Bucharest, Romania · December 21, 1937 On this date in 1937 Romania’s last free elections (until 1990) ended in the ouster of the middle-of-the road National Liberal government. The Liberals, who remained the largest party in parliament, were unable to form a coalition government with the next two runner-up parties. A week later King Carol II…
Bucharest, Romania · November 23, 1940 In September 1940 Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, chief of the German high command, announced that Wehrmacht troops were being sent to Romania “in case a war with Soviet Russia is forced upon us.” Early the next month German troops entered the country ostensibly to train and rebuild the Romanian…
Rome, Italy · October 28, 1940 In October 1940 Romanian strongman Gen. Ion Antonescu gave Adolf Hitler permission to occupy his country. Hitler’s Axis partner Benito Mussolini was caught off guard by the news, and the Italian public reacted negatively: for years the Italian dictator and his countrymen had considered Romania to lie within their…
Berlin, Germany · September 20, 1940 On this date in 1940 the chief of the German high command, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, announced that Wehrmacht troops were being dispatched to Romania “in case a war with Soviet Russia is forced upon us.” The next month German troops entered the country ostensibly to train and rebuild…
Bucharest, Romania · September 5, 1940 In the wake of Romania’s swift territorial concessions of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union, the northwestern part of Transylvania to Hungary, and the southern part of Dobruja to Bulgaria (see map below), 47‑year‑old King Carol II abdicated in favor of his 19‑year‑old son, Michael (Mihai), but not…
Bucharest, Romania · June 27, 1940 On this date in 1940 Red Army troops invaded Romania in the wake of Romanian King Carol II’s refusal to cede the eastern territories of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union. These territories had been assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence in a secret protocol in…