Treaty of Bucharest (1916)

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Treaty of Bucharest (1916)
Signed - location	4/17 August 1916 Bucharest
Signatories	Russian Empire French Republic United Kingdom Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Romania

The Treaty of Bucharest of 1916 was signed between Romania and the Entente Powers on 4 (Old style)/17 (New style) August 1916 in Bucharest.^[1]

In 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Thompson, a fluent French speaker, was sent to Bucharest as British military attaché on Kitchener's initiative to bring Romania into the war. But when there he quickly formed the view that an unprepared and ill-armed Romania facing a war on three fronts against Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria would be a liability not an asset to the allies. This view was brushed aside by Whitehall, and he signed (with foreboding) a Military Convention with Romania on 13 August 1916. ^[2] Thompson became head of the British Military Mission.

[edit] Treaty

After two years of careful neutrality, in 1916, Romania decided to join the war on the side of the Entente. The Romanian government was to declare war on Austria-Hungary on August 28 the latest, and in exchange was to receive the following territories:

• Transylvania, Crişana and Maramureş, territories ruled by Hungary, but with an ethnic Romanian majority and Hungarian and German minorities
• the Banat, territory ruled by Hungary, with a Romanian majority and German, Serbian and Hungarian minorities
• Bukovina, territory ruled by Austria, with a mixed Romanian-Ukrainian population

The treaty had two parts: a political treaty and a military convention.^[1]

According to the political treaty, the Entente recognized Romania's right to incorporate Transylvania, Crişana and Maramureş, Bukovina and the Banat, and equal rights with its allies at the Peace Conference.

The military convention stated that Romania was to attack Austria-Hungary from the south, while Russia committed itself to start an offensive on the Austrian front in order to support the Romanian advance into Transylvania. Also the Russian High Command promised to send two infantry divisions and one cavalry division into Dobruja to protect the rear of the front from a Bulgarian attack.^[3]

The French and the British pledged to start an offensive on the Thessaloniki front in order to force Bulgaria out of the war.^[1]

[edit] Romania enters the war

In the morning of 14/27 August, a Crown Council was held at the Cotroceni Palace, convened by King Ferdinand.^[4] The Council decided to honor the Treaty with the Entente Powers, and on 27 August, Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary, and launched three armies of 440,000 men the same night across the passages of the Southern Carpathians.

The advance of the Romanian Army was unopposed, as Austria-Hungary did not station considerable forces along the Romanian border. By mid-September, however, the attack was halted, as German-Bulgarian troops advanced into Dobruja and threatened to outflank the Romanian Army from the south-east.

In October the Romanian Army was pushed out of Transylvania with the help of German reinforcements. By the end of 1916 the capital Bucharest fell - along with Wallachia and Dobruja - under the control of Central Powers and the Romanian government retreated to Iaşi. And Thompson, now head of the British Military Mission, had to alleviate the consequences of Romania’s capitulation, and he personally supervised the destruction of the Romanian oil wells to deny them to Germany. ^[5] (Later Thompson was a Labour peer and Secretary of State for Air, and had a relationship with Princess Marthe Bibesco).

In 1917, the Romanian Army recovered and succeeded to stop the German attempts to break the front, in spite of the disintegration of the Russian Army after the February Revolution. The toll of the campaign was approximately 100,000 dead for Romania, but it gained Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia.

[edit] References