brief romanian military history (brief history (scarecrow press))

BRIEF ROMANIAN MILITARY

HISTORYCalin Hentea

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MILIT

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Hentea

For orders and information please contact the publisherScarecrow Press, Inc.A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200Lanham, Maryland 207061-800-462-6420 | fax 717-794-3803www.scarecrowpress.com

Balkan Studies History

ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5820-6ISBN-10: 0-8108-5820-7

9 780810 858206

9 0 0 0 0

˘

One of the first records of armed conflict in what is now Romania dates back to 335 BC

when, prior to launching his legendary Asian campaign, Alexander the Great organized an

expedition over the western shore of the Danube to deter the Gaets and secure the frontier of

the Macedonian kingdom. Since then, this land, located on the Black Sea and nestled among

the Carpathian Mountains, has seen more than its fair share of military struggle. From the

country’s fight for independence against the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century to the

Revolution of December in the late 20th century, Romania’s military history is long and

varied. Brief Romanian Military History presents a chronological and detailed narrative of the

significant events in this history, covering everything from the campaign of the Persian king

Darius I against the Scythians in 514 BC to Romania’s admission into NATO in April of 2004.

Beginning with a full chronology of the country’s most important and decisive military

events, Calin Hentea then presents a general overview of 2,500 years of Romanian history.

Complete with biographies of significant military leaders and descriptions of important

battles, wars, military organizations, structures, fortresses, uniforms, and weapons, this book

is an essential reference tool for scholars, historians, anthropologists, journalists, and all others

interested in the history of Romania.

Calin Hentea is a colonel in the Romanian armed forces, currently working in the

psychological operation section of the Romanian general staff. He has published several books

on propaganda, media war, and military history, including Balkan Propaganda Wars (2006), also

available from Scarecrow Press.

˘

Cover photos courtesy the author and Catalin Ovreiu.

Cover design by Janine L. Osif

˘ ˘

RomanianMilitaryMECH.indd 1RomanianMilitaryMECH.indd 1 3/8/07 1:05:22 PM3/8/07 1:05:22 PM

Brief RomanianMilitary History

Calin Hentea

Cristina Bordianutranslator

Martin Gordonseries editor

The Scarecrow Press, Inc.Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK

2007

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SCARECROW PRESS, INC.

Published in the United States of Americaby Scarecrow Press, Inc.A wholly owned subsidiary ofThe Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706www.scarecrowpress.com

Estover RoadPlymouth PL6 7PYUnited Kingdom

Copyright � 2007 by Calin Hentea

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hentea, Calin, 1958–[Armata si luptele romanilor. English]Brief Romanian military history / Calin Hentea.

p. cm.Includes bibliographical references.ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5820-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)ISBN-10: 0-8108-5820-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)1. Romania—History, Military. 2. Romania—Armed Forces—

History. I. Title.DR219.H4613 2007355.009498—dc22 2006102307

��The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of AmericanNational Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed LibraryMaterials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America.

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Contents

Foreword, by Dennis Showalter v

Romanian Historical Terms vii

Abbreviations and Acronyms xi

1 Chronology 1

2 The First Conflicts of Antiquity: 6th Century BC to AD 2ndCentury 36

3 The Great Migrations and the Formation of the RomanianNation and Medieval States 42

4 The Anti-Ottoman Wars, from Mircea the Old to Vlad Tepes 49

5 The Apogee of the Anti-Ottoman Wars, from Stephen the Greatto Michael the Brave: 1457–1601 60

6 The Army and Romanian Battles from the 17th Century to theEve of the 19th Century: 1601–1821 74

7 From People’s Assembly to the Modern Romanian ArmedForces: 1821–1867 82

8 The War of Independence: 1877–1878 106

9 From the Middle of the 19th Century to the Beginning of the20th Century 110

10 Romanian Participation in the Second Balkan War 118

11 From the Danube to the Tisa River: 1914–1919 121

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iv Contents

12 The Interwar Period 137

13 From the Caucasus and Stalingrad to Budapest and Vienna’sPorte 144

14 From Jacket to Rubashka: 1945–1989 159

15 Romanian Military Involvement in the Revolution of December1989 173

16 At the Turn of the Millennium: On the Way to NATO 179

Notes 217

Selected Bibliography 223

About the Author 227

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Foreword

The military histories and cultures of the Balkan states remain unfamiliareven to most English-language scholars, to say nothing of general readers inthe field. John Jessup’s bibliography of Balkan military history in the Gar-land series is still useful, and the long-running and episodic War and Societyin East Central Europe repays careful mining. Richard Hall and John Erick-son’s book on the Balkan wars and R. L. DiNardo’s examination of Ger-many’s relationships with its allies in World War II merit particular attention.Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War,1941–1945 by Axworthy, Scafes, and Craciunoiu treats its subject withrespect but is difficult to locate—fewer than a hundred libraries worldwidepossess a copy.

In most historical accounts, Romania’s army has remained in the back-ground. Remembered primarily for being overrun in World War I, crushed atStalingrad, and lacking the peasant panache associated with its Serbian andBulgarian counterparts, it is caught somewhere southeast of the mythicalcountries of Graustark and Ruritania, identified by the lingering fragrance ofthe strong cologne allegedly favored by its senior officers.

Here is where this work makes its contribution. It is not a military history inthe conventional sense, an accounting of wars and battles, generals and diplo-mats, doctrines and force structures. Instead, Calin Hentea presents a series ofanecdotes and vignettes, loosely structured on chronological lines, that offer aninsight into Romania’s military self-image. These pages present how Romaniawould like to be seen in military contexts—and, no less significantly, how itwants to be seen by the West as it moves into the twenty-first century.

Romania’s cultural identity can be traced to at least the first century BCE.The political boundaries and structures may have varied with time, but Roma-nia remains Romania. The internal conflicts of the Middle Ages and the fac-tionalism encouraged by Ottoman rule in the early modern era are presented

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vi Foreword

in the context of a near-mystical urge for unity, which influenced Romanianpolicy as late as the 20th century. What to Hungarians might seem an endur-ing imperialist drive to incorporate Transylvania, for example, is presentedhere as a variation on Helmut Kohl’s aphorism on German reunification:‘‘what belongs together comes together.’’ Romania’s experiences under theWarsaw Pact and the rule of Nicolae Ceaucescu reflect the survival andrevival of Romanian identity against a spectrum of totalitarian challenges.

Hentea similarly presents Romania’s international relations in a nationalistcontext. Though still unrecognized as an independent state by the great pow-ers, Romania emerges less as client than as ally of Russia in the Turkish Warof 1878. The country’s military performance in the campaign of 1916 is pre-sented in a context of Romania fighting alone, unsupported by allies. And thealliance with Nazi Germany during World War II and the switching of sides in1944 manifest neither ideology nor opportunism, but rationally implementedraison d’etat.

Romanian unity is historically illustrated by the structure of its military,which has always included all classes of society. Commoner footmen playedno less a role than armored aristocrats. In periods when mercenaries were animportant resource, Romanian rulers continued to prefer Romanian people.At times when the clash of armies decided wars, Romania continued toemploy irregular warfare as part of its strategy—frequently with significanteffect against less imaginative adversaries.

The second organizing principle of this work is its insistence on Romania’senduring identity within Western culture and civilization. Hentea takes painsto make Romania a part of the scientific and technological revolution thatbegan in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, at least in a military con-text. Romanian officers were educated officers, who took the field armed withthe best their government could afford. As new fields of expertise emerged,from military aeronautics to military medicine, Romania kept pace.

Reflecting the author’s own professional experience, the book concludesby describing Romania’s increasing contributions to international peacekeep-ing operations, mostly under United Nations auspices but including recentinvolvement in Iraq. This developing conversion of a historically conscriptarmy to a scaled-down professional force has permitted Romania to use itsown equipment in low-end operations. Hentea particularly stresses the medi-cal and other noncombatant aspects of that professional force, however, forthe same reasons he highlights the formation of a joint Hungarian–Romanianpeacekeeping battalion—to demonstrate that a nation need not sacrifice itshistory and identity to be both a good neighbor and a full partner in the newEuropean order.

—Dennis Showalter, past president of the Society for Military History

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Romanian Historical Terms

Aga: Command position within the Romanian military hierarchy of the 17thcentury.

Armas: Official noble position within the voievode council (first mentionedin 1478), having various police, military, and administrative duties andwho was in charge of overseeing the voievode’s gypsy slaves.

Arnaut: Turkish name for an Albanian mercenary soldier, recruited as a per-sonal guard by the Phanariots’ princes during their reign in the Romanianprincipalities.

Ban: The highest noble official in Wallachia on the princely council, secondonly to the voievode and serving as the voievode’s representative in theOltenia region after 1504. The Great Ban’s residence was in the city ofCraiova.

Boier/boyar: Specific name, of Slavic origin, for the local nobles and privi-leged landed aristocrats in the Romanian principalities.

Calarasi: Name for the cavalry troops in Wallachia from the Middle Agesuntil the 19th century.

Cartnic: Name for NCOs of Slavic origin, used in the 1950s in the RomanianArmed Forces under the Soviet influence.

Ceata/cete: Basic medieval subunit in the Romanian principalities’ armies,led by a boyar or made up of townspeople.

Comitat: Administrative division of a Romanian medieval principality, usedmainly in Transylvania.

Comite: Noble official of the voievodes council, responsible for the horsesand fodder, court provisions, and transporting the tribute/haraci to thePorte.

Condotier: Military leader who hired mercenaries to serve on behalf of anItalian prince or republic.

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viii Romanian Historical Terms

Daraban: Moldavian professional infantry soldier during the Middle Ageswho was later called dorobant/dorobantz.

Descalecat: An expression invented by Romanian historians to indicate a sin-gle process describing both the selection of a territory and the founding ofWallachia and Moldavia.

Divan: Specific name for the court of the prince in Wallachia and Moldaviain the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Domn: Latin term preferred by the Romanian historians to refer to the voie-vodes/sovereigns, rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia.

Dorobanti/dorobantzi: Infantry soldiers equipped with swords and rifles,from the 16th to 19th centuries, in the Wallachian and Moldavian armies.

Dregatorie/dregator: Name of a high specific position or function of a noble/boyar in the voievodal court hierarchy.

Econom: Orthodox clerical position with administrative responsibilities.Falanga: In antiquity, an infantry formation with very straight rows.Fustasi: Soldiers with spears from the personal guard of the Romanian voie-

vodes in the first half of the 19th century.Gloate: Component of the 19th-century army serving as militias for villages.Glotasi: Infantry soldiers and former peasants fighting in the army of the

Transylvanian revolutionary leader Avram Iancu in 1848–1849.Hampa: The upper part of a flagpole.Haraci/Haratch: A tax paid to the Ottoman sultan by the submitted Christian

voievodes, in lieu of military services, according to the feudal laws andcustoms of suzerainty.

Ienicer/jannisar: Name of a soldier belonging to the Ottoman infantry,recruited mainly from the Islamized children of the Christian population.They were also used as the sultan guard.

Iuncher: Cadet, from the German, a term used mainly during the 19th cen-tury.

Kneaz: Hereditary medieval ruler over a territory or a group of villages whoenjoyed royal privileges, similar to a duke in the West.

Knezat: Name, of Slavic origin, referring to a territory ruled by a knez in theMiddle Ages.

Lazaret: Specific name for a military hospital in the 19th century.Logofat: One of the highest positions of a boyar among the Romanian noble

hierarchy in the voievode court (first mentioned in the Middle Ages,between 1390 and 1400), similar to chancellor or chief of the prince’scouncil. He was the most important dregator in Moldavia and the secondmost important after the ban in Wallachia.

Lorica: Old Romanian term for a medieval armor that protected only thechest.

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Romanian Historical Terms ix

Mosneni/moshneni: Free peasants in Wallachia, but with military duties tothe voievode in case of war.

Moti/motzi: Specific name for Romanians living in the Apuseni mountain vil-lages in central Transylvania.

Ocalari: Riding couriers of the Moldavian voievode in the Middle Ages.Palc: Basic medieval unit in Romanian principalities’ armies.Panduri: Specific name for temporary troops (similar to a national militia)

who were recruited from the local population of Wallachia and belongedto the so-called People’s Assembly. They followed Tudor Vladimirescu in1821 against the Phanariots’ rule in Wallachia.

Parcalab: Military commander of a feudal fortress or fortified city (first men-tioned in 1368) and chief magistrate of the district; he also had administra-tive and judicial responsibilities.

Pasalıc/pashalic: Province of the Ottoman Empire conquered by the Otto-mans and ruled by a pasha.

Pasha: Ottoman military rank, similar to a general.Phanariot: Term used to describe the Greek elite living in the Phanar district

of Constantinople, the Ottoman capital. Porte sultans chose from amongthem the princes of Moldavia and Wallachia between 1711 and 1821.

Poarta/the Porte: Name of the Ottoman court, the sultan’s government.Polc: Specific name for a military unit with a regimental manning and struc-

ture in the 19th century; a term of Slavic origin.Polcovnic: Military rank borrowed in the 17th century from the Cossacks,

equivalent to the rank of captain; a term of Slavic origin.Postelnic: Noble rank in the voievode court, similar to a marshal of the court.Pravile: Statutory legislation, laws, and decrees in the 17th century.Protopop: One of the high ranks in the Orthodox Church that also claims a

territorial clerical jurisdiction.Razesi/raseshi: Free peasants of Moldavia (called moshneni in Wallachia)

having military duties to the voievode in case of war.Rosii de tara: Infantry soldiers recruited from among the peasants; they wear

red jackets.Seimen: Mercenary infantry soldiers hired for the guard of the Wallachian

and Moldavian princes’ courts.Sluger: Purveyor, a local administrative functionary.Spahiu: Name of a soldier in the Ottoman cavalry.Spatar/mare spatar: Army and especially cavalry commander (first mentioned

in 1415) as the ‘‘sword bearer,’’ similar to the current chief of defense.Stabul ostirii: Specific name for the first Romanian general staff at the begin-

ing of the 19th century.Steag/banner: Name of an army unit during the 17th century.

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x Romanian Historical Terms

Stolnic: Name for a medieval noble rank in the voievode court (first men-tioned in 1392), a boyar responsible for the voievode’s food and gardensand who served as head of the kitchen.

Targovat: A person living in a medieval market town.Trabant/Trabanti (plural): From the German, a medieval soldier from the per-

sonal guard unit of a prince, armed with a halberd.Trupe de dobanda / spoil units: Mercenary units hired with the promise that

they will share goods taken from the defeated army after battle.Ukaz: Order, ordinance, or decree, from medieval Russian judicial termi-

nology.Vistiernic/vistier: Boyar responsible for the finances of his voievode, first

mentioned in 1392 as a court treasurer.Vizir: Name for the ministers of the Ottoman Empire. Mare vizir (Grand

Vizier) is the Ottoman prime minister, responsible directly to the sultan.Voievodat: County or land with its own ruler, voievode, and administration.Voievode: Title, of Slavic origin, for the rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia,

with the same noble rank or position as a prince who was also the head ofthe army.

Voinic: Medieval name for a strong or handsome soldier.Vornic: Highest noble position in the princely council (first mentioned in

1389), a boyar in the voievode’s court, responsible for internal affairs andholding judicial duties.

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Abbreviations and Acronyms

AFSOUTH Allied Forces Southern Europe (former NATOregional headquarters located in Naples, Italy)

ANA Afghan National ArmyAPC/TAB Armored Personnel Carrier (in Romanian)ARRC Allied Rapid Reaction Corps of NATOASOC Air Surveillance Operational CenterBELUKROKO Belgian, Luxembourgian, and Romanian unit the size

of a battalion acting within KFOR troops in Kosovountil 2003

BLACKSEAFOR Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group underNATO aegis composed of navy units belonging tothe Russian Federation, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania,Georgia, and Ukraine

CENCOOP Central European Nations’ Cooperation in PeaceSupport

CI CounterintelligenceCIMIC/CA Civil-Military Cooperation / Civil AffairsDPKO Department of Peacekeeping Operations (part of the

United Nations in New York)FYROM Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Turkey

recognizes the Republic of Macedonia under its con-stitutional name)

GFAP General Framework Agreement for Peace (con-cluded in Dayton, Ohio, and signed in Paris inDecember 1995, ending the Bosnian War of 1992–1995)

HQ HeadquartersIFOR Implementation force set up by NATO in Bosnia-

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xii Abbreviations and Acronyms

Herzegovina from December 1995 until November1996, after the Dayton agreement

IO / INFO OPS Usually information operations for the United Statesand NATO, but sometimes international organiza-tions

ISAF International Security Assistance Force (sinceDecember 2001 in Afghanistan under NATO’saegis)

JVB Joint Visitors BureauKFOR Kosovo Force (NATO forces in Kosovo since June

1999)KVM Kosovo Verification MissionLIVEX Live exercise (NATO terminology)MAP Membership Action Plan (NATO terminology)MLI Romanian acronym for Infantry Combat VehicleMONUC Mission de l’Organisation des Nations Unies en

Republique Democratique du Congo (the UN mis-sion in the Democratic Republic of Congo after1999)

MOOTW Military Operations Other Than WarMOU Memoranda of UnderstandingMPFSEE Multinational Peacekeeping Forces for South Eastern

EuropeMSC Military Steering CommitteeNAC North Atlantic CouncilNAVSOUTH Allied Naval Forces Southern EuropeNGO Nongovernmental OrganizationOSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in

EuropePfP Partnership for Peace (a framework program estab-

lished by NATO in the Brussels summit of January1994)

PIC Public Information CenterPIO Public Information Officer/OfficePR/PA Public Relations / Public AffairsPSYOPS Psychological OperationsROE Rules of EngagementROMDET/ROMBAT Romanian Detachment / Romanian BattalionSACEUR Supreme Allied Commander EuropeSECI Southeast European Cooperative InitiativeSEDM Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial

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Abbreviations and Acronyms xiii

SEEBRIG South Eastern Europe BrigadeSFOR Stabilization Force (NATO forces in Bosnia-

Herzegovina from December 1996 to December2004)

SHAPE Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in EuropeSHIRBRIG Multinational Standby Force High Readiness Bri-

gade for UN OperationsSOP Standard Operating ProceduresSRSG Special Representative of the UN Secretary GeneralUN United NationsUNAMIR United Nations Mission in RwandaUNAVEM United Nations Verification Mission in AngolaUNIKOM Iraq Kuwait Observation Mission (from 1991 to

2003)UNITA A paramilitary structure in Angola called ‘‘Union for

a Total Independence for Angola’’UNITAF Unified Task Force (U.S. forces send in Somalia in

1992)UNMIK United Nations Mission in KosovoUNMIK-P UNMIK PoliceUNMEE United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and EritreaUNOSOM United Nations Operations in SomaliaVIP Very Important Person

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Chapter One

Chronology

514 BC The campaign of the Persian king Darius I against the Scythianslocated north of the Danube.

335 BC The campaign of the Macedonian king, Alexander the Great, inThrace.

Circa 330 BC The conflict between the Macedonian king Lysimach and theGaet king Dromichaetes.

77–71 BC The first conflict between the Greek fortresses located on thewestern coast of the Black Sea and the Roman Empire.

Circa 70–44 BC The reign of the Dacian king Burebista.

AD 85–86 Dacian invasion in the Roman province of Moesia, south of theDanube (Istru).

AD 86–106 The rule of the Dacian king Decebalus.

AD 87 The defeat of the Roman Praetorian consul Fuscus by the Dacianking Decebalus, in the narrow valley of Turnu Rosu (southwestern Romania).

AD 88 The Roman general Tettius Iulianus defeats Decebalus at Tapae.

AD 101–102 Spring: The Roman emperor Trajan launches the first cam-paign against Dacia. Winter: The battle of Adamclisi (in Dobrudja) foughtby the Dacians and Romans, and lost by Decebalus.

AD 102 Fall: The second peace agreement between the Dacians andRomans.

105 June 4: Emperor Trajan, leading the Roman legions, crosses the Dan-ube at Drobeta (southwestern Romania) over a bridge built by architect Appo-lodor of Damascus.

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2 Chapter One

106 August: The capital city of Dacia, Sarmizegetusa fortress, is besiegedand conquered by the Roman armed forces.

106–275 The Roman rule in Dacia.

331–332 Byzantine emperor Constantine the Great defeats the Goths in theBalkans, south of the Danube.

447 The plundering expedition of Attila in the East.

561 The first mention of the Avar tribes in the area of the Lower Danube.

7th century Massive penetration by the Slavic tribes of the territorieslocated outside the Carpathians. A book of Byzantine military tactics writtenby Mauricius and entitled The Military Art is printed.

8th–9th centuries The assimilation of the Slavs by the local Roman peo-ple. The Hungarian tribes are settled in the Pannonian Plain.

10th century The end of the creation process of the Romanian languageand people.

1054 July 16: The Great Schism, after which the Romanians through theirOrthodox religion come under the canonical authority of the patriarch ofConstantinople.

1185–1186 The great uprising led by brothers Petru and Asan south of theDanube, against the Byzantine Empire.

1241 The great Tatar invasion in northern and southern Moldavia, in Wal-lachia and Transylvania, toward central Europe.

1272–1276 The forces of the Hungarian king Lasislau IV, probably in thecounty of Hateg, defeat the Romanian army led by Knez Litovoi and hisbrother, Barbat.

1274 June: Diploma granted to the Joanites Knights by the king of Hun-gary, Bela IV, in which the existing Romanian state formations are men-tioned.

Circa 1310–1352 The rule of voievode Basarab I, in Wallachia.

1330 November 9–12: The battle of Posada between the army of the Wal-lachian voievode Basarab I and the troops of the Hungarian king, Carol Rob-ert of Anjou.

1359 Voievode Bogdan of Maramures performs the so-called descalecat inMoldavia, founding a new country.

1365 or 1367 Death of Bogdan I, the first sovereign voievode of Moldavia.

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Chronology 3

1360–1385 The war of the despot of Dobrudja, Dobrotici, with the Geno-vese.

1369 November–December: The first Ottoman incursion into Wallachia.

September 13, 1386–January 31, 1418 The rule of voievode Mircea theOld in Wallachia.

1388–1389 The army of Mircea the Old defeats the Ottomans and banishesthem from Dobrudja, bringing that province inside the borders of Wallachia.

1389 June 15: The defeat of the Serbian army, led by Knez Lazar, by theOttomans in the battle of Kossovopolje (near the modern Pristina). Soldiersfrom Wallachia, sent by voievode Mircea the Old, also take part in this battle.

1394 Spring: The anti-Ottoman campaign of Wallachia south of the Dan-ube is victorious. October 10: The battle of Rovine between the troops ofMircea the Old and those of Sultan Baiazid.

1396 September 15: The battle of Nicopole: the Western allied armies aredefeated by the Ottomans.

April 23, 1400–January 1, 1432 The rule of voievode Alexander the Goodin Moldavia.

1409–1411 Mircea the Old supports Musa, one of Sultan Baiazid’s sons,with troops in his attempt to gain the throne of the Ottoman Empire.

1410 July 15: The battle of Grunwald between the Lithuanian and PolishAlliance and the armies of the Teutonic Knights, in which a Moldavian armycorps sent by voievode Alexander the Good took part, supporting the Polish.

1420 The first attack of the Ottomans against Moldavia in the Cetatea Albafortress, which was defended by the army of Alexander the Good.

1422 Another Moldavian army corps sent by Alexander the Good supportsthe Poles and the Lithuanians in the siege of Marienburg.

1425 The first mention of the use of mercenaries in the Wallachian army.

1437 June: The battle of Bobalna, between the Transylvanian rebel peas-ants and the Hungarian nobles’ forces.

1441 March 7: Iancu of Hunedoara, a Roman Catholic Romanian boyar,becomes voievode of Transylvania.

1442 March: The troops led by Iancu of Hunedoara thwart the invasion ofthe Ottomans, who are led by the bey of Vidin.

Fall 1443–January 1444 The Long Campaign led by Iancu of Hunedoara

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4 Chapter One

south of the Danube against the Ottomans, with the support of a detachmentfrom Wallachia, sent by voievode Vlad Dracul. The Bulgarian cities Sofia andNis are taken from the Ottomans.

1444 November 10: The defeat of the armies of Crusaders in Varna by theOttomans led by Sultan Murad II.

1445 The first mention of the use of bombards by Romanians.

1446 June 5: Iancu of Hunedoara is elected governor of Hungary.

1448 October 17–19: The forces of Iancu of Hunedoara are severelydefeated by the Ottomans in Kossovopolje (Serbia).

1456 July 22: The victory of Iancu de Hunedoara against the Ottomanforces led by the sultan Mahomed II at the gates of the Belgrade fortress.August 11: Iancu of Hunedoara dies of plague in the camp in Zemun, closeto Belgrade.

August 1456–December 1476 The rule of Vlad Tepes (the Impaler) inWallachia.

1457 April 14: Stephen the Great is anointed voievode of Moldavia in aplace called Direptate (Justice).

1458 May: Voievode Vlad Tepes takes by surprise and defeats the invadingOttoman army led by Vizier Mahomed Pasha the Greek.

1459 Vlad Tepes refuses to pay the tribute owed by Wallachia to the Porte.

1460 March: The victory of Vlad Tepes against Dan, pretender to thethrone, who entered the country with military support granted by the inhabi-tants of Brasov, a Transylvanian merchant city.

1461 The Ottoman detachment led by Bey Hamza is captured and its mem-bers are impaled in Targoviste, the Wallachian capital, at the command ofVlad Tepes.

1462 The liberation of Giurgiu and the campaign of Vlad Tepes, south ofthe Danube. June 16–17: The famous night attack of Vlad Tepes against themilitary camp of Sultan Mahomed II, who had invaded Wallachia.

1465 January 23–25: Voievode Stephen the Great takes the fortress ofChilia from the Hungarians.

1467 Summer: The revolt of some nobles and the Transylvanian townsagainst Matei Corvin, the king of Hungary and son of Iancu of Hunedoara.

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Chronology 5

November–December: Stephen the Great defeats the army of Matei Corvinin the town of Baia.

1469–1470 The victory of Stephen the Great against the Tatars in Lipnic.

1471 January 16: The defeat of the Ottoman–Wallachian army, led byRadu the Handsome, by the army of Stephen the Great in the vicinity of theSoci fortress (eastern Moldavia).

1475 January 10: The great victory of Stephen the Great in the battlefought in Vaslui-Podul Inalt against the Ottomans led by Suleiman Pasha.

1476 June: The defeat of the Tatar army by the Moldavian army. July 26:Stephen the Great is defeated by Sultan Mahomed II in the battle of ValeaAlba–Razboieni.

1480 May–June: The campaign of Stephen the Great in Wallachia againstBasarab the Young, who had joined the Ottoman side.

1484 July–August: The conquering of the Moldavian fortresses of CetateaAlba and Chilia by the Ottoman forces.

1485 November 16: The defeat of the Ottoman army by Stephen the Greatin the battle of Caltabuga; the fortress of Chilia is not reconquered.

1497 August–October: The battle of Codrii Cosminului, in which thearmy of Stephen the Great wins an important victory against the troops ofIoan Albert, king of Poland.

1504 July 2: Death of Stephen the Great.

1514 April–July: Huge peasant uprising led by Gheorghe Doja in Transyl-vania.

1522 The two campaigns of the Wallachian voievode Radu of Afumati,with the support of the Transylvanian voievode Ioan Zapolya, that lead to theelimination of the Ottoman administration from Wallachia.

1526 August 29: The Ottoman victory in the battle of Mohacs causes themedieval kingdom of Hungary to fall apart and become a pashalic, or prov-ince of the Ottoman Empire.

1529 June 29: Victory of the Moldavian voievode Petru Rares against Fer-dinand of Hapsburg.

1531 August 22: Defeat of Moldavian voievode Petru Rares in Obertyn bythe Polish army commanded by Gen. Jan Tarkowski.

1538 Moldavia, ruled by voievode Petru Rares, is attacked simultaneously

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by the Ottomans, who are led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Poles, andTatars. The Ottoman Empire succeeds in imposing its domination over thecountry.

February 1527–June 1574 The rule of John the Terrible in Moldavia.

1552 The provinces of the Banat and a part of Crisana are conquered bythe Ottomans and transformed into pashalic, with the administrative center inTimisoara.

1574 April 14: Moldavian voievode John the Terrible destroys the Ottomanand Wallachian allied army in the battle of Jilistea. June 11: John the Terribleis horribly executed in Rascani by the Ottomans.

1593 September: The ban of Craiova, Michael the Brave, becomes thevoievode of Wallachia.

1594 November 13: The Ottoman creditors, summoned to be paid, arekilled on the orders of voievode Michael the Brave.

1595 January 25: Michael the Brave crosses the Danube, attacks and setsfire to the Rusciuc fortress, and captures the Ottoman artillery. August 23:The battle of Calugareni (30 km south of Bucharest) between the Ottomans,who are led by Sinan Pasha, and the Wallachian forces, who are led byMichael the Brave. October: With military support from Moldavia and Tran-sylvania, Michael the Brave conquers Targoviste and finally defeats the Otto-man army while crossing the Danube at Giurgiu.

1599 October 28: Crossing the Carpathians and defeating in the battle ofSelimbar (near Sibiu) the army of the Transylvanian prince Andrei Bathory,Michael the Brave brings Transylvania under his authority. October 21–November 1: Michael the Brave enters the main Transylvanian fortress AlbaIulia in his capacity of ruler of both principalities.

1600 May: Michael the Brave makes Ieremia Movila leave Moldavia with-out fighting, and unifies for the first time the three Romanian principalitiesunder a sole power. June 6: Michael the Brave declares himself ruler of Wal-lachia, Transylvania, and all of Moldavia, which meant the first union of allRomanian historical territories. September 18: Gen. Gheorghe Basta, who isof Albanian origin and serves the House of Hapsburg, defeats Michael theBrave in the battle of Miraslau. October 30: The Polish army defeats Michaelthe Brave in the battle of Bucov. The voievode is forced to leave for Viennato acquire political and military support.

1601 August 13: Michael the Brave reconciles with General Basta anddefeats the fickle prince of Transylvania, Sigismund Bathory, in the battle of

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Goraslau. August 19: Michael the Brave is murdered at General Basta’sorders in the camp in Campia Turzii, near the town of Cluj.

March 1610–January 1611 The failed campaign of Gabriel Bathory,prince of Transylvania, against the Wallachian voievode Radu Serban.

1613–1629 Rule of Prince Gabriel Bethlen in Transylvania.

1613 Transylvanian prince Gabriel Bethlen, Wallachian voievode RaduMihnea, and Moldavian voievode Stefan Tomsa make an agreement ofmutual support.

September 1632–April 9, 1654 Rule of voievode Matei Basarab in Wal-lachia.

April 1634–April 3, 1653 Rule of Vasile Lupu in Moldavia.

1639 November: Armed conflict between the voievode of Moldavia, VasileLupu, who wanted his son to rule Wallachia, and Matei Basarab; ends in thedefeat of the Moldavian forces.

1643 November 16: An alliance treaty between Transylvania, Sweden, andFrance, signed in Alba Iulia, gives resources to the armed forces of Transylva-nia to fight against the Hapsburg Empire.

1653 May 27: The battle of Finta means the final victory of Wallachianvoievode Matei Basarab over the Moldavian Vasile Lupu.

1653–1655 Uprising of seimeni troops in Wallachia.

1655 Uprising of seimeni troops in Moldavia.

1659 September: Anti-Ottoman revolt started by the Wallachian voievodeMihnea III. The Wallachian army conquers the fortresses of Giurgiu andBraila, and sets fire to the towns of Orsova, Nicopole, and Ruscic, which arelocated on the southern shore of the Danube.

November 1679–October 28, 1688 The rule of Prince Serban Cantacuzinoin Wallachia.

1683 July–September: Wallachian prince Serban Cantacuzino supportsthe Ottomans in the siege of Vienna, but secretly keeps in touch with thepeople under siege.

1685 The Moldavian boyar Miron Costin writes a book about the Latinroots of the Romanians, a chronicle called About the Moldavian People,Where Their Ancestors Come From.

1688 June 26: Through the Treaty of Vienna, Transylvania accepts the pro-

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tection of the Hapsburg emperor, and imperial garrisons are built in the citiesof Cluj and Deva.

1691 The campaign of the Polish king John Sobieski in Moldavia, when thefortress of Neamtului resists a major siege four days in row. August 11: Thevoievode of Wallachia, Constantine Brancoveanu, defeats, with Ottoman sup-port, the Hapsburg army in the battle of Zarnesti. December 4: Followingthe Leopoldine Diploma, Transylvania is subordinated to the Hapsburgemperor and earns a special status.

1695 January 30: As a reward for the services brought to the HapsburgCourt of Vienna, the Wallachian voievode Constantine Brancoveanu receivesthe title ‘‘Prince of the Empire.’’

1697 March 27: The union between a part of the Romanian OrthodoxChurch of Transylvania and the Roman Catholic Church leads to the estab-lishment of the Greek-Catholic Church.

1700 Boyar Constantin Cantacuzino publishes in Venice the first map ofWallachia and works on the first history of all Romanians.

1703–1711 The anti-Hapsburg revolt by Hungary and Transylvania led byFrancisc Rakoczi II.

November 2, 1710–July 1711 Rule of voievode Dimitrie Cantemir in Mol-davia.

1711 July 18–22: The Moldavian–Russian allied army led by Moldavianvoievode Dimitrie Cantemir is surrounded and defeated by the Ottomans inStanilesti, on the Prut River.

1718 July 21: The Treaty of Passarowitz signed after the Austrian–Ottoman War, through which the provinces of Banat and Oltenia come underthe rule of the Hapsburg Empire.

1739 September 18: The Treaty of Belgrade is signed: the Hapsburgsreturn Oltenia to Wallachia.

1758 The last invasion of the Tatars of Buceag, Moldavia.

1762 April 15: The Austrian imperial decree on the establishment of theborder regiments in Transylvania.

1774 July 21: The Russian–Ottoman Treaty of Kuciuk Kainargi, throughwhich Russia gains the right to intervene inside the two Romanian principali-ties.

1775 May 18: Bucovina, a northeastern province of Moldavia, is annexedby the Hapsburg Empire.

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1784 November 2: The outbreak of the peasant uprising in Transylvania,led by Horea, Closca, and Crisan.

1785 February 28: The horrible public execution of Horea and Closca inthe Transylvanian city of Alba Iulia.

1789 September 22: In the Russian–Ottoman battle of Martinesti, near thecity of Ramnicul Sarat, the Romanian volunteers of the Russian army, ledby General Suvorov, demonstrate their bravery. Supported by the Wallachianprince Ioan Cantacuzino, the prince of Coburg enters Bucharest leading theHapsburg army. The Hapsburgs remain there for two years.

1791–1792 Rise of the Romanian emancipation movement, known as Sup-plex Libellus Valachorum, a written claim requesting that Romanians havethe same political rights as the other nations living in Transylvania. The docu-ment is forwarded to the Hapsburg emperor Leopold II.

1812 May 16: The Russian–Ottoman peace treaty signed in Bucharest,according to which Bessarabia, the territory between the Nistru and Prut riv-ers, is annexed by Russia.

1821 January 23: The Proclamation of Pades, made by Wallachian pur-veyor Tudor Vladimirescu.

1821 March 21: Tudor Vladimirescu and his soldiers, called panduri, enterthe capital, Bucharest. April 5: Tudor Vladimirescu decides to recruit peas-ants from all over Wallachia. May 21–27: Tudor Vladimirescu is arrested inthe camp of Golesti by soldiers from the Greek military organization Heteria.His murder is ordered by Alexandru Ipsilanti, the leader of Heteria. June–July: Heteria is defeated by the Ottomans in the village of Dragasani and bypanduri troops in the city of Slobozia.

1826 October 7: A Russian–Ottoman convention is signed in Akkerman,confirming the conditions of the Peace Treaty of Bucharest, which was signedin 1812.

1829 September 14: The Russian–Ottoman Treaty is signed in Adriano-pole, initiating the administrative freedom of the Romanian Principalities.November 19: The Russian general Pavel Kiseleff is appointed president ofthe Divans of Moldavia and Wallachia, holding office until April 1834.

1830 April: The Divans of Bucharest and Iasi approve the draft laws on theorganization of the national army.

1831 September 15: The first so-called lazaret—the military hospital ofthe Wallachian army, whose practices continue today at the Central MilitaryHospital in Bucharest.

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1843 Ion Ghica, Nicolae Balcescu, and Christian Tell become the foundersof the secret Masonic society Fratia (the Brotherhood).

1844 The construction of the first military barracks, Saint Gheorghe, startsin Bucharest; later these barracks will be named Malmaison.

1847 The Military School for Infantry and Cavalry is set up in Wallachiaby Prince Gheorghe Bibescu, followed in 1857 by a similar institution inMoldavia.

1848 January–July: The battles fought in the Apuseni Mountains (Abrud,Fantanele) between the troops composed of moti led by Avram Iancu and theHungarian units of the Kossuth revolutionary government. April 10: Theruler of Moldavia, Michael Strudza, uses force to put down the revolutionarymovement in Moldavia. May 15–May 17: The national assembly near thecity of Blaj, on Freedom Plain, sets out the social and political program ofthe Transylvanian revolution. June 21: The popular assembly near the villageof Islaz, in the Wallachian county of Romanati. June 23: The prince of Wal-lachia, Gheorghe Bibescu, is forced to sign the constitution and to recognizethe new revolutionary government of Bucharest. June 26: Decree of the rev-olutionary government regarding the tricolor flag, having as a motto ‘‘Justiceand Brotherhood.’’ June 27: The popular assembly in the Transylvanian cityof Lugoj decides to set up a popular Romanian army and to appoint Capt.Eftimie Murgu its commander. September 25: When the Ottoman troops ledby Fuad Pasha enter Bucharest, an armed resistance takes place, involvingthe artillery units led by Capt. Pavel Zaganescu.

1849 May 1: Convention of Balta Liman, which leads to an agreementbetween the czarist and Ottoman empires to put down the revolutions in Mol-davia and Wallachia. August 13: The capitulation of the Hungarian revolu-tionary army in the village Siria marks the end of the 1848 revolution inTransylvania.

1853 October 16: The Crimean War (1853–1856) starts between Russia onthe one hand and Turkey, England, France, and the Kingdom of Sardinia onthe other.

1854 Spring: On the shore of the Danube, Carol Popp of Szathmari photo-graphs the first stages of the Crimean War, printing his negatives on glass. Heis the first war photographer in the world. April–September: Under pressurefrom Austrian troops, the Russian units leave the Romanian Principalities,heading to the Crimean Peninsula.

1856 February–March: According to the Paris Congress for Peace dispo-

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sitions, the Romanian Principalities are under the guarantee of the great Euro-pean powers, being given the right to have a national army.

1859 January 5–24: The elective assemblies from Iasi in Moldavia andBucharest in Wallachia elect unionist colonel Alexandru Ioan Cuza as rulerof the two United Principalities. July 23: The first Romanian military news-paper, Observatorul militar (the Military Observer), a political and technicalpublication, is printed. The newspaper is issued at the initiative of Col. IonVoinescu and Lt. Grigore Lipoianu. After 1990, 23 July is celebrated as theday of the Romanian military media. November 24: The establishment ofthe General Staff Corps of the Romanian Principalities.

1861 February 13: The army’s arsenal starts operating in Bucharest. TheHigh Daily Order signed by Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza sets the formationof the logistics officers led by the general administrator of the army. Throughlaws issued in 1883 and 1900, the logistics of the armed forces are deter-mined.

1862 January 24: The first Parliament of Romania opens in Bucharest, andPrince Alexandru Ioan Cuza proclaims the definite union of the Romanianprincipalities, with the capital located in Bucharest. March 20: The mergingof the two military schools of Iasi and Bucharest.

1864 May 10: Plebiscite on the Developing Statute of the Paris Conventionimposed by Prince Cuza, which institutes an authoritative rule.

1864 The construction of the Alexandria barracks in Bucharest, followedby the Cuza barracks in 1865. November 27–December 9: Prince AlexandruIoan Cuza sanctions the law on the organization of the armed forces ofRomania.

1865 March 13: Starting with this date, through a daily order by the U.S.State Department, dated 22 June 1867, Col. George Pomutz, the commanderof the 15th Volunteer Infantry Battalion of Iowa, is promoted to the rank ofbrigadier general.

1866 February 11: Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza is forced to abdicate, anda princely ad hoc interim lieutenancy rule is formed. March 17: The Decreefor the Establishment of the City Guard is proclaimed; the city guard is tokeep order in the city. May 10: The new National Assembly proclaims PrinceCarol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen prince of Romania, under the nameCarol I. July 13: The proclamation of a new constitution of the Romaniankingdom, which will be in force until 1923. It states the official name ofRomania, describes the tricolor flag, and establishes that hereditary prince

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Carol I is the chief executive and the head of the armed forces, responsiblefor approving the laws adopted by the parliament. October: The Firman ofthe Porte regarding the investiture of Carol I, according to which theacknowledgment of the principalities’ union only during Cuza’s rule wasabandoned, but it is regained when there is any other ruler.

1867 February 17: The Austrian–Hungarian agreement regarding the cre-ation of the dual entity of Austria–Hungary, through which Transylvania isannexed to Hungary and loses its autonomy. May 17: The emperor of Aus-tria, Franz Joseph, crowns himself prince of Hungary and promulgates thelaw regarding the annexation of Transylvania to Hungary, according to theso-called Austrian-Hungarian dual entity.

1868 July 17: Promulgation of a law on the organization of the armedforces in the Romanian kingdom.

1870 August 23–September 4: More than 900 Romanians take part in theCommune of Paris and in the defense of the French revolutionary capitalagainst the Prussian army.

1872 A new law on the organization of the armed forces in the Romaniankingdom is issued.

1873 New regulation on the uniforms in the armed forces is issued.

1875 The Pyrotechnics of the Armed Forces is set up in Bucharest. Randun-ica, a torpedo boat, starts operating. This ship sinks the Ottoman monitor Seifiin May 1877 during the War of Independence.

1876 November: The Parliament of Romania approves the proposal of thegovernment to double the number of units of dorobanti by setting up anothereight regiments.

1877 March 31: Under the pretext of the Russian–Turkish War, the govern-ment of Romania decides to call for general mobilization. April 4: TheRomanian–Russian Convention negotiated in the Livadia resort in the Crimeais signed in Bucharest. It states the agreement for Russian troops passingthrough the territory of Romania toward the Balkan front in Bulgaria. April21: The Ottoman artillery bombs the city of Braila and then Calafat, Bechet,Oltenita, and Calarasi, cities on the Romanian shore of the Danube. April 26:The Romanian artillery bombs the Ottoman garrison of Vidin on the Bulgar-ian shore of the Danube. May 9: The proclamation of the declaration of inde-pendence of Romania, within the Deputies Assembly in Bucharest. May 10:The establishment of the first Romanian decoration, called Steaua Romaniei.August 10: The Romanian units start the war in front of the fortifications of

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the Plevna citadel. August 30: The redoubt of Grivita, a critical part of theOttoman fortress system in Plevna, is conquered by the Romanian troops.November 7: The Ottoman fortress of Rahova is also conquered after fiercebattles. The Ottoman monitor Podgorita is sunk in the Danube by the Roma-nian coastal artillery. November 28: The Ottoman citadels of Opanez areconquered. The Ottoman armed forces surrender at Plevna.

1878 January 12: Smardan, an important post of the Ottoman defensivesystem of the Vidin fortifications, is conquered with a significant Romanianmilitary contribution. February 19: The Russian–Ottoman peace treatysigned in San Stefano recognizes the state independence of Romania. June1: The Peace Congress in Berlin states that Romania is de jure independent.Russia takes Bessarabia (half of the Moldavian territory, now the Republic ofMoldavia) from Romania and gives it the province of Dobrudja in return.October 8: The Romanian Armed Forces, glorious in the battles fought southof the Danube, enter Bucharest on Mogosoaia ‘‘Bridge’’ (an old word forstreet), which was subsequently renamed Victory Road.

1880 February 20: Romania’s independence from the Ottoman Empire isofficially recognized by Germany, the United Kingdom, and France.

1881 April 7: The Military School for Artillery and Engineering is set up.May 10: Romania is proclaimed a kingdom; 10 May will be the Romaniannational day until 30 December 1947, when the Communists come into fullpower.

1882 The High Headquarters (the General Staff) of the Armed Forces is setup.

1883 October 18: The Romanian–Austrian–Hungarian Alliance Treaty issigned secretly in Vienna. Germany joins the treaty on the same day.

1884 Law on the staff service. The construction of the defensive works sys-tem and fortifications of Bucharest begins.

1885 March 30: Col. Dr. Zaharia Petrescu becomes the first officer who isan affiliated member of the Romanian Academy.

1889 August 8: The High School of War is set up and is directly subordi-nate to the chief of the General Staff.

1893 The first unit of the Romanian air station is set up.

1894 Fall: The General Staff organizes royal maneuvers.

1895 March 26: The antimilitary humorous newspaper Mos Teaca is firstprinted in Bucharest and edited by Anton Bacalbasa. It is published until

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1901. September 20: The Military Astronomic Observatory is established onPiscului Hill, the highest point of Bucharest, under the control of the MilitaryGeographical Institute.

1898 May 28: Law on the organization of the navy.

1902 August 15: Navy Day is celebrated for the first time on the HMS Eli-sabeta.

1906 March 18: Near Montesson, France, Traian Vuia performs the firstflight in an airplane that leaves the ground propelled only by its own engine.

1907 2nd Lt. Henri Coanda tries out some missiles in Bucharest to test theuse of jet force in propelling airplanes, and builds a scale model of an airplanepropelled by a missile. March: The peasant uprising that breaks out in Mol-davia and spreads to Wallachia is put down through the firm and violent inter-vention of the armed forces. Future marshals Alexandru Averescu and IonAntonescu are involved in this definitive but necessary operation.

1908 March 29: Law on military service.

1909 November 14: Aurel Vlaicu builds his first plane, the Vlaicu I, at thearmy’s arsenal factory in Bucharest.

1910 Henri Coanda builds and displays at the International AeronauticsSalon in Paris the first jet plane ever built. Fall: The first flight for the benefitof the armed forces is performed by engineer and inventor Aurel Vlaicu dur-ing military maneuvers around Slatina-Piatra Olt.

1912 April 1: The Piloting Military School is set up on Cotroceni Hill inBucharest and led by Maj. Ion Macri. September 1: The film Romania’sIndependence, directed by Barbu Brezianu, premieres in Eforie Hall inBucharest.

1913 April 1: Law on the organization of the military aeronautics division.May 8: Law on the organization of the armed forces. June 23: The mobiliza-tion of the armed forces is stated, and the High General Headquarters is setup. June 27: Romania declares war on Bulgaria, a move that entails Roma-nian military involvement in the Second Balkan War. June 30: The units ofthe 5th Army Corps occupy southern Dobrudja cities of Turtucaia, Dobrici,and Balcic. July 2: The Romanian Armed Forces starts advancing via themain route toward Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. July 5: In order to deter theRomanian troops from occupying Sofia, the Bulgarian government asks forpeace. July 28: After a peace conference in Bucharest, Romania wins thecounties located in southern Dobrudja. July 31: Demobilization of the Roma-nian Armed Forces after the Second Balkan War.

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1914 January 22: Elena Caragani becomes the first licensed female pilotin Romania. July 21: The Crown Council, held in the Peles royal castle inSinaia, decides to adopt a position of neutrality in the conflict between theEntente and the Central Powers. September 27: The death of King Carol I.His nephew, Ferdinand I, is proclaimed king of Romania.

1915 August 1: The Romanian Aviation Corps is set up under the com-mand of Col. Ion Gavanescu.

1916 August 4: The Alliance Treaty between Romania and the Entente issigned in Bucharest. August 14: Romania declares war on Austria–Hungary.August 15: Right after the mobilization is publicly announced, the RomanianArmed Forces start military operations, crossing the Carpathians into Tran-sylvania. August 16: The Romanian troops enter the large southeastern Tran-sylvanian town of Brasov (called Kronstadt by the Germans). August 24:The Romanian troops are defeated by the German and Bulgarian troops inTurtucaia (southern Romania). September 15: The battle of Sibiu (calledHermanstadt by the Germans) between the German and Romanian forces.September 18–22: The Romanian counteroffensive, devised by GeneralAverescu, on the southern part of the Danube, also known as the Maneuverof Flamanda. September 30–October 10: The battle of Predeal, in PrahovaValley, between the Romanian and German troops. October 3: The Frenchmilitary mission led by Gen. Henri Mathias Berthelot arrives in Romania.October 10–29: The battle of Targu Jiu in Oltenia County. Under pressurefrom the German divisions, the Romanian front is broken. November 15:The heroic cavalry charge from Prunaru-Vlasca, performed by the 2ndRosiori Regiment. The Military Photographic and Cinema Studio is set up inthe Moldavian cities of Iasi and Bacau, with French logistical support.November 16–20: The Romanian troops lose the battle for Bucharest foughton the Neajlov and Arges rivers and are forced to abandon the capital and letthe Germans enter. December 9: The German offensive on Casin, in south-ern Moldavia, is stopped by the Romanian troops. An armistice is signed inthe city of Focsani.

1917 Herman Oberth, born in Sibiu, makes the first model of a rocket pow-ered by liquid fuel. January 7: The Order of Michael the Brave, with threeclasses, is established. January–June: The recovery of the Romanian ArmedForces in the poor and narrow territory of Moldavia. April 18: A Romaniandelegation from Transylvania led by Vasile Lucaciu leaves for Washington toconvey to the American government the military and political situation ofRomania and the desire of the Romanians living in the territories occupiedby Austria–Hungary to join a united Romania. May 27: The first two battal-

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ions of Transylvanian volunteers arrive in Iasi, the capital of the province ofMoldavia. July 11–19: The offensive of the 2nd Army led by Gen. AlexandruAverescu in the battle of Marasti is a tactical success that cannot be exploitedstrategically because of the Russian troops’ defection to the Bolsheviks. July24–August 6: The German–Austrian–Hungarian offensive led by Germangeneral Mackensen is deterred in the battle of Marasesti by the Romanianforces led first by Gen. Constantin Christescu and then by Gen. Eremia Gri-gorescu. July 26–August 9: The German–Austrian–Hungarian offensive isrepelled by the Romanian troops in the battle of Oituz. August 15–21: Dur-ing the battles fought in Varnita and Muncelu, 2nd Lt. Ecaterina Teodoroiudies in combat. December 9: The armistice between Romania and the CentralPowers is signed in Focsani.

1918 March 27: In Chisinau, the Council of the Country votes for theunion of Bessarabia with Romania. May 7: The peace treaty between Roma-nia and the Central Powers is signed in Bucharest by Marghiloman’s govern-ment. July 5: At the initiative of Vasile Stoica, the National RomanianLeague is created in Washington to initiate activities in support of Transylva-nia’s union with Romania. The activities are to take place in Chicago, India-napolis, and other cities where Americans of Romanian origin live. October27: The Romanian National Council of Bucovina is being created in Cernauti,and it is led by Iancu Flondor, who fought for the union of Bucovina and theother territories located over the Prut River within a single state. October 28:Call for the second mobilization of the Romanian Armed Forces. November7: In Arad, the Romanian National Central Council created in Budapest on31 October sets up a national guard for all the territories inhabited by Roma-nians in Transylvania and Hungary. November 9: The Romanian govern-ments gives an ultimatum to the forces of the Central Powers, requesting thatthey leave Romania in twenty-four hours. November 11: The armisticebetween Germany and the Allied powers is signed in Compiegne, France.Germany recognizes that the Treaty of Bucharest dated 7 May 1918 is nulland void and states that troops will retreat from Romania. December 1: InAlba Iulia, the Great National Assembly votes for the union of Transylvaniawith the Kingdom of Romania. After 1990, 1 December becomes the nationalday of Romania.

1919 April 1: Romania adopts the Gregorian calendar, so 1 April becomes14 April. April 16: The beginning of the first offensive of the RomanianArmed Forces in Transylvania against the Bolshevik Hungarian troops ofBela Kuhn, which are driven away over the Tisa River. July 31: The begin-ning of the second Romanian offensive by crossing the Tisa River. The out-come is the occupation of Budapest on 4 August. August 1: The tank branch

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is set up within the Romanian Armed Forces. August 4: The Romaniantroops enter Budapest. This event hastens the fall of the Bolshevik rule ofBela Kuhn in Hungary. September 12: The Society for the Tombs of theHeroes Fallen in Combat is set up in Romania.

1920 January 10: Romania becomes a founding nation for the League ofNations, which is headquartered in Geneva. June 4: The peace treatybetween the Allied powers and Hungary is signed in Trianon, and it brings theinternational recognition of the union of Transylvania, Banat, Crisana, andMaramures with Romania. June 7: A hydroaviation squadron is set up inConstanta. June 10: A navy school is set up in Constanta Harbor on theBlack Sea. July 1: The destroyers Marasesti and Marasti become active.

1921 The Little Entente alliance is formed with Romania, Yugoslavia, andCzechoslovakia. June 29: The film Ecaterina Teodoroiu, starring MariettaRares, premieres in Bucharest.

1922 October 15: In the historically symbolic city Alba Iulia, Ferdinand Iis crowned king of all Romanians in an important ceremony.

1923 March 29: The new Constitution of Romania is issued, proclaimingthe Romanian Kingdom a national, united, and indivisible state. April 1: TheGeneral Inspectorate of Aeronautics is set up within the Ministry of War; theCivil Aviation Directorate is transferred from the Ministry of Communica-tions to the Ministry of War. May 17: Burial of the bones of the UnknownSoldier in Carol Park, Bucharest, with great military honors and a religiousceremony. September 14: The agreement forming the Little Entente allianceis signed. December 18: Royal decree signed by King Ferdinand to set upthe National Military Museum.

1924 April 5: A decision of the Military Court outlaws the CommunistParty, which was established on 8 May 1921. June 23: Promulgation ofanother law referring to the organization of the armed forces.

1925 November 1: The Romanian Aeronautic Industry is set up in Brasov,while the Astra-Arad airplane factory is shut down.

1926 June 10: The Treaty of Friendship between Romania and France iscompleted and signed with a military convention.

1927 June 24: Founding in Iasi of the Legion of Michael Archangel, alsocalled the Legionary Movement or the Iron Guard. This is a political, nation-alistic organization that later becomes an extreme-right party named Every-thing for the Country and led by the charismatic Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.July 17: The death of King Ferdinand I. His young nephew Mihai is pro-

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claimed king of Romania (because his father, Carol, renounced the thronebecause of his mistress, Elena Lupescu) and a regency is instated.

1928 September 4: Romania joins the Pact of Paris, which prohibits theuse of war as an instrument of international policy.

1929 October 22–November 2: Important maneuvers with dual actionsorganized by the High General Staff in southeastern Romania. Such maneu-vers will be performed annually in different areas of the country.

1930 March 17: Outbreak of the Skoda Contract, a political and militarycorruption scandal. June 8: The parliament proclaims the first son of KingFerdinand, Carol II, as king; the former king Mihai receives the newly insti-tuted title of Great Voievode of Alba Iulia. This political event is known asRestoration.

1931 Decree to set up the Territorial Air Defense Command. May 19: Forjumping from 7,200 meters, Smaranda Braescu becomes the top female para-trooper certified in an international competition that takes place in Sacra-mento, California.

1933 December 29: Prime minister I. G. Duca is murdered by the membersof the Iron Guard extremist organization on the platform of the Sinaia railwaystation.

1934 February 9: The Agreement Pact of the Balkans is signed in Athensby Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey.

1935 The construction of the Arch of Triumph is begun in Bucharest; thearch is completed in 1936.

1936 Great acrobatic performances by Capt. Alexandru Papana, an aviator,in aeronautic competitions in the United States. The National Defense Coor-dination Committee is set up; it is the forerunner of today’s Supreme Councilfor National Defense. November 13: The Ministry of Air and Navy is set up.

1937 November 26: Promulgation of the Law on Orders and NationalMedals Awarded in Wartime.

1938 February 10: The installation of an authoritarian monarchy led byKing Carol II. September 21: Prime minister Armand Calinescu is murderedin Bucharest by members of the Iron Guard.

1939 August 23: The Ribentropp-Molotov Pact is signed in Moscow by theforeign ministers of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Its secret provisionsinclude references to the provinces of Bessarabia and Bucovina, which fallinto the Soviets’ area of interest. September 1: The troops of the Third Reich

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invade Poland, and World War II begins. November: Bills for equipping theRomanian Armed Forces start being issued.

1940 June: Following the two ultimatum notes of the Soviet governmentthat emerged from the secret provisions of the Ribentropp-Molotov Pact, theRomanian Crown Council decides to relinquish the provinces of Bessarabiaand Bucovina without fighting. July 7: Broadcast of the first military radioprogram, The Armed Forces Hour. August 30: After the Vienna Dictateheaded by Germany and Italy, Romania loses northwestern Transylvania,which is annexed to Hungary under the Fascist rule of Admiral Horty. Sep-tember 6: King Carol II is forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Mihai, andthe state power is taken over by Gen. Ion Antonescu. Romania proclaims itsneutrality in World War II. September 7: Through the treaty signed in Crai-ova, Romania gives the southern province of Cadrilater (southeast of the Dan-ube) to Bulgaria. September 14: Romania is proclaimed a national legionarystate that is led by Gen. Ion Antonescu. The Iron Guard comes into power.October 12: The first units of the German military missions begin to enterRomania. November 23: Romanian ruler Gen. Ion Antonescu, who is knownas Conducator, signs Romania’s agreement to the Tripartite Pact in Berlin.

1941 January 21: The units of the armed forces are ordered by GeneralAntonescu to intervene in Bucharest and other cities to repress the IronGuard’s bloody rebellion. June 10: The first paratrooper subunit is set upnear the Aeronautics Training Center located in Popesti-Leordeni (nearBucharest); it is the size of a company. June 22: The Romanian ArmedForces, together with the German army, launches an attack against the SovietUnion through Operation Barbarossa, aiming to liberate the historicallyRomanian provinces Bessarabia and northern Bucovina. June 26: The coastartillery and the Romanian navy thwart a forceful Soviet attack on Constanta,on the Black Sea. June 25–30: Romanian and German military are involvedin violent events in Iasi, which include either the massacre or the deportationof several thousand Jews. July 3–15: The 5th Army Corps fights against theRed Army in Tiganca for the freedom of Bessarabia; 8,965 Romanian sol-diers die in combat. July 9: The liberation of northern Bucovina. July 16:The 1st Armored Romanian Division liberates Chisinau, the capital of Bes-sarabia. July 17–19: The Romanian units cross the Nistru River and continuetheir offensive against the Soviet armed forces. July 26: The total liberationof Bessarabia. October 16: Odessa is conquered by the Romanian troops.October 22: The Romanian Headquarters building in Odessa is blown up bythe Soviet partisans, and the military commander of Odessa, General Glogo-jeanu, and ninety-three Romanian and German military and civilians losetheir lives under the tumbling city.1 As a reprisal, Marshal Ion Antonescu

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orders the execution of several hundred civilians, inhabitants of Odessa, mostof them Jewish. December 12: Due to the obligations assumed through thetreaties with Germany and Italy, Romania declares war on the Unites States,which in turn declares war on Romania on 6 June 1942.

1942 May 18: The Romanian and German troops occupy the Kerci Penin-sula. June 22: The Romanian and German allied units start, according to Hit-ler’s orders, their offensive on the bend of the Don River, toward Stalingrad.July: The Romanian Mountain Troop Corps makes a significant contributionin conquering the Soviet harbour of Sevastopol, in the Black Sea. Based onDecree No. 3818 signed by the head of the state, Marshal Ion Antonescu, theSignals Command is set up. August 5: The offensive of the Romanian Cav-alry Corps starts in the region of Kuban. November 19–26: The 3rd Army,led by Gen. Petre Dumitrescu, takes part in the battle fought in the bend ofthe Don River. November 19–December 30: The 4th Army, led by Gen.Constantin Constantinescu Claps, takes part in the battle of Calmuca Plain.

1943 February 2: Axis forces commanded by Field Marshal FriedrichPaulus surrender in Stalingrad. August 1: Anglo-American bombing over theoil field of Ploiesti, which supplied the vital fuel to Germany. October 2: TheTudor Vladimirescu Division is set up in the Soviet Union. It is composedof Romanian military taken prisoners on the eastern front who accepted theCommunist ideology.

1944 April–May: Operation 60,000, performed by the Romanian RoyalNavy, evacuates the Romanian and German military surrounded in Sevasto-pol Harbor on the Black Sea. April 4: Anglo-American air raids over Roma-nia. They will continue until 19 August 1944. August 20: The beginning ofthe offensive by the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Group of Armies on the Moldav-ian front; one of the attacks heads toward Chisinau and Iasi, the main citiesof Moldavia. August 23: Through a state strike instigated by King Mihai I,Marshal Ion Antonescu and his main collaborators are arrested. Subse-quently, Romania turns against Germany and joins the coalition of the UnitedNations. August 26: Clearing of the last German military resistance inBucharest. August 30: The beginning of the campaign for the liberation ofTransylvania. September: Romanian troops forcefully cross the Mures River;meanwhile, the Paulis cadets detachment thwarts a German–Hungarianoffensive in the region of Banat. The beginning of the print campaign of theCommunist daily newspaper Scanteia. Its aim is to bring politics into thearmed forces; its slogan is ‘‘The army should belong to the people.’’ Septem-ber 1: The Romanian Air Corps is set up and after only one week it is subor-dinated to the 2nd Ukrainian Group of Armies. September 7: The Soviets

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require that the command of the Romanian units is taken over by the head-quarters of the 2nd Ukrainian Group of Armies. September 12: The armi-stice between Romania and the United Nations is signed in Moscow. October3: The chief of the Romanian High General Headquarters raises a protest tothe commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Group of Armies questioning the waythe Romanian troops are used by Soviet headquarters. October 11: Libera-tion of Cluj (the main Transylvanian city) by the 2nd Mountain Division and18th Infantry Division. October 19: Hungarian city of Debretin is liberatedby the Tudor Vladimirescu Division, which suffers harsh casualties. October25: Liberation of Carei, in northwestern; it is the last town under foreignoccupation. Between 1945 and 1951 and from 1959 to the present, this dayis celebrated as Armed Forces’ Day of Romania.

October 6, 1944–January 15, 1945 Operations of the Romanian ArmedForces for the liberation of Hungary.

December 18, 1944–May 12, 1945 Operations of the Romanian ArmedForces for the liberation of Czechoslovakia and Austria.

1945 January 1–15: Battles fought for the liberation of Budapest by the7th Army Corps led by Gen. Nicolae Sova. February: The conference inYalta where the Unites States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union adopt thedeclaration of liberated Europe. March 5: Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtainspeech in Fulton, Missouri. March 6: The first government dominated byCommunists is installed by the Soviets in Bucharest and led by Petru Groza.March 9: Romanian administration is restored in the northwestern part ofTransylvania. April: Decree to integrate the Romanian military, former pris-oners in the Soviet Union who formed the Tudor Vladimirescu and Horea,Closca and Crisan divisions. April 9: The 2nd Armored Car Regimentcrosses the Danube and enters the territory of Austria. May 8: The Director-ate for Education, Culture, and Propaganda is set up to encompass the entirearmed forces. May 10: The total strength of the Romanian Armed Forces isat about 418,000 soldiers. May 12: The Romanian Armed Forces stops itsmilitary operations on the western front. June: Under Soviet pressure, theRomanian Air Factories (IAR) starts building tractors, and only an aeronauticsection is preserved until 1950. June 26: The United Nations Charter issigned in San Francisco. Summer: The Romanian Armed Forces turns fromwar to peace. July 6: Mihai (Michael), king of Romania, is awarded theSoviet order Victory, and on 10 May (National Day during this period) he isawarded the Legion of Merit by the U.S. government. July 24: According toOrder No. 56500 of the High General Headquarters, the Signals Command isdisbanded and the Communication Directorate is set up as of 1 September1945.

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1946 June 1: Marshal Ion Antonescu and his main collaborators are exe-cuted in the Jilava jail near Bucharest after a trial orchestrated by the Commu-nists. November 19: Parliamentary elections seriously faked by theCommunists, who take power within the Parliament of Romania.

1947 February 9: Romania signs the peace treaty in Paris with the Alliedand associated powers. June 1: Promulgation of Law No. 205 for the organi-zation and functioning of the Ministry of National Defense, of Law No. 206for the organization of the armed forces establishing as eighteen months thelength of military duty, and of Law No. 208 on the position and missions ofthe border troops. December 23: Emil Bodnaras, former Soviet military spy,but now a member of the Political Bureau of the Romanian Communist Party,is appointed minister for national defense. Other generals who supported theCommunists are assigned key positions; these men include Mihail Lascar,Dumitru Damaceanu, Mircea Haupt, Septimiu Pretorian, and Nicolae Cam-brea. December 29: In accord with Order No. 2808 signed by the minister ofnational defense, Emil Bodnaras, with the full support of the pro-Soviet offi-cers of the Tudor Vladimirescu Division, thirty generals, forty-nine colonels,sixty-three lieutenant colonels, and sixty-one majors from some territorialunits are told to leave their position and unit in only two hours. They arereplaced with political deputies. The strength of the armed forces is 135,800due to the application of the provisions of the peace treaty signed in Paris.December 30: King Mihai I is forced by the high Communist authorities toabdicate and leave the country, which is proclaimed the Popular Republic ofRomania.

1948 February: The Congress for the Unification of the Romanian Com-munist Party with the Social Democrat Party, forming the Romanian WorkersParty. The first organizations of the Communist Party start functioning offi-cially within the armed forces. February 28: Law on the modification ofsome provisions of the Military Code of Justice, in accordance with the pol-icy of the new Communist authorities. April: Adoption of new military uni-form following the Soviet model. August 22: Through the Order of the 3rdMilitary Region from Cluj, the institution of the military clergy is disbanded.August 30: The General Directorate of Popular Security is set up within theMinistry of the Interior with the goal to eliminate political opposition. Sep-tember: Yugoslavian schism caused by the tension between Iosip Broz Titoand Stalin forces the maneuvers of the Romanian Armed Forces to concen-trate on the southwestern border with Yugoslavia. The territory of Romaniais reorganized into three military regions. Fall: The Armed Forces GeneralInspectorate for Education becomes the Superior Political Directorate of the

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Armed Forces and falls under the direct command of the Central Committeeof the Romanian Workers Party.

1949 The first organizations of the Union of the Young Workers are set upwithin the armed forces. February 1: The Signals Command of the ArmedForces is set up. April 4: In Washington, the North Atlantic Treaty is signedby Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, the United Kingdom,and the United States.

1950 January 9: The secretariat of the Central Committee of the RomanianWorkers Party decides to create the corps of sergeants and petty officers (car-tnici); the rank of major lieutenant (between lieutenant and captain) is intro-duced within the armed forces, after the Soviet model. March 15: Througha decision of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers Party, theCounterintelligence Service of the Armed Forces is subordinated to the Min-istry of the Interior, led by Teohari Georgescu. March 18: NicolaeCeausescu, a substitute member of the Central Committee of the RomanianWorkers Party, is appointed deputy minister for national defense and chief ofthe Superior Political Directorate of the Armed Forces, having the rank ofmajor (one star) general, and Leontin Salajan, member of the Central Com-mittee of the Romanian Workers Party, becomes chief of the General Staff.March 24: Through Decree No. 74 of the Presidium of the Great NationalAssembly, the Ministry of National Defense becomes the Ministry of theArmed Forces. June 25: North Korean forces led by Communist leader KimIl Sen (former major in the Red Army) attack the Republic of South Korea.August 7: All the orders and medals awarded to the Romanian military dur-ing the anti-Soviet campaign are retracted. November 1: The paratrooperbattalion of the Romanian Popular Armed Forces is set up under the subordi-nation of the Military Air Force Headquarters. A year later, in September1952, it will be transformed into an airborne regiment. November 10: TheMiddle School for the Navy is set up in Galati, an industrial city on the shoreof the Danube. November 15: A new navy high school is set up in Constanta,a Black Sea harbor.

1951 The mountain troops are disbanded and integrated into the infantryunits. The first division of jet fighters is equipped with Soviet planes. Thenew statute of the officer corps is adopted, stating the possibility of firingmembers of the military ‘‘on moral and political grounds’’ (art. 40) or ofdemoting troops to the rank of private for ‘‘political reasons which makeimpossible the status of officer’’ (art. 42). Military service for students inpostsecondary institutions is mandatory. January: The Romanian ArmedForces comprises 16,761 members of the Communist Party, out of whom 60

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percent are officers. This is a significant increase over the two previous years.Communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej requests that Soviet leader Bul-ganin provide fifty-three military councilors to the army corps and divisions.Meanwhile, the minister of national defense, Emil Bodnaras, requests forty-nine military councilors for the educational institutions from Soviet marshalVasilievsky. January 9–12: Stalin’s guidance for the political and militaryleaders of the satellite countries regarding the strengthening of the combatcapabilities of the Socialist countries: ‘‘In these three years, you don’t haveto work, you have to arm yourself!’’2 July 20: Armed Forces’ Day is set to beobserved on 2 October. August–September: The first exercise of troops ofthe Popular Armed Forces is performed in the southwestern region of Banat,having been organized by the general staff of the 3rd Military Region withthe obvious aim of pressuring the Yugoslavs. October 17: The Armored andMechanized Vehicles Headquarters is set up.

1952 According to the new constitution of the Popular Republic of Roma-nia, adopted by the Great National Assembly, the leading role of the Commu-nist Party is officially stated. July: The Superior Military Council is set upas the leading body of the armed forces through a decision of the PoliticalBureau of the Romanian Workers Party.

1953 March 5: Death of Stalin. June 23: Decree No. 270 of the Presidiumof the Great National Assembly sets up the positions of first deputy to theminister of the armed forces, positions granted to the Communist (one star)generals Nicolae Ceausescu and Leontin Salajan. July: The decree of thePresidium of the Great National Assembly establishes the length of manda-tory military service as three years. July 23: Korean armistice signed in Pan-munjon; end of Korean War.

1954 All cavalry troops are disbanded.

1955 Important exercise in Romania with troops of the 2nd Military RegionHeadquarters led by Gen. Mircea Otto Haupt. A Hungarian joint armedforces and a Soviet tank army also take part. May 14: Romania becomesa founding member of the Warsaw Treaty together with Albania, Bulgaria,Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the Soviet Union.December 14: Romania becomes a member of the United Nations.

1956 The support farms are set up within the military units. March: Theregulation of the Ministry of the Armed Forces enters into force. July 27:Romania becomes a member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific,and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). September: The Territorial AirDefense Command is set up through the merging of air defense and airforces.

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1957 Through a decision by the Political Bureau of the Central Committeeof the Romanian Communist Party, the principle of full unity of command isadopted. According to this principle, the chiefs and commanders are heldfully responsible for the political education and combat training of the troops.The Military Education Directorate is set up. April 15: Soviet–Romanianagreement for temporary stationing of Soviet troops on Romanian territory.

1958 June: The Soviet troops withdraw from Romania’s territory due tothe agreement between the Romanian Communist leader, Gheorghe Gheor-ghiu Dej, and the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev.

1959 The noncommissioned officer corps is set up within the armed forces.It had been disbanded in 1950. To harvest the fields, more than 120,000 mili-tary are sent to work in the fields. October 1: A decree of the Presidium ofthe Great National Assembly declares that 25 October is once again ArmedForces’ Day.

1960 Restructuring of the armed forces into military regions. March: Theborder troops are transferred from the Ministry of the Interior to the jurisdic-tion of the armed forces.

1961 November: The length of mandatory military service becomes twoyears for all the branches and within the army and air services; the exceptionis the navy, where the length is three years.

1962 The first joint exercise with troops of the members of the WarsawTreaty is performed in Dobrudja, Romania, and led by the Soviet general P. I.Batov.

1963 The Acquisition General Directorate of the armed forces is set up.

1964 The length of the mandatory military service is set at one year andfour months, except for the border guards and the Navy, where the length ofthe military service is two years. April: Idea of breaking away from theSoviet Union is part of the declaration of the expanded session of the CentralCommittee of the Romanian Workers Party, also known as the April Declara-tion. June: The regulation of the Communist Party and the Young WorkersUnion organization within the armed forces. December 9: A decree of theState Council establishes a new organizational structure of the Ministry ofthe Armed Forces.

1965 In general elections, eleven superior officers are elected as representa-tives to the Great National Assembly and 314 officers (all members of theRomanian Comunist Party) are elected to local administrative structures.March 22: After the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej, Nicolae Ceausescu

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is elected as secretary general of the Central Committee of the RomanianCommunist Party. August 21: A new constitution is adopted and the Social-ist Republic of Romania is proclaimed.

1967 June 11: Romania is the only country of the Socialist bloc that adoptsa position of neutrality regarding the Arab–Israeli war.

1968 More than 85 percent of military officers are members of the Commu-nist Party and so are all the commanders, from the company commandersup. March 30: The first military television broadcast takes place; it is calledGuarding the Homeland. The show is broadcast weekly until 1989, with aninterruption of seven months in 1987, and changes its name in 1990 to ProPatria. The show ends in December 2005. August 22: The declaration of theGreat National Assembly regarding the basic principles of Romania’s foreignpolicy and the problems of the international Communist movement, as aresponse to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the troops of the WarsawTreaty. September 4: Decree regarding the establishment, organization, andfunctioning of the patriotic guards. September 27–28: Official visit toBucharest of Marshal I. I. Iakubovski, the supreme commander of the UnitedArmed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty. November: Through a decision of theMinisters Council, the Military Academy is given the right to organize post-academic courses and to grant the degree of PhD in military science.

1969 The activity of the Defense Council of the Socialist Republic ofRomania as a deliberative body is legalized. The Xth Congress of the Roma-nian Communist Party launches the doctrine of ‘‘the entire people’s war forhomeland defense.’’ Romania has forty-eight positions of military attache,thirty with permanent residence and eighteen with expanded accreditation.Twenty years later, in 1989, only four positions are still held in Berlin, Buda-pest, Belgrade, and Rome. March 17: The meeting of the Consultative Politi-cal Council (the supreme decision-making body of the Warsaw Treaty) takesplace in Budapest and adopts the statute of the United Armed Forces and theUnified Command, and those of the Military Council. The documents aresigned by Nicolae Ceausescu as president of the State Council (similar to thehead of state) and Ion Gheorghe Maurer, president of the Ministers Council(similar to the prime minister). August 2–3: Richard Nixon becomes the firstAmerican president to visit Romania, the first country of the Soviet bloc vis-ited by an American president during the Cold War.

1970 January 31: Romania ratifies the Treaty on the Nonproliferation ofNuclear Weapons.

1972 Law No. 14 on the organization of national defense of the SocialistRepublic of Romania. The Civil Defense Command is set up. November:

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Decree to transform the Ministry of the Armed Forces back into the Ministryof National Defense.

1974 A decree of the State Council sets up the military guard of some eco-nomic centers. March 28: The Great National Assembly proclaims the secre-tary general of the Romanian Communist Party, Nicolae Ceausescu,president of the Socialist Republic of Romania. He becomes the supremecommander of the armed forces and the president of the Ministers Council.October 30: Lt. Col. Gheorghe Stanica flies, for the first time, a jet fighterproduced in Romania, the IAR-93. November: At the XIth Congress of theRomanian Communist Party, thirteen officers and generals from the Ministryof National Defense are elected members of the Central Committee of theRomanian Communist Party.

1975–1986 Forty of the sixty kilometers of the Danube–Black Sea Channelare built by more than 11,000 military of the 45th Engineering Brigade. Othermilitary units are sent to work to benefit the national economy, in agriculture,mining, and construction.

1977 May 1: The Military Air Command is set up separately from the Ter-ritorial Air Defense Command.

1978 Gen. Mihai Pacepa, chief of the Foreign Intelligence Service of theSecurity Department (known as Securitate), asks for political asylum in theUnited States, starting a storm within the Romanian and Soviet secret ser-vices.

1981 May 14: The first Romanian astronaut, Maj. Lt. Dumitru Prunariu,flies into space aboard Soiuz 40, the Soviet spaceship.

1986 May 7: Steaua, the soccer team of the Armed Forces Sports Club,wins the European Championship in Seville, Spain. October: The secret visitof the minister of national defense, Gen. Col. (three-star general) VasileMilea to the United States at the invitation of some high American militaryofficials.

1987 November 24–26: The twentieth meeting of the Defense Ministers’Committee of the Warsaw Treaty takes place in Bucharest.

1989 April 12: During the Plenary of the Central Committee of the Roma-nian Communist Party, Nicolae Ceausescu announces the complete paymentof Romania’s foreign debt, which at the beginning of the 1980s was aboutUS$11 billion. July: Following the leadership of the Ceausescu couple, forthe first time in the history of the armed forces, rank promotions are notbeing given on time. November: As gymnast Nadia Comaneci leaves the

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country for the West, the border guard units are transferred from the Ministryof National Defense to the Ministry of the Interior on the orders of NicolaeCeausescu. November 9: The fall of the Berlin wall. November 20–24: Dur-ing the meetings of the XIVth Congress of the Romanian Communist Party,Nicolae Ceausescu disagrees with the relaxed political reforms that haveemerged in the East European states. December 3: The historical meetingbetween George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev in Malta. December 4:Nicolae Ceausescu has a tough discussion with the Soviet leader Gorbachevin Moscow on the occasion of the summit of the heads of state of the WarsawTreaty members. December 16: The first incidents in Timisoara related to theprotest of some parishioners against the decision to evacuate Laszlo Tokes, areformist pastor. December 17: The beginning of the great anti-Communistand anti-Ceausescu riot in Timisoara. Violence is manifested by the partici-pants, there are conflicts with the police and Securitate, and numerous peopleare arrested. At the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Central Com-mittee of the Romanian Communist Party, Nicolae Ceausescu orders thearmed forces to use weapons against the protesters in Timisoara. At 6 p.m.,the units of the Ministry of National Defense receive the encoded order Raduthe Handsome, the preliminary combat warning. December 18–20: NicolaeCeausescu pays an official visit to Iran, leaving his wife Elena to put downthe revolt in Timisoara. The first casualties and human losses occur. Decem-ber 18: In Timisoara, armored vehicles and armed soldiers placed at keyposts around the city. The revolt spreads to other Transylvanian cities.December 19: As the whole city of Timisoara is on strike, the chief of theGeneral Staff, Maj. Gen. (one-star general) Stefan Gusa promises the peoplegathered in front of the Elba factory to recall the soldiers and their APC intothe barracks. December 20: At 2 p.m., Major General Gusa orders the retreatof the soldiers and the military reinforcements into the barracks in Timisoara.December 20: During a statement broadcast over television and radio, Nico-lae Ceausescu says that the armed forces have intervened in Timisoaraagainst the so-called Fascist and antinational groups of hooligans. The UnitedStates starts Operation Urgent Fury in Panama to arrest the head of state,Gen. Manuel Noriega, who is accused of drug trafficking. December 21: At12:30 p.m., the huge meeting organized in Bucharest’s Palace Square toblame the hooligans in Timisoara and the public discourse of NicolaeCeausescu turns against the Communist authorities, leading to the extensionof the revolution to Bucharest. In the evening and night, the first violentstrikes between the people of Bucharest and the militia, Securitate, and armedforces takes place in the street and ends in detentions and deaths. December22: Between 10 and 11 a.m., three press releases broadcast on the radioannounce that the minister of national defense, Gen. Col. Vasile Milea has

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committed suicide, having been accused of high treason. A state of emer-gency is declared all over the country. At 10:45 a.m., Lt. Gen. (two-star gen-eral according to the Communists ranks) Victor Athanasie Stanculescu, first-deputy to the minister of national defense, orders the retreat into barracks ofthe units that were out in the streets of Bucharest. At 12:35 p.m., Elena andNicolae Ceausescu escape in a helicopter that takes off from the roof of thebuilding of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party. Onthe same day, they are caught and taken to a military base in Targoviste. At1:15 p.m., the first revolutionaries (poet Mircea Dinescu and actor Ion Cara-mitru) are broadcast live on radio and TV, announcing that Ceausescu has runaway and the Communist regime has fallen. The state power is taken over bythe National Salvation Front. Street fights begin in Bucharest and in othercities of the country, the invisible enemies being the so-called terrorists.December 25: At a military base in Targoviste (north of Bucharest), after abrief trial, a special military court gives Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu thedeath penalty. The sentence is carried out immediately. December 26: Thefirst provisional government is set up and led by Prime Minister Petre Romanand the Council of the National Salvation Front, which is chaired by IonIliescu. The first minister of defense after December 1989 is Col. Gen. Nico-lae Militaru, who is contested by some officers who accuse him of being aformer Soviet spy. He will be replaced in February 1990.

1990 July 6: The NATO summit in London declares the opening of dia-logue with the member states of the Warsaw Treaty. August 2: Iraqi troopsinvade Kuwait. October 23: Petre Roman, prime minister of Romania, isreceived at NATO headquarters by Secretary-General Manfred Woerner.November 19: Romania signs in Paris, together with twenty-two otherNATO and Warsaw Treaty member nations, the Treaty on the ConventionalForces in Europe.

1991 January 17: Coalition forces led by the United States start OperationDesert Storm against Iraq. February 9: The Romanian Military Hospitalmission begins its activity within the British Operation Granby, part of Oper-ation Desert Storm, which lasts until 22 March 1991. This represents the firstpost–World War II cooperation of the Romanian Armed Forces with a mili-tary structure of a NATO member. February 25: A special meeting of thePolitical Consultative Council of the Warsaw Treaty takes place in Budapest,where the decision is made to cancel all the documents regarding the UnitedArmed Forces and their military structures until 31 March 1991. February28: End of Operation Desert Storm. April 23: A series of six Romanian offi-cers start their one-year tours as military observers in UNIKOM within thedemilitarized zone along the border between Iraq and Kuwait. This is set up

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after the Gulf War. The mission lasts until March 2003. May 11: The OpenSky agreement is signed in Bucharest between Romania and Hungary. July1: Official cessation of the Warsaw Treaty. July 4: The first visit to Romaniaof a NATO secretary-general, Manfred Woerner. October 25: Military andreligious ceremony to bring the bones of the Unknown Soldier back to theCarol Park tomb in Bucharest. November 25: The first visit of a Romaniandefense minister to NATO headquarters in Brussels. The visit is made by Col.Gen. Niculae Spiroiu. December 8: The reunited chambers of the parliamentadopt a new democratic constitution.

1992 February 21: NATO Secretary-General Manfred Woerner inaugu-rates the Euro-Atlantic Center in Bucharest, called NATO House today. It islocated in the former residence of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu. May:Twenty-four Romanian military observers start their work within the OSCEmission in Transnistria, the eastern province of the Republic of Moldova.Their mission lasts, with a short interruption, until February 1993.

1993 The beginning of the first measures to reform the Romanian ArmedForces. April: The 50th Field Military Hospital starts its mission in Mogadi-shu, the Somali capital, within the UNOSOM II mission, and lasts until 16October 1994. April 19–23: President Ion Iliescu visits the United States totake part in the inauguration of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.On that occasion, he meets President Bill Clinton. September 28: Romania isaccepted as a full member of the European Council. October: The SupremeCouncil for National Defense approves the establishment of the General Staffand the staffs of the three services.

1994 The first civilian state secretary since World War II, Ioan MirceaPascu, and the first civilian defense minister since the war, Gheorghe Tinca,are appointed. The Consultative Council for Euro-Atlantic Integration is setup as a political body where all the parliamentary parties are represented.January 26: At NATO general headquarters, Romania becomes the firstcountry to sign the Partnership for Peace program. April: The SupremeCouncil for National Defense approves the National Security Integrated Con-cept and the Defense Military Doctrine. April 28: The minister of nationaldefense, Gheorghe Tinca, hands out Romania’s Individual Partnership Pro-gram to Ambassador Balanzino, NATO assistant secretary-general. May 9:In Kichberg, Luxembourg, at the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Roma-nia becomes associated partner to the Western European Union, together witheight other central and eastern European states. July: The traditional name ofthe General Staff starts being used again. November: Romania sends a groupof officers to work within the Partnership Coordination Cell, SHAPE, in

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Mons, Belgium. November 4: The president of Romania, Ion Iliescu, pays avisit to NATO headquarters in Brussels. Talks with NATO Secretary-GeneralWilly Claes focus on matters regarding envisaged actions within the Partner-ship for Peace program.

1995 Promulgation of Law No. 80 regarding the status of officers, NCOs,and WOs within the Romanian Ministry of Defense (modified in 2001). Theconclusion of the first restructuring phase of the Romanian Armed Forces. Anew combat banner is given to the military units. March: Romanian militarypresence within UNAVEM III and then MONUA UN missions in Angola,which last until 1999. The Romanian contribution amounts to the participa-tion of more than 8,000 military in different rotations. September: Coopera-tive Determination ’95, the first NATO/PfP live exercise takes place in anarea of the city of Sibiu. Fall: The three academies of the three services areset up: the Land Forces Academy in Sibiu, the Air Force Academy in Brasov,and the Navy Academy in Constanta. October 10: The protocol between theMinistry of National Defense and the Romanian Orthodox Church regardingthe religious assistance provided within the armed forces is signed. Novem-ber 16: Romania respects the limits established for conventional armamentsthrough the document of Vienna, dated 1992 (the final act of negotiationsconcerning the effectiveness of conventional armed forces in Europe).

1996 Promulgation of Law No. 46 regarding the preparation of the popula-tion for defense. March: The Joseph Kruzel 96th Engineering Battalion startsits activity in Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, within IFOR and, after December1996, SFOR missions. April 10: Romania ratifies its access to the NATO-SOFA-PfP Agreement. July: Cooperative Partner ’96 NATO/PfP naval exer-cise takes place in Constanta, a Black Sea harbor. October: Cooperative Key’96 NATO/PfP air exercise takes place in Bucharest.

1997 February 4: The president of Romania, Emil Constantinescu, payshis first visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels and meets Secretary-GeneralJavier Solana and the permanent representatives of the North Atlantic Coun-cil. March 30: Governmental Decision No. 110 regarding the organizationof the Ministry of National Defense. April, July: The OSCE mission inAlbania, within Operation Alba of Saint George ROMDET, a tactical infantrydetachment, composed of 400 military and the proper military equipment andarms. July 7–9: The NATO summit in Madrid invites only Poland, the CzechRepublic, and Hungary to join the alliance. Romania misses the first integra-tion wave. July 11: The U.S. president, Bill Clinton, visits Romania to raisethe nation’s morale after the refusal of their accession at the NATO summitin Madrid. September 1: The PfP Regional Training Center is set up within

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32 Chapter One

the Academy for Advanced Military Studies in cooperation with the UnitedKingdom’s armed forces. October 13: The forty-third annual session of theNorth Atlantic Assembly takes place in Bucharest. November 1–14: Cooper-ative Determination ’97, a NATO/PfP exercise coordinated by AFSOUTH,takes place in Sibiu, with the participation of more than 500 military fromsix NATO nations and six partner nations.

1998 Romania’s Rapid Reaction Force is created. March 9–21: Romaniahas the most significant participation with air, land, and naval troops in Portu-gal, taking part in the Strong Resolve ’98 NATO/PfP exercise. March 19:Romania signs in Vienna the Letter of Intent and the Frame Documentregarding accession to CENCOOP. June 9: Romania signs in Copenhagenthe Letter of Intent regarding accession to the northern peacekeeping initia-tive called SHIRBRIG. September 26: The Multinational SoutheasternEurope Brigade (SEEBRIG) is established after the third Southeast DefenceMinisterial summit held in Skopje, FYROM. Romania’s contribution to thatbrigade consists of one infantry battalion, a reconnaissance platoon, a trans-port platoon, and a group of staff officers and NCOs.

1999 Air Sovereignty Operational Center (ASOC) is set up. January 22:Units of the armed forces with armored personnel carriers, but with noammunition, are placed on the route to Bucharest to halt the advance of theviolently rioting miners coming from Jiul Valley. March–June: Romaniasupports NATO’s allied force operation against Yugoslavia by opening itsair space and some airports to the allied air forces. May–June: SignificantRomanian participation in Cooperative Guard ’99, a NATO/PfP computer-assisted exercise performed in Vyshkov, Czech Republic. June 23: The pres-ident of Romania, Emil Constantinescu, presents to the parliament theNational Security Strategy, which is based on the irrevocable option of Euro-Atlantic and EU integration. The document is approved by the SupremeCouncil for National Defense. November: The Southeastern Europe DefenseMinisterial Meeting, SEDM-99, takes place in Bucharest at the National Mili-tary Circle. The Romanian–Hungarian Peacekeeping Battalion becomesoperational and is located both in Arad and the corresponding Hungarian gar-rison. November 26–December 5: Cooperative Determination ’99, a NATO-PfP computer-assisted exercise, takes place in Bucharest and addresses spe-cific command issues at the multinational brigade level. December 5: TheEuropean Union Summit in Helsinki invites Romania to begin accessiontalks.

2000 February 10: Lord George Robertson, NATO secretary-general, vis-its Romania in a tour of the partner nations. March 31: A group of officers

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Chronology 33

and NCOs specializing in psychological operations, PSYOPS, begin theiractivity in the specialty structures of KFOR headquarters located in Pristina,Kosovo. Another tens of officers and NCOs from the Ministry of NationalDefense and the Ministry of the Interior operate in UNMIK and OSCE struc-tures in Kosovo. June: A new organizational structure for the Ministry ofNational Defense, which experiences some changes in the spring of the fol-lowing year. November 6: Law No. 195 regarding the establishment andorganization of the military clergy is adopted.

2001 January 1: Romania, through its minister of foreign affairs, MirceaGeoana, chairs Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe for oneyear. January 22: At the invitation of Gen. Mihail Popescu, chief of generalstaff, Adm. James O. Ellis, commander of the Allied Forces South Europe(AFSOUTH Commander) pays a visit to Bucharest. March 7: A commondeclaration of all political parties is adopted to support Romania’s candidacyfor NATO integration. March 31: The declaration made in Snagov, nearBucharest, by the political parties, NGO representatives, syndicates, andchurch representatives to support Romania’s integration into NATO. April 2:The agreement regarding the setting up of BLACKSEAFOR (Black SeaNaval Cooperation Task Group) is signed in Istanbul. This is an interventionand cooperation force in the Black Sea between Romania, Turkey, the Rus-sian Federation, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Georgia. June 21: Emergency Ordi-nance No. 90 for the modification and completion of Law 80, which was firstissued in 1995, regarding the status of the military. July: The new MilitaryCareer Guide takes effect. September 1: In Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Romania takesover the presidency of the Steering Committee of the Southeastern DefenseMinisterial Meeting (SEDM) and of the Political and Military Steering Com-mittee, according to the first Additional Protocol for the Multinational Peace-keeping Force of Southeastern Europe. September 11: Largest terroristattacks ever against the United States. September 13: As a consequence ofthe 11 September attacks, the Parliament of Romania issues a resolution thatsets out Romanian participation in the fight against terrorism and opens theair, land, and sea to NATO. September 19: The parliament decides toincrease Romania’s contribution to the SFOR and KFOR missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. September 27: The Interministerial Committee forCrisis Situations is created. September 28: Romania approves NATO’sMembership Action Plan, stage 3, for the 2001–2002 period. November 8:The U.S. House of Representatives, followed by the Senate and the president,approves future NATO expansion at its summit in Prague in November 2002,nominating Romania and six other eastern European states to receive thefinancial help to prepare for accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. Decem-

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34 Chapter One

ber 3–4: The Political Military Steering Committee 19�1 held at NATOheadquarters in Brussels discusses the reform stages of the Romanian ArmedForces and drafts a program called Objective Force 2007. December 13: InBucharest, Lord George Robertson, NATO secretary-general, meets Roma-nian president Ion Iliescu, Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, and other membersof the parliament and government along with representatives of the civil soci-ety. December 18: Decision No. 36 of the parliament voted on during a jointcommon session of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate adopts the newNational Security Strategy of Romania.

2002 January 10: Romania signs the ISAF Protocol during the secondmeeting of the Committee of Contributors to the International Security Assis-tance Force of Afghanistan. January 21–22: At the invitation of Gen. MihailPopescu, chief of the General Staff, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe,Gen. Joseph Ralston, pays a visit to Bucharest. January 30: The RomanianArmed Forces takes part in ISAF, in Operation Fingal, with a military policeplatoon (twenty-five personnel), one C-130 Hercules air carrier, the necessarycrew, and three staff officers. March 1–15: The Romanian Armed Forcestakes part in Strong Resolve 2002, the largest NATO/PfP live exercise. Itoccurs in Poland with 215 military, two MIG 21 Lancer fighters, two PumaSocat helicopters, and one C-130 Hercules air carrier. March 25–26: Bucha-rest hosts Spring of the New Allies, the meeting of the Vilnius Group, whichconsists of the ten prime ministers of the countries applying for NATO inte-gration. The meeting is held at Parliament Palace. April 30: Decision No. 15of the Parliament of Romania regarding the contribution of troops to theUnited States–led Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. May–July:The European Command of the U.S. Armed Forces uses Black Sea harbourConstanta for troop rotation and the transport of supplies to Kosovo, as partof the KFOR mission. June 27: Law No. 415 regarding the organization andfunctioning of the Supreme Council for National Defense is adopted. July:The Detachment 400 provided by the Rovine 2nd Mechanized Brigade,located in Craiova, is deployed for six months to Kandahar, Afghanistan, aspart of Operation Enduring Freedom. November 21: At the NATO summitin Prague, the secretary-general of the North Atlantic Alliance, Lord GeorgeRobertson, invites seven eastern European nations to join the alliance, Roma-nia being one of them. November 23: President George W. Bush pays a visitto Bucharest and is warmly welcomed by people in a meeting organized inRevolution Square in Bucharest.

2003 The Romanian special forces units are set up within the Ministry ofNational Defense. January 1: The Alexandru Averescu 2nd Joint OperationalHeadquarters, located in Buzau, undertakes the coordination of the military

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Chronology 35

contingents that take part in international missions abroad. June 10–Decem-ber 15: Participation of three Romanian officers in Operation Concordia underthe aegis of the European Union, in FYROM within the headquarters of theforce in Skopje. July: Because of the planned KFOR reduction, the Romaniantraffic control platoon deployed to Blace, within the Greek contingent, and theinfantry company from Arad, part of the Belgian contingent deployed nearLeposavic in Camp Nothing Hill, are withdrawn from Kosovo. An infantrybattalion and a military police detachment are deployed to Nasiriyah, markingthe beginning of the Romanian military contribution to Operation Iraqi Free-dom. August: An engineering detachment and a special detachment aredeployed to Al Hillah and Babilon, Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.The SEEBRIG headquarters are inaugurated in Constanta in the presence ofPresident Ion Iliescu. The headquarters function there for the next two years.August 10–16: The 29th International Congress of Military History takesplace in Bucharest, the theme being ‘‘The War, Military and Media fromGutenberg until the Present Days.’’ November: Chief of the Parliament Liai-son and Legislative Harmonization Directorate, Floarea Serban, becomes thefirst female officer of the Romanian Armed Forces who is promoted to therank of brigadier general. November 11: Two NCOs from the infantry battal-ion deployed to Kandahar are killed in an ambush by Afghan Taliban guerrillasduring a mission performed at the southern border of Afghanistan. These arethe first two Romanian military who die in a combat mission abroad sinceWorld War II. December: The Romanian contingent in Afghanistan is supple-mented by an ANA training detachment and a CIMIC team.

2004 February 23–25: During an inspection performed in the fourth opera-tion theaters in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the combat flags of theNeagoe Basarab 2nd Infantry Battalion deployed in Iraq and that of the 280thInfantry Battalion deployed in Afghanistan are decorated on behalf of thepresident of Romania by prime minister Adrian Nastase and the minister ofnational defense, Ioan Mircea Pascu, with the Order of Military Virtue, at thestatus of knight with military insignia. February 26: The parliament adoptsthe law on Romania’s accession into NATO after the parliaments of the mem-ber states ratify the accession protocols of the seven countries invited to jointhe alliance during the November 2002 summit. March 29: The ceremony ofthe bestowal of the integration instruments by the North Atlantic Treaty onPrime Minister Adrian Nastase and six other eastern European prime minis-ters is held in Washington, where treaty documents are kept. April 2: Thenational flag-raising ceremony for the seven new members takes place atNATO headquarters in Brussels. April 15: Gen. Mihail Popescu, chief of theGeneral Staff, takes part in the military ceremony organized at SHAPE,Mons, Belgium, on the occasion of the seven states’ accession to NATO.

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Chapter Two

The First Conflicts of Antiquity

6th Century BC to AD 2nd Century

Herodotus, the historian who wrote about this period, considered that theIndo-European Thracians had the highest population after the Indians. TheThracians living in the Carpathian-Danubian area after the Bronze Age werecalled Gaeto-Dacians; Greek historians preferred the term Getae, but in Latinthey were called Dacians.

Except for the conflict of 514 BC between Darius, the first Persian king,and the Scythian tribes located north of the Danube, the first historical men-tion of an armed confrontation on the current territory of Romania is duringthe time of Alexander the Great. In 335 BC he organized an expedition alongthe shores of the Danube (or Istru, the original name of the river) to deter theGaets and secure the frontier of the Macedonian kingdom, before launchinghis great Asian campaign. About forty years later, around 300 BC, Dromi-chetes, the Gaet king, defeated Lysimachus, the Macedonian king.

The first armed force gathered under a state authority was during the 1stcentury BC when the Gaeto-Dacian tribes were unified under the leadershipof Burebista. The strength of that force was estimated at 200,000 by Strabo,but was obviously exaggerated. The military power of Burebista, however,was credible enough to be perceived as a real threat in Rome.

Because of the Dacian incursions of AD 85–86 south of the Danube in theterritories abutting Rome, the emperor Domitian decided in the spring of 87to initiate the offensive; he did this by sending his legions, under the com-mand of Cornelius Fuscus, the Praetorian consul, against Decebalus, theyoung and brisk Dacian king. The campaign was a disaster for the Romansand ended in the narrow valley of Turnu Rosu. The next year, the Romansstruck again, entering Dacia through Banat (in southwestern Transylvania),

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The First Conflicts of Antiquity 37

this time under the command of an experienced general, Tetius Iulianus. TheRomans won the battle of Tapae, but they did not entirely defeat the Dacians.A highly skilled diplomat, Decebalus succeeded in making an extremelyadvantageous peace with the Romans in AD 89, and that allowed him tointensify the military preparations for a new war with Rome.

‘‘Noticing that the strengthening of the military force meant the strength-ening of the Dacians’ pride’’ (Dio Casius),3 the Roman emperor Trajanattacked the Dacian kingdom in the spring of 101, again through Banat. Hebrought along an army of 150,000 soldiers. Displaying his skills as a strate-gist, Decebalus launched a Dacian–Bastarno–Sarmatian allied attack againstthe Roman-held land in Dobrudja (east of Romania, along the Black Seacoast), forcing Trajan to react by bringing a large part of his expeditionaryforce there. Overcoming the difficult battle, in which both sides suffered sig-nificant casualties, the Romans prevailed. (In commemoration of the victory,in 109 they built the Trophaeum Trajani of Adamclisi on the battle’s site.) Inthe spring of 102, Trajan started to again attack the Banat region, strivingto conquer, one by one, several Dacian fortresses located in Gradistii Valley(including the Costesti fortress), so that Decebalus was finally obliged tomake peace under tough conditions imposed by Rome.

A new and decisive Roman offensive against Decebalus and the Daciansstarted in the spring of 105 when Trajan crossed the Danube with anincreased military strength, using a strategic bridge built by Apollodor ofDamascus near Drobeta-Turnu Severin. The Romans moved on three frontstoward Sarmizegetusa, the Dacian capital. In spite of the strong resistance ofthe Dacians and Decebalus’s attempted strategies, Sarmizegetusa came undersiege and was conquered in the summer of 106. Decebalus, who was in dan-ger of being captured, killed himself. The Dacian kingdom was then abol-ished and turned into a Roman province. The new capital city of the provincewas established in the Roman colony of Ulpia Trajana Augusta Dacia.

THE NORTHERN DANUBE CAMPAIGN OF THEPERSIAN EMPEROR DARIUS, 514 BC

According to Herodotus, the main cause of the military expedition of 514BC—undertaken by the Persian emperor Darius north of the Danube—wasthe frequent incursions the Scythians made in the Asian provinces of the Per-sian Empire.4 The Persian military action could also have been considered ademonstration of force in the Balkans that was aimed at defeating the Thra-cians and Macedonians and isolating ancient Greece. The sole armed resis-tance the huge Persian army had to face (estimated by Herodotus at 700,000

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fighters and 600 ships, figures that are probably exaggerated) was that of theGaetic union of tribes located between the Danube and the Black Sea. Asthere was no other information on the subject and as the army sizes wereunbalanced, it might be considered that the Gaets only harassed the strongPersian expeditionary corps. Nevertheless, this is not an insignificant reactioncompared to the passivity of the other Greek colonies or the rest of the Thra-cian tribes.

THE CAMPAIGN OF ALEXANDERTHE GREAT IN THRACE, 335 BC

The Macedonian campaign of 335 BC against the Gaeto-Dacian forces aimedto prevent a possible unification of the Balkans against the expansion of theMacedonian state.5 After defeating a resistance that faced south of the Dan-ube, the 30,000 Macedonian soldiers reached the Danube, where 10,000infantrymen and 4,000 Gaeto-Dacian riders had been awaiting them. How-ever, Alexander the Great rapidly crossed the Danube with his 15,000 ridersand 4,000 infantrymen and advanced through the fields, taking the Gaeto-Dacians by surprise. The Gaeto-Dacians took up the battle with the Macedo-nian cavalry in an open area, but the intervention of the dreaded phalanx,invented by King Philip II, Alexander’s father, forced their withdrawal, firstto a fortress and then farther off, away from the Danube line. The Macedo-nians returned south of the Danube, where Alexander the Great receivedoffers of peace from the Gaeto-Dacians, who became submissive allies of theMacedonian kingdom.

THE WAR BETWEEN LYSIMACHUSAND DROMICHAETES

From the 7th and 6th centuries BC, the Greeks established colonies on thewest coast of the Black Sea—in Histria, Tomis, and Callatis—and establishedeconomic, political, and military relations with the local Getae leaders.

The ancient historians Diodorus Siculus and Strabo have written about6 thecampaigns of Lysimachus, the Macedonian king, against the tribal union ofthe Gaets, who were led by Dromichaetes. These campaigns occurredbetween 297 and 292 BC. Forty years later, Alexander the Great defeated theGaets, their army improved significantly, and they succeeded in besiegingand defeating the Macedonian phalanx in a battle fought out in the open,probably on the Baragan Plain. The narratives of the ancient writers tell us

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about the first strategy the Gaets applied against the Macedonians, a strategythat would later become the traditional land scorching in front of the aggres-sor. As a sign of political maturity, after defeating and imprisoning Lysima-chus, Dromichaetes turned his victory into an alliance by marrying thedaughter of the Macedonian king.

The Gaeto-Dacian civilization flourished during the 2nd and 1st centuriesBC and the 1st century AD.

THE RULE OF KING BUREBISTA, 82–44 BC

After the successful union of the Gaeto-Dacian tribes, Burebista laid thefoundation for the formation of the first unified state on the territory of thepresent Romania, which became one of the greatest powers of the ancientworld.7 Through the imposition of severe obedience and the prohibition ofwine, and with the support of his great adviser and priest Deceneu, Burebistasucceeded in ruling the warriors and the independent members of the Gaeto-Dacian tribal aristocracy (called Tarabostes in Dacian and Pileati in Latin)who dominated the population of free men (called comati, or capillati). Thepolitical center of the Dacian state was located in the mountains of Surianu,or Orastiei, in southwestern Transylvania, and the capital city of Sarmizege-tusa was protected by a row of fortresses called Costesti, Piatra Rosie, andBlidar. Burebista began by taking over the west, annihilating the fortresseslocated in the area of the Middle Danube and what is now Slovakia. He thenheaded east to the Greek colonies of the Pont Euxine Sea (the ancient namefor the Black Sea), finally spreading south of the Danube. Burebista alsointerfered in the civil war of the Roman state, supporting Cnaeius Pompeius,Julius Caesar’s rival. Before what would have been an inevitable confronta-tion with the victorious Caesar, Burebista was killed in 44 BC as the result ofa plot against him. His Roman rival died the same year. After Burebista’sdeath, his land conquests perished under the strain of the Dacian tribal aris-tocracy.

FUSCUS AND DECEBALUS

Following Dacian’s incursions into the Roman province of Moesia, south ofthe Danube, in AD 86, the emperor Domitian sent in the spring of AD 87 theRoman Praetorian Cornelius Fuscus to fight the Dacian king, Decebalus. Fus-cus took along an army composed of several legions and support troops.8 Theproud and impetuous Fuscus carelessly entered the Olt Valley, believing that

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40 Chapter Two

he would not meet any Dacian resistance there. However, Decebalus had beenwaiting for the Roman army to enter the narrow valley of Turnu Rosu and hedefeated it, killing Fuscus and capturing the symbolic banner of the Alaude5th Legion. This marked one of the greatest Dacian victories against theRoman army.

THE BATTLE OF TAPAE

After the disaster Fuscus had suffered, in AD 88 Domitian sent the morecareful general Tetius Iulianus to fight against the Dacian king. Rather thanenter the country through Oltenia, as Fuscus had done, Tetius Iulianus wentthrough Banat. Decebalus made use of the same tactic, waiting for his enemyto come through the Iron Gate of Transylvania and standing ready to fight thedecisive battle. This time the situation favored the Romans even though theDacians’ military strength had not been eliminated. Decebalus barelyescaped alive. Tetius Iulianus was not in a hurry to take full advantage of hisvictory, and Decebalus used that as well as the defeat of Domitian by Marco-mans in the Pannonian Plain to garner the most advantageous peace, whichturned Dacia into a kind of state that obeyed Roman rule.10

DECEBALUS, THE LAST KINGOF THE DACIANS, AD 86–106

Dio Cassious said of Decebalus, the Dacian king and the successor to DurasDurpaneus, that ‘‘he was bright at warfare and skillful in his deeds, knowingwhen to rush in, and when to hold right, clever at laying traps, brave in battlesand able to fully use a victory or artfully escape a defeat; for all these he wasfor a long time the terrifying rival of Romans.’’9 In AD 89, after having lostthe battle in Tapae, Decebalus successfully negotiated a favorable peacetreaty with Domitian. Decebalus was open to the new Roman battle tech-niques and often used them in war. He set strong alliances against the Romansand led the bold resistance strategy of the Dacians during the two warsagainst these rivals (AD 101–102 and 105–106). Decebalus’s Dacian state,with its capital city of Sarmizegetusa, was able both militarily and strategi-cally to fight a war against the strongest army of antiquity.

THE WAR BETWEEN THE DACIANS ANDTHE ROMANS, AD 101–102 AD

After twelve years of peace, Roman–Dacian hostilities resumed in the springof AD 101. The diligent emperor Trajan considered the conditions of the

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treaty signed in AD 89 between Decebalus and Domitian humiliating for theempire. Furthermore, he wanted to eliminate the Dacian threat by extendingthe empire.11

Trajan, the new Roman emperor, had been preparing for three years anoffensive against Decebalus, building a strategic access route on the left bankof the Danube and concentrating there thirteen or fourteen legions made upof infantrymen, riders, and the praetorian guard in both Upper and LowerMoesia. Trajan started his attack in March of AD 101. The Romans advancedcautiously, building camps and defensive works. After the defeat of theDacians at Tapae, the Romans started to conquer, one by one, the Dacianfortresses in the Orastiei Mountains.

That winter, an alliance with the Sarmatians and Roxolans gave Decebalusthe military power to attack the weakly guarded Roman possessions locatedsouth of the Danube. This forced Trajan to enter Dobrudja (a region betweenthe Danube and the coast of the Black Sea) with a large portion of his troopsand provide the proper support. Decebalus’s army was defeated again, butthe Romans suffered a large amount of casualties on the plateau of Adamclisi.Trajan renewed his offensive against the Dacian capital in the spring of AD102. Under those circumstances, realizing that his chance at victory was poor,Decebalus had to accept a tough peace with Rome.

That peace lasted only four years, until the decisive confrontation of theyears 105 and 106 took place. Trajan’s final victory against the Dacian king-dom was celebrated in 123 days of festivities in Rome, and the emperorreceived the title of optimus princeps. The Column of Trajan in Rome, com-pleted in AD 113, evokes the Dacian–Roman wars and its marble carvingsare considered to be one of the first illustrated reports of an ancient war.Dacia became a province of the Roman Empire and colonists from all overthe Roman Empire joined the Gaeto-Dacian population.

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Chapter Three

The Great Migrations and theFormation of the RomanianNation and Medieval States

Attacks by the free Dacians, the Sarmats, and then the Goths, combined withthe vulnerability of the borders of the decaying Roman Empire, led, in 271,to the withdrawal of the Roman administration and troops from the territorieslocated north of the Danube. This development occurred during the rule ofthe Roman emperor Aurelian. However, Romanization did not stop after thewithdrawal of the Aurelian administration: it continued and evolved naturallyuntil the 5th century, when the Slavic tribes arrived in the Carpathian–Danubian territory. In the 6th century there was already a small RomanianLatin-speaking, Christian population. The conversion to Christianity of theromanized population occurred in several cases even before the Roman evac-uation of the province. This process continued in stages until its completionin the 4th century.

Throughout the course of nearly a millennium, from 271 until 1241 (theyear of the Great Mongol Invasion), several waves of migratory populationscrossed the territory between the Carpathians and the Danube. During thatperiod, the village community was the main social nucleus of the Dacian-Roman society and then of the Romanian one, which was born on that terri-tory. One of the main elements that led to the formation of the village com-munity was the military element: it had the role of leading and defending thepeople living in that place. In order to face the aggressions, ‘‘the oldest vil-lage community was founded on everyone’s duty to fight,’’ as Nicolae Iorga,the Romanian historian, writes. Perhaps that is why a portion of the Roma-nian military terminology derives from Latin.

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The Great Migrations 43

From the 10th century until the 12th century, the formation of states allover the Romanian territory is mentioned in the chronicles. These states areknown as knezate and voievodate, and they had armies composed of cavalry-men and infantrymen (known as voinici), as well as defensive works.

‘‘The oldest struggle of Romanians for their own goals was a defeat’’ andtook place somewhere between 1272 and 1276, when the voievode Litovoi ofOltenia (a region in southwestern Wallachia) refused to pay the tribute to theHungarians. He was subsequently defeated in battle and he died in the Gorju-lui Mountains. Then, ‘‘a great, sound and fruitful victory came,’’ writes histo-rian Nicolae Iorga, referring to the victory of Basarab I, voievode ofWallachia, in 1330. Basarab won this a victory against the king of Hungary,Carol Robert of Anjou, at Posada, which is located probably somewhere inthe Prahova Valley. Basarab’s strategy was the same as the one Decebalushad used against the Romans, luring the powerful Hungarian army and itsburdened cavalry, which was equipped to fight in open areas, to a narrowmountain valley and then ambushing it.

The winter of 1364–1365 meant a similar victory for Bogdan, the voievodeof Moldavia and prince of Maramures (a region in northern Romania),against the Hungarians. These two victories temporarily broke the vassal rela-tionship between the Romanian voievodes and the kings of Hungary, and irre-versibly defined the political identity and legitimacy of the two Romanianstates, Wallachia and Moldavia.

After the Hungarian king Stephen had embraced Catholicism in 1001 andfollowing efforts that lasted two hundred years, the Hungarian kingdom suc-ceeded in taking over the territory located inside the Carpathians (calledTransylvania, or Ardeal). Later on, the principality of Transylvania became adistinct political and administrative entity within the Hungarian state.Although extremely small in number, the Hungarians developed an over-whelming colonization policy in Transylvania, especially at the frontiers withthe Romanian principalities, bringing in German colonists (called Sashes)between 1141 and 1162, Szecklers, Teutonic Knights in 1211, and in 1247the Johannite Knights, who were entrusted with the mission to defend theeastern border of the Hungarian kingdom and to act as a spearhead pointedat the Orthodox world of the Romanians.

The first known official to earn the title of voievode of Transylvaniawas one Leustachius, mentioned in 1176. He and his successors consideredthemselves ‘‘sovereign,’’ just like the ensuing voievodes, especially duringthe period when the central power of the Hungarian kingdom seemed towane.

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44 Chapter Three

INVASIONS OF MIGRATORY POPULATIONSBETWEEN THE CARPATHIANS, DANUBE,

AND BLACK SEA

The village communities and the unions of village communities as a nucleusof the Dacian–Roman, and then Romanian, society represented the main formof the political, military, and administrative organization of the Romanianpopulation over Romania’s territory during the centuries that followed thewithdrawal of the Roman administration, and also during the millennium ofthe migratory invasions. The duty to fight battles was for all those able to usea weapon, and the ways to oppose the invaders were not only armed fighting,but also the temporary retreat of the people and their goods to sheltered areas,forests, or mountains, while the aggressor was continuously harassed.

At the end of the 3rd century, increased invasions by the Goths took place(by the tribe’s two branches, the Visigoths and Ostrogoths) north of the Dan-ube. These incursions were followed in 376 by the strong invasion of theHuns, which defeated the Visigoth resistance at Nistru. After the Huns’ twoplundering expeditions along the Danube in 453 and 447, the unexpecteddeath of Attila, their powerful ruler, brought the decline of their power. TheGepids overtook the territories and populations the Huns had dominated,winning the battle of Nedao in 454. Part of the Gepid population was assimi-lated by the local population, but the Gepids’ power came to an end duringthe first part of the 7th century, when a Germanic population coming fromthe north, the Longobards, arrived on that land.12

In the middle of the 6th century, the strongest migratory population onRomania’s territory was the Avars, a nomadic population coming from Mon-golia. The center of the Avars’ power moved, as in the case of the Gepids, tothe Pannonian Plain, from where plundering expeditions headed south. Theincursions of the Slavs, located east of the Nistru River in the direction of theterritories south of the Danube that were ruled by the Byzantine Empire,started in the second half of the 6th century. However, the Slavs were unableto settle in those territories. Beginning in the 7th century, the Slavs who werecontinuously trying to reach the south were assimilated by the local popula-tions in the territories located north of the Danube. The massive settlementof the Slavs south of the Danube resulted in the assimilation of the local pop-ulation, where only islands of Aromanians or Istro-Romanians had survived.

The Slavs were followed by the Bulgarians, who moved from the VolgaRiver area on the Balkan Peninsula, south of the Danube, where they settledand made peace with the Byzantine Empire. From the 8th century and to the13th century, the territory located outside and inside the Carpathians wasinvaded by other migratory tribes coming from the east: the Hungarians, who

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were of Finno-Ugric origin; the Petchenegs, a Turkish people; the Cumans, aTuranic people; and the Tatars, who came from Mongolia in 1241. Theseinvasions met the armed resistance of the Romanian primary states known asknezate (the smaller ones) and voievodate (the powerful and bigger ones) thatwas formed by a union under the same leader of the village communities inthe area bordered by the Carpathians and the Danube.

The first military operations of the Hungarians in Transylvania beganaround 900. Chronicles and archeological digs show that toward the end ofthe 11th century there began a gradual consolidation of the Hungarian ruleover Transylvania, which the Hungarians conquered in stages between the11th and 14th centuries.

LATIN ORIGINS OF ROMANIANMILITARY TERMINOLOGY

At the time of the Slavic migration in the 6th century, the local populationwas romanized, speaking an emerging Romanian language that later evolvedfrom the Latin vernacular into Romanian.

The village community as the nucleus of the Dacian–Roman society andthe subsequent Romanian community during the millennium of migrationwas founded on the vital necessity for solidarity, such as that found in familyrelationships, economic activities, daily social life, and military defense.Modern Romanian has retained a set of basic warfare and weaponry terminol-ogy that is Latin rooted: lupta-lucta (battle); bataie-abatt(u)lia (fight); arma-arma (weapon); arc-arcus (bow); sageata-sagitas (arrow); coif-cuffea (hel-met); and scut-scutum (shield).13

THE ROMANIAN–BULGARIANEMPIRE OF PETRU AND ASAN

Rebelling against the taxes imposed by the Byzantine Empire, and againstConstantinople’s refusal to recognize the Byzantine feudal privileges for thetwo Wallachian (south Danubian) brothers, Petru and Asan, the Romaniansstarted a powerful uprising in the winter of 1185. The Byzantine imperialarmy at first defeated the forces of the two brothers in 1186, and this forcedthe brothers’ withdrawal north of the Danube. They returned in 1187 withWallachian and Cuman military support and occupied the defensive works ofthe region of the southern Danube. On 11 October 1187, a difficult battleoccurred in Lardeea, but neither side won a decisive victory. Only after the

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Byzantine army failed to crush the resistance of Petru and Asan’s army in1188 did Emperor Isaac II recognize the new state that was located south ofthe Danube and had established its capital in the city of Tarnovo (now onBulgarian territory). In 1190, as the Byzantine power was decaying becauseof the third Crusade and the military intervention in the Balkans against Con-stantinople, the army of the new Romanian–Bulgarian Empire of Petru andAsan won a significant victory against the imperial troops led by EmperorIsaac II himself. An 1197 plot resulted in the deaths of the two brothers, buttheir brother Ionita continued their anti-Byzantine policy.14

THE FIRST ROMANIAN PRINCIPALITIES

The political organization of the Romanian lands in the 9th through 14thcenturies adheres to the general European pattern. Following a unificationprocess typical of medieval Europe, bigger political bodies were createdgradually until the 14th century, when the two big independent feudal statesof Wallachia and Moldavia emerged.15

The Hungarian king Bela’s anonymous biographer recounts in his chroni-cle Gesta Hungarorum, which was probably written toward the end of the 9thcentury, that on the territory of modern Transylvania, in the Carpathians,there were three Romanian states: one led by voievode Menumorut inCrisurilor County, who resided in Bihor (west of Transylvania); the secondled by the duke Gelu, called ‘‘Dux Blachorum,’’ located in central Transylva-nia and having a residence in the Dabaca fortress (near what is now the cityof Cluj); and the third led by the voievode Glad, with a residence in Keve, onthe left shore of the Danube, in the Serbian Banat region.

Regarding the southern and eastern sides of the Carpathians, the Diplomaof the Johannite Knights, issued by King Bela in 1247, mentioned the follow-ing states: Kneaz Litovoi’s principality, located between the Jiu River, the OltRiver, and Hategului County; Kneaz Seneslau’s principality, alongside theArges River; and Kneaz Ioan’s principality, southern Oltenia. The land ofthe duke Farcas was located in northern Oltenia. In Dobrudja (southeasternRomania along the Black Sea coast) there was a state ruled by Kneaz Dobrov-ich, and in southern Moldavia there was the territory of Brodnitchilor.Another distinct territory, Blahovinilor, was situated in northern Moldaviabetween the Nistru and Siret rivers.

BASARAB I, 1310–1352

The founder of the Wallachian dynasty of Basarab succeeded in unifyingunder his authority the state formations called knezate, between the land bor-

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dered by the southern part of the Carpathians and the Danube. The unificationresulted from understanding, or ‘‘compliance,’’ but also from force. Duringthe rule of voievode Basarab I, Wallachia, situated at the end of the importanttrade route that connected central Europe with the Black Sea through themouth of the Danube, prospered. Basarab did not hesitate to cooperate on thebattlefield with the khan of the Golden Horde, who barely shared economicand military interests, to stop the expansion of the Hungarian kingdom fromexpanding southeast beyond the Carpathians. The Pictured Chronicle ofVienna illustrates the conflict between Basarab I and the Hungarian kingCarol Robert of Anjou that took place in 1330. In the beginning, the Wallach-ian voievode offered 7,000 silver coins, the equivalent of 74 kilograms ofgold; the Banat of Severin land; and other prizes to the Hungarian king inorder to win the desired peace, but Carol Robert preferred to use force tocrush the rebel voievode.16 After the Hungarian army was permitted to crossthe country, avoiding a decisive confrontation, Basarab waited for Carol Rob-ert of Anjou in Posada, a narrow part of the Prahova Valley. There, between9 and 12 November 1330, profiting from the advantageous terrain, the Wal-lachian troops destroyed the powerful Hungarian army.

THE BATTLE OF POSADA, 1330

In September 1330, a strong Hungarian army led by King Carol Robert ofAnjou invaded Wallachia through Severin (southwestern Romania). Thearmy’s aim was to banish the rebel prince Basarab (who refused to acceptthe Hungarian vassalage) and conquer the whole territory situated south ofthe Carpathians. After the proud Hungarian king rejected Basarab’s offer forpeace, the Wallachian voievode started applying the strategies of attrition andfake withdrawals, and he plundered land occupied by the invading army.Basarab’s forces decisively attacked the weakened, starving, and retreatingHungarian army in a place called Posada, somewhere in the Carpathians,probably in the Prahova Valley. From 9 November to 12 November, the Hun-garian cavalry and infantry could not be deployed and were destroyed byBasarab’s soldiers. The king himself barely escaped alive, thanks only to adesperate trick. Besides the political consequences of affirming the indepen-dence of the newly formed feudal state—Wallachia—the battle of Posadainaugurated a battle strategy that would become typical for the Romanians(as well as the Wallachians, Transylvanians, and Moldavians)—a strategy thatwould allow them in the subsequent centuries to win remarkable military vic-tories in spite of the numerical superiority of the enemy. The victory ofPosada temporarily stopped the feudal and vassal relationship between the

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Hungarian king and the Wallachian voievode, and solidified Wallachia’spolitical and territorial presence on the European map.17

THE ‘‘DESCALECAT’’ OF VOIEVODEBOGDAN IN MOLDAVIA, 1347

The unification of the state formations in Moldavia did not take place throughnegotiations, understandings, or force as in Wallachia, but through a specificprocess known as descalecare. On the eastern border of the Hungarian king-dom, close to the Carpathian gorges, there were defense districts called marksset up by the Hungarian kings to deter the Tatar invasions. One of these wasled by Duke Dragos of Maramures in 1347. Dragos crossed the border of hishome territory and founded a feudal state, called Moldavia, under the suzer-ainty of the Hungarian crown. In 1359, another voievode of Maramures, Bog-dan, invaded the territory of Dragos’s successors. In the winter of1364–1365, Bogdan defeated the army of Ludovic I, the Hungarian king, andsucceeded in removing for some time the Hungarian suzerainty and winningrecognition for Moldavia as an independent state.18

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Chapter Four

The Anti-Ottoman Wars,from Mircea the Old to Vlad Tepes

The most serious problem facing southeastern Europe was the military pres-sure exerted by the Ottoman Empire. Over the course of more than a century,the Romanians put up a fierce resistance, trying to check the advance of theOttoman threat to the frontiers of Europe. During this time, some importantfigures emerged.

At the end of the 14th century, as the Ottoman expansion was approachingthe Danube in the south, the Romanian countries (Wallachia and Moldavia)began a series of wars against the Ottomans. Modern historians have calledthese wars asymmetric conflicts, which have almost the same characteristicsas the conflicts in Vietnam in the 1960s or Afghanistan in the 1980s. Thedefensive strategy of the Romanian rulers ultimately resulted in a politicalvictory, which meant that the Ottomans were forced to abandon the idea ofturning the three Romanian countries (Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania)into pashaliks, parts of the Ottoman Empire. Eventually, first Wallachia, thenMoldavia, as well as Transylvania in the 16th century, had to reach a historiccompromise. A true model of bilateral understanding in the Middle Ages, thesolution adopted by these states secured their survival, indirectly safeguard-ing the frontiers of Europe. Both Wallachia and Moldavia, after the armedresistance, were obliged to accept the suzerainty of the sultan and to pay trib-ute. Thus the two principalities remained the only ones in the area to preservetheir state existence uninterruptedly.

Starting from that strategic option, the militaries of the Romanian countriescomprised a structure and development distinct from the analogous Europeanones. As the entire able-bodied male population of Wallachia and Moldaviawas obligated to serve in the so-called great army gathered and raised by theruler to defend his country, between the 14th and 16th centuries the Roma-

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nian military grew to a size of 30,000–40,000 people,19 making it one of themost numerous European armies, except for that of the Ottoman Empire.

The first large Romanian military entities were mentioned during the reignof Mircea the Old in Wallachia and Alexander the Good in Moldavia.Between the 13th and 16th centuries, mercenaries, or paid foreign fighters,virtually did not exist in the structure of the Romanian army, nor in its perma-nent components. Large armies began to be realized simultaneously, at thebeginning of the last part of the 15th century, when the Princely Guard ofVlad Tepes (also known as Vlad the Impaler) and the Guard Corps of Stephenthe Great were formed.

The country’s ruler functioned as the army’s commander and thus headedthe military hierarchy. The army was equipped mainly with medieval arma-ments and clothing, most of it imitating a Hungarian model and being manu-factured in Brasov, an old commercial town located in southeasternTransylvania.

The first direct and significant military confrontation between the Romani-ans and Ottomans, and the first victory on the territory of Wallachia, was thebattle at Rovine in 1394. During this battle, the voievode Mircea the Old usedfor the first time the strategy of the asymmetric conflict as he fought the Otto-mans, who were led by Sultan Baiazid.

Later on, when the Burgundy nobles fought the battle of Nicopole in 1396,they did not succumb to the competence and military experience Mircea theOld had gained in his battles against the Ottomans. Consequently, the sultanBaiazid won the confrontation with the allied Christian Western armies.

During his long rule over Moldavia, Alexander the Good (1400–1432) didnot fight any significant battles against the Ottomans, but the Moldavian armycorps of that time proved its bravery together with the Polish and Lithuaniansin the battle of Grunwald in 1410 and Marienburg in 1422, fighting againstthe Teutonic Knights.

Even if no regular Romanian forces were involved in the battle fought onthe hill of Bobalna between the Transylvanian rebel peasants and the nobletroops of voievode Ladislau Csaky, this confrontation is interesting from amilitary point of view due to the successful application of the Husit model ofsurrounding the camp with chain-tied chariots. This model was easily learnedfrom the Czech peasant rebels.

The conflict between the Catholic converts (quickly assimilated by theHungarian nobility) and the Orthodox Romanian nobles worsened after thegreat peasant rebellion of 1437. After this rebellion, the Hungarian nobility,the leaders of the Szecklers, and the upper-class Saxons signed a pact—UnioTrium Nationum—under which they alone assumed the leadership of Tran-sylvania.

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The Anti-Ottoman Wars, from Mircea the Old to Vlad Tepes 51

Iancu of Hunedoara (1441–1456), prince of Transylvania and then gover-nor of Hungary, became the leading figure of the Hungarian kingdom thanksto his remarkable political and military skills. Moreover, he was one of themost brilliant representatives of the last Crusade, in which he followed theWestern military model. Iancu’s first victory against the Ottomans came dur-ing the campaign of 1442, when he defeated the invading army of Mezid, thebey of Vidin, in the battles fought in Santimbru, a village close to Alba Iulia,and then in the town of Sibiu. In the fall of the same year, the Transylvanianvoievode won another victory in a surprise attack on the Ottomans in the‘‘Iron Gate of Transylvania,’’ a narrow valley near the county of Hateg. Theso-called Long Balkan Campaign was next, between 1443 and 1444, whenhis army and a Wallachian corps sent by Vlad ‘‘Dracul’’ wrested Sofia fromthe Ottomans. Only the foul weather deterred Iancu. Iancu’s greatest victoryremains the defense of the Belgrade fortress in 1456 in front of the fierceOttoman siege launched by Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantino-ple; this resulted in the total defeat of the Ottoman troops.

However, the conqueror of the Byzantine capital was going to be humili-ated and compelled to withdraw in disgrace, defeated in a typical asymmetricwar by a leader who was familiar with military practice and Ottoman warfare,the ruler of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes (1448, 1456–1462, 1476). The Wallachianvoivode was well aware that his army, which consisted of almost 8,000 caval-rymen and 30,000 infantrymen, had no chance of winning a battle fought inopen areas against the strong Ottoman army that Mehmed II himself led.Under these circumstances, Vlad applied the classical harassment techniqueagainst the huge Ottoman army heading to Targoviste, and he plundered theland. He did all this as he worked toward attempting a decisive nocturnalambush in June 1456. His clear intention was to get the sultan killed. Surviv-ing the raid, Mehmed realized that he could not defeat Vlad and withdrew hisarmy south of the Danube.

THE ASYMMETRY OF THE ANTI-OTTOMANROMANIAN WARS

In this type of war—called an asymmetric war by historian Florin Constan-tiniu20—the defensive side, which is militarily inferior, cannot win a decisivevictory through armed confrontation in open areas (called defeating battle,according to Clausewitz), and opposes a long resistance to the offensive,superior side. This way a political victory is obtained in the end, the aggressorbeing forced to fully stop the conflict and accept peace formulas that are usu-ally favorable to the weak side. This is the explanation of the combat strategy

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of the Romanian voivodes, who avoided confronting the powerful Ottomanarmies in open areas, instead applying the burnt-land strategy as the Otto-mans advanced on to Romanian land. The strategy consisted of the evacua-tion of the population and destruction of crops and houses, thus cutting offthe enemy’s possible resources. These actions were combined with repeatedharassment actions, which were in fact unexpected, quick, and punctualstrikes. Finally, the enemy was attacked in a place that did not allow it toutilize its combat capabilities and operations. Basarab I, Mircea the Old, VladTepes, Stephen the Great, and Michael the Brave were some of the voievodeswho successfully used this strategy.

In a period when other powerful Christian states in eastern Europe, suchas Poland and the Hungarian kingdom, ceased to exist, the two Romanianprincipalities avoided being integrated within the Ottoman Empire. They rep-resented a haven for the Balkan Christians, who maintained and displayedtheir faith. The Romanian ‘‘buffer’’ states also maintained their aforemen-tioned ruling voievodes and their nobility, and defended their faith as theOttomans agreed to not build mosques on Romanian territory.

THE FIRST MEDIEVAL MILITARY BODIESOF THE ROMANIAN COUNTRIES

The ‘‘army of the country,’’ gathered by rulers in need was composed of the‘‘small army,’’ or curteni, (boyars who provided their own horses and weap-ons to fight battles) and the ‘‘big army,’’ consisting of free peasants, calledmosneni and razesi. These soldiers were summoned to arms only if the coun-try was in great danger. In Wallachia the soldiers were called voinici, whichmeans ‘‘strong men,’’ while in Moldavia they were called iunaci. Voinici andiunaci could comprise either the cavalry, called calarasi in Wallachia andviteji (brave men) in Moldavia, or the infantry, whose soldiers were equippedwith bows and were called arcasi, sagetatori, or darabani. Calarasii andvitejii had to convene on a predetermined day for an annual inspection thatwas conducted by the country’s ruler himself or by hintog—the commanderof the respective military region. The inspection’s purpose was to check thetroops’ arms and fighting capability.21

The basic units of the Romanian medieval armies were called cetele andpalcuri. Within the small units of the permanent army, the subunits werecalled steaguri, or roate, which were similar to the subunits existing in theHungarian army. The army’s three branches were the footmen, or infantrysoldiers, cavalrymen, and artillery. The large units consisted of both footmen

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and riders, while the artillery units were strictly under the direct command ofthe voievode.

MIRCEA THE OLD TO ROVINE, 1394

Mircea the Old’s great success was to stop the expansion of the OttomanEmpire at the Danube, thus saving Wallachia from political annihilation andtransformation into pashalik. A skillful diplomat, Mircea the Old built effec-tive political and military alliances with the king of Hungary, Sigismund ofLuxembourg, as well as within the Ottoman Empire. The last alliance allowedhim to intervene in the internal succession disputes that emerged among thesons of Sultan Baiazid. Moreover, Mircea was the only Wallachian princewho managed to temporarily enlarge Wallachia’s borders between Banatul deSeverin in the west and the Black Sea in the east.

Regarding military accomplishments, Mircea was the one who inauguratedthe Romanian strategy of deterrence, which was successfully applied in thebattle of Rovine22 on 10 October 1394 (the date is still questioned and inciteda dispute between Romanian classical historians Hasdeu and Xenopol). Asthe Ottoman army led by Baiazid was stronger than the Romanian one, Mir-cea withdrew the population from the invader’s path. The Wallachian voivodeagreed to fight the decisive battle in Rovine, in a field bordered and protectedwith ditches, a terrain that favored his troops and did not allow the enemy todeploy its forces. After a fierce battle and considerable casualties on bothsides, the outcome was determined by the intervention of the Wallachian cav-alry, which had been kept in reserve until that moment. Although the Otto-mans were defeated, Mircea had to retreat to Brasov (a town insouthernTransylvania) because a contingent of his boyars had recognizedVlad the Usurper as a ruler, and Vlad had accepted the Ottoman suzerainty.Mircea returned to Wallachia with the military support Transylvania had pro-vided and began to lead his country again after participating in the unhappycampaign of Nicopole. He later interfered in the fight for the Ottoman royalsuccession, supporting Musa, one of Sultan Baiazid’s sons.

THE BATTLE OF NICOPOLE, 1396

Facing the ever-greater danger of the Ottomans’ westward expansion, theking of Hungary, Sigismund of Luxembourg, organized in the spring of 1396a campaign aiming for a definitive defeat of the Ottomans. The battle wasfought in Nicopole,23 the main base from which the Ottomans fought the

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Romanians and Hungarians. In addition to Hungarian, German, Transylva-nian, and Wallachian troops led by Mircea the Old, the Christian coalitioncomprised the heavy cavalry of the French and Burgundian nobles.

Mircea’s battle plan consisted of an initial attack performed by the Wal-lachian light cavalry against the Ottoman flank, which was composed of spa-hii (the Ottoman cavalrymen), followed by a frontal strike of the Frenchheavy cavalry against the phalanx of janissaries (old Ottoman infantry sol-diers). However, that plan was rejected by the vain French knights, whoassumed the honor of opening the battle. Consequently, on 12 September1396, the French heavy cavalry made a frontal assault on the central Ottomanfighters. Just when they considered themselves the victors, the French werecaught, trapped, and killed. Sigismund’s troops attempted to rescue theFrench and Burgundian knights, but Baiazid’s spahi swallowed them, too.Under such circumstances, to save his troops from a useless defeat, Mirceadecided to conserve his army’s strength and withdrew over the Danube.

ALEXANDER THE GOOD, 1400–1432

Due to the anti-Ottoman ‘‘protective wall’’ Mircea the Old had raised alongthe Danube, Alexander the Good did not fight major wars against the Otto-man Empire, except for the anti-Ottoman campaign carried out between 1419and 1429 against Cetatea Alba (a fortress located in southeastern Moldavia).Consequently, he dedicated his time to the formidable task of forming Mol-davia’s political and ecclesiastic organization.24 Practicing a balanced foreignpolicy with the neighboring countries (Poland, led by King Vladislav Jagello,and Hungary, led by King Sigismund of Luxembourg) and accepting eventhe double suzerainty—but giving priority to the Polish one—Moldaviaenjoyed a long prosperous period. Alexander created some specific adminis-trative and military positions and duties such as logofat, vornic, spatar, vis-tiernic, and raised the status of the Moldovian voievode’s legal authority andprestige in the Byzantine and Orthodox world. Following his vassal obliga-tions, Alexander sent several Moldavian army corps to fight with the Polishforces against the Teutonic knights in the battles of Grunwald (1410) andMarienburg (1422), in which the Teutons suffered severe defeats.

THE FIRST MERCENARIES INWALLACHIA’S ARMY

The first reference25 to the use of mercenaries in an army like Wallachia’sdates to 1425, when Wallachian voievode Dan II, together with the Italian

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condotier Pippo Spano and some Bulgarian armed bands (led by the son ofthe former czar Sisman), attacked the Ottoman forces in Vidin, a city on theDanube, and won an important victory. The mercenaries, who comprised thecore of the permanent army, had as their main duty and mission the guardingof the prince, and were paid a wage or a fee and eventually were given cloth-ing. The system of the paid professional soldiers was developed by Wallach-ian voievode Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler, 1456–1462), who set up apermanent guard of approximately 2,000 fighters, recruited either from Wal-lachia or Moldavia and Transylvania. From the 16th century on, the merce-naries made up a majority in the medieval armed forces. Their presence,combined with the artillery, greatly increased the costs of any army or con-flict.

IANCU OF HUNEDOARA / JOHNHUNYADI, 1441–1456

A son of a Romanian Catholic to whom the king of Hungary, Sigismund ofLuxembourg, had awarded a title of nobility along with the estate and castleof Hunedoara, Iancu was integrated through his Catholic confession and hislifestyle into the Hungarian nobility.26 Thus, in 1441 he became voivode ofTransylvania and comite, of Szeklers, and after the death of the Hungarianking Vladislav in the battle of Varna (1444), he became the governor of Hun-gary (1446). Thanks to the considerable wealth he gained together with hisvictories against the Ottoman Empire, which was the main threat to WesternChristianity at the time, Iancu of Hunedoara became the leading figure of theHungarian kingdom.

As far as warfare was concerned, Iancu supported the Western warfarebeing tested in Serbia, Croatia, and the duchy of Milan. His main victory wasthe battle against the Ottomans, who had besieged Belgrade with a powerfularmed force led by Mehmed II himself, the conqueror of Constantinople. Themain force in Iancu’s army was the heavy cavalry of the nobility, which wasequipped with armor, metal helmets, swords, and spears together with thenew iron and bronze cannons that had a firing range of between 400 and 700meters.

THE ‘‘LONG CAMPAIGN’’ OF IANCUOF HUNEDOARA, 1443

Planning an offensive operation of an unusual duration in the enemy’s terri-tory, Iancu of Hunedoara, voivode of Transylvania, counted on the Ottomans’

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restricted combat capability in winter and on an increased number of merce-naries, a higher marching mobility of the cavalry, footmen, and artillery, andthe anti-Ottoman solidarity of the local populations south of the Danube.Enjoying the military support of the king of Hungary, Vladislav I, and theWallachian voivode Vlad Dracul, in 1443 Iancu gathered an army of 35,000soldiers, and in September 1443 he crossed the Danube at Smederevo.27

Personally leading a vanguard of 12,000 people, Iancu succeeded in occu-pying the town of Nis, and then with the rest of the troops he liberated Sofiain November 1443. At the same time, Skandenberg, the Albanian leader,increased his anti-Ottoman military actions, though the Ottomans succeededin concentrating their forces—led by the sultan himself—in defending thegorges of the Balkans. Furthermore, Iancu’s army won another victoryagainst the Ottomans in Zlatita, east of Sofia. However, the logistical diffi-culties, the winter hardship, and the tough resistance of the Ottomans forcedIancu to withdraw his troops toward Belgrade.

THE SIEGE OF BELGRADE, 1456

After the fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453, the fortress of Belgradestood as the key obstacle, blocking the Ottomans’ path to Buda. Between 4and 21 July 1456, a sizable Ottoman army accompanied by experienced engi-neering troops and a powerful artillery led by Sultan Mehmet II besieged thefortress of Belgrade. After defeating the besiegers, the forces of Iancu ofHunedoara launched a counterattack that urged the Ottomans to withdraw andcaused numerous casualties. That victory removed the danger of an Ottomaninvasion of central Europe. Iancu’s feat resonated throughout the OccidentalChristian world, and this was the first time that the church bells started ring-ing at noon, a custom that continues today.29 A few days after his victory,Iancu died of the plague in the camp of Zemun, near Belgrade. It was 11August 1456.

VLAD TEPES

Son of the Wallachian voivode Vlad Dracul (one of the successors of Mirceathe Old), the Wallachian ruler Vlad Tepes carried out an authoritative andsevere domestic policy as a response to increased feudal anarchy.30 At thesame time, he carried out a foreign policy of independence from the OttomanEmpire. The association of Vlad Tepes with the name Dracula is explainedby Vlad Tepes’s father’s nickname and the horror inspired by impaling, a

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punishment inflicted on dissident boyars, ordinary criminals, and foreigninvaders.

Educated and trained as a soldier by the Porte, with whom he spent hisyouth as a guarantee of his father’s loyalty, Vlad mastered the intricacies ofOttoman warfare and later, in the wars he fought against the Ottomans, hecombined that knowledge with the traditional rules of the asymmetric con-flicts.

After Vlad had refused to pay the haraci and started a plundering cam-paign against the Ottoman defensive works built along the Danube in the win-ter of 1461–1462, the conqueror of Constantinople, Mehmet II, invadedWallachia with a powerful army. He aimed to punish the rebel voivode. Ashis force was inferior, Vlad utilized the strategy of plundered land, intimidat-ing the enemy through the horrible sight of a forest of impaled and decayingOttoman bodies. He also undertook harassment strikes. These culminated ina nighttime ambush on the Ottoman camp in June 1462, when Vlad tried tokill the sultan and slaughter his troops. Unfortunately, the Ottomans managedto put Vlad’s brother, Radu the Handsome, on the Wallachian throne. Conse-quently, Vlad retreated to Transylvania. As a result of a plot by some Germantraders from Brasov, in Transylvania, he was imprisoned by Matei Corvin forfourteen years. Regaining command of the country in 1476 with the supportof Stephen the Great, Vlad Tepes was killed by hostile boyars after only twomonths of ruling.

In 1897, the Irish writer Bram Stoker published Dracula, which made VladTepes (or Vlad the Impaler) famous worldwide. Stoker read the stories aboutDracula printed in the 15th and 16th centuries and sponsored by the Germantraders, and was struck by his act of cruelty. In fact, Stoker used Vlad onlyas a source of inspiration, since in his novel Dracula is not prince Vlad theImpaler, but a Transylvanian count living in a mysterious castle to which helures his victims. Vlad the Impaler was actually the son of Vlad Dracul (Vlad‘‘the Devil’’; ruled 1436–1442 and 1443–1447) and the grandson of Mirceathe Old. The Hungarian king dubbed Vlad Dracul a knight of the DragonOrder by the Hungarian king, Sigismund of Luxembourg. All members of theorder had a dragon on their coat of arms; this is the derivation of the nick-name ‘‘Dracul.’’ Vlad Dracul’s son, Vlad the Impaler used to sign himself‘‘Draculea’’ or ‘‘Draculya’’—the Devil’s son—a name that was distorted as‘‘Dracula.’’ Vlad the Impaler’s fame reached the West through the Saxonsfrom the Transylvanian towns of Brasov (Kronstadt) and Sibiu (Hermans-tadt), who often gave shelter to those who claimed the Wallachian throne. Inorder to escape the peril of losing his throne, Vlad would punish the Saxons:he pillaged and burned Sibiu and the neighboring areas, and many Saxonswere impaled. The same happened to the Saxon merchants who came to con-

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duct business in Targoviste, the capital of Wallachia. Horrified by these atroc-ities, the Saxons printed books and pamphlets in which they described Vlad’scruelty. They reported that impaling was one of Vlad the Impaler’s favoritepunishments. However, he was not the only ruler of the period who engagedin it. Other German and Spanish princes did the same, but it was the Saxons’booklets that spread in Germany and Western Europe, where Vlad Draculabecame known as the bloodiest tyrant.

MILITARY HIERARCHY IN WALLACHIA ANDMOLDAVIA, 14TH–15TH CENTURIES

It is remarkable that, in spite of the customs and practices of the period, theRomanian princes took part personally in almost all battles, being amongtheir troops or commanding them. The prince, or voivode, was followed inhierarchy by a so-called hatman in Moldavia, or marele (the great) spatar inWallachia; these terms mean the ‘‘person responsible for all the armies of thecountry,’’ a position similar to the modern chief of defense. Boierii de sfat,which meant ‘‘noble advisers to the voievode,’’ resembled the current minis-ters of state and had the following positions: marele vornic, responsible forthe judgment and guarding of the frontier; marele logofat, chief of theprincely chancellery; marele vistiernic, responsible for the voievode’sfinances; and marele postelnic, marshal of the court. According to the chroni-cles of the time, all of these figures were in charge of commanding some largeunits in wartime. Alexander the Good, the Moldavian voievode of the 15thcentury, established these positions. The commanders of the fortresses werecalled parcalabi in Moldavia, and the territorial commanders were the leadersof the military bands.31

FIRST MENTION OF THE USE OFBOMBARDS BY ROMANIANS

The Romanians’ first use of bombards dates to 1445, when the Burgundianfleet led by Walerand of Warvin, and the papal one led by cardinal FrancescoCondolmieri in cooperation with the actions of the Wallachian prince andthose of Iancu of Hunedoara, entered the Danube area to reconquer the Dan-ube fortresses occupied by Ottomans after the battle of Varna.28 The Romani-ans used bombards, weapons that resemble cannons but use iron or stonecannonballs, to besiege and conquer the fortress of Giurgiu, which they suc-cessfully did. The strikes were somewhat unfocused, serving to frighten the

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troops and shake their morale. That is why they were used only at the begin-nings of battles against a compact mass of fighters, before the opening ofhand-to-hand combat.

ROMANIAN MEDIEVAL ARMAMENT

In the beginning, the Romanian armies had a simple armament that wasdesigned for hand-to-hand combat. Most of it was locally made, and in thecase of the contracted armies, the armament was made by the owner himselfor by a craftsman. The armament consisted of bludgeons, hatchets, scythes,and willow shields. As there was no military uniform, in peacetime as wellas wartime the fighting peasants wore clothing they had made themselves.The sword was a weapon for boyars and it had a uniquely Romanian design;swords were made in Brasov. The bows and arrows—the main weapons fordistance fighting—were typical for the main army, while the short spear wasused only by boyars; the footmen used the straight-end spear or the curved-top spear. The main centers for arms supplies were Brasov and Lemberg.

The combat uniform consisted of steel helmets and shirts for boyars andlorice, or chain mail, for ordinary soldiers. Cavalrymen wore a 4–5 cm thickcotton coat garnished with laces that could not be pierced or cut by a sword.32

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Chapter Five

The Apogee of the Anti-Ottoman Wars,from Stephen the Great to

Michael the Brave

1457–1601

One of the most important periods in the history of Romanian military artand warfare was that of Stephen the Great. The great Moldavian ruler laid thefoundation for the first permanent peacetime army equipped with armamentdesigned for hand-to-hand fighting and distance fighting. Stephen the Greatwas also the prince who consolidated and developed Moldavia’s fortressdefense system. The main impetus for the wars Stephen the Great fought wasthe threats posed by the three neighboring states: Poland, Hungary, and theOttoman Empire. In addition, there were Tatar threats together with threatsby the Wallachians ruled by Radu the Handsome, who obeyed the Ottomans.Stephen’s first great victory was that won against the troops led by MateiCorvin, the king of Hungary and son of Iancu of Hunedoara, when Stephenled a nighttime ambush in Baia between 14 and 15 December 1467. The con-sequence was that the king of Hungary abandoned his claims for suzeraintyover Moldavia.

The anti-Ottoman alliance system and policy developed by Stephen theGreat led to liaisons with the Venetian Republic, the Turkish khan Uzun Has-san, the Polish king Kazimir, and even with Matei Corvin, the Hungarianking. These alliances motivated the sultan Mehmet II to send against Mol-davia, in 1474, an army of 120,000 people led by Soliman Pasha, the gover-nor of the province of Rumelia. Having only 40,000 soldiers, Stephen at firstapplied the strategy of land plundering. Then, taking advantage of the terrain,the foggy weather, and a diversion, he won a brilliant victory at Podul Inalt

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The Apogee of the Anti-Ottoman Wars 61

on 10 January 1475. After that victory, Stephen rewarded a number of voiniciand iunaci, promoting them to the rank of viteji. He also awarded some peas-ants the rank of boyar and such honors.

The Ottoman response came the next year, when Mehmet II himself, lead-ing an army of 150,000 soldiers, attacked Moldavia, combining his campaignwith a Tatar invasion. The Moldavians managed to repel the Tatars beyondthe Nistru River, but after a heroic resistance they were ultimately defeated inthe battle of Razboieni on 25 July 1476. As Moldavia’s fortresses, especiallySuceava, withstood the Ottoman siege, the Mehmet II’s military victoryturned into a political defeat, and the sultan was forced to withdraw his forceswithout achieving his main objective.

In 1484, after the Ottomans conquered Moldavia’s ‘‘lungs,’’ namely, thesouthern fortresses Chilia and Cetatea Alba, Stephen had to make the suzer-ainty oath to Kazimir IV, the Polish king, and to pay tribute to the Porte. Inexchange he won recognition of Moldavia’s autonomy.

In 1497, Kazimir’s successor, King Ioan Albert, aiming to oust Stephenand install his own brother on the throne, launched a campaign with 80,000soldiers and besieged the fortress of Suceava, which was the capital of Mol-davia. After twenty days of siege, King Ioan Albert withdrew his forces, butStephen prepared a massive ambush in the Codrii Cosminului forest on 20October 1497. The ambush destroyed any Polish goal of domination overMoldavia.

The second rule of Alexandru Lapusneanu in Moldavia (1564–1568)meant a substantial reduction of the Moldavian military power, the voivodefulfilling the Ottoman request to demolish the defense fortresses, with theexception of Hotin, and dismantling the permanent army and turning it into adownsized army of mercenaries. Despite the Wallachian prince Radu fromAfumati’s (1522–1529) victories against the Ottomans, the Ottoman Porteultimately managed to transform the country into a pashalic.

The Moldavian army was reinvigorated during the short rule of John theTerrible (1572–1574), who was trained in the Polish and German militaryschool. Unlike his predecessors, John the Terrible considered the cavalry onlya support element and instead focused on developing the infantry and artil-lery. The infantry was composed from twenty palcuri of one thousand foot-men each and only ten cavalry units, consisting mainly of peasants and, toa lesser extent, mercenaries. The artillery comprised sixty small Moldaviancannons and eighty mortars. These were the forces that brought about hisvictory in the battle of Jilistea, which he fought in the spring of 1574 againstthe Ottoman–Wallachian coalition. The betrayal of the Moldavian boyars ledby the parcalab Ieremia, and a bloody rain, which wet the gunpowder of thepowerful artillery, played a major role in the defeat John the Terrible suffered

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in the fall of the same year, as well in his terrifying death after the battle lostin Cahul-Roscani. After the rule of John the Terrible, the military entered aperiod of noticeable decline, and the Polish domination over Moldaviabecame increasingly felt and obvious.

Michael the Brave (1593–1601), prince of Wallachia and then of the threeRomanian principalities, was one of the most prominent personalities inRomanian military. Michael transferred economic and political power to thegreat boyars, a move that hurt the peasants’ social and economic conditions.In that context, emerged in Wallachia at the end of the 15th century, thearmies of Michael the Brave were heterogeneous, comprising, besides Wal-lachians and Moldavians, Polish riders with shields, hussars, Hungariansfrom Transylvania, Szecklers, Kazakhs, Serbians, Albanians, Greeks, andBulgarian mercenaries. Michael the Brave’s military force consisted of botha permanent army and a temporary one.

The pan-Romanian front started to take shape in the winter of 1594–1595when the Romanian rulers were practically fighting against the OttomanEmpire within the Holy League, the major anti-Ottoman coalition led by theHapsburg emperor Rudolph II. However, when 100,000 Ottomans led bySinan Pasha invaded Wallachia, Michael had, besides his 16,000 people, onlyone Transylvanian army corps of 7,000 people, most of them Szeklers whowere led by Albert Kiraly. The victory in Calugareni on Neajlov-Arges on 13August 1595 won renown, but the counteroffensive of the Romanian princi-palities’ forces gathered in Rucar was even more well known and efficientfrom a military standpoint. It led to the defeat of the Ottoman troops in thetown of Giurgiu while they were on their way back over the Danube afterhaving temporarily conquered the cities of Bucharest and Targoviste.

After the Ottoman threat decreased, the prince of Transylvania, cardinalAndrei Bathory, with the support of Poland started threatening the rule ofMichael the Brave in Wallachia. This is why the Wallachian prince made apreventive strike, crossing the mountains and defeating the Transylvanianarmy in Selimbar in 1599. This was, as the Romanian historian Nicolae Iorgasays, the first battle Michael the Brave fought on open terrain against an armyused to fighting according to Western custom. The same threat was posed byIeremia Movila in Moldavia, who was serving the Polish interests; this incitedMichael to start a military campaign east of the Carpathians. After that actionhe was entitled to call himself, in May 1600, ‘‘by the grace of God, prince ofWallachia, Transylvania, and all Moldavia.’’ Romanian historians have notyet agreed on the true reasons for Michael the Brave’s unifying the three prin-cipalities. Historical, ethnic, and religious arguments proved that it may havebeen only a strategic–military action, a typical medieval territorial expansion,or a military step toward a much larger political project.

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Poland, which had lost its influence in Moldavia, the emperor Rudolph IIof Transylvania, and the Hungarian nobles opposed this unexpected situationand could not accept falling under the authority of a Wallachian prince whoimposed his own nobles. These leaders were also hostile to Michael’sattempts to rebuild his authority as prince of all three Romanian principalit-ies. This common attitude aided the Hungarian nobles in Transylvania, whowere led by general Gheorghe Basta, in defeating Michael in the village ofMiraslau on 16 September 1600. Near the Wallachian border, Michael wasdefeated again by the Moldavian and Polish forces led by Jan Zamosky.Under these unpleasant circumstances, Michael was forced to ask forRudolph II’s support at the Imperial Court in Prague. The Hapsburg emperornegotiated a reconciliation between Prince Michael and General Basta. Thatreconciliation led to the defeat of Sigismund Bathory on 3 August in a battlein Goraslau. After that victory, Michael succeeded only in entering Cluj,Transylvania’s major town. After only five days, on 9 August 1601, he wasmurdered at the orders of General Basta in the camp in Campia Turzii.

STEPHEN THE GREAT, 1457–1504

The long and glorious rule of Stephen the Great, nephew of the former Mol-davian voievode Alexander the Good of the Musatini dynasty, was authorita-tive and troubled by numerous wars fought against all of Moldavia’simportant neighbors: Poland, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. Moldavia’sarmed forces reached the apogee of progress during this period, and Stephenshifted the dominance of the leading social class from the boyars, who werethe major landowners, to the princely court officials, called dregatori, whomainly held military positions. Organizing one of the first permanent peace-time armies, Stephen also established a mandatory military service, all able-bodied men having the duty to answer a princely summon to join the mainarmy in case of danger. These men were also required to provide their armsand other necessary equipment. Thus, the free peasants became fighterswithin the light cavalry or infantry, together with targoveti, or traders fromthe main cities.

The artillery was in its early stages of development, but it was notneglected by Stephen, who used it to defend fortresses and fight wars in thefield. Stephen was a skilled strategist who made the strategy of land plunder-ing more efficient. Stephen initiated only on rough terrains that favored theMoldavians (Vaslui, 1475) direct confrontations with enemies that were gen-erally stronger.

The ambushes, striking attacks, and unexpected fighting techniques were

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not unfamiliar to Stephen, who defeated the Hungarian army of Matei Corvinin Baia (1467) and the Polish army of Ioan Albert in Codrii Cosminului(1497). The significant battles that earned Stephen the title of ‘‘Athlete ofChrist,’’33 given by Pope Sixtus IV, and won an even greater renown for theMoldavian principality were those fought against the powerful OttomanEmpire, which, under the leadership of the sultan Mehmet II was in fullexpansion. In 1992 the Romanian Orthodox Church canonized the Moldavianvoievode, giving him the name ‘‘Stephen the Great and Holy.’’

THE ARMY OF STEPHEN THE GREAT

Established during Stephen’s reign, the army was composed of the personalguard, a powerful and impressive special unit composed of 3,000 courtiers,most of them footmen (similar to janissaries who guarded their sultan) of thefortress guard troops (an entity composed of hirelings who were paid amonthly wage and meat and bread rations) and the border guard troops, com-posed of the people living along the borders who were awarded certain ser-vice privileges and commanded by marele vornic.

In wartime, Stephen was able to gather an army of 60,000 people, most ofthem riders. His military forces consisted of the peacetime army; boyars, ornoble riders (similar to the Ottoman spahis, but having a higher motivationto fight and a stronger cohesiveness); and servant riders or footmen (calleddarabani). To these forces were added the ‘‘spoils’’ units, so called becausethe prince had promised them the items plundered from the enemy in case ofvictory.34 This army was composed of units of peasants and hirelings.

A warning and mobilization system was also set up for crisis situations.The warning was the prince’s call, and following it, the princely peacetimecouriers, or ocalari, would speedily ride around the country on its mainroads, giving notice to everybody. Ringing church bells and fires lit on hill-tops would disseminate the call to every corner of the land. Men who wereable to fight would grab their arms and horses and gather under their flags atpredetermined meeting points. From there, columns of peasant fighters ledby parcalabi would head to the gathering post established by the prince.

MILITARY ARMAMENT DURINGSTEPHEN THE GREAT’S REIGN

The Moldavian army’s armament was designated both for hand-to-handfighting (maces, hatchets, sickles, scythes, spears, and swords made in the

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country) and distance fighting (200 meter-range bows; between sixteen andtwenty-four arrow quivers; firing weapons like small-caliber guns and can-nons made of cherry wood, strengthened with iron or bronze rings and usingstone or iron cannonballs made in Transylvania (Brasov) or Poland(Lemberg).

Stephen the Great hired armorers and craftsmen to help with the local pro-duction of the bows, arrows, and swords with which he equipped his peasantfighters. The peasant fighters were responsible for bringing their own armsinto battle when they were summoned. The Moldavians’ military dress wasthe same as that of their ancient ancestors, and the punishment for the use offoreign clothing and arms was death.

MOLDAVIA’S FORTRESSES

During the reign of Stephen the Great, the fortresses were ruled by parca-labi,—officials who had military, administrative, and judicial authority. Thusthey could be found on the border fortresses like Soroca, Tetina, and Hotin(built to counter the Poles’ attacks from the north); Chilia and Craciuna (onthe southern border to counter the Ottomans’ and Wallachians’ attacks); andCetatea Alba, Tighina, and Orhei (on the eastern border to counter the Tatars’attacks). The western border was secured by Cetatea Neamtului, Suceava’sfortress, and the Carpathians.35

Stephen the Great is also the one who incorporated cannons into the for-tress defense system, placing them on the country’s strategic access routes.Around the fortresses were built brick and stone external walls in the form ofa polygon; they had towers at the corners to deflect cannonballs. The for-tresses were also protected by grooves that were five meters deep—largeenough to provide protection—and sometimes filled with water.

THE BATTLE OF BAIA, 1467

After Stephen conquered the Chilia fortress in 1465, conflicts between Mol-davia and Hungary began to arise. The Hungarian king, Matei (Mathias) Cor-vin (son of Iancu of Hunedoara, Belgrade’s successful defender), launched acampaign to drive the Moldavian prince from his country, forcing theentrance into Oituzului Valley, in November 1467. The Hungarian armyoccupied the town of Targul Trotus on 19 November and continued toadvance through the city of Bacau, toward the Roman city. Stephen’s riderdetachments harassed the stiff Hungarian army, which then started suffering

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from a lack of supplies. On 14 December 1467, Matei Corvin’s army occu-pied the city of Baia, and during the night of 14–15 December, Stephenordered several locations of the city to be set on fire. Then, the Moldaviansstarted attacking from multiple directions simultaneously. Wounded byarrows, Matei Corvin succeededed in breaking the surrounding Moldaviansby using a shock detachment. He then retreated beyond the mountains inTransylvania. Many of the survivors of that fiery night in Baia were chasedand killed by Stephen’s soldiers.36

THE BATTLE OF VASLUI-PODULINALT, 10 JANUARY 1475

In December 1474 the Ottoman riposte had started as a response to Stephen’scampaign to get Wallachia included in the anti-Ottoman front, and a 120,000army led by Suleiman Pasha was sent to restore Moldavia to the suzeraintyof the Porte. The Moldavian prince faced that army with the strength of only40,000 soldiers plus several thousand Szecklers, Hungarians, and Poles.37

Before arriving in the city of Vaslui, the location Stephen had chosen for thebattle, the Ottoman army was continuously harassed and starved, per the Mol-davian prince’s strategy. Having initiated some defense tactics in the swampyBarladului valley, making use of the foggy and rainy weather that compli-cated the deployment of the heavy Ottoman cavalry and placing his cannonson the flanks, on 10 January 1475 Stephen trapped the janissaries and spahis,destroying their combat formation by using alpenhorn signals to mislead theOttomans about the Moldavian troops’ locations. The strikes of the archersand artillery came next, together with convergent maneuvers of the Moldav-ian army that threw the Ottomans into disarray. Most of the Ottomans weresurrounded and killed in the ‘‘swamp of death.’’ The chasing of the Ottomanswho survived the battle lasted three days.

THE BATTLE OF RAZBOIENI INVALEA ALBA, 1476

After Stephen’s victory over Suleiman Pasha on 10 January 1475, SultanMehmet II led an expedition that sought to punish the Moldavian prince. Thisexpedition coincided with a Tatar invasion from the east, over the NistruRiver. After the Tatar attack failed and the plundering strategy was appliedagainst the huge Ottoman army, Stephen accepted a confrontation with Meh-met II on 26 July 1476 in Valea Alba (the White Valley). The Ottomans’

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numerical advantage determined the battle’s outcome and Stephen was forcedto retreat.

However, Mehmet II could not strategically take advantage of or use hismilitary success, as the main fortresses located in northern Moldavia, Neamt,and Hotin, resisted the siege, while Suceava was willingly deserted by itsinhabitants. As Stephen received support from Transylvania and continuedhis strikes against an army that was getting hungrier and hungrier and suc-cumbing to plague, the sultan was forced to leave Moldavia. He did notachieve his political goal, and left behind a country that had suffered greatdestruction and casualties.38

THE BATTLE OF CODRII COSMINULUI, 1497

Ioan Albert, the successor of King Kazimir IV to the Polish throne, wishedto install his brother Sigismund on the Moldavian voievode Stephen’s throne.Consequently, Kazimir started a campaign against the Moldavian prince in1497, leading an army that included 80,000 soldiers and a strong artillerycomposed of 200 cannons of various sizes. While the fortress of Suceava wasunder siege, the Moldavian forces surrounded the Poles. Caught between twostrikes, on 16 October 1497 Ioan Albert was forced to accept an armisticewith Stephen that a Transylvanian prince helped to negotiate. While the Pol-ish army was retreating through Codrii Cosminului on 26 October 1497, Ste-phen organized a large ambush, felling trees and launching surprise attacksagainst the Poles, who could not deploy their defense and were gravelydefeated and killed.39

GHEORGHE DOJA, 1514

Gheorghe Doja was an ordinary Szeckler noble who in 1514 led an uprisingof poor and unsatisfied Romanian, Szeckler, and Hungarian peasants whowere concentrated in a camp in the town of Rakos to start a crusade initiatedby Pope Leon X. Doja organized the 30,000 rebels into groups of riflemen,archers, footmen, and spearmen, according to the armament with which theywere equipped. Then the rebel forces, led by Doja, started an attack againstTransylvania on two fronts. After several military successes when the rebelsoccupied the cities of Arad, Lipova, Siria, Cluj, Turda, and Dej, they weredefeated in Timisoara by noble forces loyal to Ioan Zapolya, the Transylva-nian prince. These forces were superior in numbers, equipment, and organiza-

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tion. The nobles rebuked Gheorghe Doja publicly, holding him up as ahorrible example meant to deter other peasant riots.40

RADU FROM AFUMATI, 1522–1529

During his seven years of rule in Wallachia, Radu de la Afumati, called bythe classical Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga the ‘‘prince of Christianrevenge and Romania’s pride,’’41 fought no fewer than twenty-two battlesagainst the Ottomans. These battles began right after the Ottomans conqueredBelgrade and after Wallachia came under Ottoman administration, eventhough that state lasted for only a short period of time. The battle’s fate vacil-lated between the Wallachians and Ottomans. Radu won several military vic-tories, sometimes using his own forces, sometimes with the support of IoanZapolya, the Transylvanian prince, but was also defeated at Nicopole by Meh-met the bey of Vidin, who did not abandon his desire to transform Wallachiainto a pashalic. However, the Wallachian cavalry led by Radu from Afumatihad the courage to start raids against the Ottoman fortresses located on theright shore of the Danube. In 1527, the voievode finally achieved the Wallach-ian independence he had been seeking.

PETRU RARES, 1527–1546

An illegitimate son of Stephen the Great, Petru Rares acceded to the Moldav-ian throne a year after the 1526 defeat of Hungary in the battle of Mohacs bythe army of the sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

Petru Rares, the Renaissance prince of Moldavia, as historian Florin Con-stantiniu called him,42 interfered even from the beginning of his first reign inthe battles for succession to the throne of Transylvania. He supported PrinceIoan Zapolya against Ferdinand of Hapsburg, who was defeated in the battlefought in the village of Feldioara (in southeastern Transylvania) in 1529.Right after the Transylvanian campaign, Petru Rares got into a conflict withPoland, where he was trying to restore the province of Pocutia, but he wasdefeated in the battle of Obertyn by the army of the experienced Polish com-mander Jan Tarnowski. The conflict with Poland, the contacts with the HolyLeague (established on 7 February 1538), and the opposition of the Moldav-ian boyars led the Porte to rescind its support. When Petru Rares was restoredto the Moldavian throne, he no longer participated in military expeditions,instead engaging only in church-founding activities.

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JOHN THE TERRIBLE, 1572–1574

That Moldavian prince, John the Terrible, had remarkable military skills,knowledge, and training gained from the Poles, Tatars, Germans, and evenOttomans. He focused especially on increasing the combat capability of theMoldavian army, namely, the infantry and artillery, and successfully usedCossack mercenaries as well. Facing a people that was weakened and poordue to internal fighting and increasing Ottoman requests for tribute, John’sdomestic policy was authoritative and harsh and targeted the greedy boyars.

After acceding to the throne in 1572, John refused to pay the tribute thePorte had doubled. This defiance attracted an armed response by Sultan SelimII. Daring and creative, the prince defeated the Ottoman–Wallachian troopsat Jilistea, near Focsani, in the spring of 1574, through a striking attack onthe Moldavian and Cossack cavalry. He began his counteroffensive withattacks on the fortresses of Braila, Tighina, and Cetatea Alba in eastern Mol-davia. He did not manage to conquer from the enemy these fortresses, how-ever. After several months the Ottomans returned with increased strength.The first harsh battle took place on 10 June 1574 in the village of Cahul,after parcalab Ieremia Golia had betrayed John and defected to the Ottomanstogether with his soldiers. With its gunpowder wet by rain, the Moldavian–Polish army retreated to the village of Rocsani, where it was surrounded andforced to surrender. After the surrender, the Ottomans horribly tortured andmurdered Prince John.43

THE BATTLES OF JILISTEA ANDCAHUL LAKE, 1574

In the spring of 1574 the Ottomans had launched a campaign against the rebelMoldavian prince, John the Terrible, from two sides: the first attack was car-ried out by the Ottoman–Wallachian forces in the south and the second wasin southeastern Moldavia. Through a surprise cavalry attack on two flanks ofthe Ottoman–Wallachian forces, on 23 April 1574 John the Terrible won aclear victory at Jilistea, a village near the Milcov River. After that, togetherwith the Cossack forces, he headed toward the Ottoman strongholds in thefortresses of Braila, Tighina, and Cetatea Alba; he and his forces were notable to conquer them.

The confrontation between the Moldavian–Cossack army and the mainpart of the Ottoman force took place between 10 and 12 July 1574 some-where between Iezerul Cahul and the Danube River. John lacked a cavalry,which had betrayed him and crossed over to the enemy under the leadership

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of parcalab Ieremia Golia. After resisting two Ottoman attacks that outnum-bered John’s forces and had been supported by Wallachians and Tatars, Johnthe Terrible and his army were surrounded. Moreover, a torrential rain ren-dered his artillery useless. Accepting the Ottoman guaranties, John the Terri-ble surrendered on the 14 June 1574. He was horribly slaughtered and hisarmy massacred.44

MICHAEL THE BRAVE, 1539–1601

Michael the Brave, one of the most famous Romanian voievodes, ‘‘experi-enced,’’ as Florin Constantiniu says, ‘‘the drama of the great change occurredin the organization of the armies after the manufacturing of the firing weap-ons, which produced a genuine revolution in the military field. On the onehand, the states had to update their arsenals with guns for infantry and artil-lery, while on the other hand they had to use professionals or mercenarieswhose employment involved large amounts of money. The revenues of statesand sovereigns were under high pressure, which could not be stood at thattime. Michael was often lacking the money he needed to pay his troops. Con-fronted with a large range of adversaries and adversities he did not manageto have the strength necessary to keep what he had conquered.’’45

However, Michael the Brave, one of the most venerated Romanian militaryand historical personalities, remains the prince who first unified the Roma-nian principalities under a single power, even if it was a temporary one. Healso won brilliant victories in battles, which stand as proof of the fact that hewas one of the greatest army commanders of his time. Michael proved ableto lead to victory both armies that were predominantly Romanian, as he didin the battle of Calugareni (1595), and those composed of mercenaries inaccordance with the new western style of warfare, as in Goraslau (1601).

THE BATTLE OF CALUGARENI, 1595

One hundred thousand people of the Ottoman army led by Grand VizierSinan Pasha crossed the Danube to hold sway over Wallachia and replace itsprince, who had dared to defy and even to attack the Porte. Michael theBrave, through harassing actions into a swampy and wooded area located nearCalugareni, on the Neajlov River (30 km south of Bucharest), trapped theOttoman front guard corps. The Wallachian prince’s military forces weresmaller than the Ottomans’ and consisted of almost 16,000 people plus 6,000or 7,000 Transylvanians and twelve cannons commanded by Capt. Albert Kir-

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aly. The battle took place on 23 August 1595 and Michael the Brave was thewinner who artfully combined the cavalry and infantry attacks on the flanksand used the swampy terrain to his advantage.46

In spite of the great number of Ottoman casualties (fifteen cannons werecaptured and even the green banner of the Prophet was taken, while SinanPasha was in danger of being killed), the numerical inferiority of the troopsforced Michael the Brave to retreat to Transylvania. This allowed SinanPasha’s army to occupy Bucharest and then the city of Targoviste. OnceMichael’s forces were strengthened thanks to support received from the voie-vode Razvan of Moldavia and Prince Bathory of Transylvania, Michael theBrave recaptured Targoviste on 18 October 1595 and, in the town of Giurgiu,defeated the Ottoman army that was retreating over the Danube.

THE BATTLE OF SELIMBAR, 1599

Michael the Brave’s forces entered Transylvania unexpectedly, through Pra-hova and the Oltului Valley. Meanwhile, Prince Andrei Bathory, voievode ofTransylvania, hardly had the time to concentrate near the town of Sibiu anarmy that was inferior in strength and artillery to Michael’s. The battle wasfought in the morning of 28 October 1599 near the village of Selimbar (nearthe city of Sibiu) when, after a strong artillery fire exchange, Michael’s armycrushed almost the entire forces of the vain prince Bathory. Later on, theSzecklers captured and beheaded him. The military campaign completed,Michael the Brave entered the Transylvanian capital, Alba Iulia, on 1 Novem-ber 1599, and his victory was recognized by the Porte and later on even bythe emperor, Rudolph II.47

THE BATTLE OF MIRASLAU, 1600

The 30,000 troops and fifteen cannons the Austrian (born Albanian) generalGheorghe Basta and the Hungarian nobility had placed in Miraslau, a villagenear the Mures River, were confronted by the 20,000 soldiers and twenty-seven artillery pieces led by Michael the Brave. The battle was fought overtwo days, 18 and 19 September 1600, and started with an artillery fireexchange and General Basta’s attempt to remove Michael’s forces from theadvantageous location they occupied. The battle’s outcome was decided bythe conflicts meant to capture and keep Michael the Brave’s artillery. Thiswas ultimately accomplished through cavalry and artillery assaults, followedimmediately by a full attack by Basta’s forces that finally sealed his victory.48

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After the defeat in Miraslau, Michael the Brave was defeated again by theMoldavian and Polish armies at Bucovel on 19–20 October 1600. He wassubsequently forced to leave for Prague to request military, financial, andpolitical support from the Hapsburg emperor, Rudolph II.

THE BATTLE OF GORASLAU, 1601

After the meetings held between 1 and 5 March in Prague with the Hapsburgemperor Rudolph II, Michael the Brave had to accept a reconciliation withhis former enemy, General Basta. Together, and with imperial support,Michael and Basta attacked the rebel Transylvanian prince, SigismundBathory. However, the military strength and the artillery of SigismundBathory were superior to those of Michael and Basta. The battle took placeon 3 August 1601 near the village of Goraslau, on the shore of the ZalauRiver. It began, according to the rules of the period, with artillery fire. Gen-eral Basta’s troops stopped the main attack Sigismund Bathory launched, andthe cavalry, led by Michael the Brave, surrounded the Transylvanian troops’flanks and defeated them, thus determining the battle’s outcome. However,after several days, on 19 August 1601, with the Hapsburgs’ approval, GeneralBasta ordered his mercenaries to murder Michael the Brave in the camp hehad set on Campia Turzii, near Cluj.49

THE ARMY OF MICHAEL THE BRAVE

The permanent army of Michael the Brave was composed of the princelyguard, made up of fustasi and Hungarian trabanti; courtiers who were calledrosii de tara, because of the red cloth they were given on Christmas and Eas-ter to make their uniforms; and servants. The temporary army had a sectioncomposed of infantrymen; a group of local peasants, most of them formingMichael’s army in the battle of Calugareni; foreign hirelings used after thebattle of Calugareni; a mixed cavalry containing domestic and foreign fight-ers; artillery units; and the so-called spoil units.

When it came to combat tactics, Michael’s military genius combinedincursions and ambushes (see the campaign in the southern Balkans between1594 and 1595) with Western techniques and the Romanian tradition ofasymmetric wars.

Thus, the battle of Calugareni was a victory won under conditions similarto those of Stephen the Great in Podul Inalt: forest, swamp, bridge, infantryattack supported by artillery, direct participation of the prince in battle, and

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the decisive role of the cavalry. Remarkable for this time period and its mili-tary customs was the direct participation of the prince in battle, among histroops—it was not typical for royals of the period to fight battles. With thenotable exceptions of Western sovereigns Gustav Adolph of Sweden andHenri IV of France, the royalty preferred to lead the battle from a shelteredplace where they could view the entire battlefield.

There continues a controversial historical debate about whether or notMichael had in mind a formulated plan to politically unify the three Roma-nian principalities. No matter what the case was, it is worth considering therealistic evaluation of the issue found in a volume edited by Kurt Treptow:‘‘Michael did not intend to bring about Romanian unity. Such an idea wastotally alien to the sixteenth century. Instead, his achievement was the resultof personal ambition, the need to secure his position to the throne, and hisdesire to achieve independence, combined with his resentment of Ottomandomination and the burden of the heavy tribute.’’50

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Chapter Six

The Army and Romanian Battles fromthe 17th Century to theEve of the 19th Century

1601–1821

In the middle of the 17th century, during the reigns of voievodes Vasile Lupuin Moldavia and Matthew Basarab in Wallachia, the Romanian military insti-tution was reinvigorated. The brilliance of the two reigns was overshadowedby the strong rivalry between these two different princely personalities, arivalry that led to open military conflicts (Buzau in 1637, Nenisori-Ojogeniin 1639, and Finta in 1653).

In the following decades, the Romanian military units had to take part inthe Ottoman campaigns over the Carpathians and Nistru. This resulted fromOttoman military changes that decreased the number of janissaries (consid-ered corrupted) and spahis (considered weakened) and increased the contin-gents provided by the provinces of the empire.

The last Romanian military surge before the Romanian principalities’armies sank into a century of decay occurred during the reigns of princesConstantine Brancoveanu in Wallachia and Dimitrie Cantemir in Moldavia.Brancoveanu’s army, benefiting from Ottoman and Tatar military support,defeated the advancing Hapsburgs in the battle of Zarnesti in 1690. The Otto-mans defeated Dimitrie Cantemir, the prince of Moldavia, at Stanilesti, onthe Prut River, in spite of the Russian support provided by Czar Peter theGreat in 1711. The foreign influences grew stronger and stronger within thearmies of the two Romanian principalities, through both the domination ofthe Ottoman model in Wallachia, or the Russian or the Polish one in Mol-

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The Army and Romanian Battles 75

davia, and the massive presence of foreign mercenaries coming from thenortheast or from south of the Danube River.

The Ottoman Empire resolved to apply another system in the two princi-palities given the advance of the Hapsburg Empire up to the Carpathians andthe offensive actions and plans of Russian Empire. Henceforth, the Ottomansresorted to Phanariot princes as assigned rulers of the Romanian principalit-ies. Phanariots were a cast of dignitaries of the Orthodox patriarchate formedin the Phanar district of Constantinople. The 18th-century Phanariot reigns inthe Romanian principalities meant the reduction in armed forces at the levelof a princely guard corps made of seimeni (Bosnian and Romanian paidinfantry soldiers) Cossack riders, arnauti (Albanian mercenaries), and Serbmercenaries. At the same time, many Romanians joined foreign armies,namely the Russian, Polish, or Swedish ones.

Under Hapsburg rule in Transylvania, three frontier guard regiments wereestablished between 1762 and 1763. They stretched from the frontier withBucovina as far west as Banat. The regiments were composed of Romanianvolunteers, who joined to benefit from the tax exemptions. The HapsburgEmpire used these regiments in wars against the Ottomans and the French(against Napoleon’s armies in the battles at Arcole, Marengo, and Ulm).

The difficult economic and social situation of Wallachia, and especially ofMoldavia, in the 17th and 18th centuries was generated by a severe Ottomandomination, a high frequency of Russian–Ottoman wars fought on Romanianterritory, and exploitation by the Phanariot regimes. Consequently, a lot ofRomanians, be they tradesmen, peasants, or nobles, migrated to the south-eastern territories of the Russian Empire; the Russian Empire was perceivedas a defender of Orthodox Christians, and it had no claims over the Romanianterritories. This migration—Romanians’ settling on those lands and joiningthe czarist army—was encouraged by the Russian imperial policy, whichgranted pieces of real estate, tax exemptions, military ranks, salaries, andother priviliges. The aim was to colonize the annexed territories, to increasethe Russian population, and to augment the military potential. Most of theRomanian immigrants who joined the imperial army after 1700 founded theRussian light cavalary and formed the first hussar regiments (ultimately,eleven regiments), which were composed of Moldavian and Wallachian rid-ers. These units were formed during the Russian–Turkish war of 1736–1739,and comprised the Voloh Light Cavalry Corps led by Constantin Cantemir(descendant of the Moldavian voievode Dimitrie Cantemir). The unit wasplaced in the Kharkiv region and in 1741 was transformed into the Moldavianregiment of hussars and moved to Ukraine, near Kiev. The Romanian hussarsproved their bravery and military skills in almost all the campaigns carriedout against the Ottomans in the 18th century as well as in the wars against

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Napoleon (Austerlitz, 20 November 1805; or Borodino, 17 August 1812). Theimportance of the Romanian military contribution to the development of theRussian military art51 is proven by the presence of thirty-eight generals ofRomanian origin, eleven of whom were three-star generals, who participatedin either the Russian army or with the Hapsburgs in the 17th, 18th, and 19thcenturies. Besides the Romanians serving in the military units of the Russianimperial army, several detachments of Moldavian and Wallachian volunteers,supporters of the aspirations for sovereignty and independence from thePorte, fought against the Ottomans.

Austria, and especially Russia, started wars against the Ottoman Empireseveral times during the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th cen-tury. The Romanians suffered serious casualities and damages, even thoughthese wars were not technically theirs. The Porte yielded northern Moldavia(Bucovina) to Austria in 1775 through the provisions of the Kuciuk–KainargiPeace Treaty signed in July 1774, and Bessarabia (a territory situated betweenthe Prut and Dniestr rivers) to Russia. That situation lasted until 1918.

VASILE LUPU, 1634–1653

Having a hot-blooded character, great vanity, and high political ambitions,the voievode Vasile Lupu envisioned himself as an authoritative Moldavianreincarnation of the ex-emperor of Constantinople. Even thought he came tothe throne after an uprising of the boyars against the Greeks, Vasile Lupumaintained strong ties with both the Greeks and the Ecumenical Patriarchatein Constantinople. A renowned founder of churches and cultural institutionsin Moldavia, Vasile Lupu kept trying to impose his authority over Wal-lachia.52 Militarily, he tried twice to put his son John on the throne of Wal-lachia in Targoviste. The military conflicts with Matthew Basarab all endedin his defeat (the last one at Finta, where he finally lost his reign); Vasile Lupulacked the qualities of a military commander. He used an army of almost20,000–30,000 soldiers composed mainly of foreigners: Poles, Germans, andespecially Cossacks.

MATTHEW BASARAB, 1632–1654

Matthew Basarab, prince of Wallachia, reigned in the spirit of what historianNicolae Iorga calls ‘‘boyar patriarchate,’’53 leading his country for two de-cades in perfect accord with the boyars, without renouncing the Greek ele-ment or influence. Except for his forays into war to check Vasile Lupu’s

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invasions, which he deterred through a good military command, MatthewBasarab was more balanced and a better diplomat than his Moldavian rival;these qualities ensured a long period of prosperity and stability in Wallachia.These qualities allowed him to be one of the most famous church and monas-tery founders. In terms of foreign policy, Matthew Basarab kept in touch withGheorghe Rakoczi I, prince of Transylvania, thus successfully keeping theOttomans at bay.

MILITARY ORGANIZATIONIN THE 17TH CENTURY

Matthew Basarab was knowledgeable about the art of warfare and he orga-nized his army using mainly the local boyars, also called the reds of the coun-try; the permanent cavalry concentrated in military areas; and darabani,organized on military areas. He could not fully renounce the use of hirelings,be they riders or footmen, most of them being seimeni, mercenaries who wererebels against the Ottomans and came from the Balkans, south of the Danube.In contrast, Vasile Lupu organized his armed forces mainly with hirelings,Germans, Poles, and Cossacks, taking the Cossack Khan as his son-in-law.

The military hierarchy was as follows: marele spatar was the commanderof the army, and he had as subordinates two aga who were charged with thecoordination of the seimeni corps and the darabani corps. The vel-capitanulwas the commander of a regiment-sized unit; the captain had the command ofa company, and the subasa was the platoon leader. The army of the countrycontinued to be structured under ‘‘banners.’’ Wallachia’s army had its ownflag, which was made out of red silk and on one side showed Saint Dumitru,the protector of the armed forces, and on the other, an eagle holding a cross.

THE BATTLE OF FINTA, 1653

The long and difficult rivalry between the prince of Wallachia, MatthewBasarab, and the prince of Moldavia, Vasile Lupu, came to a head in the battleof Finta on 27 May 1653. The voievode of Moldavia, with important militarysupport from the Cossacks and Poles, entered Wallachia heading toward thecapital city of Targoviste. Matthew Basarab’s army of seimeni and courtiers(boyars’ units) repelled one by one the attacks of Lupu’s riders, mercenaries,and Cossack footmen. After that, with the strong support of the artillery, theWallachians started the final assault, which meant the final defeat of VasileLupu’s forces and the loss of his reign.54

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SERBAN CANTACUZINO, 1678–1688

A well-known representative of a rich and powerful Wallachian family ofboyars—rival to the Baleni family—Prince Serban Cantacuzino knew how tohide his strong anti-Ottoman feelings despite the pressures the Porte wereapplying. The Porte obliged him to engage a Wallachian military contingentin the siege of Vienna in 1683 and to fight by the Ottomans’ side togetherwith the princes of Moldavia and Transylvania. During the siege, the Wal-lachian prince maintained secret ties with the Hapsburgs. However, the Otto-mans’ failure in front of Vienna’s walls followed by the imperialcounteroffensive in southeastern Europe made Prince Serban Cantacuzinoaware of the decay in Ottoman power. Consequently, he initiated secret nego-tiations with the Hapsburg emperor Leopold I, aiming at liberating Wallachiafrom the domination of the Porte. The reign of Prince Serban Cantacuzinomeant a period of prosperity and stability for Wallachia, and some importantcultural projects were achieved such as the printing of the Bible in Romanianin 1688.55

ROMANIAN MILITARY PARTICIPATIONIN THE SIEGE OF VIENNA, 1683

Considered the pinnacle of the Ottoman expansion toward western Europe,the siege of the capital city of the Hapsburg Empire by the Porte in 1683also meant a significant Romanian presence imposed by the three Romanianprincipalities: Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania.56 The Ottoman ambi-tion was to take over central Europe, and the huge magnitude of the campaignrequired a maximum concentration of all the available resources in order towin a decisive victory. Thus, under pressure from the Porte, the Moldavianprince Gheorghe Duca had to raise the army of the country with boyars, rid-ers, and hirelings, while the contribution of Prince Serban Cantacuzino con-sisted of 1,000 dorobanti, seimeni, reds of the country, and boyars with theirservants. The Transylvanian prince Mihai Apafi delayed sending a detach-ment from Fagaras County for as long as possible. The total number of Roma-nian fighters gathered at the gates of Vienna was 13,000.

The siege of Vienna started on 14 July 1683 and lasted until 12 September1683, General Starhemberg boldly resisting the superiority of the Ottomanforces commanded by Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa. Present in the Ottomancamp, Prince Serban Cantacuzino who had profound anti-Ottoman feelingsand even raised a cross in the middle of the camp for the religious service,passed military information to the besieged side, also communicating with

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the messengers of Duke Carol of Lorena. After the arrival of the Polish,Bavarian, and Saxon military support granted to the Hapsburgs, the final bat-tle occurred on 12 September 1683, without the combat engagement of theRomanian detachments, which retreated afterward to their homelands.

CONSTANTINE BRANCOVEANU, 1688–1714

Ruling at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, Constantine Brancoveanuhad a brilliant and unusually long reign in Wallachia that ended tragically,with the prince becoming a martyr under the hatchet of the Ottoman execu-tioner. The ‘‘Golden Prince’’ (Altin Bey in Turkish), as the Ottomans calledConstantin Brancoveanu, was the nephew of Prince Serban Cantacuzino anda skillful diplomat, maneuvering extremely well among the three neighboringempires: the Ottoman, Hapsburg, and czarist.57 Under his rule, Wallachiaexperienced a long period of prosperity, knowing how to cover in gold theOttoman greed and suspicions (1703) or to successfully oppose at Zarnesti(1690) the Hapsburg troops who were seeking to expand toward southeasternEurope. In 1711 he carefully abstained from interfering in the Russian–Ottoman conflict, as he was not convinced of the potential success of the Rus-sian–Moldavian force. On 15 August 1714, Brancoveanu became the victimof actions plotted at the Porte by his uncle, the stolnic Constantin Cantacuz-ino: he, his four sons, and his son-in-law were beheaded.

DIMITRIE CANTEMIR, 1710–1711

Dimitrie Cantemir, the first Romanian scientist, was an erudite and author ofhistorical reference books and such philosophical works as The Divan, or theQuarrel of the Wise Man with the World, Descriptio Moldaviae, and The His-tory of the Ottoman Empire. He was educated in Constantinople, but kept hisanti-Ottoman spirit intact. Put on Moldavia’s throne because he seemed to bethe person trusted by the Porte, Dimitrie Cantemir led his country in thedirection of an anti-Ottoman alliance. He signed on 24 April 1711 a politicaland military treaty with Czar Peter I (‘‘the Great’’) that recognized Cantem-ir’s hereditary succession to the Moldavian throne and the authoritative lead-ership of the country. In the battle of Stalinesti on the Prut River, theOttomans defeated the poor Russian–Moldavian army, and it was only thanksto a monetary bribe that the grand vizier allowed Czar Peter and Cantemirto escape to Russia, where the Moldavian prince became councilor to CzarPeter.58

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THE TRANSYLVANIAN FRONTIERGUARD REGIMENTS

After the victory won against the Porte at Vienna in 1683, the Hapsburgexpansion toward southeastern Europe swallowed Transylvania, whichbecame a state of the Roman–German Empire, then a principality, and in1765 a great principality. Between 1762 and 1763, three frontier guard regi-ments were set at the Transylvanian frontier;59 they were composed of volun-teering peasants who had been promised tax exemptions and who had beengiven hope of being freed from serfdom. Thus, a 3,000-soldier regiment wasset in Nasaud (which fought in 1796 on the bridge of Arcole against Napo-leon); another regiment, also composed of 3,000 fighters, was put in the areaof Fagaras, Sibiu, and Hunedoara; a third one comprising 1,000 people wasplaced in Banat, located in southwestern Transylvania.

As the army regulations stated that in case of war military service wouldalso be performed outside the country, the Transylvanian border regimentsfought battles in the Austrian–Ottoman war of 1788–1791 and in Marengo(1800) and Ulm (1805), where they fought against the armies of Napoleon.On 30 August 1848, during the year of revolutions, when the Hungarian revo-lutionary government threatened to imprison the Romanian National Councilof Transylvania, the leaders of the Transylvanian Romanians were providedprotection by the 1st Regiment of Orlat. That same year, the Transylvanianfrontier guards provided the military instruction necessary to the formationsand legions of moti (peoples living in the Apuseni Mountains) concentratedin the Apuseni Mountains.

HOREA, CLOSCA, AND CRISAN’SUPRISING—1784

The violent peasant uprising in Transylvania in 1784, led by Horea, Closca,and Crisan, was caused by the peasants’ ceasing to enlist in the frontier guardregiments; this enlistment offered Romanian peasants the promise of escap-ing serfdom. The situation of the Romanian peasants was very difficult; theywere only tolerated and exploited by both the Hungarian nobility and the stateauthorities. The mass of peasants concentrated for enlistment in the villageof Mesteacan, located in the Zarandului Mountains, turned into the core of aviolent uprising that devastated the nobility’s castles and occupied severaltowns located in the Apuseni Mountains. The city of Deva, where the nobili-ty’s forces were gathered, escaped this occupation.

The mobilization of the peasants was accomplished by fires lit on hilltops,

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the ringing of church bells, and couriers. At the same time, the three lead-ers—Vasile Nicola Ursu (known by his nickname, Horea), Ion Oarga (knownby his nickname, Closca), and Crisan—organized the 12,000–16,000 adher-ents into units. Their armaments consisted of scythes, hatchets, and occasion-ally a gun or cannon. As the uprising grew stronger and wilder, the Hapsburgemperor Iosif II sent the imperial army to suppress the revolt. A plot led tothe capture of the leaders, who were subsequently broken publicly on thewheel in Alba Iulia, the capital of Transylvania.60

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Chapter Seven

From People’s Assembly to theModern Romanian Armed Forces

1821–1867

The Romanian encyclopedist Horia Matei wrote a pertinent synthesis aboutthe Romanians’ national revival: ‘‘The national idea, which gained momen-tum throughout Europe in the 18th century and the beginning of the 19thcentury, can be traced throughout the history of the Romanian principalities.The national idea was associated with the Romanians’opening toward west-ern Europe. Philological and historical arguments in favor of the Latin originand ancient history of the Romanians were added to the argument of theirnumerical preponderance when the fundamental program of the movementfor national emancipation of the Romanians in Transylvania, known as Sup-plex Libellus Valachorum, was drafted. The main claim of this document,which was sent to the Court of Vienna in 1791, was equal rights with theother nations of the Principality.’’61

‘‘People’s Assembly,’’ or panduri’s army, was the name given to the armygathered by purveyor Tudor Vladimirescu after receiving a mandate grantedby the three great boyars of Wallachia, Grigore Brancoveanu, Grigore Ghica,and Barbu Vacarescu, in full agreement with Hetairia, the secret Greek soci-ety founded by Alexandru Ipsilanti in Odessa in 1814. The People’s Assem-bly practically did not fight any battles against the Turks, as was planned.However, ‘‘the strategic marching’’ of several thousand panduri who werestrongly disciplined, organized, and led by Tudor Vladimirescu from thegathering places located close to the Oltenian monasteries (Tismana, Cozia,Hurezi, Polovraci) toward Bucharest, the capital city, remained unforgettable.Tudor’s military experience, leadership skills, and the prestige gained in theRussian–Turkish War of 1806–1812 led decisively to the cohesion of a het-

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From People’s Assembly to the Modern Romanian Armed Forces 83

erogeneous troop, composed of riders and footmen, until the moment whenthe Russians’, Ottomans’, and Hetairia’s political games effected the break-down of that uprising.

Although the principalities were under Ottoman occupation, the Porte nolonger trusted the Phanariot princes after Tudor’s uprising. In the spring of1822 two boyar delegations from Moldavia and Wallachia were summonedto Constantinople; the leading boyars Grigore Ghica from Wallachia and IonAlexandru Sturza from Moldavia were part of these delegations that haddesigns on the throne. But in the spring of 1828 the Russian armies againreached the principalities; the two princes had to give up the throne and along occupation began.

According to article 5 of the Adrianopole Treaty dated 14 September 1829,signed after the Turks had been defeated by the Russians in the war of 1828–1829, the divans (a kind of parliament) of Bucharest and Iasi approved inApril 1830 the draft law on ‘‘national armed forces structure and organiza-tion’’ of the two principalities that would be inserted later in the provisionsof the Organic Regulations (the first constitutional laws of the two Romanianprincipalities). The Russian army prolonged its occupation until 1834, whenthe Porte had to pay war damages. Russia’s right to interfere was turned intoa ‘‘protection right’’ and the modern reorganization of the two countires wasachieved under Russia’s strict control.

The subsequent years brought several changes: the principalities’ Danubeflotillas of the city of Galati’s fluvial police, along with the mixed artillery-infantry system of the regiments, was abandoned in 1835; and the first bar-racks, military schools, and military hospitals were established in Bucharestand the cities of Craiova and Braila. In 1844, after the Wallachian princeBibescu had received the four 80mm bronze cannons mounted on gun car-riages produced domestically, the first field battery was established.

During the revolution of 1848, the links among the Romanians in the threeprincipalities became stronger and the building of the Romanian nation wasaccomplished. For the Romanians, the revolutionary year of 1848 meant twosignificant military confrontations. The first one was the battle of DealulSpirii (a hill located in the closed neighborhood of Bucharest), which tookplace on 25 September 1848 and engaged the artillery formations and thetroops led by Capt. Pavel Zaganescu and the Ottoman forces led by FuadPasha. They entered Wallachia (with the consent of Russia, which occupiedMoldavia) to reestablish the order set by the Organic Regulations in bothprincipalities eighteen years prior. The second battle occurred in Transylva-nia, in the Apuseni Mountains, in the spring of 1849, when the Hungariancorps sent by the Kossuth revolutionary government commanded by Major

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Hatvani was defeated by moti led by the Romanian military and revolutionaryleader Avram Iancu.

In Wallachia, the three-month rule of the 1848 Provisional RevolutionaryGovernment, which was marked by the brilliant figure of Nicolae Balcescu,allowed the appointment of a minister of war, Christian Tell, and then theappointment of a captain-general and Chief of All Temporary Forces (a kindof chief of General Staff), Gheorghe Magheru. The same revolutionary gov-ernment also initiated the handing over of the new fight banners to the mili-tary units on 14 June 1848, and several training maneuvers for the army. Thefirst part of the century also set the foundation for what would later be called‘‘the Romanian military theory and doctrine’’ that emerged in the 16th cen-tury in ‘‘Neagoe Basarab’s Lessons for His Son, Teodosie.’’

The years 1859, 1877, and 1918 are for the Romanians landmarks in a fastprocess of fulfilling their national and social ideals. These ideals had beenclearly expressed during the 1848 revolution, the tumult that had swept overall three Romanian principalities. Due to the Danubian principalities’ loca-tions at the mouths of the Danube, and the growing importance of this river,their status became a European issue at the Peace Congress held in Paris 1856at the end of Crimean War (1853–1856).

Under the Paris Treaty, Moldavia and Wallachia were submitted to the col-lective guarantee of the seven great powers; the exclusive protectorate of Rus-sia over them was canceled. The internationalization of the Danube River andthe restoration of southern Bessarabia to Moldavia were other decisions infavor of the Romanians. Concerning the union, the Paris Congress decided tocreate two ad hoc divans to express the Romanian wishes. The Paris Confer-ence of the guarantor powers held in 1858 sought a compromise over theunited principalities that would provide for political and administrative sepa-ration (two princes, two armies, two governments, etc). But on 5 January1859 the Romanians elected the Moldavian colonel Alexander Ioan Cuza asprince of Moldavia, and then on 24 January 1859 elected him prince of Wal-lachia. This signified a big step toward the real union. The union of the Roma-nian principalities and the rule of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859–1866)led to major unifying and renewing reforms for the Romanian Armed Forcesas a consequence of Article 42 of the Paris Convention dated 19 August 1858.This article stated that ‘‘the two regular militias of the two principalities willbe identically organized in order to be able to bring forth and to form a smallarmy.’’ One of the first measures undertaken by Prince Cuza was the estab-lishment of the General Staff Corps. The first chief of the General Staff ofthe Romanian army was Col. Grigore Gardescu. The Romanian national statethus created adopted the name of Romania in 1862 and established its capitalin Bucharest, where it has remained to this day.

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Through the laws issued in 1868 and 1872 aimed at reorganizing Roma-nia’s armed power, as well as through those issued during the reign of theprince and then the king Carol I, the Romanian armed forces were structuredon four components: the permanent component (consisting of dorobanti andfrontier guards); the territorial component; militias (which were inactive); thetown guard for urban localities, and the troops called gloate for villages.After 1860, thanks to the close relationship between Prince Cuza and Napo-leon III, the army’s equipment started to come mainly from France, but alsofrom Germany (for example, the 1870 model of the Krupp steel cannons) andfrom other Occidental states (Peabody guns with metallic cartridges from theUnited States in 1868, the Lamson repetition gun in 1869, and Krnka gunsfrom Russia). The Prussian influence was felt inside the army, even thoughthe Romanian uniforms had retained their Latin line.

Beginning in 1870, each independent battalion or regiment had an assignedchaplain; this development stemmed from a High Decree signed by PrinceCarol I, who made official the Regulation for the Clergy of the PermanentArmy. In 1921, the status of the church in the army would be raised to bish-opric. In 1948, as a consequence of the emergence of the Communist regime,that institution was broken up in spite of the ancient traditions and customsof the Romanians who, be they soldiers or rulers, had never entered a battlewithout a priestly blessing and priestly Christian support.

TUDOR VLADIMIRESCU, 1821

Purveyor Tudor from the village of Vladimiri was born in the region ofOltenia in southeastern Wallachia that was inhabited by free peasants calledmosneni. He had gained not only remarkable leadership abilities but alsoprestigious military experience, as he had joined the Russian army as a volun-teer in the Russo–Turkish War of 1806–1812. He was even awarded the Rus-sian order of Saint Vladimir’s Cross.62 Prior to receiving a mandate fromthree powerful boyars of Wallachia to start anti-Phanariot military actions,the brisk Tudor was known as a respectable and wealthy trader who had occu-pied administrative positions in Oltenia.

Tudor firmly organized and led his army of panduri. It was organized inunits containing 1,000 fighters, most of them footmen, and a cavalry corpsnumbering 2,000 soldiers organized in units called capitanii, or captainships.Tudor’s authoritative and severe style of command proved to be efficient bothin setting up his panduri in departure camps in the cities of Tantareni andSlatina, and in establishing the discipline necessary for the strategic march toBucharest, where they arrived on 21 March. But the same severity proved

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fatal for Tudor when he exercised his violent authority over his captains.Moreover, on 23 February 1821 Czar Alexander revealed Tudor’s Romanianmovement and the movement of the Greek Heteria. The divergent interests,rivalry, and the anarchic plots of the two anti-Ottoman movements led to theirdefeat at the hands of the Turks, and to Tudor’s being the target of a murder.Tudor’s army continued to retreat toward Oltenia, and then crossed back overthe Olt River and won a battle against the Ottomans at Dragasani on 29–30May 1821. Afterward most of the members of the People’s Assembly dis-persed and returned to their villages; the remainder headed toward the monas-teries, where they continued their resistance for some time.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THEFIRST NATIONAL ARMY, 1830

For the very first time, on 12 May 1830, the population of the Romanian prin-cipalities could see in the streets of Bucharest and then in those of Iasi thenew Romanian uniform that was designed on a Russian model. However, itwas only in 1831 that the Russian representative, General Kisselef, grantedthe young officers of the Wallachian army the permission to wear epaulettes,which they earned thanks to their rapid progress in training. A representativeof the Russian administration installed in the two Romanian principalities,General Kisselef was an open-minded military man who in 1832 promotedthe ‘‘Military Regulation,’’ which stated that the militia, or the country’sguard, should be ‘‘national,’’ established according to traditions but adjustedto the practices of modern warfare. In 1834 the Romanian army adopted thetricolor flag. The permanent contingent of the National Guard was designatedto maintain internal order and respect for laws, and to guard the borders. Itwas financed by the state and commanded by the marele spatar (similar tothe chief of the General Staff, CHOD), who was accountable to the country’sruler and in turn commanded the Stabul Ostirii, or the General Staff. Thetemporary component of the army was under the command of marele logofatand was designated to provide police services in villages. Three mixed regi-ments, called polcuri, were set up in Wallachia, each of them composed oftwo infantry battalions and two cavalry squandrons. One regiment was set upin Moldavia; it contained a battalion and a squadron.

The military hierarchy consisted of inferior officers: praporcicul (secondlieutenant); parucicul (first lieutenant), or platoon leader; captain, or com-pany commander; major, or battalion commander; and colonel, or regimentcommander. The superior and staff officers came from important boyar fami-lies.

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THE BEGINNING OF ROMANIANMILITARY MEDICINE

The first military hospital for officers of the Principality of Wallachia, the so-called Lazaretul Polcului, was set up in Bucharest63 on 14 February 1831. Itcomprised forty beds and was operated near the Filantropia civilian hospital.Later on, the first hospital of the Romanian Armed Forces was hosted by theMarcuta Monastery, then by the Belar building and the Michael the BraveMonastery (1833), and finally by a military building located on what is nowcalled Serban Voda Street in Bucharest. The current location of the army’srepresentative hospital dates to 1889. The doctor, Carol Davilla, a generalpractitioner, was the one who played a decisive role in the last part of the19th century in organizing and modernizing that institution. During the warfor independence (1877–1878) and the two world wars, the Central MilitaryHospital of Bucharest functioned as an internal zone hospital and was at thetop of the medical formations on the Romanian front lines.

After 1989 the Central Military Hospital started playing an increasinglyimportant role in scientific research by educating military doctors with greatexpertise in eighteen medical specialties. Especially between 1991 and 1998,Romanian military doctors proved their professionalism in internationalpeacekeeping missions performed under the aegis of the United Nations:Operation Desert Storm (in a field hospital in Saudi Arabia); between 1993and 1994 in the UNOSOM II mission in a surgery field hospital in the airportof Mogadishu, Somalia; and in the UNAVEM III mission in Viana Luanda,Angola, between 1995 and 1997.

THE FIRST BARRACKS ANDMILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS

As there were no barracks for troops, except for the princely palaces inBucharest and Iasi, the two capital cities, at the initiative of Prince GheorgheBibescu the first rectangle-shaped barracks were built in Bucharest between1844 and 1846. The barracks, first called Sfantul Gheorghe and then knownas Malmaison, were dedicated to infantry, cavalry, and artillery troops, pro-viding shelter to 350 soldiers.64

The first 130-bed military hospital was set up in Bucharest in 1883 in thevicinity of the Michael the Brave Monastery. At Dr. Carol Davilla’s initiative,the hospital was moved in 1858 to a new building located on Stirbei VodaStreet. After the union of the principalities, a vast movement to constructbuildings for the exclusive use of the Ministry of War began. Consequently,

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in Bucharest, in the hills called Dealul Spirii, terraced barracks emerged, eachof them having the capacity to hold an infantry regiment. These barrackswere known as Alexandria (built in 1864) and Cuza (built in 1865). Anotherwas the three-floor barracks, called Copou, which was located in Iasi andcompleted in 1875; the artillery barracks of the Roman city in Moldavia wasbuilt in 1875, and the cavalry barracks of Focsani (a town in Moldavia),which could accommodate a squadron, was built in 1863.

Following the same trend of specialized military building, the army’s arse-nal was set up during Prince Cuza’s rule in 1863; it consisted of a workshopfor the repair of gun carriages, an armory workshop, a cannonball foundry,and one arms depot. The arms manufacture was built in 1863 in Dealul Spirii.The army’s pyrotechnics factory was also installed in Dealul Spirii, in 1861,and produced ammunition, explosives, and percussion caps for the guns withwhich to supply the army. The military equipment central depot was part ofthe Cuza barracks. Other installations built at this time were the gunpowderdepot, located in Cotroceni (a hilly area in Bucharest), the fodder depots inIasi, and the armament depots in Targoviste.

Between 1859 and 1877, the army’s first camps, training fields, and shoot-ing ranges were set up. They had only the most necessary facilities and werebuilt in the village of Floresti (1859) and the Bucharest neighborhoods ofColentina (1861) and Cotroceni (1863).

THE FIRST MILITARY SCHOOLS

In 1847, during the rule of Gheorghe Bibescu, a military school was estab-lished for fifteen cadets. It was operated out of several rooms of the SfantulGheorghe (Malmaison) building in Bucharest.65 Disbanded in 1848, theschool was reopened by Prince Barbu Stirbei in 1849 and accommodated firstthirty and then forty-five students. In the beginning, the school offered four-year courses; from 1854 on, it offered five-year courses. The graduates werecommissioned as second lieutenants. In 1857, a military school was estab-lished in Moldavia, and the two schools were integrated in Bucharest in 1861,under the rule of Cuza. This brought the total number of students to seventy.From 1886 the school had three military branches: infantry, cavalry, and spe-cial arms.

In 1850 the Minor Surgery School was set up in a military location onPodul Calicilor Street—today Calea Rahovei—in Bucharest. Due to thearrangements made by the chief of the sanitary service, Carol Davilla, start-ing with 1855, a surgery school started functioning within the Mihai Voda

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Military Hospital. In 1875 this school became the National Surgery School,and then the Medical Faculty.

On 7 April 1881, the Artillery and Engineering Military School was setup. The course lasted three years and trained students to become officers ofthe three military branches.

In 1872 and 1881, four-year ‘‘schools for military sons’’ were set up in thecities of Craiova and Iasi with the purpose of training the future candidatesfor officers’ schools.

The first military library was founded in Iasi in 1846 at the initiative ofDimitrie Sturdza, mare hatman, with the purpose of providing documents toofficers, cadets, and noncommissioned militia officers.

The current Academy of Advanced Military Studies, formerly known asthe Superior School of War, was set up on 8 August 1889 under the directcommand of the chief of the General Staff and with Saint John the Baptist(celebrated on 7 January) as its patron. Governmental Decision No. 1027,dated 28 August 2003, transformed the Academy of Advanced Military Stud-ies into the Carol I National Defense University with the aim of training offi-cers able to meet modern operational and staff requirements.

NICOLAE BALCESCU, 1819–1852

One of the standout personalities of the Romanian revolution of 1848, Nico-lae Balcescu was a politician, historian, economist, and writer.66 Since 1840he had been involved in the revolutionary movement in Wallachia, and thatinvolvement had landed him in prison for three years. However, that did notimpede him from helping to found the secret revolutionary movement namedFratia, which means Brotherhood, a Masonic organization. He was one of theradical leaders of the revolution in Wallachia who pleaded for land reform,universal suffrage, and other bourgeois and democratic reforms. During thethree-month rule of the provisional revolutionary government in Wallachia,of which he was a part, the tricolor banners of the military units were handedover on 13 and 14 September 1848, and the names of the military units werechanged from those that derived from Russian, such as polk, roata, polkovnik,paruchik, and praporchik to the Romanian words for regiment, company, col-onel, second lieutenant, and first lieutenant, words that have Latin roots.

Nicolae Balcescu was in close contact with revolutionaries from France,Hungary, and Italy, and his personality held both the romanticism specific tothat era and the pragmatism specific to a politician. After the revolution wassuppressed, during his exile Balcescu published Romania viitoare, (FutureRomania), a newspaper in which he lobbied for Romanian national unity.

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‘‘The Romanians under Prince Michael the Brave and The History and Mili-tary Art of the Romanians are two of his remarkable works.

THE NATIONAL TRICOLOR BANNER

The first decree of the provisional government of Wallachia, dated 26 June1848, made official the three colors that represent the national flag: blue, yel-low, and red.67 Above the colors the motto of the Wallachian revolutionarieswas imprinted: ‘‘Justice and Brotherhood.’’ The tradition of the tricolor ban-ner represents the ‘‘Assembly of the People,’’ the army led by Tudor Vladi-mirescu in 1821. In 1834, at the proposal of Al. D. Ghica, the ruler by law,the Porte, in its capacity as a suzerain power, approved the three colors forthe national army (militia) and for the pavilions of the Wallachian ships. Con-sequently, the first banners distributed to the front units during an 1834 cere-mony were tricolored.

Only in 1862, after the union of the Romanian principalities, did the majorEuropean powers recognize the tricolor banner as the Romanian flag. Thatled, on 13 September 1863, to the reception of the new tricolor banners asunit flags bearing the motto Honor et patria (Honor and Motherland) by tenRomanian military units assembled in the presence of Alexandru Ioan Cuza,the national ruler.

On the same tricolor background laid first horizontally and then vertically,the Romanian national flags had different coats of arms representing theKingdom, the Popular Republic, and the Socialist Republic. (At present, the1991 banner model has no coat of arms on it.) In addition, different mottoswere imprinted, such as Honor et patria (Honor and Fatherland), Nihil sineDeo (Nothing without God), and ‘‘For Our Motherland,’’ during the SocialistRepublic of Romania period. On the top of the banner stick was at first aneagle with a cross in its mouth, then after 1948 until 1989 a tip with Commu-nist symbols. No matter what the political evolutions, the significance of thefight banner for the Romanian army and for each individual unit, as well asfor the handover military ceremonies, preserved the value of the supremesymbol of the Romanian national identity, sovereignty, and independence.

The interest in creating a representative coat of arms in Romania dates tothe 19th century. The question was raised after the union of Wallachia andMoldavia in 1859, and in 1863 a solution was found and endorsed. Thedesign combined the traditional symbols of Wallachia—the eagle with across—and that of Moldavia, the ox with a star between its horns. In 1872

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the National Heraldic Commission proposed a coat of arms that combinedthe traditional symbols of all the Romanian provinces. The coat of arms wasadopted and retained until 1921, when, after the Great Union of 1 December1918, the new coat of arms of the Great Romania was created by adding theroyal symbols of the Hohenzollern house to those of the traditional Romanianprovinces: Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, Banat, Maramures, Crisana,Bucovina, Oltenia, and Dobrudja.

After the proclamation of the formation of the Popular Republic of Roma-nia under pressure from the Soviet troops, on 30 December 1947 the Roma-nian coat of arms was modified again, and a decorative effigy was createdrepresenting the natural resources of the country, framed by wheat wreathsand having a sunrise as a background and a red star on the top.

The first symbol of the Romanian Revolution was a tricolor flag with a holein the middle, resulting from the removal of the Communist coat of arms. On10 September 1992, the two reunited chambers of the parliament adopted thenew coat of arms. This one has as a central element the traditional eagle witha cross in its mouth, symbolizing the dynasty of Basarab, the nucleus aroundwhich Wallachia was formed in the 14th century. The eagle, a symbol ofRomania’s Latin roots and a first-rank bird in heraldry, shows bravery, deter-mination, power, grandeur, and the flight toward the heavens. The eagle alsohas an important position on the Transylvanian coat of arms. That eagle holdsin its claws the symbols of sovereignty: a scepter and a sword. The scepterrepresents Prince Michael the Brave—the first leader to unify the Romanianprovinces, in 1600—while the sword stands for Prince Stephen the Great ofMoldavia, who was called the ‘‘Knight of Christ’’ in the 15th century.

On the eagle’s chest there is a shield divided into four parts: the symbolsof the historical Romanian provinces and two dolphins recalling the shore ofthe Black Sea. The first sector shows the Wallachian coat of arms on a brightblue background with an eagle holding in its beak a golden Orthodox cross.There is a golden sun on the right and a golden new moon on the left.

The second sector shows the traditional Moldavian coat of arms, a blackox with a star between its horns, and a five-petal rose on the right side and ahalf moon on the left side, both silver.

The third sector shows the traditional coat of arms of Banat and Oltenia:above the waves there is a yellow bridge with two vaults symbolizing thebridge Emperor Trajan had built over the Danube. A lion emerges from thisholding a sword in its right front paw.

The fourth sector shows the coat of arms of Transylvania, Maramures, andCrisana: a shield divided into two parts by a narrow line that delineates a

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black eagle with golden claws having on its right a golden sun and a silverhalf-moon, and below, seven crenellated towers.

AVRAM IANCU, 1824–1872

Avram Iancu, the man who would enter Romanian legend under the name‘‘The Young Prince of the Mountains,’’ was born in the county of Motilor inthe village of Vidra de Sus, located in the Apuseni Mountains. He was onlytwenty-four years old when the revolution of 1848 started.68 Avram Iancu waspreparing to become a lawyer when he assumed, together with Axente Severand Treboniu Laurean, the task of arming and leading the Transylvanians.This effort was endorsed by the Romanian National Council on 15 May 1848and it mobilized almost 200,000 Romanians.

To provide the highest mobility to the Romanian military forces, AvramIancu recommended organizing Transylvania into fifteen prefectures, whichwould be militarily matched with legions commanded by a leader, called aprefect, who would have both administrative and military responsibilities.Avram Iancu’s legions comprised battalions, which were led by a militaryleader called a tribune and structured as ten centurii—a unit composed of‘‘one hundred fighters.’’ In order to be distinct from the Hungarian adver-sary, not only the military structure, but also the names of the units, wereof Latin origin. The spears and swords were the most representative arms;the craftsmen of the Apuseni Mountains ingeniously improvised them fromthe wood of the fir tree. An arsenal of 1,400 guns and pistols and severalcannons complemented the spears and swords. The national guard of Banat,commanded by the tribune Eftimie Murgu, had the same structure andequipment.

The main battles fought by the moti of the Auraria Gemina Legion, whoseprefect was Avram Iancu, against the troops of the Hungarian governmentcommanded by Gen. Iosif Bem, took place between February and May 1849and were fought to defend the access routes to the Apuseni Mountains.Applying the rules of guerrilla warfare and proving their bravery and determi-nation, the spearmen Avram Iancu led won significant victories against theHungarian troops in the battles of Fantanele, Gura Cornei, and Bucium, forc-ing the government of Budapest to return to the negotiation table and face theRomanians.

After the troops of the Hapsburg and czarist empires put down the revolu-tion of 1848 in Transylvania, Avram Iancu suffered a severe nervous break-down and went to live in isolation in the mountains, having been badly

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disappointed by the people. He died sick and alone on 9 September in thecity of Baia de Cris and was buried under a tree called Horia’s Oak.

ROMANIAN MILITARY THOUGHT FROM THE17TH CENTURY TO THE 20TH CENTURY

The Romanian experience and military art was mentioned for the first time inthe chronicles of the 17th and 18th centuries, one of the most comprehensiveRomanian works of medieval thought being ‘‘Neagoe Basarab’s Lessons forHis Son, Teodosie.’’69 Thanks to the contributions of such politicians and mil-itary men as Nicolae Balcescu, C. A. Rosetti, Christian Tell, and CostacheNegruzzi, the first elements of Romanian military thought took shape in thefirst half of the 19th century.

The Military Romania, a magazine issued on 15 February 1864, had thewords ‘‘Science, Art, and Military History’’ as a motto, and played a signifi-cant role in the development of military theories and of the military art andscience in the principalities.

In 1857 Col. Ion Voinescu taught the first elementary course on the historyof military art. With the establishment of the Superior School of War in 1889,theoretical military art activities increased and spread among the Romanianofficers. Starting with 1880, Romanian officers were sent to study and trainin France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy. The proliferation of the branches’magazines also had a beneficial effect on the theoretical training of the mili-tary of the Romanian Armed Forces at the end of the 19th century.

In 1924, the Romanian Armed Forces officially adopted the French mili-tary doctrine. Also during this period, many Romanian works on theory andmilitary art emerged. More than seventy military publications were issuedduring the interwar period and launched vast and hot debates regarding thedefense needs of the country, the nature of a potential war, or the particulari-ties of the various components of a national defense system. Brilliant nameslike those of Gen. Radu Rosetti, Gen. C. N. Harjeu, and Gheorghe A. Dabijaparticipated in these activities.

After World War II, as Romania entered the sphere of influence of theSoviet Union, the Romanian Armed Forces was obliged to adopt the Sovietmilitary model. After 1955, Romania’s military doctrine was strongly influ-enced by that of the Warsaw Treaty.

From 1994 on, the reference standard for the Romanian Armed Forces wasNATO and the modern Western armies. In 1999, the first version of Roma-nia’s National Security Strategy was issued as a frame document at the

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national level approaching the Romanian security and defense issues. Thedocument was militarily detailed within the national defense doctrine.

WAR AND DEFENSE MINISTERSFROM 1859 TO 200470

• Gen. Barbu Vladoianu: 21 February 1859–3 May 1859• Gen. Alexandru Macedonski: 4 May 1859–15 August 1859• Col. Ioan Cornescu: 16 August 1859–27 November 1859• Col. Ion Emanoil Florescu: 28 November 1859–27 May 1860• Nicolae Golescu: 28 May 1860–27 July 1860• Col. Gheorghe Adrian: 28 July 1860–16 April 1861• Col. Samasescu Istrate: 17 April 1861–10 July 1861• Col. Ioan Ghica: 11 April 1861–18 July 1861• Prince Ioan Grigore Ghica: 19 July 1861–29 September 1862• Gen. Ioan Emanoil Florescu: 30 September 1862–11 October 1863• Gen. Alexandru Iacovache: 12 October 1863–11 April 1864• Gen. Savel Manu: 12 April 1864–29 January 1866• Col. Alexandru Solomon: 30 January 1866–10 February 1866• Maj. Dimitrie Lecca: 11 February 1866–10 May 1866• Gen. Prince Ioan Grigore Ghica: 11 May 1866–5 August 1866• Col. Nicolae Haralambie: 6 August 1866–7 February 1867• Gen. Tobias Gherghely: 6 February 1867–23 May 1867• Col. Gheorghe Adrian: 24 May 1867–11 August 1868• Ioan C. Bratianu: 12 August 1868–13 January 1869• Col. Alexandru Duca: 14 January 1869–13 June 1869• Col. Gheorghe Manu: 14 June 1869–17 December 1870• Col. Pencovici Eustasie: 18 December 1870–10 March 1871• Gen. Christian Tell: 11 March 1871–13 April 1871• Gen. Ioan Emanoil Florescu: 14 April 1871–26 April 1876• Col. Gheorghe Slaniceanu: 27 April 1876–1 April 1877• Gen. Alexandru Cernat: 2 April 1877–19 August 1877• Ioan C. Bratianu: 20 August 1877–18 March 1878• Gen. Alexandru Cernat: 19 March 1878–24 November 1878• Ioan C. Bratianu: 25 November 1878–7 January 1879• Col. Nicolae Dabija: 8 January 1879–10 July 1879• Col. Dimitrie Lecca: 11 July 1879–28 April 1880• Gen. Gheorghe Slaniceanu: 29 April 1880–8 June 1881• Ioan C. Bratianu: 9 June 1881–30 November 1881• Ioan C. Bratianu: 1 December 1881–24 January 1882• Gen. Gheorghe Anghelescu: 25 January 1882–31 July 1882

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• Ioan C. Bratianu: 1 August 1882–22 June 1884• Gen. Stefan Falcoianu: 23 June 1884–12 January 1886• Gen. Alexandru Anghelescu: 13 January 1886–4 November 1887• Ioan C. Bratianu: 5 November 1887–23 March 1888• Gen. Constantin Barozzi: 24 March 1888–11 November 1888• Gen. Gheorghe Manu: 12 November 1888–4 November 1889• Gen. Matei Vladescu: 5 November 1889–20 February 1891• Gen. Iacob Lahovary: 21 February 1891–21 February 1894• Lascar Catargi: 22 February 1894–11 June 1894• Gen. Constantin Poenaru: 12 June 1894–3 October 1895• Gen. Constantin Budisteanu: 4 October 1895–20 November 1896• Constantin Stoicescu: 21 November 1896–10 April 1899• Gen. Anton Berindei: 11 April 1899–24 November 1899• Gen. Iacob Lahovary: 25 November 1899–13 February 1901• Dimitrie Sturdza: 14 February 1901–21 December 1904• Gen. Gheorghe Manu: 22 December 1904–14 March 1906• Gen. Alexandru Averescu: 15 March 1906–5 March 1909• Toma Stelian: 6 March 1909–30 October 1909• Gen. Grigore Crainiceanu: 1 November 1909–28 December 1910• Nicolae Filipescu: 29 December 1910–28 March 1912• Gen. Ioan Argetoianu: 27 March 1912–13 October 1912• Gen. Constantin Harjeu: 14 October 1912–3 January 1914• Ion I. C. Bratianu: 4 January 1915–14 August 1916• Vintila Bratianu: 15 August 1916–19 July 1917• Gen. Constantin Iacovescu: 20 July 1917–5 March 1918• Gen. Constantin Harjeu: 6 March 1918–23 October 1918• Gen. Eremia Grigorescu: 24 October 1918–28 November 1918• Gen. Arthur Vaitoianu: 29 November 1918–26 September 1919• Gen. Ioan Rascanu: 27 September 1919–1 March 1920• Gen. Traian Mosoiu: 2 March 1920–12 March 1920• Gen. Ioan Rascanu: 13 March 1920–17 December 1921• Gen. Stefan Holban: 18 December 1921–18 January 1922• Ion I. C. Bratianu: 19 January 1922–19 April 1922• Gen. Gheorghe Mardarescu: 20 April 1922–29 March 1926• Gen. Ludovic Mircescu: 30 March 1926–5 June 1927• Gen. Paul Angelescu: 6 June 1927–9 November 1928• Gen. Henry Cihoski: 10 November 1928–4 April 1930• Iuliu Maniu: 5 April 1930–13 April 1930• Gen. Nicolae Condeescu: 14 April 1930–15 April 1931• Gen. Constantin Stefanescu Amza: 16 April 1931–10 August 1932• Gen. Nicolae Samsonovici: 11 August 1932–13 November 1933• Gen. Nicolae Uioca: 14 November 1933–1 June 1934

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• Gheorghe Tatarascu: 2 June 1934–26 July 1934• Gen. Paul Angelescu: 27 July 1934–27 August 1934• Radu Irimescu: 28 August 1934–4 September 1937• Maj. Gen. Constantin Ilasievici: 5 September 1937–27 December 1937• Gen. Ion Antonescu: 28 December 1937–29 March 1938• Gen. Gheorghe Argesanu: 30 March 1938–12 October 1938• Gen. Nicolae Ciuperca: 13 October 1938–1 February 1939• Armand Calinescu: 2 February 1939–20 September 1939• Gen. Ion Ilcus: 21 September 1939–4 July 1940• Gen. Constantin Nicolescu: 5 July 1940–5 September 1940• Gen. Ion Antonescu: 6 September 1940–26 January 1941• Gen. Iosif Iacobici: 27 January 1941–21 September 1941• Field Marshall Ion Antonescu: 22 September 1941–22 January 1942• Gen. Constantin Pantazi: 21 January 1942–23 August 1944• Gen. Ion Mihail Racovita: 24 August 1944–5 November 1944• Gen. Constantin Sanatescu: 6 November 1944–6 December 1944• Gen. Ion Negulescu: 7 December 1944–6 March 1945• Gen. Constantin Vasiliu Rascanu: 7 March 1945–28 November 1946• Gen. Mihail Lascar: 29 November 1946–26 December 1947• Gen. Emil Bodnaras: 27 December 1947–2 October 1955• Gen. Leontin Salajan: 3 October 1955–28 August 1966• Gen. Ion Ionita: 29 August 1966–15 June 1976• Lt. Gen. Ion Coman: 16 June 1976–28 March 1980• Brig. Gen. Constantin Olteanu: 29 March 1980–15 December 1985• Lt. Gen. Vasile Milea: 16 December 1985–22 December 1989• Gen. Nicolae Militaru: 26 December 1989–15 February 1990• Lt. Gen. Victor Athanasie Stanculescu: 16 February 1990–13 May 1991• Maj. Gen. Niculae Spiroiu: 14 May 1991–5 March 1994• Gheorghe Tinca: 6 March 1994–12 December 1996• Victor Babiuc: 13 December 1996–11 February 1998• Constantin Dudu Ionescu: 12 February 1998–16 April 1998• Victor Babiuc: 17 April 1998–13 March 2000• Sorin Frunzaverde: 14 March 2000–29 December 2000• Ioan Mircea Pascu: 30 December 2000–28 December 2004• Traian Atanasiu: 29 December 2004–24 October 2006• Sorin Frunzaverde: 25 October 2006–present

ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA, 24 JANUARY1859–11 FEBRUARY 1866

A mere seven years of ruling consecrated Alexandru Ioan Cuza as the princeof the union and of the great reforms of the young and modern Romanian

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state.71 At the moment when Col. A. I. Cuza was elected ruler of the Roma-nian principalities by both the election assemblies in Iasi (5 January) andBucharest (24 January)—elections that eluded the decisions of the Paris Con-vention and thus posed the great powers in front of a done deed—this charis-matic figure who was a former parcalab of Corvu was already well known asa revolutionary leader and top-ranking unionist.

To rapidly remove Romania from the feudal and Oriental mentalities andput it on the track of Western capitalist development, Cuza first of all per-fected the administrative union of the principalities. He also acted to gainthe recognition of the great powers, benefiting from the support granted byNapoleon III, the emperor of France. Next, he promoted the great reformsmeant to bring the lagging Romanian society up to speed with the Westernone. These reforms applied to virtually all the realms of society: in the areaof justice, the Napoleonic Code was adopted; the financial system was reorga-nized, as were industry, trade, and the armed forces; there was land reformfor monasteries and peasants; and a new electoral law was created. To accom-plish so many projects and defeat the resistance of the liberals and conserva-tives, Cuza did not hesitate to exercise his authority when faced with suchthreats as the coup d’etat of 1864.

During the night of 23 February 1866 (we refer to the Gregorian calendarhere) a political and military plot drove Alexandru Ioan Cuza off the throneand into exile. Until the German prince Carol de Hohenzollern was installedon the throne on 10 May 1866, the country was led by a royal group of mili-tary. Cuza died in exile at the age of fifty-two on 15 May 1872 at the EuropeHotel in Heidelberg. After fifteen days his body was returned to Romania andburied in the village of Ruginoasa, close to the church walls. Today his boneslie at the large church of Trei Ierarhi in Iasi.

THE MILITARY REFORMS OF PRINCEALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA

The armed forces were considered by both Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza andthe unionist politicians to be a basic element of the principalities’ infrastruc-ture that was vital for the consolidation of the union. To accomplish the goalof consolidation, the leaders had to achieve the organizational union of thetwo armies.72 A first phase took place between February 1859 and December1861 and comprised troop deployment from one province to the other, com-mon maneuvers, and training camps. The first common maneuver was per-formed on 23 August 1859 in the village of Baicoi. The second phase in theunification of the two armies aimed to set up common command and leader-

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ship at the level of institutions and services and to found new units whilebeginning to adopt unique regulations.

Consequently, on 24 November 1859, the General Staff Corps of theUnited Principalities was established. One day earlier, Cuza had proclaimedthe total unity, so that the two ministries of war fused into a single ministrylocated in Bucharest. The union of the two Danube flotillas that took placeon 22 October 1860 laid the foundation for the Romanian navy that wouldlater be equipped with cannon steamships: Romania in 1864 and Stefan celMare in 1867.

As for the regulations, the Penal Military Registry was adopted for botharmies on 4 April 1860; it had already existed in the Wallachian army andwithin the Moldavian garrison service. On 25 May 1860, the Law on theUnited Principalities Armed Forces Training was adopted.

In 1861 it was decided that the regulations published in the ‘‘Monitor ofthe Army’’ would be mandatory for both armies. Beginning in the spring of1860, Romanian officers were sent abroad to study, participating in maneu-vers or training strategies in the modern foreign armed forces. In 1862 theunification of the two armies was completed.

With regard to the military institutions, on 1 February 1861 the Directorateof the Institutions for Artillery Materiel and the Logistics Corps were set up.In 1863 arms manufacture, the army’s arsenal, was set up. This meant thebeginning of the Romanian defense industry. The Medical Corps of Officerswas also established in 1863, and Dr. Carol Davilla was appointed generalinspector of the sanitary service over the entire army of the United RomanianPrincipalities. Due to discrepancies between the development of the militarybuds and the legislation that was in effect, there was a need to adopt a newlaw on the principalities’ armed power.

After the dissolution of the Electoral Assembly on 14 May 1864 and theproclamation of the Paris Convention, Prince Alexandru Ioan I sanctioned,on 9 December 1864, the law on the organization of the armed forces ofRomania. According to this law, the armed power comprised the permanentarmy and militias (frontier guards and dorobanti) and gloate (groups), theprince was the supreme commander, the minister of war was his intermediaryand commanded the army, and the General Staff was in charge of monitoringthe training process. The military branches were infantry (regiments com-posed of two battalions), artillery (regiments composed of eight batteries),artillerymen, engineering troops, the Danube flotilla, and administrative andauxiliary troops. Military service was compulsory between the ages of twentyand fifty and lasted six years, of which four were spent in active duty and twowere spent in reserve.

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THE GENERAL STAFF

The incipient forms of the General Staff arose in the fourth decade of the 19thcentury and were called the Stab of the regimental armies of the Romanianprincipalities.73 In the first year after unification, on 24 November 1859, theCorps of the General Staff of the United Principalities was set up, and in 1867the General Staff was reorganized into two departments: the General Staff,which was composed of brigade and division generals, commanders of thelarge operational units; and the General Staff Corps, which was composed ofsuperior officers. This was the structure of the General Staff during the Warof Independence of 1877–1878, when it led the first mobilization and theRomanian forces operated from their own headquarters on a distinct frontline.

In 1882 the High General Staff became a supreme military body, andthanks to the 1884 law on the staff service, it gained concrete responsibilitiesin drafting military campaign and mobilization plans. After a period of rela-tively poor activity during the years of neutrality (the operation plans forsome possible armed conflicts had been drafted: conflict with Russia and Bul-garia—‘‘Hypothesis C’’; conflict with Bulgaria only—‘‘Hypothesis A’’; withHungary only—‘‘Hypothesis B’’; and a simultaneous conflict with the Cen-tral Powers in the north and Bulgaria in the south—‘‘Hypothesis Z’’), the seri-ous defeat of the Romanian forces took place during the first months afterRomania entered World War I. The General Headquarters, which was underthe direct command of King Ferdinand, proved its combat capability after thecommand was assumed by Gen. Constantin Prezan in December 1916. TheHigh General Staff, being a fixed structure, was subordinated directly to theMinistry of War.

Following the reform of the military institution in 1936, the High GeneralStaff became the coordinating body in charge of the training and executionof the decisions made by the Defense Coordination Committee. World WarII presented a tough challenge to the High General Staff due to the deploy-ment of troops and the battles being fought far away in both the east and thewest under difficult conditions of terrain and military alliances. As Hitler hadassumed sole command over the anti-Soviet front, the High General Staff didnot command the Romanian troops that were part of the strategic-forcegroups led by German headquarters. After 7 September 1944, when theRomanian units became part of the Second Ukrainian Front, the High GeneralStaff had to face serious encroachments by the new Soviet ally. After the war,the Soviet model of the Red Armed Forces was imposed on the Romanianarmy and the entire country, and most of the officers and generals of the for-mer regime were exterminated in the Communist camps. Between 1955 and

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1968, the High General Staff had to meet the organizational and structuralrequirements of the Warsaw Treaty. However, after Czechoslovakia wasinvaded by the Soviet-led troops from Warsaw Treaty nations, a subtle separa-tion of Romania from the integrated military structures of the military blocdominated by the Soviet Union could be seen. Beginning in the 1980s, theautocratic dictatorship of Ceausescu excluded the Romanian Armed Forcesfrom the overall modernization of equipment and combat technique.

Between 1990 and 2002, the General Staff went through three stages ofreform and restructuring that had in view the model of the professional West-ern armed forces. The reform of the military body aimed both to advance theperformance and efficiency of the military body and to increase the interoper-ability level of all the components of the Romanian Armed Forces with thoseof NATO members.

THE CHIEFS OF GENERAL STAFF,74 1859–2004

• Col. Gardescu Grigore: 8 January 1860–29 January 1860• Maj. Samasescu Istrate: 30 January 1860–29 May 1860• Gen. Florescu Ion Emanoil: 30 May 1860–30 August 1860; 21 April

1861–1 May 1866• Brig. Gen. Slaniceanu Gheorghe: 27 April 1877–18 August 1877;

1878–22 February 1879; 1882–14 April 1883• Maj. Gen. Barozzi Constantin: 18 August 1877–20 October 1877; 1

October 1895–1 October 1898• Maj. Gen. Falcoianu Stefan: 20 October 1877–1878; 15 April 1883–23

May 1884; 13 January 1886–18 June 1894• Gen. Cernat Alexandru: 1881–1882• Col. Dona Nicolae: 23 May 1884–13 January 1886• Brig. Gen. Lahovary Iacob: 1 October 1894–1 October 1895• Maj. Gen. Poenaru Constantin: 1 October 1898–1 April 1901• Brig. Gen. Carcaleteanu Alexandru: 2 April 1901–1 April 1904• Brig. Gen. Tatarescu Nicolae: 2 April 1904–1 April 1907• Brig. Gen. Crainiceanu Grigore: 2 April 1907–1 November 1909• Gen. Istrati Ion: 2 November 1909–30 March 1911• Maj. Gen. Zottu Vasile: 31 March 1911–18 November 1911; 1 April

1914–25 October 1916• Maj. Gen. Averescu Alexandru: 18 November 1911–2 December 1913• Lt. Gen. Christescu Constantin: 3 December 1913–1 April 1914; 1 April

1918–28 October 1918; 1 April 1920–8 May 1923• Brig. Gen. Iliescu Dumitru: 25 October 1916–5 December 1916

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• Maj. Gen. Prezan Constantin: 6 December 1916–1 April 1918; 28 Octo-ber 1918–20 March 1920

• Brig. Gen. Gorsky Alexandru: 8 May 1923–1 October 1923• Maj. Gen. Lupescu Alexandru: 2 October 1923–21 June 1927• Maj. Gen. Samsonovici Nicolae: 22 June 1927–11 August 1932; 11

December 1934–1 February 1937• Maj. Gen. Lazarescu Constantin: 12 August 1932–30 November 1933• Brig. Gen. Antonescu Ion: 1 December 1933–11 December 1934• Maj. Gen. Sichitiu Ioan: 1 February 1937–1 November 1937• Maj. Gen. Ionescu Gheorghe Stefan: 2 November 1937–1 February 1939• Lt. Gen. Tenescu Florea: 2 February 1939–23 August 1940• Lt. Gen. Mihail Gheorghe: 24 August 1940–6 September 1940; 23

August 1944–12 October 1944• Brig. Gen. Ioanitiu Alexandru: 6 September 1940–17 September 1941• Lt. Gen. Iacobici Iosif: 18 September 1941–20 January 1942• Lt. Gen. Steflea Ilie: 21 January 1942–23 August 1944• Lt. Gen. Radescu Nicolae: 13 October 1944–6 December 1944• Lt. Gen. Sanatescu Constantin: 7 December 1944–20 June 1945• Maj. Gen. Ionascu V. Costin: 21 June 1945–27 December 1947• Lt. Gen. Popescu Gh. Constantin: 30 January 1948–18 March 1950• Maj. Gen. Salajan Leontin: 19 March 1950–26 April 1954• Gen. Tutoveanu P. Ion: 27 April 1954–15 June 1965• Gen. Ion Gheorghe: 16 June 1965–29 November 1974• Lt. Gen. Coman Ion: 30 November 1974–16 June 1976• Maj. Gen. Hortopan Ion: 1 July 1976–30 March 1980• Lt. Gen. Milea Vasile: 31 March 1980–16 December 1985• Maj. Gen. Gusa Stefan: 25 September 1986–28 December 1989• Lt. Gen. Vasile Ionel: 29 December 1989–2 May 1991• Lt. Gen. Cioflina Dumitru: 3 May 1991–22 January 1997• Lt. Gen. Constantin Degeratu, PhD: 23 January 1997–15 February 2000• Lt. Gen. Mircea Chelaru, PhD: 16 February 2000–30 October 2000• Gen. Mihail Popescu, PhD: 31 October 2000–25 October 2004• Gen. Eugen Badalan, PhD: 26 October 2004–October 2006• Adm. Gheorghe Marin: October 2006–present

CAROL I, PRINCE AND KING OFROMANIA, 10 MAY 1866–11 OCTOBER 1914

The forty-eight–year-long reign of Carol I, the founder of Hohenzollerndynasty in Romania, represented the longest reign in Romanian history.75

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Carol, the twenty-seven-year-old son of the former prime minister of Prussia,Prince Carol Anton of Hohenzollern, was an officer who had studied artilleryin Dresda. On 10 May 1866 he became the prince of Romania. In spite of theprofound reforms Cuza had enacted, Carol was taking leadership of a Roma-nia that still bore the burden of the feudal and Oriental infrastructure. Loyaland energetic, hardworking and rigorous, Carol remained a true Prussian—asevidenced in his spirit and acts—who was nevertheless devoted to his newcountry and watched the accomplishment of the three fundamental objectivesfor Romania: political stability, modernization of the country, and the contin-uation of the dynasty.

During the War of Independence of 1877–1878, Prince Carol commandedthe Russian and Romanian troops that faced Plevna and sustained the com-mand individuality and continuity of the Romanian Armed Forces on the Bul-garian front. The victory and subsequent recognition of Romania’sindependence raised the country to the rank of kingdom, and Carol and hiswife, Elisabeth of Wied (1843–1916), were crowned king and queen on 10May 1881, a day that was celebrated as a national holiday. Carol decided thathis crown would be made in the workshops of the arsenal of the armed forcesout of the steel forged from the Turkish cannons captured in Plevna.

After the defeat France had suffered in Sedan, in 1870, and taking intoaccount not only his roots but also the shift in the balance of power in Europeand the hegemonic tendencies of the czarist empire, Carol I approved thesecret signing by his prime minister, I. C. Bratianu, of a political and militaryalliance treaty in Vienna on 30 October 1883 with the Central Powers. In July1913, in his capacity as sovereign of a regional power, the king chaired inBucharest the peace conference that ended the Second Balkan War. KingCarol I died on the morning of 11 October 1914 at the Peles Castle in thePrahova Valley in the Carpathians, his soul having been shattered by the 3August 1914 decision of the Crown Council stating Romania’s neutrality,despite the provisions of the secret treaty signed in 1883.

THE INSTITUTION OF THEROMANIAN CLERGY

To continue the Christian belief and tradition according to which the Roma-nian princes never started a battle without a priestly blessing, in 1861 underCuza a church was set up within the 1st Line Regiment with the intention ofcreating a position of chaplain. On 6 April 1870, Prince Carol promulgatedHigh Decree No. 603, which approved the Regulation for the Clergy of thePermanent Army. According to this regulation, each independent regiment orbattalion could have a chaplain belonging to the dominant religion of Roma-

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nia. Consequently, the large units employed chaplains who functioned as partof the unit’s staff.

Between 1915 and 1920 within the High General Headquarters of theRomanian Armed Forces, the religious service functioned and was led by arector of the chaplains, P. C. Econom Constantin Nazarie. More than 250chaplains were alongside the Romanian soldiers in the ditches of WorldWar I.

In 1921, based on the law on the organization of the military clergy, thebishopric of the armed forces was built in Alba Iulia in the cathedral of Crow-ning and headed by an inspector of the military clergy (bishop) appointed bythe Holy Assembly of the Orthodox Church. He was given the rank of briga-dier general. Throughout World War II, the chaplains remained by the sol-diers’ side on both the western and eastern fronts. On 22 August 1948 theCommunist authorities disbanded the military clergy through an order of the3rd Military Region from Cluj-Napoca.

On 10 October 1995, in the Synod Hall of the patriarchal residence locatedin Bucharest, the All-Happy Priest Teoctist, patriarch of the Romanian Ortho-dox Church, and Gheorghe Tinca, the minister of national defense, in thepresence of the chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Dumitru Cioflina, signedthe Protocol on the Organization and Performance of the Religious Assis-tance within the Romanian Armed Forces. On 6 November 2000, the Parlia-ment of Romania adopted Law No. 195 on establishing and organizing themilitary clergy within the structures of the defense system: the Ministry ofNational Defense, Ministry of the Interior, Romanian Service of Intelligence,Foreign Intelligence Service, Guard and Protection Service, and SpecialTransmission Service.

THE LAW ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THEARMED FORCES OF ROMANIA

Both the Constitution of Romania, issued in 1866, and the basic liberal lawon the organization of the armed forces with the amendments introduced byconservatives in 1872 and 1874 formed the legislative frame necessary todevelop the Romanian military system. Thus, article 118 of the constitutionstated the citizens’ obligation to take part in the regular army, militias, orcitizens’ guards. According to the liberal law, approved on 23 June 1868, theprovision of the law issued under Cuza was retained; it stated that all the menbetween the ages of twenty and fifty had the duty to carry arms and serve inthe military (three years in active duty and four years in reserve).

The armed power of Romania was composed of five components: the per-

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manent army and its reserve, the corps of dorobanti and front guards, militias,the city guard, and the masses. The 1872 law stated that the permanent armyand troops of dorobanti and calarasi would form the campaign army(designed to fight on the front line), while militias formed the reserve(designed to fight on the second line).

CAROL POPP OF SZATHMARY, 1821–1887

The artist and first war-photo correspondent in the world,76 Carol Popp ofSzathmary was born in Cluj (the main city of Transylvania) into an old familyof Romanian boyars who originated from Satu Mare (a town in northernTransylvania). After attending the Calvinist college in Cluj, Szathmary con-tinued his studies in Vienna, gaining vast knowledge in a variety of subjects.In the spring of 1864, during the tough battles between the Russian and Otto-man armies in the first stage of the Crimean War, he installed his photographystudio and equipment weighing 60 kilograms in a tent on the shore of theDanube on the first front line, between Oltenita and Silistra. He took morethan 200 photos of great accuracy and high artistic value that showed thebattlefield, defense structure, camps, armament, fighters, and commanders ofboth sides. The photos were printed in his Bucharest workshop and collectedin an album entitled The Russian–Turkish War of 1853 and 1854. Unfortu-nately, no picture was preserved in its entirety. The album was displayed atthe Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1855 and offered to the royals of theperiod. Szathmary’s album was recognized as the first photographic report inthe world, having been compiled before the work that British photographerRoger Fenton did on the Crimean Peninsula.

During the War of Independence 1877–1878, Szathmary, in his capacityof official photographer of His Majesty Prince Carol I, was part of the teamof artists that accompanied the High General Headquarters of the Romanianarmy to the Bulgarian front. Szathmary set up his studio in the photographybranch of the Sanitary Service commanded by General Carol Davilla. It wasSzathmary who took the photographs of the General Headquarters in Pora-dim, the batteries located on the shore of the Danube, the Romanian emer-gency vehicles, the various camps of the Romanian and Russian army, theuniforms’ insignia, and the portraits of the Romanian and Russian soldiersand commanders.

THE AMERICAN BRIGADIER GENERALGEORGE POMUTZ, 1818–1882

George Pomut (Pomutz in English) was the first American citizen of Roma-nian origin who proved himself at a high military and diplomatic level in the

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United States.77 He was born on 31 May 1818 in Gyula, Hungary (close tothe current border between Romania and Hungary), to Romanian parents,Ioan and Victoria. He had two brothers, Constantin and Ioan, and all threechildren were baptized in the Orthodox religion. After he graduated from pri-mary school and high school in the Hungarian town of Kaposvar, he attendedthe Law University of Pesta and became a magistrate in Kaposvar.

In 1848, after the outbreak of revolution in Hungary, Pomutz joined theyoung Hungarian armed forces (the Honved) at the rank of captain, perform-ing his service in the fortified town of Komarom in western Hungary on theshore of the Danube. He did not take part in the military actions against theHapsburgs. In 1849, after the suppression of the revolution, Pomutz and otherHungarian revolutionaries emigrated to the United States. He arrived in NewYork on 15 February 1850. Along with other Hungarian immigrants, hehelped to establish a community in Iowa called New Buda. On 15 March1855 he received American citizenship.

After the beginning of the American Civil War on 2 April 1861, GeorgePomutz answered the summons of the governor of Iowa and joined the 15thInfantry Regiment as a lieutenant. Thanks to his experience and legal knowl-edge, he was soon promoted to the rank of deputy chief of the regiment. Themost important battle Pomutz took part in was the Battle of Shiloh. He wasseriously wounded on 6 April 1862. In 1863, Pomutz was promoted to majorand on the 1 August 1864 he took over the command of the 15th Infantryregiment during the siege of Atlanta. On 23 October 1864, he temporarilycommanded the Old Iowa Brigade under General Sherman. In November1864, Pomutz was a lieutenant colonel and in October 1865 he received thedesignation of voluntary colonel of the United States Army. RecognizingPomutz’s merits and services during the war, on 22 June 1867 the Depart-ment of War awarded him and 1,366 other officers the title of brigadier gen-eral of the voluntary forces of the U.S. army. According to the citation,Pomutz’s promotion occurred on 13 March 1865.

On 16 February 1866, the U.S. State Department appointed Pomutz to thepost of consul in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He assumed the position and in1874, he was promoted to the post of general consul. In that capacity, Pomutzwelcomed the former general and U.S. president of America, Ulysses S.Grant, who was on a world tour. But, suffering from serious health problems,in 1878 Pomutz was released from the position. For unknown reasons he con-tinued to live in Saint Petersburg, where he died in poverty on 12 October1882 from a cerebral hemorrhage.

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Chapter Eight

The War of Independence

1877–1878

The insurrections that occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the summer of1875 brought the Eastern issue to the attention of the Great Powers of Europe.Romania initially adopted a neutral position, but because the Ottoman gov-ernment had rejected the Romanian government’s proposals on the indepen-dence issue, Romania started negotiations with Russia. They drafted aconvention in the Crimean resort town of Livadia and signed it on 16 April1877. The convention allowed the Russian army to pass through Romania incase of war against the Ottoman Empire, while Russia guaranteed the integ-rity of the Romanian territory.

The Romanian War of Independence started at more or less the same timeas the bombing of the Romanian towns located on the shore of the Danube—Calarasi, Oltenita, Bechet—by the Ottoman artillery on 8 May 1877. TheOttoman retaliations resulted from the Russian forces’ incursions onto Roma-nian territory and Prince Carol’s refusal to oppose them. The next day, theRomanians bombed the Ottoman garrison of Vidin, on the southern Danubeshore. Shortly thereafter, the two chambers of the Romanian Parliamentpassed resolutions declaring a state of war between Romania and the OttomanEmpire. That allowed the minister of foreign affairs, Mihail Kogalniceanu, toannounce the declaration of independence on 9 May: ‘‘In a state of war, hav-ing the ties with the Porte broken, what are we? We are independents, we area nation in ourselves.’’78

Initially, the Russians refused the military cooperation proposed by theRomanians, but facing an impending defeat in Plevna, Grand Duke Nicolaehad to request military assistance from Prince Carol. The assistance wasgranted and the Romanian troops started crossing the Danube on 20 August

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1877, but only after the Russian high command had accepted the Romanianindividuality and unity of command. Prince Carol, the supreme commanderof the Romanian army, took over the command of the troops located in frontof the Plevna garrison (on Bulgarian territory). His chief of staff was the Rus-sian general Totleben.

Plevna was extremely well defended through a system of defense struc-tures full of trenches and twenty redoubts and was equipped with great firingcapacity thanks to its possession of Krupp cannons that were superior to thoseof the Russians. An energetic and competent Turkish general, Osman Pasha,commanded the garrison. Although they had no combat experience, the40,000 Romanian soldiers (among whom there were volunteers from Transyl-vania and Bucovina) closely surrounding Plevna compensated for that defi-ciency with a heroism that amazed foreign observers.

A defining moment of the war was the conquest of the redoubt Grivita I on30 August. After three assaults, the allied Russian and Romanian troops didnot succeed in conquering the Plevna fortification and chose to surround itdirectly. Gen. Osman Pasha was forced to surrender on 30 November 1877after a long siege and his failure to break the lines of the besiegers. At thesame time as the siege of Plevna, battles were fought between 7 and 9November 1877 to conquer the garrison of Rahova, from where 3,000 Otto-mans were threatening the rear line of the allied armies.

After Plevna was conquered, the Romanian troops took military actionagainst the Ottoman garrison of Vidin. In this campaign, the town of Smardan(currently on Bulgarian territory, on the southern part of the Danube) wasconquered on the 12 January 1878.

While land operations were being carried out, the Romanian navy attackedthe Ottoman ships on the Danube. The torpedo boat Swallow, which had aRussian and Romanian crew, sank the Ottoman monitor Duba Seiyfi onMacin (a branch of the Danube) on 12 May 1877, and a coastal battery ofsailors sank the armored Ottoman monitor Podgoritza on 7 November 1877.

After the war, in spite of the important Romanian military contribution tothe victory (the Romanians had more than 10,000 casualties), and despite theprovisions of the Russo-Romanian Military Convention dated 16 April 1877,Russia took the liberty of continuing to traverse Romanian territory en routeto Bulgaria. The czarist empire took, in the Treaty of San Stefano dated 19March 1878, the counties located in southern Bessarabia: Cahul, Bolgrad, andIsmail, offering Dobrudja and the Danube Delta in exchange. In 1878, thetension escalated to the point that Czar Alexander II threatened the takeoverand disarmament of the Romanian Armed Forces, which had already occu-pied defense positions on the border of the cities of Calafat, Slatina, andTargoviste, located in the eastern part of the former principality of Wallachia.

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HEROES OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

The fierce battles fought in Bulgaria against the Ottoman troops by the Roma-nian Armed Forces, alongside the Russian army, during the War of Indepen-dence demonstrated the remarkable heroism of many officers and soldiers.These men’s military deeds were indisputable, and the men turned into leg-ends whose names were later bestowed on streets and places in Bucharest andother cities.

Over the course of three attacks, the Romanian troops performed againstthe redoubt Grivita I from the defensive works of the Plevna fortifications on30 August 1877. During this time, many fighters heroically sacrificed theirlives: Maj. Gheorghe Sontu, the commander of two companies of theDorobanti 10th Regiment, and Capt. Valter Maracineanu were killed duringthe first assault, right after Maracineanu reached the edge of the citadel, hold-ing his sword in one hand and a tricolor flag in the other hand.

The same day, in the sole victory of the Russian–Romanian alliance on thePlevna front, saw deeds of great bravery by the commander of the 2nd Moun-tain Troops battalion, Maj. Alexandru Candiano Popescu (1841–1901), andfor the volunteer from Banat, Capt. Moise Grozea (1844–1919); Pvt. Ion Gri-gore, Sgt. Gheorghe Stan, and Corp. Vasile Nica were also awarded the highorder of the Star of Romania for capturing an Ottoman battle flag. In the bat-tles fought on 7 November 1877 to conquer the citadel of Rahova Major,Dimitrie Giurascu and Constantin Ene, along with many other officers andsoldiers, died heroically.

After the war, two of the cannons captured from Ottomans were sent toRomania in order to be placed on the two sides of Michael the Brave’s statuein the center of Bucharest.

THE THIRD BATTLE OF PLEVNA,30 AUGUST 1877

In order to conquer the redoubt of Grivita (built in the shape of a horseshoe),which was part of the strong defensive works of the Plevna fortifications, the3rd and 4th Romanian infantry divisions were being concentrated and sup-ported by two Russian battalions. The attack started with a series of artilleryfires, followed by the advance of the Romanian battalions under the artilleryresponse of the Ottomans. Ninety percent of the officers and 50 percent ofthe troops from the battalions of the first assault wave were killed. From thebattalion commanded by Capt. Valter Maracineanu, the only officer whoremained alive was the first lieutenant, Ioan Culcer, who would later become

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The War of Independence 109

a general during the Balkan War in 1913 and the battles of 1916–1917. Afterthe three heroic, but ineffective, assaults of 30 August 1877, the redoubt ofGrivita continued to resist until 5 p.m., when the 4th Romanian Infantry Divi-sion tried a final attack. The assault by the dorobanti and the mountain troopsunder the leadership of Maj. Alexandru Candiano Popescu resulted in a vic-tory at 7 p.m. but paid a price of numerous casualties. But this conquest ofthe redoubt became one of the most glorious pages in the Romanian militaryhistory.

Only after an extended siege and a final attempt by Osman Pasha to breakthe Russian–Romanian encirclement were the defensive works of Plevna bro-ken on 28 November 1877. The Romanian engineering troops, together withother units led by Gen. Alexandru Cernat, played an important role in thisvictory.79

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Chapter Nine

From the Middle of the 19th Century tothe Beginning of the 20th Century

After winning state independence, the Romanian Armed Forces went througha significant development and modernization process that touched all its com-ponents. The new independent status of the country, which also had a newterritorial configuration (southern Bessarabia was returned to Russia, whileDobrudja once again fell within Romania’s borders) made the provision ofthe 1858 Treaty of Paris a flimsy one, limiting the strength of the RomanianArmed Forces.

‘‘On March 26, 1881, Romania was proclaimed a kingdom and Carol Ibecame king of Romania. The 1878–1913 period was characterized by stabil-ity, consolidation by the state institutions, and economic advance, Romaniabeing named the Belgium of the Orient. Half of the twelve million Romanianswere, however, under foreign rule at the beginning of the 20th century: thosein Bucovina under the rule of the Hapsburg Empire, those in Bessarabiaunder Russian rule and those in Transylvania under Hungarian rule (Transyl-vania had been incorporated into Hungary losing its autonomy in the wake ofthe 1867 Austrian–Hungarian pact).’’80

Several laws on national defense and the organization of the armed forceswere issued in 1882, 1908, 1910, and 1913, each of them leading to changesin the structure of the Romanian military system in line with internationalevolutions in the field. In 1882 the General Staff of the Armed Forcesemerged as a new structure with a role that extended beyond its previousconsultative one: it took on the tasks of drafting the mobilization and cam-paign plans, of organizing and training troops, of training the command andstaff officers, and of drafting plans for the preparation for defense of theeconomy, territory, and population.

In the fall of 1889, the Superior School of War opened in Bucharest on

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From the Middle of the 19th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century 111

what is now Stirbei Voda Street. The school was designated for the superiortraining of staff officers, and the course lasted two years. As a symbol of thesovereignty and independence of the young Kingdom of Romania that wasnow fully involved in developing and modernizing in line with Western trendsafter centuries of strong Eastern influence, the Romanian Armed Forces wasa permanent presence of the public life of the Romanians and their leaders.Military parades and ceremonies were organized on the occasion of any cele-bration or official anniversary.

In 1909, the minister of war signed a contract with engineer Aurel Vlaicuto build in the workshops of the armed forces an airplane based on a Roma-nian concept. This plane was successfully tested on 17 June 1910. In the fallof the same year, Aurel Vlaicu participated with his plane in military maneu-vers, performing his first mission for the benefit of the armed forces. BesidesAurel Vlaicu, the engineers Traian Vuia and Henri Coanda made a remark-able contribution to the development of international aeronautics, realizingmany important inventions. Over the course of the next few years, the firstaviation school was set up (Chitila, 1911), and the first aviation park com-prised four H. Farman airplanes, model 1910.

On 1 April 1913, the Romanian parliament approved a law on the organiza-tion of the military aeronautics, and aviation became a branch within thearmed forces, participating with eighteen airplanes in the second war of theBalkans in the summer of 1913.

Along with the modernization and development of the military institutionsand structures, the turn of the century meant a process of building the appro-priate military establishments. Between 1859 and 1877, the main trends inthe field of construction had been established, and several remarkable build-ings that belonged exclusively to the Ministry of War were erected in thelargest cities of the country.

DEVELOPMENT AND MODERNIZATION OFTHE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES

In 1891, the permanent line regiments merged with those of the dorobanti,the outcome being thirty-three infantry regiments with three battalions each.In addition, the old cannons were replaced with those of 75 mm caliber(Romanian Krupp system, model 1904), and the cities of Bucharest, Focsani,Namoloasa, and Galati were fortified.

According to the law dated 29 March 1908, military service was performedby men aged between twenty-one and forty, and consisted of seven years ofactive duty, five years of reserve, three years in the militia, and four years in

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the territorial army. The length of service was two years for land forces, threeyears for cavalry, and four years for the navy. Men aged between nineteenand twenty-one were drilled in preregimental training.

At this time, the main components of the Romanian Armed Forces werethe active forces, composed of infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers, pio-neers, and machine-gun sections; the militias; and the territorial forces. Theunits of the armed forces were structured into brigades, divisions, and armycorps.

Although there were preoccupations with modernization and organization,the budget allocated for the period before World War I was lower than that ofthe neighboring countries. In Romania, it slowly increased from 3 percent to19 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), while Russia allocated 25percent of its GDP for its armed forces, Bulgaria allocated 25 percent, andAustria–Hungary allocated 15 percent. The scarce resources Romania allo-cated for the armed forces during this period explain the insufficient supplyof ammunition (for only four combat days in 1913) and the lack of sanitarysupplies.

AUREL VLAICU, 1882–1913

Aurel Vlaicu was born on 19 November 1882 in Bintinti, in the county ofHunedoara, into a family of peasants. In 1909, Vlaicu built and successfullytested a glider. A year later, with government sponsorship, he built Vlaicu I,an airplane that used a 50 cm3 Gnome engine. On 17 June 1910, he flew it adistance of 50 meters, at 4 meters above the ground. The demonstrationsVlaicu made on 1, 11, and 29 August 1910 situated the first plane he built atthe level of the highest performances reached until that moment.81

Taking part in the military maneuvers in the fall of 1910, Vlaicu provedthe usefulness of a flying machine in surveillance, reconnaissance, and liaisonmissions. Early in the spring of 1912, Vlaicu built an airplane called VlaicuII that was successfully tested in April of the same year.

With that plane, in 1912 and 1913, Vlaicu performed experimental andpopularization flights such as the one he flew during an international contestheld in Aspern, near Vienna, where more than 200,000 people admired theRomanian construction.

At the beginning of 1913, Aurel Vlaicu built his third airplane, a two-seatmonoplane, but on 13 September 1913, while attempting to fly over the Car-pathians in a flight symbolizing the desire for Romanian unity, the Romanianinventor crashed in Banesti, in the county of Prahova.

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TRAIAN VUIA, 1872–1950

Traian Vuia was born on 17 August 1872 in a village called Serducul Mic—now known as Traian Vuia—in Timis County. He attended elementary andmiddle school in his home village and high school in the town of Lugoj. Hebegan his studies at the Polytechnic School of Budapest, but after a year heabandoned them in order to transfer to the Faculty of Law, from which hegraduated successfully. He also earned a PhD there in 1901. On 27 June1902, with an interest in and fondness for mechanics, Vuia left for France.On 16 February 1903, Vuia forwarded to the Science Academy of Paris aproject entitled ‘‘The Automobile-Airplane Project.’’ Several months later,Traian Vuia forwarded the license of an automobile-airplane to the NationalOffice for the Industrial Property of the French Republic. The document wasregistered at position no. 3321067 and dated 17 August 1903, and was pub-lished two months later. In 1905 Vuia completed the first flying machine inthe Hochenios et Schmitt workshops. This plane took a 25 horsepower Ser-pollet engine.

On the 5 February 1906, Traian Vuia presented his airplane to importantpeople of the era, and on 18 March 1906, his plane made its debut flight froma field located near Montesson, France. His success was immediately recog-nized internationally and mentioned in such publications as L’aerophile,L’auto, the New York Herald, L’aeronautique, and Nouvelle histoire mondi-ale de l’aviation. Vuia flew the same plane on 12, 19, and 21 August 1906,the most successful flight being at 80 meters above the ground.82

Between 9 October 1906 and 30 March 1907, the Romanian inventor testedand improved the original incarnation of his airplane, called Vuia nr.1-bis.The beginning of World War I incited Vuia to engage in constant studies tobuild a helicopter. The prototype was finished in 1920 and tested in Junissy,France.

HENRI COANDA, 1886–1972

Born in Bucharest on 8 June 1886, Henri Coanda studied electromechanicalengineering in Liege and Montefiore, Italy, where he and an Italian colleague,Gianni Caprone, built a glider.

In 1910, he exhibited the first jet plane, called a turbo propulsor at theAeronautic Hall of Paris. The plane Coanda flew the short distance betweenIssy and Moulineaux made the well-known engineer Gustave Eiffel wonderand say, ‘‘Young men, you were born thirty years too early.’’83

Over the course of his life, Coanda constantly made achievements in the

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fields of aeronautics and hydrodynamics. Between 1911 and 1914, whileserving as technical director of Bristol Factories in England, he designed andbuilt monoplanes, biplanes, and hydroplanes.

After 1932, Coanda started studying the depressurization effect, and onlya year later an invention that applied it was licensed. The invention quicklybecame popular. Moreover, professor Albert Metral called Coanda’s soundstudy of the same effect the Coanda Effect. The list of Coanda Effect applica-tions includes hypersustainable engines, the French high-speed train, andtransport systems in vacuum environments.

For his scientific achievements, in 1960 Coanda was awarded the ScientificResearch Merit by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO). In addition, in 1961 he received the Military Medalof French Aeronautics, the Romanian order ‘‘For Merit’’ at the rank of com-mander, and, in 1970 the Old Tigers Great Golden Medal.

Coanda died on 10 November 1972, having returned to Romania.

MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS

Among the first barracks built in Bucharest were the Alexandria barracks(1864) and Cuza barracks (1865), both located in Dealul Spirii; and the Mal-maison barracks, which was rebuilt in 1862. Other military establishmentswere the armed forces’ arsenal (1862), the weapons manufacture (1863), andthe Pyrotechnics of the armed forces (1861). The following buildings wereconstructed for the use of the armed forces throughout the country: Copoubarracks (1875) and the gunpowder factory in Iasi, the infantry barracks(1863) in Ploiesti, and the flotilla workshop in Galati, on the Danube shore.However, more than half of the members of the military were stationed insubstandard conditions, in rented buildings or buildings that were unsuitablefor the military activities and requirements.

After 1878, thanks to the conditions provided by the new Romanian fron-tiers (the Peace Treaty of Berlin returned to Russia the territory between thePrut and Dniestr rivers—currently the Republic of Moldova—while Romaniaregained Dobrudja), the diversity and locations of the military buildingsincreased. There were buildings for infantry, artillery, engineering, flotilla,military establishments, education, hospitals, training fields and camps, andfiring ranges. The first stage consisted of repairing the old and damagedbuildings. Then, buildings to lodge troops were temporarily bought or rented.Only in the last two decades of the 19th century were buildings constructedspecifically to fulfill the needs of the armed forces.

Thus, ‘‘Major Gheorghiu’’- and ‘‘Captain A. Pavlo’’-type barracks were

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built in a decentralized structure. In Bucharest were built the Ilfov 4th Regi-ment barracks (in 1898) at 21 Stefan Furtuna Street (the present-day MirceaVulcanescu Street), the Dorobantilor barracks (in 1886), and the Vanatorilorbarracks (also in 1886).

During the same period, between 1866 and 1909, the Bucharest fortifica-tion system was erected. Seventy kilometers long, it was shaped like a beltand had eighteen forts that could shelter several hundred cannons and 33,000soldiers.84

DECORATIONS, 1859–1998

The first bestowal of a Romanian medal dates to the era of Prince BarbuStirbey, the voievode of Wallachia. After him, Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuzacreated the medals of Pro Military Virtue (1860), Military Virtue (1864), andthe Union Order. Due to the restrictions the Porte imposed on Romania, itwas not until 1872 that Carol I earned the right to issue two medals, BeneMeriti and the Military Virtue, and an honorific insignia. After the War ofIndependence of 1877–1878, the winning of national independence and therecognition of the new judicial statute of Romania allowed, through adequatelegislation, the establishment of the Star of Romania order.85 This legislationwas introduced again through the Emergency Ordinance of the Governmentof Romania No. 11, dated 29 June 1998, as the highest Romanian nationalorder to reward exceptional civil and military service to Romania. The ordercomprises six levels, or ranks.

Other developments after Romania’s independence were the instatementsof the Danube Crossing and Elisabeth crosses, and the Independence Defend-ers and Loyal Service medals. These additions to the existing insignia createda true system and hierarchy of Romanian decorations. The proclamation ofthe Kingdom of Romania in 1881 was marked by the establishment of thesecond national order, the Crown of Romania. In addition, the highestnational distinction, the Order of Carol I, was established in commemorationof the forty years of Carol I’s rule. This order was valid until 1947.

In 1916, in the middle of World War I, the highest war order was createdto recognize heroism and bravery. This order, originally called Michael theBrave, and was renamed on 18 October 1944 the Order of Michael the Bravewith Swords. The law on reorganization of the national orders of Romania,dated 18 April 1932, brought about changes in the hierarchy of the Romaniandecorations, insignia ribbons, and their classes, and it was followed in 1937by the law on the national orders and medals awarded in wartime, with anapplication regulation issued in 1938. A new disposition on the awarding of

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war decorations was issued through a royal decree dated 30 June 1941, just afew days after Romania joined World War II.

THE ROMANIAN NAVY

In 1883, five years after Dobrudja was returned to Romania, the country hada fluvial and maritime border that was approximately 1,000 kilometers long.At this time, the Romanian navy consisted of a flotilla, which had six shipsof differing tonnage, five barges, and a torpedo section; the flotilla’s arsenal;and navy training schools. In 1886, the navy contained 54 officers, 44 civil-ians, and 952 soldiers.86

In 1896, the Romanian navy was organized as follows: the Sea Division,which comprised the cruiser Elisabeta, the vessel training ship Mircea, thegunboat Grivita, and the torpedo boats Naluca and Sborul; the Danube Divi-sion, which comprised the warship Romania, the gunboats Bistrita, Oltul, Sir-etul, and Alexander the Good; the torpedo boat Soimul; the flotilla’s crewdepot; four companies of harbormen providing fixed and mobile defense; theflotilla’s arsenal; the Navigation and Harbors Inspectorate; and schools,depots, and workshops.

In 1914, the Romanian navy consisted of the Sea Division and the DanubeDivision, which comprised the Danube squadron, the Galati–Tulcea–Sulinadefense group, and the Cernavoda–Fetesti defense group. The strength of thenavy before Romania’s entrance into World War I was 2,563 sailors, out ofwhom 147 were officers, 98 were warrant officers and civilian craftsmen, and2,242 were troops and reenlisted men.

REPRESSING THE GREATPEASANT UPRISING OF 1907

Erupting on 8 February 1907, on the land leased to the Jewish Ficher brotherslocated in the village of Flamanzi in Botosani County (in the northeasternpart of the country), the peasant uprising spread all over the territory of Mol-davia and touched even more violently Muntenia and Oltenia counties. Theboyars’ houses were set on fire, the mayors’ houses were attacked, and therebel peasants even tried to enter the county capitals. There were indicationsof Russian encouragement of the uprising as well as peasant attacks on themilitary. Horrible atrocities against civilians were reported.

Invoking the regulation of the garrison service, on 26 February 1907 thegovernment ordered the first intervention by the armed forces. As the uprising

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spread, all the units of the 4th Army Corps were mobilized, and on 3 March1907 emergency headquarters was set up in Iasi (in northeastern Moldavia)to maintain order. On 12 March 1907, the country’s state of siege wasacknowledged for the first time, and Prime Minister D. A. Strudza, along withMinister of the Interior I. C. Bratianu and Gen. Alexandru Averescu, issued aplan to reestablish order and public safety. The kingdom was thus dividedinto twelve areas of operation, and the intervention forces against the rebelpeasants had, depending on the situation, the size of a platoon or a battalion.In this severely repressive operation, the military used the new Manlichermachine guns and Krupp cannons. Due to the massive and brutal interventionof the armed forces and the great number of peasants who were shot (a coupleof hundred) and arrested (a couple of thousand), the danger that had threat-ened the stability of the new state was eliminated in only eight days.87

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Chapter Ten

Romanian Participation in theSecond Balkan War

The campaign of the Romanian Armed Forces in Bulgaria during the SecondBalkan War in June–July 1913 affirmed Romania’s status as the mainregional military power. However, it was a short and striking war withoutcasualties or armed conflicts with the Bulgarian troops.

As a consequence of Bulgaria’s attack on Serbia on 16 June 1913, the con-servative government led by Titu Maiorescu, with the approval of King CarolI, chose a military option to solve conflicting Romanian and Bulgarianclaims. The Romanian aim was to ensure a strategic frontier in southernDobrudja, and to deter an eventual Bulgarian hegemony supported by theRussian and Austro–Hungarian empires in the Balkans. The mobilization ofthe Romanian Armed Forces began on 20 June 1913. The Romanian troopsimmediately crossed the Danube, passed through Dobrudja, and occupied thetowns of Silistra, Turtucaia, Dobrici, and Balcic without fighting.

In order to avoid the entrance of the Romanian troops into Sofia, on 5 July1913, the Radoslavoff government sent to the Maiorescu government anarmistice note, which led to the signing of a peace treaty on 28 July 1913 inBucharest. The treaty gave the southern Cadrilater district back to Romaniaand brought a significant international prestige to the Romanian kingdom.However, that instant success hid serious logistical and organizational defi-ciencies of the Romanian Armed Forces that would be paid for only threeyears later. For example, during the campaign in Bulgaria, the great enemyof the Romanian soldiers was cholera, which could not be cured.

MOBILIZATION OF THE ROMANIANARMED FORCES, 1913

Romania called for mobilization on 3 July 1913, and the action started twodays later. The High War Headquarters of the Armed Forces was divided into

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Romanian Participation in the Second Balkan War 119

two components: the High Headquarters, based in the city of Corabia on theDanube shore, was in charge of the operational command of the armedforces; the General Staff in Bucharest was in charge of the office-based activ-ities and was subordinate to the Ministry of War.88

During this period, the Romanian Armed Forces was composed of fivearmy corps, headquarters, ten division commands, ten mountain-troop battal-ions, ten infantry regiments, eight cavalry regiments, ten artillery regimentsof six batteries each equipped with 75 mm cannons, two fortress artilleryregiments, one siege artillery regiment, five pioneer battalions, two telegraphcompanies, one fortress pioneer company, one engineer battalion, one trans-port battalion, one special battalion, and an aeronautic service. Beginning inNovember 1913, to those forces were added five light howitzer divisions (105mm), one heavy howitzer division (150 mm), and a mountain cannon division(75 mm).

The combat forces in peacetime comprised 122 active battalions, with 180machine guns, 80 reserve battalions, 83 squadrons, 126 field gun batteries,15 howitzer battalions, (105 mm caliber), 2 heavy howitzer batteries, and 2mountain batteries. The total strength of the armed forces was 6,149 officersand cadets, and 94,170 reenlisted and troops.

For the campaign performed in Bulgaria, Romania mobilized five reservecorps, two cavalry divisions, and one cavalry brigade. In total, the mobilizedarmy contained 247 battalions, 93 squadrons, and 180 batteries, and had astrength of 10,000 officers and 460,000 soldiers, which represented 6 percentof the country’s population at the time.

THE ADVANCE OF THE ROMANIANARMED FORCES INTO BULGARIA

Bechet and Corabia were the two places where the Romanian High Headquar-ters placed crossing points at the Danube. The first, located across fromRahova, was set on military boats, and the second was located where the Iskerflows into the Danube and set on a pontoon bridge. The aim was to exploitthe Bulgarian roads and railways. Protected by watchmen, the Romaniantroops started crossing the Danube on 25 July 1913. Even before all of thetroops had time to cross the Danube, and before all the divisions could finishorganizing and grouping themselves, the High General Headquarters orderedthe troops to continue the advancement in order to control the northern endsof the narrow valleys of the Balkans, before the Bulgarian forces haddeployed their defense.89

While preparations were being made to cross the mountains and take the

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troops to the plateau of Sofia (the Bulgarian capital) the corps in Dobrudjacontrolled the territory between the border and the Turtucaia–Balcic line, andoccupied the city and fortress of Silistra on 20 July 1913. On the same day,the Romanian troops entered the Cadrilater district, which was under Roma-nian control, and Romanian garrisons were built in the former Bulgariancities of Silistra, Balcic, Bazargic, Turtucaia, and Curtbunar.

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Chapter Eleven

From the Danube to the Tisa River

1914–1919

The beginning of World War I, in the summer of 1914, found the kingdomand the armed forces of Romania in a delicate and contradictory situation:although the national goal of the Romanians was the union with their brothersfrom Transylvania, Romania had signed a secret alliance with the CentralPowers in 1883. Unlike the agreement with the Central Powers, the Ententehad realized the Romanians’ secular aspirations. Having to follow politicaldecisions, the General Staff had nothing to say, neither in 1914 nor 1916. Thedecision of neutrality endorsed by the Crown Council session on 21 July1914, which more or less denounced the Treaty of 1883, allowed the militaryto begin drafting war plans against the Central Powers.

The neutral position Romania adopted, together with the defeat of the Ser-bian armed forces, led in 1915 to major difficulties in the western allies’ abil-ity to provide the necessary supplies to the Romanian Armed Forces. Theincreased number of units did not have the appropriate equipment or combattechnique. The shortfalls of the campaign in Bulgaria during the Second Bal-kan War increased rather than diminished, as did the moral and professionaldeficiencies of Gen. Dumitru Iliescu, who had replaced Gen. Vasile Zottu inthe position of chief of the General Staff (the latter was suspected of cooper-ating with the enemy). To a great extent, all these factors led to the severedefeat the Romanian Armed Forces suffered in late 1916. At the same time,during the years of neutrality, there were myriad illegitimate business dealscentering on the purchasing of supplies and equipment. All this increased thechaos, as well as a certain degree of corruption, which had already existedwithin the military body. Moreover, the liberal government, led by I. C. Brati-anu, had underestimated the enemy and did not understand the political andgeostrategic context or the position of the Entente’s forces.

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Right after signing the military convention with the powers of Entente, on4 August 1916, the Romanian Armed Forces began to mobilize, and on thenight of 15 August 1916 launched a northern offensive in Transylvaniaagainst Austria-Hungary, and went on the defensive on the Bulgarian borderin the south. Actuated by the idea of liberating Transylvania, the Romanianbattalions crossed the Carpathians, winning a quick and facile victory in thefights carried out for the liberation of Brasov on 16 August 1916. However,the euphoria of that success was immediately canceled out by the severedefeat the Romanian troops suffered on the southern front at the hands of theGerman and Bulgarian troops on 24 August 1916 in Turtucaia.

Faced with such a disaster, Gen. Alexandru Averescu drafted and initiated,on 18 September 1916, the bold operation of crossing the Danube and attack-ing, near the village of Flamanda, the German and Bulgarian troops com-manded by General von Mackensen. This operation was known as the Turnof Flamanda. At the same time, on the Transylvanian front, the German, Aus-trian, and Hungarian troops, strengthened with forces brought from the west-ern front and led by General E. von Falkenhayn, started a strongcounteroffensive. This German counteroffensive led to an early stop of theRomanian operation on the southern part of the Danube on 22 September1916. In spite of the heroic resistance of the Romanian battalions, the forcesof the Central Powers succeeded in forcing their way in to the Jiului Valley,conquering the city of Targu Jiu on 2 November 1916, and occupying Olteniaand Muntenia counties in the former province of Wallachia. Meanwhile, theGerman and Bulgarian units crossed the Danube at Zimnicea on 11 Novem-ber 1916. The last Romanian military resistance to defend the capital wasbroken during the battles of Neajlov and Arges rivers, so that on 23 Novem-ber 1916 the troops of the Central Powers entered Bucharest after the authori-ties and the royal family had left hastily for Moldavia.

During the severe winter of 1916–1917, a spectacular recovery of theRomanian Armed Forces took place, determined by several factors. First, theleadership of the armed forces was purged of incompetent elements. Gen.Constantin Prezan (assisted by the future marshal, Maj. Ion Antonescu, whofunctioned as chief of operations) was appointed chief of the High Headquar-ters and Gen. Alexandru Averescu was appointed commander of the 2ndArmy. Second, the Entente’s combat materiel and weapons started to arrivein bulk from Russia, and this was followed by the energetic contribution ofthe French military mission led by Gen. Henri Berthelot. Third was the prom-ise King Ferdinand had made to the soldier peasants during their meeting inthe village of Racaciuni on 23 March 1917 regarding the agrarian reform anduniversal suffrage. A special role in preserving the morale and will to fight ofKing Ferdinand and his armed forces, as well as in consolidating Romania’s

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From the Danube to the Tisa River 123

diplomatic connections and international political and military alliances, wasplayed by Queen Marie, niece of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and CzarAlexander II of Russia.

In the summer of 1917, three big battles took place. The first, whichoccurred in Marasti on 11–19 July 1917, was an offensive operation launchedby the units of the second army commanded by Gen. Alexandru Averescu incooperation with the Russian 4th Army. Although the strategic significanceof these battles on the front as a whole was reduced, and the operation wasinterrupted because Kerensky’s government decided to suspend Russian par-ticipation, this battle marked the first time in eleven months of war that theGerman troops ran away and were defeated by the Romanians. The other twobattles were defensive: Marasesti (24 July–6 August 1917) and Oituz (26July–9 August 1917), with the Romanians’ great victory consisting of theirheroic resistance and annihilation of General von Mackensen’s plans todefeat the Romanian Armed Forces and expel Romania from the war. TheRomanians’ advantage on the battlefield could not be exploited because ofevents that occurred in Russia, where Lenin had taken power and signed theTreaty of Brest Litovsk, forcing Romania to negotiate an armistice and peacewith the Germans in the village of Buftea, near Bucharest, and to sign a dra-conic peace with the Central Powers on 7 May 1918.

On 9 April 1918, the Country’s Assembly in Chisinau voted by a largemajority to unite Bessarabia with the Kingdom of Romania. Similarly, a fewmonths later, on 15 November 1918, the General Congress of Bucovina votedunanimously in Cernauti (the provincial capital) to unite the province withthe mother country, Romania. Meanwhile, as the military situation on thewestern front was changing in favor of the Entente’s powers, and as theAustro–Hungarian Empire was dying out, the Transylvanian lieutenant IuliuManiu (a future preeminent leader of the rightist party), coming from theItalian front, found in Vienna five thousand disciplined Romanian military ofthe 64th Orastie Regiment. Taking over the command of these troops, as wellas the command of the sixty thousand Romanians from Transylvania servingin the Austro–Hungarian army, Iuliu Maniu maintained order for two months(October–November 1918) in the former Hapsburg capital, which was on theverge of breaking out in total anarchy. In Alba Iulia, Transylvania, on 1December 1918, the 1,228 delegates of the National Assembly, supported byanother hundred thousand Romanians, voted for the union of the provincesof Transylvania and Banat with Romania.

Because of the defeat the armies of the Central Powers suffered on allfronts starting in the summer of 1918, Romania—placed under the burden ofthe Peace of Bucharest, which returned the province of Dobrudja to Bulgariaand subordinated the economy to Germany—initialized the second mobiliza-

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tion of its armed forces on 28 October 1918. However, this mobilizationcould not be executed until March of 1919 due to logistical difficulties andthe poor transportation capabilities.

Right after the Great Union of 1 December 1918, the reunited youngRomanian state found itself threatened from the east and the west by two Bol-shevik powers: Lenin’s Soviet Russia and Bela Kuhn’s Hungarian SovietRepublic. To restore peace, authority, and order in Transylvania, a first Roma-nian offensive was launched on 16 April 1919 against Bela Kuhn’s Red units.In order to gain some time, Kuhn asked for an armistice on 2 May 1919.Hoping to see Romania cracked by Soviet pliers from east to west, after afew weeks, Kuhn’s units attacked Miskolcz’s Czechoslovakian units and thenthe Romanian units situated on the left side of the Tisa River, winning occa-sional victories. The Romanian counteroffensive, which was launched on 31July 1919 through a strong artillery bombing, preceded the crossing of theTisa and concluded rapidly on 4 August 1919, when the Romanian troopsentered Budapest, obliterating the Lenin-inspired so-called Hungarian Coun-cils Republic. During the Romanian army’s four-month-long occupation ofHungary, its behavior was proper and had a strong humanitarian character inits treatment toward the civil population.

The extent of Romania’s participation in World War I was that in 1,087days of military actions, one million soldiers fought on a 1,600 km front,339,000 died or disappeared, and another 276,000 were wounded. In addition,Romania spent 72 billion golden lei (Romanian currency) that were producedby the Central Powers.

MOBILIZATION OF THE ROMANIANARMED FORCES, 1916

According to the mobilization plan for the year 1916–1917 and the opera-tional documents known as Hypothesis Z, at the order of the RomanianSupreme Command, during the night of 27–28 August 1916 the followingforces were mobilized:90

• the High Headquarters• 4 army corps headquarters• the army corps (from 1 to 4) and the divisions from 11 to 16• 2 infantry divisions• 1 frontier guard brigade• 5 cavalry brigades• 2 brigades and 2 heavy artillery regiments (a total of 32 batteries)

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• a regiment and a heavy artillery battalion (a total of 13 batteries)• the air defense (113 air defense guns)• bridgehead artillery in Turtucaia, Silistra, and Cernavoda (26 batteries

and 52 turrets)• position artillery (20 batteries)• engineering troops (a railway regiment, a pontoon regiment, a special

battalion, and one aerostatics company)• aviation (4 squadrons, amounting to a total of 28 aircraft)• automobile corps• the fortress of Bucharest and the fortified region Focsani-Namoloasa-

Galati• stationary parts and internal formations

On the whole, there were 336 battalions mobilized (with 413 field machineguns and 161 position machine guns); 104 squadrons (with 410 machineguns); and 379 batteries consisting of 55 artillery guns, 233 field batteries,13 mountain batteries, 32 heavy batteries, 20 batteries that could be placed indifferent positions, and 26 fixed batteries.

The total mobilized force comprised 833,601 soldiers, out of whom 19,843were officers and cadets and 813,758 were reenlisted and enlisted troops. Theoperation consisted of 658,088 soldiers (15,949 officers and 642,139 troops),with 576,408 in the operational army, 20,922 in the fortress troops, and60,758 in the service formations.

The operational army comprised structures, services, and branches, ofwhich 90 percent were combat forces and 10 percent were service forces, inthe following formation:

• 1.8 percent general headquarters: 600 officers and 2,820 soldiers• 81 percent infantry: 8,116 officers and 413,839 soldiers• 4 percent cavalry: 722 officers and 21,037 soldiers• 9 percent artillery: 1,763 officers and 47,046 soldiers• 4 percent engineering: 376 officers and 18,844 soldiers• 0.2 percent aviation: 40 officers and 1,000 soldiers

THE BATTLE OF TURTUCAIA, 1916

On 18 August 1916, the German and Bulgarian troops launched an offensiveto occupy southern Dobrudja and break the Danube line of defense on a largefront; the main concentration of forces aimed to capture the Romanian garri-son of Turtucaia.91 To meet the challenge of Turtucaia, on 22 August 1916

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the headquarters of the 3rd Army ordered the 9th Infantry Division to inter-vene and support the attacked units. On 23 August 1916, the German andBulgarian troops launched another attack against the bridgehead in Turtucaia,breaking the main defensive position and moving forward on a front that wasalmost 10 km long. Engaged on the border between Silistra and Turtucaia,the 9th Romanian Infantry Division did not succeed in supporting the troopsin Turtucaia, who were surrounded and annihilated; 160 officers and 6,000soldiers died or were wounded, 480 officers and 28,000 soldiers were takenprisoner, and only 5,500 military escaped the encirclement.

THE MANEUVER OF FLAMANDA,18–22 SEPTEMBER 1916

In order to balance the situation on the southern front after the drastic defeatsuffered in Turtucaia, Gen. Alexandru Averescu thought of an ingeniousmaneuver. It involved crossing the Danube on Bulgarian territory through thesector of Flamanda and then surrounding the German and Bulgarian troopswith the Romanian and Russian troops that were positioned in Dobrudja.92

The maneuver started well, causing the headquarters of General von Mack-ensen to panic, but a torrential rain and a storm broke the pontoon bridge andraised the waters of the Danube. This allowed the Austrian and Hungarianmonitors to approach and bomb the passing the Romanian troops. The offen-sive launched at the same time by General von Falkenhayn in Transylvaniaforced the Romanian General Headquarters to order the cessation of the Fla-manda maneuver and the retreat of the troops to the northern shore of theDanube. After the war, in 1918, General von Mackensen acknowledged thatif the Romanians had continued the maneuver and the crossing of the Danube,his troops would have been lost.

THE BATTLE FOR BUCHAREST AT THE NEAJLOVAND ARGES RIVERS, NOVEMBER 1916

Facing the concentric advance of the German troops from the northwest andfrom the south toward Bucharest (the Germans sought to eject Romania fromthe war), the Romanian General Headquarters decided to defend the capitalcity on the Neajlov and Arges in what would be called the Romanian Marnabattle. On 11 November 1916, the commander of the North Army, Gen. Con-stantin Prezan, was appointed commander of the Neajlov–Arges Group ofArmies.93 Although during the first eight days of combat the Prezan group of

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armies had real chances for success, the superiority of the German armamentand technique and the capturing of the operational plan by the enemy in thevillage of Gaesti led to the Romanians’ defeat. As a consequence, the Roma-nian authorities left hastily for Moldavia, and the troops of the Central Powersentered Bucharest on 23 November 1916.

THE ORDER OF MICHAEL THE BRAVE

The Order of Michael the Brave was established through a royal decree dated26 September 1916, right after Romania joined World War I.94 In the begin-ning, it did not have any rules attached to it, and the conditions under whichit was awarded and worn were not stated; rather, they were established bypractice. It was only on 21 December 1916 that the law stated that ‘‘the orderis awarded for exceptional deeds of arms to officers that distinguished them-selves in front of the enemy.’’ Much later, in 1938, a royal decree laid out thecriteria for awarding and wearing the order. The Order of Michael the Bravewas awarded exclusively to officers for their exceptional deeds of war, mean-ing acts performed by unit commanders under enemy fire. These deeds couldbe acts of personal bravery, initiative, or resistance. In 1936, those who wereawarded the order received a uniform comprising a cloak and a hat very simi-lar to those worn by Wallachian voievode Michael the Brave in 1600. Theknights of the order put on the uniform on all official occasions, when officerswere asked to wear their ceremonial uniforms, and on all national or patrioticcelebrations organized by the state.

This high Romanian Order of War was awarded to 38 military units ofWorld War I and 302 soldiers of World War I together with 870 others fordeeds of arms in the eastern campaign and 415 in the western campaign ofWorld War II. In addition, 211 foreign officers from the United States, Yugo-slavia, Russia, England, France, Germany, and Italy received this order dur-ing the two world wars.

MARSHAL ALEXANDRU AVERESCU, 1859–1938

Born on the 9 March 1859 in Ismail, Dobrudja, the future marshal of Roma-nia, Alexandru Averescu, graduated from the School of Arts and Crafts inBucharest (1876), the Divinity School of Dealu Monastery (1881) and theSuperior School of War in Torino, Italy (1886). He served as a volunteer inthe War of Independence (1877–1878), but in 1879, because of his poorhealth, he joined the militia with the rank of second lieutenant. He was pro-

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moted to brigadier general in 1906 and became marshal of Romania in 1930.At the age of thirty-five he was appointed commander of the Superior Schoolof War (1894–1895). Then, for two decades, until World War I, he held suchimportant military positions as military attache in Berlin (1895–1898), com-mander of the Rosiori (cavalry) 4th Regiment (1898–1899), chief of theOrganization and Operations Section of the General Staff (1899–1904), com-mander of the Rosiori (cavalry) 1st Brigade (1904–1906), minister of war(1907–1909), commander of the 1st Infantry Division (1909–1911), chief ofGeneral Headquarters (1911–1913), and commander of the 1st Army Corps(1914). During World War I, General Averescu commanded the group ofsouthern armies (1916) and the 2nd Army (1916–1918). After the war, enjoy-ing huge popularity and public trust, he served as prime minister from 29January to 4 March 1918. Subsequent to this, he dedicated himself to politicallife, holding important state positions: president of the Council of Ministers(13 March 1920–16 December 1921; March 1926–June 1927), minister offinance (1927), and state secretary and councilor to the Crown (1938).

In addition to completing a political and military career, Averescu engagedin research and published many works. He is the author of some importantmilitary books such as The Tactics (three volumes, issued between 1887 and1889), The War Game (1903), Officer’s Guidance (1904), Flamanda Opera-tion (1924), Daily War Notes: 1916–1918 (2 volumes, 1937), and especiallythe controversial political-military essay ‘‘The Responsibilities (published in1918).

Averescu also founded the new edition of the magazine Military Romania(1891), and in 1923 he was elected an honorary member of the RomanianAcademy.

A complex and sometimes controversial personality,95 Marshal AlexandruAverescu was one of the most brilliant military men of his epoch. He died on1 October 1938.

GENERAL HENRI MATHIAS BERTHELOT

The man whom the Romanians would ruin with the nickname ‘‘Big-Stomached General’’ was born in Fleurs, France, on 7 December 1861. Gen.Henri Mathias Berthelot graduated from Saint Cyr Military School (1883)and the Superior School of War in Paris (1890).

He was assigned various positions, serving as a commander and a special-ist in infantry units deployed in different garrisons in Algeria and France andthen being promoted state secretary of the General Staff Committee (1907);deputy of the General Headquarters (1913, 1914); commander of the fortified

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sector of Soissons (1914–1915), the 33rd Reserve Infantry Division (1915),and the 3rd and 32nd Army Corps (1915–1916); chief of the French militarymission to Romania (1916–1917); commander of the 5th Army and the Dan-ube Army in 1918. After World War I, he was appointed governor of the citiesof Metz (1919) and Strasbourg (1932), and member of the Superior Councilof War (1920). He retired in 1926. Berthelot took part in the campaigns forTonkin (1883–1885), and in the main battles fought on the French front:Marne 1 (5–12 September 1914), Soisson (12–14 January 1915), Verdun (12March–10 June 1916), and Marne 2 (15–17 July 1918). On 3 October 1916Berthelot arrived in Bucharest in the position of chief of the French militarymission to Romania,96 which comprised more than 1,400 military, out ofwhich almost 400 were officers. In that capacity he provided advice to theRomanian General Headquarters, being also a general of the RomanianArmed Forces since 1916. He actively participated in rebuilding the armythat withdrew to Moldavia (in the winter of 1916–1917) and in drafting theoperational plans for the Marasti, Marasesti, and Oituz battles fought in thesummer of 1917.

After the war, General Berthelot was declared an honorary citizen of manycities of Romania, a country where he was highly respected. He died on 28January 1931.

MARSHAL CONSTANTIN PREZAN, 1861–194297

The future marshal, Constantin Prezan, was born on 27 January 1861 in Buti-manu, a village in the district of Ilfov. Prezan graduated from the followingeducational institutions: the Military School for Infantry and Cavalry Officersin Bucharest (1880), the Artillery and Engineering Special School in Bucha-rest (1883), and the Artillery and Engineering Application School in Fon-tainebleau, France (1886).

Prezan started his career in the 2nd Engineering Battalion, and then he heldsuch positions as professor at the Artillery and Engineering ApplicationSchool, Bucharest; delegate of the Ministry of War in Germany (1890); chiefof sector for the construction of the fortress of Bucharest (1896); commanderof the 13th Infantry Brigade (1904); commander of the 3rd and 7th InfantryDivisions (1910–1911), the 3rd and 4th Army Corps (1914–1915), and theNorth Army (1916); and commander of the General Prezan group of armies(November–December 1916). He was also chief of the General Headquarters(5 December 1916–1 April 1918) and chief of the General Staff (October1918–April 1920).

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Prezan also received the following promotions: second lieutenant (1880),captain (1887), colonel (1901), brigadier general (one star, 1907), divisiongeneral (two stars, 1914), army corps general (three stars, 1917), and marshal(1930). He stood out in finalizing the fortification works of Bucharest and incommanding some large operational and strategic units during the SecondBalkan War, and in the campaigns of 1916–1917 (the Flamanda operation inlate 1916 and the battle of Marasesti in summer 1917). He also taught manyspecialties, such as a fortification course. He died on 27 August 1942.

MARSHAL ION ANTONESCU, 1882–194698

Ion Antonescu, the future marshal and head of the Romanian state, was bornin Pitesti on 2 June 1882. He attended the Military School for Infantry andCavalry Officers (1902–1904) and then the Superior School of War (1909–1911). In 1917 he was a lieutenant colonel and in 1920 he was promoted tothe rank of colonel. He received the rank of brigadier general (one star) in1931, then that of division general (two stars) in 1937, army corps general(three stars) in 1940, army general (four stars) in 1941, and marshal of Roma-nia in 1941, after the victory of the Romanian Armed Forces against the Sovi-ets in Bessarabia.

During World War I, Antonescu was chief of the Operations Office in thestaff of the North Army (August 1916) and of the Prezan group of armies(November 1916). Until 1920, Lieutenant Colonel Antonescu was chief ofthe Operational Bureau of General Headquarters. He spent the periodbetween the two world wars first in Paris as a military attache in 1922, andthen in London and Brussels (1923). He was appointed chief of the CavalryTraining Center (1926–1927), of the Superior School of War (1927–1929;1931–1933), and of the 5th, 6th, and 8th Rosiori (cavalry) brigades (1929–1931). The highest military and civil positions came next: chief of the Gen-eral Headquarters (1933–1934), chief of the 3rd Army Corps (November1938), minister of national defense (1937–1938; 1940), minister of the airforce and navy (1938), president of the Council of Ministers and head of state(5 September 1940–23 August 1944), and minister of foreign affairs (Janu-ary–June 1941).

Antonescu demonstrated remarkable skills by drafting the operationalplans for the campaigns of 1916 and 1917. He also displayed a strict attitudetoward incompetence and corruption, both of which were often found in hissubordinates, superiors, or other dignitaries.

Acceding to the position of head of state in September 1940, after the abdi-cation of King Carol II, Antonescu joined the Tripartite Pact on 23 November

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1940 and installed an authoritative regime. He quickly moved, on 21–23 Jan-uary 1941, to suppress the revolt of his former nationalistic and extremistgovernment partners from the Iron Guard. On 22 June 1941, Romania joinedGermany in the war against the Soviet Union, with the aim of liberating Bes-sarabia and northern Bucovina, the historical provinces (territories occupiedby the Soviet Union through the forceful policy of an ultimatum given in June1940). During the entire Eastern Campaign (22 June 1941–23 August 1944),Antonescu remained loyal to Hitler and kept the promises he had made tohim, all the while tolerating the secret negotiations carried out by differentRomanian groups with representatives of the United Nations in Istanbul andStockholm. A palace plot instigated by King Michael I (son of Carol II) gotAntonescu arrested on 23 August 1944. He was then judged and sentenced todeath for war crimes by the People’s Court, which had been instituted by thepro-Soviet Communist authorities who had taken power in Romania on 6March 1945. He was executed as a criminal of war on 1 June 1946 in Jilavaprison.

KING FERDINAND I OF ROMANIA, 1865–192799

Ferdinand was born in 1865 in Sigmaringen Castle in Germany, the secondson of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Princess Antonia ofPortugal. Ferdinand went through all the steps of the military hierarchy fromthe rank of second lieutenant (1886) to that of army corps general (1911). In1913, holding the rank of general, Prince Ferdinand commanded the Roma-nian Armed Forces during the campaigns of the Second Balkan War. Becom-ing king of Romania in September 1914 after the death of his uncle Carol I,he took the oath of office before Parliament, pledging to be ‘‘a good Roma-nian.’’

During the Crown Council of 14 August 1916, Ferdinand identified himselfwith the Romanian national ideal, supporting Romania’s desire to enter thewar on Entente’s side. This is why he was later called ‘‘Ferdinand the Loyal,’’although the House of Hohenzollern de Sigmaringen repudiated him for hisdecision.

After the retreat of the royal family, government, and army to Moldavia,Ferdinand established his residence in Iasi and stood out for his dedicationand sacrifice, contributing to the recovery of the Romanian Armed Forces andto the victories won in the summer of 1917 in the battles of Marasti,Marasesti, and Oituz. He refused to ratify the Bucharest Peace Treaty withthe Germans in 1918. He confirmed through decrees the Great Union of 1918

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of Bessarabia (March), Bucovina (November), Transylvania, Banat, and Mar-amures (all December 1918) with Romania.

On 15 November 1922, he and Queen Marie were crowned in the Reunifi-cation Cathedral in Alba Iulia, and his crown bore the coat of arms of thereunited provinces of Bessarabia, Bucovina, and Transylvania. In 1923 hepromulgated the Constitution of the Kingdom of Romania, one of the mostmodern fundamental laws of that epoch in Europe.

Crown Prince Ferdinand’s wife was Princess—then Queen—Marie (bornin 1875 in Eastwell Park, Kent, Great Britain, died in 1938 in Peles Castle,Sinaia, Romania), the niece of Queen Victoria and Czar Alexander II. Ferdi-nand and Marie had six children: Carol (king of Romania from 1930 to 1940),Elisabeta, Marie, Nicolae, Ileana, and Mircea.

King Ferdinand I the Reunifier died on 20 July 1927 and was buried inCurtea de Arges Monasery, where the Romanian royal dynasty placed itstombs.

ECATERINA TEODOROIU, 1894–1917

Born on 16 January 1894 in the village of Vadeni in Gorj County into a largefamily of peasants, Ecaterina Teodoroiu attended primary school in her homevillage. She then went to Bucharest where she applied to secondary school toaccomplish her dream of becoming a teacher. She joined the RomanianScouts Association, progressing from being a member to leading a scoutgroup. After she graduated from secondary school, Ecaterina wanted to con-tinue her studies, but the events of the summer of 1916 would not allow herto do so. Wishing to contribute to her country’s victory, she volunteered as anurse to take care of the wounded military brought to Tırgu Jiu and joinedthe ambulances on the front line in Jiului Valley.

While the enemy was threatening to reoccupy all of Oltenia, Ecaterinadecided to stay with the soldiers after one of her brothers died defending themountains of northern Oltenia County. After witnessing the death of anotherbrother, Nicolae, Ecaterina was prompted to request official enlistment in theGorj 18th Regiment to replace Nicolae, who had fought in that regiment. Shebecame a private in the 8th Company, 2nd Battalion of the Gorj 18th Regi-ment, which was led by Lt. Gheorghe Gheorghitoiu.

During the night of 4–5 November 1916, Ecaterina Teodoroiu was takenprisoner together with some comrades. Thanks to her sangfroid, she managedto escape and rejoin her company the same night. Seriously wounded in bothlegs, on 6 November 1916 Ecaterina Teodoroiu was taken to a hospital in

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Craiova, then to Bucharest, and finally to Iasi. After she recovered a little,Ecaterina Teodoroiu started taking care of the wounded soldiers brought tothat hospital, too. While she was there, she received the honorary rank ofsecond lieutenant.

In the winter of 1917, Ecaterina Teodoroiu left for the Lupeni 43th/59thRegiment, which belonged to the 11th Infantry Division and was deployed tothe Dumitresti–Galatei area. She asked the commander to put her with a sub-unit and was assigned to the 7th Infantry Company.

For her bravery, in the spring of 1917 she was awarded the Military Virtue,a decoration that was worn with the Scout Virtue awarded by the headquar-ters of the Great Scout Legion of Romania.

During the combat actions in battle of Marasti (July–August 1917), Ecater-ina led her platoon, part of the 7th Company, 2nd Battalion. Her platoon waskept in reserve for a period of time, but on 22 August she stopped heedingher commanders’ advice and left for the front line. During the attack that tookplace during the night of 22 August, the enemy’s bullets shot her down.

On 24 August 1917, she was mentioned in the Daily Order No. 1 of the43rd/59th Infantry Regiment by the regiment’s commander, Constantin Pom-poniu.

THE BATTLE OF MARASTI,11–19 JULY 1917

After a preliminary artillery bombing, on the morning of 11 July, the 2ndArmy commanded by Gen. Alexandru Averescu, in cooperation with the Rus-sian 4th Army, took the forces of the Central Powers by surprise, starting theoffensive in the sector of Marasti and winning a victory on the very first day.Over the course of the following days, the German and Austro–Hungariandivisions were forced to retreat, and the Romanian and Russian troops con-quered 500 square kilometers and liberated thirty villages. After nine days ofcombat, as the Central Powers started their offensive on the front in Galitiaand Bucovina (northern provinces held by the czarist empire), the Russiangeneral Scerbacev—following the order received from the Kerensky govern-ment in Moscow—requested that the offensive stop and the Russian troopsbe replaced and redirected toward Bucovina. Although the success of the 2ndArmy could not be repeated, it had a tremendous impact on the morale of theRomanian soldiers who saw for the first time, after eleven months of war, theremarkable German troops led by famous General Mackensen running away,imprisoned and abandoning their armament.100

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THE BATTLE OF MARASESTI,24 July–6 AUGUST 1917

After the severe defeat suffered in Marasti, the German headquarters planneda combined action involving the German 9th Army and the Gerok group ofthe 1st Austro–Hungarian Army, aiming to break the defense of the 4th Rus-sian Army in the area of of Focsani-Marasesti-Adjud and to conquer the Pan-ciu–Marasti alignment. The German offensive started with the explosion ofchemical weapons and was followed by classic artillery firing against theRussian positions, subjecting the Russian 7th Army Corps to critical circum-stances. This situation led to the request for the intervention of the Romanian1st Army, led by Gen. Constantin Christescu (who was later replaced by Gen.Eremia Grigorescu because of friction between Christescu and the Russiangenerals). In those thirteen days of harsh battle, the powerful German attackscould not break the defense positions of the Romanian 1st Army.

During this conflict, there were military deeds that entered the legend ofthe Romanian Armed Forces. In particular, there was mention of the bayonetattack when the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion of the Mircea 32nd Regiment,wearing only their shirts and lacking helmets, fought on 25 July in the sectorof Moara Alba. There was also the heroic counterattack of the 13th InfantryDivision in the forest of Razoare on 6 August. There were also outstandingactions by individuals, too, such as those of Grigore Ignat (who died in thebattle of Razoare), and Ecaterina Teodoroiu (who died in the battle of thesector of Varnita-Muncelu). The troops of the Central Powers did not accom-plish their strategic objectives and were defeated by the heroic resistance ofthe Romanians.101

THE BATTLE OF OITUZ,26 JULY–9 AUGUST 1917

The headquarters of the Central Powers planned at the same time, and in con-nection with the battle of Marasesti, the quick breaking of the Romaniandefense in the Oituz sector of the 2nd Army, which was commanded by Gen.Alexandru Averescu and which, together with the troops on the left flank ofthe Russian 9th Army, should have stopped the enemy’s breaking into the oiland coal area of Targu Ocna-Moinesti-Comanesti, thus stablilizing the entireRomanian front. The battles focused on stopping the two attempts of the Aus-tro–Hungarian 8th Army Corps, subordinated to the Gerok group, to enterTrotusului Valley. For almost two weeks, the preparatory artillery firings, fol-lowed by frontal and flank attacks and counterattacks by the infantry (espe-

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cially to conquer or defend Ciresoaia Peak, which at a height of 772 metersdominated Trotusului Valley) succeeded on both sides, and the German andAustro–Hungarian troops did not manage to accomplish their objectiveseither.102

GEN. EREMIA GRIGORESCU, 1863–1921

Gen. Eremia Grigorescu was born on 28 November 1863 in Targu Bujor andcompleted the following courses of study: the Officers’ School (1884), theArtillery and Engineering Application School in Bucharest (1886), two yearsof mathematics at the Sorbonne in France (1887–1889), and two years of spe-cialization in artillery and administration at the French Ministry of War(1887–1889).

After he returned from Paris, Grigorescu served as deputy director anddirector of the Gunpowder Works of the Armed Forces in Dudesti, nearBucharest (1899–1904), and the head of the Artillery Department (1905). Heheld various positions such as commander of the 3rd Artillery Brigade(1906), commander and math teacher at the Artillery and Engineering Appli-cation School in Bucharest (1904), director of personnel in the Ministry ofWar (1913), commander of the 14th and 15th Infantry Divisions (1915–1916), Commander of Group 4 Oituz-Vrancea (1910–1917), general inspectorof the armed forces (1918), and minister of war (24 October–28 November1918).

Grigorescu stood out in organizing and conducting the first battle foughtat Oituz (August 1916), where the defending of the narrow Carpathian valleystarted with the motto ‘‘You can’t cross by here!’’ The large unit commandedby Gen. Eremia Grigorescu was called the Iron Division in the battle ofMarasesti when, as the commander of the 1st Army, he successfully facedthe group of armies led by General von Mackensen.

Gen. Eremia Grigorescu was promoted to brigadier general (one star) in1915, division general (two stars) in 1917, and army corps (three-star gen-eral) in 1918. He died on 21 July 1921.

THE FIRST ROMANIAN ARMY OFFENSIVEIN TRANSYLVANIA, 1919

The Government of the Republic of Councils in Budapest, led by BolshevikBela Khun, refused to respect the demarcation line established by the alliesin Transylvania, so on the night of 15–16 April 1919, it launched an offensive

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on the Somes and Crisul Repede valleys, advancing toward the cities of Zalauand Cluj. Commanded by Gen. Gheorghe Mardarescu, the Romanian troopsorganized into two groups: the northern group being led by Gen. TraianMosoiu and the southern group being led by General Mardarescu, who imme-diately started the counteroffensive in order to force the Hungarians to with-draw beyond the Carpathians. Between 30 April and 1 May 1919, theRomanian troops reached the Tisa River and joined the Czechoslovakiantroops in Munkacs.103 On 2 May 1919, the Bolshevik government of BelaKuhn had to start peace negotiations, aiming to buy time to plan and launcha new offensive.

THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCESIN BUDAPEST, 1919

Gathering a force of almost 50,000 people and counting on significant artil-lery support, the Kuhn government launched a surprise attack on 20 July1919 against the Romanian troops in the Szolnok sector, succeeding in win-ning Tisa.104 Without expecting the approval of the Supreme Allied Head-quarters and using only its own forces, the Romanian headquarters organizedthe counteroffensive in only four days, ordering the units commanded by gen-erals Traian Mosoiu and Aristide Leca to advance from two convergent direc-tions in order to surround the Hungarian forces. Starting on 27 July 1919, theRomanian troops began to cross the Tisa and managed to knock the Hungar-ian 1st Army Corps out of the battle on 2 August, so that on 3 and 4 August,the first rosiori (cavalry) squadrons entered Budapest, followed by the restof the Romanian troops. Early in August, the Romanian troops succeeded indisarming six Hungarian divisions and defeating the last Red Hungarianresistance at the Tisa and Danube rivers. On 14 November 1919, after theyhad granted substantial humanitarian aid to the Hungarian population andrefrained from intervening in internal political issues, the Romanian troopsleft Budapest, trusting the allied troops with the guarding of the bridges overthe Danube.

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Chapter Twelve

The Interwar Period

After the Great Union of 1 December 1918, the new state had an area(295,049 sq. km) that placed it among the medium-sized states of Europe anda population of approximately 16 million, twice the population of the oldKingdom of Romania, whose foundation had been laid a little more than acentury before.105 Through the introduction of universal suffrage, the applica-tion of a radical land reform, the adoption of a new constitution in 1923, andother developments, conditions favorable for a fast economic developmentwere created. Evidence of this auspicious situation was the fact that in 1937Romania was the second-largest European and the seventh-largest producerof oil in the world.

Due to the monumental changes made in the newly unified Romaniankingdom, during the interwar period, the Romanian armed forces had to coverthe largest territory in its history. At the same time, it needed to win signifi-cantly increased demographic support. Dazzled by the fact that the Romani-ans’ oldest dream of unification had come true to an extent that was hardlyimaginable before the war, the Romanian politicians were not interested inclarifying and rectifying the basic shortfalls that had existed in the armedforces at the beginning of the war.

However, the Romanians had discovered hero worship. On 12 September1919, the Society for the Tombs of the Heroes Fallen in Combat, chaired byQueen Marie herself, was established. Hero worship also marked the politicaland social landscape in the 1920s: Gen. Alexandru Averescu, a well-knownwar hero who was called ‘‘the myth of the ditches,’’ was several times desig-nated by King Ferdinand to join in the act of governing.

The 1930s meant the controversial personality and reign of King Carol II,who like his father, King Ferdinand, was a constant and proud wearer of themilitary uniform. His taste for ostentation and display brought on subtlechanges to the Romanian military uniform: it got a more accentuated English

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line, starting with the hat and ending with the cut of the jacket. The numberof uniforms an officer needed climbed to twenty-one.

From the organizational point of view, it was significant that the DefenseCoordination Committee comprised the president of the Council of Ministersand the ministers of national defense, air, navy, and acquisitions. The GeneralStaff was subordinated to this committee and was reorganized in 1935. In1931 the Territorial Air Defense Headquarters was established, but it did notsucceed in providing the proper equipment to the newly created units. A forti-fication system was designed, focusing especially on the western front, inBanat, and on the southeast, in Dobrudja, from where the revisionist states ofBulgaria and Hungary could pose a threat. This system ultimately was sub-stantially reduced because of a lack of funds. Thanks to the development ofa strong and competitive national combat aircraft industry, military aviationexperienced remarkable progress. In 1925 in Brasov, the city where the IARplanes were going to be produced, the Romanian Aeronautic Industry corpo-ration was set up. On 13 November 1936 the Ministry of Air and Navy wasestablished and given autonomy from the Ministry of National Defense.Symptomatic for this period was the infamous Skoda scandal of corruption,fraud, and espionage. The scandal related to the endowment of the armedforces, and generals as well as politicians were involved.

When the equilibrium among the major European powers collapsed withthe rise of Nazi Germany, Romania saw itself becoming increasingly isolated.In the first place, it found itself between two great rival powers: Germanyand the Soviet Union. But on 23 August 1939, these countries signed theRibbentrop-Molotov Pact and, in a secret document of the pact, delimitedtheir spheres of influence, with the Romanian province Bessarabia, the Balticstates, and Poland being reserved for Soviet interest. In the second place, suchneighbors as Hungary and Bulgaria displayed revisionist tendencies that Ger-many and Italy encouraged.

A novelty in the Romanian political landscape was the crystallization of anextreme right movement, the Iron Guard, which introduced murder as a polit-ical weapon. In 1938, King Carol II, who had renounced the throne in 1925but returned to the country as King in 1930, proclaimed a royal dictatorship,the first authoritarian regime in the country’s history.106

NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THEWORSHIP OF HEROES

According to international understandings and the Christian tradition of car-ing for the remains of heroes fallen in World War II, the Decree-Law No.4106 (dated 12 September 1919) established the Society for the Tombs of the

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The Interwar Period 139

Heroes Fallen in Combat. The aims of this society were, according to ArticleNo. 3 of its statute, ‘‘to discover the places where tombs of those who died incombat could be; to take care of those tombs and to organize there the Memo-rial Day.’’

On 31 May 1927, according to the Law on the War Tombs in Romania, theaforementioned society changed its name to the Society for the Worship ofHeroes.107 In accordance with the new legislation, war tombs were consideredto be all the tombs worldwide of Romanians who had died for the liberationand raising of the Romanian nation; the tombs of soldiers of belligerentstates—friends or foes—located on Romanian territory were treated the sameas national tombs. All national and foreign tombs were considered publicmemorials, be they isolated or grouped in graveyards. The activities of thissociety took place under the auspices of the Ministry of War.

On 27 July 1940, the new Law on Tombs and Memorials Regime wasdecreed; it instated essential changes to the 1927 law. For instance, the law’sname included the term memorials, which meant ‘‘buildings, tombs, plaques,crucifixes, chapels or any other works done or that will be done to commemo-rate those who died in combat.’’ The Queen Marie National Establishmentfor the Worship of Heroes was charged with the application of this law. Theestablishment took over the entire jurisdiction of the former National Societyfor the Worship of Heroes. The society functioned under this name until 29May 1948, when it was discontinued through Decree No. 48 of the GreatNational Assembly Presidium because of ideological and propagandisticmotivations of the new Communist authorities. The only tombs that were notneglected by the Communist authorities were those of the Soviet soldiers.Only after 1990, the former General Inspectorate for Culture from the Minis-try of National Defense set up an office occupied with preserving the militarytraditions and historical patrimony. Along with other units of the Ministry ofNational Defense, this office updated the collection of documents thataddressed this issue.

In 1991, the Committee for the Restoration and Caring of Heroes’ Tombsand Graves was established through the judicial Decision No. 664 dated 19November 1991 and issued by the Sector 1 Court of Bucharest. Then, on 28August 1998, that committee became the National Society for the Worship ofHeroes, which continues the original activities of the Society for the Tombsof Heroes.

TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

In 1923, based on the 1920 Law for Honoring the Heroes Fallen in Combat,it was decided to bury the mortal remains of an unknown soldier in Carol

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140 Chapter Twelve

Park, Bucharest, on the Day of Ascension, which became Heroes’ Day, tosymbolize the sacrifice of all those who had lost their lives for nationalunity.108 On 14 May 1923, the cadet Amilcar Sandulescu, a twelve-year-oldwar orphan, selected the unknown hero from ten identical coffins that con-tained the bones of ten unknown heroes, saying the words ‘‘This is myfather!’’ On 17 May 1923, the coffin containing the bones of the unknownhero, with King Ferdinand and Queen Marie walking beside it, was taken toCarol Park and buried in a distinguished military and religious ceremony.

In December 1958, to make room for the Communist mausoleum (whichstill exists on a platform in Carol Park), the pro-Soviet general Emil Bodnarasdecided to transfer the bones of the unknown hero to Marasesti, in front ofthe Heroes’ Mausoleum—a mausoleum complex built in the interwar periodon the former World War I battleground. After thirty-three years, on 24 and25 October 1991, the bones of the unknown hero were taken back to Bucha-rest and reburied in Carol Park with a special military and religious cere-mony.

BIRTH OF THE ROMANIANAERONAUTIC INDUSTRY

After the Aeronautic Arsenal, located on Cotroceni Hill in Bucharest, theASTRA factory109 of the city of Arad, which formerly specialized in wagons,was the second Romanian company opened after 1923 that built aircraftaccording to Romanian plans. For example, Proto-2 surveillance aircraftswere built there and then assigned to the Military Piloting School in Tecuci.

The Romanian Aeronautic Industry factories (IAR) were built in Brasov in1952 as a joint stock company, with shares belonging to the Bleriot-SpadCompany, Lorraine-Dietrich, ASTRA (which contributed specialized person-nel and equipment), and the Romanian state. The first Romanian fighter IAR-11CV was built there in 1930 according to the plans of engineer Elie Carafoli.Until 1942, another twenty-five types of such aircraft were built there. Themost famous of them was IAR-80, a fighter that was made entirely of metal,equipped with a retractable undercarriage, and reached a maximum speed of510 kmh. Beginning in 1943, the IAR factories built IAR-81, a monoplanediving fighter that could transport two bombs of 50 kilograms each underits body and a 250-kilogram bomb under its fuselage; the armament aboardconsisted of 7.92 mm machine guns and two 20 mm guns. Between 1929 and1933, the IAR factory also built serial aircraft under French and Britishlicense, such as Lorraine-Dietrich, Gnome-Rhone, Havilland Gipsy Major,and even Mercedes-Benz.

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In 1924, the Constanta Transport Society also started building four hydro-planes, whose test flight took place on 15 August 1925, Navy Day. Finally,in Bucharest, the Romanian Aeronautic Construction Factories (ICAR),which was set up in 1932, started building the first acrobatic, training, andtourist serial planes.

After suffering serious damages and losses during the Allied bombings ofWorld War II and because Romania was not granted cobelligerent status bythe 1946–1947 Paris Peace Conference, part of the Romanian aeronauticindustry between 1945 and 1950 was disbanded and the rest was reorientedtoward peacetime production.

FIRST HEROES OF ROMANIAN AVIATION

Although Romania had no chance of becoming an aviation powerhouse, itdid not lack remarkable civilian and military pilots who were recognized ininternational competitions and individual performances. During World WarII, some of these pilots became heroes of Romanian military aviation, on boththe eastern and western fronts.110

One of these distinguished pilots, Lt. Cmdr. Gheorghe Banciulescu, had aparticularly dramatic destiny. On 12 September 1926, during a nonstop flightfrom Paris to Bucharest in his attempt to win the Bibescu Cup, he had anaccident and lost his legs. A mere two years later, he became the first pilot toperform an acrobatic flight with protheses on both legs and then to continueto take part in difficult international raids.

In this vein, Constantin Bazu Cantacuzino was probably the most brilliantfigure of Romanian aviation between the wars, earning renown in both inter-national and domestic competitions because of his flights performed with theplane turned upside down and very close to the ground. On 25 August 1944,Bazu Cantacuzino, as a representative of the new pro-Allied Romanian Gov-ernment, performed a risky flight successfully: in a Messerschmidt-109G, heflew over Yugoslavia—which was still occupied by German troops—fromBucharest to the Allied base of Foggia, Italy, to establish direct contact withthe American Aviation Headquarters and also to transport Lt. Col. JamesGunn, the former commander of that air base whose plane had been hit andcrashed on the Romanian oil fields in the spring of the same year.

Air force captain Alexandru Papana also had great success, especially inthe United States. In competitions there, he took first place in the small-aircraft category in a New York-to-Los Angeles race in 1936, and in the acro-batic air competition in Los Angeles. He also excelled in the speed flight

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142 Chapter Twelve

between Miami and Havana (13 December 1936) and the Championship ofthe Two Americas (16 December 1936).

Air force captain Mihai Pantazi (who was the first moral supporter of Lieu-tenant Commander Banciulescu’s return after his tragic accident), after set-ting the world record for the longest nonstop flight by hydroplane (twelvehours and three minutes), was the initiator and organizer of the first threeaircraft acrobatic formations called the Red Devils, which flew in 1934 underthe bridge built over the Danube in Cernavoda.

The first female pilot licensed in Romania (on 24 January 1914)—and oneof the first ten female pilots in the world—was Elena Caragiani. She per-formed the first flights to provide health assistance on the Romanian frontduring World War I. Also among the first female pilots who performed mili-tary maneuvers and proved their skills in aviation performances in interna-tional raids were Irina Burnaia, Marina Stirbei (the first holder of a militarylicense), Mariana Dragescu, Nadia Russo, and Virginia Dutescu. DuringWorld War II, Dragescu and Russo formed the renowned White Squadron,which performed such dangerous tasks as surveillance, liaison missions, andcasualty transport on the eastern front.

Another accomplished woman was the pilot and paratrooper SmarandaBraescu, who on 2 October 1931 set the first female world record, jumpingfrom a height of 6,000 meters onto the Baragan Plain in Wallachia. Heraccomplishments were cemented on 10 May 1931 in Sacramento, California,when she again became number one by jumping from a Cessna aircraft flyingat 7,233 meters, and landing on ground situated between the Pacific Oceanand Sierra Nevada. In 1936, Braescu became the first female pilot in theworld to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Rome to Tripoli (the major NorthAfrican city) in six hours and ten minutes.

NATIONAL MILITARY MUSEUM

An incipient military museum could be found within the Romanian ArmedForces ever since 1893, when the local depots belonging to the Arsenal of theArmed Forces started to store uniforms, flags, military techniques, and armsthat had not been used since Prince Cuza’s time. Finally, on 24 April 1914,a military section started functioning as part of the National Museum, and on15 November 1919, the location of the National Military Museum was set inCarol Park, Bucharest. After three years of efforts to collect, select, and clas-sify the objects and documents belonging to the military patrimony, of whicha lot was lost during World War I in the refuge of Odessa, on 18 December1923, King Ferdinand signed a decree making the National Military Museum

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an important institution of the armed forces. Initially, the museum had seven-teen halls and eight galleries that illustrated military history from the firstyears of the Moldavian and Transylvanian principalities up to 1922, focusingon the War of Independence and World War I. In 1924, a library was set up forthe purpose of preserving documents, photographs, movies, and manuscripts.

The National Military Museum was first reorganized in 1927: it now cov-ered history from the Paleolithic Age until 1922, and an honor hall was cre-ated. The museum was altered again in 1932, when a distinction between thehistorical part and other sections was made. Unfortunately, a fire that startedon 15 June 1938 destroyed a great part of the military patrimony. The recon-struction of the museum in Carol Park was completed in 1942, but under Ger-man pressure, the musuem was demolished in the summer of 1943, itscollection being transported to the Carpathian resort town Sinaia.

On 9 May 1957, reorganized on Communist ideology and renamed theCentral Military Museum, the museum opened its doors in a building of theformer School for Infantry and Cavalry, located on Izvor Street in Bucharest.It opened to the public thirty halls of permanent exhibitions and an artillery,aviation, and armor section whose depositories held important collections ofbooks, arms, uniforms, medals, sculptures, and flags. Closed for rebuildingbetween 1972 and 1975, the Central Military Museum had to move againbecause of the demolitions ordered by Ceausescu to make way for his Houseof the People (now Parliament Palace). In 1986 the military museum wasmoved to its current location—a regimental barracks from the 19th century—and it reopened to the public on 23 October 1988.

In 1990, the museum reacquired the designation ‘‘national’’ and becamemore dynamic than ever, focusing on attracting audiences of all ages. In2002, the museum was reorganized into two sections—museography and sci-entific research—besides the permanent exhibition, the temporary ones, andthe thematic ones (i.e., medieval, modern, and contemporary armaments, har-nesses, Romanian uniforms and accessories, aeronautics, artillery, andarmored vehicles).

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Chapter Thirteen

From the Caucasus and Stalingrad toBudapest and Vienna’s Porte

Upon the outbreak of World War II, Romania proclaimed its neutrality on 6September 1939. In written ultimatums on 26 and 28 June 1940, the SovietUnion forced the Romanian Kingdom to return Bessarabia, which had shakenoff Russian rule in early 1918, as well as northern Bucovina (which had neverbelonged to Russia, but had belonged for a while to the Hapsburg Empire).According to the Vienna Dictate of 30 August 1940, after the German–Italianultimatum, Romania was forced to give the northwestern part of Transylvaniato Hungary, and under the Treaty of Craiova on 7 September 1940, it had tosurrender the southern part of Dobrudja (called the Quadrilater, a region thatwas incorporated into Romania in 1913, following the Second Balkan War)to Bulgaria. One of the consequences of these territorial mutilations was thedecrease in human military potential from 3.7 billion in 1937 to 2.2 billionin 1941; then it was the loss of some fortifications and industrial structureshaving military importance, or the disbanding of some headquarters andunits. The loss of about one-third of the country’s area and population causeda serious crisis that resulted in the abdication of King Carol II on 6 September1940 in favor of his son Michael (who had the title Voievode of Alba Iulia),and the acceding of Gen. Ion Antonescu to power. After a couple of monthsof difficult coalition rule with the extremist right-wing organization IronGuard, the so-called Conducator eliminated the Iron Guard by putting downits rebellion of 21–23 January 1941. Conducator subsequently introduced amilitary dictatorship. Antonescu was faced with a choice between two bellig-erent camps and first chose Germany, alongside which Romania entered thewar against the Soviet Union (1941–1944). This choice was motivated byAntonescu’s hope to recover Bessarabia and northern Bucovina and by hisdistrust of the Communist regime.111

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From the Caucasus and Stalingrad to Budapest and Vienna’s Porte 145

On 22 June 1941, the 3rd and 4th Romanian armies, possessing a total of325,685 military that were supported by 572 combat aircrafts, started, withthe Wermacht land, sea, and air units, military operations against the SovietUnion along the Prut River. This offensive was known as the Barbarosa oper-ational plan. In only one month, Bessarabia was liberated, and on 26 July1941 the last units of the Red Army withdrew over the Dniester River to avoidbeing surrounded. Around the same time, on 26 June 1941, the Soviet navalforces launched a major attack in Constanta Harbor on the Black Sea, but theRomanian destroyers Queen Maria and Marasesti sank the destroyer Moskvaand damaged two other Soviet warships. The same day, the pilot Horia Aga-rici, aboard the fighter plane Hawker Hurricane, attacked a formation of nineSoviet bombers, of which he shot down three.

After crossing the Dniester River on 3 August 1941, the next action of the4th Romanian Army, led by army corps general Nicolae Ciuperca, was theconquest of Odessa, which was an important harbor on the Black Sea, a rail-way junction, and a Soviet bombing post. The town was surrounded on 14August 1941, but the first Romanian units entered Odessa only on 16 Octo-ber, after a long and fierce siege that ended with almost one hundred thousandcasualties. This death toll demonstrated the serious deficiencies that had beenaccumulating for two decades in the combat training of the Romanian ArmedForces. Following this invasion, on 22 October, Soviet partisans blew up theRomanian headquarters in Odessa, killing ninety-three Romanian and Ger-man officers and civilians. As reprisal for this action, following MarshalAntonescu’s orders, Romanian troops executed several hundred local civil-ians, most of them Jews.

At the same time, the 3rd Army Corps, led by Gen. Petre Dumitrescu,together with the 11th German Army, crossed the Nistru River between 17and 19 July 1941 and broke the Stalin fortified line, advancing onto theUkrainian steppe and reaching the shore of the Azov Sea. An important con-tribution to the July 1942 fall of Sevastopol—the most important submarinebase in the Black Sea—was made by the units of the Mountain Corps com-manded by division general Gheorghe Avramescu.

After 22 June 1942, the 3rd Romanian Army and the German 1st TanksArmy launched an offensive at Cotul Donului, toward Stalingrad, as well asin the Caucasus and the Calmuc steppe where the front was finally set. Mean-while, a large number of units were mobilized domestically. This marked thefirst time, since the campaign of 1473 led by Radu the Handsome and SultanMehmed II’s troops, that the Romanian forces were setting out to fight onsuch a large territory. The main units of the 3rd and 4th Romanian armies,comprising almost 230,000 military, were deployed outside Stalingrad. Afterthe Soviet counteroffensive that started on 19 November 1942 and ended with

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146 Chapter Thirteen

the surrender of field marshal Friedrich Paulus on 2 February 1943, theRomanian loss totaled 158,854 casualties, prisoners, and missing persons.

After the battle of Kursk (5 July–23 August 1943), the strategic Germaninitiative on the eastern front was taken over by the Soviets. The most impor-tant military actions the Romanian Armed Forces performed successfullywere the marine evacuations of the troops that were surrounded by the Sovietsin Sevastopol to Constanta and Varna, two harbors on the Black Sea. The so-called Operation 60,000 (which occurred between April and May 1944) wasled by the commander of the Romanian navy, Rear Adm. Horia Macellariu.After a major bombing on 4 April 1944, the air defense force in the countryand the 1st Fighter Flotilla had to face the intensified British–American raidsand bombing that took place day and night.

On 20 August 1944, the day before the Soviet attack, the mobilized Roma-nian land forces numbered 1,077,009, the air force numbered 73,671, and thenavy 21,064; there were 427,121 German troops in Moldavia and 199,514inside the rest of the country. After Marshal Antonescu and his colleagueswere arrested in Bucharest in a royal-led coup, the Romanian Armed Forcesceased hostilities against the Soviet Union on 24 August 1944 at 12:30 a.m.,executing the action requested by the indicative named Oak-Extreme Emer-gency. The German units were asked to leave Romanian territory. Inresponse, Hitler ordered the German commander in Bucharest, General Gers-tenberg, to install by force a pro-German government. Both the attempt of aGerman task force to cross the Baneasa bridge toward the capital and thebombing of Bucharest were thwarted by the Romanian troops, who on 26August 1944 liquidated the last presence of German troops in the capital. Fivedays later, the German troops were annihilated by the Romanian ones all overthe territory of Romania.

However, until the armistice with the United Nations was signed in Mos-cow on 12 September 1944, the Soviet armed forces continued to take prison-ers—they captured more than 140,000 Romanians—and also plundered,raped women, and destroyed on Romanian territory. Although during theEast Campaign there was some friction between the German and Romanianmilitary, this friction was overshadowed by the arrogance of the new Sovietallies who, during the Romanian west campaign, humiliated and asked forsacrifices from their so-called Romanian brothers-in-arms. Thus, although on7 September 1944 the Romanian General Staff insisted that a group of Roma-nian armies liberate Transylvania, the Soviet Supreme Commander orderedthe 2nd Ukrainian Front to take over the command of all the Romanian andSoviet forces in Romania.

The campaign for the liberation of Transylvania started on 5–6 September1944, and the main battles the 4th Romanian Army fought occurred in mid-

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September, when it liberated the Mures River and thwarted the German andHungarian offensive in the province of Banat through the heroic resistanceby the Paulis cadet detachment in the Radna area. The Romanian troopsentered Cluj on the 11 October, and on 25 October 1944 the liberation of thetown of Carei meant the liberation of the entire Romanian territory, whichwas now cleansed of German and Hungarian troops.

Between 6 October 1944 and 15 January 1945, 210,000 Romanian militarywere engaged in the battles fought in Hungary. An important role in conquer-ing the city of Debretin on 19–20 October 1944 was played by the TudorVladimirescu Division, which was formed on 2 October 1943 on Soviet terri-tory with Romanian military taken prisoners by the Red Army. The 7th ArmyCorps led by Gen. Nicolae Sova got close to the Parliament of Budapest afterfighting harsh battles against the desperate German–Hungarian resistancebetween 1 and 15 January 1945. At the order of the Soviet High Headquar-ters, the Romanian troops retreated from the front line within the city center,right before the capitulation of the garrison; this action deprived them of thesatisfaction of a deserved victory.

Next, as part of the operations carried out to conquer the Slovak towns ofZvolen and Banska-Bystrika, the military of the 1st and 4th Romanian armiesengaged in battles against the German troops in the Javorina Mountains andMetal Mountains on the territory of Czechoslovakia. The end of the warfound the Romanian troops 80 km away from Prague, while the 2nd ArmoredCar Regiment was engaged in offensive operations in Austria.

The total Romanian military loss in three years, ten months, and twentydays of war was 794,562 dead, wounded, or missing persons, 624,740 in theeastern campaign and 169,822 in the western campaign. Some historians’quantifications of the war effort situate Romania in third place after Germanyand Italy on the eastern front and in the fourth place after the Soviet Union,United States, and Great Britain on the western front. However, due to theSoviet Union’s harsh stance at the Paris peace conference, Romania was notrecognized as one of the belligerent states and was required to pay the SovietUnion huge war debts and dramatically reduce its military capabilities.

ROMANIAN PARATROOPERS

The first paratrooper subunit that was the size of a company was set up onthe 10 June 1941 under the jurisidiction of the aeronautic training center. InFebruary 1942, the paratrooper company was moved to the Popesti-Leordeniairfield, near Bucharest. Although the paratroopers fought boldly in August1944 in the operations carried out in Bucharest to expel the German forces

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from the city, the corps was disbanded because the Communists did not likethe elite royal army units.

On 1 November 1950 the paratrooper battalion was reestablished under theauspices army training center in Tecuci, but in 1951 it was moved to Buzau.After only a few months, in September 1952, the paratrooper battalion wastransformed into an airborne regiment that was subordinate to the air forceheadquarters. The successor to the renowned female champion SmarandaBraescu, who won competitions in Romania in 1931 and Sacramento, Cali-fornia, in 1932, came from this regiment. He was Grigore Bastan, a para-trooper commander who later became colonel and general and who heldinternational records in the 1970s.

In 1980, three paratrooper regiments were set up within the air force head-quarters for tactical and operational landings. The paratroopers contributednearly all their force to the street fights against the so-called terrorists after22 December 1989 in the most volatile places of the Romanian Revolution.112

LIBERATION OF THE PROVINCES OFBESSARABIA AND BUCOVINA, 1941

On 22 June 1941, the General Antonescu army group of the south side of theGerman front was composed of the 11th German Army (which includedeleven Romanian divisions that initially belonged to the 3rd Romanian Armyalong with six German divisions) and the 4th Romanian Army, which in turncomprised another eleven divisions. After the military operations carried outby the Romanian forces between 22 June and 26 July 1941, approximatelythirty to thirty-two Soviet units were deployed in the sector between theDniester and Prut rivers. These were Soviet forces that could be directedtoward the difficult German-Soviet confrontation in the Lemberg-Tarnopolregion; the Danube River was thus completely freed up to its mouth (the Dan-ube Delta), which represented an important strategic link for supplying thesouthern front.

The Romanian navy engaged in the Barbarossa operation against the Sovi-ets’ fifteen warships and thirty support ships on the Danube River, togetherwith another fourteen river combat ships, nine support ships, and twentyhydroplanes maneuvering on the Black Sea under the command of the navyheadquarters. All these forces were entrusted with the defense of the Danubeand the Black Sea coast.

The main strike of the Romanian and German troops took place in the nightof 2–3 July 1941. The city of Cernauti (capital of the province of Bucovina)was liberated on 5 July, and the town of Hotin was liberated on 7 July by the

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Romanian combined mountain troop brigades, so that on 9 July 1941 thewhole north of Bucovina was liberated.

After the Romanians reached the Nistru River on 8 July 1941, their effortfocused first on Chisinau, the capital of Bessarabia, which was liberated on19 July, and second on the southern part of the province. Subsequent to failedSoviet counterattacks, the last units of the Red Army withdrew over theDniester on 26 July 1941 in order to avoid being surrounded. The Romaniantroops engaged in these battles suffered the following losses: 4,271 dead,12,326 missing, and 6,168 wounded persons.113

GEN. NICOLAE CIUPERCA, 1882–1950

Ciuperca was born on 20 April 1882 in Ramnicul Sarat, a Wallachian city,and attended the Military School for Infantry and Cavalry Officers (1900–1902), and the Superior School of War (1911–1913). He received his ranksas follows: second lieutenant in 1902, first lieutenant in 1907, captain in1911, major in 1916, lieutenant colonel in 1917, colonel in 1920, brigadiergeneral (one star) in 1930, army corps general (three stars) in 1940, and armygeneral (four stars) in 1941.

General Ciuperca commanded the 4th Army between 3 June 1940 and 9September 1941, during the military actions carried out for the liberation ofsouthern Bessarabia. He then took part in the first phase of Operation Odessauntil 13 October 1941, when he retired. The Communist authorities arrestedhim on 12 September 1948 and put him in Jilava Prison, near Bucharest. Hedied on 28 May 1950 in the central hospital of the Vacaresti Prison in Bucha-rest.

THE BATTLE FOR ODESSA, 1941

Between 8 August and 16 October 1941, Odessa—an important city and stra-tegic harbor on the Black Sea—was exclusively conquered by Romanianforces that comprised twenty-two large units and twenty-four heavy artillerydivisions that opposed 86,000 Soviet fighters who were equipped with morethan 100 aircraft and 150 air defense batteries, as well as a large portion ofthe Black Sea Soviet fleet.

On 14 August 1941, Romanian troops surrounded Odessa on land, and on17 August captured the city’s water tank provisions. The first attack of the3rd Mountain Troop Corps followed. The Soviet fleet was deterred throughthe firing of heavy artillery the Romanians had positioned in Fontanka. The

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second assault on Odessa took place between 28 August and 5 September;meanwhile, the small nearby town of Leninthal was conquered. After receiv-ing marine support, the Soviets launch a counterattack on 22 September, fol-lowed by another one on 2 October. The final attack by the Romanian troopstook place on 17 October 1941, when the 1st Assault Detachment entered thecity. The conquering of Odessa and the liberation of Bessarabia and Bucov-ina were marked on 8 November 1941 with a victory parade in Bucharest onthe occasion of the religious celebration of Saints Michael and Gabriel.114

GEN. PETRE DUMITRESCU

Petre Dumitrescu was born on 12 February 1882 in the village of Dobridor,in the county of Dolj. After he graduated from the Military School for Artil-lery and Engineering Officers in 1903, he attended the Superior School ofWar in Bucharest, from which he graduated in 1913. He earned the followingranks: second lieutenant in 1903, first lieutenant in 1906, captain in 1911,major in 1916, lieutenant colonel in 1920, brigadier general (one star) in1930, division general (two stars) in 1937, and army corps general (threestars) in 1942. During the anti-Soviet campaign, he commanded the 3rdRomanian Army (25 March 1941–29 August 1944), which fought the terribleBattle of Stalingrad.

At the end of August 1944, Dumitrescu was put at the disposal of the Min-istry of War and after two months, the ministry had him retire. Dumitrescuwas awarded the Order of Michael the Brave, third class, in 1941, and secondclass in 1944; the Crown of Romania, first class, in 1942; and the Star ofRomania, first class, in 1943. In 1942 he was named Knight of the Iron Cross.

On 15 May 1946 Dumitrescu was accused of war crimes by the People’sCourt, which had been established by the Communist authorities. However,because the accusations were not proven, he could not be sentenced.

BATTLE OF KERCI, 1942

The German–Romanian offensive carried out on the Kerci Peninsula between8 and 18 May 1942 required the engagement of six German and three Roma-nian large units. The motor detachment led by Col. Radu Korne distinguisheditself in that battle: after 14 May, Korne took over the command of the Grod-dek German motor brigade and succeeded in deeply infiltrating the enemyside, breaking the defense and downing the Soviet bridgehead.115

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BATTLES FOUGHT TO CONQUER THECITY OF SEVASTOPOL, 1942

A city of particular strategic importance located on the western part of theCrimean Peninsula, Sevastopol was also the most important Soviet submarinebase on the Black Sea and experienced two assaults by the Romanian andGerman troops. The first one took place between 17 and 26 December 1941and involved the 1st Mountain Troop Corps, which was commanded by Div.Gen. Mihail Lascar. The second assault took place between 7 June and 4 July1942, when all the units of the Mountain Troop Corps proved their bravery.The 1st Mountain Troop Corps conquered the high position called Capatanade zahar on 1 June 1942, securing the right flank of the siege. On 25 June1942 the 14th Infantry Division and the 4th Mountain Troop Corps conqueredthe most important Soviet observation post, called Bastion II. Beginning on1 July, the 18th Infantry Division took part in the battles fought to conquerthe city of Sevastopol.116

ROMANIANS IN STALINGRAD, 1942

Following the understanding between Hitler and Antonescu, in the summerof 1942 numerous Romanian units were deployed to the Caucasus and Stalin-grad. The 3rd Romanian Army, commanded by Gen. Petre Dumitrescu, wasmoved in the autumn of 1942 from the Caucasus to Stalingrad, to replace fiveItalian and two German divisions in the west of the city. The large Romanianunit was responsible for the defense of a 138 km front line that was much toolarge for the troops already present. On 19 November 1942, when the Sovietslaunched a counterattack in Stalingrad, the 3rd Army consisted of 152,492Romanian military and 11,211 Germans. On 20 November 1942, almost40,000 Romanian military from the 5th, 6th, 13th, 14th, and 15th InfantryDivisions (which were surrounded by the Red Army) formed the so-calledLascar group, commanded by Gen. Mihail Lascar.

The units of the 4th Romanian Army and air force were engaged between12 and 22 December 1942 in Wintergewitter, a German operation meant todisperse the Axis troops that were surrounded at the Volga. The two Roma-nian armies lost 158,854 military between 19 November 1942 and 7 January1943. In Stalingard, the resistance of the German and Romanian troops com-manded by Field Marshal Paulus lasted until 2 February 1943. Out of 91,000captured prisoners, only 2,000–3,000 were Romanians who survived thesiege.117

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GEN. GHEORGHE AVRAMESCU, 1884–1945

Born on 26 January 1884 in the city of Botosani, Gheorghe Avramescuattended the School for Infantry Officers between 1906 and 1908 and theSuperior School of War between 1918 and 1919. He held the following ranks:second lieutenant in 1908, first lieutenant in 1911, captain in 1916, major in1917, lieutenant colonel in 1923, colonel in 1929, brigadier general in 1936,division general in 1940, army corps general in 1942, and army general in1945.

Among the most important military positions he held were commander ofthe Mountain Corps between 1941 and 1943, commander of the 3rd and 6thArmy Corps between 1944 and 1945, and commander of the 4th Armybetween 30 July and 2 March 1945. He was twice awarded the Order ofMichael the Brave, third class, and second class in 1942; the German IronCross in 1941; and the Crown of Romania, second class, in 1942.

The large units he commanded participated in the operations performedto liberate northern Bucovina (June–July 1941) and north of the Azov Sea(September–October 1941), as well as in operations in the Crimea and inthose to defend Moldavia (April–August 1944) and to liberate Hungary(November–December 1944) and Czechoslovakia (December 1944–March1945).

On 2 March 1945 the Soviets arrested him. It was only in 1963 that theyannounced to the Romanians that Gen. Gheorghe Avramescu had died on 3March 1945 during an artillery firing in Jaszbereny, Hungary.118

OPERATION 60,000, 1944

The operation to evacuate the Romanian and German military and Sovietprisoners by sea from Sevastopol to Constanta and Varna was called by theRomanian General Headquarters Operation 60,000, a figure that denoted thenumber of Romanian troops surrounded by the Soviets on the Crimean Penin-sula. The commander of the Romanian navy, Rear Adm. Horia Macellariu,used both combat ships and commercial ones, and those of Admiral Schwa-rzes Meer German Maritime Headquarters. The operation had two phases,between 14–27 April 1944 and 11–14 May 1944. Due to the proximity of thefront, the troops were forced to embark under fire from the Soviet groundartillery, which was supported by the attack of the aviation division, subma-rines, and line ships. With a relatively small loss in ships and troops, theRomanian navy managed to evacuate more than 120,000 persons from Cri-

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mea in spite of the enemy’s fire. Of the evacuees, 69,330 were Romanianmilitary and civilians and almost 70,000 were Germans.119

REAR ADM. HORIA MACELLARIU

Born on 28 April 1894 in the city of Craiova, Horia Macellariu matriculatedat age nineteen at the Military School for Artillery, Engineering, and NavyOfficers. He graduated in 1915 and then attended the School of War and theCenter for Advanced Naval Studies in Paris. His rank progression was as fol-lows: second lieutenant in 1915, first lieutenant in 1917, captain in 1919, lieu-tenant commander in 1928, captain commander in 1935, commander in 1939,and rear admiral in 1944.

At the apogee of his military career, he held such important positions inthe military hierarchy as chief of the navy staff (12 January–25 August 1941),attache of the German Naval Mission (28 August 1941–28 January 1942),commander of a destroyer squadron (26 January 1942–30 April 1943), com-mander of the Naval and Maritime Forces (1 May 1943–28 September 1944),and commander of the Superior School of the Navy (28 September 1944–23April 1945).

Horia Macellariu was awarded the most important Romanian and Germanmedals and orders: the Crown of Romania, third class (1942); Order ofMichael the Brave, third class (1943); the German Eagle, first class withswords (1941); and the title Knight of the Iron Cross (1944).

During the fifteen months when he commanded the destroyer squadron,Macellariu also accomplished one of the most important operations to protectand secure the maritime convoys, which the mining missions in the BlackSea were. Between May 1943 and September 1944, he was effectively incharge of the defense of the Black Sea shore, providing both escort for thetroop supply convoys deployed in the Crimea and evacuating the Romanianand German forces from that area.

After 23 August 1944, Horia Macellariu gained renown for the intransi-gence he demonstrated against the abuses committed by the Soviet commandand troops, and for this reason the Communist authorities arrested him on 19April 1948. After spending nineteen years in such prisons as Vacaresti, Aiud,Ramnicu Sarat, Jilava, Dej, and Gherla, he was released on 29 July 1964.

BRITISH–AMERICAN AIR BOMBINGOVER ROMANIA, 1944

Between 4 April and 19 August 1944, the British and American aviation unitsquartered in Italy executed thirty-six air raids, bombing day and night the oil

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fields and the refineries located around Ploiesti and Bucharest. The 1stFighter Flotilla was in charge of the local defense. Whereas the Allied armylost 4,000 airmen and saw 344 of its fighters and bombers being hit, theRomanians lost only 40 to 50 aircraft, but this included most of the bestRomanian fighter pilots.120

LIQUIDATION OF THE GERMANRESISTANCE IN BUCHAREST

On the morning of 24 August 1944, General Gerstenberg—commander of theGerman troops—tried to occupy Bucharest by attacking from the north viathe Baneasa Bridge. The German general commanded 2,000 military, 16 airdefense guns (88 mm caliber), and 42 air defense guns (20 mm caliber). Twocavalry squadrons supported by a tank platoon from the 2nd Armored CarRegiment stopped the German attack. The bombing of Bucharest with Stukasairplanes was the next German step. After the danger in effecting the occupa-tion of Bucharest disappeared, the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe troops starteddefending themselves at the German mission’s headquarters in Bucharest, butthe subunits of the Calarasi 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment and the tanks ofthe 2nd Armored Regiment liquidated them by 25 August. The last Germanforces in Bucharest surrendered121 on 26 August 1944.

FORCED CROSSING OF THE MURES RIVERAND CONFRONTATION WITH HUNGARIAN

AND GERMAN FORCES

After Romania declared war on Hungary on 30 August 1944, the MountainTroop Corps commanded by Div. Gen. Ion Dumitrescu passed north of thetown of Sfantul Gheorghe, located on the border imposed by the Vienna Dic-tate, which split the province of Transylvania in 1940. Meanwhile, on 5 Sep-tember the 2nd Hungarian Army attacked the Turnul Rosu mountain pass insouthwestern Romania. During the night of 15–16 September, the 9th Roma-nian Infantry Division built a bridgehead over the Mures River, a successfollowed by the confrontations with the troops of the 8th SS Cavalry Divisionthat lasted until the end of September. The 4th Romanian Army lost 10,535troops.122

On 13 September 1944, the German and Hungarian forces attacked the 1stRomanian Army in Banat, conquering the city of Arad and moving towardthe Mures Valley. To stop that offensive, the Paulis detachment was formed

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from a battalion of cadets of the Reserve NCO School in Radna, an infantrybattalion, and a heavy artillery division. In spite of the technical and numeri-cal inferiority, the detachment held out against the German and Hungarianattacks between 14 and 17 September until support arrived and the Roma-nian–Soviet counteroffensive started.

LIBERATION OF THE CITY OF CLUJ, 1944

The last phase of the liberation of northwestern Transylvania, which was stilloccupied by the German and Hungarian troops, started on 9 October 1944.After the Armored Group of the vanguard of the 6th Romanian Corps crossedthe Aries River, it rapidly advanced and liberated the town of Apahida, whichwas east of Cluj. After the defeat of the 23rd Armored German Divisionoffensive across the Somes River, on 11 October 1944 the 2nd MountainDivision and the 18th Infantry Division together with units belonging to104th Soviet Army Corps finally liberated Cluj, the biggest city in Transylva-nia. This liberation was quite significant for the Romanians because the lossof Cluj in the aftermath of the Vienna Dictate in August 1940 was extremelypainful for all.123

THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES AND THELIBERATION OF HUNGARY

After the Tudor Vladimirescu Volunteer Division (formed in 1943 in theSoviet Union with Romanian prisoners who agreed to fight alongside the RedArmy against the Germans) helped to conquer the Hungarian city of Debretinon 19–20 October 1944, the 7th Romanian Army Corps together with the 7thGuard Army advanced toward Budapest.

The operation for the conquest of Budapest started on 11 November. The7th Romanian Army Corps was the core of the assault’s main forces and wasflanked by Soviet units. Between 1 and 15 January 1945, after intense fightscarried out street by street and house by house, the military of the 7th ArmyCorps, commanded by Gen. Nicolae Sova, advanced 6 kilometers into thecity of Budapest. The Soviets deprived the Romanians of the satisfaction ofvictory, ordering the redeployment of the Romanian Corps in the north, onthe Czechoslovakian border. During the same period, the 4th RomanianArmy advanced with other Soviet units toward northwestern Hungary, reach-ing the Tisa River on 1 November. Out of 210,000 Romanian military who

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engaged in battles for the liberation of Hungary, 42,700 were wounded, dead,or missing.124

GEN. NICOLAE SOVA

Sova was born on 9 November 1885 in the village of Poduri in the county ofBacau, and graduated from the Military School for Infantry Officers (1907–1909) and the Superior School of War (1919–1921).

His military career was as follows: second lieutenant in 1909, first lieuten-ant in 1912, captain in 1916, major in 1917, lieutenant colonel in 1925, colo-nel in 1932, division general in 1942, and army corps general in 1944.

Gen. Nicolae Sova commanded the Guard Division between 1941 and1943. He was deputy state secretary of the navy (1943–1944) and com-mander of the 7th Army Corps (September 1944–February 1945), a unit thatbears his name today.

In 1941 he was awarded the Order of Michael the Brave, third class. Gen-eral Sova proved his leadership skills as commander of the 7th Army Corpsduring the battles for the conquest of Budapest (December 1944–January1945). After he retired, he was arrested, detained in the Malmaison Prison inBucharest, and tried by the Communist authorities who took power on 6March 1945. He was sentenced to ten years of jail, civic degradation, andconfiscation of his property. Detained in the Vacaresti and Aiud prisons, hewas freed on 10 May 1956. Gen. Nicolae Sova died on 12 March 1966 inBucharest.125

THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES AND THELIBERATION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA

AND AUSTRIA

According to the plan of the Soviet Supreme Headquarters, attacking Ger-many through Czechoslovakia was an alternate plan, the primary one beingthe attack through Poland. The 1st and the 4th Romanian armies had beenengaged between January and March 1945 in battles for the Javorina andMetal mountains, which they fought on extremely difficult terrain and underchallenging climatic conditions. At the end of January 1945, the 4th Roma-nian Army contributed significantly to the liberation of the Slovak localitiesof Zvolen and Banska-Bystrica.

On the 16 March 1945, after a tough advance through the Javorina Moun-tains, the 1st Army reached the Hron River. After 25 March, both Romanian

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armies were engaged in the offensive for Brno, and on 6 May 1945, theyregrouped west of Morava to start the offensive for Prague. On 9 April 1945,the 2nd Armored Regiment crossed the Danube and took part, along withsome Soviet units, in the liberation of some Austrian towns around Vienna,suffering great losses. The end of the war found the troops of the 1st and 4tharmies 80 kilometers from Prague. Of the 248,430 Romanian militaryengaged in the battles fought in Czechoslovakia between 18 December 1944and 12 May 1945, 66,495 died, were wounded, or went missing.126

PEACE CONFERENCE IN PARIS, 1946–1947

At the beginning of July 1946, the Ministers Council of the Great Powersdecided to convene a peace conference in Paris on 29 July 1946.

It was decided that only the twenty-one states that were part of the Alliedand Associated powers should have the right to vote. On 9 August the Roma-nian government discussed and approved the country’s position on the issuesthat were going to be discussed at the peace conference and settled on thedelegation members. The Romanian delegation arrived in Paris on 11 August1946 and consisted of Gheorghe Tatarascu, Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej,Lucretiu Patrascanu, Stefan Voitec, Lothar Radaceanu, Ion Gheorghe Maurer,Dr. Florica Bagdasar, Elena Vacarescu, Gen. Dumitru Damaceanu, the Roma-nian ambassadors accredited in Washington, London, Paris, and The Hague,and tens of experts.

At the peace conference on 27 August 1946, the Romanian delegationrequested the status of belligerent state due to its contribution to the Alliedvictory after 23 August 1944. However, the political and territorial commis-sion, which consisted of representatives of twelve states, rejected the requestthrough negative votes by the delegates from Australia, Canada, the UnitedKingdom, India, New Zealand, the United States, the South African Union,and the Soviet Union; only Belarus, France, Czechoslovakia, and Ukrainevoted in favor of Romania.

Regarding Romania, the conference recognized the fact that ‘‘on the 24thof August 1944 Romania ceased all the military operations against the SovietUnion, broke relations with Germany and its satellites, and reentered the waron United Nations’ side.’’ The peace treaty invalidated the decisions set outin the Vienna Dictate of 30 August 1940, and required Romania to pay as wardamages (in benefit of the Soviet Union) US$300 million in oil, wood, build-ing materials, railway engines, wagons, grain, and maritime and fluvial ships.At the same time, Romania had to drastically reduce its military strength andarmament, mainly in the aviation units and high-caliber artillery. Moreover,

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the peace treaty stipulated the reannexation of Bessarabia and northernBucovina by the Soviet Union.127

On 10 February 1947, the Romanian delegation led by Gheorghe Tatarascusigned the peace treaty between Romania and the Allied and Associated pow-ers. The peace treaties with Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland were signedin Paris the same day.

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Chapter Fourteen

From Jacket to Rubashka

1945–1989

With Soviet troops on its territory, Romania stepped into the Communist age.On 30 December 1947 King Michael was forced to abdicate and the People’sRepublic was proclaimed. Existing political parties were outlawed and theCommunist Party, founded in 1921, remained the only party in the country.In the early years, the Communists comprised barely 1,000 members, identi-fying themselves with Soviet interests and promoting an anti-Romanian pol-icy, they forcefully seized power in Bucharest after the 23 August 1944 coupd’etat. Thus the ‘‘building of socialism’’ started, entailing the nationalizationof industrial, banking, and transportation companies (in 1948), the forcedcollectivization of agriculture (1949–1962), and a planned and controlledeconomy oriented toward Stalinist industrialization.

The installation of the Communist regime and the proclamation of the Pop-ular Republic of Romania on 30 December 1947 meant the beginning of aharsh period in the history of the country and of the Romanian Armed Forces.The majority of the officers and generals of the Romanian Royal ArmedForces, who had fought heroically on both the eastern and western fronts,were purged and many of them died in nightmarish prisons and Communistextermination camps. Meanwhile, some cadres of the Royal Army had beenkeeping for ten years a desperate, but very honorable, anti-Communist resis-tance. During this period, the Romanian Armed Forces were reorganized fol-lowing the model of the Red Army (regarding organization, training, andequipment); Soviet councillors were present everywhere and had absolutepower; and military promotions were granted based not on professional com-petence or merit, but on political record and proven fidelity to the Communistregime. In addition, the military took on Bolshevik features: the traditional

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160 Chapter Fourteen

Romanian stripes that indicated rank were abandoned in favor of the Sovietstars worn on the rubashka. All the changes were accomplished against abackdrop of intense institutionalized propaganda performed at all levels andmilitary echelons.

In 1955 Romania became a founding member of the Warsaw Treaty andconsequently its armed forces were subordinated to the Soviet bloc’s head-quarters and political and military doctrines. An important role in purgingand orienting the Romanian armed forces toward the Soviet model wasplayed by the pro-Soviet general Emil Bodnaras, who had been the ministerof the armed forces for eight years (1947–1955).

In the period between 1958 (the year of the Soviet troops’ withdrawal fromRomania according to an agreement between the Romanian Communistleader Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej and the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev)and 1968 (when Romania refused to be involved in Czechoslovakia’s WarsawTreaty invasion), the Romanian Armed Forces went through a slow processof recovering its national uniqueness, which it did as a consequence of thenationalist policies promoted by Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej and implementedunder Nicolae Ceausescu. Gheorghe Gheroghiu Dej died in 1965, and theparty leadership combined with the state leadership after 1967 was monopo-lized by Ceausescu. The political refrain from the USSR (already proclaimedby Dej in April 1964) and Ceausescu’s promotion of his own domestic andforeign policies (established through diplomatic relations with FederalRepublic of Germany and the maintenance of ties with Israel also after the1967 Arab–Israeli War) did not affect the structures specific to the Commu-nist society that he used to gradually consolidate his total power within theparty and the state.128

In June 1964, a new organizational and political framework was set up inthe armed forces following the approval of the Political Bureau of the CentralCommittee of the Romanian Communist Party. This framework was laid outin ‘‘The Regulation Regarding the Activity of the Bodies and Organizationsof the Party and the Union of the Young Workers of the Armed Forces of thePopular Republic of Romania.’’ The regulation was proclaimed in the Decreeof the State Council No. 759 dated 9 December 1964 regarding the organiza-tion and functioning of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. The political coun-cils of the Ministry of the Armed Forces were created the same year andsimilar ones were simultaneously organized at the levels of armies, armyheadquarters and large units, and party colleges—the last as assigned bodiesand party committees and at the regiment level as elected bodies.

Beginning in the mid-1970s, the control and political subordination pro-cess was strengthened, and the custom of accumulated military positions inthe armed forces and the structures of the Communist Party were also initi-

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From Jacket to Rubashka 161

ated. While a national defense doctrine based on the participation of thewhole nation in a defensive war was adopted, programs designed to producethe maximum necessary armament and ammunition for the armed forceswere developed. Thus, the process of mechanizing the large land force unitswas extended and the number of armored units, aviation capabilities, and mis-siles increased.

Especially in the 1980s, as the social and economic situation of the countrywas worsening, more and more members of the military were taken out ofcombat training and sent to work in the national economy (agriculture, mines,building sites). Consequently, the frustrations, dissatisfaction, and humilia-tion of the officers and soldiers only increased. In order to demonstrate theregime’s strength and popular support, the government organized elaboratemilitary parades, particularly on the national holiday, 23 August. In the late1980s, these parades were turned into aberrant ways of expressing the person-ality cult of the Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

ROMANIAN ARMED FORCESMOVING TOWARD PEACE

In the middle of 1945, the military had 224,509 members: 4,601 officers,2,998 noncommissioned officers, and 216,910 enlisted personnel and sol-diers. In the fall of the same year, the strength of the armed forces was206,730: 18,183 officers, 38,831 noncommissioned officers and warrantofficers, 149,716 enlisted personnel and soldiers, and 7,724 military desig-nated to meet the requirements of the armistice conference. The followingyear, as a result of organizational downsizing, the armed forces comprisedonly 138,565 people: 10,259 officers, 16,369 noncommissioned officers andwarrant officers, and 111,937 enlisted personnel and soldiers.129

As a consequence of applying the provisions of the peace treaty, the totalstrength of the armed forces in December 1947 was 138,000 persons, out ofwhom 97,000 made up the land forces, 12,740 made up the air forces, 4,880made up the navy, 20,000 made up the frontier guard, and 2,420 were cadets.

ARMED FORCES’ DAY

Before the end of World War II, Armed Forces’ Day was not celebrated. Thetradition was to celebrate Land Forces’ Day on 23 April, when the OrthodoxChurch celebrates Saint George. At this time, Air Force Day was marked bythe religious celebration of Prophet Ilie Tesviteanul on 20 July, and Navy Day

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fell on 15 August to coincide with the Feast of the Assumption of the VirginMary. Thus most of the military branches and specialties celebrated them-selves on the occasion of various religious anniversaries, and most of the unitshad their own patron saints.

Six years after the end of the war, influenced by the customs that hadalready existed in the Soviet Union, the Romanian government institutedArmed Forces’ Day of the Popular Republic of Romania, choosing 2 Octoberas its date. The choice of this date was justified by the fact that on 2 October1943, Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin approved the formation on Soviet territoryof a military unit comprised of Romanian volunteers who were prisoners ofwar; this unit was supposed to participate with the Soviet army in the waragainst Nazi Germany. After approval was granted, the Tudor Vladimirescudivision was organized, and this unit later spearheaded the Communists’organization of the popular armed forces.

Eight years later, after Stalin’s cult of personality was terminated, theDecree No 381, dated 1 October 1959, set Armed Forces’ Day on 25 October.This decision stemmed from the fact that on that day in 1944 the last Roma-nian town under Fascist occupation was liberated. After December 1989, 25October remained the day on which the Romanian Armed Forces are cele-brated.

THE EMERGING COMMUNIST POLITICALSYSTEM WITHIN THE ARMED FORCES

The first step in spreading communism to the armed forces entailed the rein-tegration of a part of the military that had joined the Tudor Vladimirescu andHoria, Closca and Crisan divisions. This was accomplished through Law No.320 dated 26 April 1945. Then, on 8 May 1945, the Superior Directorate forEducation, Culture, and Propaganda was established in accord with an ordersigned by Army Corps general Constantin Vasiliu Rascanu. Via a structurethat was controlled by the Communists, an extensive proselytism campaignstarted. Among the military of the 1st and 4th armies that were fighting onthe western front during the last month of the war in Czechoslovakia andHungary, 1,005 ‘‘educators’’ selected from the trusted Communist militaryof the Tudor Vladimirescu division were placed under the command of thepro-Communist general Victor Precup. The Romanian military rejected thefirst attempt at Communist indoctrination, and the commanders of the twoarmies that were completing missions on the front protested against the pres-ence and actions of these ‘‘politicians’’ formed in the Soviet Union. On 2October 1945 the aforementioned directorate was transformed into the Gen-

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eral Inspectorate of the Armed Forces for Education, Culture, and Propa-ganda, which in 1948 became the Superior Political Directorate of the ArmedForces. This name was retained until 1968, when it was replaced by the Supe-rior Political Council of the Armed Forces, whose last head was—until 22December 1989—Lt. Gen. Ilie Ceausescu, the dictator’s brother.130

THE FIRST UNION OF YOUNG WORKERSWITHIN THE ARMED FORCES

Two organizations emerged within the armed forces in the spring of 1949.These were the Union of Young Workers committees, or offices, at the levelof each military unit, basic organizations, or company organizations for mili-tary subunits; and the Union of Young Workers groups for platoons. Withinthe armed forces, the activity of these Communist organizations for youngpeople was seen as a component of the Communist Party’s actions within thearmy. On 20 July 1950, the prize of the red flag of the Union of Young Work-ers organizations of the armed forces of the Popular Republic of Romaniawas instituted and awarded annually to the organization that best succeededat political and combat training as propagandistic motivation.131

SETTING UP SIGNAL HEADQUARTERS

The first distinctive signal structure was established in July 1942 by an ordersigned by Marshal Ion Antonescu. This signal headquarters became a centraldirectorate on 1 September 1945.

On 1 February 1949 there followed the transformation of the Signal Bri-gade into the Signal Headquarters of the Armed Forces. The independent sig-nal regiments and battalions were subordinate to the headquarters of themilitary regions, army corps, and branch headquarters. New signal subunitsor reinforced old signal units were introduced at the levels of the units andlarge units.

At the beginning of the 1950s, there was a significant deficit from both aqualitative and quantitative point of view, starting with the simplest portableradio stations and ending with those of great capacity; most of the equipmentwas made in the Soviet Union or remained from the war. The necessary sig-nal equipment was not available: there was only about 30 percent for tele-phones and 8 percent for telephone wire.

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ROMANIA’S MILITARY REGIONSBETWEEN 1947 AND 1964

In the fall of 1948, the 1st Military Region, which had been establishedthrough legislative documents dated June 1947, was disbanded, and the coun-try was divided into three parts and then into two military regions. In 1960the concept of structuring the armed forces on military regions was aban-doned and operational army corps–sized units and their proper headquarterswere organized. Hence a Romanian military tradition was reinstated and amore supple command system was created.

REINSTATING THE NONCOMMISSIONEDOFFICER CORPS

Until July 1950, the Romanian military had been composed of generals, offi-cers, noncommissioned officers, and warrant officers, the last two beingtrained in specialized schools. On 14 July 1950, the traditional corps of non-commissioned officers was disbanded and replaced with the corps of ser-geants and cartnici, who were both conscripted sergeants and enlistedsergeants, who had a low status and professional training. After nine years,in July 1959, the NCO corps was reestablished, and NCO military schools(training combat NCOs, technical NCOs, and guard NCOs) were created in aprogram that lasted two years. Schools for warrant officers were also created,and their training took three years.132

ESTABLISHING ARMORED CARRIERS, TANKS,AND MECHANIZED HEADQUARTERS

On 17 October 1950, the Armored Carriers, Tanks, and Mechanized Head-quarters was set up as a branch command for all tank, automatic guns, andmechanized units of the armed forces, and held responsibilities with regardto their own organization, equipment, manning, and combat training. At thesame time, a tank battalion was included in the structure of a mechanizedregiment. In 1951, the tank corps belonging to that headquarters structurewas reorganized, becoming a large armored unit. During the same period thetank and auto-guns parks were replenished with Soviet combat gear. InAugust 1960, the Tank and Auto Headquarters was set up, replacing the direc-torate but having the same specialization.

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THE FIRST REACTIVE FIGHTER DIVISION

Beginning in 1949, Romania started importing from the Soviet Union tradi-tional fighters, surveillance aircraft, and reactive fighters. The Mixed AviationDivision was replaced with a homogenous fighter, assault, and fighter-bomber division. In 1952 each large aviation unit was put under the commandof a technical radio and illumination division, plus a radio-technical com-pany. In order to coordinate the activity of all the technical battalions sup-porting the airfields of the aviation regiments, the Technical AviationDivision was set up in 1952.

MANDATORY MILITARY TRAINING

Students’ military training became mandatory in 1951 and was completedunder military teachers associated with the various universities. At the end ofthe 1950s, students completed their military training through conscription.From October 1960, new military training seats comprised of military teach-ers were organized to provide military training to university students; the cur-riculum consisted of classes that were designed for this purpose and followedthe Regulation of the Military Training of Students of Superior EducationalInstitutions. Designed on the Soviet model, these classes were mandatory forboth young men and women.

SETTING UP THE SUPERIORMILITARY COUNCIL

In 1952 the Superior Military Council was set up as the supreme leadershipbody of the armed forces, and was subordinate to the Council of Ministers.The Superior Military Council was composed of the president of the Councilof Ministers, who served as chairman; the minister of the armed forces, whoserved as his deputy; and other members appointed by the Council of Minis-ters. The role of the Superior Military Council was to examine and makedecisions about the combat training of troops, their deployment and equip-ment, and their political activity and discipline.

In addition, in 1952 the Military Council was set up as a consultative bodywithin the Ministry of the Armed Forces. It had similar structures at the levelof the headquarters of the military regions, branch headquarters, and otherstructures of the ministry.

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ROMANIA AS A FOUNDING MEMBEROF THE WARSAW TREATY

On the 14 May 1955 in Warsaw, the Popular Republic of Romania togetherwith the Soviet Union, the Popular Republic of Bulgaria, the Popular Repub-lic of Hungary, the Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia, the Popular Repub-lic of Poland, the Popular Republic of Albania, and the Democratic Republicof Germany signed the Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual AssistanceTreaty. The treaty had both a political agenda, as it subordinated variousstructures to the Consultative Political Committee, and a military one, as theUnified Command of the Armed Forces belonged to the member states. Thenew military-political organization was in fact a response to NATO, whichhad been created on 4 April 1949. In case of an attack in Europe from anystate, the members of the Warsaw Treaty were supposed to provide immediatehelp individually, in cooperation with the member states through all meansthey considered necessary. The political and military leader of the WarsawTreaty was the Soviet Union. The Romanian state, due to both its geographi-cal position and its traditions, did not have nuclear and atomic missilesdeployed on its territory and engaged a lot of troops in ample military maneu-vers on Romanian territory or on the territory of another member state. After1958, there were no military bases set up or foreign troops deployed on theterritory of Romania, and after August 1968, Romania began to refrain fromcontributing troops to military exercises of the pact, both abroad, and athome.

The elements that distinguised Romania from other Warsaw Treaty mem-ber states, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, when the nationalist and auto-cratic politics promoted by Ceausescu were manifesting themselves more andmore, were as follows: the Romanian Armed Forces did not accept the subor-dination to a multinational command and performed its missions followingthe orders of its national command; the guidelines issued by the UnifiedArmed Forces Headquarters were considered only as suggestions and usedfor documentation, supporting the cooperation principle inside the pact; andRomania stepped outside the coalition military doctrine, which was mainlyoffensive, and adopted its own national defense doctrine based on the princi-ple of the entire people’s fight for their country’s defense.

In 1978 in Moscow, and then in 1980 in Warsaw, Romania rejected thestatute of the armed forces in wartime, which meant giving up the nationalcommand of the armed forces to a supreme commander, the Soviet Union.After Romania complained about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by thepact’s troops in 1968, it rejected a potential similar solution for Poland in1980. In the 1970s and 1980s, Romania participated in the exercises orga-

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nized by the Warsaw Treaty only with staff officer groups collaborating onmap exercises. Beginning in 1964, Romanian officers were no longer sent tostudy in the Soviet Union.133

SETTING UP THE AIRDEFENSE HEADQUARTERS

In 1956 a centralized organizational structure was set up for defense manage-ment in case of a potential air attack. That meant the merging of the MilitaryAir Force Headquarters and the Air Defense Headquarters. The reason forthis move was the centralization of the air defense tasks within one headquar-ters in order to better accomplish the operational missions.

SETTING UP THE MILITARYEDUCATIONAL DIRECTORATE

Starting in 1957, the central body for guiding and managing the educationand training process of the various institutions of the Armed Forces was theMilitary Educational Department. Two years later the merging of the foursuperior educational institutions within the General Military Academy wasconcluded. These institutions were the Military Academy, the Political andMilitary Academy, the Technical Military Academy, and the Academy of theRear Army. In the 1950s, military schools for officers providing a two-yearand a three-year period of study started functioning for such branches asinfantry, artillery, cavalry, tanks, engineering, signal, aviation, air defenseartillery, navy, railway, chemistry, topography, and logistics. Beginning inthe 1961–1962 school year, superior military schools for active duty officerswere created, providing a four-year period of study. Some military schoolsfor officers also merged during that period, especially those of the landforces. After six years, the three-year period of study was again in place formilitary schools, within the framework of the twelve-year general educa-tion.134

ADOPTION OF THE FULL UNITYOF COMMAND PRINCIPLE

At the beginning of 1958, following a decision by the Political Bureau of theCentral Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, the principle of full

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unity of command was introduced within the armed forces. According to thisdecision, the commanders were held fully responsible for the combat andpolitical readiness of the formations of the armed forces. Adopted at amoment when the purging of the old cadres of the royal army had ended, andwhen the Communist Party controlled all the command instruments not onlywithin the armed forces, but within all of Romanian society, the documentstated that ‘‘the introduction of the full unity of command does not diminishthe importance of the political work within the armed forces, but increasesits role by giving it greater extent and a deeper meaning.’’

ROMANIAN MILITARY ANDTHE NATIONAL ECONOMY

The participation of the military in the works performed for the nationaleconomy was regulated through decisions by the Council of Ministers. Thepractice of the Communist regime to use a cheap and obedient labor force tocover the shortfalls of the Socialist economic system started in the 1950s. Itreached a considerable level in the 1980s when the participation of the armedforces was requested by the Communist Party not only in the realm of agri-culture, but also in shipyards and coal mines. This mobilization resulted incasualties of work accidents and difficult labor conditions. To harvest thecrops in 1959, 120,000 soldiers were assigned to work on state farms. In 1964the armed forces contributed in various ways to the State Agriculture CentralCorporation; they provided 25,000 military and transported wheat crops with4,000 trucks. In the 1980s, besides the ordinary presence of the military incoal mines or agriculture, the military contributed engineering equipment andsignificant troops to the work done at the Danube–Black Sea Channel (whichcrosses the province of Dobrudja from west to east), the Transfagarasan road(across the Carpathians Mountains from Wallachia to Transylvania), and thefamous House of the People in Bucharest (the second-largest building in theworld after the Pentagon), which is now known as the Palace of the Parlia-ment. All these remarkable achievements from the 1980s were possiblebecause of the domestic policies imposed by the Communist Party underdirect orders from Ceausescu, who managed a so-called Socialist type of anancient slavery form of production.

MANDATORY CONSCRIPTION

Decree No. 468/1957, modified through Decree No. 687/1964 stated in article1 that conscription was mandatory and meant ‘‘the activity performed by the

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citizens within the Armed Forces of the Popular Republic of Romania orwithin the military units of the Ministry of the Interior.’’ In March 1961 theGeneral Directorate of the Labor Service was disbanded and the subjectiveselection of young men for military units or labor detachment was aban-doned. Decree No. 711/1966 again regulated military service, whose lengthwas kept at one year and four months for conscripts of all branches exceptthe navy, whose length of service was two years. The length of military ser-vice for the cadets of the Military Schools for Reserve Officers or for theshort-term conscripts (graduates of universities) was set at only six months.In the 1970s and 1980s, the nine-month conscription was adopted and per-formed before the years of university studies.

Due to changes made to the Constitution of Romania in 2003, mandatoryconscription was outlawed and the issue was regulated through an organiclaw.

NEW ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THEMINISTRY OF THE ARMED FORCES

At the beginning of December 1964, the State Council adopted a decreeaccording to which the Ministry of the Armed Forces was composed of thefollowing structures (their order shows their importance and position): theHigh General Staff, the Superior Political Council, the services headquartersand the specialty central directorates, the Rear Headquarters, the EndowmentGeneral Directorate, the Personnel Directorate, the Financial and ControlDirectorate, the Secretariat Directorate, and the Judicial Office. According tothe aforementioned decree, the main responsibility of the Ministry of theArmed Forces was to carry out the policy of the government establishedthrough the guidelines of the Communist Party.

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS FORNATIONAL DEFENSE IN 1965

The New Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Romania, adopted on 21August 1965 by the Great National Assembly, stipulated that the defense ofthe homeland was the sacred duty of each citizen, and the breaking of themilitary oath, betrayal of the country, joining the enemy’s side, and damagesbrought to the defense capability were the most serious crimes committedagainst the people and would be punished severely.

The Great National Assembly—the supreme body of the state power—had

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the exclusive role (at least, theoretically) of managing the issues of nationaldefense, and was invested with the right to call for general or partial mobili-zation and to declare a state of war. At the same time, the Great NationalAssembly had the right to appoint and revoke the supreme commander of thearmed forces. According to the 1965 constitution, a state of war could bedeclared only in case of an armed aggression against the Socialist Republic ofRomania or against a state for which Romania had assumed mutual defenseresponsibilities through international treaties, if the declaration of a state ofwar was legitimate.

PATRIOTIC GUARDS

The patriotic guards were formed through a decree of the State Council in1968 (in the aftermath of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the WarsawTreaty forces), based on the provisions of the constitution adopted in 1965and the Communist military doctrine of the full participation of the peoplein the homeland’s defense. The concept of the Romanian Communist Partyconsidered the patriotic guards as armed detachments composed of workers,organized—at least theoretically—on a volunteer basis in each territory andworkplace. The guards were composed of men (up to sixty years old) andwomen (up to fifty-five years old) who had attended one of the trainingschools or the military service, no matter what their nationality. The patrioticguards fulfilled their task under the leadership of the Central Committee ofthe Romanian Communist Party and the local bodies of the party. The subunitcommanders of the patriotic guards were selected from reserve officers andnoncommissioned officers who did not have any other military responsibili-ties.

LAW 14/1972 AND THE ORGANIZATIONOF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE

This law instituted the local defense councils in counties, municipalities,towns, and villages as local defense leadership bodies. They had the responsi-bility of coordinating and accomplishing the defense tasks in their area ofresponsibility in both peacetime and wartime. Those local defense councilscomprised persons holding leadership positions in the party and state. Thus ina county defense council the president was the prime secretary of the CountyCouncil of the Party, and the members were the vice president and the secre-tary of the executive committee of the popular council, the first secretary of

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the Union of Young Communists, the military commander of the garrison orof a military unit assigned by the Ministry of National Defense, the com-mander of the local military conscription center, the chief of staff of the patri-otic guards of the area, the chief of staff of the civil defense, the chief offiremen, the chief of the sanitary directorate, the chief of the postal services,the chief of the regional railway, and the chief of transportation by car, air,or river in the area.

ROMANIAN OFFICERS AND GENERALSWITHIN THE ROMANIAN COMMUNIST PARTY

At the XIth Congress of the Romanian Communist Party, thirteen officersand generals from the Ministry of National Defense were elected as membersof the Central Committee. In March 1974, fourteen officers and generals wereelected as deputies of the Great National Assembly. Besides them, a largenumber of military were part of the party bodies’ popular councils of thecounties, municipalities, towns, and villages. In addition, there were manyofficers working for the party, and the military trained people to be engineersor signal or engineering officers who then went to work in key posts of thenational economy.

Hence the Communist Party held total control over the military institution,commanding both its actions and its ideology.

THE FIRST ROMANIAN IN SPACE:LT. DUMITRU PRUNARIU

Starting in March 1978, based on agreements between the Socialist Republicof Romania and the Soviet Union, two Romanian candidates started theirtraining in Star Town near Moscow, at the I. A. Gagarin Space Training Cen-ter. They were Maj. Dumitru Dediu (an air force engineer) and Lt. DumitruPrunariu (an aviation engineer). The one selected to take part in the firstRomanian–Soviet space expedition was Dumitru Prunariu, a twenty-nine-year-old Brasov native who had graduated from the Aircraft Department ofthe Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. He accompanied the Soviet colonelLeonid Ivanovich Popov aboard Soyuz 40, a space shuttle launched on 14May 1981 from the Balkonur launching site. The next day, Soyuz 40 joinedthe Russian orbital complex Salyut 6–Soyuz 40 and started a scientificresearch program that included work in astrophysics, nuclear physics, spacetechnology, and biomedicine.

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The separation of Soyuz 40 from the orbital complex took place on 22 May1981, during the 121st rotation around Earth; on the same day, the shuttlelanded successfully after seven days and twenty hours in space. The sameyear, Col. Leonid Popov and 1st Lt. Dumitru Prunariu were awarded the titlesof Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania.135

In November 2003, Dumitru Prunariu, president of the Space Agency ofRomania, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general (one star). Later hewas appointed ambassador of Romania to the Russian Federation and postedto Moscow.

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Chapter Fifteen

Romanian Military Involvement in theRevolution of December 1989

On the days of the Revolution of December 1989, the military actions of theRomanian Armed Forces were those appropriate for a fundamental institutionof the state: the Romanian military met the ideals and the people’s obvious willto demolish the Communist regime. Through numerous commanding andrestraining instruments, rules, and measures developed over the course ofdecades of dictatorship, Ceausescu’s regime attempted to use the armedforces to hold on to power by any means. After the initial moments of distur-bance and confusion skillfully built up by the powerful Communist propa-ganda, the armed forces joined the revolutionary side and alongside thepopulation paid in bloodshed for the victory of the revolution. Most of thevictims perished after 22 December 1989—the moment of Ceausescu’s fallduring the fight with the so-called terrorists, an enemy that was unseen andthat is unknown even today. The revolution was the first performance of realcombat actions by the Romanian forces since World War II, and they revealedthe severe shortfalls in young conscripts’ combat training as well as the mili-tary’s lack of proper experience and infrastructure in the face of a modernelectronic and diversionist warfare.

MILITARY ACTIONS OF DECEMBER 1989

In December 1989 the Romanian Armed Forces acted under the legal condi-tions imposed by the state of exception declared by Ceausescu as presidentof Romania and the provisions claimed by the partial combat order embeddedin the indicative ‘‘Radu the Handsome,’’ which was transmitted on 17December 1989.

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In Timisoara, the night between 16 and 17 December 1989 brought dra-matic events. In Maria Square, on Michelangelo Bridge, and near DecebalusBridge in front of the County Committee of the Party, strikes were exchangedbetween the demonstrators and the order-maintaining forces. Consideringthat the forces of the Ministry of the Interior were not sufficient to repressthe increasing protest movement, Ceausescu sought an extreme solution, ask-ing for the use of the troops belonging to the Ministry of National Defense,even if such tasks were not part of their responsibilities. In a different part ofthe city, columns of armed military that had been taken out with music andflags to deter the mass disorder were brutally attacked by violent individuals.Maj. Gen. (a one-star general according to Communist ranks) Stefan Gusa,chief of the High General Staff, assumed the coordination of the militaryactions in Timisoara. Thus, conditions were provided for the armed forcesnot to be involved in an open confrontation with the civilian demonstrators,a confrontation that could have had countless consequences.

During the night between 17 and 18 December, groups of individualsarmed with crowbars, sticks, and flammable bottles organized into a realstriking force and attacked the militias (the former name for policemen),some military units, and the military formations that were being enacted inthe street. On 20 December 1989 at 2 p.m., Gusa ordered the military toretreat from downtown Timisoara to their barracks, an order that wasapproved later on by the minister of national defense, Gen. Col. (a three-stargeneral in the Communist ranking) Vasile Milea.

Following the pattern of the solution to an analogous crisis situation thatoccurred in August 1968 in the aftermath of Czechoslovakia’s invasion, thehuge meeting organized in Palace Square in Bucharest on 21 December 1989at noon meant the beginning of the popular revolt in the capital. Desperate,Ceausescu requested that Gen. Col. Vasile Milea and Lt. Gen. Iulian Vlad,the chief of State Security Department (Securitate) remain in the buildingof the Central Committee of the Party in order to conduct, under his directsupervision, interventions aiming to stop the revolt’s expansion. During thenight between 21 and 22 December, in the vicinity of the IntercontinentalHotel (in the neighborhood of the Central Committee building), blood-spattered strikes took place between the demonstrators and the forces belong-ing to Securitate, the Ministry of Defense, and the militia. In the morning of22 December 1989, after the unexplained death (either homicide or suicide)of the minister of national defense—which Ceausescu called the ultimatebetrayal—the armed forces renounced the role of ‘‘people’s butcher’’ andwithdrew into the barracks, following the order of the deputy minister ofdefense, Lt. Gen. (two stars) Victor Athanasie Stanculescu. The military cor-

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dons were broken and the demonstrators began to mingle with the soldiersand officers.

On 22 December, around 12:30 p.m., Ceausescu and his wife Elena leftthe building of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party viaa helicopter that took off from the roof. That evening, the Ceausescus werearrested in Targoviste and entrusted to a military unit commanded by ColonelKemenici. After three days and three nights of street fighting against unseenso-called terrorists—a period during which hundreds of civilians and soldiersdied—the Ceausescus were executed on 25 December after a brief trial per-formed by a martial military court within the same military unit inTargoviste.136

RANK PROMOTIONS NOT GRANTED IN 1989

In the 1980s, due to the strengthening command of the Communist Party inall social, cultural, and economic areas—which meant, in fact, Ceausescu’spersonal dictatorship—a series of measures was adopted to restrain the com-petence and the prerogatives of the various military echelons. The dictatortook over the prerogatives, which included the assignments in various mili-tary positions and the rank promotions. Consequently, for a period of timethe assignments were blocked, and this decreased the military’s effectivenessas its personnel were forced to hold deputy positions.137

Contrary to established legal provisions, on 23 August 1989 2,152 officerswere denied promotion. This was a shocking abuse that deepened the mili-tary’s general dissatisfaction with Ceausescu’s clan and Communist rule.

THE ‘‘RADU THE HANDSOME’’ ORDER

Reacting to information on the development of events in Timisoara and tosignals received through military channels that indicated distressing militarymovement at the western borders, Gen. Col. Vasile Milea ordered the execu-tion on Sunday, 17 December, at 3:25 p.m. of ‘‘Radu the Handsome.’’139 Thiswas an order that the headquarters and military units in Bucharest prepare forpartial combat. At 6 p.m. the indicative was extended over all the armedforces, everywhere in the country. The ability to order the execution of theindicative—following a proposal by the minister of national defense—belonged solely to the president of the Socialist Republic of Romania, whowas also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. The indicative meantthat the military units were supposed to perform the activities necessary to

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prepare as quickly and peacefully as possible for a combat mission. The nextphase would have been the ‘‘general combat warning,’’ which included allthe activities and measures typical for the ‘‘Radu the Handsome’’ indicative,concurrent with a general mobilization.

ARMED FORCES IN TIMISOARAON 17 DECEMBER 1989

The revolt that emerged in Timisoara on 16 December 1989 continued duringthe night, seeing violence and arrest. During the night between 16 and 17December, Ceausescu consulted for a long time with Milea, and they decidedto send a group of generals and officers from the Ministry of NationalDefense and the Ministry of Interior to the hot spot.

On Sunday, 17 December, at 10 a.m., groups of violent civilians harassedthe military columns that had been sent into the street with music and flagsbut no weapons. Soon thereafter, other troops with no ammunition were sentto block the key intersections and the main access routes. Participating in themeeting of the Executive Political Committee of the Central Committee ofthe Romanian Communist Party, under Ceausescu’s pressure, Gen. Col. Vas-ile Milea ordered the distribution of ammunition. The state of exception wasdeclared in the Timis district. Due to the confusing and stressful situationcreated through a strong, deliberate disinformation campaign and local vio-lent provocations, some military worried about self-defense and, at their owninitiative, shot their guns in warning; this act gave an advantage to theregime’s real repressive forces from Securitate.138

CEAUSESCU’S ORDERS ON 17 DECEMBER 1989

After blaming Gen. Milea and Gen. Vlad of betrayal, cowardice, and dis-obeying the orders of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces,Ceausescu panicked and ordered during the last meeting of the Central Com-mittee of the Romanian Communist Party the following immediate measuresmeant to put down the general revolt in Timisoara: ‘‘Let’s put the troops inreadiness. . . . No matter where an action is attempted, it must be immediatelyliquidated, without any other discussions.’’ The order was emphasized againby Ceausescu during the teleconference that took place in the evening of thesame day: ‘‘I ordered guns to be shot . . . summons to be called and if notobeyed, guns to be shot. . . . Within one hour order must be reestablished inTimisoara’’ (translation of the transcription of the discussions held in the last

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meeting of the Office of the Central Committee of the Romanian CommunistParty, published in the Romanian press in 1990).

TROOPS AND MILITARY TECHNIQUESDEPLOYED AFTER 17 DECEMBER 1989

Beginning on 17 December 1989, a group of officers and generals holdingcommand positions in the Ministry of National Defense, among them Maj.Gen. Stefan Gusa, was sent to Timisoara. Troops and weapons were placedin the street in large garrisons, especially in Transylvania, under pressurefrom either Ceausescu (in the cases of Timisoara and Bucharest) or the chiefsof the district organizations of the Communist Party (Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu,Arad, Brasov). Most of the troops and weapons remained in the barracks,preparing for what was considered to be an attack on the western border ofthe country. However, Minister of National Defense Vasile Milea asked thegarrison and unit commanders not to meet the requirements for troops orweapons without his special approval. In this way, he tried to keep to a mini-mum the level of military engagement in the crisis.

ARMED FORCES’ FRATERNIZATION WITHREVOLUTIONARIES FROM TIMISOARA

On 19 December, surrounded by the workers of the Elba Factory, Major Gen-eral Gusa was in Timisoara to see the situation himself and to promise thepeople that he would order the retreat of troops and weapons into the bar-racks. This appearance incited the fraternization between the military and therevolutionaries. The next day, at 2 p.m., Gusa took charge of the retreat andthe measure was subsequently approved by the minister of national defense,Gen. Col. Vasile Milea. On 20 December, the whole city of Timisoara wenton strike, and waves of locals demonstrated in the streets, calling out loud forthe first time: ‘‘The army is with us!’’ The attitude and position of the chiefsof the armed forces were assumed while Ceausescu still held power as presi-dent and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (at that moment, he wasin Iran on his last official visit abroad); his orders directly opposed the mili-tary leaders’ activities.140

FIGHT AGAINST UNKNOWN ‘‘TERRORISTS’’

After the Ceausescus’ escape on 22 December, the leadership of the armedforces took measures to protect the embryo of the new political power emerg-

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ing in Bucharest (after 2 p.m. the leaders, including Ion Iliescu, occupied theformer building of the Ministry of National Defense on Drumul TabereiStreet), and the revolutionaries occupied the buildings of the former CentralCommittee of the Romanian Communist Party, and of Romanian Televisionand Radio Broadcasting. Similar measures were taken all over the country toreturn to normalcy. Beginning at 9:30 p.m., firing was opened against theformer building of the Ministry of National Defense from the blocks acrossthe street, and in the night between 22 and 23 December, other headquartersand military units were targeted in ‘‘terrorist’’ attacks and shootings. To thisday nobody knows exactly who attacked the revolutionaries after 22 Decem-ber, nor who commanded these attackers, but people called them ‘‘terrorists’’because of the terror that they produced. The same night, around 9 p.m.,attacks were launched against the Romanian Television building onDorobanti Avenue and the Radio Broadcasting building on Berthelot Street.To defend these buildings, a large number of troops and armored vehicleswere sent to them. That night also meant the beginning of the first diversionsand electronic warfare, which, together with rumors and skilled disinforma-tion, strongly influenced the execution of military actions not only in Bucha-rest, but also in other cities, where fights against ‘‘unseen terrorists’’ tookplace. To defend and maintain the revolution’s political achievements, 211soldiers sacrificed their lives and 633 were wounded; a total of 1,104 Roma-nian citizens perished and 3,321 in the country were wounded.141

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Chapter Sixteen

At the Turn of the Millennium

On the Way to NATO

The last decade of the 20th century meant for the Romanian Armed Forces aperiod of changes and profound structural reforms oriented toward the modelof the modern armed forces of the Euro-Atlantic area. Amended in Vienna in1989, the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty was signed in Paris on 19November 1990 by Romania and twenty-two other NATO or Warsaw Treatymember states. According to the treaty signed in Paris, the Romanian ArmedForces were required to destroy a certain number of tanks and artillery piecesthat surpassed the permitted limits (most of it was old military weaponry). Atthe end of 1999, the endowment of the Romanian Armed Forces with modernequipment and weaponry increased only slightly, being to a great extentaffected by budgetary constraints. According to the government’s strategy,the modern armament programs would start again on a large scale only after2004, in proportion to the economic development of the country.

After the dissolution of the Warsaw Treaty in 1991, Romania was the firstcountry that signed the Frame Document for Partnership for Peace on 26 Jan-uary 1994 at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The frame document launchedby the North Atlantic Council made the first two Romanian officers start theiractivity within the Partnership Coordination Cell in SHAPE, Mons, Belgium.Although the Romanian policy and the actions of the Romanian ArmedForces were shaped as a national strategic objective aiming at NATO integra-tion in the first wave, political and economic issues that came to light at theJuly 1997 Madrid summit and 1999 Washington, D.C., summit prevented thefulfillment of this desire.

The constant moral support the public granted to the armed forces(between 65 and 80 percent of the population consistently declared its trust

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in the military institution) made popular and beloved the military ceremoniesorganized on National Day, Armed Forces’ Day, the occasion of handing overthe new combat banners, or the occasion of the military oath.

During the 1990s, the armed forces proved to be one of the most importantfactors in bringing Romania closer to the European and Euro-Atlantic secur-ity structures, and this period marked the first time when the so-called Roma-nian military foreign diplomacy proved to be more efficient than thetraditional one through its pragmatism and concrete approach. Revivinginterwar traditions, Romania through the Ministry of National Defense wasinvolved actively in all major political and military cooperation initiatives inthe Balkans and southeastern Europe, either with troops in the field (SFOR,KFOR) or with standby troops in SEEBRIG and BLACKSEAFOR, as wellas through providing political and military mechanisms in SEDM (SoutheastEurope Defense Ministerial) and SECI (Southeast European Cooperative Ini-tiative). An important part of this participation was the bilateral and partner-ship programs set up with the armed forces of some Western powers such asthe United States, Great Britain, France, and others. Moreover, starting in themiddle of the 2000s, thousands of Romanian officers of all ranks were trainedin all specialties and at all levels in the most renowned military educationalinstitutions of the NATO members. Besides the numerous contacts and visitsor the participation in various NATO/PfP applications and exercises, from1991 on, the Romanian Armed Forces made remarkable contributions tointernational peacekeeping missions performed under the aegis of the UN,NATO, or OSCE, and until 2003 more than 11,000 military of all ranks tookpart in these missions.

The missions performed by the Romanian Armed Forces’ units in Bosnia,Albania, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq were used as strong arguments in thepro-NATO campaign. On the whole, the Romanian participation in peace-keeping missions was very much praised by the partners from the great pow-ers, who constantly underscored the high professionalism of the Romanianmilitary despite the Romanians’ logistical disadvantages.

A political and military first step occurred in March 1999, when Romaniaopened its airspace to the NATO aircraft that were striking Yugoslavia withinOperation Allied Force. Another major opening toward the North AtlanticAlliance and especially the United States took place in the spring of 2002,when Romania sent a military police platoon to Kabul, Afghanistan, to takepart in ISAF. A staff officer group and a C-130 Hercules airplane were thenext contribution to ISAF. Then, an infantry battalion with 405 military andthe appropriate equipment (part of the Neagoe Basarab 26th Infantry Battal-ion based in Craiova) took part in Operation Enduring Freedom under U.S.command. Other specially trained battalions were rotated in Kandahar in

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what was considered the first direct participation of a Romanian ArmedForces’ unit in a real combat mission abroad after World War II. In July 2003the Romanian military entered Operation Iraqi Freedom by deploying aninfantry battalion to Nasiriyah, followed by engineering, military police, andspecial units.

The reformation process of the Romanian Armed Forces was seriouslyaffected in the period 1995–2004 by the budgetary constraints caused by thedecline of the national economy. The percentage of the budget allocatedannually for the armed forces dropped below 3 percent, and this damaged thecredibility of the real combat capability of the armed forces despite the factthat the new structures and the reform process developed within the armedforces were more consistent and daring than many other processes developedin other economic sectors. The political and military leaders of the RomanianArmed Forces turned to building a professional force that was supposed to besmaller but more flexible and better equipped, and able to meet the new polit-ical and military challenges of the third millennium, under programs knownas FARO 2005–2010 and Objective Force 2007.

ROMANIAN FIELD HOSPITAL INTHE PERSIAN GULF, 1991

On 9 February 1991, when Romania was still a member of the Warsaw Treaty(as the treaty would cease only on 31 March 1991), Field Surgery HospitalNo. 100 left the country for the Persian Gulf area according to the provisionsof UN Security Council Resolution No. 678, within Operation Granby, whichwas part of Operation Desert Storm. The latter was an operation performedby the multinational coalition for the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupa-tion.

The Romanian field hospital was designated to provide third-grade medicalcare; it had a capacity of 100 beds and was composed of 384 volunteer medi-cal cadres, both civilian and military. The unit under the command of Col.Dr. Dumitru Barboi142 was deployed to the town of Al Jubayil on the easterncoast of Saudi Arabia, and although it did not take part in combat, itimpressed the Western military with its new key post placement concept andits standardized containers modular system. On this occasion, most of theWestern military were coming in contact with Romanians for the first timein forty-five years because Romania had been on the other side of the IronCurtain.

The rapid development of the events in the theater of operations and thelack of major casualties at the end of Operation Desert Storm brought the

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end of the mission for the Romanian Field Hospital on 22 March 1991. TheRomanian involvement marked one of the first instances of military coopera-tion between a unit of an army that was integrated until 1990 into the WarsawTreaty and a NATO military structure, which was represented by the Britishcontingent in whose realm the Romanian hospital was placed.

ROMANIAN OFFICERS IN THE UN AND OSCEOBSERVATION AND SURVEILLANCE MISSIONS

The longest Romanian military participation in a UN mission started on 23April 1991 shortly after the end of Operation Desert Storm. It lasted untilMarch 2003, just before the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom and thesecond Persian Gulf War.

The United Nations Iraq Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) wasinstituted through UN Security Council Resolution No. 687 dated 3 April1991. It established a demilitarized zone along the border between Iraq andKuwait. The mission of the first Romanian military observation team led byCol. Marin Chiotea lasted one year and three months and was followed suc-cessively almost every year by groups of five or seven Romanian militaryobservers. Integrated within UNIKOM military structures, starting with theobservation posts of the three sectors of the demilitarized zone and up to posi-tions held within the headquarters of the mission, the Romanian officers com-pleted a range of tasks: troop, equipment, and population movementobservation through ground, water, and air patrolling; embargo infringementmonitoring; vehicle and personal control; liaisons with local and central Iraqiand Kuwaiti authorities; and investigation of cease-fire infringements.

UN Security Council Resolution No. 872 dated 5 October 1993 set upUNAMIR II, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, whosecoordination was entrusted to the representatives of the Belgian ArmedForces. After a short training period with the General Staff of the BelgianArmed Forces at the United Missions Coordination Center, a group com-posed of five Romanian officers led by Maj. Adrian Musat took part in opera-tions performed between 9 March and 15 April 1994, within the Belgiancontingent deployed in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. According to a decisionby the Peacekeeping Missions Department in New York, the Romanian offi-cers worked both for the planning sections of UNAMIR II headquarters andthe companies of the Belgian paratrooper battalion.

The presence of the Romanian military observers within UNMEE, theUnited Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, started on 9 October 2000and consisted of eight officers. The aim of deploying the peacekeeping force

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authorized by the Security Council was to lower tensions between Ethiopiaand Eritrea and to stop the escalation of a border conflict that could havedestabilized that area of Africa by involving other states neighboring the RedSea. The legal basis of this observation and reporting mission was UN Secur-ity Council Resolution No. 1312 and Decision No. 30 of the Parliament ofRomania dated 20 September 2000.

On 10 July 1999, in Lusaka, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of theCongo signed together with Angola, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zimba-bwe a cease-fire agreement between the governmental forces and the numer-ous internal rebel factions or groups involved in a bloody civil war fought tocontrol an ever larger part of the territory or to satisfy economic, political, ormilitary interests of the neighboring states. The agreement also stipulated theestablishment of a monitoring force under the aegis of the United Nations:MONUC, or the Mission de l’Organisation des Nations Unies ena RepubliqueDemocratique du Congo. MONUC was established through United NationsSecurity Council Resolution No. 1291, dated 24 February 2000. The structureof this mission evolved quickly from a nucleus of ninety UN military person-nel in September 1999 to a total of 500 observers in November 1999, increas-ing to 7,000 international personnel, both military and civilian. Meeting theUnited Nations’ request, the Parliament of Romania approved through Deci-sion No. 29 dated 20 September 2000 the participation of twenty-six and thentwenty-seven Romanian military observers in MONUC. Their mission con-sisted of ground, air, and water observation and monitoring, in compliancewith the provisions of the Lusaka Agreement, in all six territorial sectors coor-dinated by MONUC headquarters in Kinshasa and situated in Boende, Gem-ena, Lisala, Goma, Kindu, and Mbandaka. Many officers held commandpositions in the staffs of the sector headquarters of the mission.

Following the approval of the minister of national defense, between Sep-tember 2002 and February 2003 an officer specializing in demilitarization,demobilization, reconversion, reintegration, and repatriation was deployed toLuanda within the United Nations Mission Agreement (UNMA), a technicalgroup of the UN placed in Angola to assist the Mixed Military Commissionin implementing the memorandum of understanding signed between thearmed forces of Angola and UNITA’s military forces to work on the demobi-lization and social reintegration of the former UNITA fighters.

After the military actions between NATO and Yugoslavia were suspendedfollowing the Romanian parliament’s Decision No. 27 dated 23 June 1999, aliaison officer between the UN and KFOR structures was given a one-yearmandate to work within United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), first inMitrovitza and then in Pristina.

At the end of 2003, two more observation and monitoring missions wereplaced in Africa, in Burundi and the Ivory Coast. The Peacekeeping Missions

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Department in New York requested Romanian officers to hold positionswithin the headquarters of these missions.

Not even the journalists from the daily newspaper Adevarul (The Truth)who were in the field during the Transnistrean conflict had any idea about theOSCE observers deployed in a security area that was 245 km long and 20–40km wide and set up on both sides of the Nistru River in order to stop thearmed conflict that had arisen to separate Transnistria County from theRepublic of Moldova. Under the aegis of the Conference for Security andCooperation in Europe (the future Organization for Security and Co-opera-tion in Europe), between 19 April and 19 June 1992, a group composed oftwenty-five Romanian military observers led by Col. Petre Botezatu acted inthat area alongside an equal number of observers from the Russian Federa-tion, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine. The armed conflict broke outagain on 19 June 1992 and the military observers withdrew from the areauntil the signing of the hostility-cessation agreement between Moldova andRussia on 21 July 1992. In accordance with the agreement, a group of onlysix Romanian military observers returned to the security area and performedits activity until the end of February 1993, along with three Russian, one Mol-dovan, and two Ukrainian peacekeeping battalions that were present in thearea.

The Romanian military presence in the mission performed in the formerYugoslav republic of Macedonia (FYROM) under OSCE auspices lastedfrom 15 October 2001 to 30 June 2003 and was based on the decision ofthe Parliament of Romania dated 28 October 1998. The Romanian militarycontribution meant three military observers who monitored the situation inFYROM. The risk in the area emerged due to the interethnic conflict betweenthe Albanian minority and the Macedonian population of FYROM.

The same parliamentary decision and the same OSCE led to Romanianparticipation in the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) between 20 August2000 and 23 May 2003, with an observer deployed in Skopje, the FYROMcapital city, who performed movement-coordination tasks.

Beginning on 22 July 1999, resulting from the approval of the minister ofnational defense, five Romanian military observers monitored together withrepresentatives of thirty-five other OSCE members the situation along theborder of the Russian Federation (Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan) andGeorgia, an area at risk for escalating secessionist and border conflicts. Themissions of the observers consisted of patrolling and observation, crisis solu-tions, personnel training, and planning, organizing, and coordinating, eightmountain patrolling bases. All the actions had to take place on rough terrainthat was situated at an altitude of 3,000 meters in an unstable security envi-ronment.

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On 26 March 2003 the European Union Council invited Romania to partic-ipate in the peacekeeping operation Allied Harmony, conducted by the Euro-pean Union in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. This was the firstmilitary action under the aegis of the European Union decided within thecommon action of the European Union Council on 27 January 2003. TheRomanian Armed Forces took part between 10 June 2003 and 15 December2003 in the European Union Force for FYROM with two public relationsofficers and one intelligence officer who performed their duties in force head-quarters located in Skopje. Romania paid for its own participation.143

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS FORNATIONAL DEFENSE, ADOPTED IN 1991

Article 50

Loyalty to the country is sacred.Citizens and military entrusted with public positions are held responsible

for the faithful accomplishment of the responsibilities hereinafter and willgive their oath in this regard as requested by law.

Article 52 (modified)

The Citizens have the right and the duty to defend Romania.The military service is mandatory for male Romanian citizens who have

reached the age of 20, except in cases stipulated by law.In order to be trained as part of the active-duty military service, the citizens

can be called up until the age of 35. (By organic law, starting on 1 January2007, the Romanian Armed Forces became entirely professionalized, whichmeans that the active duty military service was abandoned [author’s notefrom December 2006].)

Article 72

The Parliament adopts constitutional laws, organic laws, and ordinary laws.An organic law regulates:

a. The organization of the Government and the Supreme Council forNational Defense.

b. The siege state and the emergency state regimes.

Article 80

The President of Romania represents the Romanian state and is the guarantorof the national independence, unity and territorial integrity of the country.

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Article 92

The President of Romania is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forcesand also holds the position of the president of the Supreme Council forNational Defense. He may declare, with the prior approval of the Parliament,the partial or general mobilization of the Armed Forces. Only in exceptionalsituations is the decision of the president later forwarded for the Parliament’sapproval within a maximum of five days from the adoption thereof.

In case of an armed aggression against the country, the President of Roma-nia takes measures to deter the aggression and makes them [the measures]known to the Parliament right away through a message. If the Parliament isnot in session, it is summoned within 24 hours from the beginning of theaggression.

Article 117

The Armed Forces is exclusively subordinated to the will of the people inorder to guarantee the sovereignty, independence and unity of the state, theterritorial integrity, and the constitutional democracy of the country.

The structure of the national defense system, the organization of the armedforces, the preparation of the population, economy, and territory for defense,and the status of the military are established through organic laws.

The provisions in paragraphs 1 and 2 are appropriately applied to thepolice, the state intelligence services, and the other components of the armedforces.

The organization of military or paramilitary activity outside state authorityis forbidden.

The territory of Romania cannot be entered or crossed by foreign troops,except under conditions provided by law.

Article 118

The Supreme Council for National Defense organizes and coordinates unilat-erally the activities related to the national defense and security.

REVISED CONSTITUTION RESULTING FROMTHE 2003 REFERENDUM

On 19 and 20 October 2003, a national referendum was organized to revisethe constitution that was adopted in 1991. The modification had in view

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mainly the creation of a legislative framework necessary for Romania’s inte-gration into NATO and the EU. From the point of view of defense, the revisedconstitution cleared the way for a professional army by eliminating the provi-sions on mandatory conscription and led to the proper fulfillment of therequirements for a future NATO member.

Thus, according to article 117 paragraph 1, ‘‘The Armed Forces is exclu-sively subordinated to the will of the people to grant the sovereignty, indepen-dence and unity of the state, the territorial integrity and the constitutionaldemocracy. Under the conditions of law and the international treaties Roma-nia is part of, the armed forces contributes to the collective defense withinmilitary alliance systems and takes part in peacekeeping or peace reinforce-ment actions.’’ According to paragraph 5 of the same article, ‘‘Romania’s ter-ritory can be entered or crossed by foreign troops that can station or performoperations under the provisions of the laws or international treaties Romaniais part of.’’

The Supreme Council for National Defense has, according to article 118,responsibilities regarding ‘‘the organization and the unilateral coordination ofthe activities related to defense, national security, participation in maintain-ing the international security and the collective defense in military alliancesas well as regarding the peacekeeping or peace enforcement.’’ The combinedchambers of the parliament have, according to article 62, paragraph 2f, thetask of ‘‘approving the national defense strategy.’’

Constitutional chapter 2 makes reference to the president of Romania andarticle 92 has a new paragraph, number 4, which says that ‘‘in case of mobili-zation or war, the Parliament continues its activity and, if not in session, issummoned within 24 hours after the declaration of war.’’ As for the excep-tional measures, according to article 93, paragraph 1, ‘‘the President ofRomania institutes the siege or emergency state in the country or someadministrative territories and requests that Parliament approve the measuresadopted within a maximum of five days after the decision is made.’’

The possibility of having a fully professional army led to the eliminationof the lines mandating military service, the military duties being establishedthrough an organic law. Paragraph 3 of constitutional article 52 says that‘‘The citizens can be recruited from the age of 20 until the age of 35, excep-ting the volunteers, under the conditions of the organic law.’’ As for the alter-native military service, the constitution says in article 39, paragraph 2, that‘‘the activities for accomplishing the military duties and those performedinstead of them because of religious or moral reasons’’ are not consideredforced labor.

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ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES REFORM, AFTERDECEMBER 1989

In January 1990, the General Staff started the planning and coordination ofthe restructuring and modernization process of the armed forces, seeking allthe while to retain a credible combat capability. Although external and for-eign political interference at times stalled the reform process, on the whole,the process of restructuring the Romanian Armed Forces underwent threemain stages:144 The first stage (1990–1995) meant the elimination of theCommunist political control in the armed forces and the control generated bythe former Warsaw Treaty membership. New defense legislation was initiatedto ensure the proper functioning of the armed forces, and new modernizationand equipping programs were initiated. The second stage (1995–1997) hadin view to accelerate the structural reform at the strategic command level, theorganization of the armed forces in battalions, brigades, and army corps, andthe launch of the interoperability process with the armed forces of the NATOmember states. At the same time the units designated for peacekeeping mis-sions were made operational. The third stage, which started in 1997, meantthe organization of the General Staff and the services according to modularstructures compatible with those of NATO. A new personnel managementstrategy was issued, and the interoperability objectives assumed through Part-nership for Peace started being implemented, as was the Membership ActionPlan (MAP).

There began the organization of the Rapid Reaction Force as the core ofthe future professional army; it was generically called Objective Force 2007.The transformations led to a downsizing of the armed forces, from 320,000to 180,000 in 2000, with the next objective being to have 112,000 militaryand 28,000 civilians. Objective Force 2007 will comprise 75,000 military and15,000 civilians. The minister of national defense is a civilian political per-sonality who holds responsible the state secretaries and politicians designatedto manage the defense and equipment issues and the relationship with thecivil society. The chief of the General Staff is the highest military authorityand is responsible for the combat capability of the Romanian Armed Forces.The chiefs of the services are subordinated to him, as are the operational andterritorial headquarters and other structures.

In August 2001, the strength of the Romanian Armed Forces consisted of22,600 officers, 25,700 NCOs and warrant officers, 15,800 sergeants, 35,000conscripts, and 36,000 civilians.

Effective 1 January 2007, the mandatory military service will be elimi-nated according an organic law approved by the parliament in 2005. This

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means that the Romanian military will comprise only professional soldiers,NCOs, and officers.

ROMANIAN DOCTORS IN THE UNOSOM IIMISSION IN SOMALIA

Between 6 July 1993 and 26 October 1994, the doctors working with the 50thField Hospital took part in UNOSOM II (United Nations Operations inSomalia), acting in the vicinity of the airport in Mogadishu, the Somali capi-tal. During the deployment, the hospital functioned independently, having235 personnel and 50 beds that served both the UNOSOM military and theSomali population. The hospital had a surgery section, an intestinal diseasesection, laboratories, and a stomatology section. The hospital command posi-tion during the mission, which had two troop rotations, was held by doctorsCol. Ion Dragusin, PhD, and Col. Ion Boriceanu, PhD. More than 80 percentof the total medical activity consisted of humanitarian acts for the benefit ofthe local population. On the whole, 75,877 sick persons were provided witha wide range of medical services from emergency care to bullet wounds andbirth assistance.145

MILITARY STRUCTURES ADOPTED IN 1993

Replacing the former High Staff, the General Staff (based on a Westernmodel) and the staffs of the services were established in 1993, and the armycorps and brigade echelons replaced the regiments and divisions. The AirForce Command and the Air Defense Headquarters were united. Peacekeep-ing operation structures were created, enlisted personnel (professional ser-geants) were hired, and the military education reform was launched.

THE NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL FOREUROPEAN AND EURO-ATLANTIC

INTEGRATION

This political body was set up on 3 November 1993 with the participation ofall the political parties represented in the parliament, as well as that of thePresidency, government, and some nongovernmental organizations. The aimwas to promote the measures necessary for Romania to become a full NATOmember. In June 1996, the Parliament of Romania adopted an appeal empha-

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sizing the consensus of the Romanian political spectrum regarding thenational strategic objective for NATO integration. The appeal was forwardedto all NATO members, who were asked for support in this regard. This politi-cal approach was based on the wide public support for Romania’s integrationinto NATO, a support expressed and proven also by polls.

IN THE HEART OF AFRICA: UNAVEM III ANDMONUA MISSIONS IN ANGOLA

At the request of UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Parlia-ment of Romania approved on 13 March 1995 the Romanian military contri-bution to UNAVEM III (United Nations Angola Verification Mission III) inAngola, an African country waging a bloody civil war. In the first stage, thiscontribution consisted of thirty-one officers and an NCO staff group for themission’s command structures, but soon an infantry battalion and a field hos-pital were also deployed, bringing the total number of people involved to 900.

Until August 1999, all four peacekeeping battalions specially trained forUN missions in Bucharest, Craiova, Bistrita, and Iasi were sent to the Ango-lan camps located in Chicuma, N’Gove, Lubango, and Lobito, the rotationtaking place every six or seven months. Within UNAVEM III and MONUA(Missao de Observacao das Nacoes Unidas em Angola) the Romanian mili-tary patrolled hundreds of kilometers through Angola’s deserts; built and setup camps for UNITA (Unido National para a Independencia Total de Angola)military in Chicuma and N’Gove; escorted military convoys; and searchedthe quartering camps and cleared them of mines. The equipment used wasentirely Romanian: armored personnel carriers for recce operations, model78 (TAB C-78); modernized armored personnel carriers, model 71 (TAB 71M); and 4-by-4 terrain vehicles, models DAC 665 and DAC 10215. Col. Cris-tian Crampita and Col. Nicolae Ivanel served as regional military command-ers during UNAVEM III. The field hospital deployed in Viana-Luanda withforty beds and 108 medical personnel provided medical care to thousands ofsick people, be they wounded or suffering from other illnesses, and treated281 cases of malaria. After 1 July 1997 only one infantry company remainedin the theater of operations until August 1999.

Three Romanian doctors held the position of chief surgeon of UNAVEMIII. Between 1995 and 1999, three Romanian military lost their lives inAngola to malaria or accidents. On the whole, Romanian participation in thepeacekeeping mission constituted the first serious challenge for the RomanianMoD capability of performing missions in distant countries.

Since October 1999, under UN Mandate 27, unarmed Romanian officers

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have been participating as military observers policing compliance with theprovisions of the Lusaka Treaty. This function falls within MONUC, in boththe UN headquarters in Kinshasa and the six territorial sectors of the mis-sion.146

‘‘COOPERATIVE DETERMINATION’’NATO/PfP EXERCISE IN SIBIU, 1995

The first NATO/PfP live exercise involving ground troops planned byAFSOUTH (the land component command of NATO regional headquartersin Naples) to take place in Romania occurred in Sibiu between 10 and 15September 1995 and included 438 military from nine NATO and PfP memberstates. The Turkish general Huseyin Kivrikoglu, commander of NATO AlliedLand Forces South Eastern Europe, conducted the exercise with Brig. Gen.Hayrettin Uzun, who represented NATO, and Brig. Gen. Nicolae Cordu-neanu, who represented the Romanian side.

The exercise aimed at NATO standard operation procedures (SOPs) fieldtraining in peacekeeping operations, at the level of a multinational battalion.This unit, which was commanded by a Romanian officer, Lt. Col. IoanPasloiu, consisted of four companies, each having three platoons formed bymilitary from different national contingents.

IN BOSNIA’S MOUNTAINS:IFOR AND SFOR MISSIONS

The Joseph Kruzel 96th Engineering Battalion was established and put intoaction based on parliamentary Decision Nos. 23 and 43 dated 1995, Govern-mental Decision No. 63 dated 7 February 1996, and the decision of the Gen-eral Staff dated December 1995 with the aim of participating in IFOR(Implementation Force), Bosnia-Herzegovina, initially for ten months, fromMarch until December 1996. The same institutions extended the deploymentperiod due to changes in the first European NATO mission. This first involve-ment of a Romanian unit in a NATO-led operation signified the politicaloption of a definite engagement by Romania on its way to NATO, and thefirst real test the Romanian Armed Forces would face before its future allies.The process started in January 1994 in Brussels when the minister of foreignaffairs, Teodor Melescanu, signed the PfP accession documents. The mis-sions the battalion received from both the national command and the AlliedRapid Reaction Force sought to build and maintain roads and bridges and to

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simultaneously clear the areas of mines. During the Romanians’ stay in Bos-nia, there arose the need for works to benefit the Republic of Sprska and theCroatian-Muslim Federation.

Following parliamentary Decision No. 25, dated 1996, and governmentalDecision No. 73, dated 14 March 1996, after the end of the IFOR mandate,the Romanian battalion was part of the new military structure called SFOR(Stabilization Force) for eighteen months. The unit structure went throughseveral changes, and the number of the military in the theater decreased from200 to 180. A liaison between the battalion and LANDCENT (NATO landforces that replaced the ARRC) was also created.

In just the first two and a half years of the Romanian presence in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a total of 691 military were rotated as a part of the Joseph Kru-zel 96th Engineering Battalion, which was named after the American diplo-mat who died in a plane crash while on a mission in Bosnia. The engineersof this battalion performed 200 specific missions. The battalion acted in60,000 square kilometers of mountainous and wooded terrain, at the demar-cation line between the Republic of Sprska and the Croatian-Muslim Federa-tion, in landmine areas that had been refused by other specialized unitsalready in the operation theater.

As the number of SFOR troops decreased, the number of Romanian engi-neers also decreased. However, there emerged new subunits, such as a mili-tary police platoon, a national intelligence cell, and new positions for theRomanian officers within the SFOR headquarters in Camp Butmir, Sarajevo.Thus, at the end of 2003, SFOR comprised the following Romanian troops:the Bosnia national detachment with sixty-eight engineers deployed in CampButmir, Sarajevo; a national detachment composed of forty-five engineers aspart of the Dutch contingent in Banja Luka / Bogojno; a military police pla-toon with twenty-five military as part of the Military Support Unit; a nationalintelligence cell composed of four military; and seven officers holding vari-ous positions in CIMIC (Civil-Military Cooperation), PSYOPS, or JVB(Joint Visitors Bureau) branches within the SFOR headquarters.147

COOPERATIVE PARTNER NATO/PfP EXERCISE,CONSTANTA HARBOR, 1996

The second exercise organized on Romanian territory by AFSOUTH, com-manded by the American admiral Leighton W. Smith, took place in Constanta(the biggest harbor city on the Romanian seashore) and maritime watersbetween 21 and 27 July 1996. The commander of NAVSOUTH (Allied NavalForces Southern Europe), the Italian admiral Mario Angeli, assisted by Amer-

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ican Vice Adm. D. L. Pilling and Romanian Vice Adm. Gheorghe Angelescu,who was the chief of the Romanian Navy Staff at the time, led the exercise.Various naval, amphibious, and aviation units from eleven NATO or partnerstates took part in the exercise. The command post was placed aboard thedestroyer Marasesti, the representative ship of the Romanian navy.

The goal of the exercise was to improve the participants’ training skills andto promote some interoperability procedures in the contexts of humanitarianmissions, evacuation of noncombatants, peacekeeping, naval monitoring,minesweeping, and convoys.

COOPERATIVE KEY NATO/PfP EXERCISEIN BUCHAREST, 1996

The third real NATO/PfP multinational exercise hosted by Romania was con-ducted between the 14 and 18 October1996 on the Nicolae Banciulescu airforce base located near Bucharest. The exercise was coordinated by the com-mander in chief of Allied Air Force South Europe, Adm. T. Joseph Lopez,and directed by the commander of the Allied Air Force South Europe, Lt.Gen. Richard Bethurem of the U.S. Air Force. Codirectors of the exercisewere Brig. Gen. Thomas Waskov and air flotilla Gen. Ion Stan. Aircraft,infantry, and helicopters from Greece, Italy, Turkey, the United States, theCzech Republic, the Republic of Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania took partin the exercise. The goal was to practice NATO communications and logisti-cal procedures in air operations such as land dropping and supplying cargoin a multinational intervention scenario for humanitarian assistance inresponse to a natural disaster. Medical evacuation operations were also con-ducted.

ARMED FORCES CHURCH PROTOCOL,OCTOBER 1995 (EXCERPT)

Based on Article 29 (5) of the Constitution of Romania and the traditions ofthe Romanian people, based on the fact that the religious assistance in theRomanian Armed Forces remains a missionary and leading duty of theChurch, until the adoption of the Law on Military Clergy and ReligiousAssistance in the Armed Forces, the following Protocol is signed hereinafterbetween the Ministry of National Defense and the Romanian Patriarchy.

The provision of religious assistance starts again within the Armed Forcesof Romania and aims at meeting the religious, moral, and spiritual require-

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ments of the military, contributing to the religious, patriotic, civic, and ethicaleducation of the soldiers.

The religious assistance is organized by the Romanian Patriarchy and theMinistry of National Defense and will be performed during the hours set upby units, taking into account the specific and the general requirements of themilitary system and the particularities of the respective branch or militaryunit.

The clergy constituted in this regard will be part of the Defense Policy andInternational Relations Department and of the units foreseen in appendixes 1and 2 of the present protocol.

The Romanian Patriarchy and its dioceses will provide the necessary cleri-cal personnel, in meeting the necessities of the armed forces and at therequest of the Ministry of National Defense.

ROMANIAN MILITARY MEDIA148

The Romanian military media came into being on 23 July 1859, the day ofpublication of the first military review, Observatorul militar (the MilitaryObserver), shortly after the union of the Romanian principalities. At first itwas a private initiative that lasted only several months and aimed at coveringin a journalistic style the whole range of military issues. A little later, on 6February 1860, Monitorul oastei (the Armed Forces’ Monitor) was publishedas an official newspaper printed by the Ministry of War in which mainlyofficial documents concerning military issues were printed.

The last decades of the 19th century saw, besides the newspapers of gen-eral interest, the printing of military publications, especially magazines, thatconveyed a well-crafted profile on the branches and services and addressed apublic composed mainly of officers, but also of noncommissioned officersand soldiers. During the neutrality, between 1914 and 1916, and during WorldWar I, the weekly magazine the People’s War was published in Bucharest;after 1916, its title was changed to Our War and the People’s War. The maga-zine comprised information and photos from European fronts, portraits ofmilitary commanders, and remarks made about the belligerent powers behindthe scenes. During World War II, between 3 November 1939 and May 1944,the Military Gazette weekly magazine was published as an independentnewspaper serving the national defense. It was dedicated strictly to dissemi-nating military information and together with other internal or front pam-phlets, it boosted the troops’ morale.

The Armed Forces’ Voice weekly newspaper was printed for the first timeon 15 July 1945 as a cultural and educational military publication and

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became, on 21 January 1945, the daily newspaper of the Ministry of ArmedForces, controlled by the Communist political structures and used as a ‘‘sharptool to shape a new conscience within the Armed Forces.’’ In 1953 the news-paper was called the Homeland Defense and beginning in 1965, it became aweekly publication promoting the same Communist ideology.

After December 1989 the main newspaper of the Ministry of NationalDefense started finding its form and rigor, specific for the military, underthe name Romania’s Armed Forces. On 24 July 1994, the weekly publicationreturned to its original name the Military Observer.

The first and the oldest Romanian military magazine was the MilitaryRomania, the great-grandmother of the present Romanian Military Thought,published today by the Romanian General Staff. It was first published inCuza’s era, in January 1864, and addressed topics in military art, theory, andhistory. Between World Wars I and II, more than seventy military publica-tions were printed. The evolution of the Romanian military body wasreflected in a maximum diversification of specialties. A spectacular evolutionwas experienced by the review Armed Forces, which was initially publishedon 16 May 1942 as a propagandistic military publication and then trans-formed by the Communist powers into an ideological vector until 1954.

In 2003, after Viata Armatei (the Armed Forces’ Life) recommenced publi-cation, the main magazines were the Romanian Military Thought, publishedby the General Staff, and the Modern Military Spirit, published by the ArmedForces’ Media Corporation.

The Romanian military cinema was born on 16 November 1916, when thePhoto and Cinema Service of the Armed Forces was created. This occasionmade official the status of cinematic front-line operator. More than 20,000meters of film and 50 other topics followed, taken on the front lines or in therear, and they formed the base for the future documentaries about World WarI. The period between the world wars was relatively light on films, and mili-tary cinema regained the spotlight on 20 June 1941, when the entire person-nel of the National Cinema Office and of the CIRO FILM company wasemployed as part of the Propaganda Section of the General Staff to serve thehistorical event represented by Romania’s entry into World War II. From thethousands of meters of footage taken on the front, two long documentariesresulted: The Holy War and The White Squadron. The Soviets halted theRomanian military cinema, which again came into being in 1963 only as acinema club. In 1972, the club became the Cinema Studio of the ArmedForces, an institution that produced remarkable training movies and thatbecame part of the Armed Forces Media Corporation in 2002.

Romanian military television was born in March 1968, after Ceausescuissued an order saying that he wanted to see ‘‘something with the military on

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television.’’ From October 1968, each Sunday at noon, the national televisionchannel broadcast a show called Watching the Homeland, which like mediaof other forms experienced ideological and censorship turmoil. Starting inthe summer of 1990, the military produced a weekly TV magazine called ProPatria, which attracted a large audience. Besides this weekly one-hour show,the military produced movies representing the Armed Forces. After severalreorganizations, since 2000 the television staff has been part of the ArmedForces Media Corporation and subordinated to the Public Relations Direc-torate.

The first radio show of the armed forces, called Ora Armatei (The ArmedForces’ Hour), went on the air on 7 July 1940, a month after the Soviet ulti-matums demanding Bessarabia and Bucovina from Romania. An agreementwas signed between the General Staff and the national Radio BroadcastingCompany. The Armed Forces’ Hour was also part of the general war effort,broadcasting for hundreds of hours and enjoying the cooperation of famouspersonalities of the time, including Constantin Tanase, Stroe and Vasilache,and H. Nicolaide. At present, The Armed Forces’ Hour is broadcast everySaturday on the national station Radio News Romania.

ROMANIAN INFANTRYMEN INOPERATION ALBA IN ALBANIA

Following the resolution of the UN Security Council establishing the peace-keeping force for Albania under the aegis of OSCE, and based on the decisionof the Parliament of Romania, on 30 April 1997 the tactical infantry detach-ment, called ROMDET Sfantul Gheorghe, and composed of 400 militaryequipped with proper armament, boarded the ferry Eforie in the Black Seaharbour of Constanta and set out for the Albanian port Durres.149 ROMDEThad two company-sized modules, each composed of peacekeepers comingfrom battalions from Bucharest and Craiova, plus a support company. Thepeacekeeping force headquarters in Tirana assigned it a responsibility arealocated in southern Albania; the camp was first set up in Gjirokaster and thena company was deployed to Tepelene. Once the operational authority wastransferred from the Romanian authorities to the peacekeeping force head-quarters, ROMDET became fully operational on 12 May 1997. For the nexttwo months and three weeks, ROMDET performed its mandate throughhumanitarian convoy escort missions, and especially through security mis-sions provided for the OSCE observers engaged in the Albanian general elec-tions beginning on 29 June 1997. ROMDET was subordinate to the FriuliItalian Mechanized Brigade quartered in Vlora on the Adriatic shore. After

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20 June, ROMDET was reinforced by an Italian mechanized company; thiswas the first time that a country that was not a NATO member commanded aunit from a NATO member country. The ROMDET commander was Col.Sorin Ioan. During its participation in Operation ALBA, the Romanian mili-tary did not fire its guns and casualties did not occur.

Between May and July 1997, the Romanian Armed Forces had various con-tingencies engaged in four different peacekeeping missions: UNIKOM inIraq and Kuwait, UNAVEM III in Angola, SFOR in Bosnia, and ALBA inAlbania.

ROMANIANS IN KFOR AND UNMIK

The Romanian military presence in KFOR (Kosovo Force) started in March2000 when the first officers and warrant officers specializing in psychologicaloperations began to acquire positions in PSYOPS Branch in HQ KFORMain, in Film City camp, in Pristina, the capital city of the province ofKosovo. From then until 2003, not only did the Romanian contribution inKFOR PSYOPS increase substantially, but so did the number of positionsheld within HQ KFOR Main branches. Consequently, in both HQ KFORMain and KFOR Rear (located in Skopje), the Romanian officers and NCOsheld various positions in the following logistics sections: J4, personnel; J1,CIMIC; J9, military police; and EOD, traffic control, or joint visitors bureau,reaching a staff size of twenty in the summer of 2003. In March 2002, aRomanian national intelligence cell composed of three intelligence officersand one NCO started functioning near HQ KFOR Main, where the Romanianmilitary worked alongside their counterparts from most of the thirty-ninecontributing KFOR.

The first subunit that entered the Kosovo theater of operations was a mili-tary police platoon composed of twenty-five professionals who were assignedtraffic control and patrolling missions at the border checkpoint of Blace /General Jankovic, and were part of the Greek contingent of the East Multina-tional Brigade during April 2001 and July 2003.

The second subunit deployed in the theater was an infantry company com-posed of eighty-nine military as part of the Belgian contingent of the North-East Multinational Brigade. This company acted first in the White Plainscamp located in the mountainous area in the northern part of the province,where numerous Serbian and Albanian enclaves were mixed. The missionthen continued in the Nothing Hill camp of the multinational group headquar-ters of the Belgian-led BELUKROKO, deployed near Leposavic. BetweenDecember 2001 and July 2003, the military of this company completed four-

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month-long missions consisting of patrolling, surveillance of the border withSerbia, convoy escort, searching for armaments, security filtering, and VIPprotection.

The last subunit deployed in the area in February 2002 was also a companyinfantry part of the Italian contingent of the South-West Multinational Bri-gade. The subunit was quartered first in Klina and then, from July 2003, inthe Serbian enclave of Goradsevac in Peci. This subunit was part of the battal-ion-sized battle group called Task Force Aquilla. In the western city ofKosovo there were also deployed 115 Romanian gendarmes who made up aspecial police unit that was part of UNMIK. The missions of this infantrycompany resembled those of their colleagues in BELUKROKO. The equip-ment and armament were also similar: nine armored personnel carriers, threeDAC 665T trucks, three Panther radio stations, an auto repair shop, a medicalvan, and several 4x4 terrain vehicles.

Finally, the Neagoe Basarab 26th Infantry Battalion from Craiova(replaced in the summer of 2002 by the Calugareni 2nd Infantry Battalion,based in Bucharest) was nominated as a SFOR/KFOR strategic reserve, andtook part in the Dynamic Response NATO/PfP exercise series conducted byAFSOUTH in the Kosovo theater of operations.150

ROMANIA AND CENCOOP

The letter of intent and the frame document regarding Romania’s entry intothe Central European Nations’ Cooperation in Peace Support (CENCOOP)were signed in Vienna on 19 March 1998. These documents were also signedby Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Due to a voluntary decision bythe members, an ad hoc multinational force was organized, having the size ofa mechanized brigade and composed of the military contribution of two ormore member states. The cooperation mechanism within CENCOOP pro-vides specific structures at the political and executive levels, assistance fur-nished by experts, and a permanent working staff called the MultinationalPlanning Staff.151

SUPREME COUNCIL FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE

The Supreme Council for National Defense arose on the grounds of article188 of the 1991 Constitution of Romania (see the modifications of 2003),which stipulates that the institution ‘‘organizes and coordinates the defenseand national security activities, the participation in international security and

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collective defense within military alliance systems and the participation inpeacekeeping and peace support operations.’’ This institution is chaired bythe Romanian president (article 92), who is also the commander of the armedforces.

According to Law 415/2002 regarding the organization and functioning ofthe Supreme Council for National Defense, the chairman of this high publicauthority is the president of Romania, while the prime minister holds theposition of vice president. The members of the Supreme Council for NationalDefense are the national security presidential councilor, the minister of for-eign affairs, the minister of justice, the minister of public finances, the minis-ter of national defense, the minister of the interior, the minister of industryand resources, the director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, the directorof the Foreign Intelligence Service, and the chief of the General Staff of theArmed Forces. The law states that the chairman leads the meetings and setsthe agenda by cooperating with the vice president.

SOUTHEAST EUROPE DEFENSE MINISTERIAL(SEDM) PROCESS AND SOUTH EASTERN

EUROPE BRIGADE (SEEBRIG)

After three meetings held in Tirana (March 1996), Sofia (October 1997), andSkopje (September 1998) that led to the formation of the MultinationalPeacekeeping Force for South Eastern Europe (MPFSEE/SEEBRIG), whichwas the size of a brigade, and the Political and Military Steering Committee(PMSC), a meeting held in Bucharest on 30 November 1999 marked the cre-ation of two new working tools to consolidate the stability and security in thatarea: the Engineering Operational Force and the Crisis Information Network.The defense ministers from Albania, Bulgaria, FYROM, Greece, Italy,Romania, and Turkey, with Slovenia and Slovakia as observers, signed theconstitutive documents, which provided shared intervention capabilities fornatural disasters and an information system for emergency situations.

Romania participates in SEEBRIG with an infantry battalion, a reconnais-sance platoon, a transportation platoon, and a staff officer group. After SEE-BRIG became fully operational for peacekeeping operations, on the groundsof the MPFSEE agreement, Romania took over the presidency of the Coordi-nation Committee of the Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial (CC-SEDM)for two years, from 1 September 2001 to 25 July 2003. Ovidiu Dranga servedas chairman of CC-SEDM and as of deputy chief of the Defense Policy andEuro-Atlantic Integration Department of PMSC. In June 2003, the SEEBRIG

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headquarters were transferred to Constanta, and between May and June 2003Romania hosted the Cornerstone 2003 exercise.152

ROMANIAN-HUNGARIAN JOINTPEACEKEEPING BATTALION

In accordance with the agreement that was ratified through Law No. 47, dated1999, and that the Romanian and Hungarian governments signed on 2 March1998, and in accordance with the Technical Agreement signed on 15 May1999, the Romanian-Hungarian Joint Battalion was set up and structured tobe perfectly equal in all fields, from the number of officers and soldiers (449Romanians and 441 Hungarians) and ending with the six-month-long rotationof the Romanian and Hungarian officers holding the battalion command. Themother units of the joint battalion were the Ziridava 19th Mechanized Bri-gade, the Colonel Radu Golescu 191st Infantry Battalion from the westerntown of Arad, and the Bercsebyi Miklos 62nd Mechanized Brigade fromTamasi, Hungary. The Opening Windows–RO field communications exerciseconducted between 15 and 19 November 1999 in Arad represented the firstphase of the process developed to make the Romanian-Hungarian joint unitoperational and able to perform real peacekeeping missions. In January 2000,the Romanian-Hungarian Joint Battalion became operational.153

THE ENDOWMENT OF THE ROMANIAN ARMEDFORCES IN 1999 AND AT THE END OF 2004

With a population of 23 million and a surface area of 238,391 square kilome-ters (making it the twelfth-largest country in Europe), Romania at the begin-ning of 1999 had an armed forces composed of 178,000 persons, out of whom40,000 were civilians. The limit established through the Conventional Forcesin Europe Treaty was 230,000. The projected number of soldiers in 2005 was112,000 military and 28,000 civilians.

Compared with the limits imposed by the CFE Treaty, the status of theservice combat equipment is as follows:

1,254 tanks (compared with the CFE limit of 1,375 )2,100 armored vehicles (compared with the CFE limit of 2,000)1,291 artillery pieces of 100 mm minimum caliber (compared with the

CFE limit of 1,475)2,000 radio stations and relays

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9 missile defense systems341 combat aircraft (compared with the CFE limit of 430)16 attack helicopters (compared with the CFE limit of 120)38 transport aircraft, out of which 4 are Hercules C-1301 destroyer (missile and torpedo launcher)6 missile frigates3 corvettes31 torpedo boats

In 1998 the budget of the Ministry of National Defense was of US$832.4million and in 2003 it represented 2.4–2.5 percent of the GDP. Accordingto FARO 2005–2010 provisions (the projection of Romanian Armed Forces’structure and size between 2005 and 2010) and the Objective Force 2007 planbetween 2004 and 2007, the major equipment and modernization programswill be finalized to equip the armed forces with combat capability and equip-ment typical for the combat needs of the 21st century.

The 8 April 1999 Order of the Minister of National Defense, the Guidancefor Defense Integrated Management Acquisition System, came into effect.This document established logical phases for the armament acquisition proc-ess, starting with the combat needs and capability, continuing with prioritiesand resources, and ending with the functioning or cessation of combat prac-tice. The implementation of the integrated management acquisition dictatedthe functioning of the three bodies ensuring the efficiency of the decisionalsystem: the request system, the acquisition management system, and theplanning, programming, budgeting, and evaluation system.

Taking into account the new status of a full NATO member and the budget-ary affordability provided by the development of the Romanian economy atthe end of 2004, the situation of the Romanian Armed Forces’ endowmentimproved. Thus, the Armament Directorate of the Ministry of NationalDefense purchased between 2000 and 2004 several modernized armamentsystems and some systems that would be updated to properly equip the threeservices of the armed forces. When it came to the acquisition of modernequipment, the air force was the top priority. It was thus equipped with low-and medium-altitude surveillance radar and a ‘‘Gap-Filler.’’ This radarensures compatibility with NATO’s systems and incorporates Romania’s airsurveillance, which was already being conducted with FPS-117 radar at alti-tudes lower than 3,000 meters.

The Air Surveillance Operational Center (ASOC)—another top priority ofthe air force—had as its main objectives to provide interoperability withNATO systems, the military and civil air traffic management, specific func-tions for the air police, air reconnaissance image distribution, search-and-

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rescue operations onshore and in case of natural disasters, crisis management(air operations in case of floods), and law inforcement (forbidding illegalactions at low altitude).

Another objective of the Air Force Staff was to develop the Air NavigationTerrestrial Technical Assistance System, which provides the airfields withradio-navigation and landing systems in any weather condition and a fre-quency for ground-to-air radio communication that cannot be jammed. Addi-tional advantages of this system are the potential interoperability with similarsystems used on the ground and in the air by NATO members and the interop-erability with civil aviation systems.

The air force has also started to modernize the IAR-330 SOCAT helicopterin cooperation with an Israeli company. This has provided NATO interopera-bility and allowed the Air Force Staff to carry out antitank combat missions,reconnaissance and live data transmissions, and search-and-rescue and recov-ery missions both day and night, at low altitudes, and in any weather condi-tion.

The integration of the MAGIC 2 missile with the MIG-21 Lancer consti-tuted another ambitious objective of the Air Force Staff. It meant the equip-ping of the first Romanian fighter with an air-to-air medium-range infraredself-guided missile designed for medium interception and close air combat.Proper attention was given to IAR-99 training jet that underwent an extensivemodernization process. The already-implemented platform of the aircraft wasprovided with a modern avionics and armament management system, similarto that of the MIG-21 Lancer, with double command for air-to-ground attackmissions. Finally, the Air Force Staff has a friend-and-foe radio location andidentification system that identifies equipment operating on Romanian terri-tory and provides additional information about targets.

The Romanian Armed Forces will be equipped with a SHADOW-600unmanned aircraft squadron able to operate in the theater of operations inreconnaissance and surveillance missions and live data and video transmis-sions from the target objectives of the tactical field. These aircraft can beused for civilian purposes as well, evaluating damage from natural disasters,impeding drug trafficking, or functioning in antiterrorism missions.

The Land Forces Staff will be largely equipped with a 35 mm air defensesystem able to respond in the daytime to threats at low altitudes and at nightunder difficult weather conditions. Completing the air defense is the 35 mmself-propelled system, which is interoperable with NATO systems and callsfor the transfer of the GEPARD repair system to the ROMARM company.

TR-85 M1 is the medium-sized Romanian tank that began to be used sev-eral years ago in the land forces. It is the modern alternative of the maininfantry combat vehicle and has increased firing capability and mobility. In

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addition, it has a new radio station and a new communication system , as wellas thermal night vision firing equipment.

MLI-84, the infantry combat vehicle, was also considered a novelty due toits superior firing capability thanks to a turret equipped with a 25 mm KBAgun that uses straight and phased shots. The APRA-40 (SISTEM LAROM-ACCS) also equips the land forces. It has a modern command firing systemand increased technical and tactical characteristics (firing range, mobility,etc.).

At the beginning of 2003, a new ripstop camouflage uniform was intro-duced, first only to the contingents performing missions abroad and then toall the military. This uniform’s material is of superior quality and the patternon it is the desert and forest camouflage.

One of the main objectives of the Navy Staff was to modernize the frigateMarasesti with an integrated communication system to enable the automatedcontrol and operation of the communication systems, as well as the effectivemonitoring of the system to meet the ship’s operational requirements bothwithin the Romanian fleet and when cooperation with NATO is requested.The main objective of the Navy Staff was the acquisition and modernizationof the British London– and Coventry 22–type frigates, which are now calledKing Ferdinand and Queen Mary. Such purchases stem from the Navy Staff’sneed to have combat ships that can meet both the national and UN or EUcommon action requirements.154

THE EVOLUTION OF THE MILITARY OATH

The pamphlet Military Oath and Words, published in 1914 by Pimen, themetropolitan bishop of Moldova, comprises the following formula of the mil-itary oath valid at the time:

‘‘In the name of Almighty God, we swear faith to our King Carol I, obedi-ence to the laws of the country and the military duties in all circumstances,in peace as well as in war. So help us God!’’

In 1929, The Soldier’s Book, written by Lt. Col. Nicolae Stoenescu andMaj. Alexandru Pastia and comprising lessons applicable to all the militarybranches, presents in the chapter entitled ‘‘The Military Oath’’ the followingexplanations:

The soldiers, through their oath for faith swear in front of God and the people thatthey will be faithful in doing their duty of homeland defenders, sacrificing their livesfor the country. The words of the military oath are:

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‘‘In the name of Almighty God, I, soldier , swear my faith to KingMichael I and the Regency, obedience to laws and military duties in all circum-stances, in peace and war. So help me God.’’

The oath is spoken in front of a priest as he asks for holy blessing of thesoldier. The oath is sworn by putting the hand on the flag and kissing theflag—the same way a Christian kisses the icon of Jesus the Savior—as theflag is the icon of the country. He who breaks the oath is a sinner in front ofGod, and the laws of the country punish him as only rascals are punished.

Several decades later, in 1965, the atheist, totalitarian Communist regimemade changes to the military oath, in both form and content. It became morecomplicated as it had to comprise all the basic elements of the Communistideology:

To accomplish the sacred duty of homeland defense written in the Constitution,I, , citizen of the Socialist Republic of Romania, join the armed forces andswear unbroken faith to the Romanian people and my socialist country. I swear torespect the laws of the country, to execute the orders of the supreme commander,military regulations and the orders of my commanders and chiefs both in peace andwar. I swear not to put aside my blood and life for defending the ancient land, theindependence and sovereignty of my country and the socialist cause. If I break myoath, I bear the hard punishment through the laws of the Socialist Republic ofRomania.

At present, the military oath is simpler and resembles the oath of the periodbefore World War II:

I, , soldier of the Romanian Armed Forces, swear my faith to my country,Romania. I swear to defend my country, even paying the price of my life. I swear torespect the laws of the country and the military regulations. So help me God.

Reading the forms of the military oath, we notice several common elements:the oath is mandatory for all military and is sacred. The respect for the lawsof the country and military regulations and the invoking of God are perennial,in both peace and war. The supreme sacrifice is also part of the military oath.The most striking differences revolve around the figure to whom faith issworn. Initially the faith was dedicated exclusively to the king, then to boththe people and the Socialist homeland, and finally only to the country.Despite the differences, there exists as a common element the solemnity ofthe military oath, which derives from the supreme importance of the act ofswearing it, the significance, and especially its consequences.155

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TWELVE YEARS ON THE PEACE FRONT156

The main international peacekeeping missions in which units of the Roma-nian Armed Forces took part between 1991 and 2003 were the following:

• A field modular hospital functioned within the British operation Granbyduring the first Persian Gulf War, between 9 February and 22 March1991.

• Six or seven military observers rotated through UNIKOM on the borderbetween Iraq and Kuwait from 1991 until March 2003, which representsthe longest Romanian presence in a UN mission.

• Twenty-four military observers in an OSCE mission performed in Mol-dova, Transnistria, between May 1992 and February 1993.

• The 50th Field Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, acted within UNOSOMII between 6 July 1993 and October 1994, with 235 medical personnel.

• A field hospital, a ‘‘blue helmets’’ infantry battalion, and a staff group,amounting to a total of 900 military rotated within several series, inUNAVEM III and then MONUA, Angola. It was one of the most consis-tent and distant Romanian missions since World War II, and was per-formed between 1 June 1995 and August 1999.

• The Joseph Kruzel 96th Engineering Battalion composed of 200 militaryand the proper equipment was deployed to Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina,in IFOR and SFOR, from 21 March 1996 until July 2000, when it wasremoved from the Bosnian operational theater. However, sixty-twoRomanian military remained in Butimr (the Bosnia National Detach-ment) as part of SFOR, another fifty-two engineers as part of the Dutchcontingent called the Netherlands Detachment remained in Banja Luka,and a group of seven officers worked within SFOR HQ.

• ROMDET’s Sfantu Gheorghe, a tactical infantry detachment composedof 400 military and the proper armament as part of Operation ALBAunder the OSCE aegis, worked in Albania between May and July 1997,a period during which for the first time the Romanian Armed Forces waspresent simultaneously in four international peacekeeping missions:Albania, Angola, Bosnia, and Kuwait.

• The Romanian PSYOPS specialists have been working within KFORHQ in Pristina since March 2000. Subsequently, almost twenty officersand NCOs held different positions for six-month tours in HQ KFORMain, in Film City, Pristina. In the summer of 2001, forty-one Romanianmilitary acted within KFOR, UNMIK, and OSCE missions in Kosovo.

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Between February 2002 and July 2003, a military police platoon actedas part of the Greek contingent (April 2001–July 2003), an infantrycompany was deployed to Leposavic as part of the Belgian battlegroupBELUKROKO (April 2001–July 2003), and an infantry company withinItalian Task Force Aquila, beginning with February 2002, was deployedto Klina and then to the Serbian enclave of Goradsevac.

• A military police platoon deployed in Kabul has acted since January2002 in Afghanistan, within ISAF (International Security AssistanceForce), together with the crew of one C-130 Hercules.

• An infantry detachment consisting of 405 military has been deployed inKandahar since July 2002, within United States–led Operation EnduringFreedom. This military engagement signifies the first real combat mis-sion performed beyond Romania’s borders since the end of WorldWar II.

• After the announced end of the second Persian Gulf War on 1 May 2003,the Romanian Armed Forces engaged in Operation Iraqi Freedom withan infantry battalion, a military police detachment, an engineeringdetachment, and a special detachment, with staff officers working withindifferent structures of the multinational coalition forces in Iraq.

• Starting on 30 November 1999, twenty-six Romanian military observerstook part in MONUC, the UN mission in Congo. The UN and OSCEmissions opened military observer positions in different parts of theworld, such as Georgia, Ethiopia, FYROM, Kosovo, Ivory Coast, andBurundi.

The Romanian military participation in regional political and military coop-eration initiatives are as follows:

• For MPFSEE/SEEBRIG: an infantry battalion, an engineering company,a reconnaissance platoon, a transportation platoon, a group of officersand NCOs as part of the staff nucleus

• To the Romanian-Hungarian Joint Peacekeeping Battalion: 191st Modu-lar Infantry Battalion, and the personnel necessary for an integrated staff

• For Multinational Standby Force High Readiness Brigade for UN Opera-tions (SHIRBRIG): an infantry company and eleven staff officers andNCOs

• For Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group (BLACKSEAFOR): aship designated in accordance with the joint and periodical activation ofthe task group

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ROMANIA AND THE NORTHERNPEACEKEEPING INITIATIVE

On 9 June 1998, the minister of national defense, Victor Babiuc, signedCopenhagen Romania’s letter of intent to join SHIRBRIG. Thirteen statesfounded this unit under chapter VI of the UN Charter. Among them wereAustria, Canada, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden.Romania’s contribution consisted of an infantry battalion with a field hospitaland a military police platoon.157

ANNIVERSARIES IN THE ROMANIANARMED FORCES

1 February: Logistics Day1 March: Military Drivers’ DayFirst Sunday of April: NATO’s Day23 April: Saint Gheorghe; Romanian Land Forces’ Day25 April: Military Justice Day30 April: Romanian Infantry’s Day9 May: Europe’s Day; Romania’s National Independence Day15 May: Military Chemists’ Day31 May: Engineers’ Day8 June: Ascension Day; Romanian Heroes’ Day10 June: Military Paratroopers’ Day17 June: Military Aviation’s Day18 June: Military Constructors’ Day29 June: Romania’s National Flag Day1 July: Military Bands’ Day15 July: Signals Day20 July: Saint Ilie Tesviteanul; Air Force’s Day23 July: Military Media’s Day24 July: Romania’s Frontier Guards’ Day25 July: Radiolocation’s Day29 July 29: Romania’s National Anthem Day1 August: Tankers’ Day15 August: Navy’s Day; Artillery and Antiair Missile Day; Saint Mary’s

Dormition21 August: Military Medicine Day1 September: Military Computer Specialists’ Day

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20 October: Public Relations’ Day25 October : Armed Forces’ Day3 November: Mountain Troops’ Day10 November: Artillery Day12 November: Military Scouts’ Day; Military Geodesists’ Day16 November: Railroad and Military Transportation Day1 December: Romania’s National Day16–22 December: Gratitude Week (not stated by law).

SIGNIFICANT LAWS IN THE FIELD OF DEFENSEADOPTED AFTER 1990

Law No. 45 dated 1994 on Romania’s national defenseLaw No. 73 dated 1995 on the preparation of the national economy and

territory for defenseLaw No. 80 dated 1995 on the status of military cadres (subsequently mod-

ified)Law No. 46 dated 1996 on the preparation of the population for defenseLaw No. 106 dated 1996 on civil protectionLaw No. 132 dated 1997 on the requisition of goods and services done for

the public’s benefitGovernmental Decision No. 110 dated 1997 on MoD and General Staff

reorganizationGovernmental Decision No. 618 dated 1997 on the ways of executing the

alternate utility serviceGovernmental Ordinance No. 7 dated 1998 on the social protection mea-

sures provided to the civilian and military personnel to be applied in therestructured large units, units, and formations belonging to the Ministryof National Defense

Governmental Ordinance No. 52 dated 1998 on defense planningGovernmental Ordinance No. 121 dated 1998 on the material responsibil-

ity of the military adopted in Law No. 25, dated 1999Governmental Ordinance No. 1 dated 1999 on the states of siege and emer-

gencyLaw No. 195 dated 2000 on the setting up and organization of the military

clergyLaw No. 415 dated 2002 on the organization and functioning of the

Supreme Council for National Defense

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Governmental Decision No. 14 dated 26 January 2001 on the structure andfunctioning of the Ministry of National Defense

Governmental Emergency Ordinance No. 90 dated 21 June 2001 on themodification and completion of Law No. 80, dated 1995, on the statusof the military cadres

Military Pensions Law dated 2001Law to revise Romania’s constitution dated 22 September 2003Law No. 477 on the preparation of the territory for defense, promulgated

by the president in December 2003Governmental Decision No. 217 dated January 2004 regarding the modi-

fications of the structure of the Ministry of National Defense158

FARO 2005–2010 AND OBJECTIVE FORCE 2007

Starting from the Membership Action Plan launched at the NATO summit inApril 1999, the General Staff drafted FARO 2005–2010, a restructuring andmodernization program of the armed forces, as well as the frame for itsimplementation. The documents were considered and approved by the Parlia-ment of Romania. According to these documents, because Romania is locatedbetween two unstable areas (the territories of the former Yugoslavia and theformer Soviet Union), and because Romania’s defense capabilities are lim-ited, Romania must build a credible and efficient defense capability. In orderto fully guarantee the fundamental national interests, it is vital to integrateinto NATO and the EU.

Between 2000 and 2003 the continuation of the restructuring process wasstressed along with the process of making the new military structures opera-tional. The main constraint was the economic one. Taking into account theeconomic development of the country between 2004 and 2007, efforts willbe made to modernize the military equipment and achieve the planned opera-tional capability. From the operational point of view, Romania’s ArmedForces will comprise surveillance and early warning forces, crisis situationforces, main forces, and reserve forces. The Ministry of National Defensefocused its efforts on thirteen main plans of action that cover both thenational needs and the requests related to NATO integration. Objective Force2007 will balance the requirements and the Romanian military engagementswith the financial and economic realities of the country. The new militarystructure will provide both the defense of the country and the proper partici-pation in collective defense, crisis response operations, and regional and

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European security. The strength of this permanent force is anticipated tocomprise approximately 75,000 military and 15,000 civilians.159

THE STRUCTURE OF THE MINISTRY OFNATIONAL DEFENSE IN 2001

According to the Governmental Decision No. 14 dated 26 January 2001, thestructure of the Ministry of National Defense was as follows:

Central Structures of the Ministry of National Defense

Defense Policy and Euro-Atlantic Integration DepartmentDepartment for Parliament Liaison, Legislative Harmonization and Public

RelationsArmaments DepartmentGeneral StaffInspectorate of the Ministry of National DefenseGeneral SecretariatGeneral Intelligence Directorate of the Armed ForcesHuman Resources Management DirectorateFinancial and Accountancy DirectorateInternal Audit Directorate

Active Forces

ground forces1 army corps operational headquarters1 division headquarters6 combat brigades3 combat support brigades1 logistics brigade

Air Force

Air Surveillance Operational Center (ASOC)6 fighter bombers squadrons6 fighter squadrons1 transport flotilla1 air defense brigade and 1 air defense regiment2 training bases

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2 air bases1 radio and relay center3 signals regiments

Naval Forces

1 maritime flotilla headquarters1 fluvial flotilla headquarters1 frigate5 ship divisions1 electronic warfare center1 diver center1 marines battalion

Territorial Land Forces

2 army corps territorial headquarters9 combat brigades5 combat support brigades2 logistics brigades

Territorial Air Forces

2 air division headquarters1 air defense regiment1 engineering regiment1 training squadron

Territorial Naval Forces

1 coastal missile battalion1 fast boat division1 naval base1 fluvial base1 signal regiment

THE ROMANIAN MILITARY ENGAGEMENT INISAF AND OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM

IN AFGHANISTAN160

The political decision made in the spring of 2002 to join the United States onthe antiterrorism mission in Afghanistan was motivated primarily by the

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desire to decisively influence the Bush administration and win support forRomania’s accession to NATO through the invitation extended at the summitin Prague in November 2002. Initially, for Operation Fingal, as part of ISAF(International Security and Assistance Force), the Romanian military offercomprised a military police platoon (twenty-five personnel) and one C-130Hercules with a crew of fourteen. For Operation Enduring Freedom, an infan-try battalion and engineering, medical, and NBC units were offered.

The Parliament of Romania approved on 30 April 2002 the military partici-pation in Afghanistan, and the United States Central Command in Tampa,Florida, transmitted to the Romanian authorities the decision made by theJoint Chiefs of Staff, which approved Romania’s contribution of an infantrybattalion to Operation Enduring Freedom. The first Romanian military wholeft at the beginning of the February to take part in ISAF were those from themilitary police platoon led by Lt. Col. Gheorghita Teodorescu and the crewof the C-130 Hercules airplane.

On 30 June 2002 the air transport of these 405 military started. They werepart of the Neagoe Basarab 26th Infantry Battalion and in Afghanistan calledthemselves the Red Scorpions. Their commander was Maj. Nicolae Ciuca,who was promoted during the combat mission to the rank of lieutenant colo-nel. Concurrent with the transport of the personnel, the armament was trans-ported by sea to the harbor of Doha: there were armored personnel carriersfor recconnaissance and engineering operations, 4x4 vehicles with grenadelaunchers, heavy model DAC 665 T trucks, auto workshops, medical vans,and Panther and satellite communication stations. The missions assigned tothe Romanian military in Kandahar were related to the surveillance of sensi-tive posts, considering the information on underground Taliban shelters, theattack and destruction of such shelters, humanitarian support, security of theCoalition’s deployment area, and combat missions such as attacks performedto support the deployment of the special forces. All these missions were per-formed under American command and control and in cooperation with twoAmerican battalions. The rotation took place every twenty-one days and fol-lowed this pattern: one week on the security of the Kandahar base; one weekin combat missions based on the principle of rapid-reaction, with helicoptersupport at the border with Pakistan; one week of guarding and security mis-sions at long distances (Kabul, Baghram).

After the first six months, July–December 2002, the Romanian battalionknown as the Red Scorpions was replaced by those from the Dej 811th Battal-ion in the first half of 2003, and then by their colleagues from 280th InfantryBattalion from Focsani, who were known as the Black Wolves. The latter suf-fered the first loss: on 11 November 2003, returning from a Village Teammission performed on the southern border of Afghanistan with Pakistan, a

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column of eight armored personnel carriers was fired at and master sergeantsIosif Silviu Fogarasi and Mihail Anton Samuila lost their lives. Both NCOs—the first Romanian military killed in a combat mission outside Romania’sborder since World War II—were promoted posthumously to the rank of firstlieutenants. The president decorated them with the Military Virtue at the rankof knight with war insignia.

Besides these combat troops, twelve liaison and staff officers held differentpositions in the headquarters of Operation Enduring Freedom, and theyworked in periods of six months or a year in the United States Central Com-mand in Tampa, the Joint Headquarters in Djibouti, and in the 180th JointHeadquarters in Baghram, Afghanistan.

In 2003, Romania increased its contribution to Enduring Freedom: in Octo-ber 2003, twenty-five military instructors in the Afghan National Army train-ing detachment were deployed to Kabul to work with military from othercountries on the training and organization of the new Afghan army. InDecember 2003, a team composed of sixteen specialists in civil militarycooperation engaged in the reconstruction process of Afghanistan.

THE ROMANIAN MILITARY INOPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM

The Romanian engagement in Operation Iraqi Freedom in the summer of2003161 meant the continuation of the policy of alliance and solidarity withthe United States that had started in 2002 in the antiterrorism war.

The Romanian participation was consistent and varied when it came to mil-itary specialties and positions held in different structures of the CoalitionForces. As in Afghanistan, the largest contribution was an infantry battalioncomposed of 405 military, replaced every six months starting in July 2003 inNasiriyah within the Sassari Multinational Brigade under Italian command ofthe Multinational South-East Division, which had a British command inBasra. The commander of the first detachment, which came from the 811thBattalion from Dej and also comprised a national intelligence cell, was Maj.Petru Pah, who was exceptionally promoted during the mission to the rank oflieutenant colonel. The armament was similar to that used in Afghanistan andconsisted of the Zimbru armored personnel carrier model 33 and otherarmored carriers of the models TAB-C and TAB-C-Ge; Panther radio sta-tions, terrain vehicles; trucks and vans; and a satellite communication kit. Thetransport of the personnel to the theater was accomplished with C-130 andBAC 1-11 airplanes, and the armament and materials were brought to the the-ater by ferry. The assigned missions consisted of patrols, reconnaissance,

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214 Chapter Sixteen

humanitarian support, and base security. In Nasiriyah under Italian com-mand, a military police company composed of 100 military was alsodeployed; together with the Italian military police, it was assigned surveil-lance and reconnaissance missions, convoy escort, VIP protection, trafficcontrol, and monitoring actions. To support these units, twelve staff officersand liaison officers held posts in the Italian and British commands.

Two other subunits were deployed under the jurisdiction of the CentralSouth Multinational Division under Polish command. Starting in August2003, 149 Romanian engineers deployed in Al Hillah started to build andrepair roads, platforms for helicopters, Mabey and Johnson bridges, and otherengineering elements necessary for force protection or the benefit of the Iraqicivilian population. The Romanian special detachment in Babilon, whichcomprised fifty-six military, was equipped with unmanned aircraft and hadas its mission to gather and consider intelligence for the Coalition Forces.Between July and October 2003 an NBC company was deployed in Kuwait;it comprised seventy properly equipped military.

Besides these combat units, seven Romanian officers held staff positionswithin the Coalition Force’s headquarters in Tampa, in the ProvisionalAuthority of the Coalition in Baghdad, and the 7th Joint Operational Com-mand in Northwood, Great Britain, as well as in the Joint Operational Com-mand in Rome.

THE ROMANIAN SPECIAL FORCES

The emergence of the special forces within the Ministry of National Defensewas determined by the profound changes that occurred worldwide in the mili-tary field after 11 September 2001 and from the lessons learned from theUnited States–launched Operation Enduring Freedom. Thus, in 2002, theOperations Directorate of the General Staff drafted the special forces con-cept, which was subsequently approved by the Supreme Council for NationalDefense. The following year, the special forces doctrine was elaborated. In2003 a special forces battalion was established on the American model, pos-sessing three components: the Alpha component was twelve fighters, theBravo component was the company, and the Charlie component was the bat-talion. All these special forces structures are trained to act on land and innaval or air operations, but they will be equipped with the proper armamentonly in the years to come.162

ROMANIA’S PATH TO NATO

After the London Declaration dated 6 July 1990, when the heads of theNATO states and governments proposed political and military cooperation

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activities to the ex-Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, thefirst official signal from Romania was the visit paid to NATO headquarters inBrussels by Prime Minister Peter Roman on 23 October 1990. He wasreceived by Secretary-General Manfred Woerner. Among military officers,the first official high-level contact between Romania and NATO took placeon 13 December 1990, when the chief of the General Staff, Gen. Vasile Ionel,visited NATO headquarters. Then the NATO secretary-general paid a visit toBucharest on 4 and 5 July 1991, and then on 21 February 1992. The meetingbetween him and Ion Iliescu, the president of Romania, took place at NATOheadquarters in Brussels on 17 February 1993.

On 26 February 1994, right after the NATO summit in Brussels, Romaniawas the first country to sign (represented by the minister of foreign affairs,Teodor Melescanu) the Partnership for Peace Framework Document. On 28April of the same year, Gheorghe Tinca, the minister of national defense,advanced the Partnership for Peace Program. From that moment on, theRomanian Armed Forces began to participate with significant contingents inalmost all NATO/PfP applications and exercises and developed an individualprogram called the Membership Action Plan (MAP). The military reformssought to increase the interoperability between the Romanian military struc-tures and those of NATO headquarters. At the same time, Romania reacted tointernational crisis situations, such as those in Bosnia or Kosovo, as it wouldhave, had it been a full NATO member. After 1996, the high-level contactsincreased in both Bucharest and Brussels, including meetings between Roma-nian president Emil Constantinescu, the NATO secretary-general, LordGeorge Robertson, and the SACEUR and the defense ministers or chiefs ofgeneral staff from various nations. The visits between experts also increased,and the final aim was the preparation of the Romanian Armed Forces forNATO accession. Despite all this activity, the Madrid summit of July 1997did not issue an accession invitation to Romania; only Poland, the CzechRepublic, and Hungary formed the first accession wave. Nevertheless, thesummit documents underscored the progress made by Romania. The longed-for invitation arrived only at the Prague summit in November 2002, whenRomania was invited to join the alliance together with Bulgaria, Slovenia,Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The new foreign policy orientationof the United States and the beginning of the antiterrorism war were decisivefor the robust enlargement decision. After passing through all the negotiationstages and the ratification of the accession documents by the parliaments ofthe member states, and after the documents were handed over to the UnitedStates on 23 March, Romania became a full NATO member on 2 April2004.163

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Notes

1. According to the testimonies of a former Romanian lieutenant, Dumitru Arapu,published in France, Souvenirs de campagne 1941–1944—Front Est (Academie Euro-peenne de Livre, 1990), 15–19.

2. Quoted by Florin Sperlea in De la armata regala la armata populara [From theroyal armed forces to the popular armed forces] (Bucharest: Editura Ziua, 2003), 102,from a handwritten note taken by Gen. Emil Bodnaras, a participant in that meeting withStalin.

3. Quoted by Florin Constantiniu in O istorie sincera a poporului roman [A candidhistory of the Romanian people] (Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 1997), 30.

4. Dumitru Berciu and Adina Berciu-Draghicescu, Razboiul dintre geti si persi [Thewar between the Gaetians and Persians] (Bucharest: Editura Militara, 1986), 59–76.

5. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 23.6. Quoted by Constantiniu in Istorie sincera [Candid history], 24.7. Hadrian Daicoviciu, Dacii [The Dacians] (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica

Romana, 1972), 133–51.8. D. Tudor, Mari capitani ai lumii antice [Great military leaders of the ancient

world] (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica Romana, 1969), 301–4.9. Quoted by Daicoviciu in Dacii [The Dacians], 322.

10. There are a lot of academic works dedicated to the Dacian king Decebalus, but Ichose these two: D. Tudor, Mari capitani ai lumii antice [Great military leaders of theancient world] (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica Romana, 1969), 305, and Hadrian Dai-coviciu, Dacii [The Dacians] (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica Romana, 1972), 325–27.

11. Daicoviciu, Dacii [The Dacians], 342–65.12. Constantin C. Giurescu and Dinu C. Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [The history of

the Romanians] (Bucharest: Albatros, 1971), 174–79.13. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 41.14. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 59–61.15. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 212–25.16. Vlad Georgescu, Istoria romanilor de la origini pana ın zilele noastre [A history

of the Romanians from the beginning to the present] (Bucharest: Editura Humanitas,1992), 28.

PAGE 217

217

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218 Notes

17. Kurt Treptow, ed., A History of Romania (Iasi: Center for Romanian Studies,Romanian Cultural Foundation), 65–66.

18. Treptow, History of Romania, 69–72.19. Georgescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 57.20. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 80–81.21. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 234–38.22. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 87–88.23. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 89.24. Treptow, History of Romania, 101–3.25. Constantin C. Giurescu, ed., Istoria Romaniei ın date [The history of Romania in

dates] (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica Romana, 1971), 88.26. Treptow, History of Romania, 111.27. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 97–98.28. Giurescu, Istoria Romaniei ın date [The history of Romania in dates], 94.29. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 99.30. N. Stoicescu, Vlad Tepes [Vlad the Impaler] (Bucharest: Editura militara,

Bucuresti), 7–88.31. Treptow, History of Romania, 84–86.32. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 254–55.33. Treptow, History of Romania, 116.34. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 311.35. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 319.36. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 308.37. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 311–13.38. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 313–14.39. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 317–18.40. Treptow, History of Romania, 80.41. Quoted by Constantiniu in Istorie sincera [Candid history], 112.42. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 116–19.43. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 124–25.44. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 125–26.45. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 140.46. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 133.47. Treptow, History of Romania, 148.48. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 378–79.49. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 380–81.50. Treptow, History of Romania, 151.51. For a complete picture of the Romanian contribution to the Russian imperial army,

see Anatol Lescu, Romanii ın armata imperiala rusa [Romanians in the Russian ImperialArmy] (Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 2006).

52. Treptow, History of Romania, 172.53. Quoted by Constantiniu in Istorie sincera [Candid history], 153.54. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 400–401.55. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of the Romanians], 408–9.56. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 162.57. Treptow, History of Romania, 182.

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Notes 219

58. Treptow, History of Romania, 195–96.59. Giurescu, Istoria Romaniei ın date [History of Romania in dates], 153.60. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romanilor [History of Romanians], 480–82.61. Horia C. Matei, Romania. An Encyclopedic Survey (Bucharest: Meronia, 1999), 33.62. Treptow, History of Romania, 232–39.63. Giurescu, Istoria Romaniei ın date [History of Romania in dates], 174.64. See the study by Cornel Scafes, ‘‘Constructiile si amenajarile destinate armatei

permanente’’ [Buildings dedicated to the permanent army], in Magazine of the CentralMilitary Museum, 12 (1979), 13 (1980), and 16 (1983).

65. Scafes, ‘‘Constructiile’’ [Buildings].66. Treptow, History of Romania, 252.67. Nicolea Rotaru and Zoe Rotaru, Compendiu etic [Ethical compendium] (Bucha-

rest: Editura Ministerului de Interne, 1999), 319–23; Berciu-Draghicescu, Adina, G. D.Iscru, Velter Tiberiu, and David Aurel, Tricolorul Romaniei [The Romanian national flag](Bucharest: Sigma, 1995).

68. Treptow, History of Romania, 268–77.69. Petre Otu, Teofil Oroian, and Ion Emil, Personalitati ale gandirii militare

romanesti [Personalities of Romanian military thought] (Bucharest: Editura Academiei deInalte Studii Militare, 1997), 7–42.

70. The official list of the head of war / defense ministers from 1859 to the present isdisplayed in the mail hall of the building of Ministry of National Defense.

71. Nicolae C. Nicolescu, Sefii de stat si de guvern ai Romaniei. 1859–2003 [Theheads of state and government of Romania: 1859–2003] (Bucharest: Meronia, 2003),13–23.

72. See the study by Cornel Scafes, Horia Serbanescu, Ioan Scafes, and CornelAndone, Armata romana ın vremea lui Alexandru Ioan Cuza [The Romanian army in theera of Alexandru Ioan Cuza] (Bucharest: Muzeul Militar National and Total Publishing,2003).

73. Constantin Degeratu, Statul Major General. O traditie care obliga [The GeneralStaff: A tradition that is an obligation] Gandirea Militara Romaneasca, serie noua, 5(1999): 15–19.

74. See the official list published in Gandirea Militara Romaneasca, serie noua, 5(1999): 10–15.

75. Nicolae C. Nicolescu, Sefii de stat [Heads of state], 24–36.76. Maria Georgescu, Carol Popp de Szathmari, photo-war-correspondent, special

issue, Review of Military History, 2003, 22–26.77. See these monographs: George Fillman, George Pomutz. The Story of His Life

and Times (Bucharest: Galaxia, 1998), and Aurel Sasu, George Pomutz: The Legend LivesOn (Bucharest: Galaxia, 1996).

78. Quoted by Florin Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 242.79. Florin Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 243–44.80. Matei, Encyclopedic Survey, 35.81. Nicolae Balotescu et al., Istoria aviatiei romane [The history of the Romanian

aircraft] (Bucharest: Editura Stiintifica si Enciclopedica, 1984), 40–51.82. Balotescu et al., Aviatiei romane [Romanian aircraft], 32–38.83. Balotescu et al., Aviatiei romane [Romanian aircraft], 52–56.

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220 Notes

84. Scafes, ‘‘Constructiile’’ [Buildings].85. Ion Safta, Rotaru Jipa, Tiberiu Velter, and Floricel Marinescu, Decoratii

romanesti de razboi [Romanian war decorations] (Bucharest: Universitaria, 1993), 30–33.86. Stefan Pascu et al., Istoria militara a poporului roman [The military history of

the Romanian people], vol. 5 (Bucharest: Editura Militara, 1988), 118–19.87. Ioan Munteanu, 1907: Represiune sau ratiuni de stat? [Repression for state rea-

sons?] History Files 1 (41): 2000), 10–12.88. Pascu et al., Istoria militara [Military history], 5: 276.89. Pascu et al., Istoria militara [Military history], 277–82.90. Pascu et al., Istoria militara [Military history], 371–76.91. Pascu et al., Istoria militara [Military history], 423–26.92. Pascu et al., Istoria militara [Military history], 427–30.93. Pascu et al., Istoria militara [Military history], 480–90.94. Safta et al., Decoratii [Decorations], 66–69.95. Gheorghe Buzatu et al., Maresalii Romaniei [Marshals of Romania] (Bucharest:

Editura Academiei de Inalte Studii Militare 1999), 161–62.96. Pascu et al., Istoria militara [Military history], 5: 529.97. Buzatu et al., Maresalii [Marshals], 163–64.98. Buzatu et al., Maresalii [Marshals], 166–70.99. See the monograph about the sovereign by the historian Nicolae Iorga, Regele

Ferdinand [King Ferdinand] (Iasi: Editura Portile Orientului, 1996).100. Pascu et al., Istoria militara [Military history], 5: 558–83.101. Pascu et al., Istoria militara [Military history], 578–604.102. Pascu et al., Istoria militara [Military history], 615–30.103. Ioan Tepelea, 1919 sur les fronts de l’Europe nouvelle (Oradea: Editions Cogito,

1996), 101–44.104. Tepelea, 1919 l’Europe nouvelle, 180–212.105. Matei, Encyclopedic Survey, 35–36.106. Matei, Encyclopedic Survey, 36.107. Valeria Balescu, Eroul necunoscut [The unknown hero] (Bucharest: Military Pub-

lishing House, 2005), 50–51, 55.108. Balescu, Eroul necunoscut [Unknown hero], see the whole English summary,

433–40.109. Balotescu et al., Aviatiei romane [Romanian aircraft], 217–27.110. See the study by Constantin P. Ivanovici, Album aviatic. Un documentar de aviatie

[Aircraft album: An aircraft documentary] (Bucharest: Romanian Airlines, 1986).111. Matei, Encyclopedic Survey, 37.112. Vasile Soare, Fortele speciale. Comandouri aeropurtate ın actiune [The special

forces: Airborne commandos in action] (Bucharest: Editura Ziua, 2002), 76–83.113. Cornel I. Scafes et al., Armata romana. 1941–1945 [The Romanian armed forces:

1941–1945] (Bucharest: RAI, 1996), 18–23.114. Scafes et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 24–31.115. Scafes et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 36–38.116. Eftimie Ardeleanu et al., Armata romana ın cel de-al doilea razboi mondial [The

Romanian army in World War II] (Bucharest: Editura Meridiane, 1995), 67–69.117. Scafes et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 49–57.

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Notes 221

118. Constantin Ucrain and Dumitru Dobre, Personalitati ale infanteriei romane [Per-sonalities of the Romanian infantry] (Bucharest: Editura Gedaprint, 1995), 101–8.

119. Ardeleanu et al., Armata romana ın cel de-al doilea razboi mondial [Romanianarmy in World War II], 92.

120. Scafes et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 70.121. Scafes et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 78–79.122. Scafes et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 81–84.123. Scafes et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 86–87.124. Scafes et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 88–92.125. Eugen Ichim, Generalul Nicolae Sova [General Nicolae Sova] (Bucharest: Editura

Modelism, 1966), 7–42.126. Scafes et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 93–96.127. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera [Candid history], 463–66.128. Matei, Encyclopedic Survey, 38.129. Florin Sperlea, Armata regala [Royal armed forces], 60–61.130. Florin Sperlea, Armata regala [Royal armed forces], 41–57.131. Florin Sperlea, Armata regala [Royal armed forces], 168–69.132. Florin Sperlea, Armata regala [Royal armed forces], 115.133. Costache Codrescu et al., Armata romana ın decembrie 1989 [The Romanian

armed forces in the December 1989 revolution] (Bucharest: Editura militara, 1998), 46.134. Codrescu et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 138–43.135. Balotescu et al., Aviatiei romane [Romanian aircraft], 556–70.136. Codrescu et al., Armata romana ın decembrie 1989 [The Romanian armed forces

in the December 1989 revolution], 28–35.137. Codrescu et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 35–41.138. Codrescu et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 49–51.139. Codrescu et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 46.140. Codrescu et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 52–54.141. Codrescu et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 156–92.142. According to the information about the mission provided to me by Col. Dumitru

Barboi.143. All the information and data concerning the participation of the Romanian mili-

tary in international missions abroad after 1991 I collected myself directly from the con-cerned commanders or participants and from reports published in the regular or specialmilitary publications.

144. Constantin Degeratu, Statul Major General [General Staff], 20–23.145. Calin Hentea et al., Armata romana ın misiuni internationale [The Romanian

armed forces in international missions] (Bucharest: Coresi, 2004), 8–11.146. Hentea et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 13–18.147. Hentea et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 20–25.148. This subchapter represents a brief text about the history of the Romanian military

media that I included in my book Propaganda fara frontiere [Propaganda without bor-ders] (Bucharest: Nemira, 2002), 273–303.

149. Based on my notes taken during my participation in this mission in 1997 as apublic relations officer within the Romanian Detachment staff.

150. Based on my personal experience and information collected during my two mis-sions in KFOR headquarters, Pristina, Kosovo, in 2003 and 2004.

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222 Notes

151. Ovidiu Dranga, ed., Romania on its way to NATO (Bucharest: Ministry of PublicInformation, 2002), 232–43.

152. Dranga, Romania on its way, 239–43.153. Dranga, Romania on its way, 234–35.154. Data and information in this subchapter are compiled from the White Paper of the

Government, edited in 2000 and 2004, and other leaflets and PR publications edited bythe Public Relations Directorate of the Romanian MoD.

155. Rotaru and Rotaru, Compendiu etic [Ethical compendium], 338–39.156. This subchapter summarizes the main points detailed in my book Armata romana

ın misiuni internationale [The Romanian armed forces in international missions].157. Dranga, Romania on its way, 235–36.158. Part of this list was extracted from the Cartea alba a Guvernului [White paper of

the government], edited by the Military Publishing House in 2000 and later updated asneeded.

159. Dranga, Romania on its way, 51–58.160. Hentea et al., Armata romana an misiuni internationale [The Romanian armed

forces in international missions], 37–42.161. Hentea et al., Armata romana [Romanian armed forces], 42–46.162. Vasile Soare, Fortele speciale [Special forces], 355–61.163. The main data from this chapter is extracted from the NATO Handbook (Brussels:

NATO Office for Information and Press, 2001), 436–513.

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Selected Bibliography

Ardeleanu, Eftimie, et al. Armata romana ın cel de-al doilea razboi mondial [The Roma-nian army in World War II]. Bucharest: Meridiane, 1995.

Balotescu, Nicolae, et al. Istoria aviatiei romane [The history of the Romanian aircraft].Bucharest: Scientific and Encyclopedic Publishing House, 1984.

Berciu, Dumitru, and Adina Berciu-Draghicescu. Razboiul dintre geti si persi [The warbetween the Gaetians and the Persians]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 1986.

Berciu-Draghicescu, Adina, G. D. Iscru, Tiberiu Velter, and David Aurel. TricolorulRomaniei [The Romanian national flag]. Bucharest: Sigma, 1995.

Buzatu, Gheorghe, et al. Maresalii Romaniei [Marshals of Romania]. Bucharest: EdituraAcademiei de Inalte Studii Militare, 1999.

Codrescu, Costache, et al. Armata romana ın decembrie 1989 [The Romanian army in theDecember 1989 revolution]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 1998.

Constantiniu, Florin. O istorie sincera a poporului roman [A candid history of the Roma-nian people]. Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 1997.

———. De la razboiul fierbinte la razboiul rece [From the Hot War to the Cold War].Bucharest: Corint, 1998.

Daicoviciu, Hadrian. Dacii [The Dacians]. Bucharest: Romanian Encyclopedic, 1972.Dogaru, Maria. Heraldica Romaniei [Romania’s Coat of Arms]. Bucharest: JIF, 1994.Dranga, Ovidiu, ed. Romania on its way to NATO. Bucharest: Ministry of Public Informa-

tion, 2002.Durandin, Catherine. Istoria romanilor [The history of the Romanians]. Iasi: European

Institute Publishing House, 1998.Fillman, George. George Pomutz: The Story of His Life and Times. Bucharest: Galaxia,

1998.Garoescu, Col. George. Razboaiele balcanice 1912–1913 si campania romaneasca ın Bul-

garia [The 1912–1913 Balkan wars and the Romanian campaign in Bulgaria]. SfantuGheorghe, 1935.

Georgescu, D. I. Istoria armatei romane si a razboaielor romanilor [The history of theRomanian army and of the Romanian wars]. Bucharest: Geniului, 1928.

Georgescu, Vlad. Istoria romanilor de la origini pana ın zilele noastre [A history of theRomanians from the beginning to the present]. Bucharest: Editura Humanitas, 1992.

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224 Selected Bibliography

Giurescu, Constantin C., ed. Istoria Romaniei ın date [The history of Romania in dates].Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica Romana, 1971; Chisinau: Crai Nou, 1992.

Giurescu, Constantin C., and Dinu C. Giurescu. Istoria romanilor [The history of theRomanians]. Bucharest: Albatros, 1971.

Hentea, Calin. Propaganda fara frontiere [Propaganda without borders]. Bucharest: Nem-ira, 2002.

Hentea, Calin, Cornel Scafes, and Horia Serbanescu. Armata romana ın misiuniinternationale [The Romanian armed forces in international missions]. Bucharest:Coresi, 2004.

Hentea, Calin, and Laurentiu Sfintes. Armata romana ın misiuni de pace [The Romanianarmed forces in peace missions]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 1998.

Ionescu, Mihail, and Liviu Rotman, eds. The Holocaust and Romania. History and con-temporary significance. Bucharest: Institute for Political Studies of Defence and Mili-tary History, 2003.

Iorga, Nicolae. Istoria armatei romane [The history of the Romanian army]. Bucharest:Military Publishing House, 1970.

Iorga, Nicolae. Regele Ferdinand [King Ferdinand]. Iasi: Editura Portile Orientului, 1996.Lescu, Anatol. Romanii ın armata imperiala rusa [Romanians in the Russian imperial

army]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 2005.Manafu, Alexandru. Intendenta armatei romane [The intendancy of the Romanian armed

forces]. Bucharest: Per Omnes Artes, 1999.Matei, Horia C. Romania. An Encyclopedic Survey. Bucharest: Meronia, 1999.Mardarescu, Gen. G. D. Campania pentru eliberarea Transilvaniei si cucerirea Budapes-

tei [The campaign for the liberation of Transylvania and the conquest of Budapest.1918–1920]. Bucharest, n.d.

NATO Handbook. Brussels: NATO Office for Information and Press, 2001.Nicolescu, Nicolae C. Sefii de stat si de guvern ai Romaniei. 1859–2003 [The heads of

state and government of Romania. 1859–2003]. Bucharest: Meronia, 2003.Observatorul military [Military observer]. Weekly magazine edited by the Ministry of

National Defense, 1990–2004.Otu, Petre, Teofil Oroian, and Ion Emil. Personalitati ale gandirii millitare romanesti

[Personalities of Romanian military thought]. Bucharest: Editura Academiei de InalteStudii Militare, 1997.

Pascu, Stefan, et al. Istoria militara a poporului roman. Vol. 5 [The military history ofthe Romanian people. Vol. 5]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 1988.

Revista de istorie militara [Military history review]. Bimonthly magazine edited by theInstitute for Defense Policy and Military History within the Ministry of NationalDefense, 1990–2004.

Romanescu, Gheorghe. Armata romana de-a lungul secolelor [The Romanian armythrough the centuries]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 1976.

Safta, Ion, Tiberiu Velter, Rotaru Jipa, and Floricel Marinescu. Decoratii romanesti derazboi 1850–1947 [Romanian War Decorations]. Bucharest: Universitaria, 1993.

Sasu, Aurel. George Pomutz: The Legend Lives On. Bucharest: Galaxia, 1996.Scafes, Cornel. ‘‘Constructiile si amenajarile destinate armatei permanente’’ [‘‘Buildings

dedicated tor the permanent army’’]. Magazine of the Central Military Museum, 12(1979), 13 (1980), and 16 (1983).

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Selected Bibliography 225

Scafes, Cornel, Horia Serbanescu, Ioan Scafes, and Cornel Andone. Armata romana ınvremea lui Alexandru Ioan Cuza [The Romanian army in the era of Alexandru IoanCuza]. Bucharest: Muzeul Militar National and Total Publishing, 2003.

Scafes, Cornel, Horia Serbanescu, Ioan Scafes, Cornel Andone, Ioan Danila, and RomeoAvram. Armata romana. 1941–1945 [The Romanian Armed Forces: 1941–1945].Bucharest: RAI, 1996.

Scorpan, Constantin. Istoria Romaniei: O enciclopedie [The history of Romania: An ency-clopedia]. Bucharest: Nemira, 1997.

Stoenescu, Alex Mihail. Armata, maresalul si evreii [The army, the marshal and the Jews].Bucharest: RAO, 1998.

Stoenescu, Alex Mihail. Istoria loviturilor de stat ın Romania [The history of the coupd’etat in Romania]. Bucharest: RAO, vol. 1: 1999, vol. 2: 2001, vol. 3: 2002, vol. 4(a):2004, and vol. 4(b): 2005.

Soare, Vasile. Fortele speciale. Comandouri aeropurtate ın actiune [The special forces.Airborne commandos in action]. Bucharest: Editura Ziua, 2002.

Sperlea, Florin. De la armata regala la armata populara [From the royal armed forces tothe popular armed forces]. Bucharest: Editura Ziua, 2003.

Treptow, Kurt, ed. A History of Romania. Iasi: Center for Romanian Studies, RomanianCultural Foundation, 1996.

Tudor, D. Mari capitani ai lumii antice [Great military leaders of the ancient world].Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica Romana, 1969.

Tepelea, Ioan. 1919 sur les fronts de l’Europe nouvelle. Oradea: Editions Cogito, 1996.Ucrain, Constantin, and Dobre Dumitru. Personlitati ale infanteriei romane [Personalities

of the Romanian Infantry]. Bucharest: Editura Gedaprint, 1995.

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About the Author

Calin Hentea was born in 1958 in Brasov, graduated in 1983 from the Poly-technic Institute of Bucharest, is married, and has one son. Since 2001 he hasbeen a staff officer in the PsyOps section of the Operations Directorate of theRomanian General Staff.

He is a former TV journalist, speaker, and executive producer of the Roma-nian military TV show Pro Patria (1995–1999), an editor of the weekly mili-tary newspaper the Military Observer (1999–2000), and a film director in theCinematographic Studio of the Armed Forces (2000–2001).

From April 1997 to July 1997 he was the public information officer of theRomanian Detachment participating in Operation Alba in Albania, under theOSCE flag. In 2003 he was a staff officer in the PsyOps branch of HQ KFORin Pristina, Kosovo, and the senior national representative for the Romaniancontingent of KFOR.

In 2004 he served as deputy chief of the Info Ops branch of HQ KFOR inPristina and as the senior national representative of the Romanian contingentof KFOR.

Colonel Hentea was awarded two first prizes at the International MilitaryFilm Festival for his video documentaries 55 Years Ago Behind the Front Line(1996) and Romania–NATO, the Power of Destiny (1997). He directed videodocumentaries on behalf of the Romanian armed forces and Romania, suchas Ten Years on the Front of Peace (2001), Romania on Its Way to NATO(2002), and Romanian PsyOps in KFOR (2003).

He currently publishes essays, interviews, notes, analyses, and documenta-ries for both the military and civilian populations, mainly about propagandaand the military’s relationship with the media.

He is the main contributor to The Romanian Armed Forces in Peacekeep-ing Missions (1998) and The Romanian Armed Forces in International Mis-sions (2004). He has also written several books: 150 Years of Media Wars:

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228 About the Author

The Military and the Media in Times of War (2000), Propaganda withoutBorders (2002), Romanian Armed Forces and Fights: A Brief Military His-tory (2002), Weapons That Won’t Kill (2004), and Balkan Propaganda Wars(2006).

Colonel Hentea’s main hobby is collecting propaganda and military post-cards from around the world. All of his books are illustrated with appropriatepostcards and photos from his private collection.

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brief romanian military history (brief history (scarecrow press))

Documents