus: Greater Romania was born.
“The enlarged Romanian state, România Mare (Great Romania), encompassed virtually all
ethnic Romanians.
It also included, however, significant Slav, German, Hungarian and Bulgarian minorities.
By the same token, Romania’s leaders linked the integrity of her new borders to the maintenance
of, and respect for, the new international order consecrated by the Peace Settlement.
Defence of the European status quo thus became the cornerstone of interwar foreign policy
pursued by all Romanian governments until the Munich agreement of 1938.
There were three bases to this policy: alliance with the other post- 1919 states which shared
a common interest with Romania in opposing frontier revision; collaboration with France,
the strongest Western continental military power; and support for, and participation
in, the League of Nations which guaranteed the territorial integrity of its members.”
During the interwar years France backed the so-called Little Entente.
This was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Kingdom
of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (from 1929 known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) to keep Hungary
and Austria in check.
That alliance lasted till the end of the 1930s.
After the Munich Conference of 1938 Hitler was allowed to annex Czech Sudetenland.
This was a major blow to the prestige of the League of Nations (the post-WW1 intergovernmental
organisation set up to maintain world peace) that already suffered damage by Mussolini
and Hitler in 1936.
Mussolini by invading Abyssinia (Ethiopia) which started in 1935 and was finished in
1936 and Hitler by occupying the Rhineland.
After Munich Romania found itself in a position of uncertainty.
In April 1939, fearing that Germany would get Romania's oil, the British and the French
gave guarantees to Romania against foreign aggression but looking at Romania's geographical
position it can be said the Anglo-French move was only political.
It was during the 1930s that Romania started to rearm with Czech and French weapons but
mid-1940 both of these nations had fallen.
And it was around that time that neighboring states began knocking on Romania's door for
territory.
Here's was happened.
In August 1939 the USSR and Germany signed a non-aggression pact, the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop
Pact.
Spheres of influence were decided.
As Germany invaded Poland on 1 September, officially starting the Second World War,
the Soviets marched in on 17 September.
Some 26,000 Polish civilians were allowed to cross into Romania.
As you can see, back then, Romania and Poland still shared a border.
The eastern part of the now defeated interwar Polish state was for the Soviets to take.
But Eastern Poland was not the only territory the Soviets were given influence over.
Finland was attacked near the end of the year.
This resulted in a severe setback.
The Soviets suffered huge losses, but the Finns eventually had to back down and cede
territory to the Soviets.
Yet, Finland remained its independence.
Independence was not te be for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that were formally annexed towards
the summer of 1940.
The Soviets also had their eyes on two regions that were still part of Romania: Bessarabia
(which is nowadays Moldova) and North Bukovina (now part of Ukraine).
On 26 June 1940 Soviet minister Vyacheslav Molotov gave Romania an ultimatum where they
demanded Bessarabia and North Bukovina.
Romania turned to Germany and Italy and the answer they got that for the sake of peace
Romania had to cede these lands to the Soviet Union.
And so, Romanian forces left the territory as well as an estimated 70,000 Romanian inhabitants
that didn't want to live under Soviet rule.
Shortly after 100 to 150,000 Jews left from Romania to the Soviet territories because
of the rise of anti-Semitism in Romania.
As Soviet repression occurred more people came to Romania.
Tragadies took place at the now closed border where Soviet NKVD border guards fired at refugees
and killed many of them.
However, Romania would soon lose more territory.
Because of Hungary's territorial losses after WW1 the country was basically driven in the
arms of Germany.
Already the year before the country was granted 12,000 sq km back with the First Vienna Award
which most of the interwar period was part of Czechoslovakia which was now dismembered.
The Hungarians knew that the road to revision lay in co-operation with Germany.
The opportunity to regain a part of Transylvania was created in the Summer of 1940, when the
USSR had taken Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania.
Military action seemed possible and negotiations with Hungary and Romania soon deadlocked.
With German-Italian arbitration it resulted in the Second Vienna Award were Hungary recovered
43,000 sq. km.
For Romania this was a catastrophy.
Hungary signed the German-Italian-Japanese Triparte Pact on 20 November 1940.
The Romanians shortly after.
Before I discuss this I need to point out that apart from the Soviets and the Hungarians
also the Bulgarians took a piece of Romania: Southern Dobruja.
This claim was settled without much controversy.
Southern Dobruja, an area of 7,000 sq km was inhabited by only 25% Romanians was returned
to Bulgaria in the late summer of 1940.
“The return was accompanied by an exchange of population: Romanian subjects of Bulgarian
origin in the counties of Tulcea and Constanţa in northern Dobrogea were transferred to Durostor
and Caliacra in southern Dobrogea, while the Romanians in the latter counties were moved
in their place.
Bulgaria also undertook to compensate the departing Romanians for their loss of property.
According to the figures of the joint Romanian- Bulgarian commission for the transfer, 103,711
Romanians were moved from southern Dobrogea and 62,278 Bulgarians settled from northern
Dobrogea.”
All in all Romania lost 33 per cent of its interwar landmass and population.
Due to these territorial losses autocratic King Carol was forced to abdicate on 6 September.
His son King Mikhai was in theory the new head of stad as a nationalist government was
established.
On 23 November 1940 Romania formally joined the Axis.
What was left of Romania had to rely on Germany in order to survive.
In January 1941 a coup took place by the extremist Iron Guard movement which was suppressed and
General Ion Antonescu, a strong-willed professional soldier who was both respected by the Romanians
and the Germans was in power.
He was a pragmatist and that's why he joined the Germans.
This also had to due with Germany's interest in Romanian oil.
The oil fields of Romania were seen by Germany as vital for their war effort.
And as the only one fighting the Axis was now Britain which was a continent away, it
made sense to join Germany or else suffer the horrors of occupation.
Also Germany would protect Romania against further Soviet aggression.
However, it was Germany who brought the war to the USSR.
And Romania joined this invasion.
But why was that? The details of this will be covered in the future. Don't forget to subscribe.