Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania is a monarchy at the crossroads of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in the Balkans. Founded in 1881, when Prince Karl of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was crowned as King Carol I of Romania, the first to bear the title. Romania was a former member of the Axis that participated in the Second World War, and currently a member of the Einheitspakt. It borders the Tsardom of Bulgaria to the south, the Independent State of Serbia to the southwest, the Kingdom of Hungary to the west and northwest, the General Governorate of the Vistula to the north and Reichskommissariat Ukraine to the northeast through the Transnistria Governorate.
History
Romania during the Second World War
The beginning of the second world war was not exactly great for Romania, it caused the Romanian economy to decrease in exports and the impossibility of Romanian companies to supply themselves with imported raw materials and equipment, so many companies after running out of raw materials and stocks stopped their production. Investments in the Romanian economy began to decline due to the insecurity generated by the war and the economic effort was directed towards providing the necessary weapons to protect the borders and on food production to ensure the domestic needs. Agriculture continued to be the most important branch of the economy, but due to recruitment, there was a shortage of labour.
In March 1939 an economic treaty was signed with Germany, by which the Germans were given a series of economic advantages. By 1940, Germany took control of several Romanian companies by buying shares or by other agreements. In May 1940, another treaty was signed by which Germany took precedence over others in exports of oil and petroleum products. Per the treaty, Romania received military equipment in exchange for oil, the price of which was set at pre-war levels which were no longer equal to the market prices because the price of oil skyrocketed in the meanwhile.
Romania would suffer a series of territorial losses: Northern Transylvania to the Hungarians in the Second Vienna Award, southern Dobrudzha to the Bulgarians in the Treaty of Craiova and Bessarabia to the Soviet Union.
Out of desperation, King Carol II named General (later Marshal) Ion Antonescu as President of the Council of Ministers, partly because of the general's close ties with the Legion. Unknown to Carol, however, Antonescu had secretly reached an agreement with other political figures to force out the king. A day after Antonescu's appointment, Carol was forced to abdicate his throne and his son Michael would be once again crowned king. Two days after Carol's abdication, Antonescu would supposedly offer to resign to National Peasants' Party President Iuliu Maniu, but according to him Maniu would deny, seeing a military regime as necessary for Romania to survive the Second World War. This would not be the last time Antonescu would end up offering to resign during the war.
Although Antonescu was an ethnonationalist and authoritarian, his first preference and intention was to form a national government, which would include and draw upon support from the three largest parties in the 1937 Elections, those being: the National Peasants' Party, National Liberal Party (Romania) and the Legionary Movement. However, the Liberal and Peasantists wanted to at least wanted to maintain parliamentary rule. The Legion, in contrast, fully supported Antonescu's vision of an authoritarian regime. Despite Antonescu's incredible disdain for Sima's Legionary Movement and his belief that all they had was a naked lust for power and broad incompetence, Antonescu would see no other option and formed an alliance with the Legion. Romania was proclaimed a "National Legionary State," with the Legion as the only legal party. Antonescu became the Legion's honorary leader. Sima became deputy President of the Council of Ministers, and four other legionnaires joined the cabinet.
Once in power, the Legion ramped up the level of harsh anti-Semitic legislation and pursued, with impunity, a campaign of pogroms and political assassinations. Sima and Antonescu quarrelled bitterly. Antonescu intended to create a military dictatorship in which the Legion would be subordinated to the state and thus demanded that Sima cede overall leadership of the Legionary Movement to him, but Sima refused. The infighting and distrust between the two would rapidly escalate. On 14 January 1941, after securing approval from Adolf Hitler, and with support of the Romanian army and other political leaders, Antonescu moved in to destroy the Legion. The Guard started a last-ditch coup attempt but in a three-day civil war, Antonescu had decisively achieved victory with support from the Romanian and German armies. During the run-up to the coup attempt, different factions of the German government backed different sides in Romania with Himmler and the SS supporting the Legionary while the Wehrmacht and the German Foreign Office supported Ion Antonescu.
Romania joined the Axis on November 1940 and participated in Operation Barbarossa, in order to exact revenge against the “Soviet Empire.” Despite the Germans overseeing these territorial losses from the previous summer, the Romanian government aligned with them, as the Soviets were seen as the larger threat and the British as being too far away. The country was euphoric when Romanian troops entered the capital of Bukovina, Cernăuţi on July 5 and the capital of Bessarabia, Chişinău, on July 16. Ion Antonescu was at the peak of his popularity and was eulogized as a liberator of these provinces.
Romanian forces had crossed the Dniester river and continued their campaign towards the southern Bug. The Romanians had swiftly captured the territory but the Soviets had successfully established a defense of Odessa and Romanians had to besiege the city. Romanian losses in the battle of Odessa reached a staggering 90 thousand (18 thousand dead, 63 thousand wounded, and 9 thousand missing). The losses at Odesa represented an unsustainable 26.5% of the total forces engaged there, 340.223 men out of 583.930 men of the entire Romanian ground forces. The high Romanian casualties dampened the Romanian people's support for the war and the Romanian General Staff assessed that the morale of the troops were considerably lower in Transnistria than in Bessarabia and Bukovina. This is because the rationale of invading Transnistria itself was beyond them, while Bessarabia and Bukovina were worth the battle. Romania was one of the main participants on the eastern front, and the government was responsible for the persecution and massacre of up to 260,000 Jews.
Other political movements within Romania opposed the occupation of Transnistria based on the grounds that it was not part of “national Romania”; the leaders of the PNT and PNL declared that "the Romanian people will never consent to the continuation of the struggle beyond our national borders."
The framework of Antonescu's dictatorship did tolerate some form of opposition. It was expressed in the form of joint letters to Antonescu by Maniu and Brătianu which, while critical of his actions, regarded him as a necessary evil. Antonescu sent detailed replies, often with the offer to stand aside in favor of the two leaders, but on each occasion the offer was either declined or ignored. Typical of these exchanges was Antonescu's response in March 1941 to three letters from Constantin Bratianu in which the latter expressed his concern at Romania's alliance with Germany: “I have been reproached, not openly and to my face, of course for joining the Tripartite Pact. I did so out of a sense of foresight and self-preservation. Foresight because Hungary had joined before me. In view of this situation I believed that, in the case of a German victory, Hungary could not be rewarded at our expense, while in the case of a German defeat we would share with Hungary the same responsibility before the victors. I also did it out of a sense of self-preservation. In today's circumstances a small country which is under threat, such as ours, does not do what it wishes, but what it can. The case of Yugoslavia, which does not have the Russians as neighbors and enemies, is obvious ... In the political space which concerns us, we have a choice between Britain, Russia and the Axis powers. We cannot count on the support of Britain in the present political situation, a fact which you yourself recognize. An alignment with Britain would not only have brought us no effective support, but it would have exposed us to the danger of total collapse. Political alignment with Russia was a moral and factual impossibility. Being unable to count on Britain, and being unable to go alongside the Soviets, Germany remained the only force upon which we could rely both for economic and political support, as well as regards the possibility of creating real military power which we could use at the appropriate moment, in the manner most suited to our interests.' If, however, both you and Messrs Maniu and Mihalache think that you can pursue a different policy I am ready to give way to you, to give you the power to better serve the country, that is to move from criticism to action.”
Romania in Post War Europe
Once the war in Europe finally came to an end, Antonescu had started to prepare to finally hand in his resignation to King Michael. Hitler found out, with the preference that the Antonescu regime shall continue, urged Ion Antonescu to continue ruling Romania, while also pushing for the dismissal of Vice Premier Mihai Antonescu. Ion Antonescu would concede that it was not yet time for Romania to transition away from his regime.
Romania had to bear the subjugation of its economic resources to the Reich, continuing the treaties signed out of necessity before and during the war. Many resources which were needed for reconstruction were demanded by Germany for its ambitious projects, raising the question if Antonescu was willing to let the Romanian economy be fully at the disposal of the Germans, while the average Romanian was not living better then decades before. Romania would face a calamity that threatened its own future. It was the mid-1940s when the country was hit by a prolonged drought, followed by frost, heralding the Great Famine of 1946-1947. Depleted by resources, the peasantry was threatened by starvation, disease and death, causing even cases of cannibalism in the areas ravaged by war, such as Bessarabia and Transnistria. Frightened by the consequences, the Romanian authorities then took an unprecedented measure: children from Bessarabia were sent to other areas of the country, less affected by famine. After the famine broke out, people had reached the limit of patience, waiting for help from the authorities, so that many Romanians went on their own to the "surplus" counties (as those in which the harvest had been saved were called) to procure grain. The crisis had generated chaos, exodus, speculation, and the authorities were helplessly seeing the situation get out of hand, as Germany looked on with indifference.
All the food from Transnistria would be prioritised to the Romanians in the Governorate and Romania itself, leaving Ukrainians to starve. The population had nowhere to flee and had to stay in the area, surviving on what little they had left. During this chaos and famine, resistance fighters would cross from the border into Transnistria, and further bolster the resistance there, exacerbating the problems.
In Bucharest, fear of a peasant revolt similar to the one from 1907 bestowed the ruling elite, forcing Antonescu's hand to do minor agrarian reforms that were available, such as redistributing land from defunct companies to war veterans, however the economic situation greatly damaging Antonescu's public image. The PNT saw the reforms as a makeshift solution to a larger issue, which they don’t believe Antonescu will properly address. During the famine, Mihai Antonescu became the de facto leader of Romania, as Antonescu once again stepped away from domestic politics.
The Return of Party Politics
The Famine of 46 had resulted in a complete change of the Romanian government ambition, changing from that of a temporary military regime to one that is continually held up by the Romanian elite, with the Conducător’s influence in his regime slipping. Despite Ion being the President of the Council of Ministers, he would allow his good friend (former personal lawyer, then a Minister in the government and finally Deputy Premier) Mihai Antonescu to hold influence over the decisions made by the Romanian government. Much to the dismay of Adolf Hitler, who requested Mihai Antonescu be dismissed due to his diplomatic untrustworthiness already during the war.
A civilian had come to de-facto rule a military dictatorship, one of economically liberal ambition, with the support of the Romanian elite. Mihai Antonescu would seek to justify the continuation of the regime by re-establishing civilian rule. He would contact Gheorghe Brătianu who led the PNL-Brătianu after the resignation of his uncle, Dinu Brătianu. He would agree to join the Antonescu regime on the precondition that elections would occur again.
Thus in 1952 the Antonescu regime would conduct the first elections in a decade, with the political arm of the regime being represented by Gheorghe Brătianu’s PNL. These elections would be marred with electoral irregularities, and several candidatures from opposition parties were canceled to give an advantage to the PNL-Brătianu. This situation would be similar to that of Romania during the 1920s and early 30s.
The Italo-German split would mark a point of contention between the Romanian regime and Germany, as Mihai Antonescu would consider an attempt to join with Italy, but Ion Antonescu would make the decision to continue Romania’s allegiance to the Pakt.
All seemed dark for the Romanian economy, until the 1950s came about and the German economy stuttered and the treaties signed during the war expired. Although at the beginning of the crash also affected Romania, Mihai Antonescu immediately advised Ion Antonescu to take over some of the German-owned industries to better Romania’s international trade position. Eventually inflation lowered, and industry was beginning to be revived, along with the end of the postwar general poverty in the areas torn by war and famine, but Antonescu would refuse to conduct social reforms.
This refusal resulted in the greatest political clash between the Peasantry and Government since 1907, the Protests of 1955. Romanians walked out onto the streets, striking against the government, farmers were refusing to sell their gains to the military. Seeing the PNT as an active threat to his regime, Antonescu attempted to arrest PNT politicians, but in an act that shocked many, Michael ordered such arrests canceled. The protests would escalate into an all out political crisis. The Romanian elite was now under the impression that Mihai Antonescu was not fit to rule the country, and the Germans were of the same opinion.
The Rise of Democracy
During the 50s, Ion Antonescu had conducted a significant modernisation and expansion of the Romanian army, to prepare it for the eventual liberation of Northern Transylvania. In 1955 the Romanian National Committee (CNR) was created, a secretive political coalition of the King’s Circle, the liberal PNL-Tatarescu, and the peasantist PNT to secure a potential transition of power while remaining under the wraps, out of sight from Romanian society. Members of the King's Circle included members of different political parties, the elite and military, who for numerous reasons were dissatisfied with the current regime. By 1956 the West Russian War had begun, making Antonescu believe he had a chance to retake it. However the reality of the situation in Romania was that Antonescu had been diagnosed with neurosyphilis and was dying. Months after his diagnosis, in April 1956, he would pass away from organ failure, accompanied by his wife, Maria Antonescu.
With Ion Antonescu's death, Mihai Antonescu became acting President of the Council of Ministers and opportunistically used the start of the West Russian War to attempt an assault on Hungary. Mihai Antonescu gained Michael's permission to order the Romanian army to start shelling the Hungarian border, and some skirmishes would begin to take place, this marks the start of the Second Hungarian-Romanian War. Several cells that had been covertly armed by Ion Antonescu's regime began an insurgency against the Hungarian government. International observers predicted this to be the start of the Romanian campaign to retake Northern Transylvania, but it went out with a whimper. Hitler forced Mihai Antonescu to end Romania's assaults and German troops occupied posts on the border to keep the two sides from fighting. The result of these skirmishes though was an explosion of Romanian armed resistance against Hungary in Northern Transylvania. The German ambassador would pressure King Michael not to appoint Mihai Antonescu; to appease the Germans Michael would appoint Gheorghe I. Brătianu as President of the Council of Ministers.
In the same month of April 1956, Gheorghe I. Brătianu would be appointed as President of the Council of Ministers by Michael. Mihai Antonescu would be assigned as Ambassador of Romania to Italy. Brătianu began negotiations with the goal of implementing democracy. King Michael, Iuliu Maniu, Ion Mihalache, Mihail Fărcășanu and Gheorghe Tătărescu were all present. Peasantist youth would begin a mass protest in Alba Iulia, with thousands participating, putting further pressure on Brătianu. The men would sign an agreement, agreeing on a national government led by Gheorghe Avramescu, which would ensure free and fair elections. This would be known as the May Agreement. Avramescu would be appointed in June. In preparation for the next elections, his government implemented several new electoral laws, including the abolishment of the 40% premium and women's suffrage based on Alba Iulian principles.
Governor of Transnistria Gheorghe Alexianu refused accept the authority of the Avramescu cabinet and tried to gain support from Germany, but his pleas were ignored with the Romanian and German garrison overthrowing him without any opposition. Gheorghe Potopeanu would be initially appointed in his place, but after a few months he would resign as the region stabilized and Victor Siminel would be appointed as the next governor of the region. This crisis caused a period of instability which allowed the Ukrainian resistance to gain a larger foothold in Transnistria.
The elections would come around and with it a victory of the National Peasants’ Party. Michael initially appointed Iuliu Maniu as President of the Council of Ministers, but he would suddenly die of a stroke and Ionel Pop was appointed shortly after in January 1957. The process for agrarian reform began and plans for a new constitution were drafted. Ionel Pop saw himself as only an interim leader until the PNT united under a new candidate. In May of 1958, Ionel Pop resigned and Michael appointed Corneliu Coposu to succeed him. Coposu reigned for that summer until September when the PNT party congress chose one of the two founders, Ion Mihalache, to once again hold the party presidency. In early 1959, Mihalache secured the reunion of several left-wing PNT splinters back into the main party and formed a coalition with the PSD, which gave both parties a largeadvantage in the upcoming local elections. In the 1960 general election, Ion Mihalache’s maneuvers led the PNT to win a stunning super-majority, solidifying another 4 years of rule for the ruling government.
Although dissatisfied with these developments, the Germans simply ran out of alternate political options to support. With the Legionary Movement long gone and Antonescu’s regime now done for, and anyhow was in the hands of Mihai Antonescu who they don't like, the Reich simply stood by, shrugging its shoulders and requesting guarantees that the new government intends to uphold the treaties signed by the old. With the understanding that the relations between Romania and Germany would remain the same, and with the oil steadily arriving, Germans ultimately accepted this development. For now anyway.
Politics
The Kingdom of Romania is a parliamentary democracy and has a bicameral parliament consisting of the Senate and House of Deputies. In 1964, the new Romanian constitution implemented by the National Peasants' Party will merge both chambers of parliament into a 300 seat unicameral parliament named the "Council of State". Romania is ruled by the Mihalache II cabinet and led by the President of the Council of Ministers Ion Mihalache. The National Peasants' Party holds a supermajority in both chambers of parliament and the party is in a coalition with the Social Democratic Party and the Ukrainian National Party.
Cabinet
| Cabinet member | Role |
|---|---|
| Ion Mihalache | President of the Council of Ministers |
| Nicolae Penescu | Deputy President of the Council of Ministers |
| Viorel Virgil Tilea | Minister of Foreign Affairs |
| Gheorghe Zane | Minister of Finance |
| Corneliu Coposu | Minister of Internal Affairs |
National spirits
TBA
Military
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- ↑ Will be changed to
Left-Wing Agrarianism
from 
Agrarianism
to better reflect Mihalache's political opinions,
