Romania switch sides in WW2

 was created in June after d-day Germans

were fighting in central in northern

Italy and in East the Soviets were on a

huge offensive on a gigantic front line

Germany was in a very bad situation but

a new blow is about to happen on the

date of 23rd of August 1944

at that day King Michael of Romania

joined with conspirators and opposition

politicians in an attempt to arrest the

head of the government marshal John

Antonescu the coup was successful the

king removed the government and the

weapons were turned against Germany but

why did this happen for you to better

understand the situation of Romania in

the Second World War

firstly we have to go 132 years back in

time we are in 1812 in the aftermath of

the Russia Turkish war which happened

between 1806 and 1812 the eastern parts

of the Principality of Moldova known as

Bessarabia were ceded to Imperial Russia

in 1859 Moldova United with villagio in

what will become Romania after their war

of independence in 1917 in the wake of

Russian Revolution the area constituted

itself as the Moldavian democratic

republic an autonomous republic part of

a proposed Federative Russian state

Bolshevik agitation in late 1917 and

early 1918 resulted in the intervention

of the Romanian army to pacify the

region soon after the Parliamentary

Assembly declared independence and then

the union with the kingdom of Romania

the Great War led to the achievement of

the long-standing goal and that was the

creation of Greater Romania a national

state that would incorporate all ethnic

Romanians which were divided for

centuries

however these new territories also

included significant Hungarian German

Russian and Ukrainian minorities thus

the relations with Hungary and with the

new authoritarian regime of the east

weren't so good in the first years of

the interwar period this

tuition was very good the economy grew

substantially and Romania found itself

as a major actor of Southeast Europe

King Ferdinand who unified the country

after the Great War died in 1927 and

after his death an era of political

instability is about to start

Carole who will become Carole the second

was the eldest son of Ferdinand - the

first and became crowned prince upon the

death of his grand uncle King Carole the

first in 1914 his life was marked by

numerous scandals among them marriages

2zz lamb Reno in 1918 and then -

Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark in

1921 then he had continued affairs with

Magda Lupescu and this obliged him to

renounce his succession rights in 1925

and leave the country king ferdinand

died in 1927 and Carole's five-year-old

son ascended the throne as Michael the

first because Michael was still a minor

a Regency council was instituted Karol

then returned to Romania in 1930 and

replaced his son and the Regency that

had been in place his reign was marked

by political turmoil huge instability

and in final evolved into a personal

dictatorship beginning in 1938 due to

the political situation of Europe at the

time combined with its internal

struggles and its geographic position

Romania found itself in a very delicate

posture the war was on the horizon and

the only guarantee of Romania's

integrity was France and Great Britain

on the 21st of June 1940 France signed

an armistice with Germany and Great

Britain focused on its defense Romania

was alone in the summer of 1940 a series

of territorial disputes were

diplomatically resolved unfavorably to

Romania resulting in the loss of most of

the territory gained in the wake of

World War one On June 26th 1940 at 2,200

Soviet People's Commissar Molotov

presented an ultimatum to evacuate

Bessarabia and North Bukovina the Qing

communicated his wish to stand against

the Soviet Union but was under the

pressure of Germany in Italy Karel

accepted and then again under these

pressures Romania lost

Northern Transylvania in

southern doe brujah this caused the

exile of Carroll ii in 1940 and the

installation of a new dictatorship

government under marshal john Antonescu

Carroll was succeeded by his son Michael

who was only 18 at the time although the

young king was formerly the supreme head

of the army and had full powers in

reality he was forced to remain just a

figure being considered by the head of

the government as just an unexperienced

child the new government collaborated

with Germany and joined the axis in

November 1940 the new goal of the state

was to regain some if not all of the

lost territories in 1941 Germany and its

allies prepared for the invasion of the

Soviet Union in June 1941 the offensive

began after a short time Bessarabia and

the northern bukovina were fully

reincorporated into the Romanian state

and initially the Romanian army wanted

to stop there the goal was reached and

Antonescu hope to regain the northern

transylvania territory by diplomatic

means

Germany persuaded antonescu in August

1941 to also take control of the

Transnistrian territory

as a substitute for northern

Transylvania also more discussions were

promised on this matter if Romania was

to continue the struggle in the east

more and more divisions were sent to

fight for what a country study by the

u.s. federal research division of the

Library of Congress attributes as a

morbid competition with Hungary in hopes

of regaining northern Transylvania as a

member of the axis Romania joined the

invasion of the Soviet Union on the 22nd

of June 1941 providing equipment and oil

to Germany as well as committing more

troops to the Eastern Front than all the

other allies of Germany combined

Romanian forces played a large role

during the fighting in Ukraine this

Arabia Stalingrad and elsewhere

according to historian and author mark

Axworthy the second axis army in Europe

arguably belonged to Romania though this

is disputed

since many would agree that this

position goes to the Italian Army in

February 1943 with a decisive Soviet

counter-offensive at Stalingrad it was

growing clear that the tide

war was turning against Axis powers in

August 1944 Romania was fighting on its

own territory the situation was critical

in order to not wage war on his own

territory King Michael considered to

change the government on the 20th and

21st of August some meetings were held

with the political leaders and army

officers in order to establish a plan to

get Romania out of the war against the

Soviets on August 23rd Jean Antonescu

instructed the King to request a hearing

at 4:00 p.m. in the discussion that

followed with the king and lasted over

an hour the marshal presented in

detailed the situation on the front line

when the King asked him to get out of

the war and sign an armistice with the

Allies and Soviet Union marshal

Antonescu replied that he would end the

armistice with the approval of Germany

and with some guarantees he also said

that he did not object in principle to

the exit from the war his own government

tried to obtain favorable terms for an

eventual armistice with the Soviets

through Stockholm for some time but he

has to refuse it arguing with the

difficult conditions of armistice in

relation to the Soviet Union which annex

Bessarabia and northern bukovina by

signing an unconditional surrender these

territories would probably be lost and

Romania would have been occupied by

communist forces in the end also he

argued about the turning of arms against

Germany not seeing betraying your old

ally as an honorable thing to do for a

military officer then the king was

forced to use the password if things are

so then we have nothing left to do

hearing the words a Colonel which was

waiting outside for the signal entered

the room with a group of four soldiers

who arrested the marshal at 2200 in a

radio message the king announced the

change of government and the new path

that Romania was on formal allied

recognition of the de facto change of

orientation of Romania in the war came

on the 12th of September 1944 until this

date Soviet troops started moving into

Romania 140,000 Romanian troops were

taken as prisoners of war about a

hundred and thirty thousand Romanian

POWs were transported to the so V

Union were many perished in prison camps

Romania fought against Axis forces until

the end of the war gaining the lost

territories in the West at the peace

conference the presence of the Soviet

Army on the territory forced the

Communists to come to power on November

19 1946 the first post-war parliamentary

elections are held although the real

results indicated the decisive victory

of the peasant National Party but the

probably falsified official results

presented the victory with over 70% of

the block of democratic parties led by

communists the king was again a little

more than a figurehead under the

communist regime and on December 30th

1947 he was finally forced to abdicate

and leave the country the new regime was

installed with full powers as a puppet

of the Soviet Union but antonescu feared

the most just happened

Michael remained in exile for much of

his life after almost 42 years the

Romanian revolution happened the

communism was overthrown but on the new

democratic elections former communists

were elected in key positions at the

Christmas of 1990 having a legal

passport the former king came back to

visit fearing a possible massive support

for the former king he was stopped by a

police dam driven back to the airport

and forced to leave the country 1992 he

made a new short visit and hundreds of

thousands of people came back to see him

in 1994 he was again refused to enter

the country and finally in 1997

Michael gained back his citizenship on

December 5th 2017 King Michael the first

died at 96 years old the decision of the

23rd of August 1944 is considered by

many an active salvation of Romania by

others it is seen as an act of betrayal

but at that time Romania was in a very

delicate situation

joining the axis and then switching