The year 1918, from spring until winter, was for the Romanians a year of major political activities. At that time the Romanians lived in three different countries – the Kingdom of Romania, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire, the classical example of a divided nation. The young Romanian state, that had witnessed the union between Moldavia and Wallachia, when – in Iași (5^th of January 1859) and Bucharest (24^th of January 1859) – Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected the ruler of the two, proved it had intellectuals capable of taking political actions in the interest of their country. Placed on the banks of the Danube River, Romania came to be as a state also due to the fact that the Europeans developed an interest in the Danube and the Black Sea, and it could guarantee free passage at the River’s mouth – as stipulated by the Treaty of Paris, in 1856, following the Crimean War (1853-1856). Even if it remained under Ottoman suzerainty, according to the provisions of the Treaty, Romania was out of Russia’s exclusive guarantee and entered under that of the seven signatory countries – England, France, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia and the Empire of the Sultans.

In his seven year rule, Alexandru Ioan I managed to really unite the two Romanian Principalities and lay the foundations of modern Romania. The newly formed Romanian state would become an attraction point for all the Romanians residing in the Austro-Hungarian Empire – Transylvania, Banat, Crișana, Maramureș, and Bukovina, but also those from the Russian Empire, in Bessarabia. The Romanians outside Romania would now have a country to cling to.

The events in 1866 – Alexandru Ioan’s removal from power, and his replacement with a foreign prince, from the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty, Charles I, were seen by the Romanian intellectuals outside Romania as a step forward towards the Romania they were aspiring to. Romania’s change of status by gaining its independence and separating from the Ottoman Empire, on the battlefields in Bulgaria, following the Russian-Romanian-Ottoman War between 1877 and 1878, its international recognition as an independent, sovereign country, at the Berlin Congress in 1878, followed by the proclamation of the kingdom in 1881, had a positive echo among the Romanians outside its borders, who now felt they had a “mother land” they could turn to in case of need.

The sentiment of identity affiliation of the Romanians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire went beyond Transylvanian borders – in its broader sense, with Banat, Crișana, and Maramureș there – ever since the occurrence of the bilateral compromise between Austria and Hungary, as dominant nations. The phrase uttered by Ioan Slavici in the first Romanian newspaper, Tribuna (the Tribune), issued in 1884, in Sibiu, that “the sun rises for Romanians in Bucharest”, indicated the fact that this sentiment of affiliation went beyond regional borders, and the Romanians saw themselves as a whole. This feeling of national belonging to the entire Romanian land defined, in 1918, the Romanians in Transylvania, Bukovina, Bessarabia, as well as those in the Kingdom of Romania. The Romanians proved in 1918 that they had a national consciousness and that they were a political nation, fully capable of building their own unified national state.

Once World War I started, in the summer of 1914, Romania set as main political objective, the accomplishment of the national ideal - the union of all territories inhabited by Romanians. The obligations of the Treaty with the Triple Alliance (the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany and Italy) in 1883 were no longer justified when the war started, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire had not been attacked but instead decided to declare war on Serbia without informing its ally in Bucharest. Romania and Italy reached an understanding – they both had claims over Austro-Hungarian territories inhabited by their co-ethnics – so they declared their neutrality (an agreement signed between the Italian and Romanian Prime Ministers, Antonio Salandra and Ion I.C. Brătianu, in Bucharest, on the 23^rd of September 1914). The conundrum of the government in Bucharest was setting their priorities straight – freeing the territories occupied by the Austrian-Hungarian Empire (Transylvania and Bukovina), or those under Russian rule (Bessarabia). The first territorial proposals for Romania came from Russia, which asked Romania to join the war, in exchange for the recognition of the right to unite with the territories in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, inhabited by Romanians, Semigradia (the name the Russians used for Transylvania), and South Bukovina. The diplomatic exchange on the 1^st of October 1914, between the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Dmitrievich Sazonov, and the Romanian ambassador in Saint Petersburg, Constantin Diamandy, served as a Romanian-Russian Agreement. With it, the Prime Minister, Ion I.C. Brătianu obtained, in exchange for a “welcoming” neutrality, an accord for the union, at the opportune moment, between Romania and the territories in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, inhabited by Romanians. The Agreement was kept secret, even if King Charles I, who died shortly after (10^th of October 1914), had agreed to it. The heir to the throne, King Ferdinand I, proved to be more flexible in his relations with the Entente and in supporting the endeavours to unite with the territories from the neighbouring empires, inhabited by Romanians.

The evolution of the military situation during the first two years of the war, that generally favoured the Central Powers, made the Entente pressure Romania to cooperate. Firstly, France lobbied in Saint Petersburg and London so that they agreed to the terms of the Romanian government. Ion I.C Brătianu’s diplomatic campaign ended on the 17^th of August 1916, when the political Convention between Romania and the Entente (France, England, Italy and Russia) was signed in Bucharest, with regard to Romania’s territorial integrity and its border, following the war. The Convention recognized (Art. 3) Romania’s right to annex the territories of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy – Bukovina, Transylvania, and Banat. The decision of the Brătianu Government was approved by the Crown Council, convened by King Ferdinand I. To achieve its national objective, Romania joined the war alongside the Entente, on the 16^th of August 1916, when it handed to the Cabinet in Vienna the only declaration of war. This document represents the expression of the Romanian national claims, mustered with all the determination and dignity that international protocol entailed.

Therefore, in August 1916, the priority of the government in Bucharest was to free the Romanians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As for Bessarabia, it could only have been recovered hypothetically by Romania joining the war alongside the Central Powers and against Russia. The national and international context did not favour such an option for Romania, at that time.

Under the circumstances in which Romania’s military action in Transylvania failed and led to Bucharest being occupied by the German and Austro-Hungarian troops, followed by the withdrawal of the Romanian royals, military and state administration to Iași, one could not have even conceived the union with Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transylvania by use of military force. Under these circumstances, the intellectual elites and the political structures representing the Romanians in Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia took independent actions in order to achieve that national ideal.

The Bolshevik slippage in Saint Petersburg (1917-1918) and the start of the revolution within the ranks of the czarist army, allowed Bessarabia to separate from the Russian Empire. On the 2^nd of December 1917, Bessarabia declared its autonomy, and on the 24^th of January 1918 proclaimed its independence, and named itself the “Moldavian Democratic Republic”. Taken the fact that in Bessarabia, in the beginning of the war, there were deployed around one million Czarist Russian troops, under the influence of the chaotic Bolshevik revolution, the atmosphere there became anti-Russian and anti-Bolshevik. When the new authorities in Chișinău asked, between the 10^th and 23^rd of January 1918, the Romanian army entered Bessarabia with a declared purpose of restoring and maintaining order. Thus, on the 27^th of March/9^th of April, the Moldovan Parliament assembled in Chișinău and decided the union of the “Moldavian Democratic Republic” – lying from the Rivers Prut, Dniester, and the Black Sea, to the old borders of the Habsburg Empire, and to the Kingdom of Romania. Hence, Bessarabia was the first province that freed itself from foreign occupation and united with Romania.

The defeat of the Austrian-Hungarian armies in Italy, and the Armistice in Padua (3^rd of November 1918) led to the implosion of the Empire through devolution (the transfer of power from the centre to the national constituent communities). The national councils of the Germans-Austrians, Hungarians, Polish, Italians, Czechs and Slovakians, Serbians, Croatians and Slovenians, of the Romanians in Bukovina and Transylvania, once they took over the power, stopped accepting the reformation of the Empire through federalization and proceeded to establishing independent countries or uniting the territories inhabited by them with co-ethnic countries. Consequently, on the 14^th/27^th of October 1918, the Romanians in Bukovina organized in Cernăuți, a Constituent Assembly, which would decide the formation of a National Council consisting of 50 members and of an Executive Committee, led by Iancu Flondor. After several confrontations with Ukrainian paramilitary forces that threatened the security of the Romanian National Council, the Romanian army intervened (the 8^th Division led by the General Iacob Zadic), and restored order in Cernăuți. Under these circumstances between the 15^th and the 28^th of November 1918, the General Congress of Bukovina met in the Metropolitan Palace, and unanimously voted the union of Bukovina – stretching from Ceremuș and Colacin to the River Dniester – with the Kingdom of Romania.

The union of the Romanian nation as a country was finalized through the decision adopted in Alba Iulia, on the 1^st of December 1918. The National Assembly in Alba Iulia took place on a free land, unoccupied by the armies of the Entente, nor by the withdrawing German troops. The Romanian troops were deployed at the time of the proclamation, at the Transylvanian border on the Reghin-Târgu Mureș line, and they did not head towards Alba Iulia, but towards Brașov. The Central National Romanian Council, the governing body representing the Romanians in Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș convened on the 18^th of November/1^st of December 1918, in Alba Iulia the Great National Assembly. It consisted of 1228 elected representatives, coming from all rural and urban communities, envoys of the Romanian churches – Orthodox and Greek-Catholic – and representatives of other professional organisations. They represented all Romanians from the Hungarian region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Besides, the Assembly had almost 100.000 people present, coming from all over Transylvania, Banat, and the other western regions – Crișana and Maramureș. The Great National Assembly in Alba Iulia proclaimed the union of Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș with the Kingdom of Romania. Pending the complete union with the Kingdom of Romania, the High National Council of Transylvania was established, which had a legislative role and answered to the Parliament in Bucharest, and the Directory Council of Transylvania, which had an executive role, and answered to the Romanian Government.

Still under the shock of the events in Alba Iulia which the Hungarians did not attend, the Hungarian National Council (the Government of the self-proclaimed Republic of Hungary, unrecognised by the international community) discussed for the first time, on the 18^th of December 1918, the issue of establishing and defending a purely ethnic Hungary; however, the Hungarian society in its entirety proved it was not ready to give up the medieval idea of a historic Hungary. As such, on the 21^st of March 1919, the government led by Mihály Károly resigned and ensured the peaceful transfer of power to the far left, and thus was established the first Hungarian communist government, led by Bèla Kun. It proclaimed, in Budapest, the Republic of Councils in Hungary (or the Hungarian Soviet Republic), established along the lines of Vladimir Ilich Lenin’s Bolshevik regime in Russia. As far as his foreign policy was concerned, Bèla Kun intended to keep old Hungary’s borders and issued threats against Czechoslovakia and Romania.

East of Romania, the Bolshevik Red Army intended to get back Bessarabia and institute the communist regime all over the Romanian territory. On the 31^st of December 1917/13^th of January 1918, the Romanian Minister Plenipotentiary in Saint Petersburg, Constantin Diamandy was arrested by the newly installed Russian regime, however, he was released two days later, when the entire diplomatic corps in the city intervened; he was forced to leave Soviet Russia. Moreover, on the 13^th of January 1918, the Council of People’s Commissars (led by V.I. Lenin) decided to break all ties with the Romanian diplomats and expel from Russia all the representatives of the Romanian government.

Consequently, the decisions of Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania to unite with the Kingdom of Romania were being directly threatened by two countries with communist regimes – Soviet Russia in the East and the Hungarian Soviet Republic, in the West, which made use of armed forces and state terrorism to do that. This turn of events forced Romania to take military actions under combat conditions, all through 1919, to defend its own territory and implement the decisions taken in Chișinău, Cernăuți and Alba Iulia the year before. At the same time, the decisions adopted in Chișinău, Cernăuți and Alba Iulia had to receive international recognition during the Paris Peace Conference that took place during 1919 and 1920.

The armistices with the losing parties, Austro-Hungary (in Padua on the 3^rd of November 1918) and Germany (in Compiegne, on the 11^th of November 1918) allowed the Allies to start getting ready and opening the Peace Conference. With this armistice, Germany saw the obsoleteness of the Treaty of Buftea/Bucharest (24^th of April/7^th of May 1918) that Romania was forced to conclude with the Central Powers, after the Russian “malfunction” in Brest-Litovsk (22^nd of November/5^th of December 1917) that ended Russia’s participation in the war. Concurrently, a French military analysis referring to the Armistice in Padua included a reference to Romania, highlighting the fact that the text of the armistice did not cover the issues regarding Transylvania and Bukovina, and the withdrawal from Wallachia was implied. According to the analysis, Romania, even if at that time it was no longer an ally, it could have become once more and then the text of truce with Austro-Hungary would have had to include facts regarding the evacuation of the Romanian territories claimed by this country. The fact that Romania was mentioned was related to the endeavours of the French Military Command to reopen a Romanian front. Romania re-joining the war alongside the allies was enough to alert Budapest due to the imminence of a military action in Transylvania. Consequently, the Hungarian National Council, acting as the executive, led by Mihály Károly, tried to reach an agreement with the Commander in Chief of the Allied Army of the Orient, general Franchet d’Esperey, to obtain from the Allies some sort of guarantee with regard to Hungary’s borders. The negotiations ended when they signed, in Belgrade (13^th of November 1918) a document somewhat similar to the one in Padua, called “The Military Convention between the Allies and Hungary”. At that point Hungary found itself at an advantage, for at least four reasons: it took part for the first time in an international convention and it had its status recognised; it obtained a clear delimitation of its Eastern and Southern borders, through the line stretching from: the upper valley of the River Someș, Bistrița, Mureș-Sat, the valley of the River Mureș, all the way to the Tisa River, Subotița, Baja, Pecs, up to where Drava meets the Slovenian-Croatian border; it eliminated the word “provisional” from Art. 6 of the Armistice in Padua and replaced it with “the civil administration will remain in the hands of the current government”; it managed to stop, through Art. 17 “the interference in matters pertaining to domestic issues”. The Armistice of Belgrade would be declared null by the French only two weeks after, without having been denounced. On the 1^st of December 1918, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the representatives of the Allies in Paris that the treaty signed with the Hungarian government could not be interpreted as a recognition of the country, and that the Armistice in Belgrade should have been seen as a “local understanding with a local authority”; Art. 17 of the Armistice, which kept the entire Hungarian administration within the borders of old Hungary could not have been agreed upon, because on its grounds, Mihály Károly sent troops to conquer Slovakia (Czechoslovakia), a recognised country, allied to the Entente. Moreover, the border line set by this Armistice did not take into account Romania’s claims, so its validity was contested by the Romanian Government in Bucharest and by the Romanian National Council in Arad that eventually managed to gradually move it to the West.

France takes a final decision regarding Romania’s participation to the Peace Conference only by the end of December 1918. The decision stipulated that the allied governments should see Romania as an ally as it re-joined the war, and, as far as the Treaty of Bucharest, from the 4/17^th of August 1916 was concerned, it was considered null and void, amended through the Treaty signed on the 24^th of April/7^th of May 1918 in Buftea/Bucharest. The French government suggested the Allies drew up another declaration, taking into account the Treaty in 1916, in order to look into Romania’s claims and considering the union of Bessarabia with Romania and the general and particular interests of the Allies. In the beginning of January 1919, England announced that it agreed with the French government regarding Romania taking part in the Peace Conference as an ally, however, it proposed they should postpone the communique regarding the dismissal of the Treaty of Bucharest, from the 4^th/17^th of August 1916. These attitudes raise the objections of the Romanian government with the Allies, regarding their decision not to recognise the Treaty of alliance signed on the 4^th/17^th of August 1916. Under these circumstances, was carried out the activity of Romanian delegation at the Peace Conference for almost two years (1919-1920), which was aimed at obtaining the international recognition of the decisions regarding the union with the Kingdom of Romania, taken in Chișinău, Cernăuți and Alba Iulia. The Romanian delegation left for Paris on the 10^th of January and arrived on the 13^th of January 1919, led by Ion I.C. Brătianu, the head of the government. He was accompanied by Constantin Brătianu, the Secretary General of the delegation, Colonel Toma Dumitrescu and I. Plessia. During those two years, the members of the delegation changed, due to the changes in the government, and due to the fact that they acquired new members from the historical provinces that united with Romania in 1918. Here are the members who represented Romania at the Paris Peace Conference: plenipotentiary delegates - Ion I.C. Brătianu (first delegate), Nicolae Mișu (second delegate), General Constantin Coandă, Nicolae Titulescu, Dr. Ioan Cantacuzino, Dr. Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, Victor Antonescu, Constantin Diamandy, Ioan Pelivan, George Danielopol, etc. The delegation also included consultants and experts: P. Zahariade and S. Rosenthal, advisors, Eftimie Antonescu, Constantin Antoniade and Mircea Djuvara – legal experts, Col. Toma Dumitrescu – military affairs, G. Caracostea, C.D. Creangă, Ermil Pangrati, George Crișan, Neagoe Flondor, D. Gheorghiu, D. Marinescu, Ioan Mocsoni, Gheorghe Moroianu, Ludovic Mrazec, Eugen Neculcea, Mihail Șerban, George Popescu, Nicolae Ștefănescu, Ion Tănăsescu – economic and financial affairs, Caius Brediceanu, Ioan Coltor, Arhip Roșca, Vasile Vitenco, Alexandru Lapedatu, Traian Vuia – ethnographical and geographical affairs, Aurel Vasiliu și I. Plessia – attachés to the president of the delegation.

The key task of Paris Peace Forum was to enable the international recognition of the newly formed/rebuilt states, following the disappearance of the German, Austrian-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian Empires. The proceedings were opened on the 18^th of January 1919 and over 10,000 delegates were present – politicians, diplomats, militaries, consultants and experts from 32 countries. Ever since the beginning, the Peace Conference chose a double standard policy, based on seniority. The countries were divided into two categories – great powers that had unlimited interests and small powers that had limited interests. The first category included the United States of America, France, Great Britain, Italy and Japan (it did not play an active role and was called the silent partner). Romania was part of the smaller countries, and so were Poland, Czechoslovakia, or the Kingdom of Serbia-Croatia-Slovenia (the future Yugoslavia). Compared to the latter, recognised and accepted as allies, Romania had more difficulties to overcome.

The operating body of the conference was the Council of Ten, comprised of heads of state, prime ministers and foreign ministers from France, England, the USA, Italy and Japan – George Clemenceau and Stephen Pichon, David Lloyd George and Arthur James Balfour, Thomas Woodrow Wilson and Robert Lansing, Vittorio Orlando and Baron Sidney Sonnino, Marquis Kimmachi Saionji and Baron Makino. In March 1919, the Council of Ten become the Council of Four (the Supreme Council) comprising of the heads of state or prime ministers from France, England, the USA and Italy (the Japanese Prime Minister took part only in discussing and taking decisions regarding matters related to his country) and the Council of Five, comprising of the ministers of foreign affairs of the five great powers. The Conference Bureau was comprised of the president – George Clemenceau; vice-presidents: Robert Lansing, David Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, and Marquis Saionji. The Secretary General was Paul Eugène Dutasta (France), who had three assistants, coming from countries known as great powers. 17 commissions and committees were established for various issues. The Society of Nations, war and sanctions, war reparations, financial issues, economic issues, territorial issues, with four sub-commissions regarding Czechoslovakian, Polish, Romanian, South-Slavic (Yugoslavian), Belgian and Danish issues, inter-allies military and naval matters, etc. The Supreme Council clearly stated where it stood regarding Romania, allowing it to take part in the conference with only two delegates, while Serbia, which had never surrendered, was allowed three delegates. Moreover, the Great Powers gave Romania only seven places in the 17 commissions assigned to investigate the various matters at hand and to draw up reports related thereto, for the decision-makers of the Peace Conference. However, in order to elude a Romanian interference, the Romanian experts were excluded from two commissions – those responsible for borders and minorities.

Astonished by the hostility he was confronted with from the western allies, Ion I.C Brătianu ardently pleaded Romania’s cause. Therefore, on the 31^st of January 1919, when he faced the Supreme Council, I.I.C. Brătianu refused to make any compromise regarding Romania’s territorial claims. He demanded the whole of Banat, according to the terms of the Treaty from 1916, evoking history and ethnic statistics to justify his claim, and opposed the division of the region. Those present were not impressed, even if Brătianu argued the fact that the death of 335,000 Romanian troops was reason enough for Romania to stake its claim. The next day, on the 1^st of February 1919 he continued his exposé, arguing that Romania should have the entire territory it was promised in 1916, as a just reward for the support it offered the Entente, and rejected the Supreme Council’s proposals to organise referendums in the disputed territories – Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania, where the unions with Romania had been achieved by popular vote the year before – 1918. In his exposé, Brătianu even made an offer – should Romania’s claims be met, and should the allies allow it to further advance to the west, towards Hungary, the Romanian army would eradicate Bolshevism, “a serious and contagious disease” that quickly spread from Russia to Hungary and Central Europe. The answer of the Supreme Council was far from what Brătianu expected – it voted for the establishment of a Romanian Territorial Commission, whose task was to analyse the legitimacy of Romania’s claims.

During the Peace Conference, territorial issues mixed with others – the decision taken by the “Big Four” was to have a European peace that would defend their own interests, the rights of the minorities in the successor states in general, and in Romania in particular, and the threat of Bolshevik expansion in Central Europe. Consequently, the priority of the Peace Conference, imposed by France the host nation was to have peace with Germany. The issue was settled on the 28^th of June 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles. With it, the interests of the Big Four – the USA, France, England and Italy – were satisfied. Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Kingdom of Serbia-Croatia-Slovenia were among the signatories, and recognised as allied states and confirmed as subjects of international law. According to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany lost all its colonies. It gave back to France – Alsace and Lorraine, to Belgium – Eupen, Malmédy and Moresnet, to Poland, recognised as independent – Poznania and some of Upper Silesia, and to Denmark – North Schleswig. According to the military chapter in the Treaty, Germany abolished conscription, the number of troops were downsized to 100,000 people, the Rhyne valley was demilitarised and forced to pay for war damages, whose amount was settled later on. Through Art. 116 Germany was obliged to recognise “the independence of all territories separated from the former Russian Empire”, and through Art. 117, they had to recognise the validity of the treaties signed with “the countries that were part or would be established on the entire or on some of the territory belonging to the former Russian Empire”. Moreover, they signed the Covenant of the League of Nations that represented the first in a series of peace treaties signed with all former enemies, as well as the statute of the International Labor Organization that represented the 13^th part of the Treaty with Germany, and of the other peace treaties.

There are three matters that concern Romania in the Treaty of Versailles with Germany: 1) the war damages – Art. 224, annex 7 stipulates the cessation of all rights, titles and privileges over the cable Constanța –Istanbul, which passed over to Romania; 2) Art. 259, Paragraph 6, Germany was obliged to sign away the Treaty of Buftea-Bucharest from the 24^th of April/7^th of May 1918, and Art. 292, it relinquished all treaties, conventions and agreements signed with Romania “before the 1^st of August 1914 or henceforth, until the enforcement of that treaty”. Likewise, with Art. 232, Germany was obliged to pay for “all the damages it inflicted on the civil population in all allied countries”; 3) With regard to the Danube, the Treaty kept to maintaining the European Commission of the Danube, located in Galați, which managed the navigating segment from Brăila to Sulina, and to establishing an International Danube Commission, for the Brăila-Ulm segment; a dedicated conference later decide the Danube’s political and legal status. With reference to this latter matter, on the 26^th of June 1919, Ion I.C. Brătianu submitted a memo to the Supreme Council, concerning Romania’s situation generated by the management of the Danube by the Great Powers. It requested that the navigation system at the mouths of the Danube be the same as before the war, and that Romania be returned its ships, captured by the enemies and taken into their territorial waters, and were in the temporary possession of the allied armies. It also requested that the French, British and US military missions on the Danube, be limited to supplying the allied armies. The memo demanded that representatives of Czechoslovakia, the Kingdom of Serbia-Croatia-Slovenia, and Romania be included in the International Danube Commission. On the 23^rd of August 1919, the Supreme Council told the Romanian delegation that it agreed to the inclusion of the representatives, however, it rejected all the other claims in the memo.

Germany’s ally from the Central Powers, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had broken apart during the last months of 1918. Partners for dialogue were being looked for and they could only be those responsible for starting the World War, the dominant countries from the dual-state, the Austrians and the Hungarians. The two nations formed countries of their own – Austria and Hungary. They were losing countries and they were the object of separate peace treaties. The Versailles Peace Treaty clearly stipulates, in art. 80 that “Germany acknowledges and will firmly respect the independence of Austria”, however, it does not mention Hungary. On the 29^th of May 1919 the delegations of Romania, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Greece were informed with regard to the main clauses of the draft of the Peace Treaty with Austria and with regard to a special treaty referring to minorities. In the last draft, Art. 5 stipulated the right of the Great Powers to adopt the measures they saw fit in order “to protect” the interests of the minorities in Romania. Moreover, the text of the Treaty with Austria referred to Romania’s obligation to take over some of the debts of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Under those circumstances, Ion I.C. Brătianu acted in the name of the medium and small allied countries and asked and got from the President of the Conference a 48 hour-break to study the text of the Treaty. He tried to make all small and medium countries interested in the Treaty with Austria join in and raise objections against the fact that they have not been consulted when the clauses were drawn. Since he was not able to, the Romanian delegation stood alone when they started a long and fierce dispute with the Great Powers, in order to have some of the amendments improved and some modified, as they were a threat to the independence and sovereignty of the country.

To the Romanian delegation the most important territorial problem at the Peace Conference was related to Transylvania. There, the difficulties lied with the border along the River Mureș in Central Transylvania established by the “Military Convention between the Allies and Hungary”, in Belgrade, on the 13^th of November 1918. The Romanians ignored the Convention and their troops kept on advancing, despite the restrictions of the Supreme Council. On the 24^th of February 1919, Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, a member of the Romanian delegation forwarded a note to the Supreme War Council in Versailles that contested the validity of the provisions of the Armistice of Belgrade, since the Hungarians could no longer speak for the Romanian territories from the former empire. He demanded Romania be treated the same as Czechoslovakia, which had been authorized to disregard the provisions of the above-mentioned Armistice, and allow the Romanian troops to advance to the limit of the Romanian territories.

Consequently, on the 26^th of February 1919, the Supreme War Council set a new dividing line, along the railway that stretched from Satu Mare, via Oradea, all the way to Arad. The three cities remained outside Romanian territories, under French occupation. In order to prevent further hostilities, the Council created a neutral zone between the Romanian army and the Hungarian one, west of the dividing line. The interested parties were made aware of the decision regarding the new dividing line between Hungary and Romania on the 20^th of March 1919. The Hungarian government was notified by Lt. Col. Fernand Vix, from the Allied Mission in Budapest. The “Vix Note” led to a political crisis in Hungary, the “interim president”, Mihály Károly, resigned and a newly formed communist/left socialist government came to power, led by Béla Kun, who proclaimed the Soviet Republic of Hungary on the 21^st of March 1919. The victory of Bolshevism in Budapest had a strong influence on Bavaria and Austria, which determined the Paris Peace Conference to see the Soviet Republic of Hungary as a threat and decide, starting with the 28^th of March 1919 to impose an economic blockade. The new Hungarian regime-maintained relationships with Austria and Soviet Russia only. The latter immediately acknowledged the soviet regime in Budapest and agreed to the proposal of its communist leader to form an alliance between the Hungarian proletariat and the soviet government.

As far as the relationship with the neighbours went, Béla Kun kept the Yugoslavians at a distance, threatening only Czechoslovakia and Romania. Even if his discourse was Bolshevik, he acted solely in Hungary’s interest. He was in favour of the Military Convention in Belgrade, and asked the Allies to make the Romanian Army withdraw east from the Mureș line. Under these circumstances, the Directory Council in Sibiu, led by Iuliu Maniu sent a memo to the Romanian Government where he asked for the protection of the Romanian population in Transylvania, because in the areas occupied by the Hungarian army, Romanians were abused and tortured. In Bucharest, King Ferdinand approved the decision taken by the Council of Ministers, on the 11^th of April 1919, and ordered the army to occupy the territories in Transylvania established by the Supreme War Council in Versailles, included in the “Vix Note”. To the Romanian King, who was the commander of the army, entering Transylvania was an absolute necessity, both as far as his foreign policy was concerned, as well as his domestic one. A Hungarian attack in the Apuseni Mountains, made the Romanian Army fight back – the night between the 15^th and 16^th of April – and advance all the way to the Tisza River. It stopped there in the beginning of May 1919.

In Paris the Allies asked the head of the Romanian delegation, Ion I.C. Brătianu, to have the Romanian Army withdraw from the line of the Tisza River, on the line set by the Supreme War Council, but he refused. The stalemate between the Allies and Brătianu regarding the borders reached a standstill because of Romania’s policy concerning the minorities. Convinced that he could not achieve anything else in Paris, at least at that time, on the 2^nd of July 1919 Ion I.C. Brătianu left the Peace Conference. Back home, on the 9^th of July 1919, Brătianu delivers an ample report regarding the activity of the Romanian delegation in Paris, during a meeting with the Council of Ministers, also attended by King Ferdinand and by Iuliu Maniu, the president of the Directory Council of Transylvania. The Council approved the activity of the Romanian delegation and decided not to sign the Peace Treaty with Austria. This resistance policy led, from July to December, to a genuine “war of notes” between the Romanian government and the Supreme War Council. Romania’s resistance policy was seconded by its military actions in Hungary. Even though the Supreme War Council in Paris decided, on the 11^th of July 1919 that the military troops of the Entente should occupy Hungary, they did not take any action. According to the Allies, an anti-Bolshevik crusade was impossible to achieve. A French project that required a coordinated French-Romanian-Yugoslavian counter offensive failed, due to lack of personnel. To France, at least, Romania seemed to be the only force capable of taking immediate action in Central Europe. The suggestion of a quick intervention in the region came from Marshal Foch, approved by the French Prime Minister, Clemenceau.

Under these circumstances, Romania was forced to solve the Hungarian issue by itself. After the Hungarian troops attack the Romanian ones situated east of the Tisza River (20^th-30^th of July), the Romanian troops launched a counterattack (24^th of July), crossed the Tisza River (27^th of July) and entered Budapest on the 3^rd of August 1919. The Romanian intervention in Budapest and the removal of Béla Kun were not received well by the authorities in Paris, and the Supreme War Council asked Romania to evacuate Hungary immediately. As a consequence, only a day after Hungary surrendered, the Supreme War Council established a commission, made of four generals: French, British, American and Italian, also known as the “Commission of the Generals”, and their mission was to represent the Allies in Budapest and negotiate with the Hungarians and the Romanians. Between August and November 1919, the Romanian troops stationed in Budapest helped reorganise the administration and supply the Hungarian population with food and fuel, revived the industry and restarted the activity of state institutions.

During all that time the Romanian army worked on recovering war machines and equipment, and the railways that the German and Austro-Hungarian armies took from Romania during the occupation and stored in the area surrounding the Hungarian capital. The relationship between Romania and the Allies became more complicated when the government led by István Friederich came to power in Budapest, and when the Archduke Joseph of Habsburg assumed the leadership of the country. The British expert Frank Rattigan addressed a note to his foreign minister Arthur James Balfour, where he defended Romania’s policy against the criticism of the Peace Conference, claiming the following: the Supreme Council forbade Romania to occupy Budapest once the city had been taken; the Allies had asked for Romania’s cooperation in the march for Budapest; the Romanians had acted in self-defence; the accusations of brutality had been spread by the Hungarian newspapers; the Hungarian troops had not been wearing a uniform, so they could not have been distinguished from the civilians; the Habsburgs had not come to power aided by Brătianu. In the fall of 1919, the Allies had entrusted the settlement of the issues between the Romanians and the Hungarians to the British diplomat George Clerk, minister plenipotentiary of Great Britain to Prague. Clerk’s mission was to institute a liberal parliamentary democracy in Budapest and make the Romanian army withdraw from Hungary.

In the meanwhile, the Great Powers through pressure and concessions seek to make the Romanian government sign the Peace Treaty with Austria as well as Minority Treaty. On the 8^th of September 1919 the Supreme Council warned the Romanian government that if they did not sign the two documents, Romania would not be allowed to sign the Treaty with Bulgaria either. The Peace Treaty with Austria was signed in Saint Germaine-en-Laye, on the 10^th of September 1919; none of the Romanian delegates attended the ceremony. This Treaty recognised Austria’s independence and that of all its neighbours, including those which were established on the former territories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austria gave Italy South Tirol, Trieste and Zadar, the Istria peninsula and Carniola. The Treaty obliged it to have only 30,000 troops and pay for war damages. A special article forbade the annexation of Austria to Germany. Art. 59 obliged Austria to recognise the union of Bukovina with Romania and Art. 87 recognised the borders of the countries that were formed or were to be established on the territories that were once part of the former Russian Empire. Art. 60 of the Treaty imposes Romania clauses regarding the minority regime, transit and trade (established by a special treaty), and Art. 61 makes Romania take over some of the debts of the former monarchy.

Ion I.C. Brătianu’s intransigence not only did it not acquire the desired results, but it even endangered Romania’s interests at the Peace Conference. Two days after the Treaty in Saint-Germain was signed with Austria, a government crisis occurred in Bucharest, which resulted with the resignation of Brătianu and his cabinet. The crisis ended on the 27^th of September 1919 when a new government was formed with militaries and experts, led by General Arthur Văitoianu, and under the influence of I.I.C. Brătianu. The new prime minister neglected the foreign relations and declared that he was not at liberty to sign the Peace Treaty with Austria, the Romanian delegation emphasizing once more the reasons it could not sign. Even if it decided to evacuate Budapest in four stages, on the 14^th of November 1919, the attitude of General Arthur Văitoianu, determined the Supreme Council in Paris, on the 15^th of November, to issue another ultimatum, which requested the Romanian government to meet the following conditions, “unreservedly and unconditionally”: completely evacuate Hungarian soil, withdrawing within the borders established by the Conference, accept the establishment of the Inter-allied Commission, which stopped, controlled and assessed the Hungarian requisitions since the beginning of the Romanian occupation, ever since its inception; sign the Peace Treaty with Austria and the Minority Treaty under the conditions referred to by the Supreme Council. The Romanian government was summoned to answer within eight days, otherwise the Romanian delegation was forced to leave the Peace Conference, and the Member States of the Supreme Council would cease all diplomatic relations with Romania. The note was sent to the Romanian government in Bucharest, on the evening of the 24^th of November, and they had to answer by the 2^nd of December 1919. Under these extreme circumstances, the government led by Văitoianu refused to give in and resigned on the 28^th of November 1919. After several consultations, King Ferdinand assigned Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, the vice-president of the Romanian National Party in Transylvania, to form a new government. The New government led by Vaida-Voevod was sworn in on the 1^st of December 1919. The new Prime Minister, who was also the minister of foreign relations decided to accept the terms of the Supreme Council so as not to endanger the victories already achieved in Paris and restore all good relations with the West. Consequently, on the 10^th of December 1919, the government led by Alexandru Vaida-Voevod signed, through its delegates in the Peace Conference – General Constantin Coandă and Ion Pelivan, the Peace Treaty with Austria in Saint Germain-en-Laye, the Minority Treaty and the Peace Treaty with Bulgaria, in Neuilly-sur-Seine. This last Treaty (signed on the 24^th of November 1919) establishes that the border between Romania and Bulgaria was as “it had been on the 1^st of August 1914”.

To the Romanian delegation in the Peace Conference there were three more important territorial issues left on the agenda – Banat, Bessarabia and Transylvania, whose solutions would be put off until 1920. The issue regarding Banat was resolved rather favourably. After Ion I.C.Brătianu insisted that the region should be a part of Romania in its entirety, taking into account economic, geographical and social unity (600,000 Romanians, compared to 400,000 Germans and 300,000 Serbians), the Supreme Council drew a rather ethnic border between Romania and the newly established Yugoslavia – the Romanians received two thirds of the region and the Serbians one third. The Serbian army that had occupied most of Banat, including the city of Timișoara, left a region in the hands of the French army, who later turned it to the Romanian army, in July 1920, thus avoiding an armed conflict between the Romanians and the Serbians.

The issue of regaining Bessarabia proved to be more difficult. It had been discussed in front of the Romanian Territorial Commission ever since the 22^nd of February 1919, however, the arguments of the Prime Minister Ion I.C. Brătianu that the population in Bessarabia was 70% Romanian and that the union with Romania had been free, accomplished by a legal assembly, the Moldovan Parliament, did not convince the allies. The US State Secretary, Robert Lansing asked the Romanian Prime Minister to organize a referendum in Bessarabia. Brătianu answered that he had no doubts regarding its result, and that he did not approve the withdrawal of the Romanian army from the region because it would have exposed the population to “Bolshevik anarchy”. The issue of Bessarabia was set aside, with other pending issues regarding the Allies and Romania and was put off for most of the year 1920. In the beginning of that year, the Romanian Prime Minister, Alexandru Vaida-Voevod went to Paris and London and settled with the Allies in matters regarding the withdrawal from Hungary. Nevertheless, the Council of Ambassadors that had been established during the Peace Conference, after the heads of state and governments left Paris, declared that they would not sign the Treaty regarding Bessarabia, unless Romania signed a final Peace treaty with Hungary.

This last matter was left unsolved in Central Europe – bringing Hungary to the Paris Peace Conference. The matter was assigned to the Clerk Mission. Following several contacts he had in Budapest and Bucharest, Sir George Clerk convinces the Romanian political and military authorities to withdraw the Romanian army from Hungary. All that remained was a new government in Budapest, capable of upholding law and order, recognised following free elections and a universal vote, a government that would sign a peace treaty with the Allies. Likewise, the Commission of the Generals made the Arch-duke Joseph of Habsburg resign from his position as the head of state, however, István Friederich, who became the President-Minister of Hungary was not accepted by the Supreme Council. The same day the Hungarian capital was cleared of all Romanian troops, on the 14^th of November 1919, under the close watch of the armies of the Entente, Admiral Miklós Horthy entered Budapest, leading an army of 2000 men. The following days, the delegate of the Allies, Sir George Clerk, consulted with the Hungarian political parties and managed to establish, on the 24^th of November 1919 a union government, led by Károly Huszár, who agreed to the conditions of the Supreme War Council and signed the Peace Treaty. A Hungarian delegation, led by Count Albert Apponyi arrived in Paris on the 7^th of January 1920, and the provisions of the Peace Treaty were handed to him on the 15^th of January. The Supreme Allied Council had their first debate on the issue on the 16^th of January. The Hungarian delegation defended in Paris the integrity of historical Hungary and tried to exonerate it from the burden of the war. When the session ended, Georges Clemenceau made the head of the delegation aware of the fact that decisions could not be taken “based on the declarations of only one of the parties”, and gave Romania two weeks to come up with an answer. The Hungarian delegation submitted to the Secretariat of the Peace Conference a series of “preliminary notes“, regarding their position vis-a-vis the Treaty, however they did not manage to change the original text.

On the 20^th of February the Romanian delegation forwarded a memo to the Peace Conference, a comeback to the Hungarian action regarding the borders, and on the 24^th of February, a similar document was forwarded by the Romanian, Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian and Czechoslovakian delegations. This last joint action of the three delegations resulted in speeding the proceedings of the Conference. The Supreme Council met in London on the 3^rd of March 1920 and debated mostly on the Treaty with Hungary, and on the 8^th of March, the Council of Foreign Ministers and Ambassadors dealt with this issue again and decided to stop revising the territorial, military, financial, and transit clauses in the Treaty with Hungary. Moreover, the two reunions decided to dismiss all Hungarian claims, with one exception – a referendum was allowed in Burgenland, a territory that was to be given to Austria, where the city of Sopron voted to remain in Hungary. These last decisions caused a change in the government in Budapest – the cabinet led by Károly Huszár was replaced on the 15^th of March 1920 by another, led by Sándor Simonyi-Semadan, who took responsibility for signing the Peace Treaty. The Supreme Council answered the objections of the Hungarians to the territorial issues with the “Millerand Letter”, that is its decision to change none of the clauses stipulated in the draft of the treaty. Instead of answering that letter, the head of the Hungarian delegation, Albert Apponyi, announced, on the 16^th of May, his and his colleagues’ resignation. As a consequence, on the 4^th of June 1920, the Supreme Council announced the signing of the Treaty and asked Hungary to assign representatives with full powers to sign it. The event took place at the proposed date in the Grand Trianon, at the Palace of Versailles.

The Trianon Peace Treaty was signed on the 4^th of June 1920 by 17 allied countries and Hungary. The preamble was dedicated to the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the text of the Treaty used the phrase “the territories that once belonged to the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy”, which confirmed the disappearance of the empire, not that of a Hungarian country. Besides, Art.73 recognised Hungary as an independent and sovereign country. Consequently, the Treaty of Trianon was Hungary’s act of birth, as a modern country, a subject of international law. Moreover, by Art. 73, Hungary was obliged to renounce that status, in order to prevent any future “personal union” with another country. The Armistice of Belgrade from the 13^th of November 1918, never approved, but cited constantly, was annulled by this Treaty. At the same time, Art. 193 denounces the Treaty of Buftea/Bucharest, from the 7^th of May 1918 imposed on Romania by the Central Powers, according to which Hungary, as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire had territorial benefits as well as of a different nature. It also stipulated that once the treaty came into effect, all state of war ended and the Allies could establish official relations with Hungary. Art. 27 established the borders between Hungary and Austria, the Kingdom of Serbia-Croatia-Slovenia, Czechoslovakia and Romania. The provisions of this article legalised the separation from Austro-Hungary and the territories inhabited by Romanians (Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș), by Slovakians (Slovakia), by Ruthenians (Ruthenia, incorporated in Czechoslovakia) and by the Southern Slavs (Croatia-Slavonia).

According to Art. 46, a commission comprising of seven members (five designated by the Allies and one by Romania and Hungary) went on site to draw the borders. Important Hungarian communities, minorities, remained in these territories and were integrated in their new countries. The Treaty stipulated that the persons indigenous to a territory, who are of different nationality and language than the majority of the population had the right to opt for the citizenship they desired, within a period of six months. In order to find a solution to potential misunderstandings mixed arbitration tribunals were established. Articles 54 to 60 obliged Hungary to ensure the protection of the minorities that remained in its territory, and the provisions were identical to those imposed on the other countries from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, including Austria. On behalf of Hungary, the Treaty was signed by Gaston de Bénard (Benard Agoston), the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare and by Alfred Drasche-Lázár de Thorda, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary. On behalf of Romania, the Treaty was signed by Nicolae Titulescu, a former minister, and Dr. Ion Cantacuzino, Minister of State. The Treaty of Trianon was ratified by the Romanian Parliament following heated, but well-balanced debates, which started on the 11^th of August 1920 and ended on the 17^th of August (in the Senate) and on the 26^th of August (in the Chamber of Deputies).

The Hungarian Parliament ratified the Treaty only after the Great Powers that signed it sent Budapest an ultimatum. As a consequence, they decided not to discuss the Treaty of Trianon but accepted as a result of maximum pressure. They agreed that the document should be signed by 60 deputies, randomly chosen so as none of the members of the Hungarian National Assembly could be accused, or held responsible for the ratification. The actual vote was held on the 15^th of November 1920, in a gloomy atmosphere. The instruments of the ratification were sent to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (where the treaties were stored) – by the Romanian government on the 4^th of September 1920, and by the Hungarian government, on the 23^rd of March 1921. The Peace Treaty with Hungary came into force on the 26^th of July 1921, after it had been previously ratified by the other signatories. Practically, legally speaking, according to the provisions of this Treaty, World War I ended on the 26^th of July 1921.

Still, Romania had to solve the issue of Bessarabia. Only on the 3^rd of March 1920 did the Supreme Council addressed a note to the Romanian government, signed by David Lloyd George, where he informed them of the decision adopted by the Peace Conference to recognise the union of Bessarabia with Romania. Based on this address, on the 28^th of October 1920 a treaty was signed in Paris, where the Allies – Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan recognised Romania’s sovereignty over the territory of Bessarabia, situated between the Rivers Prut and Dniester. The Treaty was ratified by Great Britain on the 14^th of April 1922, by Romania on the 19^th of May 1922, by France on the 24^th of April 1924 and by Italy on the 23^rd of May 1927, however, it was not ratified by Japan.

Practically, only by the fall of 1920 were all of Romania’s territorial gains recognised internationally. Today, 100 years since the legal recognition of the Great Union, there still is the issue of the name we use – do we call it Greater Romania or Romania Made Whole? The territorial losses of 1940 – Bessarabia, Bukovina, the Hertza region, Northern Transylvania and Southern Dobrudja were only partially recovered in 1944, and attested by the Peace Treaty with Romania, Paris 1947 (for North Transylvania). The consequences of the Ribentropp-Molotov Pact from the 23^rd of August 1939 are still present in Romania’s case. Greater Romania was the highlight of Romanian statehood. In 1918, Transylvania, Banat, Maramureș, and Bukovina brought the riches of the land and of the deep – gold, coal, salt, secular woods and plenty of industry, Bessarabia its rich soil and oak woods, and the Old Kingdom of Romania had the Danube, the Mouth of the Danube and the economic respiratory gate of the Black Sea – the Port of Constanța, the Great Danube plain, the whole of Bărăgan and the Meadows of Siret. The biggest gain were the people – Romania’s population grew from 7.5 million inhabitants (the size of the Old Kingdom) to 14,669,841 inhabitants in 1919, only to reach, in 1930, 18 million people. The size of the country grew as well, from 137,000 km², to 295,049 km². And because those one hundred years that have passed – since Greater Romania was recognised by the system of Treaties of Versailles and up until today, in 2021 – are already history, we can also use the concept of “historical” Romania.

NOTE: This study was first published in Romanian in Magazin Istoric journal, issues 4(637), 5(638) and 6(639)/2020.

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