Brief Romanian Military History (Brief History (Scarecrow Press))

Hentea

Balkan Studies History

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

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.

For orders and information please contact the publisher Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200 Lanham, Maryland 20706 1-800-462-6420 | fax 717-794-3803 www.scarecrowpress.com

Cover photos courtesy the author and Catalin ˘ ˘ Ovreiu.

BRIEF ROMANIAN MILITARY HISTORY

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

BRIEF

ROMANIAN

MILITARY HISTORY

Calin ˘ Hentea

Cover design by Janine L. Osif

ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5820-6 ISBN-10: 0-8108-5820-7 90000 9 7 80810 8 58206

RomanianMilitaryMECH.indd 1

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Brief Romanian Military History Ca˘lin Hentea Cristina Bordianu translator Martin Gordon series editor

The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 2007

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SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.scarecrowpress.com Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom Copyright  2007 by Ca˘lin Hentea All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, 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 romaˆnilor. 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 2007 355.009498—dc22 2006102307

 ⬁ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, 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 2nd Century

36

3 The Great Migrations and the Formation of the Romanian Nation and Medieval States

42

4 The Anti-Ottoman Wars, from Mircea the Old to Vlad T¸epes¸

49

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

60

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

74

7 From People’s Assembly to the Modern Romanian Armed Forces: 1821–1867

82

8 The War of Independence: 1877–1878

106

9 From the Middle of the 19th Century to the Beginning of the 20th 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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Contents

12

The Interwar Period

137

13

From the Caucasus and Stalingrad to Budapest and Vienna’s Porte

144

14

From Jacket to Rubashka: 1945–1989

159

15

Romanian Military Involvement in the Revolution of December 1989

173

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

179

16

Notes

217

Selected Bibliography

223

About the Author

227

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Foreword

The military histories and cultures of the Balkan states remain unfamiliar even to most English-language scholars, to say nothing of general readers in the field. John Jessup’s bibliography of Balkan military history in the Garland series is still useful, and the long-running and episodic War and Society in East Central Europe repays careful mining. Richard Hall and John Erickson’s book on the Balkan wars and R. L. DiNardo’s examination of Germany’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 Cra˘ciunoiu treats its subject with respect but is difficult to locate—fewer than a hundred libraries worldwide possess a copy. In most historical accounts, Romania’s army has remained in the background. Remembered primarily for being overrun in World War I, crushed at Stalingrad, and lacking the peasant panache associated with its Serbian and Bulgarian counterparts, it is caught somewhere southeast of the mythical countries of Graustark and Ruritania, identified by the lingering fragrance of the strong cologne allegedly favored by its senior officers. Here is where this work makes its contribution. It is not a military history in the conventional sense, an accounting of wars and battles, generals and diplomats, doctrines and force structures. Instead, Ca˘lin Hentea presents a series of anecdotes and vignettes, loosely structured on chronological lines, that offer an insight into Romania’s military self-image. These pages present how Romania would like to be seen in military contexts—and, no less significantly, how it wants 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 Romania remains Romania. The internal conflicts of the Middle Ages and the factionalism encouraged by Ottoman rule in the early modern era are presented v

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Foreword

in the context of a near-mystical urge for unity, which influenced Romanian policy as late as the 20th century. What to Hungarians might seem an enduring imperialist drive to incorporate Transylvania, for example, is presented here as a variation on Helmut Kohl’s aphorism on German reunification: ‘‘what belongs together comes together.’’ Romania’s experiences under the Warsaw Pact and the rule of Nicolae Ceauces¸cu reflect the survival and revival of Romanian identity against a spectrum of totalitarian challenges. Hentea similarly presents Romania’s international relations in a nationalist context. Though still unrecognized as an independent state by the great powers, Romania emerges less as client than as ally of Russia in the Turkish War of 1878. The country’s military performance in the campaign of 1916 is presented in a context of Romania fighting alone, unsupported by allies. And the alliance with Nazi Germany during World War II and the switching of sides in 1944 manifest neither ideology nor opportunism, but rationally implemented raison d’e´tat. Romanian unity is historically illustrated by the structure of its military, which has always included all classes of society. Commoner footmen played no less a role than armored aristocrats. In periods when mercenaries were an important resource, Romanian rulers continued to prefer Romanian people. At times when the clash of armies decided wars, Romania continued to employ irregular warfare as part of its strategy—frequently with significant effect against less imaginative adversaries. The second organizing principle of this work is its insistence on Romania’s enduring identity within Western culture and civilization. Hentea takes pains to make Romania a part of the scientific and technological revolution that began in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, at least in a military context. Romanian officers were educated officers, who took the field armed with the 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 concludes by describing Romania’s increasing contributions to international peacekeeping operations, mostly under United Nations auspices but including recent involvement in Iraq. This developing conversion of a historically conscript army to a scaled-down professional force has permitted Romania to use its own equipment in low-end operations. Hentea particularly stresses the medical and other noncombatant aspects of that professional force, however, for the same reasons he highlights the formation of a joint Hungarian–Romanian peacekeeping battalion—to demonstrate that a nation need not sacrifice its history and identity to be both a good neighbor and a full partner in the new European 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 17th century. Armas¸: Official noble position within the voievode council (first mentioned in 1478), having various police, military, and administrative duties and who was in charge of overseeing the voievode’s gypsy slaves. Arna˘ut: Turkish name for an Albanian mercenary soldier, recruited as a personal guard by the Phanariots’ princes during their reign in the Romanian principalities. Ban: The highest noble official in Wallachia on the princely council, second only to the voievode and serving as the voievode’s representative in the Oltenia region after 1504. The Great Ban’s residence was in the city of Craiova. Boier/boyar: Specific name, of Slavic origin, for the local nobles and privileged landed aristocrats in the Romanian principalities. Ca˘la˘ras¸i: Name for the cavalry troops in Wallachia from the Middle Ages until the 19th century. Cartnic: Name for NCOs of Slavic origin, used in the 1950s in the Romanian Armed 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, used mainly in Transylvania. Comite: Noble official of the voievodes council, responsible for the horses and fodder, court provisions, and transporting the tribute/haraci to the Porte. Condotier: Military leader who hired mercenaries to serve on behalf of an Italian prince or republic. vii

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viii

Romanian Historical Terms

Da˘ra˘ban: Moldavian professional infantry soldier during the Middle Ages who was later called dorobant¸/dorobantz. Desca˘lecat: An expression invented by Romanian historians to indicate a single process describing both the selection of a territory and the founding of Wallachia and Moldavia. Divan: Specific name for the court of the prince in Wallachia and Moldavia in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Domn: Latin term preferred by the Romanian historians to refer to the voievodes/sovereigns, rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia. Dorobant¸i/dorobantzi: Infantry soldiers equipped with swords and rifles, from the 16th to 19th centuries, in the Wallachian and Moldavian armies. Drega˘torie/drega˘tor: 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. Fustas¸i: Soldiers with spears from the personal guard of the Romanian voievodes in the first half of the 19th century. Gloate: Component of the 19th-century army serving as militias for villages. Glotas¸i: 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 and customs 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 century. Kneaz: Hereditary medieval ruler over a territory or a group of villages who enjoyed royal privileges, similar to a duke in the West. Knezat: Name, of Slavic origin, referring to a territory ruled by a knez in the Middle Ages. Lazaret: Specific name for a military hospital in the 19th century. Logofa˘t: 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’s council. He was the most important drega˘tor in Moldavia and the second most important after the ban in Wallachia. Lorica˘: Old Romanian term for a medieval armor that protected only the chest.

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Romanian Historical Terms

ix

Mos¸neni/moshneni: Free peasants in Wallachia, but with military duties to the voievode in case of war. Mot¸i/motzi: Specific name for Romanians living in the Apuseni mountain villages in central Transylvania. Oca˘lari: Riding couriers of the Moldavian voievode in the Middle Ages. Paˆlc: 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 belonged to the so-called People’s Assembly. They followed Tudor Vladimirescu in 1821 against the Phanariots’ rule in Wallachia. Paˆrca˘lab: Military commander of a feudal fortress or fortified city (first mentioned in 1368) and chief magistrate of the district; he also had administrative and judicial responsibilities. Pas¸alıˆc/pashalic: Province of the Ottoman Empire conquered by the Ottomans 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 among them 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 structure 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. Ra˘zes¸i/raseshi: Free peasants of Moldavia (called moshneni in Wallachia) having military duties to the voievode in case of war. Ros¸ii 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. Spa˘tar/mare spa˘tar: Army and especially cavalry commander (first mentioned in 1415) as the ‘‘sword bearer,’’ similar to the current chief of defense. S¸tabul os¸tirii: Specific name for the first Romanian general staff at the begining 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 mentioned in 1392), a boyar responsible for the voievode’s food and gardens and who served as head of the kitchen. Taˆrgova˘¸t: A person living in a medieval market town. Trabant/Trabant¸i (plural): From the German, a medieval soldier from the personal guard unit of a prince, armed with a halberd. Trupe de dobaˆnda˘ / 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 terminology. 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 of the 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 and holding judicial duties.

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Abbreviations and Acronyms

AFSOUTH ANA APC/TAB ARRC ASOC BELUKROKO

BLACKSEAFOR

CENCOOP CI CIMIC/CA DPKO FYROM

GFAP

HQ IFOR

Allied Forces Southern Europe (former NATO regional headquarters located in Naples, Italy) Afghan National Army Armored Personnel Carrier (in Romanian) Allied Rapid Reaction Corps of NATO Air Surveillance Operational Center Belgian, Luxembourgian, and Romanian unit the size of a battalion acting within KFOR troops in Kosovo until 2003 Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group under NATO aegis composed of navy units belonging to the Russian Federation, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia, and Ukraine Central European Nations’ Cooperation in Peace Support Counterintelligence Civil-Military Cooperation / Civil Affairs Department of Peacekeeping Operations (part of the United Nations in New York) Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Turkey recognizes the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name) General Framework Agreement for Peace (concluded in Dayton, Ohio, and signed in Paris in December 1995, ending the Bosnian War of 1992– 1995) Headquarters Implementation force set up by NATO in Bosniaxi

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Abbreviations and Acronyms

IO / INFO OPS

ISAF

JVB KFOR KVM LIVEX MAP MLI MONUC

MOOTW MOU MPFSEE MSC NAC NAVSOUTH NGO OSCE PfP

PIC PIO PR/PA PSYOPS ROE ROMDET/ROMBAT SACEUR SECI SEDM

Herzegovina from December 1995 until November 1996, after the Dayton agreement Usually information operations for the United States and NATO, but sometimes international organizations International Security Assistance Force (since December 2001 in Afghanistan under NATO’s aegis) Joint Visitors Bureau Kosovo Force (NATO forces in Kosovo since June 1999) Kosovo Verification Mission Live exercise (NATO terminology) Membership Action Plan (NATO terminology) Romanian acronym for Infantry Combat Vehicle Mission de l’Organisation des Nations Unies en Re´publique De´mocratique du Congo (the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo after 1999) Military Operations Other Than War Memoranda of Understanding Multinational Peacekeeping Forces for South Eastern Europe Military Steering Committee North Atlantic Council Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe Nongovernmental Organization Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Partnership for Peace (a framework program established by NATO in the Brussels summit of January 1994) Public Information Center Public Information Officer/Office Public Relations / Public Affairs Psychological Operations Rules of Engagement Romanian Detachment / Romanian Battalion Supreme Allied Commander Europe Southeast European Cooperative Initiative Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial

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Abbreviations and Acronyms

SEEBRIG SFOR

SHAPE SHIRBRIG SOP SRSG UN UNAMIR UNAVEM UNIKOM UNITA UNITAF UNMIK UNMIK-P UNMEE UNOSOM VIP

xiii

South Eastern Europe Brigade Stabilization Force (NATO forces in BosniaHerzegovina from December 1996 to December 2004) Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe Multinational Standby Force High Readiness Brigade for UN Operations Standard Operating Procedures Special Representative of the UN Secretary General United Nations United Nations Mission in Rwanda United Nations Verification Mission in Angola Iraq Kuwait Observation Mission (from 1991 to 2003) A paramilitary structure in Angola called ‘‘Union for a Total Independence for Angola’’ Unified Task Force (U.S. forces send in Somalia in 1992) United Nations Mission in Kosovo UNMIK Police United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea United Nations Operations in Somalia Very Important Person

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Chapter One

Chronology

514 BC The campaign of the Persian king Darius I against the Scythians located north of the Danube. 335 BC The campaign of the Macedonian king, Alexander the Great, in Thrace. Circa 330 BC The conflict between the Macedonian king Lysimach and the Gaet king Dromichaetes. 77–71 BC The first conflict between the Greek fortresses located on the western 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 the Danube (Istru). AD 86–106 The rule of the Dacian king Decebalus. AD 87 The defeat of the Roman Praetorian consul Fuscus by the Dacian king Decebalus, in the narrow valley of Turnu Ros¸u (southwestern Romania). AD 88

The Roman general Tettius Iulianus defeats Decebalus at Tapae.

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

The second peace agreement between the Dacians and

105 June 4: Emperor Trajan, leading the Roman legions, crosses the Danube at Drobeta (southwestern Romania) over a bridge built by architect Appolodor of Damascus. 1

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Chapter One

106 August: The capital city of Dacia, Sarmizegetusa fortress, is besieged and conquered by the Roman armed forces. 106–275 The Roman rule in Dacia. 331–332 Byzantine emperor Constantine the Great defeats the Goths in the Balkans, 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 territories located outside the Carpathians. A book of Byzantine military tactics written by Mauricius and entitled The Military Art is printed. 8th–9th centuries The assimilation of the Slavs by the local Roman people. The Hungarian tribes are settled in the Pannonian Plain. 10th century The end of the creation process of the Romanian language and people. 1054 July 16: The Great Schism, after which the Romanians through their Orthodox religion come under the canonical authority of the patriarch of Constantinople. 1185–1186 The great uprising led by brothers Petru and Asan south of the Danube, against the Byzantine Empire. 1241 The great Tatar invasion in northern and southern Moldavia, in Wallachia and Transylvania, toward central Europe. 1272–1276 The forces of the Hungarian king Lasislau IV, probably in the county of Hat¸eg, defeat the Romanian army led by Knez Litovoi and his brother, Ba˘rbat. 1274 June: Diploma granted to the Joanites Knights by the king of Hungary, Bela IV, in which the existing Romanian state formations are mentioned. Circa 1310–1352

The rule of voievode Basarab I, in Wallachia.

1330 November 9–12: The battle of Posada between the army of the Wallachian voievode Basarab I and the troops of the Hungarian king, Carol Robert of Anjou. 1359 Voievode Bogdan of Maramures¸ performs the so-called desca˘lecat in Moldavia, 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 Genovese. 1369 November–December: The first Ottoman incursion into Wallachia. September 13, 1386–January 31, 1418 Old in Wallachia.

The rule of voievode Mircea the

1388–1389 The army of Mircea the Old defeats the Ottomans and banishes them from Dobrudja, bringing that province inside the borders of Wallachia. 1389 June 15: The defeat of the Serbian army, led by Knez Laza˘r, by the Ottomans in the battle of Kossovopolje (near the modern Pristina). Soldiers from Wallachia, sent by voievode Mircea the Old, also take part in this battle. 1394 Spring: The anti-Ottoman campaign of Wallachia south of the Danube is victorious. October 10: The battle of Rovine between the troops of Mircea the Old and those of Sultan Baiazid. 1396 September 15: The battle of Nicopole: the Western allied armies are defeated by the Ottomans. April 23, 1400–January 1, 1432 in Moldavia.

The rule of voievode Alexander the Good

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 Polish Alliance and the armies of the Teutonic Knights, in which a Moldavian army corps sent by voievode Alexander the Good took part, supporting the Polish. 1420 The first attack of the Ottomans against Moldavia in the Cetatea Alba˘ fortress, which was defended by the army of Alexander the Good. 1422 Another Moldavian army corps sent by Alexander the Good supports the 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 Bobaˆlna, between the Transylvanian rebel peasants 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 of the 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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Chapter One

south of the Danube against the Ottomans, with the support of a detachment from Wallachia, sent by voievode Vlad Dracul. The Bulgarian cities Sofia and Nis¸ are taken from the Ottomans. 1444 November 10: The defeat of the armies of Crusaders in Varna by the Ottomans 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 severely defeated by the Ottomans in Kossovopolje (Serbia). 1456 July 22: The victory of Iancu de Hunedoara against the Ottoman forces 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, close to Belgrade. August 1456–December 1476 Wallachia.

The rule of Vlad T¸epes¸ (the Impaler) in

1457 April 14: Stephen the Great is anointed voievode of Moldavia in a place called Direptate (Justice). 1458 May: Voievode Vlad T¸epes¸ takes by surprise and defeats the invading Ottoman army led by Vizier Mahomed Pasha the Greek. 1459 Vlad T¸epes¸ refuses to pay the tribute owed by Wallachia to the Porte. 1460 March: The victory of Vlad T¸epes¸ against Dan, pretender to the throne, who entered the country with military support granted by the inhabitants of Bras¸ov, a Transylvanian merchant city. 1461 The Ottoman detachment led by Bey Hamza is captured and its members are impaled in Taˆrgovis¸te, the Wallachian capital, at the command of Vlad T¸epes¸. 1462 The liberation of Giurgiu and the campaign of Vlad T¸epes¸, south of the Danube. June 16–17: The famous night attack of Vlad T¸epes¸ against the military camp of Sultan Mahomed II, who had invaded Wallachia. 1465 January 23–25: Voievode Stephen the Great takes the fortress of Chilia from the Hungarians. 1467 Summer: The revolt of some nobles and the Transylvanian towns against 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 Corvin in 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 by Radu the Handsome, by the army of Stephen the Great in the vicinity of the Soci fortress (eastern Moldavia). 1475 January 10: The great victory of Stephen the Great in the battle fought in Vaslui-Podul ˆInalt 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 Valea Alba˘–Ra˘zboieni. 1480 May–June: The campaign of Stephen the Great in Wallachia against Basarab the Young, who had joined the Ottoman side. 1484 July–August: The conquering of the Moldavian fortresses of Cetatea Alba˘ and Chilia by the Ottoman forces. 1485 November 16: The defeat of the Ottoman army by Stephen the Great in the battle of Ca˘lta˘buga; the fortress of Chilia is not reconquered. 1497 August–October: The battle of Codrii Cosminului, in which the army of Stephen the Great wins an important victory against the troops of Ioan Albert, king of Poland. 1504 July 2:

Death of Stephen the Great.

1514 April–July: Huge peasant uprising led by Gheorghe Doja in Transylvania. 1522 The two campaigns of the Wallachian voievode Radu of Afumat¸i, with the support of the Transylvanian voievode Ioan Zapolya, that lead to the elimination of the Ottoman administration from Wallachia. 1526 August 29: The Ottoman victory in the battle of Mohacs causes the medieval kingdom of Hungary to fall apart and become a pashalic, or province of the Ottoman Empire. 1529 June 29: Victory of the Moldavian voievode Petru Rares¸ against Ferdinand of Hapsburg. 1531 August 22: Defeat of Moldavian voievode Petru Rares¸ in Obertyn by the 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, and Tatars. The Ottoman Empire succeeds in imposing its domination over the country. February 1527–June 1574 The rule of John the Terrible in Moldavia. 1552 The provinces of the Banat and a part of Cris¸ana are conquered by the Ottomans and transformed into pashalic, with the administrative center in Timis¸oara. 1574 April 14: Moldavian voievode John the Terrible destroys the Ottoman and Wallachian allied army in the battle of Jilis¸tea. June 11: John the Terrible is horribly executed in Ra˘s¸cani by the Ottomans. 1593 September: The ban of Craiova, Michael the Brave, becomes the voievode of Wallachia. 1594 November 13: The Ottoman creditors, summoned to be paid, are killed on the orders of voievode Michael the Brave. 1595 January 25: Michael the Brave crosses the Danube, attacks and sets fire to the Rusciuc fortress, and captures the Ottoman artillery. August 23: The battle of Ca˘luga˘reni (30 km south of Bucharest) between the Ottomans, who are led by Sinan Pasha, and the Wallachian forces, who are led by Michael the Brave. October: With military support from Moldavia and Transylvania, Michael the Brave conquers Taˆrgovis¸te and finally defeats the Ottoman army while crossing the Danube at Giurgiu. 1599 October 28: Crossing the Carpathians and defeating in the battle of S¸elimba˘r (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 Alba Iulia in his capacity of ruler of both principalities. 1600 May: Michael the Brave makes Ieremia Movila˘ leave Moldavia without fighting, and unifies for the first time the three Romanian principalities under a sole power. June 6: Michael the Brave declares himself ruler of Wallachia, Transylvania, and all of Moldavia, which meant the first union of all Romanian historical territories. September 18: Gen. Gheorghe Basta, who is of Albanian origin and serves the House of Hapsburg, defeats Michael the Brave in the battle of Mira˘sla˘u. October 30: The Polish army defeats Michael the Brave in the battle of Bucov. The voievode is forced to leave for Vienna to acquire political and military support. 1601 August 13: Michael the Brave reconciles with General Basta and defeats the fickle prince of Transylvania, Sigismund Bathory, in the battle of

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Gora˘sla˘u. August 19: Michael the Brave is murdered at General Basta’s orders in the camp in Caˆmpia Turzii, near the town of Cluj. March 1610–January 1611 The failed campaign of Gabriel Bathory, prince of Transylvania, against the Wallachian voievode Radu S¸erban. 1613–1629 Rule of Prince Gabriel Bethlen in Transylvania. 1613 Transylvanian prince Gabriel Bethlen, Wallachian voievode Radu Mihnea, and Moldavian voievode S¸tefan Toms¸a make an agreement of mutual support. September 1632–April 9, 1654 Rule of voievode Matei Basarab in Wallachia. April 1634–April 3, 1653

Rule of Vasile Lupu in Moldavia.

1639 November: Armed conflict between the voievode of Moldavia, Vasile Lupu, who wanted his son to rule Wallachia, and Matei Basarab; ends in the defeat of the Moldavian forces. 1643 November 16: An alliance treaty between Transylvania, Sweden, and France, signed in Alba Iulia, gives resources to the armed forces of Transylvania to fight against the Hapsburg Empire. 1653 May 27: The battle of Finta means the final victory of Wallachian voievode 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 voievode Mihnea III. The Wallachian army conquers the fortresses of Giurgiu and Bra˘ila, and sets fire to the towns of Ors¸ova, Nicopole, and Ruscic, which are located on the southern shore of the Danube. November 1679–October 28, 1688 The rule of Prince S¸erban Cantacuzino in Wallachia. 1683 July–September: Wallachian prince S¸erban Cantacuzino supports the Ottomans in the siege of Vienna, but secretly keeps in touch with the people under siege. 1685 The Moldavian boyar Miron Costin writes a book about the Latin roots 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 cities of Cluj and Deva. 1691 The campaign of the Polish king John Sobieski in Moldavia, when the fortress of Neamt¸ului resists a major siege four days in row. August 11: The voievode of Wallachia, Constantine Braˆncoveanu, defeats, with Ottoman support, the Hapsburg army in the battle of Za˘rnes¸ti. December 4: Following the Leopoldine Diploma, Transylvania is subordinated to the Hapsburg emperor and earns a special status. 1695 January 30: As a reward for the services brought to the Hapsburg Court of Vienna, the Wallachian voievode Constantine Braˆncoveanu receives the title ‘‘Prince of the Empire.’’ 1697 March 27: The union between a part of the Romanian Orthodox Church of Transylvania and the Roman Catholic Church leads to the establishment of the Greek-Catholic Church. 1700 Boyar Constantin Cantacuzino publishes in Venice the first map of Wallachia and works on the first history of all Romanians. 1703–1711 The anti-Hapsburg revolt by Hungary and Transylvania led by Francisc Ra´ko´czi II. November 2, 1710–July 1711 Rule of voievode Dimitrie Cantemir in Moldavia. 1711 July 18–22: The Moldavian–Russian allied army led by Moldavian voievode Dimitrie Cantemir is surrounded and defeated by the Ottomans in Sta˘niles¸ti, 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 under the rule of the Hapsburg Empire. 1739 September 18: The Treaty of Belgrade is signed: the Hapsburgs return Oltenia to Wallachia. 1758 The last invasion of the Tatars of Buceag, Moldavia. 1762 April 15: The Austrian imperial decree on the establishment of the border regiments in Transylvania. 1774 July 21: The Russian–Ottoman Treaty of Kuciuk Kainargi, through which Russia gains the right to intervene inside the two Romanian principalities. 1775 May 18: Bucovina, a northeastern province of Moldavia, is annexed by the Hapsburg Empire.

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1784 November 2: The outbreak of the peasant uprising in Transylvania, led by Horea, Clos¸ca, and Cris¸an. 1785 February 28: The horrible public execution of Horea and Clos¸ca in the Transylvanian city of Alba Iulia. 1789 September 22: In the Russian–Ottoman battle of Ma˘rtines¸ti, near the city of Raˆmnicul Sa˘rat, the Romanian volunteers of the Russian army, led by General Suvorov, demonstrate their bravery. Supported by the Wallachian prince Ioan Cantacuzino, the prince of Coburg enters Bucharest leading the Hapsburg army. The Hapsburgs remain there for two years. 1791–1792 Rise of the Romanian emancipation movement, known as Supplex Libellus Valachorum, a written claim requesting that Romanians have the same political rights as the other nations living in Transylvania. The document 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 rivers, is annexed by Russia. 1821 January 23: The Proclamation of Pades¸, made by Wallachian purveyor Tudor Vladimirescu. 1821 March 21: Tudor Vladimirescu and his soldiers, called panduri, enter the capital, Bucharest. April 5: Tudor Vladimirescu decides to recruit peasants from all over Wallachia. May 21–27: Tudor Vladimirescu is arrested in the camp of Goles¸ti 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 Dra˘ga˘s¸ani and by panduri 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 signed in 1812. 1829 September 14: The Russian–Ottoman Treaty is signed in Adrianopole, initiating the administrative freedom of the Romanian Principalities. November 19: The Russian general Pavel Kiseleff is appointed president of the Divans of Moldavia and Wallachia, holding office until April 1834. 1830 April: The Divans of Bucharest and Ias¸i approve the draft laws on the organization of the national army. 1831 September 15: The first so-called lazaret—the military hospital of the Wallachian army, whose practices continue today at the Central Military Hospital in Bucharest.

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1843 Ion Ghica, Nicolae Ba˘lcescu, and Christian Tell become the founders of the secret Masonic society Fra˘¸tia (the Brotherhood). 1844 The construction of the first military barracks, Saint Gheorghe, starts in Bucharest; later these barracks will be named Malmaison. 1847 The Military School for Infantry and Cavalry is set up in Wallachia by Prince Gheorghe Bibescu, followed in 1857 by a similar institution in Moldavia. 1848 January–July: The battles fought in the Apuseni Mountains (Abrud, Faˆntaˆnele) between the troops composed of mot¸i led by Avram Iancu and the Hungarian units of the Kossuth revolutionary government. April 10: The ruler of Moldavia, Michael Strudza, uses force to put down the revolutionary movement in Moldavia. May 15–May 17: The national assembly near the city of Blaj, on Freedom Plain, sets out the social and political program of the Transylvanian revolution. June 21: The popular assembly near the village of Islaz, in the Wallachian county of Romanat¸i. June 23: The prince of Wallachia, Gheorghe Bibescu, is forced to sign the constitution and to recognize the new revolutionary government of Bucharest. June 26: Decree of the revolutionary government regarding the tricolor flag, having as a motto ‘‘Justice and Brotherhood.’’ June 27: The popular assembly in the Transylvanian city of Lugoj decides to set up a popular Romanian army and to appoint Capt. Eftimie Murgu its commander. September 25: When the Ottoman troops led by Fuad Pasha enter Bucharest, an armed resistance takes place, involving the artillery units led by Capt. Pavel Za˘ga˘nescu. 1849 May 1: Convention of Balta Liman, which leads to an agreement between the czarist and Ottoman empires to put down the revolutions in Moldavia and Wallachia. August 13: The capitulation of the Hungarian revolutionary army in the village S¸iria marks the end of the 1848 revolution in Transylvania. 1853 October 16: The Crimean War (1853–1856) starts between Russia on the one hand and Turkey, England, France, and the Kingdom of Sardinia on the other. 1854 Spring: On the shore of the Danube, Carol Popp of Szathmari photographs the first stages of the Crimean War, printing his negatives on glass. He is the first war photographer in the world. April–September: Under pressure from 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 European powers, being given the right to have a national army. 1859 January 5–24: The elective assemblies from Ias¸i in Moldavia and Bucharest in Wallachia elect unionist colonel Alexandru Ioan Cuza as ruler of the two United Principalities. July 23: The first Romanian military newspaper, Observatorul militar (the Military Observer), a political and technical publication, is printed. The newspaper is issued at the initiative of Col. Ion Voinescu and Lt. Grigore Lipoianu. After 1990, 23 July is celebrated as the day of the Romanian military media. November 24: The establishment of the General Staff Corps of the Romanian Principalities. 1861 February 13: The army’s arsenal starts operating in Bucharest. The High Daily Order signed by Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza sets the formation of the logistics officers led by the general administrator of the army. Through laws issued in 1883 and 1900, the logistics of the armed forces are determined. 1862 January 24: The first Parliament of Romania opens in Bucharest, and Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza proclaims the definite union of the Romanian principalities, with the capital located in Bucharest. March 20: The merging of the two military schools of Ias¸i and Bucharest. 1864 May 10: Plebiscite on the Developing Statute of the Paris Convention imposed by Prince Cuza, which institutes an authoritative rule. 1864 The construction of the Alexandria barracks in Bucharest, followed by the Cuza barracks in 1865. November 27–December 9: Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza sanctions the law on the organization of the armed forces of Romania. 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 commander of the 15th Volunteer Infantry Battalion of Iowa, is promoted to the rank of brigadier general. 1866 February 11: Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza is forced to abdicate, and a princely ad hoc interim lieutenancy rule is formed. March 17: The Decree for the Establishment of the City Guard is proclaimed; the city guard is to keep order in the city. May 10: The new National Assembly proclaims Prince Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen prince of Romania, under the name Carol I. July 13: The proclamation of a new constitution of the Romanian kingdom, which will be in force until 1923. It states the official name of Romania, 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, responsible for approving the laws adopted by the parliament. October: The Firman of the Porte regarding the investiture of Carol I, according to which the acknowledgment of the principalities’ union only during Cuza’s rule was abandoned, but it is regained when there is any other ruler. 1867 February 17: The Austrian–Hungarian agreement regarding the creation of the dual entity of Austria–Hungary, through which Transylvania is annexed to Hungary and loses its autonomy. May 17: The emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph, crowns himself prince of Hungary and promulgates the law regarding the annexation of Transylvania to Hungary, according to the so-called Austrian-Hungarian dual entity. 1868 July 17: Promulgation of a law on the organization of the armed forces in the Romanian kingdom. 1870 August 23–September 4: More than 900 Romanians take part in the Commune of Paris and in the defense of the French revolutionary capital against the Prussian army. 1872 A new law on the organization of the armed forces in the Romanian kingdom 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. Raˆndunica, a torpedo boat, starts operating. This ship sinks the Ottoman monitor Seifi in May 1877 during the War of Independence. 1876 November: The Parliament of Romania approves the proposal of the government to double the number of units of dorobant¸i by setting up another eight regiments. 1877 March 31: Under the pretext of the Russian–Turkish War, the government of Romania decides to call for general mobilization. April 4: The Romanian–Russian Convention negotiated in the Livadia resort in the Crimea is signed in Bucharest. It states the agreement for Russian troops passing through the territory of Romania toward the Balkan front in Bulgaria. April 21: The Ottoman artillery bombs the city of Bra˘ila and then Calafat, Bechet, Oltenit¸a, and Ca˘la˘ras¸i, cities on the Romanian shore of the Danube. April 26: The Romanian artillery bombs the Ottoman garrison of Vidin on the Bulgarian shore of the Danube. May 9: The proclamation of the declaration of independence of Romania, within the Deputies Assembly in Bucharest. May 10: The establishment of the first Romanian decoration, called Steaua Romaˆniei. 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 Grivit¸a, a critical part of the Ottoman fortress system in Plevna, is conquered by the Romanian troops. November 7: The Ottoman fortress of Rahova is also conquered after fierce battles. The Ottoman monitor Podgorit¸a is sunk in the Danube by the Romanian coastal artillery. November 28: The Ottoman citadels of Opanez are conquered. The Ottoman armed forces surrender at Plevna. 1878 January 12: Smaˆrdan, an important post of the Ottoman defensive system of the Vidin fortifications, is conquered with a significant Romanian military contribution. February 19: The Russian–Ottoman peace treaty signed in San Stefano recognizes the state independence of Romania. June 1: The Peace Congress in Berlin states that Romania is de jure independent. Russia takes Bessarabia (half of the Moldavian territory, now the Republic of Moldavia) from Romania and gives it the province of Dobrudja in return. October 8: The Romanian Armed Forces, glorious in the battles fought south of the Danube, enter Bucharest on Mogos¸oaia ‘‘Bridge’’ (an old word for street), which was subsequently renamed Victory Road. 1880 February 20: Romania’s independence from the Ottoman Empire is officially 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 Romanian national day until 30 December 1947, when the Communists come into full power. 1882 The High Headquarters (the General Staff) of the Armed Forces is set up. 1883 October 18: The Romanian–Austrian–Hungarian Alliance Treaty is signed secretly in Vienna. Germany joins the treaty on the same day. 1884 Law on the staff service. The construction of the defensive works system and fortifications of Bucharest begins. 1885 March 30: Col. Dr. Zaharia Petrescu becomes the first officer who is an affiliated member of the Romanian Academy. 1889 August 8: The High School of War is set up and is directly subordinate 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 first printed in Bucharest and edited by Anton Bacalbas¸a. It is published until

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1901. September 20: The Military Astronomic Observatory is established on Piscului Hill, the highest point of Bucharest, under the control of the Military Geographical 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 Elisabeta. 1906 March 18: Near Montesson, France, Traian Vuia performs the first flight 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 the use of jet force in propelling airplanes, and builds a scale model of an airplane propelled by a missile. March: The peasant uprising that breaks out in Moldavia and spreads to Wallachia is put down through the firm and violent intervention of the armed forces. Future marshals Alexandru Averescu and Ion Antonescu 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 the army’s arsenal factory in Bucharest. 1910 Henri Coanda builds and displays at the International Aeronautics Salon in Paris the first jet plane ever built. Fall: The first flight for the benefit of the armed forces is performed by engineer and inventor Aurel Vlaicu during military maneuvers around Slatina-Piatra Olt. 1912 April 1: The Piloting Military School is set up on Cotroceni Hill in Bucharest and led by Maj. Ion Macri. September 1: The film Romania’s Independence, directed by Barbu Brezianu, premieres in Eforie Hall in Bucharest. 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 mobilization of the armed forces is stated, and the High General Headquarters is set up. June 27: Romania declares war on Bulgaria, a move that entails Romanian military involvement in the Second Balkan War. June 30: The units of the 5th Army Corps occupy southern Dobrudja cities of Turtucaia, Dobrici, and Balcic. July 2: The Romanian Armed Forces starts advancing via the main route toward Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. July 5: In order to deter the Romanian troops from occupying Sofia, the Bulgarian government asks for peace. July 28: After a peace conference in Bucharest, Romania wins the counties located in southern Dobrudja. July 31: Demobilization of the Romanian Armed Forces after the Second Balkan War.

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1914 January 22: Elena Caragani becomes the first licensed female pilot in Romania. July 21: The Crown Council, held in the Peles¸ royal castle in Sinaia, decides to adopt a position of neutrality in the conflict between the Entente 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 command of Col. Ion Ga˘va˘nescu. 1916 August 4: The Alliance Treaty between Romania and the Entente is signed in Bucharest. August 14: Romania declares war on Austria–Hungary. August 15: Right after the mobilization is publicly announced, the Romanian Armed Forces start military operations, crossing the Carpathians into Transylvania. August 16: The Romanian troops enter the large southeastern Transylvanian town of Bras¸ov (called Kronstadt by the Germans). August 24: The Romanian troops are defeated by the German and Bulgarian troops in Turtucaia (southern Romania). September 15: The battle of Sibiu (called Hermanstadt by the Germans) between the German and Romanian forces. September 18–22: The Romanian counteroffensive, devised by General Averescu, on the southern part of the Danube, also known as the Maneuver of Fla˘maˆnda. September 30–October 10: The battle of Predeal, in Prahova Valley, between the Romanian and German troops. October 3: The French military mission led by Gen. Henri Mathias Berthelot arrives in Romania. October 10–29: The battle of Taˆrgu Jiu in Oltenia County. Under pressure from the German divisions, the Romanian front is broken. November 15: The heroic cavalry charge from Prunaru-Vlas¸ca, performed by the 2nd Ros¸iori Regiment. The Military Photographic and Cinema Studio is set up in the Moldavian cities of Ias¸i and Baca˘u, with French logistical support. November 16–20: The Romanian troops lose the battle for Bucharest fought on the Neajlov and Arges¸ rivers and are forced to abandon the capital and let the Germans enter. December 9: The German offensive on Cas¸in, in southern Moldavia, is stopped by the Romanian troops. An armistice is signed in the city of Focs¸ani. 1917 Herman Oberth, born in Sibiu, makes the first model of a rocket powered by liquid fuel. January 7: The Order of Michael the Brave, with three classes, is established. January–June: The recovery of the Romanian Armed Forces in the poor and narrow territory of Moldavia. April 18: A Romanian delegation from Transylvania led by Vasile Lucaciu leaves for Washington to convey to the American government the military and political situation of Romania and the desire of the Romanians living in the territories occupied by 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 of Moldavia. July 11–19: The offensive of the 2nd Army led by Gen. Alexandru Averescu in the battle of Ma˘ra˘s¸ti is a tactical success that cannot be exploited strategically because of the Russian troops’ defection to the Bolsheviks. July 24–August 6: The German–Austrian–Hungarian offensive led by German general Mackensen is deterred in the battle of Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti by the Romanian forces led first by Gen. Constantin Christescu and then by Gen. Eremia Grigorescu. July 26–August 9: The German–Austrian–Hungarian offensive is repelled by the Romanian troops in the battle of Oituz. August 15–21: During the battles fought in Varnit¸a and Muncelu, 2nd Lt. Ecaterina Teodoroiu dies in combat. December 9: The armistice between Romania and the Central Powers is signed in Focs¸ani. 1918 March 27: In Chis¸ina˘u, the Council of the Country votes for the union of Bessarabia with Romania. May 7: The peace treaty between Romania and the Central Powers is signed in Bucharest by Marghiloman’s government. July 5: At the initiative of Vasile Stoica, the National Romanian League is created in Washington to initiate activities in support of Transylvania’s union with Romania. The activities are to take place in Chicago, Indianapolis, and other cities where Americans of Romanian origin live. October 27: The Romanian National Council of Bucovina is being created in Cerna˘ut¸i, and it is led by Iancu Flondor, who fought for the union of Bucovina and the other territories located over the Prut River within a single state. October 28: Call for the second mobilization of the Romanian Armed Forces. November 7: In Arad, the Romanian National Central Council created in Budapest on 31 October sets up a national guard for all the territories inhabited by Romanians in Transylvania and Hungary. November 9: The Romanian governments gives an ultimatum to the forces of the Central Powers, requesting that they leave Romania in twenty-four hours. November 11: The armistice between Germany and the Allied powers is signed in Compie`gne, France. Germany recognizes that the Treaty of Bucharest dated 7 May 1918 is null and void and states that troops will retreat from Romania. December 1: In Alba Iulia, the Great National Assembly votes for the union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania. After 1990, 1 December becomes the national day of Romania. 1919 April 1: Romania adopts the Gregorian calendar, so 1 April becomes 14 April. April 16: The beginning of the first offensive of the Romanian Armed Forces in Transylvania against the Bolshevik Hungarian troops of Bela Kuhn, which are driven away over the Tisa River. July 31: The beginning of the second Romanian offensive by crossing the Tisa River. The outcome 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 Romanian troops enter Budapest. This event hastens the fall of the Bolshevik rule of Bela Kuhn in Hungary. September 12: The Society for the Tombs of the Heroes Fallen in Combat is set up in Romania. 1920 January 10: Romania becomes a founding nation for the League of Nations, which is headquartered in Geneva. June 4: The peace treaty between the Allied powers and Hungary is signed in Trianon, and it brings the international recognition of the union of Transylvania, Banat, Cris¸ana, and Maramures¸ with Romania. June 7: A hydroaviation squadron is set up in Constant¸a. June 10: A navy school is set up in Constant¸a Harbor on the Black Sea. July 1: The destroyers Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti and Ma˘ra˘s¸ti become active. 1921 The Little Entente alliance is formed with Romania, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. June 29: The film Ecaterina Teodoroiu, starring Marietta Rares¸, premieres in Bucharest. 1922 October 15: In the historically symbolic city Alba Iulia, Ferdinand I is crowned king of all Romanians in an important ceremony. 1923 March 29: The new Constitution of Romania is issued, proclaiming the Romanian Kingdom a national, united, and indivisible state. April 1: The General Inspectorate of Aeronautics is set up within the Ministry of War; the Civil Aviation Directorate is transferred from the Ministry of Communications to the Ministry of War. May 17: Burial of the bones of the Unknown Soldier in Carol Park, Bucharest, with great military honors and a religious ceremony. September 14: The agreement forming the Little Entente alliance is signed. December 18: Royal decree signed by King Ferdinand to set up the National Military Museum. 1924 April 5: A decision of the Military Court outlaws the Communist Party, which was established on 8 May 1921. June 23: Promulgation of another law referring to the organization of the armed forces. 1925 November 1: The Romanian Aeronautic Industry is set up in Bras¸ov, while the Astra-Arad airplane factory is shut down. 1926 June 10: The Treaty of Friendship between Romania and France is completed and signed with a military convention. 1927 June 24: Founding in Ias¸i of the Legion of Michael Archangel, also called the Legionary Movement or the Iron Guard. This is a political, nationalistic organization that later becomes an extreme-right party named Everything 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 throne because of his mistress, Elena Lupescu) and a regency is instated. 1928 September 4: Romania joins the Pact of Paris, which prohibits the use of war as an instrument of international policy. 1929 October 22–November 2: Important maneuvers with dual actions organized by the High General Staff in southeastern Romania. Such maneuvers will be performed annually in different areas of the country. 1930 March 17: Outbreak of the Skoda Contract, a political and military corruption scandal. June 8: The parliament proclaims the first son of King Ferdinand, Carol II, as king; the former king Mihai receives the newly instituted title of Great Voievode of Alba Iulia. This political event is known as Restoration. 1931 Decree to set up the Territorial Air Defense Command. May 19: For jumping from 7,200 meters, Smaranda Bra˘escu becomes the top female paratrooper certified in an international competition that takes place in Sacramento, California. 1933 December 29: Prime minister I. G. Duca is murdered by the members of the Iron Guard extremist organization on the platform of the Sinaia railway station. 1934 February 9: The Agreement Pact of the Balkans is signed in Athens by Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey. 1935 The construction of the Arch of Triumph is begun in Bucharest; the arch is completed in 1936. 1936 Great acrobatic performances by Capt. Alexandru Papana, an aviator, in aeronautic competitions in the United States. The National Defense Coordination Committee is set up; it is the forerunner of today’s Supreme Council for National Defense. November 13: The Ministry of Air and Navy is set up. 1937 November 26: Promulgation of the Law on Orders and National Medals Awarded in Wartime. 1938 February 10: The installation of an authoritarian monarchy led by King Carol II. September 21: Prime minister Armand Ca˘linescu is murdered in Bucharest by members of the Iron Guard. 1939 August 23: The Ribentropp-Molotov Pact is signed in Moscow by the foreign ministers of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Its secret provisions include references to the provinces of Bessarabia and Bucovina, which fall into 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 the Romanian Armed Forces start being issued. 1940 June: Following the two ultimatum notes of the Soviet government that emerged from the secret provisions of the Ribentropp-Molotov Pact, the Romanian Crown Council decides to relinquish the provinces of Bessarabia and Bucovina without fighting. July 7: Broadcast of the first military radio program, The Armed Forces Hour. August 30: After the Vienna Dictate headed by Germany and Italy, Romania loses northwestern Transylvania, which is annexed to Hungary under the Fascist rule of Admiral Horty. September 6: King Carol II is forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Mihai, and the state power is taken over by Gen. Ion Antonescu. Romania proclaims its neutrality in World War II. September 7: Through the treaty signed in Craiova, Romania gives the southern province of Cadrilater (southeast of the Danube) to Bulgaria. September 14: Romania is proclaimed a national legionary state 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 enter Romania. November 23: Romanian ruler Gen. Ion Antonescu, who is known as Conduca˘tor, signs Romania’s agreement to the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. 1941 January 21: The units of the armed forces are ordered by General Antonescu to intervene in Bucharest and other cities to repress the Iron Guard’s bloody rebellion. June 10: The first paratrooper subunit is set up near the Aeronautics Training Center located in Popesti-Leordeni (near Bucharest); it is the size of a company. June 22: The Romanian Armed Forces, together with the German army, launches an attack against the Soviet Union through Operation Barbarossa, aiming to liberate the historically Romanian provinces Bessarabia and northern Bucovina. June 26: The coast artillery and the Romanian navy thwart a forceful Soviet attack on Constant¸a, on the Black Sea. June 25–30: Romanian and German military are involved in violent events in Ias¸i, which include either the massacre or the deportation of several thousand Jews. July 3–15: The 5th Army Corps fights against the Red Army in Tiganca for the freedom of Bessarabia; 8,965 Romanian soldiers die in combat. July 9: The liberation of northern Bucovina. July 16: The 1st Armored Romanian Division liberates Chis¸ina˘u, the capital of Bessarabia. July 17–19: The Romanian units cross the Nistru River and continue their offensive against the Soviet armed forces. July 26: The total liberation of Bessarabia. October 16: Odessa is conquered by the Romanian troops. October 22: The Romanian Headquarters building in Odessa is blown up by the Soviet partisans, and the military commander of Odessa, General Glogojeanu, and ninety-three Romanian and German military and civilians lose their 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, most of them Jewish. December 12: Due to the obligations assumed through the treaties 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 Peninsula. June 22: The Romanian and German allied units start, according to Hitler’s orders, their offensive on the bend of the Don River, toward Stalingrad. July: The Romanian Mountain Troop Corps makes a significant contribution in conquering the Soviet harbour of Sevastopol, in the Black Sea. Based on Decree No. 3818 signed by the head of the state, Marshal Ion Antonescu, the Signals Command is set up. August 5: The offensive of the Romanian Cavalry 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 of the 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 Friedrich Paulus surrender in Stalingrad. August 1: Anglo-American bombing over the oil field of Ploies¸ti, which supplied the vital fuel to Germany. October 2: The Tudor Vladimirescu Division is set up in the Soviet Union. It is composed of Romanian military taken prisoners on the eastern front who accepted the Communist ideology. 1944 April–May: Operation 60,000, performed by the Romanian Royal Navy, evacuates the Romanian and German military surrounded in Sevastopol Harbor on the Black Sea. April 4: Anglo-American air raids over Romania. They will continue until 19 August 1944. August 20: The beginning of the offensive by the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Group of Armies on the Moldavian front; one of the attacks heads toward Chis¸ina˘u and Ias¸i, the main cities of Moldavia. August 23: Through a state strike instigated by King Mihai I, Marshal Ion Antonescu and his main collaborators are arrested. Subsequently, Romania turns against Germany and joins the coalition of the United Nations. August 26: Clearing of the last German military resistance in Bucharest. August 30: The beginning of the campaign for the liberation of Transylvania. September: Romanian troops forcefully cross the Mures¸ River; meanwhile, the Pa˘ulis¸ cadets detachment thwarts a German–Hungarian offensive in the region of Banat. The beginning of the print campaign of the Communist daily newspaper Scaˆnteia. Its aim is to bring politics into the armed forces; its slogan is ‘‘The army should belong to the people.’’ September 1: The Romanian Air Corps is set up and after only one week it is subordinated 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 headquarters of the 2nd Ukrainian Group of Armies. September 12: The armistice between Romania and the United Nations is signed in Moscow. October 3: The chief of the Romanian High General Headquarters raises a protest to the commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Group of Armies questioning the way the Romanian troops are used by Soviet headquarters. October 11: Liberation of Cluj (the main Transylvanian city) by the 2nd Mountain Division and 18th Infantry Division. October 19: Hungarian city of Debret¸in is liberated by the Tudor Vladimirescu Division, which suffers harsh casualties. October 25: Liberation of Carei, in northwestern; it is the last town under foreign occupation. Between 1945 and 1951 and from 1959 to the present, this day is celebrated as Armed Forces’ Day of Romania. October 6, 1944–January 15, 1945 Operations of the Romanian Armed Forces for the liberation of Hungary. December 18, 1944–May 12, 1945 Operations of the Romanian Armed Forces for the liberation of Czechoslovakia and Austria. 1945 January 1–15: Battles fought for the liberation of Budapest by the 7th Army Corps led by Gen. Nicolae S¸ova. February: The conference in Yalta where the Unites States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union adopt the declaration of liberated Europe. March 5: Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech in Fulton, Missouri. March 6: The first government dominated by Communists is installed by the Soviets in Bucharest and led by Petru Groza. March 9: Romanian administration is restored in the northwestern part of Transylvania. April: Decree to integrate the Romanian military, former prisoners in the Soviet Union who formed the Tudor Vladimirescu and Horea, Clos¸ca and Cris¸an divisions. April 9: The 2nd Armored Car Regiment crosses the Danube and enters the territory of Austria. May 8: The Directorate for Education, Culture, and Propaganda is set up to encompass the entire armed forces. May 10: The total strength of the Romanian Armed Forces is at about 418,000 soldiers. May 12: The Romanian Armed Forces stops its military operations on the western front. June: Under Soviet pressure, the Romanian Air Factories (IAR) starts building tractors, and only an aeronautic section is preserved until 1950. June 26: The United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco. Summer: The Romanian Armed Forces turns from war to peace. July 6: Mihai (Michael), king of Romania, is awarded the Soviet order Victory, and on 10 May (National Day during this period) he is awarded the Legion of Merit by the U.S. government. July 24: According to Order No. 56500 of the High General Headquarters, the Signals Command is disbanded and the Communication Directorate is set up as of 1 September 1945.

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1946 June 1: Marshal Ion Antonescu and his main collaborators are executed in the Jilava jail near Bucharest after a trial orchestrated by the Communists. November 19: Parliamentary elections seriously faked by the Communists, who take power within the Parliament of Romania. 1947 February 9: Romania signs the peace treaty in Paris with the Allied and associated powers. June 1: Promulgation of Law No. 205 for the organization and functioning of the Ministry of National Defense, of Law No. 206 for the organization of the armed forces establishing as eighteen months the length of military duty, and of Law No. 208 on the position and missions of the border troops. December 23: Emil Bodna˘ras¸, 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 the Communists are assigned key positions; these men include Mihail Lasca˘r, Dumitru Da˘ma˘ceanu, Mircea Haupt, Septimiu Pretorian, and Nicolae Cambrea. December 29: In accord with Order No. 2808 signed by the minister of national defense, Emil Bodna˘ras¸, with the full support of the pro-Soviet officers of the Tudor Vladimirescu Division, thirty generals, forty-nine colonels, sixty-three lieutenant colonels, and sixty-one majors from some territorial units are told to leave their position and unit in only two hours. They are replaced with political deputies. The strength of the armed forces is 135,800 due 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 to abdicate and leave the country, which is proclaimed the Popular Republic of Romania. 1948 February: The Congress for the Unification of the Romanian Communist Party with the Social Democrat Party, forming the Romanian Workers Party. The first organizations of the Communist Party start functioning officially within the armed forces. February 28: Law on the modification of some provisions of the Military Code of Justice, in accordance with the policy of the new Communist authorities. April: Adoption of new military uniform following the Soviet model. August 22: Through the Order of the 3rd Military Region from Cluj, the institution of the military clergy is disbanded. August 30: The General Directorate of Popular Security is set up within the Ministry of the Interior with the goal to eliminate political opposition. September: Yugoslavian schism caused by the tension between Iosip Broz Tito and Stalin forces the maneuvers of the Romanian Armed Forces to concentrate on the southwestern border with Yugoslavia. The territory of Romania is reorganized into three military regions. Fall: The Armed Forces General Inspectorate for Education becomes the Superior Political Directorate of the

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Armed Forces and falls under the direct command of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers Party. 1949 The first organizations of the Union of the Young Workers are set up within the armed forces. February 1: The Signals Command of the Armed Forces is set up. April 4: In Washington, the North Atlantic Treaty is signed by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 1950 January 9: The secretariat of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers Party decides to create the corps of sergeants and petty officers (cartnici); the rank of major lieutenant (between lieutenant and captain) is introduced within the armed forces, after the Soviet model. March 15: Through a decision of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers Party, the Counterintelligence Service of the Armed Forces is subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior, led by Teohari Georgescu. March 18: Nicolae Ceaus¸escu, a substitute member of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers Party, is appointed deputy minister for national defense and chief of the Superior Political Directorate of the Armed Forces, having the rank of major (one star) general, and Leontin Sa˘la˘jan, member of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers Party, becomes chief of the General Staff. March 24: Through Decree No. 74 of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly, the Ministry of National Defense becomes the Ministry of the Armed Forces. June 25: North Korean forces led by Communist leader Kim Il 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 during the anti-Soviet campaign are retracted. November 1: The paratrooper battalion of the Romanian Popular Armed Forces is set up under the subordination of the Military Air Force Headquarters. A year later, in September 1952, it will be transformed into an airborne regiment. November 10: The Middle School for the Navy is set up in Galat¸i, an industrial city on the shore of the Danube. November 15: A new navy high school is set up in Constant¸a, a Black Sea harbor. 1951 The mountain troops are disbanded and integrated into the infantry units. The first division of jet fighters is equipped with Soviet planes. The new statute of the officer corps is adopted, stating the possibility of firing members of the military ‘‘on moral and political grounds’’ (art. 40) or of demoting troops to the rank of private for ‘‘political reasons which make impossible the status of officer’’ (art. 42). Military service for students in postsecondary institutions is mandatory. January: The Romanian Armed Forces 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 Bulganin provide fifty-three military councilors to the army corps and divisions. Meanwhile, the minister of national defense, Emil Bodna˘ras¸, requests fortynine military councilors for the educational institutions from Soviet marshal Vasilievsky. January 9–12: Stalin’s guidance for the political and military leaders of the satellite countries regarding the strengthening of the combat capabilities of the Socialist countries: ‘‘In these three years, you don’t have to work, you have to arm yourself!’’2 July 20: Armed Forces’ Day is set to be observed on 2 October. August–September: The first exercise of troops of the Popular Armed Forces is performed in the southwestern region of Banat, having been organized by the general staff of the 3rd Military Region with the obvious aim of pressuring the Yugoslavs. October 17: The Armored and Mechanized Vehicles Headquarters is set up. 1952 According to the new constitution of the Popular Republic of Romania, adopted by the Great National Assembly, the leading role of the Communist Party is officially stated. July: The Superior Military Council is set up as the leading body of the armed forces through a decision of the Political Bureau of the Romanian Workers Party. 1953 March 5: Death of Stalin. June 23: Decree No. 270 of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly sets up the positions of first deputy to the minister of the armed forces, positions granted to the Communist (one star) generals Nicolae Ceaus¸escu and Leontin Sa˘la˘jan. July: The decree of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly establishes the length of mandatory military service as three years. July 23: Korean armistice signed in Panmunjon; end of Korean War. 1954 All cavalry troops are disbanded. 1955 Important exercise in Romania with troops of the 2nd Military Region Headquarters led by Gen. Mircea Otto Haupt. A Hungarian joint armed forces and a Soviet tank army also take part. May 14: Romania becomes a 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: The regulation 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 Air Defense Command is set up through the merging of air defense and air forces.

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1957 Through a decision by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, the principle of full unity of command is adopted. According to this principle, the chiefs and commanders are held fully responsible for the political education and combat training of the troops. The Military Education Directorate is set up. April 15: Soviet–Romanian agreement for temporary stationing of Soviet troops on Romanian territory. 1958 June: The Soviet troops withdraw from Romania’s territory due to the agreement between the Romanian Communist leader, Gheorghe Gheorghiu 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 military are sent to work in the fields. October 1: A decree of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly declares that 25 October is once again Armed Forces’ Day. 1960 Restructuring of the armed forces into military regions. March: The border troops are transferred from the Ministry of the Interior to the jurisdiction of the armed forces. 1961 November: The length of mandatory military service becomes two years for all the branches and within the army and air services; the exception is the navy, where the length is three years. 1962 The first joint exercise with troops of the members of the Warsaw Treaty 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 and four months, except for the border guards and the Navy, where the length of the military service is two years. April: Idea of breaking away from the Soviet Union is part of the declaration of the expanded session of the Central Committee of the Romanian Workers Party, also known as the April Declaration. June: The regulation of the Communist Party and the Young Workers Union organization within the armed forces. December 9: A decree of the State Council establishes a new organizational structure of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. 1965 In general elections, eleven superior officers are elected as representatives to the Great National Assembly and 314 officers (all members of the Romanian Comunist Party) are elected to local administrative structures. March 22: After the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej, Nicolae Ceaus¸escu

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is elected as secretary general of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party. August 21: A new constitution is adopted and the Socialist Republic of Romania is proclaimed. 1967 June 11: Romania is the only country of the Socialist bloc that adopts a position of neutrality regarding the Arab–Israeli war. 1968 More than 85 percent of military officers are members of the Communist Party and so are all the commanders, from the company commanders up. March 30: The first military television broadcast takes place; it is called Guarding the Homeland. The show is broadcast weekly until 1989, with an interruption of seven months in 1987, and changes its name in 1990 to Pro Patria. The show ends in December 2005. August 22: The declaration of the Great National Assembly regarding the basic principles of Romania’s foreign policy and the problems of the international Communist movement, as a response to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the troops of the Warsaw Treaty. September 4: Decree regarding the establishment, organization, and functioning of the patriotic guards. September 27–28: Official visit to Bucharest of Marshal I. I. Iakubovski, the supreme commander of the United Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty. November: Through a decision of the Ministers Council, the Military Academy is given the right to organize postacademic courses and to grant the degree of PhD in military science. 1969 The activity of the Defense Council of the Socialist Republic of Romania as a deliberative body is legalized. The Xth Congress of the Romanian Communist Party launches the doctrine of ‘‘the entire people’s war for homeland 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, Budapest, Belgrade, and Rome. March 17: The meeting of the Consultative Political Council (the supreme decision-making body of the Warsaw Treaty) takes place in Budapest and adopts the statute of the United Armed Forces and the Unified Command, and those of the Military Council. The documents are signed by Nicolae Ceaus¸escu as president of the State Council (similar to the head of state) and Ion Gheorghe Maurer, president of the Ministers Council (similar to the prime minister). August 2–3: Richard Nixon becomes the first American president to visit Romania, the first country of the Soviet bloc visited by an American president during the Cold War. 1970 January 31: Romania ratifies the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons. 1972 Law No. 14 on the organization of national defense of the Socialist Republic 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 Ministry of National Defense. 1974 A decree of the State Council sets up the military guard of some economic centers. March 28: The Great National Assembly proclaims the secretary general of the Romanian Communist Party, Nicolae Ceaus¸escu, president of the Socialist Republic of Romania. He becomes the supreme commander of the armed forces and the president of the Ministers Council. October 30: Lt. Col. Gheorghe Sta˘nica˘ flies, for the first time, a jet fighter produced in Romania, the IAR-93. November: At the XIth Congress of the Romanian Communist Party, thirteen officers and generals from the Ministry of National Defense are elected members of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party. 1975–1986 Forty of the sixty kilometers of the Danube–Black Sea Channel are built by more than 11,000 military of the 45th Engineering Brigade. Other military 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 Territorial Air Defense Command. 1978 Gen. Mihai Pacepa, chief of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Security Department (known as Securitate), asks for political asylum in the United States, starting a storm within the Romanian and Soviet secret services. 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 visit of the minister of national defense, Gen. Col. (three-star general) Vasile Milea to the United States at the invitation of some high American military officials. 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 Romanian Communist Party, Nicolae Ceaus¸escu announces the complete payment of Romania’s foreign debt, which at the beginning of the 1980s was about US$11 billion. July: Following the leadership of the Ceaus¸escu couple, for the first time in the history of the armed forces, rank promotions are not being given on time. November: As gymnast Nadia Coma˘neci leaves the

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country for the West, the border guard units are transferred from the Ministry of National Defense to the Ministry of the Interior on the orders of Nicolae Ceaus¸escu. November 9: The fall of the Berlin wall. November 20–24: During the meetings of the XIVth Congress of the Romanian Communist Party, Nicolae Ceaus¸escu disagrees with the relaxed political reforms that have emerged in the East European states. December 3: The historical meeting between George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev in Malta. December 4: Nicolae Ceaus¸escu has a tough discussion with the Soviet leader Gorbachev in Moscow on the occasion of the summit of the heads of state of the Warsaw Treaty members. December 16: The first incidents in Timis¸oara related to the protest of some parishioners against the decision to evacuate Laszlo Tokes, a reformist pastor. December 17: The beginning of the great anti-Communist and anti-Ceaus¸escu riot in Timis¸oara. Violence is manifested by the participants, there are conflicts with the police and Securitate, and numerous people are arrested. At the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, Nicolae Ceaus¸escu orders the armed forces to use weapons against the protesters in Timis¸oara. At 6 p.m., the units of the Ministry of National Defense receive the encoded order Radu the Handsome, the preliminary combat warning. December 18–20: Nicolae Ceaus¸escu pays an official visit to Iran, leaving his wife Elena to put down the revolt in Timis¸oara. The first casualties and human losses occur. December 18: In Timis¸oara, armored vehicles and armed soldiers placed at key posts around the city. The revolt spreads to other Transylvanian cities. December 19: As the whole city of Timis¸oara is on strike, the chief of the General Staff, Maj. Gen. (one-star general) S¸tefan Gus¸a˘ promises the people gathered in front of the Elba factory to recall the soldiers and their APC into the barracks. December 20: At 2 p.m., Major General Gus¸a˘ orders the retreat of the soldiers and the military reinforcements into the barracks in Timis¸oara. December 20: During a statement broadcast over television and radio, Nicolae Ceaus¸escu says that the armed forces have intervened in Timis¸oara against the so-called Fascist and antinational groups of hooligans. The United States starts Operation Urgent Fury in Panama to arrest the head of state, Gen. Manuel Noriega, who is accused of drug trafficking. December 21: At 12:30 p.m., the huge meeting organized in Bucharest’s Palace Square to blame the hooligans in Timis¸oara and the public discourse of Nicolae Ceaus¸escu turns against the Communist authorities, leading to the extension of the revolution to Bucharest. In the evening and night, the first violent strikes between the people of Bucharest and the militia, Securitate, and armed forces takes place in the street and ends in detentions and deaths. December 22: Between 10 and 11 a.m., three press releases broadcast on the radio announce 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 emergency is declared all over the country. At 10:45 a.m., Lt. Gen. (two-star general according to the Communists ranks) Victor Athanasie Sta˘nculescu, firstdeputy to the minister of national defense, orders the retreat into barracks of the units that were out in the streets of Bucharest. At 12:35 p.m., Elena and Nicolae Ceaus¸escu escape in a helicopter that takes off from the roof of the building of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party. On the same day, they are caught and taken to a military base in Taˆrgovis¸te. At 1:15 p.m., the first revolutionaries (poet Mircea Dinescu and actor Ion Caramitru) are broadcast live on radio and TV, announcing that Ceaus¸escu has run away and the Communist regime has fallen. The state power is taken over by the National Salvation Front. Street fights begin in Bucharest and in other cities of the country, the invisible enemies being the so-called terrorists. December 25: At a military base in Taˆrgovis¸te (north of Bucharest), after a brief trial, a special military court gives Nicolae and Elena Ceaus¸escu the death penalty. The sentence is carried out immediately. December 26: The first provisional government is set up and led by Prime Minister Petre Roman and the Council of the National Salvation Front, which is chaired by Ion Iliescu. The first minister of defense after December 1989 is Col. Gen. Nicolae Militaru, who is contested by some officers who accuse him of being a former Soviet spy. He will be replaced in February 1990. 1990 July 6: The NATO summit in London declares the opening of dialogue with the member states of the Warsaw Treaty. August 2: Iraqi troops invade Kuwait. October 23: Petre Roman, prime minister of Romania, is received at NATO headquarters by Secretary-General Manfred Woerner. November 19: Romania signs in Paris, together with twenty-two other NATO and Warsaw Treaty member nations, the Treaty on the Conventional Forces in Europe. 1991 January 17: Coalition forces led by the United States start Operation Desert Storm against Iraq. February 9: The Romanian Military Hospital mission begins its activity within the British Operation Granby, part of Operation Desert Storm, which lasts until 22 March 1991. This represents the first post–World War II cooperation of the Romanian Armed Forces with a military structure of a NATO member. February 25: A special meeting of the Political Consultative Council of the Warsaw Treaty takes place in Budapest, where the decision is made to cancel all the documents regarding the United Armed Forces and their military structures until 31 March 1991. February 28: End of Operation Desert Storm. April 23: A series of six Romanian officers start their one-year tours as military observers in UNIKOM within the demilitarized 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 Open Sky agreement is signed in Bucharest between Romania and Hungary. July 1: Official cessation of the Warsaw Treaty. July 4: The first visit to Romania of a NATO secretary-general, Manfred Woerner. October 25: Military and religious ceremony to bring the bones of the Unknown Soldier back to the Carol Park tomb in Bucharest. November 25: The first visit of a Romanian defense minister to NATO headquarters in Brussels. The visit is made by Col. Gen. Niculae Spiroiu. December 8: The reunited chambers of the parliament adopt a new democratic constitution. 1992 February 21: NATO Secretary-General Manfred Woerner inaugurates the Euro-Atlantic Center in Bucharest, called NATO House today. It is located in the former residence of Nicolae and Elena Ceaus¸escu. May: Twenty-four Romanian military observers start their work within the OSCE mission 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 Armed Forces. April: The 50th Field Military Hospital starts its mission in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, within the UNOSOM II mission, and lasts until 16 October 1994. April 19–23: President Ion Iliescu visits the United States to take part in the inauguration of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. On that occasion, he meets President Bill Clinton. September 28: Romania is accepted as a full member of the European Council. October: The Supreme Council for National Defense approves the establishment of the General Staff and the staffs of the three services. 1994 The first civilian state secretary since World War II, Ioan Mircea Pascu, and the first civilian defense minister since the war, Gheorghe Tinca, are appointed. The Consultative Council for Euro-Atlantic Integration is set up as a political body where all the parliamentary parties are represented. January 26: At NATO general headquarters, Romania becomes the first country to sign the Partnership for Peace program. April: The Supreme Council for National Defense approves the National Security Integrated Concept and the Defense Military Doctrine. April 28: The minister of national defense, Gheorghe Tinca, hands out Romania’s Individual Partnership Program to Ambassador Balanzino, NATO assistant secretary-general. May 9: In Kichberg, Luxembourg, at the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Romania becomes associated partner to the Western European Union, together with eight other central and eastern European states. July: The traditional name of the General Staff starts being used again. November: Romania sends a group of 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 a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels. Talks with NATO Secretary-General Willy Claes focus on matters regarding envisaged actions within the Partnership 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). The conclusion of the first restructuring phase of the Romanian Armed Forces. A new combat banner is given to the military units. March: Romanian military presence within UNAVEM III and then MONUA UN missions in Angola, which last until 1999. The Romanian contribution amounts to the participation of more than 8,000 military in different rotations. September: Cooperative Determination ’95, the first NATO/PfP live exercise takes place in an area of the city of Sibiu. Fall: The three academies of the three services are set up: the Land Forces Academy in Sibiu, the Air Force Academy in Brasov, and the Navy Academy in Constant¸a. October 10: The protocol between the Ministry of National Defense and the Romanian Orthodox Church regarding the religious assistance provided within the armed forces is signed. November 16: Romania respects the limits established for conventional armaments through the document of Vienna, dated 1992 (the final act of negotiations concerning the effectiveness of conventional armed forces in Europe). 1996 Promulgation of Law No. 46 regarding the preparation of the population for defense. March: The Joseph Kruzel 96th Engineering Battalion starts its activity in Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, within IFOR and, after December 1996, SFOR missions. April 10: Romania ratifies its access to the NATOSOFA-PfP Agreement. July: Cooperative Partner ’96 NATO/PfP naval exercise takes place in Constant¸a, 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, pays his first visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels and meets Secretary-General Javier Solana and the permanent representatives of the North Atlantic Council. March 30: Governmental Decision No. 110 regarding the organization of the Ministry of National Defense. April, July: The OSCE mission in Albania, within Operation Alba of Saint George ROMDET, a tactical infantry detachment, composed of 400 military and the proper military equipment and arms. July 7–9: The NATO summit in Madrid invites only Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary to join the alliance. Romania misses the first integration wave. July 11: The U.S. president, Bill Clinton, visits Romania to raise the nation’s morale after the refusal of their accession at the NATO summit in Madrid. September 1: The PfP Regional Training Center is set up within

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the Academy for Advanced Military Studies in cooperation with the United Kingdom’s armed forces. October 13: The forty-third annual session of the North Atlantic Assembly takes place in Bucharest. November 1–14: Cooperative Determination ’97, a NATO/PfP exercise coordinated by AFSOUTH, takes place in Sibiu, with the participation of more than 500 military from six NATO nations and six partner nations. 1998 Romania’s Rapid Reaction Force is created. March 9–21: Romania has the most significant participation with air, land, and naval troops in Portugal, taking part in the Strong Resolve ’98 NATO/PfP exercise. March 19: Romania signs in Vienna the Letter of Intent and the Frame Document regarding accession to CENCOOP. June 9: Romania signs in Copenhagen the Letter of Intent regarding accession to the northern peacekeeping initiative called SHIRBRIG. September 26: The Multinational Southeastern Europe Brigade (SEEBRIG) is established after the third Southeast Defence Ministerial summit held in Skopje, FYROM. Romania’s contribution to that brigade consists of one infantry battalion, a reconnaissance platoon, a transport 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 no ammunition, are placed on the route to Bucharest to halt the advance of the violently rioting miners coming from Jiul Valley. March–June: Romania supports NATO’s allied force operation against Yugoslavia by opening its air space and some airports to the allied air forces. May–June: Significant Romanian participation in Cooperative Guard ’99, a NATO/PfP computerassisted exercise performed in Vyshkov, Czech Republic. June 23: The president of Romania, Emil Constantinescu, presents to the parliament the National Security Strategy, which is based on the irrevocable option of EuroAtlantic and EU integration. The document is approved by the Supreme Council for National Defense. November: The Southeastern Europe Defense Ministerial Meeting, SEDM-99, takes place in Bucharest at the National Military Circle. The Romanian–Hungarian Peacekeeping Battalion becomes operational and is located both in Arad and the corresponding Hungarian garrison. November 26–December 5: Cooperative Determination ’99, a NATOPfP computer-assisted exercise, takes place in Bucharest and addresses specific command issues at the multinational brigade level. December 5: The European Union Summit in Helsinki invites Romania to begin accession talks. 2000 February 10: Lord George Robertson, NATO secretary-general, visits Romania in a tour of the partner nations. March 31: A group of officers

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and NCOs specializing in psychological operations, PSYOPS, begin their activity in the specialty structures of KFOR headquarters located in Pristina, Kosovo. Another tens of officers and NCOs from the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of the Interior operate in UNMIK and OSCE structures in Kosovo. June: A new organizational structure for the Ministry of National Defense, which experiences some changes in the spring of the following year. November 6: Law No. 195 regarding the establishment and organization of the military clergy is adopted. 2001 January 1: Romania, through its minister of foreign affairs, Mircea Geoana˘, chairs Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe for one year. January 22: At the invitation of Gen. Mihail Popescu, chief of general staff, Adm. James O. Ellis, commander of the Allied Forces South Europe (AFSOUTH Commander) pays a visit to Bucharest. March 7: A common declaration of all political parties is adopted to support Romania’s candidacy for NATO integration. March 31: The declaration made in Snagov, near Bucharest, by the political parties, NGO representatives, syndicates, and church representatives to support Romania’s integration into NATO. April 2: The agreement regarding the setting up of BLACKSEAFOR (Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group) is signed in Istanbul. This is an intervention and cooperation force in the Black Sea between Romania, Turkey, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Georgia. June 21: Emergency Ordinance No. 90 for the modification and completion of Law 80, which was first issued in 1995, regarding the status of the military. July: The new Military Career Guide takes effect. September 1: In Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Romania takes over the presidency of the Steering Committee of the Southeastern Defense Ministerial Meeting (SEDM) and of the Political and Military Steering Committee, according to the first Additional Protocol for the Multinational Peacekeeping Force of Southeastern Europe. September 11: Largest terrorist attacks ever against the United States. September 13: As a consequence of the 11 September attacks, the Parliament of Romania issues a resolution that sets out Romanian participation in the fight against terrorism and opens the air, land, and sea to NATO. September 19: The parliament decides to increase Romania’s contribution to the SFOR and KFOR missions in BosniaHerzegovina and Kosovo. September 27: The Interministerial Committee for Crisis Situations is created. September 28: Romania approves NATO’s Membership 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 the financial help to prepare for accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. Decem-

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ber 3–4: The Political Military Steering Committee 191 held at NATO headquarters in Brussels discusses the reform stages of the Romanian Armed Forces and drafts a program called Objective Force 2007. December 13: In Bucharest, Lord George Robertson, NATO secretary-general, meets Romanian president Ion Iliescu, Prime Minister Adrian Na˘stase, and other members of the parliament and government along with representatives of the civil society. December 18: Decision No. 36 of the parliament voted on during a joint common session of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate adopts the new National Security Strategy of Romania. 2002 January 10: Romania signs the ISAF Protocol during the second meeting of the Committee of Contributors to the International Security Assistance Force of Afghanistan. January 21–22: At the invitation of Gen. Mihail Popescu, chief of the General Staff, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Joseph Ralston, pays a visit to Bucharest. January 30: The Romanian Armed Forces takes part in ISAF, in Operation Fingal, with a military police platoon (twenty-five personnel), one C-130 Hercules air carrier, the necessary crew, and three staff officers. March 1–15: The Romanian Armed Forces takes part in Strong Resolve 2002, the largest NATO/PfP live exercise. It occurs in Poland with 215 military, two MIG 21 Lancer fighters, two Puma Socat helicopters, and one C-130 Hercules air carrier. March 25–26: Bucharest hosts Spring of the New Allies, the meeting of the Vilnius Group, which consists of the ten prime ministers of the countries applying for NATO integration. The meeting is held at Parliament Palace. April 30: Decision No. 15 of the Parliament of Romania regarding the contribution of troops to the United States–led Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. May–July: The European Command of the U.S. Armed Forces uses Black Sea harbour Constant¸a for troop rotation and the transport of supplies to Kosovo, as part of the KFOR mission. June 27: Law No. 415 regarding the organization and functioning 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, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. November 21: At the NATO summit in Prague, the secretary-general of the North Atlantic Alliance, Lord George Robertson, invites seven eastern European nations to join the alliance, Romania being one of them. November 23: President George W. Bush pays a visit to Bucharest and is warmly welcomed by people in a meeting organized in Revolution Square in Bucharest. 2003 The Romanian special forces units are set up within the Ministry of National Defense. January 1: The Alexandru Averescu 2nd Joint Operational Headquarters, located in Buza˘u, undertakes the coordination of the military

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contingents that take part in international missions abroad. June 10–December 15: Participation of three Romanian officers in Operation Concordia under the aegis of the European Union, in FYROM within the headquarters of the force in Skopje. July: Because of the planned KFOR reduction, the Romanian traffic control platoon deployed to Blace, within the Greek contingent, and the infantry company from Arad, part of the Belgian contingent deployed near Leposavic in Camp Nothing Hill, are withdrawn from Kosovo. An infantry battalion and a military police detachment are deployed to Nasiriyah, marking the beginning of the Romanian military contribution to Operation Iraqi Freedom. August: An engineering detachment and a special detachment are deployed to Al Hillah and Babilon, Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The SEEBRIG headquarters are inaugurated in Constant¸a in the presence of President Ion Iliescu. The headquarters function there for the next two years. August 10–16: The 29th International Congress of Military History takes place in Bucharest, the theme being ‘‘The War, Military and Media from Gutenberg until the Present Days.’’ November: Chief of the Parliament Liaison and Legislative Harmonization Directorate, Floarea S¸erban, becomes the first female officer of the Romanian Armed Forces who is promoted to the rank of brigadier general. November 11: Two NCOs from the infantry battalion deployed to Kandahar are killed in an ambush by Afghan Taliban guerrillas during a mission performed at the southern border of Afghanistan. These are the first two Romanian military who die in a combat mission abroad since World War II. December: The Romanian contingent in Afghanistan is supplemented by an ANA training detachment and a CIMIC team. 2004 February 23–25: During an inspection performed in the fourth operation theaters in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the combat flags of the Neagoe Basarab 2nd Infantry Battalion deployed in Iraq and that of the 280th Infantry Battalion deployed in Afghanistan are decorated on behalf of the president of Romania by prime minister Adrian Na˘stase and the minister of national defense, Ioan Mircea Pas¸cu, with the Order of Military Virtue, at the status of knight with military insignia. February 26: The parliament adopts the law on Romania’s accession into NATO after the parliaments of the member states ratify the accession protocols of the seven countries invited to join the alliance during the November 2002 summit. March 29: The ceremony of the bestowal of the integration instruments by the North Atlantic Treaty on Prime Minister Adrian Na˘stase and six other eastern European prime ministers is held in Washington, where treaty documents are kept. April 2: The national flag-raising ceremony for the seven new members takes place at NATO headquarters in Brussels. April 15: Gen. Mihail Popescu, chief of the General 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 the Indo-European Thracians had the highest population after the Indians. The Thracians living in the Carpathian-Danubian area after the Bronze Age were called Gaeto-Dacians; Greek historians preferred the term Getae, but in Latin they 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 mention of an armed confrontation on the current territory of Romania is during the time of Alexander the Great. In 335 BC he organized an expedition along the shores of the Danube (or Istru, the original name of the river) to deter the Gaets and secure the frontier of the Macedonian kingdom, before launching his great Asian campaign. About forty years later, around 300 BC, Dromichetes, the Gaet king, defeated Lysimachus, the Macedonian king. The first armed force gathered under a state authority was during the 1st century BC when the Gaeto-Dacian tribes were unified under the leadership of 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 the territories abutting Rome, the emperor Domitian decided in the spring of 87 to initiate the offensive; he did this by sending his legions, under the command of Cornelius Fuscus, the Praetorian consul, against Decebalus, the young and brisk Dacian king. The campaign was a disaster for the Romans and ended in the narrow valley of Turnu Ros¸u. The next year, the Romans struck again, entering Dacia through Banat (in southwestern Transylvania), 36

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this time under the command of an experienced general, Tetius Iulianus. The Romans won the battle of Tapae, but they did not entirely defeat the Dacians. A highly skilled diplomat, Decebalus succeeded in making an extremely advantageous peace with the Romans in AD 89, and that allowed him to intensify the military preparations for a new war with Rome. ‘‘Noticing that the strengthening of the military force meant the strengthening of the Dacians’ pride’’ (Dio Casius),3 the Roman emperor Trajan attacked the Dacian kingdom in the spring of 101, again through Banat. He brought along an army of 150,000 soldiers. Displaying his skills as a strategist, Decebalus launched a Dacian–Bastarno–Sarmatian allied attack against the Roman-held land in Dobrudja (east of Romania, along the Black Sea coast), forcing Trajan to react by bringing a large part of his expeditionary force there. Overcoming the difficult battle, in which both sides suffered significant casualties, the Romans prevailed. (In commemoration of the victory, in 109 they built the Trophaeum Trajani of Adamclisi on the battle’s site.) In the spring of 102, Trajan started to again attack the Banat region, striving to conquer, one by one, several Dacian fortresses located in Gra˜dis¸tii Valley (including the Costes¸ti fortress), so that Decebalus was finally obliged to make peace under tough conditions imposed by Rome. A new and decisive Roman offensive against Decebalus and the Dacians started in the spring of 105 when Trajan crossed the Danube with an increased military strength, using a strategic bridge built by Apollodor of Damascus near Drobeta-Turnu Severin. The Romans moved on three fronts toward Sarmizegetusa, the Dacian capital. In spite of the strong resistance of the Dacians and Decebalus’s attempted strategies, Sarmizegetusa came under siege and was conquered in the summer of 106. Decebalus, who was in danger of being captured, killed himself. The Dacian kingdom was then abolished and turned into a Roman province. The new capital city of the province was established in the Roman colony of Ulpia Trajana Augusta Dacia.

THE NORTHERN DANUBE CAMPAIGN OF THE PERSIAN EMPEROR DARIUS, 514 BC According to Herodotus, the main cause of the military expedition of 514 BC—undertaken by the Persian emperor Darius north of the Danube—was the frequent incursions the Scythians made in the Asian provinces of the Persian Empire.4 The Persian military action could also have been considered a demonstration of force in the Balkans that was aimed at defeating the Thracians and Macedonians and isolating ancient Greece. The sole armed resistance 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 the Gaetic union of tribes located between the Danube and the Black Sea. As there was no other information on the subject and as the army sizes were unbalanced, it might be considered that the Gaets only harassed the strong Persian expeditionary corps. Nevertheless, this is not an insignificant reaction compared to the passivity of the other Greek colonies or the rest of the Thracian tribes.

THE CAMPAIGN OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT IN THRACE, 335 BC The Macedonian campaign of 335 BC against the Gaeto-Dacian forces aimed to prevent a possible unification of the Balkans against the expansion of the Macedonian state.5 After defeating a resistance that faced south of the Danube, the 30,000 Macedonian soldiers reached the Danube, where 10,000 infantrymen and 4,000 Gaeto-Dacian riders had been awaiting them. However, Alexander the Great rapidly crossed the Danube with his 15,000 riders and 4,000 infantrymen and advanced through the fields, taking the GaetoDacians by surprise. The Gaeto-Dacians took up the battle with the Macedonian cavalry in an open area, but the intervention of the dreaded phalanx, invented by King Philip II, Alexander’s father, forced their withdrawal, first to a fortress and then farther off, away from the Danube line. The Macedonians returned south of the Danube, where Alexander the Great received offers of peace from the Gaeto-Dacians, who became submissive allies of the Macedonian kingdom.

THE WAR BETWEEN LYSIMACHUS AND DROMICHAETES From the 7th and 6th centuries BC, the Greeks established colonies on the west coast of the Black Sea—in Histria, Tomis, and Callatis—and established economic, political, and military relations with the local Getae leaders. The ancient historians Diodorus Siculus and Strabo have written about6 the campaigns of Lysimachus, the Macedonian king, against the tribal union of the Gaets, who were led by Dromichaetes. These campaigns occurred between 297 and 292 BC. Forty years later, Alexander the Great defeated the Gaets, their army improved significantly, and they succeeded in besieging and defeating the Macedonian phalanx in a battle fought out in the open, probably on the Ba˘ra˘gan Plain. The narratives of the ancient writers tell us

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about the first strategy the Gaets applied against the Macedonians, a strategy that would later become the traditional land scorching in front of the aggressor. As a sign of political maturity, after defeating and imprisoning Lysimachus, Dromichaetes turned his victory into an alliance by marrying the daughter of the Macedonian king. The Gaeto-Dacian civilization flourished during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC and the 1st century AD.

THE RULE OF KING BUREBISTA, 82–44 BC After the successful union of the Gaeto-Dacian tribes, Burebista laid the foundation for the formation of the first unified state on the territory of the present Romania, which became one of the greatest powers of the ancient world.7 Through the imposition of severe obedience and the prohibition of wine, and with the support of his great adviser and priest Deceneu, Burebista succeeded in ruling the warriors and the independent members of the GaetoDacian tribal aristocracy (called Tarabostes in Dacian and Pileati in Latin) who dominated the population of free men (called comati, or capillati). The political center of the Dacian state was located in the mountains of S¸urianu, or Ora˘s¸tiei, in southwestern Transylvania, and the capital city of Sarmizegetusa was protected by a row of fortresses called Costes¸ti, Piatra Ros¸ie, and Blidar. Burebista began by taking over the west, annihilating the fortresses located in the area of the Middle Danube and what is now Slovakia. He then headed east to the Greek colonies of the Pont Euxine Sea (the ancient name for the Black Sea), finally spreading south of the Danube. Burebista also interfered in the civil war of the Roman state, supporting Cnaeius Pompeius, Julius Caesar’s rival. Before what would have been an inevitable confrontation with the victorious Caesar, Burebista was killed in 44 BC as the result of a plot against him. His Roman rival died the same year. After Burebista’s death, his land conquests perished under the strain of the Dacian tribal aristocracy.

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

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he would not meet any Dacian resistance there. However, Decebalus had been waiting for the Roman army to enter the narrow valley of Turnu Ros¸u and he defeated it, killing Fuscus and capturing the symbolic banner of the Alaude 5th Legion. This marked one of the greatest Dacian victories against the Roman army. THE BATTLE OF TAPAE After the disaster Fuscus had suffered, in AD 88 Domitian sent the more careful general Tetius Iulianus to fight against the Dacian king. Rather than enter the country through Oltenia, as Fuscus had done, Tetius Iulianus went through Banat. Decebalus made use of the same tactic, waiting for his enemy to come through the Iron Gate of Transylvania and standing ready to fight the decisive battle. This time the situation favored the Romans even though the Dacians’ military strength had not been eliminated. Decebalus barely escaped alive. Tetius Iulianus was not in a hurry to take full advantage of his victory, and Decebalus used that as well as the defeat of Domitian by Marcomans in the Pannonian Plain to garner the most advantageous peace, which turned Dacia into a kind of state that obeyed Roman rule.10 DECEBALUS, THE LAST KING OF THE DACIANS, AD 86–106 Dio Cassious said of Decebalus, the Dacian king and the successor to Duras Durpaneus, that ‘‘he was bright at warfare and skillful in his deeds, knowing when to rush in, and when to hold right, clever at laying traps, brave in battles and able to fully use a victory or artfully escape a defeat; for all these he was for a long time the terrifying rival of Romans.’’9 In AD 89, after having lost the battle in Tapae, Decebalus successfully negotiated a favorable peace treaty with Domitian. Decebalus was open to the new Roman battle techniques and often used them in war. He set strong alliances against the Romans and led the bold resistance strategy of the Dacians during the two wars against these rivals (AD 101–102 and 105–106). Decebalus’s Dacian state, with its capital city of Sarmizegetusa, was able both militarily and strategically to fight a war against the strongest army of antiquity. THE WAR BETWEEN THE DACIANS AND THE ROMANS, AD 101–102 AD After twelve years of peace, Roman–Dacian hostilities resumed in the spring of 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 the empire. Furthermore, he wanted to eliminate the Dacian threat by extending the empire.11 Trajan, the new Roman emperor, had been preparing for three years an offensive against Decebalus, building a strategic access route on the left bank of the Danube and concentrating there thirteen or fourteen legions made up of infantrymen, riders, and the praetorian guard in both Upper and Lower Moesia. Trajan started his attack in March of AD 101. The Romans advanced cautiously, building camps and defensive works. After the defeat of the Dacians at Tapae, the Romans started to conquer, one by one, the Dacian fortresses in the Ora˘s¸tiei Mountains. That winter, an alliance with the Sarmatians and Roxolans gave Decebalus the military power to attack the weakly guarded Roman possessions located south of the Danube. This forced Trajan to enter Dobrudja (a region between the Danube and the coast of the Black Sea) with a large portion of his troops and provide the proper support. Decebalus’s army was defeated again, but the Romans suffered a large amount of casualties on the plateau of Adamclisi. Trajan renewed his offensive against the Dacian capital in the spring of AD 102. 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 the years 105 and 106 took place. Trajan’s final victory against the Dacian kingdom was celebrated in 123 days of festivities in Rome, and the emperor received the title of optimus princeps. The Column of Trajan in Rome, completed in AD 113, evokes the Dacian–Roman wars and its marble carvings are 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 over the Roman Empire joined the Gaeto-Dacian population.

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Chapter Three

The Great Migrations and the Formation of the Romanian Nation and Medieval States

Attacks by the free Dacians, the Sarmats, and then the Goths, combined with the vulnerability of the borders of the decaying Roman Empire, led, in 271, to the withdrawal of the Roman administration and troops from the territories located north of the Danube. This development occurred during the rule of the Roman emperor Aurelian. However, Romanization did not stop after the withdrawal of the Aurelian administration: it continued and evolved naturally until the 5th century, when the Slavic tribes arrived in the Carpathian– Danubian territory. In the 6th century there was already a small Romanian Latin-speaking, Christian population. The conversion to Christianity of the romanized population occurred in several cases even before the Roman evacuation of the province. This process continued in stages until its completion in the 4th century. Throughout the course of nearly a millennium, from 271 until 1241 (the year of the Great Mongol Invasion), several waves of migratory populations crossed the territory between the Carpathians and the Danube. During that period, the village community was the main social nucleus of the DacianRoman society and then of the Romanian one, which was born on that territory. One of the main elements that led to the formation of the village community was the military element: it had the role of leading and defending the people living in that place. In order to face the aggressions, ‘‘the oldest village community was founded on everyone’s duty to fight,’’ as Nicolae Iorga, the Romanian historian, writes. Perhaps that is why a portion of the Romanian military terminology derives from Latin.

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From the 10th century until the 12th century, the formation of states all over the Romanian territory is mentioned in the chronicles. These states are known as knezate and voievodate, and they had armies composed of cavalrymen and infantrymen (known as voinici), as well as defensive works. ‘‘The oldest struggle of Romanians for their own goals was a defeat’’ and took place somewhere between 1272 and 1276, when the voievode Litovoi of Oltenia (a region in southwestern Wallachia) refused to pay the tribute to the Hungarians. He was subsequently defeated in battle and he died in the Gorjului Mountains. Then, ‘‘a great, sound and fruitful victory came,’’ writes historian Nicolae Iorga, referring to the victory of Basarab I, voievode of Wallachia, in 1330. Basarab won this a victory against the king of Hungary, Carol Robert of Anjou, at Posada, which is located probably somewhere in the Prahova Valley. Basarab’s strategy was the same as the one Decebalus had used against the Romans, luring the powerful Hungarian army and its burdened cavalry, which was equipped to fight in open areas, to a narrow mountain valley and then ambushing it. The winter of 1364–1365 meant a similar victory for Bogdan, the voievode of Moldavia and prince of Maramures¸ (a region in northern Romania), against the Hungarians. These two victories temporarily broke the vassal relationship between the Romanian voievodes and the kings of Hungary, and irreversibly defined the political identity and legitimacy of the two Romanian states, Wallachia and Moldavia. After the Hungarian king Stephen had embraced Catholicism in 1001 and following efforts that lasted two hundred years, the Hungarian kingdom succeeded in taking over the territory located inside the Carpathians (called Transylvania, or Ardeal). Later on, the principality of Transylvania became a distinct political and administrative entity within the Hungarian state. Although extremely small in number, the Hungarians developed an overwhelming colonization policy in Transylvania, especially at the frontiers with the Romanian principalities, bringing in German colonists (called Sashes) between 1141 and 1162, Szecklers, Teutonic Knights in 1211, and in 1247 the Johannite Knights, who were entrusted with the mission to defend the eastern border of the Hungarian kingdom and to act as a spearhead pointed at the Orthodox world of the Romanians. The first known official to earn the title of voievode of Transylvania was one Leustachius, mentioned in 1176. He and his successors considered themselves ‘‘sovereign,’’ just like the ensuing voievodes, especially during the period when the central power of the Hungarian kingdom seemed to wane.

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INVASIONS OF MIGRATORY POPULATIONS BETWEEN THE CARPATHIANS, DANUBE, AND BLACK SEA The village communities and the unions of village communities as a nucleus of the Dacian–Roman, and then Romanian, society represented the main form of the political, military, and administrative organization of the Romanian population over Romania’s territory during the centuries that followed the withdrawal of the Roman administration, and also during the millennium of the migratory invasions. The duty to fight battles was for all those able to use a 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 Danube. These incursions were followed in 376 by the strong invasion of the Huns, which defeated the Visigoth resistance at Nistru. After the Huns’ two plundering expeditions along the Danube in 453 and 447, the unexpected death of Attila, their powerful ruler, brought the decline of their power. The Gepids overtook the territories and populations the Huns had dominated, winning the battle of Nedao in 454. Part of the Gepid population was assimilated by the local population, but the Gepids’ power came to an end during the first part of the 7th century, when a Germanic population coming from the north, the Longobards, arrived on that land.12 In the middle of the 6th century, the strongest migratory population on Romania’s territory was the Avars, a nomadic population coming from Mongolia. The center of the Avars’ power moved, as in the case of the Gepids, to the Pannonian Plain, from where plundering expeditions headed south. The incursions of the Slavs, located east of the Nistru River in the direction of the territories south of the Danube that were ruled by the Byzantine Empire, started in the second half of the 6th century. However, the Slavs were unable to settle in those territories. Beginning in the 7th century, the Slavs who were continuously trying to reach the south were assimilated by the local populations in the territories located north of the Danube. The massive settlement of the Slavs south of the Danube resulted in the assimilation of the local population, where only islands of Aromanians or Istro-Romanians had survived. The Slavs were followed by the Bulgarians, who moved from the Volga River area on the Balkan Peninsula, south of the Danube, where they settled and made peace with the Byzantine Empire. From the 8th century and to the 13th century, the territory located outside and inside the Carpathians was invaded 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, a Turanic people; and the Tatars, who came from Mongolia in 1241. These invasions met the armed resistance of the Romanian primary states known as knezate (the smaller ones) and voievodate (the powerful and bigger ones) that was formed by a union under the same leader of the village communities in the area bordered by the Carpathians and the Danube. The first military operations of the Hungarians in Transylvania began around 900. Chronicles and archeological digs show that toward the end of the 11th century there began a gradual consolidation of the Hungarian rule over Transylvania, which the Hungarians conquered in stages between the 11th and 14th centuries.

LATIN ORIGINS OF ROMANIAN MILITARY TERMINOLOGY At the time of the Slavic migration in the 6th century, the local population was romanized, speaking an emerging Romanian language that later evolved from the Latin vernacular into Romanian. The village community as the nucleus of the Dacian–Roman society and the subsequent Romanian community during the millennium of migration was founded on the vital necessity for solidarity, such as that found in family relationships, economic activities, daily social life, and military defense. Modern Romanian has retained a set of basic warfare and weaponry terminology that is Latin rooted: lupta˘-lucta (battle); ba˘taie-abatt(u)lia (fight); arma˘arma (weapon); arc-arcus (bow); sa˘geata˘-sagitas (arrow); coif-cuffea (helmet); and scut-scutum (shield).13

THE ROMANIAN–BULGARIAN EMPIRE OF PETRU AND ASAN Rebelling against the taxes imposed by the Byzantine Empire, and against Constantinople’s refusal to recognize the Byzantine feudal privileges for the two Wallachian (south Danubian) brothers, Petru and Asan, the Romanians started a powerful uprising in the winter of 1185. The Byzantine imperial army at first defeated the forces of the two brothers in 1186, and this forced the brothers’ withdrawal north of the Danube. They returned in 1187 with Wallachian and Cuman military support and occupied the defensive works of the region of the southern Danube. On 11 October 1187, a difficult battle occurred 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 in 1188 did Emperor Isaac II recognize the new state that was located south of the Danube and had established its capital in the city of Taˆrnovo (now on Bulgarian territory). In 1190, as the Byzantine power was decaying because of the third Crusade and the military intervention in the Balkans against Constantinople, the army of the new Romanian–Bulgarian Empire of Petru and Asan won a significant victory against the imperial troops led by Emperor Isaac II himself. An 1197 plot resulted in the deaths of the two brothers, but their brother Ionit¸a˜ continued their anti-Byzantine policy.14 THE FIRST ROMANIAN PRINCIPALITIES The political organization of the Romanian lands in the 9th through 14th centuries adheres to the general European pattern. Following a unification process typical of medieval Europe, bigger political bodies were created gradually until the 14th century, when the two big independent feudal states of Wallachia and Moldavia emerged.15 The Hungarian king Bela’s anonymous biographer recounts in his chronicle Gesta Hungarorum, which was probably written toward the end of the 9th century, that on the territory of modern Transylvania, in the Carpathians, there were three Romanian states: one led by voievode Menumorut in Cris¸urilor County, who resided in Bihor (west of Transylvania); the second led by the duke Gelu, called ‘‘Dux Blachorum,’’ located in central Transylvania and having a residence in the Da˜baˆca fortress (near what is now the city of Cluj); and the third led by the voievode Glad, with a residence in Keve, on the left shore of the Danube, in the Serbian Banat region. Regarding the southern and eastern sides of the Carpathians, the Diploma of the Johannite Knights, issued by King Bela in 1247, mentioned the following states: Kneaz Litovoi’s principality, located between the Jiu River, the Olt River, and Hat¸egului County; Kneaz Seneslau’s principality, alongside the Arges¸ River; and Kneaz Ioan’s principality, southern Oltenia. The land of the duke Farcas¸ was located in northern Oltenia. In Dobrudja (southeastern Romania along the Black Sea coast) there was a state ruled by Kneaz Dobrovich, and in southern Moldavia there was the territory of Brodnitchilor. Another distinct territory, Blahovinilor, was situated in northern Moldavia between the Nistru and Siret rivers. BASARAB I, 1310–1352 The founder of the Wallachian dynasty of Basarab succeeded in unifying under 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 unification resulted from understanding, or ‘‘compliance,’’ but also from force. During the rule of voievode Basarab I, Wallachia, situated at the end of the important trade route that connected central Europe with the Black Sea through the mouth of the Danube, prospered. Basarab did not hesitate to cooperate on the battlefield with the khan of the Golden Horde, who barely shared economic and military interests, to stop the expansion of the Hungarian kingdom from expanding southeast beyond the Carpathians. The Pictured Chronicle of Vienna illustrates the conflict between Basarab I and the Hungarian king Carol Robert of Anjou that took place in 1330. In the beginning, the Wallachian voievode offered 7,000 silver coins, the equivalent of 74 kilograms of gold; the Banat of Severin land; and other prizes to the Hungarian king in order to win the desired peace, but Carol Robert preferred to use force to crush the rebel voievode.16 After the Hungarian army was permitted to cross the country, avoiding a decisive confrontation, Basarab waited for Carol Robert of Anjou in Posada, a narrow part of the Prahova Valley. There, between 9 and 12 November 1330, profiting from the advantageous terrain, the Wallachian troops destroyed the powerful Hungarian army.

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

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Hungarian king and the Wallachian voievode, and solidified Wallachia’s political and territorial presence on the European map.17 ˘ LECAT’’ OF VOIEVODE THE ‘‘DESCA BOGDAN IN MOLDAVIA, 1347 The unification of the state formations in Moldavia did not take place through negotiations, understandings, or force as in Wallachia, but through a specific process known as desca˜lecare. On the eastern border of the Hungarian kingdom, close to the Carpathian gorges, there were defense districts called marks set up by the Hungarian kings to deter the Tatar invasions. One of these was led by Duke Dragos¸ of Maramures¸ in 1347. Dragos¸ crossed the border of his home territory and founded a feudal state, called Moldavia, under the suzerainty of the Hungarian crown. In 1359, another voievode of Maramures, Bogdan, invaded the territory of Dragos¸’s successors. In the winter of 1364–1365, Bogdan defeated the army of Ludovic I, the Hungarian king, and succeeded in removing for some time the Hungarian suzerainty and winning recognition for Moldavia as an independent state.18

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The Anti-Ottoman Wars, from Mircea the Old to Vlad T ¸epes¸

The most serious problem facing southeastern Europe was the military pressure 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 the Ottoman threat to the frontiers of Europe. During this time, some important figures emerged. At the end of the 14th century, as the Ottoman expansion was approaching the Danube in the south, the Romanian countries (Wallachia and Moldavia) began a series of wars against the Ottomans. Modern historians have called these wars asymmetric conflicts, which have almost the same characteristics as the conflicts in Vietnam in the 1960s or Afghanistan in the 1980s. The defensive strategy of the Romanian rulers ultimately resulted in a political victory, which meant that the Ottomans were forced to abandon the idea of turning the three Romanian countries (Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania) into pashaliks, parts of the Ottoman Empire. Eventually, first Wallachia, then Moldavia, as well as Transylvania in the 16th century, had to reach a historic compromise. A true model of bilateral understanding in the Middle Ages, the solution adopted by these states secured their survival, indirectly safeguarding the frontiers of Europe. Both Wallachia and Moldavia, after the armed resistance, were obliged to accept the suzerainty of the sultan and to pay tribute. Thus the two principalities remained the only ones in the area to preserve their state existence uninterruptedly. Starting from that strategic option, the militaries of the Romanian countries comprised a structure and development distinct from the analogous European ones. As the entire able-bodied male population of Wallachia and Moldavia was obligated to serve in the so-called great army gathered and raised by the ruler to defend his country, between the 14th and 16th centuries the Roma49

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nian military grew to a size of 30,000–40,000 people,19 making it one of the most numerous European armies, except for that of the Ottoman Empire. The first large Romanian military entities were mentioned during the reign of 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 permanent components. Large armies began to be realized simultaneously, at the beginning of the last part of the 15th century, when the Princely Guard of Vlad T¸epes¸ (also known as Vlad the Impaler) and the Guard Corps of Stephen the Great were formed. The country’s ruler functioned as the army’s commander and thus headed the military hierarchy. The army was equipped mainly with medieval armaments and clothing, most of it imitating a Hungarian model and being manufactured in Bras¸ov, an old commercial town located in southeastern Transylvania. The first direct and significant military confrontation between the Romanians and Ottomans, and the first victory on the territory of Wallachia, was the battle at Rovine in 1394. During this battle, the voievode Mircea the Old used for the first time the strategy of the asymmetric conflict as he fought the Ottomans, 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 the Old had gained in his battles against the Ottomans. Consequently, the sultan Baiazid won the confrontation with the allied Christian Western armies. During his long rule over Moldavia, Alexander the Good (1400–1432) did not fight any significant battles against the Ottomans, but the Moldavian army corps of that time proved its bravery together with the Polish and Lithuanians in the battle of Grunwald in 1410 and Marienburg in 1422, fighting against the Teutonic Knights. Even if no regular Romanian forces were involved in the battle fought on the hill of Bobaˆlna between the Transylvanian rebel peasants and the noble troops of voievode Ladislau Csaky, this confrontation is interesting from a military point of view due to the successful application of the Husit model of surrounding the camp with chain-tied chariots. This model was easily learned from the Czech peasant rebels. The conflict between the Catholic converts (quickly assimilated by the Hungarian nobility) and the Orthodox Romanian nobles worsened after the great peasant rebellion of 1437. After this rebellion, the Hungarian nobility, the leaders of the Szecklers, and the upper-class Saxons signed a pact—Unio Trium Nationum—under which they alone assumed the leadership of Transylvania.

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Iancu of Hunedoara (1441–1456), prince of Transylvania and then governor of Hungary, became the leading figure of the Hungarian kingdom thanks to his remarkable political and military skills. Moreover, he was one of the most brilliant representatives of the last Crusade, in which he followed the Western military model. Iancu’s first victory against the Ottomans came during the campaign of 1442, when he defeated the invading army of Mezid, the bey of Vidin, in the battles fought in Saˆntimbru, a village close to Alba Iulia, and then in the town of Sibiu. In the fall of the same year, the Transylvanian voievode won another victory in a surprise attack on the Ottomans in the ‘‘Iron Gate of Transylvania,’’ a narrow valley near the county of Hat¸eg. The so-called Long Balkan Campaign was next, between 1443 and 1444, when his army and a Wallachian corps sent by Vlad ‘‘Dracul’’ wrested Sofia from the Ottomans. Only the foul weather deterred Iancu. Iancu’s greatest victory remains the defense of the Belgrade fortress in 1456 in front of the fierce Ottoman siege launched by Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople; this resulted in the total defeat of the Ottoman troops. However, the conqueror of the Byzantine capital was going to be humiliated and compelled to withdraw in disgrace, defeated in a typical asymmetric war by a leader who was familiar with military practice and Ottoman warfare, the ruler of Wallachia, Vlad T¸epes¸ (1448, 1456–1462, 1476). The Wallachian voivode was well aware that his army, which consisted of almost 8,000 cavalrymen and 30,000 infantrymen, had no chance of winning a battle fought in open areas against the strong Ottoman army that Mehmed II himself led. Under these circumstances, Vlad applied the classical harassment technique against the huge Ottoman army heading to Taˆrgovis¸te, and he plundered the land. He did all this as he worked toward attempting a decisive nocturnal ambush in June 1456. His clear intention was to get the sultan killed. Surviving the raid, Mehmed realized that he could not defeat Vlad and withdrew his army south of the Danube.

THE ASYMMETRY OF THE ANTI-OTTOMAN ROMANIAN WARS In this type of war—called an asymmetric war by historian Florin Constantiniu20 —the defensive side, which is militarily inferior, cannot win a decisive victory 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 aggressor being forced to fully stop the conflict and accept peace formulas that are usually 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 Ottoman armies in open areas, instead applying the burnt-land strategy as the Ottomans advanced on to Romanian land. The strategy consisted of the evacuation of the population and destruction of crops and houses, thus cutting off the enemy’s possible resources. These actions were combined with repeated harassment actions, which were in fact unexpected, quick, and punctual strikes. Finally, the enemy was attacked in a place that did not allow it to utilize its combat capabilities and operations. Basarab I, Mircea the Old, Vlad T¸epes¸, Stephen the Great, and Michael the Brave were some of the voievodes who successfully used this strategy. In a period when other powerful Christian states in eastern Europe, such as Poland and the Hungarian kingdom, ceased to exist, the two Romanian principalities avoided being integrated within the Ottoman Empire. They represented a haven for the Balkan Christians, who maintained and displayed their faith. The Romanian ‘‘buffer’’ states also maintained their aforementioned ruling voievodes and their nobility, and defended their faith as the Ottomans agreed to not build mosques on Romanian territory.

THE FIRST MEDIEVAL MILITARY BODIES OF 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 weapons to fight battles) and the ‘‘big army,’’ consisting of free peasants, called mos¸neni and ra˜zes¸i. These soldiers were summoned to arms only if the country was in great danger. In Wallachia the soldiers were called voinici, which means ‘‘strong men,’’ while in Moldavia they were called iunaci. Voinici and iunaci could comprise either the cavalry, called ca˜lara˜s¸i in Wallachia and viteji (brave men) in Moldavia, or the infantry, whose soldiers were equipped with bows and were called arcas¸i, sa˜geta˜tori, or da˘ra˘bani. Ca˜la˜ras¸ii and vitejii had to convene on a predetermined day for an annual inspection that was conducted by the country’s ruler himself or by hintog—the commander of the respective military region. The inspection’s purpose was to check the troops’ arms and fighting capability.21 The basic units of the Romanian medieval armies were called cetele and paˆlcuri. Within the small units of the permanent army, the subunits were called steaguri, or roate, which were similar to the subunits existing in the Hungarian army. The army’s three branches were the footmen, or infantry soldiers, 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 of the voievode.

MIRCEA THE OLD TO ROVINE, 1394 Mircea the Old’s great success was to stop the expansion of the Ottoman Empire at the Danube, thus saving Wallachia from political annihilation and transformation into pashalik. A skillful diplomat, Mircea the Old built effective political and military alliances with the king of Hungary, Sigismund of Luxembourg, as well as within the Ottoman Empire. The last alliance allowed him to intervene in the internal succession disputes that emerged among the sons of Sultan Baiazid. Moreover, Mircea was the only Wallachian prince who managed to temporarily enlarge Wallachia’s borders between Banatul de Severin in the west and the Black Sea in the east. Regarding military accomplishments, Mircea was the one who inaugurated the Romanian strategy of deterrence, which was successfully applied in the battle of Rovine22 on 10 October 1394 (the date is still questioned and incited a dispute between Romanian classical historians Has¸deu and Xenopol). As the Ottoman army led by Baiazid was stronger than the Romanian one, Mircea withdrew the population from the invader’s path. The Wallachian voivode agreed to fight the decisive battle in Rovine, in a field bordered and protected with ditches, a terrain that favored his troops and did not allow the enemy to deploy its forces. After a fierce battle and considerable casualties on both sides, the outcome was determined by the intervention of the Wallachian cavalry, which had been kept in reserve until that moment. Although the Ottomans were defeated, Mircea had to retreat to Bras¸ov (a town in southernTransylvania) because a contingent of his boyars had recognized Vlad the Usurper as a ruler, and Vlad had accepted the Ottoman suzerainty. Mircea returned to Wallachia with the military support Transylvania had provided and began to lead his country again after participating in the unhappy campaign of Nicopole. He later interfered in the fight for the Ottoman royal succession, supporting Musa, one of Sultan Baiazid’s sons.

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

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Romanians and Hungarians. In addition to Hungarian, German, Transylvanian, and Wallachian troops led by Mircea the Old, the Christian coalition comprised the heavy cavalry of the French and Burgundian nobles. Mircea’s battle plan consisted of an initial attack performed by the Wallachian light cavalry against the Ottoman flank, which was composed of spahii (the Ottoman cavalrymen), followed by a frontal strike of the French heavy cavalry against the phalanx of janissaries (old Ottoman infantry soldiers). However, that plan was rejected by the vain French knights, who assumed the honor of opening the battle. Consequently, on 12 September 1396, the French heavy cavalry made a frontal assault on the central Ottoman fighters. Just when they considered themselves the victors, the French were caught, trapped, and killed. Sigismund’s troops attempted to rescue the French and Burgundian knights, but Baiazid’s spahi swallowed them, too. Under such circumstances, to save his troops from a useless defeat, Mircea decided 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 along the Danube, Alexander the Good did not fight major wars against the Ottoman Empire, except for the anti-Ottoman campaign carried out between 1419 and 1429 against Cetatea Alba˘ (a fortress located in southeastern Moldavia). Consequently, he dedicated his time to the formidable task of forming Moldavia’s political and ecclesiastic organization.24 Practicing a balanced foreign policy with the neighboring countries (Poland, led by King Vladislav Jagello, and Hungary, led by King Sigismund of Luxembourg) and accepting even the double suzerainty—but giving priority to the Polish one—Moldavia enjoyed a long prosperous period. Alexander created some specific administrative and military positions and duties such as logofa˜t, vornic, spa˜tar, vistiernic, and raised the status of the Moldovian voievode’s legal authority and prestige in the Byzantine and Orthodox world. Following his vassal obligations, Alexander sent several Moldavian army corps to fight with the Polish forces against the Teutonic knights in the battles of Grunwald (1410) and Marienburg (1422), in which the Teutons suffered severe defeats. THE FIRST MERCENARIES IN WALLACHIA’S ARMY The first reference25 to the use of mercenaries in an army like Wallachia’s dates 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 of the former czar Sisman), attacked the Ottoman forces in Vidin, a city on the Danube, and won an important victory. The mercenaries, who comprised the core of the permanent army, had as their main duty and mission the guarding of the prince, and were paid a wage or a fee and eventually were given clothing. The system of the paid professional soldiers was developed by Wallachian voievode Vlad T¸epes¸ (Vlad the Impaler, 1456–1462), who set up a permanent guard of approximately 2,000 fighters, recruited either from Wallachia or Moldavia and Transylvania. From the 16th century on, the mercenaries made up a majority in the medieval armed forces. Their presence, combined with the artillery, greatly increased the costs of any army or conflict. IANCU OF HUNEDOARA / JOHN HUNYADI, 1441–1456 A son of a Romanian Catholic to whom the king of Hungary, Sigismund of Luxembourg, had awarded a title of nobility along with the estate and castle of Hunedoara, Iancu was integrated through his Catholic confession and his lifestyle into the Hungarian nobility.26 Thus, in 1441 he became voivode of Transylvania and comite, of Szeklers, and after the death of the Hungarian king Vladislav in the battle of Varna (1444), he became the governor of Hungary (1446). Thanks to the considerable wealth he gained together with his victories against the Ottoman Empire, which was the main threat to Western Christianity at the time, Iancu of Hunedoara became the leading figure of the Hungarian kingdom. As far as warfare was concerned, Iancu supported the Western warfare being tested in Serbia, Croatia, and the duchy of Milan. His main victory was the battle against the Ottomans, who had besieged Belgrade with a powerful armed force led by Mehmed II himself, the conqueror of Constantinople. The main force in Iancu’s army was the heavy cavalry of the nobility, which was equipped with armor, metal helmets, swords, and spears together with the new iron and bronze cannons that had a firing range of between 400 and 700 meters. THE ‘‘LONG CAMPAIGN’’ OF IANCU OF HUNEDOARA, 1443 Planning an offensive operation of an unusual duration in the enemy’s territory, 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 mercenaries, a higher marching mobility of the cavalry, footmen, and artillery, and the anti-Ottoman solidarity of the local populations south of the Danube. Enjoying the military support of the king of Hungary, Vladislav I, and the Wallachian voivode Vlad Dracul, in 1443 Iancu gathered an army of 35,000 soldiers, and in September 1443 he crossed the Danube at Smederevo.27 Personally leading a vanguard of 12,000 people, Iancu succeeded in occupying the town of Nis, and then with the rest of the troops he liberated Sofia in November 1443. At the same time, Skandenberg, the Albanian leader, increased his anti-Ottoman military actions, though the Ottomans succeeded in concentrating their forces—led by the sultan himself—in defending the gorges of the Balkans. Furthermore, Iancu’s army won another victory against the Ottomans in Zla˘tit¸a, east of Sofia. However, the logistical difficulties, the winter hardship, and the tough resistance of the Ottomans forced Iancu to withdraw his troops toward Belgrade.

THE SIEGE OF BELGRADE, 1456 After the fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453, the fortress of Belgrade stood as the key obstacle, blocking the Ottomans’ path to Buda. Between 4 and 21 July 1456, a sizable Ottoman army accompanied by experienced engineering troops and a powerful artillery led by Sultan Mehmet II besieged the fortress of Belgrade. After defeating the besiegers, the forces of Iancu of Hunedoara launched a counterattack that urged the Ottomans to withdraw and caused numerous casualties. That victory removed the danger of an Ottoman invasion of central Europe. Iancu’s feat resonated throughout the Occidental Christian world, and this was the first time that the church bells started ringing 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 11 August 1456.

VLAD T¸EPES¸ Son of the Wallachian voivode Vlad Dracul (one of the successors of Mircea the Old), the Wallachian ruler Vlad T¸epes¸ carried out an authoritative and severe domestic policy as a response to increased feudal anarchy.30 At the same time, he carried out a foreign policy of independence from the Ottoman Empire. The association of Vlad T¸epes¸ with the name Dracula is explained by Vlad T¸epes¸’s father’s nickname and the horror inspired by impaling, a

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punishment inflicted on dissident boyars, ordinary criminals, and foreign invaders. Educated and trained as a soldier by the Porte, with whom he spent his youth as a guarantee of his father’s loyalty, Vlad mastered the intricacies of Ottoman warfare and later, in the wars he fought against the Ottomans, he combined that knowledge with the traditional rules of the asymmetric conflicts. After Vlad had refused to pay the haraci and started a plundering campaign against the Ottoman defensive works built along the Danube in the winter of 1461–1462, the conqueror of Constantinople, Mehmet II, invaded Wallachia with a powerful army. He aimed to punish the rebel voivode. As his force was inferior, Vlad utilized the strategy of plundered land, intimidating the enemy through the horrible sight of a forest of impaled and decaying Ottoman bodies. He also undertook harassment strikes. These culminated in a nighttime ambush on the Ottoman camp in June 1462, when Vlad tried to kill the sultan and slaughter his troops. Unfortunately, the Ottomans managed to put Vlad’s brother, Radu the Handsome, on the Wallachian throne. Consequently, Vlad retreated to Transylvania. As a result of a plot by some German traders from Bras¸ov, in Transylvania, he was imprisoned by Matei Corvin for fourteen years. Regaining command of the country in 1476 with the support of Stephen the Great, Vlad T¸epes¸ was killed by hostile boyars after only two months of ruling. In 1897, the Irish writer Bram Stoker published Dracula, which made Vlad T¸epes¸ (or Vlad the Impaler) famous worldwide. Stoker read the stories about Dracula printed in the 15th and 16th centuries and sponsored by the German traders, and was struck by his act of cruelty. In fact, Stoker used Vlad only as a source of inspiration, since in his novel Dracula is not prince Vlad the Impaler, but a Transylvanian count living in a mysterious castle to which he lures 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 Mircea the Old. The Hungarian king dubbed Vlad Dracul a knight of the Dragon Order by the Hungarian king, Sigismund of Luxembourg. All members of the order had a dragon on their coat of arms; this is the derivation of the nickname ‘‘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 Saxons from the Transylvanian towns of Bras¸ov (Kronstadt) and Sibiu (Hermanstadt), who often gave shelter to those who claimed the Wallachian throne. In order to escape the peril of losing his throne, Vlad would punish the Saxons: he pillaged and burned Sibiu and the neighboring areas, and many Saxons were impaled. The same happened to the Saxon merchants who came to con-

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duct business in Taˆrgovis¸te, the capital of Wallachia. Horrified by these atrocities, the Saxons printed books and pamphlets in which they described Vlad’s cruelty. They reported that impaling was one of Vlad the Impaler’s favorite punishments. However, he was not the only ruler of the period who engaged in it. Other German and Spanish princes did the same, but it was the Saxons’ booklets that spread in Germany and Western Europe, where Vlad Dracula became known as the bloodiest tyrant.

MILITARY HIERARCHY IN WALLACHIA AND MOLDAVIA, 14TH–15TH CENTURIES It is remarkable that, in spite of the customs and practices of the period, the Romanian princes took part personally in almost all battles, being among their troops or commanding them. The prince, or voivode, was followed in hierarchy by a so-called hatman in Moldavia, or marele (the great) spa˘tar in Wallachia; these terms mean the ‘‘person responsible for all the armies of the country,’’ a position similar to the modern chief of defense. Boierii de sfat, which meant ‘‘noble advisers to the voievode,’’ resembled the current ministers of state and had the following positions: marele vornic, responsible for the judgment and guarding of the frontier; marele logofa˘t, chief of the princely chancellery; marele vistiernic, responsible for the voievode’s finances; and marele postelnic, marshal of the court. According to the chronicles of the time, all of these figures were in charge of commanding some large units in wartime. Alexander the Good, the Moldavian voievode of the 15th century, established these positions. The commanders of the fortresses were called paˆrca˜labi in Moldavia, and the territorial commanders were the leaders of the military bands.31

FIRST MENTION OF THE USE OF BOMBARDS BY ROMANIANS The Romanians’ first use of bombards dates to 1445, when the Burgundian fleet led by Walerand of Warvin, and the papal one led by cardinal Francesco Condolmieri in cooperation with the actions of the Wallachian prince and those of Iancu of Hunedoara, entered the Danube area to reconquer the Danube fortresses occupied by Ottomans after the battle of Varna.28 The Romanians used bombards, weapons that resemble cannons but use iron or stone cannonballs, to besiege and conquer the fortress of Giurgiu, which they successfully 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 beginnings of battles against a compact mass of fighters, before the opening of hand-to-hand combat.

ROMANIAN MEDIEVAL ARMAMENT In the beginning, the Romanian armies had a simple armament that was designed for hand-to-hand combat. Most of it was locally made, and in the case of the contracted armies, the armament was made by the owner himself or by a craftsman. The armament consisted of bludgeons, hatchets, scythes, and willow shields. As there was no military uniform, in peacetime as well as 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 Bras¸ov. The bows and arrows—the main weapons for distance fighting—were typical for the main army, while the short spear was used only by boyars; the footmen used the straight-end spear or the curvedtop spear. The main centers for arms supplies were Bras¸ov and Lemberg. The combat uniform consisted of steel helmets and shirts for boyars and lorice, or chain mail, for ordinary soldiers. Cavalrymen wore a 4–5 cm thick cotton coat garnished with laces that could not be pierced or cut by a sword.32

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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 art and warfare was that of Stephen the Great. The great Moldavian ruler laid the foundation for the first permanent peacetime army equipped with armament designed for hand-to-hand fighting and distance fighting. Stephen the Great was also the prince who consolidated and developed Moldavia’s fortress defense system. The main impetus for the wars Stephen the Great fought was the threats posed by the three neighboring states: Poland, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. In addition, there were Tatar threats together with threats by the Wallachians ruled by Radu the Handsome, who obeyed the Ottomans. Stephen’s first great victory was that won against the troops led by Matei Corvin, the king of Hungary and son of Iancu of Hunedoara, when Stephen led a nighttime ambush in Baia between 14 and 15 December 1467. The consequence was that the king of Hungary abandoned his claims for suzerainty over Moldavia. The anti-Ottoman alliance system and policy developed by Stephen the Great led to liaisons with the Venetian Republic, the Turkish khan Uzun Hassan, the Polish king Kazimir, and even with Matei Corvin, the Hungarian king. These alliances motivated the sultan Mehmet II to send against Moldavia, in 1474, an army of 120,000 people led by Soliman Pasha, the governor of the province of Rumelia. Having only 40,000 soldiers, Stephen at first applied the strategy of land plundering. Then, taking advantage of the terrain, the foggy weather, and a diversion, he won a brilliant victory at Podul ˆInalt 60

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on 10 January 1475. After that victory, Stephen rewarded a number of voinici and iunaci, promoting them to the rank of viteji. He also awarded some peasants the rank of boyar and such honors. The Ottoman response came the next year, when Mehmet II himself, leading an army of 150,000 soldiers, attacked Moldavia, combining his campaign with a Tatar invasion. The Moldavians managed to repel the Tatars beyond the Nistru River, but after a heroic resistance they were ultimately defeated in the battle of Ra˘zboieni on 25 July 1476. As Moldavia’s fortresses, especially Suceava, withstood the Ottoman siege, the Mehmet II’s military victory turned into a political defeat, and the sultan was forced to withdraw his forces without achieving his main objective. In 1484, after the Ottomans conquered Moldavia’s ‘‘lungs,’’ namely, the southern fortresses Chilia and Cetatea Alba˘, Stephen had to make the suzerainty oath to Kazimir IV, the Polish king, and to pay tribute to the Porte. In exchange he won recognition of Moldavia’s autonomy. In 1497, Kazimir’s successor, King Ioan Albert, aiming to oust Stephen and install his own brother on the throne, launched a campaign with 80,000 soldiers and besieged the fortress of Suceava, which was the capital of Moldavia. After twenty days of siege, King Ioan Albert withdrew his forces, but Stephen prepared a massive ambush in the Codrii Cosminului forest on 20 October 1497. The ambush destroyed any Polish goal of domination over Moldavia. The second rule of Alexandru La˘pus¸neanu in Moldavia (1564–1568) meant a substantial reduction of the Moldavian military power, the voivode fulfilling the Ottoman request to demolish the defense fortresses, with the exception of Hotin, and dismantling the permanent army and turning it into a downsized army of mercenaries. Despite the Wallachian prince Radu from Afumat¸i’s (1522–1529) victories against the Ottomans, the Ottoman Porte ultimately managed to transform the country into a pashalic. The Moldavian army was reinvigorated during the short rule of John the Terrible (1572–1574), who was trained in the Polish and German military school. Unlike his predecessors, John the Terrible considered the cavalry only a support element and instead focused on developing the infantry and artillery. The infantry was composed from twenty paˆlcuri of one thousand footmen each and only ten cavalry units, consisting mainly of peasants and, to a lesser extent, mercenaries. The artillery comprised sixty small Moldavian cannons and eighty mortars. These were the forces that brought about his victory in the battle of Jilis¸tea, which he fought in the spring of 1574 against the Ottoman–Wallachian coalition. The betrayal of the Moldavian boyars led by the paˆrca˘lab Ieremia, and a bloody rain, which wet the gunpowder of the powerful 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 lost in Cahul-Ros¸cani. After the rule of John the Terrible, the military entered a period of noticeable decline, and the Polish domination over Moldavia became increasingly felt and obvious. Michael the Brave (1593–1601), prince of Wallachia and then of the three Romanian principalities, was one of the most prominent personalities in Romanian military. Michael transferred economic and political power to the great boyars, a move that hurt the peasants’ social and economic conditions. In that context, emerged in Wallachia at the end of the 15th century, the armies of Michael the Brave were heterogeneous, comprising, besides Wallachians and Moldavians, Polish riders with shields, hussars, Hungarians from Transylvania, Szecklers, Kazakhs, Serbians, Albanians, Greeks, and Bulgarian mercenaries. Michael the Brave’s military force consisted of both a permanent army and a temporary one. The pan-Romanian front started to take shape in the winter of 1594–1595 when the Romanian rulers were practically fighting against the Ottoman Empire within the Holy League, the major anti-Ottoman coalition led by the Hapsburg emperor Rudolph II. However, when 100,000 Ottomans led by Sinan Pasha invaded Wallachia, Michael had, besides his 16,000 people, only one Transylvanian army corps of 7,000 people, most of them Szeklers who were led by Albert Kiraly. The victory in Ca˘luga˘reni on Neajlov-Arges¸ on 13 August 1595 won renown, but the counteroffensive of the Romanian principalities’ forces gathered in Ruca˘r was even more well known and efficient from a military standpoint. It led to the defeat of the Ottoman troops in the town of Giurgiu while they were on their way back over the Danube after having temporarily conquered the cities of Bucharest and Taˆrgovis¸te. After the Ottoman threat decreased, the prince of Transylvania, cardinal Andrei Bathory, with the support of Poland started threatening the rule of Michael the Brave in Wallachia. This is why the Wallachian prince made a preventive strike, crossing the mountains and defeating the Transylvanian army in S¸elimba˘r in 1599. This was, as the Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga says, the first battle Michael the Brave fought on open terrain against an army used to fighting according to Western custom. The same threat was posed by Ieremia Movila˘ in Moldavia, who was serving the Polish interests; this incited Michael to start a military campaign east of the Carpathians. After that action he was entitled to call himself, in May 1600, ‘‘by the grace of God, prince of Wallachia, Transylvania, and all Moldavia.’’ Romanian historians have not yet agreed on the true reasons for Michael the Brave’s unifying the three principalities. Historical, ethnic, and religious arguments proved that it may have been 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 II of Transylvania, and the Hungarian nobles opposed this unexpected situation and could not accept falling under the authority of a Wallachian prince who imposed his own nobles. These leaders were also hostile to Michael’s attempts to rebuild his authority as prince of all three Romanian principalities. This common attitude aided the Hungarian nobles in Transylvania, who were led by general Gheorghe Basta, in defeating Michael in the village of Mira˘sla˘u on 16 September 1600. Near the Wallachian border, Michael was defeated again by the Moldavian and Polish forces led by Jan Zamosky. Under these unpleasant circumstances, Michael was forced to ask for Rudolph II’s support at the Imperial Court in Prague. The Hapsburg emperor negotiated a reconciliation between Prince Michael and General Basta. That reconciliation led to the defeat of Sigismund Bathory on 3 August in a battle in Gora˘sla˘u. After that victory, Michael succeeded only in entering Cluj, Transylvania’s major town. After only five days, on 9 August 1601, he was murdered at the orders of General Basta in the camp in Caˆmpia Turzii.

STEPHEN THE GREAT, 1457–1504 The long and glorious rule of Stephen the Great, nephew of the former Moldavian voievode Alexander the Good of the Mus¸atini dynasty, was authoritative and troubled by numerous wars fought against all of Moldavia’s important neighbors: Poland, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. Moldavia’s armed forces reached the apogee of progress during this period, and Stephen shifted the dominance of the leading social class from the boyars, who were the major landowners, to the princely court officials, called drega˘tori, who mainly held military positions. Organizing one of the first permanent peacetime armies, Stephen also established a mandatory military service, all ablebodied men having the duty to answer a princely summon to join the main army in case of danger. These men were also required to provide their arms and other necessary equipment. Thus, the free peasants became fighters within the light cavalry or infantry, together with taˆrgovet¸i, or traders from the main cities. The artillery was in its early stages of development, but it was not neglected by Stephen, who used it to defend fortresses and fight wars in the field. Stephen was a skilled strategist who made the strategy of land plundering more efficient. Stephen initiated only on rough terrains that favored the Moldavians (Vaslui, 1475) direct confrontations with enemies that were generally 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 Corvin in Baia (1467) and the Polish army of Ioan Albert in Codrii Cosminului (1497). The significant battles that earned Stephen the title of ‘‘Athlete of Christ,’’33 given by Pope Sixtus IV, and won an even greater renown for the Moldavian principality were those fought against the powerful Ottoman Empire, which, under the leadership of the sultan Mehmet II was in full expansion. In 1992 the Romanian Orthodox Church canonized the Moldavian voievode, 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 personal guard, a powerful and impressive special unit composed of 3,000 courtiers, most of them footmen (similar to janissaries who guarded their sultan) of the fortress guard troops (an entity composed of hirelings who were paid a monthly wage and meat and bread rations) and the border guard troops, composed of the people living along the borders who were awarded certain service privileges and commanded by marele vornic. In wartime, Stephen was able to gather an army of 60,000 people, most of them riders. His military forces consisted of the peacetime army; boyars, or noble riders (similar to the Ottoman spahis, but having a higher motivation to fight and a stronger cohesiveness); and servant riders or footmen (called da˘ra˘bani). To these forces were added the ‘‘spoils’’ units, so called because the prince had promised them the items plundered from the enemy in case of victory.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 peacetime couriers, or oca˘lari, would speedily ride around the country on its main roads, giving notice to everybody. Ringing church bells and fires lit on hilltops would disseminate the call to every corner of the land. Men who were able to fight would grab their arms and horses and gather under their flags at predetermined meeting points. From there, columns of peasant fighters led by paˆrca˘labi would head to the gathering post established by the prince.

MILITARY ARMAMENT DURING STEPHEN THE GREAT’S REIGN The Moldavian army’s armament was designated both for hand-to-hand fighting (maces, hatchets, sickles, scythes, spears, and swords made in the

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country) and distance fighting (200 meter-range bows; between sixteen and twenty-four arrow quivers; firing weapons like small-caliber guns and cannons made of cherry wood, strengthened with iron or bronze rings and using stone or iron cannonballs made in Transylvania (Bras¸ov) or Poland (Lemberg). Stephen the Great hired armorers and craftsmen to help with the local production of the bows, arrows, and swords with which he equipped his peasant fighters. The peasant fighters were responsible for bringing their own arms into battle when they were summoned. The Moldavians’ military dress was the same as that of their ancient ancestors, and the punishment for the use of foreign clothing and arms was death.

MOLDAVIA’S FORTRESSES During the reign of Stephen the Great, the fortresses were ruled by paˆrca˘labi,—officials who had military, administrative, and judicial authority. Thus they could be found on the border fortresses like Soroca, Tetina, and Hotin (built to counter the Poles’ attacks from the north); Chilia and Cra˘ciuna (on the southern border to counter the Ottomans’ and Wallachians’ attacks); and Cetatea Alba˘, Tighina, and Orhei (on the eastern border to counter the Tatars’ attacks). The western border was secured by Cetatea Neamt¸ului, Suceava’s fortress, and the Carpathians.35 Stephen the Great is also the one who incorporated cannons into the fortress defense system, placing them on the country’s strategic access routes. Around the fortresses were built brick and stone external walls in the form of a polygon; they had towers at the corners to deflect cannonballs. The fortresses were also protected by grooves that were five meters deep—large enough to provide protection—and sometimes filled with water.

THE BATTLE OF BAIA, 1467 After Stephen conquered the Chilia fortress in 1465, conflicts between Moldavia and Hungary began to arise. The Hungarian king, Matei (Mathias) Corvin (son of Iancu of Hunedoara, Belgrade’s successful defender), launched a campaign to drive the Moldavian prince from his country, forcing the entrance into Oituzului Valley, in November 1467. The Hungarian army occupied the town of Taˆrgul Trotus¸ on 19 November and continued to advance through the city of Baca˘u, toward the Roman city. Stephen’s rider detachments 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 occupied the city of Baia, and during the night of 14–15 December, Stephen ordered several locations of the city to be set on fire. Then, the Moldavians started attacking from multiple directions simultaneously. Wounded by arrows, Matei Corvin succeededed in breaking the surrounding Moldavians by using a shock detachment. He then retreated beyond the mountains in Transylvania. Many of the survivors of that fiery night in Baia were chased and killed by Stephen’s soldiers.36

THE BATTLE OF VASLUI-PODUL IˆNALT, 10 JANUARY 1475 In December 1474 the Ottoman riposte had started as a response to Stephen’s campaign to get Wallachia included in the anti-Ottoman front, and a 120,000 army led by Suleiman Pasha was sent to restore Moldavia to the suzerainty of the Porte. The Moldavian prince faced that army with the strength of only 40,000 soldiers plus several thousand Szecklers, Hungarians, and Poles.37 Before arriving in the city of Vaslui, the location Stephen had chosen for the battle, the Ottoman army was continuously harassed and starved, per the Moldavian prince’s strategy. Having initiated some defense tactics in the swampy Baˆrladului valley, making use of the foggy and rainy weather that complicated the deployment of the heavy Ottoman cavalry and placing his cannons on the flanks, on 10 January 1475 Stephen trapped the janissaries and spahis, destroying their combat formation by using alpenhorn signals to mislead the Ottomans about the Moldavian troops’ locations. The strikes of the archers and artillery came next, together with convergent maneuvers of the Moldavian army that threw the Ottomans into disarray. Most of the Ottomans were surrounded and killed in the ‘‘swamp of death.’’ The chasing of the Ottomans who survived the battle lasted three days. ˘ ZBOIENI IN THE BATTLE OF RA ˘ , 1476 VALEA ALBA After Stephen’s victory over Suleiman Pasha on 10 January 1475, Sultan Mehmet II led an expedition that sought to punish the Moldavian prince. This expedition coincided with a Tatar invasion from the east, over the Nistru River. After the Tatar attack failed and the plundering strategy was applied against the huge Ottoman army, Stephen accepted a confrontation with Mehmet 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 forced to retreat. However, Mehmet II could not strategically take advantage of or use his military success, as the main fortresses located in northern Moldavia, Neamt¸, and Hotin, resisted the siege, while Suceava was willingly deserted by its inhabitants. As Stephen received support from Transylvania and continued his strikes against an army that was getting hungrier and hungrier and succumbing to plague, the sultan was forced to leave Moldavia. He did not achieve his political goal, and left behind a country that had suffered great destruction and casualties.38

THE BATTLE OF CODRII COSMINULUI, 1497 Ioan Albert, the successor of King Kazimir IV to the Polish throne, wished to install his brother Sigismund on the Moldavian voievode Stephen’s throne. Consequently, Kazimir started a campaign against the Moldavian prince in 1497, leading an army that included 80,000 soldiers and a strong artillery composed of 200 cannons of various sizes. While the fortress of Suceava was under siege, the Moldavian forces surrounded the Poles. Caught between two strikes, on 16 October 1497 Ioan Albert was forced to accept an armistice with Stephen that a Transylvanian prince helped to negotiate. While the Polish army was retreating through Codrii Cosminului on 26 October 1497, Stephen organized a large ambush, felling trees and launching surprise attacks against the Poles, who could not deploy their defense and were gravely defeated and killed.39

GHEORGHE DOJA, 1514 Gheorghe Doja was an ordinary Szeckler noble who in 1514 led an uprising of poor and unsatisfied Romanian, Szeckler, and Hungarian peasants who were concentrated in a camp in the town of Rakos to start a crusade initiated by Pope Leon X. Doja organized the 30,000 rebels into groups of riflemen, archers, footmen, and spearmen, according to the armament with which they were equipped. Then the rebel forces, led by Doja, started an attack against Transylvania on two fronts. After several military successes when the rebels occupied the cities of Arad, Lipova, Siria, Cluj, Turda, and Dej, they were defeated in Timis¸oara by noble forces loyal to Ioan Zapolya, the Transylvanian 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 a horrible example meant to deter other peasant riots.40

RADU FROM AFUMAT¸I, 1522–1529 During his seven years of rule in Wallachia, Radu de la Afumat¸i, called by the classical Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga the ‘‘prince of Christian revenge and Romania’s pride,’’41 fought no fewer than twenty-two battles against the Ottomans. These battles began right after the Ottomans conquered Belgrade and after Wallachia came under Ottoman administration, even though that state lasted for only a short period of time. The battle’s fate vacillated between the Wallachians and Ottomans. Radu won several military victories, sometimes using his own forces, sometimes with the support of Ioan Zapolya, the Transylvanian prince, but was also defeated at Nicopole by Mehmet the bey of Vidin, who did not abandon his desire to transform Wallachia into a pashalic. However, the Wallachian cavalry led by Radu from Afumat¸i had the courage to start raids against the Ottoman fortresses located on the right shore of the Danube. In 1527, the voievode finally achieved the Wallachian independence he had been seeking.

PETRU RARES¸, 1527–1546 An illegitimate son of Stephen the Great, Petru Rares¸ acceded to the Moldavian throne a year after the 1526 defeat of Hungary in the battle of Mohacs by the army of the sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Petru Rares¸, the Renaissance prince of Moldavia, as historian Florin Constantiniu called him,42 interfered even from the beginning of his first reign in the battles for succession to the throne of Transylvania. He supported Prince Ioan Zapolya against Ferdinand of Hapsburg, who was defeated in the battle fought in the village of Feldioara (in southeastern Transylvania) in 1529. Right after the Transylvanian campaign, Petru Rares¸ got into a conflict with Poland, where he was trying to restore the province of Pocutia, but he was defeated in the battle of Obertyn by the army of the experienced Polish commander Jan Tarnowski. The conflict with Poland, the contacts with the Holy League (established on 7 February 1538), and the opposition of the Moldavian boyars led the Porte to rescind its support. When Petru Rares¸ was restored to 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 even Ottomans. He focused especially on increasing the combat capability of the Moldavian army, namely, the infantry and artillery, and successfully used Cossack mercenaries as well. Facing a people that was weakened and poor due to internal fighting and increasing Ottoman requests for tribute, John’s domestic policy was authoritative and harsh and targeted the greedy boyars. After acceding to the throne in 1572, John refused to pay the tribute the Porte had doubled. This defiance attracted an armed response by Sultan Selim II. Daring and creative, the prince defeated the Ottoman–Wallachian troops at Jilis¸tea, near Focs¸ani, in the spring of 1574, through a striking attack on the Moldavian and Cossack cavalry. He began his counteroffensive with attacks on the fortresses of Bra˘ila, Tighina, and Cetatea Alba˘ in eastern Moldavia. He did not manage to conquer from the enemy these fortresses, however. 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 paˆrca˘lab Ieremia Golia had betrayed John and defected to the Ottomans together with his soldiers. With its gunpowder wet by rain, the Moldavian– Polish army retreated to the village of Rocs¸ani, where it was surrounded and forced to surrender. After the surrender, the Ottomans horribly tortured and murdered Prince John.43

THE BATTLES OF JILIS¸TEA AND CAHUL LAKE, 1574 In the spring of 1574 the Ottomans had launched a campaign against the rebel Moldavian prince, John the Terrible, from two sides: the first attack was carried out by the Ottoman–Wallachian forces in the south and the second was in southeastern Moldavia. Through a surprise cavalry attack on two flanks of the Ottoman–Wallachian forces, on 23 April 1574 John the Terrible won a clear victory at Jilis¸tea, a village near the Milcov River. After that, together with the Cossack forces, he headed toward the Ottoman strongholds in the fortresses of Bra˘ila, Tighina, and Cetatea Alba˘; he and his forces were not able to conquer them. The confrontation between the Moldavian–Cossack army and the main part of the Ottoman force took place between 10 and 12 July 1574 somewhere 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 paˆrca˘lab Ieremia Golia. After resisting two Ottoman attacks that outnumbered John’s forces and had been supported by Wallachians and Tatars, John the Terrible and his army were surrounded. Moreover, a torrential rain rendered his artillery useless. Accepting the Ottoman guaranties, John the Terrible surrendered on the 14 June 1574. He was horribly slaughtered and his army massacred.44

MICHAEL THE BRAVE, 1539–1601 Michael the Brave, one of the most famous Romanian voievodes, ‘‘experienced,’’ as Florin Constantiniu says, ‘‘the drama of the great change occurred in the organization of the armies after the manufacturing of the firing weapons, which produced a genuine revolution in the military field. On the one hand, the states had to update their arsenals with guns for infantry and artillery, while on the other hand they had to use professionals or mercenaries whose employment involved large amounts of money. The revenues of states and sovereigns were under high pressure, which could not be stood at that time. Michael was often lacking the money he needed to pay his troops. Confronted with a large range of adversaries and adversities he did not manage to have the strength necessary to keep what he had conquered.’’45 However, Michael the Brave, one of the most venerated Romanian military and historical personalities, remains the prince who first unified the Romanian principalities under a single power, even if it was a temporary one. He also won brilliant victories in battles, which stand as proof of the fact that he was one of the greatest army commanders of his time. Michael proved able to lead to victory both armies that were predominantly Romanian, as he did in the battle of Ca˘luga˘reni (1595), and those composed of mercenaries in accordance with the new western style of warfare, as in Gora˘sla˘u (1601). ˘ LUGA ˘ RENI, 1595 THE BATTLE OF CA One hundred thousand people of the Ottoman army led by Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha crossed the Danube to hold sway over Wallachia and replace its prince, who had dared to defy and even to attack the Porte. Michael the Brave, through harassing actions into a swampy and wooded area located near Ca˘luga˘reni, on the Neajlov River (30 km south of Bucharest), trapped the Ottoman front guard corps. The Wallachian prince’s military forces were smaller than the Ottomans’ and consisted of almost 16,000 people plus 6,000 or 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 the winner who artfully combined the cavalry and infantry attacks on the flanks and used the swampy terrain to his advantage.46 In spite of the great number of Ottoman casualties (fifteen cannons were captured and even the green banner of the Prophet was taken, while Sinan Pasha was in danger of being killed), the numerical inferiority of the troops forced Michael the Brave to retreat to Transylvania. This allowed Sinan Pasha’s army to occupy Bucharest and then the city of Taˆrgovis¸te. Once Michael’s forces were strengthened thanks to support received from the voievode Ra˘zvan of Moldavia and Prince Bathory of Transylvania, Michael the Brave recaptured Taˆrgovis¸te on 18 October 1595 and, in the town of Giurgiu, defeated the Ottoman army that was retreating over the Danube. ˘ R, 1599 THE BATTLE OF S¸ELIMBA Michael the Brave’s forces entered Transylvania unexpectedly, through Prahova and the Oltului Valley. Meanwhile, Prince Andrei Bathory, voievode of Transylvania, hardly had the time to concentrate near the town of Sibiu an army that was inferior in strength and artillery to Michael’s. The battle was fought in the morning of 28 October 1599 near the village of S¸elimba˘r (near the city of Sibiu) when, after a strong artillery fire exchange, Michael’s army crushed almost the entire forces of the vain prince Bathory. Later on, the Szecklers captured and beheaded him. The military campaign completed, Michael the Brave entered the Transylvanian capital, Alba Iulia, on 1 November 1599, and his victory was recognized by the Porte and later on even by the emperor, Rudolph II.47 ˘ SLA ˘ U, 1600 THE BATTLE OF MIRA The 30,000 troops and fifteen cannons the Austrian (born Albanian) general Gheorghe Basta and the Hungarian nobility had placed in Mira˘sla˘u, a village near the Mures¸ River, were confronted by the 20,000 soldiers and twentyseven artillery pieces led by Michael the Brave. The battle was fought over two days, 18 and 19 September 1600, and started with an artillery fire exchange and General Basta’s attempt to remove Michael’s forces from the advantageous location they occupied. The battle’s outcome was decided by the conflicts meant to capture and keep Michael the Brave’s artillery. This was ultimately accomplished through cavalry and artillery assaults, followed immediately by a full attack by Basta’s forces that finally sealed his victory.48

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After the defeat in Mira˘sla˘u, Michael the Brave was defeated again by the Moldavian and Polish armies at Bucovel on 19–20 October 1600. He was subsequently forced to leave for Prague to request military, financial, and political support from the Hapsburg emperor, Rudolph II. ˘ SLA ˘ U, 1601 THE BATTLE OF GORA After the meetings held between 1 and 5 March in Prague with the Hapsburg emperor Rudolph II, Michael the Brave had to accept a reconciliation with his former enemy, General Basta. Together, and with imperial support, Michael and Basta attacked the rebel Transylvanian prince, Sigismund Bathory. However, the military strength and the artillery of Sigismund Bathory were superior to those of Michael and Basta. The battle took place on 3 August 1601 near the village of Gora˘sla˘u, on the shore of the Zala˘u River. It began, according to the rules of the period, with artillery fire. General Basta’s troops stopped the main attack Sigismund Bathory launched, and the 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, General Basta ordered his mercenaries to murder Michael the Brave in the camp he had set on Caˆmpia Turzii, near Cluj.49

THE ARMY OF MICHAEL THE BRAVE The permanent army of Michael the Brave was composed of the princely guard, made up of fustas¸i and Hungarian trabant¸i; courtiers who were called ros¸ii de ¸tara˘, because of the red cloth they were given on Christmas and Easter to make their uniforms; and servants. The temporary army had a section composed of infantrymen; a group of local peasants, most of them forming Michael’s army in the battle of Ca˘luga˘reni; foreign hirelings used after the battle of Ca˘luga˘reni; a mixed cavalry containing domestic and foreign fighters; artillery units; and the so-called spoil units. When it came to combat tactics, Michael’s military genius combined incursions and ambushes (see the campaign in the southern Balkans between 1594 and 1595) with Western techniques and the Romanian tradition of asymmetric wars. Thus, the battle of Ca˘luga˘reni was a victory won under conditions similar to those of Stephen the Great in Podul ˆInalt: forest, swamp, bridge, infantry attack 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 military customs was the direct participation of the prince in battle, among his troops—it was not typical for royals of the period to fight battles. With the notable exceptions of Western sovereigns Gustav Adolph of Sweden and Henri IV of France, the royalty preferred to lead the battle from a sheltered place where they could view the entire battlefield. There continues a controversial historical debate about whether or not Michael had in mind a formulated plan to politically unify the three Romanian principalities. No matter what the case was, it is worth considering the realistic evaluation of the issue found in a volume edited by Kurt Treptow: ‘‘Michael did not intend to bring about Romanian unity. Such an idea was totally alien to the sixteenth century. Instead, his achievement was the result of personal ambition, the need to secure his position to the throne, and his desire to achieve independence, combined with his resentment of Ottoman domination and the burden of the heavy tribute.’’50

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Chapter Six

The Army and Romanian Battles from the 17th Century to the Eve of the 19th Century 1601–1821

In the middle of the 17th century, during the reigns of voievodes Vasile Lupu in Moldavia and Matthew Basarab in Wallachia, the Romanian military institution was reinvigorated. The brilliance of the two reigns was overshadowed by the strong rivalry between these two different princely personalities, a rivalry that led to open military conflicts (Buza˘u in 1637, Nenis¸ori-Ojogeni in 1639, and Finta in 1653). In the following decades, the Romanian military units had to take part in the Ottoman campaigns over the Carpathians and Nistru. This resulted from Ottoman military changes that decreased the number of janissaries (considered corrupted) and spahis (considered weakened) and increased the contingents 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 princes Constantine Braˆncoveanu in Wallachia and Dimitrie Cantemir in Moldavia. Braˆncoveanu’s army, benefiting from Ottoman and Tatar military support, defeated the advancing Hapsburgs in the battle of Za˘rnes¸ti in 1690. The Ottomans defeated Dimitrie Cantemir, the prince of Moldavia, at Sta˘niles¸ti, on the Prut River, in spite of the Russian support provided by Czar Peter the Great in 1711. The foreign influences grew stronger and stronger within the armies of the two Romanian principalities, through both the domination of the Ottoman model in Wallachia, or the Russian or the Polish one in Mol74

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davia, and the massive presence of foreign mercenaries coming from the northeast or from south of the Danube River. The Ottoman Empire resolved to apply another system in the two principalities given the advance of the Hapsburg Empire up to the Carpathians and the offensive actions and plans of Russian Empire. Henceforth, the Ottomans resorted to Phanariot princes as assigned rulers of the Romanian principalities. Phanariots were a cast of dignitaries of the Orthodox patriarchate formed in the Phanar district of Constantinople. The 18th-century Phanariot reigns in the Romanian principalities meant the reduction in armed forces at the level of a princely guard corps made of seimeni (Bosnian and Romanian paid infantry soldiers) Cossack riders, arna˜ut¸i (Albanian mercenaries), and Serb mercenaries. 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 were established between 1762 and 1763. They stretched from the frontier with Bucovina as far west as Banat. The regiments were composed of Romanian volunteers, who joined to benefit from the tax exemptions. The Hapsburg Empire 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 of Moldavia, in the 17th and 18th centuries was generated by a severe Ottoman domination, a high frequency of Russian–Ottoman wars fought on Romanian territory, and exploitation by the Phanariot regimes. Consequently, a lot of Romanians, be they tradesmen, peasants, or nobles, migrated to the southeastern territories of the Russian Empire; the Russian Empire was perceived as a defender of Orthodox Christians, and it had no claims over the Romanian territories. This migration—Romanians’ settling on those lands and joining the czarist army—was encouraged by the Russian imperial policy, which granted pieces of real estate, tax exemptions, military ranks, salaries, and other priviliges. The aim was to colonize the annexed territories, to increase the Russian population, and to augment the military potential. Most of the Romanian immigrants who joined the imperial army after 1700 founded the Russian light cavalary and formed the first hussar regiments (ultimately, eleven regiments), which were composed of Moldavian and Wallachian riders. 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 was placed in the Kharkiv region and in 1741 was transformed into the Moldavian regiment of hussars and moved to Ukraine, near Kiev. The Romanian hussars proved their bravery and military skills in almost all the campaigns carried out 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). The importance of the Romanian military contribution to the development of the Russian military art51 is proven by the presence of thirty-eight generals of Romanian origin, eleven of whom were three-star generals, who participated in either the Russian army or with the Hapsburgs in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Besides the Romanians serving in the military units of the Russian imperial army, several detachments of Moldavian and Wallachian volunteers, supporters of the aspirations for sovereignty and independence from the Porte, fought against the Ottomans. Austria, and especially Russia, started wars against the Ottoman Empire several times during the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century. The Romanians suffered serious casualities and damages, even though these wars were not technically theirs. The Porte yielded northern Moldavia (Bucovina) to Austria in 1775 through the provisions of the Kuciuk–Kainargi Peace Treaty signed in July 1774, and Bessarabia (a territory situated between the 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 Moldavian reincarnation of the ex-emperor of Constantinople. Even thought he came to the throne after an uprising of the boyars against the Greeks, Vasile Lupu maintained strong ties with both the Greeks and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. A renowned founder of churches and cultural institutions in Moldavia, Vasile Lupu kept trying to impose his authority over Wallachia.52 Militarily, he tried twice to put his son John on the throne of Wallachia in Taˆrgovis¸te. The military conflicts with Matthew Basarab all ended in his defeat (the last one at Finta, where he finally lost his reign); Vasile Lupu lacked the qualities of a military commander. He used an army of almost 20,000–30,000 soldiers composed mainly of foreigners: Poles, Germans, and especially Cossacks.

MATTHEW BASARAB, 1632–1654 Matthew Basarab, prince of Wallachia, reigned in the spirit of what historian Nicolae Iorga calls ‘‘boyar patriarchate,’’53 leading his country for two decades in perfect accord with the boyars, without renouncing the Greek element 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, Matthew Basarab 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 monastery founders. In terms of foreign policy, Matthew Basarab kept in touch with Gheorghe Rakoczi I, prince of Transylvania, thus successfully keeping the Ottomans at bay.

MILITARY ORGANIZATION IN THE 17TH CENTURY Matthew Basarab was knowledgeable about the art of warfare and he organized his army using mainly the local boyars, also called the reds of the country; the permanent cavalry concentrated in military areas; and da˘ra˘bani, 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 were rebels 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 spa˘tar was the commander of the army, and he had as subordinates two aga who were charged with the coordination of the seimeni corps and the da˘ra˘bani corps. The vel-ca˘pitanul was the commander of a regiment-sized unit; the captain had the command of a company, and the subas¸a was the platoon leader. The army of the country continued to be structured under ‘‘banners.’’ Wallachia’s army had its own flag, 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, Matthew Basarab, and the prince of Moldavia, Vasile Lupu, came to a head in the battle of Finta on 27 May 1653. The voievode of Moldavia, with important military support from the Cossacks and Poles, entered Wallachia heading toward the capital city of Taˆrgovis¸te. 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, the Wallachians started the final assault, which meant the final defeat of Vasile Lupu’s forces and the loss of his reign.54

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S¸ERBAN CANTACUZINO, 1678–1688 A well-known representative of a rich and powerful Wallachian family of boyars—rival to the Ba˘leni family—Prince S¸erban Cantacuzino knew how to hide his strong anti-Ottoman feelings despite the pressures the Porte were applying. The Porte obliged him to engage a Wallachian military contingent in the siege of Vienna in 1683 and to fight by the Ottomans’ side together with the princes of Moldavia and Transylvania. During the siege, the Wallachian prince maintained secret ties with the Hapsburgs. However, the Ottomans’ failure in front of Vienna’s walls followed by the imperial counteroffensive in southeastern Europe made Prince S¸erban Cantacuzino aware of the decay in Ottoman power. Consequently, he initiated secret negotiations with the Hapsburg emperor Leopold I, aiming at liberating Wallachia from the domination of the Porte. The reign of Prince S¸erban Cantacuzino meant a period of prosperity and stability for Wallachia, and some important cultural projects were achieved such as the printing of the Bible in Romanian in 1688.55

ROMANIAN MILITARY PARTICIPATION IN 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 1683 also meant a significant Romanian presence imposed by the three Romanian principalities: Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania.56 The Ottoman ambition was to take over central Europe, and the huge magnitude of the campaign required a maximum concentration of all the available resources in order to win a decisive victory. Thus, under pressure from the Porte, the Moldavian prince Gheorghe Duca had to raise the army of the country with boyars, riders, and hirelings, while the contribution of Prince S¸erban Cantacuzino consisted of 1,000 dorobant¸i, seimeni, reds of the country, and boyars with their servants. The Transylvanian prince Mihai Apafi delayed sending a detachment from Fa˘ga˘ras¸ County for as long as possible. The total number of Romanian fighters gathered at the gates of Vienna was 13,000. The siege of Vienna started on 14 July 1683 and lasted until 12 September 1683, General Starhemberg boldly resisting the superiority of the Ottoman forces commanded by Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa. Present in the Ottoman camp, Prince S¸erban Cantacuzino who had profound anti-Ottoman feelings and 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 battle occurred on 12 September 1683, without the combat engagement of the Romanian detachments, which retreated afterward to their homelands. ˆ NCOVEANU, 1688–1714 CONSTANTINE BRA Ruling at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, Constantine Braˆncoveanu had a brilliant and unusually long reign in Wallachia that ended tragically, with the prince becoming a martyr under the hatchet of the Ottoman executioner. The ‘‘Golden Prince’’ (Altin Bey in Turkish), as the Ottomans called Constantin Braˆncoveanu, was the nephew of Prince S¸erban Cantacuzino and a skillful diplomat, maneuvering extremely well among the three neighboring empires: the Ottoman, Hapsburg, and czarist.57 Under his rule, Wallachia experienced a long period of prosperity, knowing how to cover in gold the Ottoman greed and suspicions (1703) or to successfully oppose at Za˘rnes¸ti (1690) the Hapsburg troops who were seeking to expand toward southeastern Europe. In 1711 he carefully abstained from interfering in the Russian– Ottoman conflict, as he was not convinced of the potential success of the Russian–Moldavian force. On 15 August 1714, Braˆncoveanu became the victim of actions plotted at the Porte by his uncle, the stolnic Constantin Cantacuzino: 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 of historical reference books and such philosophical works as The Divan, or the Quarrel of the Wise Man with the World, Descriptio Moldaviae, and The History of the Ottoman Empire. He was educated in Constantinople, but kept his anti-Ottoman spirit intact. Put on Moldavia’s throne because he seemed to be the person trusted by the Porte, Dimitrie Cantemir led his country in the direction of an anti-Ottoman alliance. He signed on 24 April 1711 a political and military treaty with Czar Peter I (‘‘the Great’’) that recognized Cantemir’s hereditary succession to the Moldavian throne and the authoritative leadership of the country. In the battle of Sta˘lines¸ti on the Prut River, the Ottomans defeated the poor Russian–Moldavian army, and it was only thanks to a monetary bribe that the grand vizier allowed Czar Peter and Cantemir to escape to Russia, where the Moldavian prince became councilor to Czar Peter.58

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THE TRANSYLVANIAN FRONTIER GUARD REGIMENTS After the victory won against the Porte at Vienna in 1683, the Hapsburg expansion toward southeastern Europe swallowed Transylvania, which became a state of the Roman–German Empire, then a principality, and in 1765 a great principality. Between 1762 and 1763, three frontier guard regiments were set at the Transylvanian frontier;59 they were composed of volunteering peasants who had been promised tax exemptions and who had been given hope of being freed from serfdom. Thus, a 3,000-soldier regiment was set in Na˘sa˘ud (which fought in 1796 on the bridge of Arcole against Napoleon); another regiment, also composed of 3,000 fighters, was put in the area of Fa˘ga˘ras¸, Sibiu, and Hunedoara; a third one comprising 1,000 people was placed in Banat, located in southwestern Transylvania. As the army regulations stated that in case of war military service would also be performed outside the country, the Transylvanian border regiments fought 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 revolutionary government threatened to imprison the Romanian National Council of Transylvania, the leaders of the Transylvanian Romanians were provided protection by the 1st Regiment of Orlat. That same year, the Transylvanian frontier guards provided the military instruction necessary to the formations and legions of mot¸i (peoples living in the Apuseni Mountains) concentrated in the Apuseni Mountains.

HOREA, CLOS¸CA, AND CRIS¸AN’S UPRISING—1784 The violent peasant uprising in Transylvania in 1784, led by Horea, Clos¸ca, and Cris¸an, was caused by the peasants’ ceasing to enlist in the frontier guard regiments; this enlistment offered Romanian peasants the promise of escaping serfdom. The situation of the Romanian peasants was very difficult; they were only tolerated and exploited by both the Hungarian nobility and the state authorities. The mass of peasants concentrated for enlistment in the village of Mesteaca˘n, located in the Za˘randului Mountains, turned into the core of a violent uprising that devastated the nobility’s castles and occupied several towns located in the Apuseni Mountains. The city of Deva, where the nobility’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 leaders—Vasile Nicola Ursu (known by his nickname, Horea), Ion Oarga˘ (known by his nickname, Clos¸ca), and Cris¸an—organized the 12,000–16,000 adherents into units. Their armaments consisted of scythes, hatchets, and occasionally a gun or cannon. As the uprising grew stronger and wilder, the Hapsburg emperor Iosif II sent the imperial army to suppress the revolt. A plot led to the capture of the leaders, who were subsequently broken publicly on the wheel in Alba Iulia, the capital of Transylvania.60

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Chapter Seven

From People’s Assembly to the Modern Romanian Armed Forces 1821–1867

The Romanian encyclopedist Horia Matei wrote a pertinent synthesis about the Romanians’ national revival: ‘‘The national idea, which gained momentum throughout Europe in the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, can be traced throughout the history of the Romanian principalities. The national idea was associated with the Romanians’opening toward western Europe. Philological and historical arguments in favor of the Latin origin and ancient history of the Romanians were added to the argument of their numerical preponderance when the fundamental program of the movement for national emancipation of the Romanians in Transylvania, known as Supplex Libellus Valachorum, was drafted. The main claim of this document, which was sent to the Court of Vienna in 1791, was equal rights with the other nations of the Principality.’’61 ‘‘People’s Assembly,’’ or panduri’s army, was the name given to the army gathered by purveyor Tudor Vladimirescu after receiving a mandate granted by the three great boyars of Wallachia, Grigore Braˆncoveanu, Grigore Ghica, and Barbu Va˘ca˘rescu, in full agreement with Hetairia, the secret Greek society founded by Alexandru Ipsilanti in Odessa in 1814. The People’s Assembly practically did not fight any battles against the Turks, as was planned. However, ‘‘the strategic marching’’ of several thousand panduri who were strongly disciplined, organized, and led by Tudor Vladimirescu from the gathering 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 the Russian–Turkish War of 1806–1812 led decisively to the cohesion of a het82

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erogeneous troop, composed of riders and footmen, until the moment when the Russians’, Ottomans’, and Hetairia’s political games effected the breakdown of that uprising. Although the principalities were under Ottoman occupation, the Porte no longer trusted the Phanariot princes after Tudor’s uprising. In the spring of 1822 two boyar delegations from Moldavia and Wallachia were summoned to Constantinople; the leading boyars Grigore Ghica from Wallachia and Ion Alexandru Sturza from Moldavia were part of these delegations that had designs on the throne. But in the spring of 1828 the Russian armies again reached the principalities; the two princes had to give up the throne and a long 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 Ias¸i approved in April 1830 the draft law on ‘‘national armed forces structure and organization’’ of the two principalities that would be inserted later in the provisions of the Organic Regulations (the first constitutional laws of the two Romanian principalities). The Russian army prolonged its occupation until 1834, when the Porte had to pay war damages. Russia’s right to interfere was turned into a ‘‘protection right’’ and the modern reorganization of the two countires was achieved under Russia’s strict control. The subsequent years brought several changes: the principalities’ Danube flotillas of the city of Galat¸i’s fluvial police, along with the mixed artilleryinfantry system of the regiments, was abandoned in 1835; and the first barracks, military schools, and military hospitals were established in Bucharest and the cities of Craiova and Bra˘ila. In 1844, after the Wallachian prince Bibescu had received the four 80mm bronze cannons mounted on gun carriages produced domestically, the first field battery was established. During the revolution of 1848, the links among the Romanians in the three principalities became stronger and the building of the Romanian nation was accomplished. For the Romanians, the revolutionary year of 1848 meant two significant military confrontations. The first one was the battle of Dealul Spirii (a hill located in the closed neighborhood of Bucharest), which took place on 25 September 1848 and engaged the artillery formations and the troops led by Capt. Pavel Za˘ga˘nescu and the Ottoman forces led by Fuad Pasha. They entered Wallachia (with the consent of Russia, which occupied Moldavia) to reestablish the order set by the Organic Regulations in both principalities eighteen years prior. The second battle occurred in Transylvania, in the Apuseni Mountains, in the spring of 1849, when the Hungarian corps sent by the Kossuth revolutionary government commanded by Major

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Hatvani was defeated by mot¸i led by the Romanian military and revolutionary leader Avram Iancu. In Wallachia, the three-month rule of the 1848 Provisional Revolutionary Government, which was marked by the brilliant figure of Nicolae Ba˘lcescu, allowed the appointment of a minister of war, Christian Tell, and then the appointment of a captain-general and Chief of All Temporary Forces (a kind of chief of General Staff), Gheorghe Magheru. The same revolutionary government also initiated the handing over of the new fight banners to the military units on 14 June 1848, and several training maneuvers for the army. The first 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 century in ‘‘Neagoe Basarab’s Lessons for His Son, Teodosie.’’ The years 1859, 1877, and 1918 are for the Romanians landmarks in a fast process of fulfilling their national and social ideals. These ideals had been clearly expressed during the 1848 revolution, the tumult that had swept over all three Romanian principalities. Due to the Danubian principalities’ locations 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 1856 at the end of Crimean War (1853–1856). Under the Paris Treaty, Moldavia and Wallachia were submitted to the collective guarantee of the seven great powers; the exclusive protectorate of Russia over them was canceled. The internationalization of the Danube River and the restoration of southern Bessarabia to Moldavia were other decisions in favor of the Romanians. Concerning the union, the Paris Congress decided to create two ad hoc divans to express the Romanian wishes. The Paris Conference of the guarantor powers held in 1858 sought a compromise over the united principalities that would provide for political and administrative separation (two princes, two armies, two governments, etc). But on 5 January 1859 the Romanians elected the Moldavian colonel Alexander Ioan Cuza as prince of Moldavia, and then on 24 January 1859 elected him prince of Wallachia. This signified a big step toward the real union. The union of the Romanian principalities and the rule of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859–1866) led to major unifying and renewing reforms for the Romanian Armed Forces as 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 will be identically organized in order to be able to bring forth and to form a small army.’’ One of the first measures undertaken by Prince Cuza was the establishment of the General Staff Corps. The first chief of the General Staff of the Romanian army was Col. Grigore Ga˘rdescu. The Romanian national state thus created adopted the name of Romania in 1862 and established its capital in Bucharest, where it has remained to this day.

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Through the laws issued in 1868 and 1872 aimed at reorganizing Romania’s armed power, as well as through those issued during the reign of the prince and then the king Carol I, the Romanian armed forces were structured on four components: the permanent component (consisting of dorobant¸i and frontier guards); the territorial component; militias (which were inactive); the town guard for urban localities, and the troops called gloate for villages. After 1860, thanks to the close relationship between Prince Cuza and Napoleon III, the army’s equipment started to come mainly from France, but also from Germany (for example, the 1870 model of the Krupp steel cannons) and from other Occidental states (Peabody guns with metallic cartridges from the United States in 1868, the Lamson repetition gun in 1869, and Krnka guns from Russia). The Prussian influence was felt inside the army, even though the Romanian uniforms had retained their Latin line. Beginning in 1870, each independent battalion or regiment had an assigned chaplain; this development stemmed from a High Decree signed by Prince Carol I, who made official the Regulation for the Clergy of the Permanent Army. In 1921, the status of the church in the army would be raised to bishopric. In 1948, as a consequence of the emergence of the Communist regime, that institution was broken up in spite of the ancient traditions and customs of the Romanians who, be they soldiers or rulers, had never entered a battle without a priestly blessing and priestly Christian support.

TUDOR VLADIMIRESCU, 1821 Purveyor Tudor from the village of Vladimiri was born in the region of Oltenia in southeastern Wallachia that was inhabited by free peasants called mos¸neni. He had gained not only remarkable leadership abilities but also prestigious military experience, as he had joined the Russian army as a volunteer in the Russo–Turkish War of 1806–1812. He was even awarded the Russian order of Saint Vladimir’s Cross.62 Prior to receiving a mandate from three powerful boyars of Wallachia to start anti-Phanariot military actions, the brisk Tudor was known as a respectable and wealthy trader who had occupied administrative positions in Oltenia. Tudor firmly organized and led his army of panduri. It was organized in units containing 1,000 fighters, most of them footmen, and a cavalry corps numbering 2,000 soldiers organized in units called ca˘pita˘nii, or captainships. Tudor’s authoritative and severe style of command proved to be efficient both in setting up his panduri in departure camps in the cities of T¸aˆnt¸a˘reni and Slatina, and in establishing the discipline necessary for the strategic march to Bucharest, 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 Romanian movement and the movement of the Greek Heteria. The divergent interests, rivalry, and the anarchic plots of the two anti-Ottoman movements led to their defeat 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 over the Olt River and won a battle against the Ottomans at Dra˘ga˘s¸ani on 29–30 May 1821. Afterward most of the members of the People’s Assembly dispersed and returned to their villages; the remainder headed toward the monasteries, where they continued their resistance for some time.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST NATIONAL ARMY, 1830 For the very first time, on 12 May 1830, the population of the Romanian principalities could see in the streets of Bucharest and then in those of Ias¸i the new Romanian uniform that was designed on a Russian model. However, it was only in 1831 that the Russian representative, General Kisselef, granted the young officers of the Wallachian army the permission to wear epaulettes, which they earned thanks to their rapid progress in training. A representative of the Russian administration installed in the two Romanian principalities, General Kisselef was an open-minded military man who in 1832 promoted the ‘‘Military Regulation,’’ which stated that the militia, or the country’s guard, should be ‘‘national,’’ established according to traditions but adjusted to the practices of modern warfare. In 1834 the Romanian army adopted the tricolor flag. The permanent contingent of the National Guard was designated to maintain internal order and respect for laws, and to guard the borders. It was financed by the state and commanded by the marele spa˘tar (similar to the chief of the General Staff, CHOD), who was accountable to the country’s ruler and in turn commanded the S¸tabul Os¸tirii, or the General Staff. The temporary component of the army was under the command of marele logofa˘t and was designated to provide police services in villages. Three mixed regiments, called polcuri, were set up in Wallachia, each of them composed of two infantry battalions and two cavalry squandrons. One regiment was set up in Moldavia; it contained a battalion and a squadron. The military hierarchy consisted of inferior officers: praporcicul (second lieutenant); parucicul (first lieutenant), or platoon leader; captain, or company commander; major, or battalion commander; and colonel, or regiment commander. The superior and staff officers came from important boyar families.

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THE BEGINNING OF ROMANIAN MILITARY MEDICINE The first military hospital for officers of the Principality of Wallachia, the socalled Lazaretul Polcului, was set up in Bucharest63 on 14 February 1831. It comprised forty beds and was operated near the Filantropia civilian hospital. Later on, the first hospital of the Romanian Armed Forces was hosted by the Ma˘rcut¸a Monastery, then by the Belar building and the Michael the Brave Monastery (1833), and finally by a military building located on what is now called S¸erban Voda˘ Street in Bucharest. The current location of the army’s representative hospital dates to 1889. The doctor, Carol Davilla, a general practitioner, was the one who played a decisive role in the last part of the 19th century in organizing and modernizing that institution. During the war for independence (1877–1878) and the two world wars, the Central Military Hospital of Bucharest functioned as an internal zone hospital and was at the top of the medical formations on the Romanian front lines. After 1989 the Central Military Hospital started playing an increasingly important role in scientific research by educating military doctors with great expertise in eighteen medical specialties. Especially between 1991 and 1998, Romanian military doctors proved their professionalism in international peacekeeping missions performed under the aegis of the United Nations: Operation Desert Storm (in a field hospital in Saudi Arabia); between 1993 and 1994 in the UNOSOM II mission in a surgery field hospital in the airport of Mogadishu, Somalia; and in the UNAVEM III mission in Viana Luanda, Angola, between 1995 and 1997.

THE FIRST BARRACKS AND MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS As there were no barracks for troops, except for the princely palaces in Bucharest and Ias¸i, the two capital cities, at the initiative of Prince Gheorghe Bibescu the first rectangle-shaped barracks were built in Bucharest between 1844 and 1846. The barracks, first called Sfaˆntul Gheorghe and then known as Malmaison, were dedicated to infantry, cavalry, and artillery troops, providing shelter to 350 soldiers.64 The first 130-bed military hospital was set up in Bucharest in 1883 in the vicinity of the Michael the Brave Monastery. At Dr. Carol Davilla’s initiative, the hospital was moved in 1858 to a new building located on S¸tirbei Voda Street. After the union of the principalities, a vast movement to construct buildings 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, each of them having the capacity to hold an infantry regiment. These barracks were known as Alexandria (built in 1864) and Cuza (built in 1865). Another was the three-floor barracks, called Copou, which was located in Ias¸i and completed in 1875; the artillery barracks of the Roman city in Moldavia was built in 1875, and the cavalry barracks of Focs¸ani (a town in Moldavia), which could accommodate a squadron, was built in 1863. Following the same trend of specialized military building, the army’s arsenal was set up during Prince Cuza’s rule in 1863; it consisted of a workshop for 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 with which to supply the army. The military equipment central depot was part of the Cuza barracks. Other installations built at this time were the gunpowder depot, located in Cotroceni (a hilly area in Bucharest), the fodder depots in Ias¸i, and the armament depots in Taˆrgovis¸te. Between 1859 and 1877, the army’s first camps, training fields, and shooting ranges were set up. They had only the most necessary facilities and were built in the village of Flores¸ti (1859) and the Bucharest neighborhoods of Colentina (1861) and Cotroceni (1863).

THE FIRST MILITARY SCHOOLS In 1847, during the rule of Gheorghe Bibescu, a military school was established for fifteen cadets. It was operated out of several rooms of the Sfaˆntul Gheorghe (Malmaison) building in Bucharest.65 Disbanded in 1848, the school was reopened by Prince Barbu S¸tirbei in 1849 and accommodated first thirty and then forty-five students. In the beginning, the school offered fouryear courses; from 1854 on, it offered five-year courses. The graduates were commissioned as second lieutenants. In 1857, a military school was established 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 special arms. In 1850 the Minor Surgery School was set up in a military location on Podul Calicilor Street—today Calea Rahovei—in Bucharest. Due to the arrangements made by the chief of the sanitary service, Carol Davilla, starting 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 set up. The course lasted three years and trained students to become officers of the three military branches. In 1872 and 1881, four-year ‘‘schools for military sons’’ were set up in the cities of Craiova and Ias¸i with the purpose of training the future candidates for officers’ schools. The first military library was founded in Ias¸i in 1846 at the initiative of Dimitrie Sturdza, mare hatman, with the purpose of providing documents to officers, cadets, and noncommissioned militia officers. The current Academy of Advanced Military Studies, formerly known as the Superior School of War, was set up on 8 August 1889 under the direct command 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 Studies into the Carol I National Defense University with the aim of training officers able to meet modern operational and staff requirements. ˘ LCESCU, 1819–1852 NICOLAE BA One of the standout personalities of the Romanian revolution of 1848, Nicolae Ba˘lcescu was a politician, historian, economist, and writer.66 Since 1840 he had been involved in the revolutionary movement in Wallachia, and that involvement had landed him in prison for three years. However, that did not impede him from helping to found the secret revolutionary movement named Fra˘¸tia, which means Brotherhood, a Masonic organization. He was one of the radical leaders of the revolution in Wallachia who pleaded for land reform, universal suffrage, and other bourgeois and democratic reforms. During the three-month rule of the provisional revolutionary government in Wallachia, of which he was a part, the tricolor banners of the military units were handed over on 13 and 14 September 1848, and the names of the military units were changed from those that derived from Russian, such as polk, roata, polkovnik, paruchik, and praporchik to the Romanian words for regiment, company, colonel, second lieutenant, and first lieutenant, words that have Latin roots. Nicolae Ba˘lcescu was in close contact with revolutionaries from France, Hungary, and Italy, and his personality held both the romanticism specific to that era and the pragmatism specific to a politician. After the revolution was suppressed, during his exile Ba˘lcescu published Romaˆnia viitoare, (Future Romania), 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 Military 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 June 1848, made official the three colors that represent the national flag: blue, yellow, and red.67 Above the colors the motto of the Wallachian revolutionaries was imprinted: ‘‘Justice and Brotherhood.’’ The tradition of the tricolor banner represents the ‘‘Assembly of the People,’’ the army led by Tudor Vladimirescu 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 for the national army (militia) and for the pavilions of the Wallachian ships. Consequently, the first banners distributed to the front units during an 1834 ceremony were tricolored. Only in 1862, after the union of the Romanian principalities, did the major European powers recognize the tricolor banner as the Romanian flag. That led, on 13 September 1863, to the reception of the new tricolor banners as unit flags bearing the motto Honor et patria (Honor and Motherland) by ten Romanian 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 the Kingdom, the Popular Republic, and the Socialist Republic. (At present, the 1991 banner model has no coat of arms on it.) In addition, different mottos were imprinted, such as Honor et patria (Honor and Fatherland), Nihil sine Deo (Nothing without God), and ‘‘For Our Motherland,’’ during the Socialist Republic of Romania period. On the top of the banner stick was at first an eagle with a cross in its mouth, then after 1948 until 1989 a tip with Communist symbols. No matter what the political evolutions, the significance of the fight banner for the Romanian army and for each individual unit, as well as for the handover military ceremonies, preserved the value of the supreme symbol of the Romanian national identity, sovereignty, and independence. The interest in creating a representative coat of arms in Romania dates to the 19th century. The question was raised after the union of Wallachia and Moldavia in 1859, and in 1863 a solution was found and endorsed. The design combined the traditional symbols of Wallachia—the eagle with a cross—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 combined the traditional symbols of all the Romanian provinces. The coat of arms was adopted and retained until 1921, when, after the Great Union of 1 December 1918, the new coat of arms of the Great Romania was created by adding the royal symbols of the Hohenzollern house to those of the traditional Romanian provinces: Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, Banat, Maramures¸, Cris¸ana, Bucovina, Oltenia, and Dobrudja. After the proclamation of the formation of the Popular Republic of Romania under pressure from the Soviet troops, on 30 December 1947 the Romanian coat of arms was modified again, and a decorative effigy was created representing the natural resources of the country, framed by wheat wreaths and 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 hole in the middle, resulting from the removal of the Communist coat of arms. On 10 September 1992, the two reunited chambers of the parliament adopted the new coat of arms. This one has as a central element the traditional eagle with a cross in its mouth, symbolizing the dynasty of Basarab, the nucleus around which Wallachia was formed in the 14th century. The eagle, a symbol of Romania’s Latin roots and a first-rank bird in heraldry, shows bravery, determination, power, grandeur, and the flight toward the heavens. The eagle also has an important position on the Transylvanian coat of arms. That eagle holds in its claws the symbols of sovereignty: a scepter and a sword. The scepter represents Prince Michael the Brave—the first leader to unify the Romanian provinces, in 1600—while the sword stands for Prince Stephen the Great of Moldavia, 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 symbols of the historical Romanian provinces and two dolphins recalling the shore of the Black Sea. The first sector shows the Wallachian coat of arms on a bright blue 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 black ox with a star between its horns, and a five-petal rose on the right side and a half 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 the bridge Emperor Trajan had built over the Danube. A lion emerges from this holding a sword in its right front paw. The fourth sector shows the coat of arms of Transylvania, Maramures¸, and Cris¸ana: 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 silver half-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 Mot¸ilor in the village of Vidra de Sus, located in the Apuseni Mountains. He was only twenty-four years old when the revolution of 1848 started.68 Avram Iancu was preparing to become a lawyer when he assumed, together with Axente Sever and Treboniu Laurean, the task of arming and leading the Transylvanians. This effort was endorsed by the Romanian National Council on 15 May 1848 and it mobilized almost 200,000 Romanians. To provide the highest mobility to the Romanian military forces, Avram Iancu recommended organizing Transylvania into fifteen prefectures, which would be militarily matched with legions commanded by a leader, called a prefect, who would have both administrative and military responsibilities. Avram Iancu’s legions comprised battalions, which were led by a military leader called a tribune and structured as ten centurii—a unit composed of ‘‘one hundred fighters.’’ In order to be distinct from the Hungarian adversary, not only the military structure, but also the names of the units, were of Latin origin. The spears and swords were the most representative arms; the craftsmen of the Apuseni Mountains ingeniously improvised them from the wood of the fir tree. An arsenal of 1,400 guns and pistols and several cannons complemented the spears and swords. The national guard of Banat, commanded by the tribune Eftimie Murgu, had the same structure and equipment. The main battles fought by the mot¸i of the Auraria Gemina Legion, whose prefect was Avram Iancu, against the troops of the Hungarian government commanded by Gen. Iosif Bem, took place between February and May 1849 and were fought to defend the access routes to the Apuseni Mountains. Applying the rules of guerrilla warfare and proving their bravery and determination, the spearmen Avram Iancu led won significant victories against the Hungarian troops in the battles of Faˆntaˆnele, Gura Cornei, and Bucium, forcing the government of Budapest to return to the negotiation table and face the Romanians. After the troops of the Hapsburg and czarist empires put down the revolution of 1848 in Transylvania, Avram Iancu suffered a severe nervous breakdown 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 the city of Baia de Cris¸ and was buried under a tree called Horia’s Oak.

ROMANIAN MILITARY THOUGHT FROM THE 17TH CENTURY TO THE 20TH CENTURY The Romanian experience and military art was mentioned for the first time in the chronicles of the 17th and 18th centuries, one of the most comprehensive Romanian works of medieval thought being ‘‘Neagoe Basarab’s Lessons for His Son, Teodosie.’’69 Thanks to the contributions of such politicians and military men as Nicolae Ba˘lcescu, C. A. Rosetti, Christian Tell, and Costache Negruzzi, the first elements of Romanian military thought took shape in the first half of the 19th century. The Military Romania, a magazine issued on 15 February 1864, had the words ‘‘Science, Art, and Military History’’ as a motto, and played a significant role in the development of military theories and of the military art and science in the principalities. In 1857 Col. Ion Voinescu taught the first elementary course on the history of military art. With the establishment of the Superior School of War in 1889, theoretical military art activities increased and spread among the Romanian officers. Starting with 1880, Romanian officers were sent to study and train in France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy. The proliferation of the branches’ magazines also had a beneficial effect on the theoretical training of the military of the Romanian Armed Forces at the end of the 19th century. In 1924, the Romanian Armed Forces officially adopted the French military doctrine. Also during this period, many Romanian works on theory and military art emerged. More than seventy military publications were issued during the interwar period and launched vast and hot debates regarding the defense needs of the country, the nature of a potential war, or the particularities of the various components of a national defense system. Brilliant names like those of Gen. Radu Rosetti, Gen. C. N. Haˆrjeu, and Gheorghe A. Dabija participated in these activities. After World War II, as Romania entered the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, the Romanian Armed Forces was obliged to adopt the Soviet military model. After 1955, Romania’s military doctrine was strongly influenced by that of the Warsaw Treaty. From 1994 on, the reference standard for the Romanian Armed Forces was NATO and the modern Western armies. In 1999, the first version of Romania’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. The document was militarily detailed within the national defense doctrine.

WAR AND DEFENSE MINISTERS FROM 1859 TO 200470 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Gen. Barbu Vla˘doianu: 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. Sa˘ma˘s¸escu 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. Bra˘tianu: 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 Sla˘niceanu: 27 April 1876–1 April 1877 Gen. Alexandru Cernat: 2 April 1877–19 August 1877 Ioan C. Bra˘tianu: 20 August 1877–18 March 1878 Gen. Alexandru Cernat: 19 March 1878–24 November 1878 Ioan C. Bra˘tianu: 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 Sla˘niceanu: 29 April 1880–8 June 1881 Ioan C. Bra˘tianu: 9 June 1881–30 November 1881 Ioan C. Bra˘tianu: 1 December 1881–24 January 1882 Gen. Gheorghe Anghelescu: 25 January 1882–31 July 1882

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Ioan C. Bra˘tianu: 1 August 1882–22 June 1884 Gen. S¸tefan Fa˘lcoianu: 23 June 1884–12 January 1886 Gen. Alexandru Anghelescu: 13 January 1886–4 November 1887 Ioan C. Bra˘tianu: 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 Vla˘descu: 5 November 1889–20 February 1891 Gen. Iacob Lahovary: 21 February 1891–21 February 1894 Lasca˘r Catargi: 22 February 1894–11 June 1894 Gen. Constantin Poenaru: 12 June 1894–3 October 1895 Gen. Constantin Budis¸teanu: 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 Cra˘iniceanu: 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 Haˆrjeu: 14 October 1912–3 January 1914 Ion I. C. Bra˘tianu: 4 January 1915–14 August 1916 Vintila˘ Bra˘tianu: 15 August 1916–19 July 1917 Gen. Constantin Iacovescu: 20 July 1917–5 March 1918 Gen. Constantin Haˆrjeu: 6 March 1918–23 October 1918 Gen. Eremia Grigorescu: 24 October 1918–28 November 1918 Gen. Arthur Va˘itoianu: 29 November 1918–26 September 1919 Gen. Ioan Ra˘s¸canu: 27 September 1919–1 March 1920 Gen. Traian Mos¸oiu: 2 March 1920–12 March 1920 Gen. Ioan Ra˘s¸canu: 13 March 1920–17 December 1921 Gen. S¸tefan Holban: 18 December 1921–18 January 1922 Ion I. C. Bra˘tianu: 19 January 1922–19 April 1922 Gen. Gheorghe Ma˘rda˘rescu: 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 S¸tefa˘nescu 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 Ta˘ta˘ra˘scu: 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 Ilas¸ievici: 5 September 1937–27 December 1937 Gen. Ion Antonescu: 28 December 1937–29 March 1938 Gen. Gheorghe Arges¸anu: 30 March 1938–12 October 1938 Gen. Nicolae Ciuperca˘: 13 October 1938–1 February 1939 Armand Ca˘linescu: 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 Racovit¸a˘: 24 August 1944–5 November 1944 Gen. Constantin Sa˘na˘tescu: 6 November 1944–6 December 1944 Gen. Ion Negulescu: 7 December 1944–6 March 1945 Gen. Constantin Vasiliu Ra˘s¸canu: 7 March 1945–28 November 1946 Gen. Mihail Lasca˘r: 29 November 1946–26 December 1947 Gen. Emil Bodna˘ras¸: 27 December 1947–2 October 1955 Gen. Leontin Sa˘la˘jan: 3 October 1955–28 August 1966 Gen. Ion Ionit¸a˘: 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 Sta˘nculescu: 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 Frunza˘verde: 14 March 2000–29 December 2000 Ioan Mircea Pas¸cu: 30 December 2000–28 December 2004 Traian Atanasiu: 29 December 2004–24 October 2006 Sorin Frunza˘verde: 25 October 2006–present ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA, 24 JANUARY 1859–11 FEBRUARY 1866

A mere seven years of ruling consecrated Alexandru Ioan Cuza as the prince of 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 Romanian principalities by both the election assemblies in Ias¸i (5 January) and Bucharest (24 January)—elections that eluded the decisions of the Paris Convention and thus posed the great powers in front of a done deed—this charismatic figure who was a former paˆrca˘lab of Corvu was already well known as a revolutionary leader and top-ranking unionist. To rapidly remove Romania from the feudal and Oriental mentalities and put it on the track of Western capitalist development, Cuza first of all perfected the administrative union of the principalities. He also acted to gain the recognition of the great powers, benefiting from the support granted by Napoleon III, the emperor of France. Next, he promoted the great reforms meant to bring the lagging Romanian society up to speed with the Western one. These reforms applied to virtually all the realms of society: in the area of justice, the Napoleonic Code was adopted; the financial system was reorganized, as were industry, trade, and the armed forces; there was land reform for monasteries and peasants; and a new electoral law was created. To accomplish so many projects and defeat the resistance of the liberals and conservatives, Cuza did not hesitate to exercise his authority when faced with such threats as the coup d’e´tat of 1864. During the night of 23 February 1866 (we refer to the Gregorian calendar here) a political and military plot drove Alexandru Ioan Cuza off the throne and into exile. Until the German prince Carol de Hohenzollern was installed on the throne on 10 May 1866, the country was led by a royal group of military. Cuza died in exile at the age of fifty-two on 15 May 1872 at the Europe Hotel in Heidelberg. After fifteen days his body was returned to Romania and buried in the village of Ruginoasa, close to the church walls. Today his bones lie at the large church of Trei Ierarhi in Ias¸i.

THE MILITARY REFORMS OF PRINCE ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA The armed forces were considered by both Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza and the unionist politicians to be a basic element of the principalities’ infrastructure that was vital for the consolidation of the union. To accomplish the goal of consolidation, the leaders had to achieve the organizational union of the two armies.72 A first phase took place between February 1859 and December 1861 and comprised troop deployment from one province to the other, common maneuvers, and training camps. The first common maneuver was performed on 23 August 1859 in the village of Ba˘icoi. The second phase in the unification 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 while beginning to adopt unique regulations. Consequently, on 24 November 1859, the General Staff Corps of the United Principalities was established. One day earlier, Cuza had proclaimed the total unity, so that the two ministries of war fused into a single ministry located in Bucharest. The union of the two Danube flotillas that took place on 22 October 1860 laid the foundation for the Romanian navy that would later be equipped with cannon steamships: Romania in 1864 and S¸tefan cel Mare in 1867. As for the regulations, the Penal Military Registry was adopted for both armies on 4 April 1860; it had already existed in the Wallachian army and within the Moldavian garrison service. On 25 May 1860, the Law on the United Principalities Armed Forces Training was adopted. In 1861 it was decided that the regulations published in the ‘‘Monitor of the Army’’ would be mandatory for both armies. Beginning in the spring of 1860, Romanian officers were sent abroad to study, participating in maneuvers or training strategies in the modern foreign armed forces. In 1862 the unification of the two armies was completed. With regard to the military institutions, on 1 February 1861 the Directorate of the Institutions for Artillery Mate´riel and the Logistics Corps were set up. In 1863 arms manufacture, the army’s arsenal, was set up. This meant the beginning of the Romanian defense industry. The Medical Corps of Officers was also established in 1863, and Dr. Carol Davilla was appointed general inspector of the sanitary service over the entire army of the United Romanian Principalities. Due to discrepancies between the development of the military buds and the legislation that was in effect, there was a need to adopt a new law on the principalities’ armed power. After the dissolution of the Electoral Assembly on 14 May 1864 and the proclamation of the Paris Convention, Prince Alexandru Ioan I sanctioned, on 9 December 1864, the law on the organization of the armed forces of Romania. According to this law, the armed power comprised the permanent army and militias (frontier guards and dorobant¸i) and gloate (groups), the prince was the supreme commander, the minister of war was his intermediary and commanded the army, and the General Staff was in charge of monitoring the training process. The military branches were infantry (regiments composed of two battalions), artillery (regiments composed of eight batteries), artillerymen, engineering troops, the Danube flotilla, and administrative and auxiliary troops. Military service was compulsory between the ages of twenty and fifty and lasted six years, of which four were spent in active duty and two were spent in reserve.

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THE GENERAL STAFF The incipient forms of the General Staff arose in the fourth decade of the 19th century and were called the S¸tab of the regimental armies of the Romanian principalities.73 In the first year after unification, on 24 November 1859, the Corps of the General Staff of the United Principalities was set up, and in 1867 the General Staff was reorganized into two departments: the General Staff, which was composed of brigade and division generals, commanders of the large operational units; and the General Staff Corps, which was composed of superior officers. This was the structure of the General Staff during the War of Independence of 1877–1878, when it led the first mobilization and the Romanian forces operated from their own headquarters on a distinct front line. In 1882 the High General Staff became a supreme military body, and thanks to the 1884 law on the staff service, it gained concrete responsibilities in drafting military campaign and mobilization plans. After a period of relatively poor activity during the years of neutrality (the operation plans for some possible armed conflicts had been drafted: conflict with Russia and Bulgaria—‘‘Hypothesis C’’; conflict with Bulgaria only—‘‘Hypothesis A’’; with Hungary only—‘‘Hypothesis B’’; and a simultaneous conflict with the Central Powers in the north and Bulgaria in the south—‘‘Hypothesis Z’’), the serious defeat of the Romanian forces took place during the first months after Romania entered World War I. The General Headquarters, which was under the direct command of King Ferdinand, proved its combat capability after the command was assumed by Gen. Constantin Prezan in December 1916. The High General Staff, being a fixed structure, was subordinated directly to the Ministry of War. Following the reform of the military institution in 1936, the High General Staff became the coordinating body in charge of the training and execution of the decisions made by the Defense Coordination Committee. World War II presented a tough challenge to the High General Staff due to the deployment of troops and the battles being fought far away in both the east and the west under difficult conditions of terrain and military alliances. As Hitler had assumed sole command over the anti-Soviet front, the High General Staff did not command the Romanian troops that were part of the strategic-force groups led by German headquarters. After 7 September 1944, when the Romanian units became part of the Second Ukrainian Front, the High General Staff 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 Romanian army and the entire country, and most of the officers and generals of the former 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 structural requirements of the Warsaw Treaty. However, after Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Soviet-led troops from Warsaw Treaty nations, a subtle separation of Romania from the integrated military structures of the military bloc dominated by the Soviet Union could be seen. Beginning in the 1980s, the autocratic dictatorship of Ceaus¸escu excluded the Romanian Armed Forces from the overall modernization of equipment and combat technique. Between 1990 and 2002, the General Staff went through three stages of reform and restructuring that had in view the model of the professional Western armed forces. The reform of the military body aimed both to advance the performance and efficiency of the military body and to increase the interoperability level of all the components of the Romanian Armed Forces with those of NATO members.

THE CHIEFS OF GENERAL STAFF,74 1859–2004 • Col. Ga˘rdescu Grigore: 8 January 1860–29 January 1860 • Maj. Sa˘ma˘s¸escu 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. Sla˘niceanu 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. Fa˘lcoianu S¸tefan: 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. Ta˘ta˘rescu Nicolae: 2 April 1904–1 April 1907 • Brig. Gen. Cra˘iniceanu 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 October 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. La˘za˘rescu 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 S¸tefan: 2 November 1937–1 February 1939 • Lt. Gen. T¸enescu 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. Ioanit¸iu Alexandru: 6 September 1940–17 September 1941 • Lt. Gen. Iacobici Iosif: 18 September 1941–20 January 1942 • Lt. Gen. S¸teflea Ilie: 21 January 1942–23 August 1944 • Lt. Gen. Ra˘descu Nicolae: 13 October 1944–6 December 1944 • Lt. Gen. Sa˘na˘tescu Constantin: 7 December 1944–20 June 1945 • Maj. Gen. Ionas¸cu V. Costin: 21 June 1945–27 December 1947 • Lt. Gen. Popescu Gh. Constantin: 30 January 1948–18 March 1950 • Maj. Gen. Sa˘la˘jan 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. Gus¸a˘ S¸tefan: 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 Ba˘da˘lan, PhD: 26 October 2004–October 2006 • Adm. Gheorghe Marin: October 2006–present

CAROL I, PRINCE AND KING OF ROMANIA, 10 MAY 1866–11 OCTOBER 1914 The forty-eight–year-long reign of Carol I, the founder of Hohenzollern dynasty 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 artillery in Dresda. On 10 May 1866 he became the prince of Romania. In spite of the profound reforms Cuza had enacted, Carol was taking leadership of a Romania that still bore the burden of the feudal and Oriental infrastructure. Loyal and energetic, hardworking and rigorous, Carol remained a true Prussian—as evidenced in his spirit and acts—who was nevertheless devoted to his new country and watched the accomplishment of the three fundamental objectives for Romania: political stability, modernization of the country, and the continuation of the dynasty. During the War of Independence of 1877–1878, Prince Carol commanded the Russian and Romanian troops that faced Plevna and sustained the command individuality and continuity of the Romanian Armed Forces on the Bulgarian front. The victory and subsequent recognition of Romania’s independence raised the country to the rank of kingdom, and Carol and his wife, Elisabeth of Wied (1843–1916), were crowned king and queen on 10 May 1881, a day that was celebrated as a national holiday. Carol decided that his crown would be made in the workshops of the arsenal of the armed forces out of the steel forged from the Turkish cannons captured in Plevna. After the defeat France had suffered in Sedan, in 1870, and taking into account not only his roots but also the shift in the balance of power in Europe and the hegemonic tendencies of the czarist empire, Carol I approved the secret signing by his prime minister, I. C. Bra˘tianu, of a political and military alliance treaty in Vienna on 30 October 1883 with the Central Powers. In July 1913, in his capacity as sovereign of a regional power, the king chaired in Bucharest the peace conference that ended the Second Balkan War. King Carol I died on the morning of 11 October 1914 at the Peles¸ Castle in the Prahova Valley in the Carpathians, his soul having been shattered by the 3 August 1914 decision of the Crown Council stating Romania’s neutrality, despite the provisions of the secret treaty signed in 1883. THE INSTITUTION OF THE ROMANIAN CLERGY To continue the Christian belief and tradition according to which the Romanian princes never started a battle without a priestly blessing, in 1861 under Cuza a church was set up within the 1st Line Regiment with the intention of creating a position of chaplain. On 6 April 1870, Prince Carol promulgated High Decree No. 603, which approved the Regulation for the Clergy of the Permanent Army. According to this regulation, each independent regiment or battalion 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 part of the unit’s staff. Between 1915 and 1920 within the High General Headquarters of the Romanian Armed Forces, the religious service functioned and was led by a rector of the chaplains, P. C. Econom Constantin Nazarie. More than 250 chaplains were alongside the Romanian soldiers in the ditches of World War I. In 1921, based on the law on the organization of the military clergy, the bishopric of the armed forces was built in Alba Iulia in the cathedral of Crowning and headed by an inspector of the military clergy (bishop) appointed by the Holy Assembly of the Orthodox Church. He was given the rank of brigadier general. Throughout World War II, the chaplains remained by the soldiers’ side on both the western and eastern fronts. On 22 August 1948 the Communist authorities disbanded the military clergy through an order of the 3rd Military Region from Cluj-Napoca. On 10 October 1995, in the Synod Hall of the patriarchal residence located in Bucharest, the All-Happy Priest Teoctist, patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and Gheorghe Tinca, the minister of national defense, in the presence of the chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Dumitru Cioflina˘, signed the Protocol on the Organization and Performance of the Religious Assistance within the Romanian Armed Forces. On 6 November 2000, the Parliament of Romania adopted Law No. 195 on establishing and organizing the military clergy within the structures of the defense system: the Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of the Interior, Romanian Service of Intelligence, Foreign Intelligence Service, Guard and Protection Service, and Special Transmission Service.

THE LAW ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMED FORCES OF ROMANIA Both the Constitution of Romania, issued in 1866, and the basic liberal law on the organization of the armed forces with the amendments introduced by conservatives in 1872 and 1874 formed the legislative frame necessary to develop the Romanian military system. Thus, article 118 of the constitution stated the citizens’ obligation to take part in the regular army, militias, or citizens’ guards. According to the liberal law, approved on 23 June 1868, the provision of the law issued under Cuza was retained; it stated that all the men between the ages of twenty and fifty had the duty to carry arms and serve in the 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 dorobant¸i and front guards, militias, the city guard, and the masses. The 1872 law stated that the permanent army and troops of dorobant¸i and ca˘la˘ras¸i 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 of Szathmary was born in Cluj (the main city of Transylvania) into an old family of Romanian boyars who originated from Satu Mare (a town in northern Transylvania). After attending the Calvinist college in Cluj, Szathmary continued 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 Ottoman armies in the first stage of the Crimean War, he installed his photography studio and equipment weighing 60 kilograms in a tent on the shore of the Danube on the first front line, between Oltenit¸a and Silistra. He took more than 200 photos of great accuracy and high artistic value that showed the battlefield, defense structure, camps, armament, fighters, and commanders of both sides. The photos were printed in his Bucharest workshop and collected in an album entitled The Russian–Turkish War of 1853 and 1854. Unfortunately, no picture was preserved in its entirety. The album was displayed at the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1855 and offered to the royals of the period. Szathmary’s album was recognized as the first photographic report in the world, having been compiled before the work that British photographer Roger Fenton did on the Crimean Peninsula. During the War of Independence 1877–1878, Szathmary, in his capacity of official photographer of His Majesty Prince Carol I, was part of the team of artists that accompanied the High General Headquarters of the Romanian army to the Bulgarian front. Szathmary set up his studio in the photography branch of the Sanitary Service commanded by General Carol Davilla. It was Szathmary who took the photographs of the General Headquarters in Poradim, the batteries located on the shore of the Danube, the Romanian emergency vehicles, the various camps of the Romanian and Russian army, the uniforms’ insignia, and the portraits of the Romanian and Russian soldiers and commanders. THE AMERICAN BRIGADIER GENERAL GEORGE POMUTZ, 1818–1882 George Pomut¸ (Pomutz in English) was the first American citizen of Romanian 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 to the current border between Romania and Hungary), to Romanian parents, Ioan and Victoria. He had two brothers, Constantin and Ioan, and all three children were baptized in the Orthodox religion. After he graduated from primary school and high school in the Hungarian town of Kaposvar, he attended the Law University of Pesta and became a magistrate in Kaposvar. In 1848, after the outbreak of revolution in Hungary, Pomutz joined the young Hungarian armed forces (the Honved) at the rank of captain, performing his service in the fortified town of Komarom in western Hungary on the shore of the Danube. He did not take part in the military actions against the Hapsburgs. In 1849, after the suppression of the revolution, Pomutz and other Hungarian revolutionaries emigrated to the United States. He arrived in New York on 15 February 1850. Along with other Hungarian immigrants, he helped to establish a community in Iowa called New Buda. On 15 March 1855 he received American citizenship. After the beginning of the American Civil War on 2 April 1861, George Pomutz answered the summons of the governor of Iowa and joined the 15th Infantry Regiment as a lieutenant. Thanks to his experience and legal knowledge, he was soon promoted to the rank of deputy chief of the regiment. The most important battle Pomutz took part in was the Battle of Shiloh. He was seriously wounded on 6 April 1862. In 1863, Pomutz was promoted to major and on the 1 August 1864 he took over the command of the 15th Infantry regiment during the siege of Atlanta. On 23 October 1864, he temporarily commanded the Old Iowa Brigade under General Sherman. In November 1864, Pomutz was a lieutenant colonel and in October 1865 he received the designation of voluntary colonel of the United States Army. Recognizing Pomutz’s merits and services during the war, on 22 June 1867 the Department of War awarded him and 1,366 other officers the title of brigadier general 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 the post of consul in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He assumed the position and in 1874, he was promoted to the post of general consul. In that capacity, Pomutz welcomed 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 continued to live in Saint Petersburg, where he died in poverty on 12 October 1882 from a cerebral hemorrhage.

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The War of Independence 1877–1878

The insurrections that occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the summer of 1875 brought the Eastern issue to the attention of the Great Powers of Europe. Romania initially adopted a neutral position, but because the Ottoman government had rejected the Romanian government’s proposals on the independence issue, Romania started negotiations with Russia. They drafted a convention in the Crimean resort town of Livadia and signed it on 16 April 1877. The convention allowed the Russian army to pass through Romania in case of war against the Ottoman Empire, while Russia guaranteed the integrity of the Romanian territory. The Romanian War of Independence started at more or less the same time as the bombing of the Romanian towns located on the shore of the Danube— Ca˘la˘ras¸i, Oltenit¸a, Bechet—by the Ottoman artillery on 8 May 1877. The Ottoman retaliations resulted from the Russian forces’ incursions onto Romanian territory and Prince Carol’s refusal to oppose them. The next day, the Romanians bombed the Ottoman garrison of Vidin, on the southern Danube shore. Shortly thereafter, the two chambers of the Romanian Parliament passed resolutions declaring a state of war between Romania and the Ottoman Empire. That allowed the minister of foreign affairs, Mihail Koga˘lniceanu, to announce the declaration of independence on 9 May: ‘‘In a state of war, having the ties with the Porte broken, what are we? We are independents, we are a nation in ourselves.’’78 Initially, the Russians refused the military cooperation proposed by the Romanians, but facing an impending defeat in Plevna, Grand Duke Nicolae had to request military assistance from Prince Carol. The assistance was granted and the Romanian troops started crossing the Danube on 20 August 106

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1877, but only after the Russian high command had accepted the Romanian individuality and unity of command. Prince Carol, the supreme commander of the Romanian army, took over the command of the troops located in front of the Plevna garrison (on Bulgarian territory). His chief of staff was the Russian general Totleben. Plevna was extremely well defended through a system of defense structures full of trenches and twenty redoubts and was equipped with great firing capacity thanks to its possession of Krupp cannons that were superior to those of the Russians. An energetic and competent Turkish general, Osman Pasha, commanded the garrison. Although they had no combat experience, the 40,000 Romanian soldiers (among whom there were volunteers from Transylvania and Bucovina) closely surrounding Plevna compensated for that deficiency with a heroism that amazed foreign observers. A defining moment of the war was the conquest of the redoubt Grivit¸a I on 30 August. After three assaults, the allied Russian and Romanian troops did not succeed in conquering the Plevna fortification and chose to surround it directly. Gen. Osman Pasha was forced to surrender on 30 November 1877 after a long siege and his failure to break the lines of the besiegers. At the same time as the siege of Plevna, battles were fought between 7 and 9 November 1877 to conquer the garrison of Rahova, from where 3,000 Ottomans were threatening the rear line of the allied armies. After Plevna was conquered, the Romanian troops took military action against the Ottoman garrison of Vidin. In this campaign, the town of Smaˆrdan (currently on Bulgarian territory, on the southern part of the Danube) was conquered on the 12 January 1878. While land operations were being carried out, the Romanian navy attacked the Ottoman ships on the Danube. The torpedo boat Swallow, which had a Russian and Romanian crew, sank the Ottoman monitor Duba Seiyfi on Ma˘cin (a branch of the Danube) on 12 May 1877, and a coastal battery of sailors sank the armored Ottoman monitor Podgoritza on 7 November 1877. After the war, in spite of the important Romanian military contribution to the victory (the Romanians had more than 10,000 casualties), and despite the provisions of the Russo-Romanian Military Convention dated 16 April 1877, Russia took the liberty of continuing to traverse Romanian territory en route to Bulgaria. The czarist empire took, in the Treaty of San Stefano dated 19 March 1878, the counties located in southern Bessarabia: Cahul, Bolgrad, and Ismail, offering Dobrudja and the Danube Delta in exchange. In 1878, the tension escalated to the point that Czar Alexander II threatened the takeover and disarmament of the Romanian Armed Forces, which had already occupied defense positions on the border of the cities of Calafat, Slatina, and Taˆrgovis¸te, 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 Romanian Armed Forces, alongside the Russian army, during the War of Independence demonstrated the remarkable heroism of many officers and soldiers. These men’s military deeds were indisputable, and the men turned into legends whose names were later bestowed on streets and places in Bucharest and other cities. Over the course of three attacks, the Romanian troops performed against the redoubt Grivit¸a I from the defensive works of the Plevna fortifications on 30 August 1877. During this time, many fighters heroically sacrificed their lives: Maj. Gheorghe S¸ont¸u, the commander of two companies of the Dorobant¸i 10th Regiment, and Capt. Valter Ma˘ra˘cineanu were killed during the first assault, right after Ma˘ra˘cineanu reached the edge of the citadel, holding 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 the Plevna front, saw deeds of great bravery by the commander of the 2nd Mountain Troops battalion, Maj. Alexandru Candiano Popescu (1841–1901), and for the volunteer from Banat, Capt. Moise Grozea (1844–1919); Pvt. Ion Grigore, Sgt. Gheorghe Stan, and Corp. Vasile Nica were also awarded the high order of the Star of Romania for capturing an Ottoman battle flag. In the battles fought on 7 November 1877 to conquer the citadel of Rahova Major, Dimitrie Giura˘scu and Constantin Ene, along with many other officers and soldiers, died heroically. After the war, two of the cannons captured from Ottomans were sent to Romania in order to be placed on the two sides of Michael the Brave’s statue in the center of Bucharest.

THE THIRD BATTLE OF PLEVNA, 30 AUGUST 1877 In order to conquer the redoubt of Grivit¸a (built in the shape of a horseshoe), which was part of the strong defensive works of the Plevna fortifications, the 3rd and 4th Romanian infantry divisions were being concentrated and supported by two Russian battalions. The attack started with a series of artillery fires, followed by the advance of the Romanian battalions under the artillery response of the Ottomans. Ninety percent of the officers and 50 percent of the troops from the battalions of the first assault wave were killed. From the battalion commanded by Capt. Valter Ma˘ra˘cineanu, the only officer who remained alive was the first lieutenant, Ioan Culcer, who would later become

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a general during the Balkan War in 1913 and the battles of 1916–1917. After the three heroic, but ineffective, assaults of 30 August 1877, the redoubt of Grivit¸a continued to resist until 5 p.m., when the 4th Romanian Infantry Division tried a final attack. The assault by the dorobant¸i and the mountain troops under the leadership of Maj. Alexandru Candiano Popescu resulted in a victory at 7 p.m. but paid a price of numerous casualties. But this conquest of the redoubt became one of the most glorious pages in the Romanian military history. Only after an extended siege and a final attempt by Osman Pasha to break the Russian–Romanian encirclement were the defensive works of Plevna broken on 28 November 1877. The Romanian engineering troops, together with other units led by Gen. Alexandru Cernat, played an important role in this victory.79

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

After winning state independence, the Romanian Armed Forces went through a significant development and modernization process that touched all its components. The new independent status of the country, which also had a new territorial configuration (southern Bessarabia was returned to Russia, while Dobrudja once again fell within Romania’s borders) made the provision of the 1858 Treaty of Paris a flimsy one, limiting the strength of the Romanian Armed Forces. ‘‘On March 26, 1881, Romania was proclaimed a kingdom and Carol I became king of Romania. The 1878–1913 period was characterized by stability, consolidation by the state institutions, and economic advance, Romania being named the Belgium of the Orient. Half of the twelve million Romanians were, however, under foreign rule at the beginning of the 20th century: those in Bucovina under the rule of the Hapsburg Empire, those in Bessarabia under Russian rule and those in Transylvania under Hungarian rule (Transylvania had been incorporated into Hungary losing its autonomy in the wake of the 1867 Austrian–Hungarian pact).’’80 Several laws on national defense and the organization of the armed forces were issued in 1882, 1908, 1910, and 1913, each of them leading to changes in the structure of the Romanian military system in line with international evolutions in the field. In 1882 the General Staff of the Armed Forces emerged as a new structure with a role that extended beyond its previous consultative one: it took on the tasks of drafting the mobilization and campaign plans, of organizing and training troops, of training the command and staff officers, and of drafting plans for the preparation for defense of the economy, territory, and population. In the fall of 1889, the Superior School of War opened in Bucharest on 110

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what is now S¸tirbei Voda˘ Street. The school was designated for the superior training of staff officers, and the course lasted two years. As a symbol of the sovereignty and independence of the young Kingdom of Romania that was now fully involved in developing and modernizing in line with Western trends after centuries of strong Eastern influence, the Romanian Armed Forces was a permanent presence of the public life of the Romanians and their leaders. Military parades and ceremonies were organized on the occasion of any celebration or official anniversary. In 1909, the minister of war signed a contract with engineer Aurel Vlaicu to build in the workshops of the armed forces an airplane based on a Romanian concept. This plane was successfully tested on 17 June 1910. In the fall of the same year, Aurel Vlaicu participated with his plane in military maneuvers, performing his first mission for the benefit of the armed forces. Besides Aurel Vlaicu, the engineers Traian Vuia and Henri Coanda˘ made a remarkable contribution to the development of international aeronautics, realizing many important inventions. Over the course of the next few years, the first aviation school was set up (Chitila, 1911), and the first aviation park comprised four H. Farman airplanes, model 1910. On 1 April 1913, the Romanian parliament approved a law on the organization of the military aeronautics, and aviation became a branch within the armed forces, participating with eighteen airplanes in the second war of the Balkans in the summer of 1913. Along with the modernization and development of the military institutions and structures, the turn of the century meant a process of building the appropriate military establishments. Between 1859 and 1877, the main trends in the field of construction had been established, and several remarkable buildings that belonged exclusively to the Ministry of War were erected in the largest cities of the country.

DEVELOPMENT AND MODERNIZATION OF THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES In 1891, the permanent line regiments merged with those of the dorobant¸i, 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, Focs¸ani, Na˘moloasa, and Galat¸i were fortified. According to the law dated 29 March 1908, military service was performed by men aged between twenty-one and forty, and consisted of seven years of active 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, three years for cavalry, and four years for the navy. Men aged between nineteen and twenty-one were drilled in preregimental training. At this time, the main components of the Romanian Armed Forces were the active forces, composed of infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers, pioneers, and machine-gun sections; the militias; and the territorial forces. The units of the armed forces were structured into brigades, divisions, and army corps. Although there were preoccupations with modernization and organization, the budget allocated for the period before World War I was lower than that of the neighboring countries. In Romania, it slowly increased from 3 percent to 19 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), while Russia allocated 25 percent of its GDP for its armed forces, Bulgaria allocated 25 percent, and Austria–Hungary allocated 15 percent. The scarce resources Romania allocated for the armed forces during this period explain the insufficient supply of ammunition (for only four combat days in 1913) and the lack of sanitary supplies.

AUREL VLAICU, 1882–1913 Aurel Vlaicu was born on 19 November 1882 in Bint¸int¸i, in the county of Hunedoara, into a family of peasants. In 1909, Vlaicu built and successfully tested 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 a distance of 50 meters, at 4 meters above the ground. The demonstrations Vlaicu made on 1, 11, and 29 August 1910 situated the first plane he built at the level of the highest performances reached until that moment.81 Taking part in the military maneuvers in the fall of 1910, Vlaicu proved the usefulness of a flying machine in surveillance, reconnaissance, and liaison missions. Early in the spring of 1912, Vlaicu built an airplane called Vlaicu II that was successfully tested in April of the same year. With that plane, in 1912 and 1913, Vlaicu performed experimental and popularization flights such as the one he flew during an international contest held in Aspern, near Vienna, where more than 200,000 people admired the Romanian construction. At the beginning of 1913, Aurel Vlaicu built his third airplane, a two-seat monoplane, but on 13 September 1913, while attempting to fly over the Carpathians in a flight symbolizing the desire for Romanian unity, the Romanian inventor crashed in Ba˘nes¸ti, 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 and middle school in his home village and high school in the town of Lugoj. He began his studies at the Polytechnic School of Budapest, but after a year he abandoned them in order to transfer to the Faculty of Law, from which he graduated successfully. He also earned a PhD there in 1901. On 27 June 1902, with an interest in and fondness for mechanics, Vuia left for France. On 16 February 1903, Vuia forwarded to the Science Academy of Paris a project entitled ‘‘The Automobile-Airplane Project.’’ Several months later, Traian Vuia forwarded the license of an automobile-airplane to the National Office for the Industrial Property of the French Republic. The document was registered at position no. 3321067 and dated 17 August 1903, and was published two months later. In 1905 Vuia completed the first flying machine in the Hochenios et Schmitt workshops. This plane took a 25 horsepower Serpollet engine. On the 5 February 1906, Traian Vuia presented his airplane to important people of the era, and on 18 March 1906, his plane made its debut flight from a field located near Montesson, France. His success was immediately recognized internationally and mentioned in such publications as L’ae´rophile, L’auto, the New York Herald, L’ae´ronautique, and Nouvelle histoire mondiale 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 tested and 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 to build a helicopter. The prototype was finished in 1920 and tested in Junissy, France.

˘ , 1886–1972 HENRI COANDA Born in Bucharest on 8 June 1886, Henri Coanda˘ studied electromechanical engineering 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 the Aeronautic Hall of Paris. The plane Coanda˘ flew the short distance between Issy and Moulineaux made the well-known engineer Gustave Eiffel wonder and 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, while serving as technical director of Bristol Factories in England, he designed and built monoplanes, biplanes, and hydroplanes. After 1932, Coanda˘ started studying the depressurization effect, and only a year later an invention that applied it was licensed. The invention quickly became popular. Moreover, professor Albert Metral called Coanda˘’s sound study of the same effect the Coanda˘ Effect. The list of Coanda˘ Effect applications includes hypersustainable engines, the French high-speed train, and transport systems in vacuum environments. For his scientific achievements, in 1960 Coanda˘ was awarded the Scientific Research Merit by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In addition, in 1961 he received the Military Medal of French Aeronautics, the Romanian order ‘‘For Merit’’ at the rank of commander, 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 Malmaison barracks, which was rebuilt in 1862. Other military establishments were the armed forces’ arsenal (1862), the weapons manufacture (1863), and the Pyrotechnics of the armed forces (1861). The following buildings were constructed for the use of the armed forces throughout the country: Copou barracks (1875) and the gunpowder factory in Ias¸i, the infantry barracks (1863) in Ploies¸ti, and the flotilla workshop in Galat¸i, on the Danube shore. However, more than half of the members of the military were stationed in substandard conditions, in rented buildings or buildings that were unsuitable for the military activities and requirements. After 1878, thanks to the conditions provided by the new Romanian frontiers (the Peace Treaty of Berlin returned to Russia the territory between the Prut and Dniestr rivers—currently the Republic of Moldova—while Romania regained Dobrudja), the diversity and locations of the military buildings increased. There were buildings for infantry, artillery, engineering, flotilla, military establishments, education, hospitals, training fields and camps, and firing ranges. The first stage consisted of repairing the old and damaged buildings. Then, buildings to lodge troops were temporarily bought or rented. Only in the last two decades of the 19th century were buildings constructed specifically 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 Regiment barracks (in 1898) at 21 S¸tefan Furtuna˘ Street (the present-day Mircea Vulca˘nescu Street), the Dorobant¸ilor barracks (in 1886), and the Vaˆna˘torilor barracks (also in 1886). During the same period, between 1866 and 1909, the Bucharest fortification system was erected. Seventy kilometers long, it was shaped like a belt and had eighteen forts that could shelter several hundred cannons and 33,000 soldiers.84

DECORATIONS, 1859–1998 The first bestowal of a Romanian medal dates to the era of Prince Barbu S¸tirbey, the voievode of Wallachia. After him, Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza created the medals of Pro Military Virtue (1860), Military Virtue (1864), and the Union Order. Due to the restrictions the Porte imposed on Romania, it was not until 1872 that Carol I earned the right to issue two medals, Bene Meriti and the Military Virtue, and an honorific insignia. After the War of Independence of 1877–1878, the winning of national independence and the recognition of the new judicial statute of Romania allowed, through adequate legislation, the establishment of the Star of Romania order.85 This legislation was introduced again through the Emergency Ordinance of the Government of Romania No. 11, dated 29 June 1998, as the highest Romanian national order to reward exceptional civil and military service to Romania. The order comprises six levels, or ranks. Other developments after Romania’s independence were the instatements of the Danube Crossing and Elisabeth crosses, and the Independence Defenders and Loyal Service medals. These additions to the existing insignia created a true system and hierarchy of Romanian decorations. The proclamation of the Kingdom of Romania in 1881 was marked by the establishment of the second national order, the Crown of Romania. In addition, the highest national distinction, the Order of Carol I, was established in commemoration of 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 created to recognize heroism and bravery. This order, originally called Michael the Brave, and was renamed on 18 October 1944 the Order of Michael the Brave with Swords. The law on reorganization of the national orders of Romania, dated 18 April 1932, brought about changes in the hierarchy of the Romanian decorations, insignia ribbons, and their classes, and it was followed in 1937 by the law on the national orders and medals awarded in wartime, with an application 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 a few days after Romania joined World War II.

THE ROMANIAN NAVY In 1883, five years after Dobrudja was returned to Romania, the country had a fluvial and maritime border that was approximately 1,000 kilometers long. At this time, the Romanian navy consisted of a flotilla, which had six ships of differing tonnage, five barges, and a torpedo section; the flotilla’s arsenal; and navy training schools. In 1886, the navy contained 54 officers, 44 civilians, 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, the gunboat Grivit¸a, and the torpedo boats Na˘luca and Sborul; the Danube Division, which comprised the warship Romaˆnia, the gunboats Bistrit¸a, Oltul, Siretul, and Alexander the Good; the torpedo boat S¸oimul; the flotilla’s crew depot; four companies of harbormen providing fixed and mobile defense; the flotilla’s arsenal; the Navigation and Harbors Inspectorate; and schools, depots, and workshops. In 1914, the Romanian navy consisted of the Sea Division and the Danube Division, which comprised the Danube squadron, the Galat¸i–Tulcea–Sulina defense group, and the Cernavoda˘–Fetes¸ti defense group. The strength of the navy before Romania’s entrance into World War I was 2,563 sailors, out of whom 147 were officers, 98 were warrant officers and civilian craftsmen, and 2,242 were troops and reenlisted men.

REPRESSING THE GREAT PEASANT UPRISING OF 1907 Erupting on 8 February 1907, on the land leased to the Jewish Ficher brothers located in the village of Fla˘maˆnzi in Botos¸ani County (in the northeastern part of the country), the peasant uprising spread all over the territory of Moldavia and touched even more violently Muntenia and Oltenia counties. The boyars’ houses were set on fire, the mayors’ houses were attacked, and the rebel peasants even tried to enter the county capitals. There were indications of Russian encouragement of the uprising as well as peasant attacks on the military. Horrible atrocities against civilians were reported. Invoking the regulation of the garrison service, on 26 February 1907 the government 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 March 1907 emergency headquarters was set up in Ias¸i (in northeastern Moldavia) to maintain order. On 12 March 1907, the country’s state of siege was acknowledged for the first time, and Prime Minister D. A. Strudza, along with Minister of the Interior I. C. Bra˘tianu and Gen. Alexandru Averescu, issued a plan to reestablish order and public safety. The kingdom was thus divided into twelve areas of operation, and the intervention forces against the rebel peasants had, depending on the situation, the size of a platoon or a battalion. In this severely repressive operation, the military used the new Manlicher machine guns and Krupp cannons. Due to the massive and brutal intervention of the armed forces and the great number of peasants who were shot (a couple of hundred) and arrested (a couple of thousand), the danger that had threatened the stability of the new state was eliminated in only eight days.87

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Romanian Participation in the Second Balkan War

The campaign of the Romanian Armed Forces in Bulgaria during the Second Balkan War in June–July 1913 affirmed Romania’s status as the main regional military power. However, it was a short and striking war without casualties or armed conflicts with the Bulgarian troops. As a consequence of Bulgaria’s attack on Serbia on 16 June 1913, the conservative government led by Titu Maiorescu, with the approval of King Carol I, chose a military option to solve conflicting Romanian and Bulgarian claims. The Romanian aim was to ensure a strategic frontier in southern Dobrudja, and to deter an eventual Bulgarian hegemony supported by the Russian and Austro–Hungarian empires in the Balkans. The mobilization of the Romanian Armed Forces began on 20 June 1913. The Romanian troops immediately crossed the Danube, passed through Dobrudja, and occupied the towns of Silistra, Turtucaia, Dobrici, and Balcic without fighting. In order to avoid the entrance of the Romanian troops into Sofia, on 5 July 1913, the Radoslavoff government sent to the Maiorescu government an armistice note, which led to the signing of a peace treaty on 28 July 1913 in Bucharest. The treaty gave the southern Cadrilater district back to Romania and brought a significant international prestige to the Romanian kingdom. However, that instant success hid serious logistical and organizational deficiencies of the Romanian Armed Forces that would be paid for only three years later. For example, during the campaign in Bulgaria, the great enemy of the Romanian soldiers was cholera, which could not be cured. MOBILIZATION OF THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES, 1913 Romania called for mobilization on 3 July 1913, and the action started two days later. The High War Headquarters of the Armed Forces was divided into 118

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two components: the High Headquarters, based in the city of Corabia on the Danube shore, was in charge of the operational command of the armed forces; the General Staff in Bucharest was in charge of the office-based activities and was subordinate to the Ministry of War.88 During this period, the Romanian Armed Forces was composed of five army corps, headquarters, ten division commands, ten mountain-troop battalions, ten infantry regiments, eight cavalry regiments, ten artillery regiments of six batteries each equipped with 75 mm cannons, two fortress artillery regiments, one siege artillery regiment, five pioneer battalions, two telegraph companies, one fortress pioneer company, one engineer battalion, one transport battalion, one special battalion, and an aeronautic service. Beginning in November 1913, to those forces were added five light howitzer divisions (105 mm), one heavy howitzer division (150 mm), and a mountain cannon division (75 mm). The combat forces in peacetime comprised 122 active battalions, with 180 machine guns, 80 reserve battalions, 83 squadrons, 126 field gun batteries, 15 howitzer battalions, (105 mm caliber), 2 heavy howitzer batteries, and 2 mountain batteries. The total strength of the armed forces was 6,149 officers and cadets, and 94,170 reenlisted and troops. For the campaign performed in Bulgaria, Romania mobilized five reserve corps, two cavalry divisions, and one cavalry brigade. In total, the mobilized army contained 247 battalions, 93 squadrons, and 180 batteries, and had a strength of 10,000 officers and 460,000 soldiers, which represented 6 percent of the country’s population at the time.

THE ADVANCE OF THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES INTO BULGARIA Bechet and Corabia were the two places where the Romanian High Headquarters placed crossing points at the Danube. The first, located across from Rahova, was set on military boats, and the second was located where the Isker flows into the Danube and set on a pontoon bridge. The aim was to exploit the Bulgarian roads and railways. Protected by watchmen, the Romanian troops started crossing the Danube on 25 July 1913. Even before all of the troops had time to cross the Danube, and before all the divisions could finish organizing and grouping themselves, the High General Headquarters ordered the troops to continue the advancement in order to control the northern ends of the narrow valleys of the Balkans, before the Bulgarian forces had deployed 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 Dobrudja controlled the territory between the border and the Turtucaia–Balcic line, and occupied the city and fortress of Silistra on 20 July 1913. On the same day, the Romanian troops entered the Cadrilater district, which was under Romanian control, and Romanian garrisons were built in the former Bulgarian cities of Silistra, Balcic, Bazargic, Turtucaia, and Curtbunar.

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From the Danube to the Tisa River 1914–1919

The beginning of World War I, in the summer of 1914, found the kingdom and the armed forces of Romania in a delicate and contradictory situation: although the national goal of the Romanians was the union with their brothers from Transylvania, Romania had signed a secret alliance with the Central Powers in 1883. Unlike the agreement with the Central Powers, the Entente had realized the Romanians’ secular aspirations. Having to follow political decisions, the General Staff had nothing to say, neither in 1914 nor 1916. The decision of neutrality endorsed by the Crown Council session on 21 July 1914, which more or less denounced the Treaty of 1883, allowed the military to begin drafting war plans against the Central Powers. The neutral position Romania adopted, together with the defeat of the Serbian armed forces, led in 1915 to major difficulties in the western allies’ ability to provide the necessary supplies to the Romanian Armed Forces. The increased number of units did not have the appropriate equipment or combat technique. The shortfalls of the campaign in Bulgaria during the Second Balkan War increased rather than diminished, as did the moral and professional deficiencies of Gen. Dumitru Iliescu, who had replaced Gen. Vasile Zottu in the position of chief of the General Staff (the latter was suspected of cooperating with the enemy). To a great extent, all these factors led to the severe defeat the Romanian Armed Forces suffered in late 1916. At the same time, during the years of neutrality, there were myriad illegitimate business deals centering on the purchasing of supplies and equipment. All this increased the chaos, as well as a certain degree of corruption, which had already existed within the military body. Moreover, the liberal government, led by I. C. Bra˘tianu, had underestimated the enemy and did not understand the political and geostrategic context or the position of the Entente’s forces. 121

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Right after signing the military convention with the powers of Entente, on 4 August 1916, the Romanian Armed Forces began to mobilize, and on the night of 15 August 1916 launched a northern offensive in Transylvania against Austria-Hungary, and went on the defensive on the Bulgarian border in the south. Actuated by the idea of liberating Transylvania, the Romanian battalions crossed the Carpathians, winning a quick and facile victory in the fights carried out for the liberation of Bras¸ov on 16 August 1916. However, the euphoria of that success was immediately canceled out by the severe defeat the Romanian troops suffered on the southern front at the hands of the German 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 attacking, near the village of Fla˘maˆnda, the German and Bulgarian troops commanded by General von Mackensen. This operation was known as the Turn of Fla˘maˆnda. At the same time, on the Transylvanian front, the German, Austrian, and Hungarian troops, strengthened with forces brought from the western front and led by General E. von Falkenhayn, started a strong counteroffensive. This German counteroffensive led to an early stop of the Romanian operation on the southern part of the Danube on 22 September 1916. In spite of the heroic resistance of the Romanian battalions, the forces of the Central Powers succeeded in forcing their way in to the Jiului Valley, conquering the city of Taˆrgu Jiu on 2 November 1916, and occupying Oltenia and Muntenia counties in the former province of Wallachia. Meanwhile, the German and Bulgarian units crossed the Danube at Zimnicea on 11 November 1916. The last Romanian military resistance to defend the capital was broken during the battles of Neajlov and Arges¸ rivers, so that on 23 November 1916 the troops of the Central Powers entered Bucharest after the authorities and the royal family had left hastily for Moldavia. During the severe winter of 1916–1917, a spectacular recovery of the Romanian Armed Forces took place, determined by several factors. First, the leadership of the armed forces was purged of incompetent elements. Gen. Constantin Prezan (assisted by the future marshal, Maj. Ion Antonescu, who functioned as chief of operations) was appointed chief of the High Headquarters and Gen. Alexandru Averescu was appointed commander of the 2nd Army. Second, the Entente’s combat mate´riel and weapons started to arrive in bulk from Russia, and this was followed by the energetic contribution of the French military mission led by Gen. Henri Berthelot. Third was the promise King Ferdinand had made to the soldier peasants during their meeting in the village of Ra˘ca˘ciuni on 23 March 1917 regarding the agrarian reform and universal suffrage. A special role in preserving the morale and will to fight of King Ferdinand and his armed forces, as well as in consolidating Romania’s

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diplomatic connections and international political and military alliances, was played by Queen Marie, niece of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Czar Alexander II of Russia. In the summer of 1917, three big battles took place. The first, which occurred in Ma˘ra˘s¸ti on 11–19 July 1917, was an offensive operation launched by the units of the second army commanded by Gen. Alexandru Averescu in cooperation with the Russian 4th Army. Although the strategic significance of these battles on the front as a whole was reduced, and the operation was interrupted because Kerensky’s government decided to suspend Russian participation, this battle marked the first time in eleven months of war that the German troops ran away and were defeated by the Romanians. The other two battles were defensive: Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti (24 July–6 August 1917) and Oituz (26 July–9 August 1917), with the Romanians’ great victory consisting of their heroic resistance and annihilation of General von Mackensen’s plans to defeat the Romanian Armed Forces and expel Romania from the war. The Romanians’ advantage on the battlefield could not be exploited because of events that occurred in Russia, where Lenin had taken power and signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, forcing Romania to negotiate an armistice and peace with the Germans in the village of Buftea, near Bucharest, and to sign a draconic peace with the Central Powers on 7 May 1918. On 9 April 1918, the Country’s Assembly in Chis¸ina˘u voted by a large majority to unite Bessarabia with the Kingdom of Romania. Similarly, a few months later, on 15 November 1918, the General Congress of Bucovina voted unanimously in Cerna˘ut¸i (the provincial capital) to unite the province with the mother country, Romania. Meanwhile, as the military situation on the western front was changing in favor of the Entente’s powers, and as the Austro–Hungarian Empire was dying out, the Transylvanian lieutenant Iuliu Maniu (a future preeminent leader of the rightist party), coming from the Italian front, found in Vienna five thousand disciplined Romanian military of the 64th Ora˘s¸tie Regiment. Taking over the command of these troops, as well as the command of the sixty thousand Romanians from Transylvania serving in the Austro–Hungarian army, Iuliu Maniu maintained order for two months (October–November 1918) in the former Hapsburg capital, which was on the verge of breaking out in total anarchy. In Alba Iulia, Transylvania, on 1 December 1918, the 1,228 delegates of the National Assembly, supported by another hundred thousand Romanians, voted for the union of the provinces of Transylvania and Banat with Romania. Because of the defeat the armies of the Central Powers suffered on all fronts starting in the summer of 1918, Romania—placed under the burden of the Peace of Bucharest, which returned the province of Dobrudja to Bulgaria and subordinated the economy to Germany—initialized the second mobiliza-

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tion of its armed forces on 28 October 1918. However, this mobilization could not be executed until March of 1919 due to logistical difficulties and the poor transportation capabilities. Right after the Great Union of 1 December 1918, the reunited young Romanian state found itself threatened from the east and the west by two Bolshevik powers: Lenin’s Soviet Russia and Bela Kuhn’s Hungarian Soviet Republic. To restore peace, authority, and order in Transylvania, a first Romanian 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 a few weeks, Kuhn’s units attacked Miskolcz’s Czechoslovakian units and then the Romanian units situated on the left side of the Tisa River, winning occasional victories. The Romanian counteroffensive, which was launched on 31 July 1919 through a strong artillery bombing, preceded the crossing of the Tisa and concluded rapidly on 4 August 1919, when the Romanian troops entered Budapest, obliterating the Lenin-inspired so-called Hungarian Councils Republic. During the Romanian army’s four-month-long occupation of Hungary, its behavior was proper and had a strong humanitarian character in its treatment toward the civil population. The extent of Romania’s participation in World War I was that in 1,087 days 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 produced by the Central Powers.

MOBILIZATION OF THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES, 1916 According to the mobilization plan for the year 1916–1917 and the operational documents known as Hypothesis Z, at the order of the Romanian Supreme Command, during the night of 27–28 August 1916 the following forces 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 Focs¸ani-Na˘moloasaGalat¸i • stationary parts and internal formations On the whole, there were 336 battalions mobilized (with 413 field machine guns and 161 position machine guns); 104 squadrons (with 410 machine guns); and 379 batteries consisting of 55 artillery guns, 233 field batteries, 13 mountain batteries, 32 heavy batteries, 20 batteries that could be placed in different positions, and 26 fixed batteries. The total mobilized force comprised 833,601 soldiers, out of whom 19,843 were officers and cadets and 813,758 were reenlisted and enlisted troops. The operation 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, and 60,758 in the service formations. The operational army comprised structures, services, and branches, of which 90 percent were combat forces and 10 percent were service forces, in the 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 offensive to occupy southern Dobrudja and break the Danube line of defense on a large front; the main concentration of forces aimed to capture the Romanian garrison 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 intervene and support the attacked units. On 23 August 1916, the German and Bulgarian troops launched another attack against the bridgehead in Turtucaia, breaking the main defensive position and moving forward on a front that was almost 10 km long. Engaged on the border between Silistra and Turtucaia, the 9th Romanian Infantry Division did not succeed in supporting the troops in Turtucaia, who were surrounded and annihilated; 160 officers and 6,000 soldiers died or were wounded, 480 officers and 28,000 soldiers were taken prisoner, and only 5,500 military escaped the encirclement. ˘ MA ˆ NDA, THE MANEUVER OF FLA 18–22 SEPTEMBER 1916 In order to balance the situation on the southern front after the drastic defeat suffered in Turtucaia, Gen. Alexandru Averescu thought of an ingenious maneuver. It involved crossing the Danube on Bulgarian territory through the sector of Fla˘maˆnda and then surrounding the German and Bulgarian troops with the Romanian and Russian troops that were positioned in Dobrudja.92 The maneuver started well, causing the headquarters of General von Mackensen to panic, but a torrential rain and a storm broke the pontoon bridge and raised the waters of the Danube. This allowed the Austrian and Hungarian monitors to approach and bomb the passing the Romanian troops. The offensive launched at the same time by General von Falkenhayn in Transylvania forced the Romanian General Headquarters to order the cessation of the Fla˘maˆnda maneuver and the retreat of the troops to the northern shore of the Danube. After the war, in 1918, General von Mackensen acknowledged that if the Romanians had continued the maneuver and the crossing of the Danube, his troops would have been lost.

THE BATTLE FOR BUCHAREST AT THE NEAJLOV AND ARGES¸ RIVERS, NOVEMBER 1916 Facing the concentric advance of the German troops from the northwest and from the south toward Bucharest (the Germans sought to eject Romania from the war), the Romanian General Headquarters decided to defend the capital city on the Neajlov and Arges¸ in what would be called the Romanian Marna battle. On 11 November 1916, the commander of the North Army, Gen. Constantin Prezan, was appointed commander of the Neajlov–Arges Group of Armies.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 armament and technique and the capturing of the operational plan by the enemy in the village of Ga˘es¸ti led to the Romanians’ defeat. As a consequence, the Romanian authorities left hastily for Moldavia, and the troops of the Central Powers entered Bucharest on 23 November 1916.

THE ORDER OF MICHAEL THE BRAVE The Order of Michael the Brave was established through a royal decree dated 26 September 1916, right after Romania joined World War I.94 In the beginning, it did not have any rules attached to it, and the conditions under which it was awarded and worn were not stated; rather, they were established by practice. It was only on 21 December 1916 that the law stated that ‘‘the order is awarded for exceptional deeds of arms to officers that distinguished themselves in front of the enemy.’’ Much later, in 1938, a royal decree laid out the criteria for awarding and wearing the order. The Order of Michael the Brave was awarded exclusively to officers for their exceptional deeds of war, meaning acts performed by unit commanders under enemy fire. These deeds could be acts of personal bravery, initiative, or resistance. In 1936, those who were awarded the order received a uniform comprising a cloak and a hat very similar to those worn by Wallachian voievode Michael the Brave in 1600. The knights of the order put on the uniform on all official occasions, when officers were asked to wear their ceremonial uniforms, and on all national or patriotic celebrations organized by the state. This high Romanian Order of War was awarded to 38 military units of World War I and 302 soldiers of World War I together with 870 others for deeds of arms in the eastern campaign and 415 in the western campaign of World War II. In addition, 211 foreign officers from the United States, Yugoslavia, Russia, England, France, Germany, and Italy received this order during the two world wars.

MARSHAL ALEXANDRU AVERESCU, 1859–1938 Born on the 9 March 1859 in Ismail, Dobrudja, the future marshal of Romania, Alexandru Averescu, graduated from the School of Arts and Crafts in Bucharest (1876), the Divinity School of Dealu Monastery (1881) and the Superior School of War in Torino, Italy (1886). He served as a volunteer in the War of Independence (1877–1878), but in 1879, because of his poor health, 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 School of War (1894–1895). Then, for two decades, until World War I, he held such important military positions as military attache´ in Berlin (1895–1898), commander of the Ros¸iori (cavalry) 4th Regiment (1898–1899), chief of the Organization and Operations Section of the General Staff (1899–1904), commander of the Ros¸iori (cavalry) 1st Brigade (1904–1906), minister of war (1907–1909), commander of the 1st Infantry Division (1909–1911), chief of General Headquarters (1911–1913), and commander of the 1st Army Corps (1914). During World War I, General Averescu commanded the group of southern armies (1916) and the 2nd Army (1916–1918). After the war, enjoying huge popularity and public trust, he served as prime minister from 29 January to 4 March 1918. Subsequent to this, he dedicated himself to political life, holding important state positions: president of the Council of Ministers (13 March 1920–16 December 1921; March 1926–June 1927), minister of finance (1927), and state secretary and councilor to the Crown (1938). In addition to completing a political and military career, Averescu engaged in research and published many works. He is the author of some important military books such as The Tactics (three volumes, issued between 1887 and 1889), The War Game (1903), Officer’s Guidance (1904), Fla˘maˆnda Operation (1924), Daily War Notes: 1916–1918 (2 volumes, 1937), and especially the controversial political-military essay ‘‘The Responsibilities (published in 1918). Averescu also founded the new edition of the magazine Military Romania (1891), and in 1923 he was elected an honorary member of the Romanian Academy. A complex and sometimes controversial personality,95 Marshal Alexandru Averescu was one of the most brilliant military men of his epoch. He died on 1 October 1938.

GENERAL HENRI MATHIAS BERTHELOT The man whom the Romanians would ruin with the nickname ‘‘BigStomached 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 specialist in infantry units deployed in different garrisons in Algeria and France and then 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 military mission to Romania (1916–1917); commander of the 5th Army and the Danube Army in 1918. After World War I, he was appointed governor of the cities of Metz (1919) and Strasbourg (1932), and member of the Superior Council of War (1920). He retired in 1926. Berthelot took part in the campaigns for Tonkin (1883–1885), and in the main battles fought on the French front: Marne 1 (5–12 September 1914), Soisson (12–14 January 1915), Verdun (12 March–10 June 1916), and Marne 2 (15–17 July 1918). On 3 October 1916 Berthelot arrived in Bucharest in the position of chief of the French military mission to Romania,96 which comprised more than 1,400 military, out of which almost 400 were officers. In that capacity he provided advice to the Romanian General Headquarters, being also a general of the Romanian Armed Forces since 1916. He actively participated in rebuilding the army that withdrew to Moldavia (in the winter of 1916–1917) and in drafting the operational plans for the Ma˘ra˘s¸ti, Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti, and Oituz battles fought in the summer of 1917. After the war, General Berthelot was declared an honorary citizen of many cities of Romania, a country where he was highly respected. He died on 28 January 1931.

MARSHAL CONSTANTIN PREZAN, 1861–194297 The future marshal, Constantin Prezan, was born on 27 January 1861 in Butimanu, a village in the district of Ilfov. Prezan graduated from the following educational institutions: the Military School for Infantry and Cavalry Officers in Bucharest (1880), the Artillery and Engineering Special School in Bucharest (1883), and the Artillery and Engineering Application School in Fontainebleau, France (1886). Prezan started his career in the 2nd Engineering Battalion, and then he held such positions as professor at the Artillery and Engineering Application School, Bucharest; delegate of the Ministry of War in Germany (1890); chief of sector for the construction of the fortress of Bucharest (1896); commander of the 13th Infantry Brigade (1904); commander of the 3rd and 7th Infantry Divisions (1910–1911), the 3rd and 4th Army Corps (1914–1915), and the North 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 (October 1918–April 1920).

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Prezan also received the following promotions: second lieutenant (1880), captain (1887), colonel (1901), brigadier general (one star, 1907), division general (two stars, 1914), army corps general (three stars, 1917), and marshal (1930). He stood out in finalizing the fortification works of Bucharest and in commanding some large operational and strategic units during the Second Balkan War, and in the campaigns of 1916–1917 (the Fla˘maˆnda operation in late 1916 and the battle of Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti in summer 1917). He also taught many specialties, 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 born in Pites¸ti on 2 June 1882. He attended the Military School for Infantry and Cavalry 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 to the rank of colonel. He received the rank of brigadier general (one star) in 1931, 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 Romania in 1941, after the victory of the Romanian Armed Forces against the Soviets in Bessarabia. During World War I, Antonescu was chief of the Operations Office in the staff of the North Army (August 1916) and of the Prezan group of armies (November 1916). Until 1920, Lieutenant Colonel Antonescu was chief of the Operational Bureau of General Headquarters. He spent the period between the two world wars first in Paris as a military attache´ in 1922, and then in London and Brussels (1923). He was appointed chief of the Cavalry Training Center (1926–1927), of the Superior School of War (1927–1929; 1931–1933), and of the 5th, 6th, and 8th Ros¸iori (cavalry) brigades (1929– 1931). The highest military and civil positions came next: chief of the General Headquarters (1933–1934), chief of the 3rd Army Corps (November 1938), minister of national defense (1937–1938; 1940), minister of the air force and navy (1938), president of the Council of Ministers and head of state (5 September 1940–23 August 1944), and minister of foreign affairs (January–June 1941). Antonescu demonstrated remarkable skills by drafting the operational plans for the campaigns of 1916 and 1917. He also displayed a strict attitude toward incompetence and corruption, both of which were often found in his subordinates, superiors, or other dignitaries. Acceding to the position of head of state in September 1940, after the abdication 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 January 1941, to suppress the revolt of his former nationalistic and extremist government partners from the Iron Guard. On 22 June 1941, Romania joined Germany in the war against the Soviet Union, with the aim of liberating Bessarabia and northern Bucovina, the historical provinces (territories occupied by the Soviet Union through the forceful policy of an ultimatum given in June 1940). During the entire Eastern Campaign (22 June 1941–23 August 1944), Antonescu remained loyal to Hitler and kept the promises he had made to him, all the while tolerating the secret negotiations carried out by different Romanian groups with representatives of the United Nations in Istanbul and Stockholm. A palace plot instigated by King Michael I (son of Carol II) got Antonescu arrested on 23 August 1944. He was then judged and sentenced to death for war crimes by the People’s Court, which had been instituted by the pro-Soviet Communist authorities who had taken power in Romania on 6 March 1945. He was executed as a criminal of war on 1 June 1946 in Jilava prison.

KING FERDINAND I OF ROMANIA, 1865–192799 Ferdinand was born in 1865 in Sigmaringen Castle in Germany, the second son of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Princess Antonia of Portugal. Ferdinand went through all the steps of the military hierarchy from the rank of second lieutenant (1886) to that of army corps general (1911). In 1913, holding the rank of general, Prince Ferdinand commanded the Romanian Armed Forces during the campaigns of the Second Balkan War. Becoming 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 Romanian.’’ During the Crown Council of 14 August 1916, Ferdinand identified himself with the Romanian national ideal, supporting Romania’s desire to enter the war on Entente’s side. This is why he was later called ‘‘Ferdinand the Loyal,’’ although the House of Hohenzollern de Sigmaringen repudiated him for his decision. After the retreat of the royal family, government, and army to Moldavia, Ferdinand established his residence in Ias¸i and stood out for his dedication and sacrifice, contributing to the recovery of the Romanian Armed Forces and to the victories won in the summer of 1917 in the battles of Ma˘ra˘s¸ti, Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti, and Oituz. He refused to ratify the Bucharest Peace Treaty with the Germans in 1918. He confirmed through decrees the Great Union of 1918

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of Bessarabia (March), Bucovina (November), Transylvania, Banat, and Maramures¸ (all December 1918) with Romania. On 15 November 1922, he and Queen Marie were crowned in the Reunification Cathedral in Alba Iulia, and his crown bore the coat of arms of the reunited provinces of Bessarabia, Bucovina, and Transylvania. In 1923 he promulgated the Constitution of the Kingdom of Romania, one of the most modern fundamental laws of that epoch in Europe. Crown Prince Ferdinand’s wife was Princess—then Queen—Marie (born in 1875 in Eastwell Park, Kent, Great Britain, died in 1938 in Peles¸ Castle, Sinaia, Romania), the niece of Queen Victoria and Czar Alexander II. Ferdinand 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 in Curtea de Arges¸ Monasery, where the Romanian royal dynasty placed its tombs.

ECATERINA TEODOROIU, 1894–1917 Born on 16 January 1894 in the village of Va˘deni in Gorj County into a large family of peasants, Ecaterina Teodoroiu attended primary school in her home village. She then went to Bucharest where she applied to secondary school to accomplish her dream of becoming a teacher. She joined the Romanian Scouts Association, progressing from being a member to leading a scout group. After she graduated from secondary school, Ecaterina wanted to continue her studies, but the events of the summer of 1916 would not allow her to do so. Wishing to contribute to her country’s victory, she volunteered as a nurse to take care of the wounded military brought to Tıˆrgu Jiu and joined the ambulances on the front line in Jiului Valley. While the enemy was threatening to reoccupy all of Oltenia, Ecaterina decided to stay with the soldiers after one of her brothers died defending the mountains of northern Oltenia County. After witnessing the death of another brother, Nicolae, Ecaterina was prompted to request official enlistment in the Gorj 18th Regiment to replace Nicolae, who had fought in that regiment. She became a private in the 8th Company, 2nd Battalion of the Gorj 18th Regiment, which was led by Lt. Gheorghe Gheorghit¸oiu. During the night of 4–5 November 1916, Ecaterina Teodoroiu was taken prisoner together with some comrades. Thanks to her sangfroid, she managed to escape and rejoin her company the same night. Seriously wounded in both legs, on 6 November 1916 Ecaterina Teodoroiu was taken to a hospital in

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Craiova, then to Bucharest, and finally to Ias¸i. After she recovered a little, Ecaterina Teodoroiu started taking care of the wounded soldiers brought to that hospital, too. While she was there, she received the honorary rank of second lieutenant. In the winter of 1917, Ecaterina Teodoroiu left for the Lupeni 43th/59th Regiment, which belonged to the 11th Infantry Division and was deployed to the Dumitres¸ti–Ga˘la˘¸tei area. She asked the commander to put her with a subunit 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 headquarters of the Great Scout Legion of Romania. During the combat actions in battle of Ma˘ra˘s¸ti (July–August 1917), Ecaterina led her platoon, part of the 7th Company, 2nd Battalion. Her platoon was kept in reserve for a period of time, but on 22 August she stopped heeding her commanders’ advice and left for the front line. During the attack that took place 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 the 43rd/59th Infantry Regiment by the regiment’s commander, Constantin Pomponiu. ˘ RA ˘ S¸TI, THE BATTLE OF MA 11–19 JULY 1917 After a preliminary artillery bombing, on the morning of 11 July, the 2nd Army commanded by Gen. Alexandru Averescu, in cooperation with the Russian 4th Army, took the forces of the Central Powers by surprise, starting the offensive in the sector of Ma˘ra˘s¸ti and winning a victory on the very first day. Over the course of the following days, the German and Austro–Hungarian divisions were forced to retreat, and the Romanian and Russian troops conquered 500 square kilometers and liberated thirty villages. After nine days of combat, as the Central Powers started their offensive on the front in Galit¸ia and Bucovina (northern provinces held by the czarist empire), the Russian general Scerbacev—following the order received from the Kerensky government in Moscow—requested that the offensive stop and the Russian troops be replaced and redirected toward Bucovina. Although the success of the 2nd Army could not be repeated, it had a tremendous impact on the morale of the Romanian soldiers who saw for the first time, after eleven months of war, the remarkable German troops led by famous General Mackensen running away, imprisoned and abandoning their armament.100

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˘ RA ˘ S¸ES¸TI, THE BATTLE OF MA 24 July–6 AUGUST 1917 After the severe defeat suffered in Ma˘ra˘s¸ti, the German headquarters planned a combined action involving the German 9th Army and the Gerok group of the 1st Austro–Hungarian Army, aiming to break the defense of the 4th Russian Army in the area of of Focs¸ani-Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti-Adjud and to conquer the Panciu–Ma˘ra˘s¸ti alignment. The German offensive started with the explosion of chemical weapons and was followed by classic artillery firing against the Russian positions, subjecting the Russian 7th Army Corps to critical circumstances. This situation led to the request for the intervention of the Romanian 1st Army, led by Gen. Constantin Christescu (who was later replaced by Gen. Eremia Grigorescu because of friction between Christescu and the Russian generals). In those thirteen days of harsh battle, the powerful German attacks could not break the defense positions of the Romanian 1st Army. During this conflict, there were military deeds that entered the legend of the Romanian Armed Forces. In particular, there was mention of the bayonet attack 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 sector of Moara Alba˘. There was also the heroic counterattack of the 13th Infantry Division in the forest of Ra˘zoare on 6 August. There were also outstanding actions by individuals, too, such as those of Grigore Ignat (who died in the battle of Ra˘zoare), and Ecaterina Teodoroiu (who died in the battle of the sector of Varnit¸a-Muncelu). The troops of the Central Powers did not accomplish their strategic objectives and were defeated by the heroic resistance of the Romanians.101

THE BATTLE OF OITUZ, 26 JULY–9 AUGUST 1917 The headquarters of the Central Powers planned at the same time, and in connection with the battle of Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti, the quick breaking of the Romanian defense 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 of the Russian 9th Army, should have stopped the enemy’s breaking into the oil and coal area of Taˆrgu Ocna-Moines¸ti-Coma˘nes¸ti, thus stablilizing the entire Romanian front. The battles focused on stopping the two attempts of the Austro–Hungarian 8th Army Corps, subordinated to the Gerok group, to enter Trotus¸ului Valley. For almost two weeks, the preparatory artillery firings, followed by frontal and flank attacks and counterattacks by the infantry (espe-

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cially to conquer or defend Cires¸oaia Peak, which at a height of 772 meters dominated Trotus¸ului Valley) succeeded on both sides, and the German and Austro–Hungarian troops did not manage to accomplish their objectives either.102

GEN. EREMIA GRIGORESCU, 1863–1921 Gen. Eremia Grigorescu was born on 28 November 1863 in Taˆrgu Bujor and completed the following courses of study: the Officers’ School (1884), the Artillery and Engineering Application School in Bucharest (1886), two years of mathematics at the Sorbonne in France (1887–1889), and two years of specialization in artillery and administration at the French Ministry of War (1887–1889). After he returned from Paris, Grigorescu served as deputy director and director of the Gunpowder Works of the Armed Forces in Dudes¸ti, near Bucharest (1899–1904), and the head of the Artillery Department (1905). He held various positions such as commander of the 3rd Artillery Brigade (1906), commander and math teacher at the Artillery and Engineering Application School in Bucharest (1904), director of personnel in the Ministry of War (1913), commander of the 14th and 15th Infantry Divisions (1915– 1916), Commander of Group 4 Oituz-Vrancea (1910–1917), general inspector of the armed forces (1918), and minister of war (24 October–28 November 1918). Grigorescu stood out in organizing and conducting the first battle fought at Oituz (August 1916), where the defending of the narrow Carpathian valley started with the motto ‘‘You can’t cross by here!’’ The large unit commanded by Gen. Eremia Grigorescu was called the Iron Division in the battle of Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti when, as the commander of the 1st Army, he successfully faced the group of armies led by General von Mackensen. Gen. Eremia Grigorescu was promoted to brigadier general (one star) in 1915, division general (two stars) in 1917, and army corps (three-star general) in 1918. He died on 21 July 1921.

THE FIRST ROMANIAN ARMY OFFENSIVE IN TRANSYLVANIA, 1919 The Government of the Republic of Councils in Budapest, led by Bolshevik Bela Khun, refused to respect the demarcation line established by the allies in Transylvania, so on the night of 15–16 April 1919, it launched an offensive

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on the Somes¸ and Cris¸ul Repede valleys, advancing toward the cities of Zala˘u and Cluj. Commanded by Gen. Gheorghe Ma˘rda˘rescu, the Romanian troops organized into two groups: the northern group being led by Gen. Traian Mos¸oiu and the southern group being led by General Ma˘rda˘rescu, who immediately started the counteroffensive in order to force the Hungarians to withdraw beyond the Carpathians. Between 30 April and 1 May 1919, the Romanian troops reached the Tisa River and joined the Czechoslovakian troops in Munkacs.103 On 2 May 1919, the Bolshevik government of Bela Kuhn had to start peace negotiations, aiming to buy time to plan and launch a new offensive.

THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES IN BUDAPEST, 1919 Gathering a force of almost 50,000 people and counting on significant artillery support, the Kuhn government launched a surprise attack on 20 July 1919 against the Romanian troops in the Szolnok sector, succeeding in winning Tisa.104 Without expecting the approval of the Supreme Allied Headquarters and using only its own forces, the Romanian headquarters organized the counteroffensive in only four days, ordering the units commanded by generals Traian Mos¸oiu and Aristide Leca to advance from two convergent directions in order to surround the Hungarian forces. Starting on 27 July 1919, the Romanian troops began to cross the Tisa and managed to knock the Hungarian 1st Army Corps out of the battle on 2 August, so that on 3 and 4 August, the first ros¸iori (cavalry) squadrons entered Budapest, followed by the rest of the Romanian troops. Early in August, the Romanian troops succeeded in disarming six Hungarian divisions and defeating the last Red Hungarian resistance at the Tisa and Danube rivers. On 14 November 1919, after they had granted substantial humanitarian aid to the Hungarian population and refrained from intervening in internal political issues, the Romanian troops left Budapest, trusting the allied troops with the guarding of the bridges over the Danube.

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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 and a population of approximately 16 million, twice the population of the old Kingdom of Romania, whose foundation had been laid a little more than a century before.105 Through the introduction of universal suffrage, the application of a radical land reform, the adoption of a new constitution in 1923, and other developments, conditions favorable for a fast economic development were created. Evidence of this auspicious situation was the fact that in 1937 Romania was the second-largest European and the seventh-largest producer of oil in the world. Due to the monumental changes made in the newly unified Romanian kingdom, during the interwar period, the Romanian armed forces had to cover the largest territory in its history. At the same time, it needed to win significantly increased demographic support. Dazzled by the fact that the Romanians’ oldest dream of unification had come true to an extent that was hardly imaginable before the war, the Romanian politicians were not interested in clarifying and rectifying the basic shortfalls that had existed in the armed forces at the beginning of the war. However, the Romanians had discovered hero worship. On 12 September 1919, the Society for the Tombs of the Heroes Fallen in Combat, chaired by Queen Marie herself, was established. Hero worship also marked the political and social landscape in the 1920s: Gen. Alexandru Averescu, a well-known war hero who was called ‘‘the myth of the ditches,’’ was several times designated 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 the military uniform. His taste for ostentation and display brought on subtle changes to the Romanian military uniform: it got a more accentuated English 137

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line, starting with the hat and ending with the cut of the jacket. The number of uniforms an officer needed climbed to twenty-one. From the organizational point of view, it was significant that the Defense Coordination Committee comprised the president of the Council of Ministers and the ministers of national defense, air, navy, and acquisitions. The General Staff was subordinated to this committee and was reorganized in 1935. In 1931 the Territorial Air Defense Headquarters was established, but it did not succeed in providing the proper equipment to the newly created units. A fortification system was designed, focusing especially on the western front, in Banat, and on the southeast, in Dobrudja, from where the revisionist states of Bulgaria and Hungary could pose a threat. This system ultimately was substantially reduced because of a lack of funds. Thanks to the development of a strong and competitive national combat aircraft industry, military aviation experienced remarkable progress. In 1925 in Bras¸ov, the city where the IAR planes were going to be produced, the Romanian Aeronautic Industry corporation was set up. On 13 November 1936 the Ministry of Air and Navy was established 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 armed forces, and generals as well as politicians were involved. When the equilibrium among the major European powers collapsed with the rise of Nazi Germany, Romania saw itself becoming increasingly isolated. In the first place, it found itself between two great rival powers: Germany and the Soviet Union. But on 23 August 1939, these countries signed the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact and, in a secret document of the pact, delimited their spheres of influence, with the Romanian province Bessarabia, the Baltic states, and Poland being reserved for Soviet interest. In the second place, such neighbors as Hungary and Bulgaria displayed revisionist tendencies that Germany and Italy encouraged. A novelty in the Romanian political landscape was the crystallization of an extreme right movement, the Iron Guard, which introduced murder as a political weapon. In 1938, King Carol II, who had renounced the throne in 1925 but 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 THE WORSHIP OF HEROES According to international understandings and the Christian tradition of caring 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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Heroes Fallen in Combat. The aims of this society were, according to Article No. 3 of its statute, ‘‘to discover the places where tombs of those who died in combat could be; to take care of those tombs and to organize there the Memorial Day.’’ On 31 May 1927, according to the Law on the War Tombs in Romania, the aforementioned society changed its name to the Society for the Worship of Heroes.107 In accordance with the new legislation, war tombs were considered to be all the tombs worldwide of Romanians who had died for the liberation and raising of the Romanian nation; the tombs of soldiers of belligerent states—friends or foes—located on Romanian territory were treated the same as national tombs. All national and foreign tombs were considered public memorials, be they isolated or grouped in graveyards. The activities of this society took place under the auspices of the Ministry of War. On 27 July 1940, the new Law on Tombs and Memorials Regime was decreed; it instated essential changes to the 1927 law. For instance, the law’s name included the term memorials, which meant ‘‘buildings, tombs, plaques, crucifixes, chapels or any other works done or that will be done to commemorate those who died in combat.’’ The Queen Marie National Establishment for the Worship of Heroes was charged with the application of this law. The establishment took over the entire jurisdiction of the former National Society for the Worship of Heroes. The society functioned under this name until 29 May 1948, when it was discontinued through Decree No. 48 of the Great National Assembly Presidium because of ideological and propagandistic motivations of the new Communist authorities. The only tombs that were not neglected by the Communist authorities were those of the Soviet soldiers. Only after 1990, the former General Inspectorate for Culture from the Ministry of National Defense set up an office occupied with preserving the military traditions and historical patrimony. Along with other units of the Ministry of National Defense, this office updated the collection of documents that addressed this issue. In 1991, the Committee for the Restoration and Caring of Heroes’ Tombs and Graves was established through the judicial Decision No. 664 dated 19 November 1991 and issued by the Sector 1 Court of Bucharest. Then, on 28 August 1998, that committee became the National Society for the Worship of Heroes, which continues the original activities of the Society for the Tombs of 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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Park, Bucharest, on the Day of Ascension, which became Heroes’ Day, to symbolize the sacrifice of all those who had lost their lives for national unity.108 On 14 May 1923, the cadet Amilcar Sa˘ndulescu, a twelve-year-old war orphan, selected the unknown hero from ten identical coffins that contained the bones of ten unknown heroes, saying the words ‘‘This is my father!’’ On 17 May 1923, the coffin containing the bones of the unknown hero, with King Ferdinand and Queen Marie walking beside it, was taken to Carol Park and buried in a distinguished military and religious ceremony. In December 1958, to make room for the Communist mausoleum (which still exists on a platform in Carol Park), the pro-Soviet general Emil Bodna˘ras¸ decided to transfer the bones of the unknown hero to Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti, in front of the Heroes’ Mausoleum—a mausoleum complex built in the interwar period on the former World War I battleground. After thirty-three years, on 24 and 25 October 1991, the bones of the unknown hero were taken back to Bucharest and reburied in Carol Park with a special military and religious ceremony.

BIRTH OF THE ROMANIAN AERONAUTIC INDUSTRY After the Aeronautic Arsenal, located on Cotroceni Hill in Bucharest, the ASTRA factory109 of the city of Arad, which formerly specialized in wagons, was the second Romanian company opened after 1923 that built aircraft according to Romanian plans. For example, Proto-2 surveillance aircrafts were built there and then assigned to the Military Piloting School in Tecuci. The Romanian Aeronautic Industry factories (IAR) were built in Bras¸ov in 1952 as a joint stock company, with shares belonging to the Bleriot-Spad Company, Lorraine-Dietrich, ASTRA (which contributed specialized personnel and equipment), and the Romanian state. The first Romanian fighter IAR11CV 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. The most famous of them was IAR-80, a fighter that was made entirely of metal, equipped with a retractable undercarriage, and reached a maximum speed of 510 kmh. Beginning in 1943, the IAR factories built IAR-81, a monoplane diving fighter that could transport two bombs of 50 kilograms each under its body and a 250-kilogram bomb under its fuselage; the armament aboard consisted of 7.92 mm machine guns and two 20 mm guns. Between 1929 and 1933, the IAR factory also built serial aircraft under French and British license, such as Lorraine-Dietrich, Gnome-Rhone, Havilland Gipsy Major, and even Mercedes-Benz.

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In 1924, the Constant¸a Transport Society also started building four hydroplanes, 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, and tourist serial planes. After suffering serious damages and losses during the Allied bombings of World War II and because Romania was not granted cobelligerent status by the 1946–1947 Paris Peace Conference, part of the Romanian aeronautic industry between 1945 and 1950 was disbanded and the rest was reoriented toward peacetime production.

FIRST HEROES OF ROMANIAN AVIATION Although Romania had no chance of becoming an aviation powerhouse, it did not lack remarkable civilian and military pilots who were recognized in international competitions and individual performances. During World War II, some of these pilots became heroes of Romanian military aviation, on both the eastern and western fronts.110 One of these distinguished pilots, Lt. Cmdr. Gheorghe Ba˘nciulescu, had a particularly dramatic destiny. On 12 September 1926, during a nonstop flight from Paris to Bucharest in his attempt to win the Bibescu Cup, he had an accident and lost his legs. A mere two years later, he became the first pilot to perform an acrobatic flight with protheses on both legs and then to continue to take part in difficult international raids. In this vein, Constantin Baˆzu Cantacuzino was probably the most brilliant figure of Romanian aviation between the wars, earning renown in both international and domestic competitions because of his flights performed with the plane turned upside down and very close to the ground. On 25 August 1944, Baˆzu Cantacuzino, as a representative of the new pro-Allied Romanian Government, performed a risky flight successfully: in a Messerschmidt-109G, he flew over Yugoslavia—which was still occupied by German troops—from Bucharest to the Allied base of Foggia, Italy, to establish direct contact with the American Aviation Headquarters and also to transport Lt. Col. James Gunn, the former commander of that air base whose plane had been hit and crashed on the Romanian oil fields in the spring of the same year. Air force captain Alexandru Papana also had great success, especially in the United States. In competitions there, he took first place in the smallaircraft category in a New York-to-Los Angeles race in 1936, and in the acrobatic air competition in Los Angeles. He also excelled in the speed flight

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between Miami and Havana (13 December 1936) and the Championship of the Two Americas (16 December 1936). Air force captain Mihai Pantazi (who was the first moral supporter of Lieutenant Commander Ba˘nciulescu’s return after his tragic accident), after setting the world record for the longest nonstop flight by hydroplane (twelve hours and three minutes), was the initiator and organizer of the first three aircraft acrobatic formations called the Red Devils, which flew in 1934 under the bridge built over the Danube in Cernavoda˘. The first female pilot licensed in Romania (on 24 January 1914)—and one of the first ten female pilots in the world—was Elena Caragiani. She performed the first flights to provide health assistance on the Romanian front during World War I. Also among the first female pilots who performed military maneuvers and proved their skills in aviation performances in international raids were Irina Burnaia, Marina S¸tirbei (the first holder of a military license), Mariana Dra˘gescu, Nadia Russo, and Virginia Dut¸escu. During World War II, Dra˘gescu and Russo formed the renowned White Squadron, which performed such dangerous tasks as surveillance, liaison missions, and casualty transport on the eastern front. Another accomplished woman was the pilot and paratrooper Smaranda Bra˘escu, who on 2 October 1931 set the first female world record, jumping from a height of 6,000 meters onto the Ba˘ra˘gan Plain in Wallachia. Her accomplishments were cemented on 10 May 1931 in Sacramento, California, when she again became number one by jumping from a Cessna aircraft flying at 7,233 meters, and landing on ground situated between the Pacific Ocean and Sierra Nevada. In 1936, Bra˘escu became the first female pilot in the world to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Rome to Tripoli (the major North African city) in six hours and ten minutes.

NATIONAL MILITARY MUSEUM An incipient military museum could be found within the Romanian Armed Forces ever since 1893, when the local depots belonging to the Arsenal of the Armed Forces started to store uniforms, flags, military techniques, and arms that 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 on 15 November 1919, the location of the National Military Museum was set in Carol Park, Bucharest. After three years of efforts to collect, select, and classify the objects and documents belonging to the military patrimony, of which a lot was lost during World War I in the refuge of Odessa, on 18 December 1923, 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 seventeen halls and eight galleries that illustrated military history from the first years of the Moldavian and Transylvanian principalities up to 1922, focusing on the War of Independence and World War I. In 1924, a library was set up for the purpose of preserving documents, photographs, movies, and manuscripts. The National Military Museum was first reorganized in 1927: it now covered history from the Paleolithic Age until 1922, and an honor hall was created. The museum was altered again in 1932, when a distinction between the historical part and other sections was made. Unfortunately, a fire that started on 15 June 1938 destroyed a great part of the military patrimony. The reconstruction of the museum in Carol Park was completed in 1942, but under German pressure, the musuem was demolished in the summer of 1943, its collection being transported to the Carpathian resort town Sinaia. On 9 May 1957, reorganized on Communist ideology and renamed the Central Military Museum, the museum opened its doors in a building of the former 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 of books, arms, uniforms, medals, sculptures, and flags. Closed for rebuilding between 1972 and 1975, the Central Military Museum had to move again because of the demolitions ordered by Ceaus¸escu to make way for his House of the People (now Parliament Palace). In 1986 the military museum was moved 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 became more dynamic than ever, focusing on attracting audiences of all ages. In 2002, the museum was reorganized into two sections—museography and scientific research—besides the permanent exhibition, the temporary ones, and the thematic ones (i.e., medieval, modern, and contemporary armaments, harnesses, Romanian uniforms and accessories, aeronautics, artillery, and armored vehicles).

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From the Caucasus and Stalingrad to Budapest and Vienna’s Porte

Upon the outbreak of World War II, Romania proclaimed its neutrality on 6 September 1939. In written ultimatums on 26 and 28 June 1940, the Soviet Union forced the Romanian Kingdom to return Bessarabia, which had shaken off Russian rule in early 1918, as well as northern Bucovina (which had never belonged to Russia, but had belonged for a while to the Hapsburg Empire). According to the Vienna Dictate of 30 August 1940, after the German–Italian ultimatum, Romania was forced to give the northwestern part of Transylvania to Hungary, and under the Treaty of Craiova on 7 September 1940, it had to surrender the southern part of Dobrudja (called the Quadrilater, a region that was incorporated into Romania in 1913, following the Second Balkan War) to Bulgaria. One of the consequences of these territorial mutilations was the decrease in human military potential from 3.7 billion in 1937 to 2.2 billion in 1941; then it was the loss of some fortifications and industrial structures having military importance, or the disbanding of some headquarters and units. The loss of about one-third of the country’s area and population caused a serious crisis that resulted in the abdication of King Carol II on 6 September 1940 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 months of difficult coalition rule with the extremist right-wing organization Iron Guard, the so-called Conduca˘tor eliminated the Iron Guard by putting down its rebellion of 21–23 January 1941. Conduca˘tor subsequently introduced a military dictatorship. Antonescu was faced with a choice between two belligerent camps and first chose Germany, alongside which Romania entered the war against the Soviet Union (1941–1944). This choice was motivated by Antonescu’s hope to recover Bessarabia and northern Bucovina and by his distrust of the Communist regime.111 144

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On 22 June 1941, the 3rd and 4th Romanian armies, possessing a total of 325,685 military that were supported by 572 combat aircrafts, started, with the Wermacht land, sea, and air units, military operations against the Soviet Union along the Prut River. This offensive was known as the Barbarosa operational plan. In only one month, Bessarabia was liberated, and on 26 July 1941 the last units of the Red Army withdrew over the Dniester River to avoid being surrounded. Around the same time, on 26 June 1941, the Soviet naval forces launched a major attack in Constant¸a Harbor on the Black Sea, but the Romanian destroyers Queen Maria and Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti sank the destroyer Moskva and damaged two other Soviet warships. The same day, the pilot Horia Agarici, aboard the fighter plane Hawker Hurricane, attacked a formation of nine Soviet bombers, of which he shot down three. After crossing the Dniester River on 3 August 1941, the next action of the 4th Romanian Army, led by army corps general Nicolae Ciuperca˘, was the conquest of Odessa, which was an important harbor on the Black Sea, a railway junction, and a Soviet bombing post. The town was surrounded on 14 August 1941, but the first Romanian units entered Odessa only on 16 October, after a long and fierce siege that ended with almost one hundred thousand casualties. This death toll demonstrated the serious deficiencies that had been accumulating for two decades in the combat training of the Romanian Armed Forces. Following this invasion, on 22 October, Soviet partisans blew up the Romanian headquarters in Odessa, killing ninety-three Romanian and German officers and civilians. As reprisal for this action, following Marshal Antonescu’s orders, Romanian troops executed several hundred local civilians, 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 17 and 19 July 1941 and broke the Stalin fortified line, advancing onto the Ukrainian steppe and reaching the shore of the Azov Sea. An important contribution to the July 1942 fall of Sevastopol—the most important submarine base in the Black Sea—was made by the units of the Mountain Corps commanded by division general Gheorghe Avramescu. After 22 June 1942, the 3rd Romanian Army and the German 1st Tanks Army launched an offensive at Cotul Donului, toward Stalingrad, as well as in the Caucasus and the Calmuc steppe where the front was finally set. Meanwhile, a large number of units were mobilized domestically. This marked the first time, since the campaign of 1473 led by Radu the Handsome and Sultan Mehmed II’s troops, that the Romanian forces were setting out to fight on such a large territory. The main units of the 3rd and 4th Romanian armies, comprising almost 230,000 military, were deployed outside Stalingrad. After the Soviet counteroffensive that started on 19 November 1942 and ended with

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the surrender of field marshal Friedrich Paulus on 2 February 1943, the Romanian loss totaled 158,854 casualties, prisoners, and missing persons. After the battle of Kursk (5 July–23 August 1943), the strategic German initiative on the eastern front was taken over by the Soviets. The most important military actions the Romanian Armed Forces performed successfully were the marine evacuations of the troops that were surrounded by the Soviets in Sevastopol to Constant¸a and Varna, two harbors on the Black Sea. The socalled Operation 60,000 (which occurred between April and May 1944) was led by the commander of the Romanian navy, Rear Adm. Horia Ma˘cellariu. After a major bombing on 4 April 1944, the air defense force in the country and the 1st Fighter Flotilla had to face the intensified British–American raids and bombing that took place day and night. On 20 August 1944, the day before the Soviet attack, the mobilized Romanian land forces numbered 1,077,009, the air force numbered 73,671, and the navy 21,064; there were 427,121 German troops in Moldavia and 199,514 inside the rest of the country. After Marshal Antonescu and his colleagues were arrested in Bucharest in a royal-led coup, the Romanian Armed Forces ceased hostilities against the Soviet Union on 24 August 1944 at 12:30 a.m., executing the action requested by the indicative named Oak-Extreme Emergency. The German units were asked to leave Romanian territory. In response, Hitler ordered the German commander in Bucharest, General Gerstenberg, to install by force a pro-German government. Both the attempt of a German task force to cross the Ba˘neasa bridge toward the capital and the bombing of Bucharest were thwarted by the Romanian troops, who on 26 August 1944 liquidated the last presence of German troops in the capital. Five days later, the German troops were annihilated by the Romanian ones all over the territory of Romania. However, until the armistice with the United Nations was signed in Moscow on 12 September 1944, the Soviet armed forces continued to take prisoners—they captured more than 140,000 Romanians—and also plundered, raped women, and destroyed on Romanian territory. Although during the East Campaign there was some friction between the German and Romanian military, this friction was overshadowed by the arrogance of the new Soviet allies who, during the Romanian west campaign, humiliated and asked for sacrifices from their so-called Romanian brothers-in-arms. Thus, although on 7 September 1944 the Romanian General Staff insisted that a group of Romanian armies liberate Transylvania, the Soviet Supreme Commander ordered the 2nd Ukrainian Front to take over the command of all the Romanian and Soviet forces in Romania. The campaign for the liberation of Transylvania started on 5–6 September 1944, 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 and Hungarian offensive in the province of Banat through the heroic resistance by the Pa˘ulis¸ cadet detachment in the Radna area. The Romanian troops entered Cluj on the 11 October, and on 25 October 1944 the liberation of the town of Carei meant the liberation of the entire Romanian territory, which was now cleansed of German and Hungarian troops. Between 6 October 1944 and 15 January 1945, 210,000 Romanian military were engaged in the battles fought in Hungary. An important role in conquering the city of Debret¸in on 19–20 October 1944 was played by the Tudor Vladimirescu Division, which was formed on 2 October 1943 on Soviet territory with Romanian military taken prisoners by the Red Army. The 7th Army Corps led by Gen. Nicolae S¸ova got close to the Parliament of Budapest after fighting harsh battles against the desperate German–Hungarian resistance between 1 and 15 January 1945. At the order of the Soviet High Headquarters, the Romanian troops retreated from the front line within the city center, right before the capitulation of the garrison; this action deprived them of the satisfaction of a deserved victory. Next, as part of the operations carried out to conquer the Slovak towns of Zvolen and Banska-Bystrika, the military of the 1st and 4th Romanian armies engaged in battles against the German troops in the Javorina Mountains and Metal Mountains on the territory of Czechoslovakia. The end of the war found the Romanian troops 80 km away from Prague, while the 2nd Armored Car Regiment was engaged in offensive operations in Austria. The total Romanian military loss in three years, ten months, and twenty days of war was 794,562 dead, wounded, or missing persons, 624,740 in the eastern campaign and 169,822 in the western campaign. Some historians’ quantifications of the war effort situate Romania in third place after Germany and 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 the Soviet Union’s harsh stance at the Paris peace conference, Romania was not recognized as one of the belligerent states and was required to pay the Soviet Union 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 on the 10 June 1941 under the jurisidiction of the aeronautic training center. In February 1942, the paratrooper company was moved to the Popes¸ti-Leordeni airfield, near Bucharest. Although the paratroopers fought boldly in August 1944 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 like the elite royal army units. On 1 November 1950 the paratrooper battalion was reestablished under the auspices army training center in Tecuci, but in 1951 it was moved to Buza˘u. After only a few months, in September 1952, the paratrooper battalion was transformed into an airborne regiment that was subordinate to the air force headquarters. The successor to the renowned female champion Smaranda Bra˘escu, who won competitions in Romania in 1931 and Sacramento, California, in 1932, came from this regiment. He was Grigore Bas¸tan, a paratrooper commander who later became colonel and general and who held international records in the 1970s. In 1980, three paratrooper regiments were set up within the air force headquarters for tactical and operational landings. The paratroopers contributed nearly all their force to the street fights against the so-called terrorists after 22 December 1989 in the most volatile places of the Romanian Revolution.112

LIBERATION OF THE PROVINCES OF BESSARABIA AND BUCOVINA, 1941 On 22 June 1941, the General Antonescu army group of the south side of the German front was composed of the 11th German Army (which included eleven Romanian divisions that initially belonged to the 3rd Romanian Army along with six German divisions) and the 4th Romanian Army, which in turn comprised another eleven divisions. After the military operations carried out by the Romanian forces between 22 June and 26 July 1941, approximately thirty to thirty-two Soviet units were deployed in the sector between the Dniester and Prut rivers. These were Soviet forces that could be directed toward the difficult German-Soviet confrontation in the Lemberg-Tarnopol region; the Danube River was thus completely freed up to its mouth (the Danube Delta), which represented an important strategic link for supplying the southern front. The Romanian navy engaged in the Barbarossa operation against the Soviets’ fifteen warships and thirty support ships on the Danube River, together with another fourteen river combat ships, nine support ships, and twenty hydroplanes maneuvering on the Black Sea under the command of the navy headquarters. All these forces were entrusted with the defense of the Danube and the Black Sea coast. The main strike of the Romanian and German troops took place in the night of 2–3 July 1941. The city of Cerna˘ut¸i (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 the whole north of Bucovina was liberated. After the Romanians reached the Nistru River on 8 July 1941, their effort focused first on Chis¸ina˘u, the capital of Bessarabia, which was liberated on 19 July, and second on the southern part of the province. Subsequent to failed Soviet counterattacks, the last units of the Red Army withdrew over the Dniester on 26 July 1941 in order to avoid being surrounded. The Romanian troops engaged in these battles suffered the following losses: 4,271 dead, 12,326 missing, and 6,168 wounded persons.113 ˘ , 1882–1950 GEN. NICOLAE CIUPERCA Ciuperca˘ was born on 20 April 1882 in Raˆmnicul Sa˘rat, 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 ranks as follows: second lieutenant in 1902, first lieutenant in 1907, captain in 1911, major in 1916, lieutenant colonel in 1917, colonel in 1920, brigadier general (one star) in 1930, army corps general (three stars) in 1940, and army general (four stars) in 1941. General Ciuperca˘ commanded the 4th Army between 3 June 1940 and 9 September 1941, during the military actions carried out for the liberation of southern Bessarabia. He then took part in the first phase of Operation Odessa until 13 October 1941, when he retired. The Communist authorities arrested him on 12 September 1948 and put him in Jilava Prison, near Bucharest. He died on 28 May 1950 in the central hospital of the Va˘ca˘res¸ti Prison in Bucharest.

THE BATTLE FOR ODESSA, 1941 Between 8 August and 16 October 1941, Odessa—an important city and strategic harbor on the Black Sea—was exclusively conquered by Romanian forces that comprised twenty-two large units and twenty-four heavy artillery divisions that opposed 86,000 Soviet fighters who were equipped with more than 100 aircraft and 150 air defense batteries, as well as a large portion of the Black Sea Soviet fleet. On 14 August 1941, Romanian troops surrounded Odessa on land, and on 17 August captured the city’s water tank provisions. The first attack of the 3rd Mountain Troop Corps followed. The Soviet fleet was deterred through the 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 receiving marine support, the Soviets launch a counterattack on 22 September, followed by another one on 2 October. The final attack by the Romanian troops took place on 17 October 1941, when the 1st Assault Detachment entered the city. The conquering of Odessa and the liberation of Bessarabia and Bucovina were marked on 8 November 1941 with a victory parade in Bucharest on the 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 Artillery and Engineering Officers in 1903, he attended the Superior School of War in Bucharest, from which he graduated in 1913. He earned the following ranks: second lieutenant in 1903, first lieutenant in 1906, captain in 1911, major in 1916, lieutenant colonel in 1920, brigadier general (one star) in 1930, division general (two stars) in 1937, and army corps general (three stars) in 1942. During the anti-Soviet campaign, he commanded the 3rd Romanian Army (25 March 1941–29 August 1944), which fought the terrible Battle of Stalingrad. At the end of August 1944, Dumitrescu was put at the disposal of the Ministry of War and after two months, the ministry had him retire. Dumitrescu was awarded the Order of Michael the Brave, third class, in 1941, and second class in 1944; the Crown of Romania, first class, in 1942; and the Star of Romania, 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’s Court, 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 between 8 and 18 May 1942 required the engagement of six German and three Romanian large units. The motor detachment led by Col. Radu Korne distinguished itself in that battle: after 14 May, Korne took over the command of the Groddek German motor brigade and succeeded in deeply infiltrating the enemy side, breaking the defense and downing the Soviet bridgehead.115

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BATTLES FOUGHT TO CONQUER THE CITY OF SEVASTOPOL, 1942 A city of particular strategic importance located on the western part of the Crimean Peninsula, Sevastopol was also the most important Soviet submarine base on the Black Sea and experienced two assaults by the Romanian and German troops. The first one took place between 17 and 26 December 1941 and involved the 1st Mountain Troop Corps, which was commanded by Div. Gen. Mihail Lasca˘r. The second assault took place between 7 June and 4 July 1942, when all the units of the Mountain Troop Corps proved their bravery. The 1st Mountain Troop Corps conquered the high position called Ca˘pa˘¸taˆna de zaha˘r on 1 June 1942, securing the right flank of the siege. On 25 June 1942 the 14th Infantry Division and the 4th Mountain Troop Corps conquered the most important Soviet observation post, called Bastion II. Beginning on 1 July, the 18th Infantry Division took part in the battles fought to conquer the city of Sevastopol.116

ROMANIANS IN STALINGRAD, 1942 Following the understanding between Hitler and Antonescu, in the summer of 1942 numerous Romanian units were deployed to the Caucasus and Stalingrad. The 3rd Romanian Army, commanded by Gen. Petre Dumitrescu, was moved in the autumn of 1942 from the Caucasus to Stalingrad, to replace five Italian and two German divisions in the west of the city. The large Romanian unit was responsible for the defense of a 138 km front line that was much too large for the troops already present. On 19 November 1942, when the Soviets launched a counterattack in Stalingrad, the 3rd Army consisted of 152,492 Romanian military and 11,211 Germans. On 20 November 1942, almost 40,000 Romanian military from the 5th, 6th, 13th, 14th, and 15th Infantry Divisions (which were surrounded by the Red Army) formed the so-called Lasca˘r group, commanded by Gen. Mihail Lasca˘r. The units of the 4th Romanian Army and air force were engaged between 12 and 22 December 1942 in Wintergewitter, a German operation meant to disperse the Axis troops that were surrounded at the Volga. The two Romanian armies lost 158,854 military between 19 November 1942 and 7 January 1943. In Stalingard, the resistance of the German and Romanian troops commanded by Field Marshal Paulus lasted until 2 February 1943. Out of 91,000 captured prisoners, only 2,000–3,000 were Romanians who survived the siege.117

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GEN. GHEORGHE AVRAMESCU, 1884–1945 Born on 26 January 1884 in the city of Botos¸ani, Gheorghe Avramescu attended the School for Infantry Officers between 1906 and 1908 and the Superior School of War between 1918 and 1919. He held the following ranks: second lieutenant in 1908, first lieutenant in 1911, captain in 1916, major in 1917, lieutenant colonel in 1923, colonel in 1929, brigadier general in 1936, division general in 1940, army corps general in 1942, and army general in 1945. Among the most important military positions he held were commander of the Mountain Corps between 1941 and 1943, commander of the 3rd and 6th Army Corps between 1944 and 1945, and commander of the 4th Army between 30 July and 2 March 1945. He was twice awarded the Order of Michael the Brave, third class, and second class in 1942; the German Iron Cross in 1941; and the Crown of Romania, second class, in 1942. The large units he commanded participated in the operations performed to liberate northern Bucovina (June–July 1941) and north of the Azov Sea (September–October 1941), as well as in operations in the Crimea and in those to defend Moldavia (April–August 1944) and to liberate Hungary (November–December 1944) and Czechoslovakia (December 1944–March 1945). On 2 March 1945 the Soviets arrested him. It was only in 1963 that they announced to the Romanians that Gen. Gheorghe Avramescu had died on 3 March 1945 during an artillery firing in Jaszbereny, Hungary.118

OPERATION 60,000, 1944 The operation to evacuate the Romanian and German military and Soviet prisoners by sea from Sevastopol to Constant¸a and Varna was called by the Romanian General Headquarters Operation 60,000, a figure that denoted the number of Romanian troops surrounded by the Soviets on the Crimean Peninsula. The commander of the Romanian navy, Rear Adm. Horia Ma˘cellariu, used both combat ships and commercial ones, and those of Admiral Schwarzes Meer German Maritime Headquarters. The operation had two phases, between 14–27 April 1944 and 11–14 May 1944. Due to the proximity of the front, the troops were forced to embark under fire from the Soviet ground artillery, which was supported by the attack of the aviation division, submarines, and line ships. With a relatively small loss in ships and troops, the Romanian 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 Romanian military and civilians and almost 70,000 were Germans.119 ˘ CELLARIU REAR ADM. HORIA MA Born on 28 April 1894 in the city of Craiova, Horia Ma˘cellariu matriculated at age nineteen at the Military School for Artillery, Engineering, and Navy Officers. He graduated in 1915 and then attended the School of War and the Center for Advanced Naval Studies in Paris. His rank progression was as follows: second lieutenant in 1915, first lieutenant in 1917, captain in 1919, lieutenant 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 in the 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), commander of the Naval and Maritime Forces (1 May 1943–28 September 1944), and commander of the Superior School of the Navy (28 September 1944–23 April 1945). Horia Ma˘cellariu was awarded the most important Romanian and German medals and orders: the Crown of Romania, third class (1942); Order of Michael the Brave, third class (1943); the German Eagle, first class with swords (1941); and the title Knight of the Iron Cross (1944). During the fifteen months when he commanded the destroyer squadron, Ma˘cellariu also accomplished one of the most important operations to protect and secure the maritime convoys, which the mining missions in the Black Sea were. Between May 1943 and September 1944, he was effectively in charge of the defense of the Black Sea shore, providing both escort for the troop supply convoys deployed in the Crimea and evacuating the Romanian and German forces from that area. After 23 August 1944, Horia Ma˘cellariu gained renown for the intransigence he demonstrated against the abuses committed by the Soviet command and troops, and for this reason the Communist authorities arrested him on 19 April 1948. After spending nineteen years in such prisons as Va˘ca˘res¸ti, Aiud, Raˆmnicu Sa˘rat, Jilava, Dej, and Gherla, he was released on 29 July 1964. BRITISH–AMERICAN AIR BOMBING OVER ROMANIA, 1944 Between 4 April and 19 August 1944, the British and American aviation units quartered in Italy executed thirty-six air raids, bombing day and night the oil

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fields and the refineries located around Ploies¸ti and Bucharest. The 1st Fighter Flotilla was in charge of the local defense. Whereas the Allied army lost 4,000 airmen and saw 344 of its fighters and bombers being hit, the Romanians lost only 40 to 50 aircraft, but this included most of the best Romanian fighter pilots.120

LIQUIDATION OF THE GERMAN RESISTANCE IN BUCHAREST On the morning of 24 August 1944, General Gerstenberg—commander of the German troops—tried to occupy Bucharest by attacking from the north via the Ba˘neasa Bridge. The German general commanded 2,000 military, 16 air defense guns (88 mm caliber), and 42 air defense guns (20 mm caliber). Two cavalry squadrons supported by a tank platoon from the 2nd Armored Car Regiment stopped the German attack. The bombing of Bucharest with Stukas airplanes was the next German step. After the danger in effecting the occupation of Bucharest disappeared, the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe troops started defending themselves at the German mission’s headquarters in Bucharest, but the subunits of the Ca˘la˘ras¸i 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment and the tanks of the 2nd Armored Regiment liquidated them by 25 August. The last German forces in Bucharest surrendered121 on 26 August 1944.

FORCED CROSSING OF THE MURES¸ RIVER AND CONFRONTATION WITH HUNGARIAN AND GERMAN FORCES After Romania declared war on Hungary on 30 August 1944, the Mountain Troop Corps commanded by Div. Gen. Ion Dumitrescu passed north of the town of Sfaˆntul Gheorghe, located on the border imposed by the Vienna Dictate, which split the province of Transylvania in 1940. Meanwhile, on 5 September the 2nd Hungarian Army attacked the Turnul Ros¸u mountain pass in southwestern Romania. During the night of 15–16 September, the 9th Romanian Infantry Division built a bridgehead over the Mures¸ River, a success followed by the confrontations with the troops of the 8th SS Cavalry Division that lasted until the end of September. The 4th Romanian Army lost 10,535 troops.122 On 13 September 1944, the German and Hungarian forces attacked the 1st Romanian Army in Banat, conquering the city of Arad and moving toward the Mures¸ Valley. To stop that offensive, the Pa˘ulis¸ detachment was formed

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from a battalion of cadets of the Reserve NCO School in Radna, an infantry battalion, and a heavy artillery division. In spite of the technical and numerical inferiority, the detachment held out against the German and Hungarian attacks between 14 and 17 September until support arrived and the Romanian–Soviet counteroffensive started.

LIBERATION OF THE CITY OF CLUJ, 1944 The last phase of the liberation of northwestern Transylvania, which was still occupied by the German and Hungarian troops, started on 9 October 1944. After the Armored Group of the vanguard of the 6th Romanian Corps crossed the Aries River, it rapidly advanced and liberated the town of Apahida, which was east of Cluj. After the defeat of the 23rd Armored German Division offensive across the Somes¸ River, on 11 October 1944 the 2nd Mountain Division and the 18th Infantry Division together with units belonging to 104th Soviet Army Corps finally liberated Cluj, the biggest city in Transylvania. This liberation was quite significant for the Romanians because the loss of Cluj in the aftermath of the Vienna Dictate in August 1940 was extremely painful for all.123

THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES AND THE LIBERATION OF HUNGARY After the Tudor Vladimirescu Volunteer Division (formed in 1943 in the Soviet Union with Romanian prisoners who agreed to fight alongside the Red Army against the Germans) helped to conquer the Hungarian city of Debretin on 19–20 October 1944, the 7th Romanian Army Corps together with the 7th Guard Army advanced toward Budapest. The operation for the conquest of Budapest started on 11 November. The 7th Romanian Army Corps was the core of the assault’s main forces and was flanked by Soviet units. Between 1 and 15 January 1945, after intense fights carried out street by street and house by house, the military of the 7th Army Corps, commanded by Gen. Nicolae S¸ova, advanced 6 kilometers into the city of Budapest. The Soviets deprived the Romanians of the satisfaction of victory, ordering the redeployment of the Romanian Corps in the north, on the Czechoslovakian border. During the same period, the 4th Romanian Army advanced with other Soviet units toward northwestern Hungary, reaching 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 S¸OVA S¸ova was born on 9 November 1885 in the village of Poduri in the county of Baca˘u, 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 lieutenant in 1912, captain in 1916, major in 1917, lieutenant colonel in 1925, colonel in 1932, division general in 1942, and army corps general in 1944. Gen. Nicolae S¸ova commanded the Guard Division between 1941 and 1943. He was deputy state secretary of the navy (1943–1944) and commander of the 7th Army Corps (September 1944–February 1945), a unit that bears his name today. In 1941 he was awarded the Order of Michael the Brave, third class. General S¸ova proved his leadership skills as commander of the 7th Army Corps during the battles for the conquest of Budapest (December 1944–January 1945). After he retired, he was arrested, detained in the Malmaison Prison in Bucharest, and tried by the Communist authorities who took power on 6 March 1945. He was sentenced to ten years of jail, civic degradation, and confiscation of his property. Detained in the Va˘ca˘res¸ti and Aiud prisons, he was freed on 10 May 1956. Gen. Nicolae S¸ova died on 12 March 1966 in Bucharest.125

THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES AND THE LIBERATION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND AUSTRIA According to the plan of the Soviet Supreme Headquarters, attacking Germany through Czechoslovakia was an alternate plan, the primary one being the attack through Poland. The 1st and the 4th Romanian armies had been engaged between January and March 1945 in battles for the Javorina and Metal mountains, which they fought on extremely difficult terrain and under challenging climatic conditions. At the end of January 1945, the 4th Romanian Army contributed significantly to the liberation of the Slovak localities of Zvolen and Banska-Bystrica. On the 16 March 1945, after a tough advance through the Javorina Mountains, 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, they regrouped west of Morava to start the offensive for Prague. On 9 April 1945, the 2nd Armored Regiment crossed the Danube and took part, along with some 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 4th armies 80 kilometers from Prague. Of the 248,430 Romanian military engaged in the battles fought in Czechoslovakia between 18 December 1944 and 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 Powers decided 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 Allied and Associated powers should have the right to vote. On 9 August the Romanian government discussed and approved the country’s position on the issues that were going to be discussed at the peace conference and settled on the delegation members. The Romanian delegation arrived in Paris on 11 August 1946 and consisted of Gheorghe Ta˘ta˘ra˘scu, Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej, Lucret¸iu Pa˘tra˘s¸canu, S¸tefan Voitec, Lothar Ra˘da˘ceanu, Ion Gheorghe Maurer, Dr. Florica Bagdasar, Elena Va˘ca˘rescu, Gen. Dumitru Da˘ma˘ceanu, the Romanian ambassadors accredited in Washington, London, Paris, and The Hague, and tens of experts. At the peace conference on 27 August 1946, the Romanian delegation requested the status of belligerent state due to its contribution to the Allied victory after 23 August 1944. However, the political and territorial commission, which consisted of representatives of twelve states, rejected the request through negative votes by the delegates from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, New Zealand, the United States, the South African Union, and the Soviet Union; only Belarus, France, Czechoslovakia, and Ukraine voted in favor of Romania. Regarding Romania, the conference recognized the fact that ‘‘on the 24th of August 1944 Romania ceased all the military operations against the Soviet Union, broke relations with Germany and its satellites, and reentered the war on United Nations’ side.’’ The peace treaty invalidated the decisions set out in the Vienna Dictate of 30 August 1940, and required Romania to pay as war damages (in benefit of the Soviet Union) US$300 million in oil, wood, building materials, railway engines, wagons, grain, and maritime and fluvial ships. At the same time, Romania had to drastically reduce its military strength and armament, mainly in the aviation units and high-caliber artillery. Moreover,

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the peace treaty stipulated the reannexation of Bessarabia and northern Bucovina by the Soviet Union.127 On 10 February 1947, the Romanian delegation led by Gheorghe Ta˘ta˘ra˘scu signed the peace treaty between Romania and the Allied and Associated powers. The peace treaties with Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland were signed in Paris the same day.

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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’s Republic was proclaimed. Existing political parties were outlawed and the Communist Party, founded in 1921, remained the only party in the country. In the early years, the Communists comprised barely 1,000 members, identifying themselves with Soviet interests and promoting an anti-Romanian policy, they forcefully seized power in Bucharest after the 23 August 1944 coup d’e´tat. Thus the ‘‘building of socialism’’ started, entailing the nationalization of industrial, banking, and transportation companies (in 1948), the forced collectivization of agriculture (1949–1962), and a planned and controlled economy oriented toward Stalinist industrialization. The installation of the Communist regime and the proclamation of the Popular Republic of Romania on 30 December 1947 meant the beginning of a harsh period in the history of the country and of the Romanian Armed Forces. The majority of the officers and generals of the Romanian Royal Armed Forces, who had fought heroically on both the eastern and western fronts, were purged and many of them died in nightmarish prisons and Communist extermination camps. Meanwhile, some cadres of the Royal Army had been keeping for ten years a desperate, but very honorable, anti-Communist resistance. During this period, the Romanian Armed Forces were reorganized following the model of the Red Army (regarding organization, training, and equipment); Soviet councillors were present everywhere and had absolute power; and military promotions were granted based not on professional competence or merit, but on political record and proven fidelity to the Communist regime. In addition, the military took on Bolshevik features: the traditional 159

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Romanian stripes that indicated rank were abandoned in favor of the Soviet stars worn on the rubashka. All the changes were accomplished against a backdrop of intense institutionalized propaganda performed at all levels and military echelons. In 1955 Romania became a founding member of the Warsaw Treaty and consequently its armed forces were subordinated to the Soviet bloc’s headquarters and political and military doctrines. An important role in purging and orienting the Romanian armed forces toward the Soviet model was played by the pro-Soviet general Emil Bodna˘ras¸, who had been the minister of the armed forces for eight years (1947–1955). In the period between 1958 (the year of the Soviet troops’ withdrawal from Romania according to an agreement between the Romanian Communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej and the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev) and 1968 (when Romania refused to be involved in Czechoslovakia’s Warsaw Treaty invasion), the Romanian Armed Forces went through a slow process of recovering its national uniqueness, which it did as a consequence of the nationalist policies promoted by Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej and implemented under Nicolae Ceaus¸escu. Gheorghe Gheroghiu Dej died in 1965, and the party leadership combined with the state leadership after 1967 was monopolized by Ceaus¸escu. The political refrain from the USSR (already proclaimed by Dej in April 1964) and Ceaus¸escu’s promotion of his own domestic and foreign policies (established through diplomatic relations with Federal Republic of Germany and the maintenance of ties with Israel also after the 1967 Arab–Israeli War) did not affect the structures specific to the Communist society that he used to gradually consolidate his total power within the party and the state.128 In June 1964, a new organizational and political framework was set up in the armed forces following the approval of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party. This framework was laid out in ‘‘The Regulation Regarding the Activity of the Bodies and Organizations of the Party and the Union of the Young Workers of the Armed Forces of the Popular Republic of Romania.’’ The regulation was proclaimed in the Decree of the State Council No. 759 dated 9 December 1964 regarding the organization and functioning of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. The political councils of the Ministry of the Armed Forces were created the same year and similar ones were simultaneously organized at the levels of armies, army headquarters and large units, and party colleges—the last as assigned bodies and party committees and at the regiment level as elected bodies. Beginning in the mid-1970s, the control and political subordination process was strengthened, and the custom of accumulated military positions in the armed forces and the structures of the Communist Party were also initi-

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ated. While a national defense doctrine based on the participation of the whole nation in a defensive war was adopted, programs designed to produce the maximum necessary armament and ammunition for the armed forces were developed. Thus, the process of mechanizing the large land force units was extended and the number of armored units, aviation capabilities, and missiles increased. Especially in the 1980s, as the social and economic situation of the country was worsening, more and more members of the military were taken out of combat training and sent to work in the national economy (agriculture, mines, building sites). Consequently, the frustrations, dissatisfaction, and humiliation of the officers and soldiers only increased. In order to demonstrate the regime’s strength and popular support, the government organized elaborate military parades, particularly on the national holiday, 23 August. In the late 1980s, these parades were turned into aberrant ways of expressing the personality cult of the Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaus¸escu.

ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES MOVING 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 soldiers. In the fall of the same year, the strength of the armed forces was 206,730: 18,183 officers, 38,831 noncommissioned officers and warrant officers, 149,716 enlisted personnel and soldiers, and 7,724 military designated to meet the requirements of the armistice conference. The following year, as a result of organizational downsizing, the armed forces comprised only 138,565 people: 10,259 officers, 16,369 noncommissioned officers and warrant officers, and 111,937 enlisted personnel and soldiers.129 As a consequence of applying the provisions of the peace treaty, the total strength of the armed forces in December 1947 was 138,000 persons, out of whom 97,000 made up the land forces, 12,740 made up the air forces, 4,880 made 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. The tradition was to celebrate Land Forces’ Day on 23 April, when the Orthodox Church celebrates Saint George. At this time, Air Force Day was marked by the 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 Virgin Mary. Thus most of the military branches and specialties celebrated themselves on the occasion of various religious anniversaries, and most of the units had their own patron saints. Six years after the end of the war, influenced by the customs that had already existed in the Soviet Union, the Romanian government instituted Armed Forces’ Day of the Popular Republic of Romania, choosing 2 October as its date. The choice of this date was justified by the fact that on 2 October 1943, Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin approved the formation on Soviet territory of a military unit comprised of Romanian volunteers who were prisoners of war; this unit was supposed to participate with the Soviet army in the war against Nazi Germany. After approval was granted, the Tudor Vladimirescu division 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, the Decree 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 Romanian town under Fascist occupation was liberated. After December 1989, 25 October remained the day on which the Romanian Armed Forces are celebrated.

THE EMERGING COMMUNIST POLITICAL SYSTEM WITHIN THE ARMED FORCES The first step in spreading communism to the armed forces entailed the reintegration of a part of the military that had joined the Tudor Vladimirescu and Horia, Clos¸ca and Cris¸an divisions. This was accomplished through Law No. 320 dated 26 April 1945. Then, on 8 May 1945, the Superior Directorate for Education, Culture, and Propaganda was established in accord with an order signed by Army Corps general Constantin Vasiliu Ra˘s¸canu. Via a structure that was controlled by the Communists, an extensive proselytism campaign started. Among the military of the 1st and 4th armies that were fighting on the western front during the last month of the war in Czechoslovakia and Hungary, 1,005 ‘‘educators’’ selected from the trusted Communist military of the Tudor Vladimirescu division were placed under the command of the pro-Communist general Victor Precup. The Romanian military rejected the first attempt at Communist indoctrination, and the commanders of the two armies that were completing missions on the front protested against the presence and actions of these ‘‘politicians’’ formed in the Soviet Union. On 2 October 1945 the aforementioned directorate was transformed into the Gen-

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eral Inspectorate of the Armed Forces for Education, Culture, and Propaganda, which in 1948 became the Superior Political Directorate of the Armed Forces. This name was retained until 1968, when it was replaced by the Superior Political Council of the Armed Forces, whose last head was—until 22 December 1989—Lt. Gen. Ilie Ceaus¸escu, the dictator’s brother.130

THE FIRST UNION OF YOUNG WORKERS WITHIN 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 level of each military unit, basic organizations, or company organizations for military subunits; and the Union of Young Workers groups for platoons. Within the armed forces, the activity of these Communist organizations for young people was seen as a component of the Communist Party’s actions within the army. On 20 July 1950, the prize of the red flag of the Union of Young Workers organizations of the armed forces of the Popular Republic of Romania was instituted and awarded annually to the organization that best succeeded at political and combat training as propagandistic motivation.131

SETTING UP SIGNAL HEADQUARTERS The first distinctive signal structure was established in July 1942 by an order signed by Marshal Ion Antonescu. This signal headquarters became a central directorate on 1 September 1945. On 1 February 1949 there followed the transformation of the Signal Brigade into the Signal Headquarters of the Armed Forces. The independent signal regiments and battalions were subordinate to the headquarters of the military regions, army corps, and branch headquarters. New signal subunits or reinforced old signal units were introduced at the levels of the units and large units. At the beginning of the 1950s, there was a significant deficit from both a qualitative and quantitative point of view, starting with the simplest portable radio stations and ending with those of great capacity; most of the equipment was made in the Soviet Union or remained from the war. The necessary signal equipment was not available: there was only about 30 percent for telephones and 8 percent for telephone wire.

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ROMANIA’S MILITARY REGIONS BETWEEN 1947 AND 1964 In the fall of 1948, the 1st Military Region, which had been established through legislative documents dated June 1947, was disbanded, and the country was divided into three parts and then into two military regions. In 1960 the concept of structuring the armed forces on military regions was abandoned and operational army corps–sized units and their proper headquarters were organized. Hence a Romanian military tradition was reinstated and a more supple command system was created.

REINSTATING THE NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICER CORPS Until July 1950, the Romanian military had been composed of generals, officers, noncommissioned officers, and warrant officers, the last two being trained in specialized schools. On 14 July 1950, the traditional corps of noncommissioned officers was disbanded and replaced with the corps of sergeants and cartnici, who were both conscripted sergeants and enlisted sergeants, 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 a program 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 Headquarters was set up as a branch command for all tank, automatic guns, and mechanized units of the armed forces, and held responsibilities with regard to their own organization, equipment, manning, and combat training. At the same time, a tank battalion was included in the structure of a mechanized regiment. In 1951, the tank corps belonging to that headquarters structure was reorganized, becoming a large armored unit. During the same period the tank and auto-guns parks were replenished with Soviet combat gear. In August 1960, the Tank and Auto Headquarters was set up, replacing the directorate but having the same specialization.

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THE FIRST REACTIVE FIGHTER DIVISION Beginning in 1949, Romania started importing from the Soviet Union traditional fighters, surveillance aircraft, and reactive fighters. The Mixed Aviation Division was replaced with a homogenous fighter, assault, and fighterbomber division. In 1952 each large aviation unit was put under the command of a technical radio and illumination division, plus a radio-technical company. In order to coordinate the activity of all the technical battalions supporting the airfields of the aviation regiments, the Technical Aviation Division was set up in 1952.

MANDATORY MILITARY TRAINING Students’ military training became mandatory in 1951 and was completed under military teachers associated with the various universities. At the end of the 1950s, students completed their military training through conscription. From October 1960, new military training seats comprised of military teachers were organized to provide military training to university students; the curriculum consisted of classes that were designed for this purpose and followed the Regulation of the Military Training of Students of Superior Educational Institutions. Designed on the Soviet model, these classes were mandatory for both young men and women.

SETTING UP THE SUPERIOR MILITARY COUNCIL In 1952 the Superior Military Council was set up as the supreme leadership body of the armed forces, and was subordinate to the Council of Ministers. The Superior Military Council was composed of the president of the Council of Ministers, who served as chairman; the minister of the armed forces, who served as his deputy; and other members appointed by the Council of Ministers. The role of the Superior Military Council was to examine and make decisions about the combat training of troops, their deployment and equipment, and their political activity and discipline. In addition, in 1952 the Military Council was set up as a consultative body within the Ministry of the Armed Forces. It had similar structures at the level of the headquarters of the military regions, branch headquarters, and other structures of the ministry.

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ROMANIA AS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE WARSAW TREATY On the 14 May 1955 in Warsaw, the Popular Republic of Romania together with the Soviet Union, the Popular Republic of Bulgaria, the Popular Republic of Hungary, the Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia, the Popular Republic of Poland, the Popular Republic of Albania, and the Democratic Republic of Germany signed the Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance Treaty. The treaty had both a political agenda, as it subordinated various structures to the Consultative Political Committee, and a military one, as the Unified Command of the Armed Forces belonged to the member states. The new military-political organization was in fact a response to NATO, which had been created on 4 April 1949. In case of an attack in Europe from any state, the members of the Warsaw Treaty were supposed to provide immediate help individually, in cooperation with the member states through all means they considered necessary. The political and military leader of the Warsaw Treaty was the Soviet Union. The Romanian state, due to both its geographical position and its traditions, did not have nuclear and atomic missiles deployed on its territory and engaged a lot of troops in ample military maneuvers on Romanian territory or on the territory of another member state. After 1958, there were no military bases set up or foreign troops deployed on the territory of Romania, and after August 1968, Romania began to refrain from contributing troops to military exercises of the pact, both abroad, and at home. The elements that distinguised Romania from other Warsaw Treaty member states, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, when the nationalist and autocratic politics promoted by Ceaus¸escu were manifesting themselves more and more, were as follows: the Romanian Armed Forces did not accept the subordination to a multinational command and performed its missions following the orders of its national command; the guidelines issued by the Unified Armed Forces Headquarters were considered only as suggestions and used for documentation, supporting the cooperation principle inside the pact; and Romania stepped outside the coalition military doctrine, which was mainly offensive, and adopted its own national defense doctrine based on the principle of the entire people’s fight for their country’s defense. In 1978 in Moscow, and then in 1980 in Warsaw, Romania rejected the statute of the armed forces in wartime, which meant giving up the national command of the armed forces to a supreme commander, the Soviet Union. After Romania complained about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the pact’s troops in 1968, it rejected a potential similar solution for Poland in 1980. 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 on map exercises. Beginning in 1964, Romanian officers were no longer sent to study in the Soviet Union.133

SETTING UP THE AIR DEFENSE HEADQUARTERS In 1956 a centralized organizational structure was set up for defense management in case of a potential air attack. That meant the merging of the Military Air Force Headquarters and the Air Defense Headquarters. The reason for this move was the centralization of the air defense tasks within one headquarters in order to better accomplish the operational missions.

SETTING UP THE MILITARY EDUCATIONAL DIRECTORATE Starting in 1957, the central body for guiding and managing the education and training process of the various institutions of the Armed Forces was the Military Educational Department. Two years later the merging of the four superior educational institutions within the General Military Academy was concluded. These institutions were the Military Academy, the Political and Military Academy, the Technical Military Academy, and the Academy of the Rear Army. In the 1950s, military schools for officers providing a two-year and a three-year period of study started functioning for such branches as infantry, artillery, cavalry, tanks, engineering, signal, aviation, air defense artillery, navy, railway, chemistry, topography, and logistics. Beginning in the 1961–1962 school year, superior military schools for active duty officers were created, providing a four-year period of study. Some military schools for officers also merged during that period, especially those of the land forces. After six years, the three-year period of study was again in place for military schools, within the framework of the twelve-year general education.134

ADOPTION OF THE FULL UNITY OF COMMAND PRINCIPLE At the beginning of 1958, following a decision by the Political Bureau of the Central 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 this decision, the commanders were held fully responsible for the combat and political readiness of the formations of the armed forces. Adopted at a moment when the purging of the old cadres of the royal army had ended, and when the Communist Party controlled all the command instruments not only within the armed forces, but within all of Romanian society, the document stated that ‘‘the introduction of the full unity of command does not diminish the importance of the political work within the armed forces, but increases its role by giving it greater extent and a deeper meaning.’’ ROMANIAN MILITARY AND THE NATIONAL ECONOMY The participation of the military in the works performed for the national economy was regulated through decisions by the Council of Ministers. The practice of the Communist regime to use a cheap and obedient labor force to cover the shortfalls of the Socialist economic system started in the 1950s. It reached a considerable level in the 1980s when the participation of the armed forces was requested by the Communist Party not only in the realm of agriculture, but also in shipyards and coal mines. This mobilization resulted in casualties of work accidents and difficult labor conditions. To harvest the crops in 1959, 120,000 soldiers were assigned to work on state farms. In 1964 the armed forces contributed in various ways to the State Agriculture Central Corporation; they provided 25,000 military and transported wheat crops with 4,000 trucks. In the 1980s, besides the ordinary presence of the military in coal mines or agriculture, the military contributed engineering equipment and significant troops to the work done at the Danube–Black Sea Channel (which crosses the province of Dobrudja from west to east), the Transfa˘ga˘ra˘s¸an road (across the Carpathians Mountains from Wallachia to Transylvania), and the famous House of the People in Bucharest (the second-largest building in the world after the Pentagon), which is now known as the Palace of the Parliament. All these remarkable achievements from the 1980s were possible because of the domestic policies imposed by the Communist Party under direct orders from Ceaus¸escu, who managed a so-called Socialist type of an ancient slavery form of production. MANDATORY CONSCRIPTION Decree No. 468/1957, modified through Decree No. 687/1964 stated in article 1 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 or within the military units of the Ministry of the Interior.’’ In March 1961 the General Directorate of the Labor Service was disbanded and the subjective selection of young men for military units or labor detachment was abandoned. Decree No. 711/1966 again regulated military service, whose length was kept at one year and four months for conscripts of all branches except the navy, whose length of service was two years. The length of military service for the cadets of the Military Schools for Reserve Officers or for the short-term conscripts (graduates of universities) was set at only six months. In the 1970s and 1980s, the nine-month conscription was adopted and performed before the years of university studies. Due to changes made to the Constitution of Romania in 2003, mandatory conscription was outlawed and the issue was regulated through an organic law.

NEW ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE MINISTRY OF THE ARMED FORCES At the beginning of December 1964, the State Council adopted a decree according to which the Ministry of the Armed Forces was composed of the following structures (their order shows their importance and position): the High General Staff, the Superior Political Council, the services headquarters and the specialty central directorates, the Rear Headquarters, the Endowment General Directorate, the Personnel Directorate, the Financial and Control Directorate, the Secretariat Directorate, and the Judicial Office. According to the aforementioned decree, the main responsibility of the Ministry of the Armed Forces was to carry out the policy of the government established through the guidelines of the Communist Party.

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE IN 1965 The New Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Romania, adopted on 21 August 1965 by the Great National Assembly, stipulated that the defense of the homeland was the sacred duty of each citizen, and the breaking of the military oath, betrayal of the country, joining the enemy’s side, and damages brought to the defense capability were the most serious crimes committed against 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 national defense, and was invested with the right to call for general or partial mobilization and to declare a state of war. At the same time, the Great National Assembly had the right to appoint and revoke the supreme commander of the armed forces. According to the 1965 constitution, a state of war could be declared only in case of an armed aggression against the Socialist Republic of Romania or against a state for which Romania had assumed mutual defense responsibilities through international treaties, if the declaration of a state of war was legitimate.

PATRIOTIC GUARDS The patriotic guards were formed through a decree of the State Council in 1968 (in the aftermath of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Treaty forces), based on the provisions of the constitution adopted in 1965 and the Communist military doctrine of the full participation of the people in the homeland’s defense. The concept of the Romanian Communist Party considered the patriotic guards as armed detachments composed of workers, organized—at least theoretically—on a volunteer basis in each territory and workplace. The guards were composed of men (up to sixty years old) and women (up to fifty-five years old) who had attended one of the training schools or the military service, no matter what their nationality. The patriotic guards fulfilled their task under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party and the local bodies of the party. The subunit commanders of the patriotic guards were selected from reserve officers and noncommissioned officers who did not have any other military responsibilities.

LAW 14/1972 AND THE ORGANIZATION OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE This law instituted the local defense councils in counties, municipalities, towns, and villages as local defense leadership bodies. They had the responsibility of coordinating and accomplishing the defense tasks in their area of responsibility in both peacetime and wartime. Those local defense councils comprised persons holding leadership positions in the party and state. Thus in a county defense council the president was the prime secretary of the County Council of the Party, and the members were the vice president and the secretary 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 or of a military unit assigned by the Ministry of National Defense, the commander of the local military conscription center, the chief of staff of the patriotic guards of the area, the chief of staff of the civil defense, the chief of firemen, 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 GENERALS WITHIN THE ROMANIAN COMMUNIST PARTY At the XIth Congress of the Romanian Communist Party, thirteen officers and generals from the Ministry of National Defense were elected as members of the Central Committee. In March 1974, fourteen officers and generals were elected as deputies of the Great National Assembly. Besides them, a large number of military were part of the party bodies’ popular councils of the counties, municipalities, towns, and villages. In addition, there were many officers working for the party, and the military trained people to be engineers or signal or engineering officers who then went to work in key posts of the national 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 Republic of Romania and the Soviet Union, two Romanian candidates started their training in Star Town near Moscow, at the I. A. Gagarin Space Training Center. They were Maj. Dumitru Dediu (an air force engineer) and Lt. Dumitru Prunariu (an aviation engineer). The one selected to take part in the first Romanian–Soviet space expedition was Dumitru Prunariu, a twenty-nineyear-old Bras¸ov native who had graduated from the Aircraft Department of the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. He accompanied the Soviet colonel Leonid Ivanovich Popov aboard Soyuz 40, a space shuttle launched on 14 May 1981 from the Balkonur launching site. The next day, Soyuz 40 joined the Russian orbital complex Salyut 6–Soyuz 40 and started a scientific research program that included work in astrophysics, nuclear physics, space technology, and biomedicine.

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The separation of Soyuz 40 from the orbital complex took place on 22 May 1981, during the 121st rotation around Earth; on the same day, the shuttle landed successfully after seven days and twenty hours in space. The same year, Col. Leonid Popov and 1st Lt. Dumitru Prunariu were awarded the titles of Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania.135 In November 2003, Dumitru Prunariu, president of the Space Agency of Romania, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general (one star). Later he was appointed ambassador of Romania to the Russian Federation and posted to Moscow.

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Romanian Military Involvement in the Revolution of December 1989

On the days of the Revolution of December 1989, the military actions of the Romanian Armed Forces were those appropriate for a fundamental institution of the state: the Romanian military met the ideals and the people’s obvious will to demolish the Communist regime. Through numerous commanding and restraining instruments, rules, and measures developed over the course of decades of dictatorship, Ceaus¸escu’s regime attempted to use the armed forces to hold on to power by any means. After the initial moments of disturbance and confusion skillfully built up by the powerful Communist propaganda, the armed forces joined the revolutionary side and alongside the population paid in bloodshed for the victory of the revolution. Most of the victims perished after 22 December 1989—the moment of Ceaus¸escu’s fall during the fight with the so-called terrorists, an enemy that was unseen and that is unknown even today. The revolution was the first performance of real combat actions by the Romanian forces since World War II, and they revealed the severe shortfalls in young conscripts’ combat training as well as the military’s lack of proper experience and infrastructure in the face of a modern electronic and diversionist warfare.

MILITARY ACTIONS OF DECEMBER 1989 In December 1989 the Romanian Armed Forces acted under the legal conditions imposed by the state of exception declared by Ceaus¸escu as president of Romania and the provisions claimed by the partial combat order embedded in the indicative ‘‘Radu the Handsome,’’ which was transmitted on 17 December 1989. 173

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In Timis¸oara, the night between 16 and 17 December 1989 brought dramatic events. In Maria Square, on Michelangelo Bridge, and near Decebalus Bridge in front of the County Committee of the Party, strikes were exchanged between the demonstrators and the order-maintaining forces. Considering that the forces of the Ministry of the Interior were not sufficient to repress the increasing protest movement, Ceaus¸escu sought an extreme solution, asking 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 of the city, columns of armed military that had been taken out with music and flags to deter the mass disorder were brutally attacked by violent individuals. Maj. Gen. (a one-star general according to Communist ranks) S¸tefan Gus¸a˘, chief of the High General Staff, assumed the coordination of the military actions in Timis¸oara. Thus, conditions were provided for the armed forces not 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 individuals armed with crowbars, sticks, and flammable bottles organized into a real striking force and attacked the militias (the former name for policemen), some military units, and the military formations that were being enacted in the street. On 20 December 1989 at 2 p.m., Gus¸a˘ ordered the military to retreat from downtown Timis¸oara to their barracks, an order that was approved later on by the minister of national defense, Gen. Col. (a three-star general in the Communist ranking) Vasile Milea. Following the pattern of the solution to an analogous crisis situation that occurred in August 1968 in the aftermath of Czechoslovakia’s invasion, the huge meeting organized in Palace Square in Bucharest on 21 December 1989 at noon meant the beginning of the popular revolt in the capital. Desperate, Ceaus¸escu requested that Gen. Col. Vasile Milea and Lt. Gen. Iulian Vlad, the chief of State Security Department (Securitate) remain in the building of the Central Committee of the Party in order to conduct, under his direct supervision, interventions aiming to stop the revolt’s expansion. During the night between 21 and 22 December, in the vicinity of the Intercontinental Hotel (in the neighborhood of the Central Committee building), bloodspattered strikes took place between the demonstrators and the forces belonging to Securitate, the Ministry of Defense, and the militia. In the morning of 22 December 1989, after the unexplained death (either homicide or suicide) of the minister of national defense—which Ceaus¸escu called the ultimate betrayal—the armed forces renounced the role of ‘‘people’s butcher’’ and withdrew into the barracks, following the order of the deputy minister of defense, Lt. Gen. (two stars) Victor Athanasie Sta˘nculescu. The military cor-

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dons were broken and the demonstrators began to mingle with the soldiers and officers. On 22 December, around 12:30 p.m., Ceaus¸escu and his wife Elena left the building of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party via a helicopter that took off from the roof. That evening, the Ceaus¸escus were arrested in Taˆrgovis¸te and entrusted to a military unit commanded by Colonel Kemenici. After three days and three nights of street fighting against unseen so-called terrorists—a period during which hundreds of civilians and soldiers died—the Ceaus¸escus were executed on 25 December after a brief trial performed by a martial military court within the same military unit in Taˆrgovis¸te.136

RANK PROMOTIONS NOT GRANTED IN 1989 In the 1980s, due to the strengthening command of the Communist Party in all social, cultural, and economic areas—which meant, in fact, Ceaus¸escu’s personal dictatorship—a series of measures was adopted to restrain the competence and the prerogatives of the various military echelons. The dictator took over the prerogatives, which included the assignments in various military positions and the rank promotions. Consequently, for a period of time the assignments were blocked, and this decreased the military’s effectiveness as its personnel were forced to hold deputy positions.137 Contrary to established legal provisions, on 23 August 1989 2,152 officers were denied promotion. This was a shocking abuse that deepened the military’s general dissatisfaction with Ceaus¸escu’s clan and Communist rule.

THE ‘‘RADU THE HANDSOME’’ ORDER Reacting to information on the development of events in Timis¸oara and to signals received through military channels that indicated distressing military movement at the western borders, Gen. Col. Vasile Milea ordered the execution on Sunday, 17 December, at 3:25 p.m. of ‘‘Radu the Handsome.’’139 This was an order that the headquarters and military units in Bucharest prepare for partial combat. At 6 p.m. the indicative was extended over all the armed forces, everywhere in the country. The ability to order the execution of the indicative—following a proposal by the minister of national defense— belonged solely to the president of the Socialist Republic of Romania, who was also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. The indicative meant that 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 next phase would have been the ‘‘general combat warning,’’ which included all the activities and measures typical for the ‘‘Radu the Handsome’’ indicative, concurrent with a general mobilization.

ARMED FORCES IN TIMIS¸OARA ON 17 DECEMBER 1989 The revolt that emerged in Timis¸oara on 16 December 1989 continued during the night, seeing violence and arrest. During the night between 16 and 17 December, Ceaus¸escu consulted for a long time with Milea, and they decided to send a group of generals and officers from the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Interior to the hot spot. On Sunday, 17 December, at 10 a.m., groups of violent civilians harassed the military columns that had been sent into the street with music and flags but no weapons. Soon thereafter, other troops with no ammunition were sent to block the key intersections and the main access routes. Participating in the meeting of the Executive Political Committee of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, under Ceaus¸escu’s pressure, Gen. Col. Vasile Milea ordered the distribution of ammunition. The state of exception was declared in the Timis¸ district. Due to the confusing and stressful situation created through a strong, deliberate disinformation campaign and local violent provocations, some military worried about self-defense and, at their own initiative, shot their guns in warning; this act gave an advantage to the regime’s real repressive forces from Securitate.138

CEAUS¸ESCU’S ORDERS ON 17 DECEMBER 1989 After blaming Gen. Milea and Gen. Vlad of betrayal, cowardice, and disobeying the orders of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Ceaus¸escu panicked and ordered during the last meeting of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party the following immediate measures meant to put down the general revolt in Timis¸oara: ‘‘Let’s put the troops in readiness. . . . No matter where an action is attempted, it must be immediately liquidated, without any other discussions.’’ The order was emphasized again by Ceaus¸escu during the teleconference that took place in the evening of the same day: ‘‘I ordered guns to be shot . . . summons to be called and if not obeyed, guns to be shot. . . . Within one hour order must be reestablished in Timis¸oara’’ (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 Communist Party, published in the Romanian press in 1990). TROOPS AND MILITARY TECHNIQUES DEPLOYED AFTER 17 DECEMBER 1989 Beginning on 17 December 1989, a group of officers and generals holding command positions in the Ministry of National Defense, among them Maj. Gen. S¸tefan Gus¸a˘, was sent to Timis¸oara. Troops and weapons were placed in the street in large garrisons, especially in Transylvania, under pressure from either Ceaus¸escu (in the cases of Timis¸oara and Bucharest) or the chiefs of the district organizations of the Communist Party (Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Arad, Bras¸ov). Most of the troops and weapons remained in the barracks, preparing for what was considered to be an attack on the western border of the country. However, Minister of National Defense Vasile Milea asked the garrison and unit commanders not to meet the requirements for troops or weapons without his special approval. In this way, he tried to keep to a minimum the level of military engagement in the crisis. ARMED FORCES’ FRATERNIZATION WITH REVOLUTIONARIES FROM TIMIS¸OARA On 19 December, surrounded by the workers of the Elba Factory, Major General Gus¸a˘ was in Timis¸oara to see the situation himself and to promise the people that he would order the retreat of troops and weapons into the barracks. This appearance incited the fraternization between the military and the revolutionaries. The next day, at 2 p.m., Gus¸a˘ took charge of the retreat and the measure was subsequently approved by the minister of national defense, Gen. Col. Vasile Milea. On 20 December, the whole city of Timis¸oara went on strike, and waves of locals demonstrated in the streets, calling out loud for the first time: ‘‘The army is with us!’’ The attitude and position of the chiefs of the armed forces were assumed while Ceaus¸escu still held power as president and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (at that moment, he was in Iran on his last official visit abroad); his orders directly opposed the military leaders’ activities.140 FIGHT AGAINST UNKNOWN ‘‘TERRORISTS’’ After the Ceaus¸escus’ escape on 22 December, the leadership of the armed forces 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 the former building of the Ministry of National Defense on Drumul Taberei Street), and the revolutionaries occupied the buildings of the former Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, and of Romanian Television and Radio Broadcasting. Similar measures were taken all over the country to return to normalcy. Beginning at 9:30 p.m., firing was opened against the former building of the Ministry of National Defense from the blocks across the street, and in the night between 22 and 23 December, other headquarters and military units were targeted in ‘‘terrorist’’ attacks and shootings. To this day nobody knows exactly who attacked the revolutionaries after 22 December, 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 on Dorobant¸i Avenue and the Radio Broadcasting building on Berthelot Street. To defend these buildings, a large number of troops and armored vehicles were sent to them. That night also meant the beginning of the first diversions and electronic warfare, which, together with rumors and skilled disinformation, strongly influenced the execution of military actions not only in Bucharest, but also in other cities, where fights against ‘‘unseen terrorists’’ took place. To defend and maintain the revolution’s political achievements, 211 soldiers sacrificed their lives and 633 were wounded; a total of 1,104 Romanian citizens perished and 3,321 in the country were wounded.141

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At the Turn of the Millennium On the Way to NATO

The last decade of the 20th century meant for the Romanian Armed Forces a period of changes and profound structural reforms oriented toward the model of the modern armed forces of the Euro-Atlantic area. Amended in Vienna in 1989, the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty was signed in Paris on 19 November 1990 by Romania and twenty-two other NATO or Warsaw Treaty member states. According to the treaty signed in Paris, the Romanian Armed Forces were required to destroy a certain number of tanks and artillery pieces that surpassed the permitted limits (most of it was old military weaponry). At the end of 1999, the endowment of the Romanian Armed Forces with modern equipment and weaponry increased only slightly, being to a great extent affected by budgetary constraints. According to the government’s strategy, the modern armament programs would start again on a large scale only after 2004, in proportion to the economic development of the country. After the dissolution of the Warsaw Treaty in 1991, Romania was the first country that signed the Frame Document for Partnership for Peace on 26 January 1994 at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The frame document launched by the North Atlantic Council made the first two Romanian officers start their activity within the Partnership Coordination Cell in SHAPE, Mons, Belgium. Although the Romanian policy and the actions of the Romanian Armed Forces were shaped as a national strategic objective aiming at NATO integration in the first wave, political and economic issues that came to light at the July 1997 Madrid summit and 1999 Washington, D.C., summit prevented the fulfillment 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 179

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in the military institution) made popular and beloved the military ceremonies organized on National Day, Armed Forces’ Day, the occasion of handing over the new combat banners, or the occasion of the military oath. During the 1990s, the armed forces proved to be one of the most important factors in bringing Romania closer to the European and Euro-Atlantic security structures, and this period marked the first time when the so-called Romanian military foreign diplomacy proved to be more efficient than the traditional one through its pragmatism and concrete approach. Reviving interwar traditions, Romania through the Ministry of National Defense was involved actively in all major political and military cooperation initiatives in the Balkans and southeastern Europe, either with troops in the field (SFOR, KFOR) or with standby troops in SEEBRIG and BLACKSEAFOR, as well as through providing political and military mechanisms in SEDM (Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial) and SECI (Southeast European Cooperative Initiative). An important part of this participation was the bilateral and partnership programs set up with the armed forces of some Western powers such as the United States, Great Britain, France, and others. Moreover, starting in the middle of the 2000s, thousands of Romanian officers of all ranks were trained in all specialties and at all levels in the most renowned military educational institutions of the NATO members. Besides the numerous contacts and visits or the participation in various NATO/PfP applications and exercises, from 1991 on, the Romanian Armed Forces made remarkable contributions to international peacekeeping missions performed under the aegis of the UN, NATO, or OSCE, and until 2003 more than 11,000 military of all ranks took part 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 the pro-NATO campaign. On the whole, the Romanian participation in peacekeeping missions was very much praised by the partners from the great powers, who constantly underscored the high professionalism of the Romanian military despite the Romanians’ logistical disadvantages. A political and military first step occurred in March 1999, when Romania opened its airspace to the NATO aircraft that were striking Yugoslavia within Operation Allied Force. Another major opening toward the North Atlantic Alliance and especially the United States took place in the spring of 2002, when Romania sent a military police platoon to Kabul, Afghanistan, to take part in ISAF. A staff officer group and a C-130 Hercules airplane were the next contribution to ISAF. Then, an infantry battalion with 405 military and the appropriate equipment (part of the Neagoe Basarab 26th Infantry Battalion 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 Armed Forces’ unit in a real combat mission abroad after World War II. In July 2003 the Romanian military entered Operation Iraqi Freedom by deploying an infantry battalion to Nasiriyah, followed by engineering, military police, and special units. The reformation process of the Romanian Armed Forces was seriously affected in the period 1995–2004 by the budgetary constraints caused by the decline of the national economy. The percentage of the budget allocated annually for the armed forces dropped below 3 percent, and this damaged the credibility of the real combat capability of the armed forces despite the fact that the new structures and the reform process developed within the armed forces were more consistent and daring than many other processes developed in other economic sectors. The political and military leaders of the Romanian Armed Forces turned to building a professional force that was supposed to be smaller but more flexible and better equipped, and able to meet the new political and military challenges of the third millennium, under programs known as FARO 2005–2010 and Objective Force 2007.

ROMANIAN FIELD HOSPITAL IN THE 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 Hospital No. 100 left the country for the Persian Gulf area according to the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution No. 678, within Operation Granby, which was part of Operation Desert Storm. The latter was an operation performed by the multinational coalition for the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. The Romanian field hospital was designated to provide third-grade medical care; it had a capacity of 100 beds and was composed of 384 volunteer medical cadres, both civilian and military. The unit under the command of Col. Dr. Dumitru Ba˘rboi142 was deployed to the town of Al Jubayil on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, and although it did not take part in combat, it impressed the Western military with its new key post placement concept and its standardized containers modular system. On this occasion, most of the Western military were coming in contact with Romanians for the first time in forty-five years because Romania had been on the other side of the Iron Curtain. The rapid development of the events in the theater of operations and the lack 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. The Romanian involvement marked one of the first instances of military cooperation between a unit of an army that was integrated until 1990 into the Warsaw Treaty and a NATO military structure, which was represented by the British contingent in whose realm the Romanian hospital was placed.

ROMANIAN OFFICERS IN THE UN AND OSCE OBSERVATION AND SURVEILLANCE MISSIONS The longest Romanian military participation in a UN mission started on 23 April 1991 shortly after the end of Operation Desert Storm. It lasted until March 2003, just before the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the second Persian Gulf War. The United Nations Iraq Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) was instituted through UN Security Council Resolution No. 687 dated 3 April 1991. It established a demilitarized zone along the border between Iraq and Kuwait. The mission of the first Romanian military observation team led by Col. Marin Chiot¸ea lasted one year and three months and was followed successively almost every year by groups of five or seven Romanian military observers. Integrated within UNIKOM military structures, starting with the observation posts of the three sectors of the demilitarized zone and up to positions held within the headquarters of the mission, the Romanian officers completed a range of tasks: troop, equipment, and population movement observation through ground, water, and air patrolling; embargo infringement monitoring; vehicle and personal control; liaisons with local and central Iraqi and Kuwaiti authorities; and investigation of cease-fire infringements. UN Security Council Resolution No. 872 dated 5 October 1993 set up UNAMIR II, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, whose coordination was entrusted to the representatives of the Belgian Armed Forces. After a short training period with the General Staff of the Belgian Armed Forces at the United Missions Coordination Center, a group composed of five Romanian officers led by Maj. Adrian Mus¸at took part in operations performed between 9 March and 15 April 1994, within the Belgian contingent deployed in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. According to a decision by the Peacekeeping Missions Department in New York, the Romanian officers worked both for the planning sections of UNAMIR II headquarters and the companies of the Belgian paratrooper battalion. The presence of the Romanian military observers within UNMEE, the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, started on 9 October 2000 and 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 Ethiopia and Eritrea and to stop the escalation of a border conflict that could have destabilized that area of Africa by involving other states neighboring the Red Sea. The legal basis of this observation and reporting mission was UN Security Council Resolution No. 1312 and Decision No. 30 of the Parliament of Romania dated 20 September 2000. On 10 July 1999, in Lusaka, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo signed together with Angola, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zimbabwe a cease-fire agreement between the governmental forces and the numerous internal rebel factions or groups involved in a bloody civil war fought to control an ever larger part of the territory or to satisfy economic, political, or military interests of the neighboring states. The agreement also stipulated the establishment of a monitoring force under the aegis of the United Nations: MONUC, or the Mission de l’Organisation des Nations Unies ena Re´publique De´mocratique du Congo. MONUC was established through United Nations Security Council Resolution No. 1291, dated 24 February 2000. The structure of this mission evolved quickly from a nucleus of ninety UN military personnel in September 1999 to a total of 500 observers in November 1999, increasing to 7,000 international personnel, both military and civilian. Meeting the United Nations’ request, the Parliament of Romania approved through Decision No. 29 dated 20 September 2000 the participation of twenty-six and then twenty-seven Romanian military observers in MONUC. Their mission consisted of ground, air, and water observation and monitoring, in compliance with the provisions of the Lusaka Agreement, in all six territorial sectors coordinated by MONUC headquarters in Kinshasa and situated in Boende, Gemena, Lisala, Goma, Kindu, and Mbandaka. Many officers held command positions in the staffs of the sector headquarters of the mission. Following the approval of the minister of national defense, between September 2002 and February 2003 an officer specializing in demilitarization, demobilization, reconversion, reintegration, and repatriation was deployed to Luanda within the United Nations Mission Agreement (UNMA), a technical group of the UN placed in Angola to assist the Mixed Military Commission in implementing the memorandum of understanding signed between the armed forces of Angola and UNITA’s military forces to work on the demobilization and social reintegration of the former UNITA fighters. After the military actions between NATO and Yugoslavia were suspended following the Romanian parliament’s Decision No. 27 dated 23 June 1999, a liaison officer between the UN and KFOR structures was given a one-year mandate to work within United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), first in Mitrovitza and then in Pristina. At the end of 2003, two more observation and monitoring missions were placed in Africa, in Burundi and the Ivory Coast. The Peacekeeping Missions

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Department in New York requested Romanian officers to hold positions within the headquarters of these missions. Not even the journalists from the daily newspaper Adeva˘rul (The Truth) who were in the field during the Transnistrean conflict had any idea about the OSCE observers deployed in a security area that was 245 km long and 20–40 km wide and set up on both sides of the Nistru River in order to stop the armed conflict that had arisen to separate Transnistria County from the Republic of Moldova. Under the aegis of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (the future Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), between 19 April and 19 June 1992, a group composed of twenty-five Romanian military observers led by Col. Petre Botezatu acted in that area alongside an equal number of observers from the Russian Federation, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine. The armed conflict broke out again on 19 June 1992 and the military observers withdrew from the area until the signing of the hostility-cessation agreement between Moldova and Russia on 21 July 1992. In accordance with the agreement, a group of only six Romanian military observers returned to the security area and performed its activity until the end of February 1993, along with three Russian, one Moldovan, and two Ukrainian peacekeeping battalions that were present in the area. The Romanian military presence in the mission performed in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia (FYROM) under OSCE auspices lasted from 15 October 2001 to 30 June 2003 and was based on the decision of the Parliament of Romania dated 28 October 1998. The Romanian military contribution meant three military observers who monitored the situation in FYROM. The risk in the area emerged due to the interethnic conflict between the Albanian minority and the Macedonian population of FYROM. The same parliamentary decision and the same OSCE led to Romanian participation in the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) between 20 August 2000 and 23 May 2003, with an observer deployed in Skopje, the FYROM capital city, who performed movement-coordination tasks. Beginning on 22 July 1999, resulting from the approval of the minister of national defense, five Romanian military observers monitored together with representatives of thirty-five other OSCE members the situation along the border of the Russian Federation (Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan) and Georgia, an area at risk for escalating secessionist and border conflicts. The missions of the observers consisted of patrolling and observation, crisis solutions, personnel training, and planning, organizing, and coordinating, eight mountain patrolling bases. All the actions had to take place on rough terrain that was situated at an altitude of 3,000 meters in an unstable security environment.

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On 26 March 2003 the European Union Council invited Romania to participate in the peacekeeping operation Allied Harmony, conducted by the European Union in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. This was the first military action under the aegis of the European Union decided within the common action of the European Union Council on 27 January 2003. The Romanian Armed Forces took part between 10 June 2003 and 15 December 2003 in the European Union Force for FYROM with two public relations officers and one intelligence officer who performed their duties in force headquarters located in Skopje. Romania paid for its own participation.143 CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS FOR NATIONAL 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 will give 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 January 2007, the Romanian Armed Forces became entirely professionalized, which means that the active duty military service was abandoned [author’s note from 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 for National Defense. b. The siege state and the emergency state regimes. Article 80 The President of Romania represents the Romanian state and is the guarantor of 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 Forces and also holds the position of the president of the Supreme Council for National Defense. He may declare, with the prior approval of the Parliament, the partial or general mobilization of the Armed Forces. Only in exceptional situations is the decision of the president later forwarded for the Parliament’s approval within a maximum of five days from the adoption thereof. In case of an armed aggression against the country, the President of Romania takes measures to deter the aggression and makes them [the measures] known to the Parliament right away through a message. If the Parliament is not in session, it is summoned within 24 hours from the beginning of the aggression. Article 117 The Armed Forces is exclusively subordinated to the will of the people in order to guarantee the sovereignty, independence and unity of the state, the territorial integrity, and the constitutional democracy of the country. The structure of the national defense system, the organization of the armed forces, 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 the police, the state intelligence services, and the other components of the armed forces. The organization of military or paramilitary activity outside state authority is 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 unilaterally the activities related to the national defense and security. REVISED CONSTITUTION RESULTING FROM THE 2003 REFERENDUM On 19 and 20 October 2003, a national referendum was organized to revise the 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 integration into NATO and the EU. From the point of view of defense, the revised constitution cleared the way for a professional army by eliminating the provisions on mandatory conscription and led to the proper fulfillment of the requirements for a future NATO member. Thus, according to article 117 paragraph 1, ‘‘The Armed Forces is exclusively subordinated to the will of the people to grant the sovereignty, independence and unity of the state, the territorial integrity and the constitutional democracy. Under the conditions of law and the international treaties Romania is part of, the armed forces contributes to the collective defense within military alliance systems and takes part in peacekeeping or peace reinforcement actions.’’ According to paragraph 5 of the same article, ‘‘Romania’s territory can be entered or crossed by foreign troops that can station or perform operations under the provisions of the laws or international treaties Romania is part of.’’ The Supreme Council for National Defense has, according to article 118, responsibilities regarding ‘‘the organization and the unilateral coordination of the activities related to defense, national security, participation in maintaining the international security and the collective defense in military alliances as well as regarding the peacekeeping or peace enforcement.’’ The combined chambers of the parliament have, according to article 62, paragraph 2f, the task of ‘‘approving the national defense strategy.’’ Constitutional chapter 2 makes reference to the president of Romania and article 92 has a new paragraph, number 4, which says that ‘‘in case of mobilization or war, the Parliament continues its activity and, if not in session, is summoned within 24 hours after the declaration of war.’’ As for the exceptional measures, according to article 93, paragraph 1, ‘‘the President of Romania institutes the siege or emergency state in the country or some administrative territories and requests that Parliament approve the measures adopted within a maximum of five days after the decision is made.’’ The possibility of having a fully professional army led to the elimination of the lines mandating military service, the military duties being established through 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, excepting the volunteers, under the conditions of the organic law.’’ As for the alternative military service, the constitution says in article 39, paragraph 2, that ‘‘the activities for accomplishing the military duties and those performed instead of them because of religious or moral reasons’’ are not considered forced labor.

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ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES REFORM, AFTER DECEMBER 1989 In January 1990, the General Staff started the planning and coordination of the restructuring and modernization process of the armed forces, seeking all the while to retain a credible combat capability. Although external and foreign political interference at times stalled the reform process, on the whole, the process of restructuring the Romanian Armed Forces underwent three main stages:144 The first stage (1990–1995) meant the elimination of the Communist political control in the armed forces and the control generated by the former Warsaw Treaty membership. New defense legislation was initiated to ensure the proper functioning of the armed forces, and new modernization and equipping programs were initiated. The second stage (1995–1997) had in view to accelerate the structural reform at the strategic command level, the organization of the armed forces in battalions, brigades, and army corps, and the launch of the interoperability process with the armed forces of the NATO member states. At the same time the units designated for peacekeeping missions were made operational. The third stage, which started in 1997, meant the organization of the General Staff and the services according to modular structures compatible with those of NATO. A new personnel management strategy was issued, and the interoperability objectives assumed through Partnership for Peace started being implemented, as was the Membership Action Plan (MAP). There began the organization of the Rapid Reaction Force as the core of the future professional army; it was generically called Objective Force 2007. The transformations led to a downsizing of the armed forces, from 320,000 to 180,000 in 2000, with the next objective being to have 112,000 military and 28,000 civilians. Objective Force 2007 will comprise 75,000 military and 15,000 civilians. The minister of national defense is a civilian political personality who holds responsible the state secretaries and politicians designated to manage the defense and equipment issues and the relationship with the civil society. The chief of the General Staff is the highest military authority and is responsible for the combat capability of the Romanian Armed Forces. The chiefs of the services are subordinated to him, as are the operational and territorial headquarters and other structures. In August 2001, the strength of the Romanian Armed Forces consisted of 22,600 officers, 25,700 NCOs and warrant officers, 15,800 sergeants, 35,000 conscripts, and 36,000 civilians. Effective 1 January 2007, the mandatory military service will be eliminated 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 II MISSION IN SOMALIA Between 6 July 1993 and 26 October 1994, the doctors working with the 50th Field Hospital took part in UNOSOM II (United Nations Operations in Somalia), acting in the vicinity of the airport in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. During the deployment, the hospital functioned independently, having 235 personnel and 50 beds that served both the UNOSOM military and the Somali population. The hospital had a surgery section, an intestinal disease section, laboratories, and a stomatology section. The hospital command position during the mission, which had two troop rotations, was held by doctors Col. Ion Dra˘gus¸in, PhD, and Col. Ion Boriceanu, PhD. More than 80 percent of the total medical activity consisted of humanitarian acts for the benefit of the local population. On the whole, 75,877 sick persons were provided with a wide range of medical services from emergency care to bullet wounds and birth assistance.145

MILITARY STRUCTURES ADOPTED IN 1993 Replacing the former High Staff, the General Staff (based on a Western model) and the staffs of the services were established in 1993, and the army corps and brigade echelons replaced the regiments and divisions. The Air Force Command and the Air Defense Headquarters were united. Peacekeeping operation structures were created, enlisted personnel (professional sergeants) were hired, and the military education reform was launched.

THE NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL FOR EUROPEAN AND EURO-ATLANTIC INTEGRATION This political body was set up on 3 November 1993 with the participation of all the political parties represented in the parliament, as well as that of the Presidency, government, and some nongovernmental organizations. The aim was to promote the measures necessary for Romania to become a full NATO member. In June 1996, the Parliament of Romania adopted an appeal empha-

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sizing the consensus of the Romanian political spectrum regarding the national strategic objective for NATO integration. The appeal was forwarded to all NATO members, who were asked for support in this regard. This political approach was based on the wide public support for Romania’s integration into NATO, a support expressed and proven also by polls.

IN THE HEART OF AFRICA: UNAVEM III AND MONUA MISSIONS IN ANGOLA At the request of UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Parliament of Romania approved on 13 March 1995 the Romanian military contribution to UNAVEM III (United Nations Angola Verification Mission III) in Angola, an African country waging a bloody civil war. In the first stage, this contribution consisted of thirty-one officers and an NCO staff group for the mission’s command structures, but soon an infantry battalion and a field hospital were also deployed, bringing the total number of people involved to 900. Until August 1999, all four peacekeeping battalions specially trained for UN missions in Bucharest, Craiova, Bistrit¸a, and Ias¸i were sent to the Angolan camps located in Chicuma, N’Gove, Lubango, and Lobito, the rotation taking place every six or seven months. Within UNAVEM III and MONUA (Missao de Observacao das Nacoes Unidas em Angola) the Romanian military patrolled hundreds of kilometers through Angola’s deserts; built and set up camps for UNITA (Unido National para a Independencia Total de Angola) military in Chicuma and N’Gove; escorted military convoys; and searched the quartering camps and cleared them of mines. The equipment used was entirely Romanian: armored personnel carriers for recce operations, model 78 (TAB C-78); modernized armored personnel carriers, model 71 (TAB 71 M); and 4-by-4 terrain vehicles, models DAC 665 and DAC 10215. Col. Cristian Craˆmpit¸a˘ and Col. Nicolae Iva˘nel served as regional military commanders during UNAVEM III. The field hospital deployed in Viana-Luanda with forty beds and 108 medical personnel provided medical care to thousands of sick people, be they wounded or suffering from other illnesses, and treated 281 cases of malaria. After 1 July 1997 only one infantry company remained in the theater of operations until August 1999. Three Romanian doctors held the position of chief surgeon of UNAVEM III. Between 1995 and 1999, three Romanian military lost their lives in Angola to malaria or accidents. On the whole, Romanian participation in the peacekeeping mission constituted the first serious challenge for the Romanian MoD 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 the provisions of the Lusaka Treaty. This function falls within MONUC, in both the UN headquarters in Kinshasa and the six territorial sectors of the mission.146

‘‘COOPERATIVE DETERMINATION’’ NATO/PfP EXERCISE IN SIBIU, 1995 The first NATO/PfP live exercise involving ground troops planned by AFSOUTH (the land component command of NATO regional headquarters in Naples) to take place in Romania occurred in Sibiu between 10 and 15 September 1995 and included 438 military from nine NATO and PfP member states. The Turkish general Huseyin Kivrikoglu, commander of NATO Allied Land Forces South Eastern Europe, conducted the exercise with Brig. Gen. Hayrettin Uzun, who represented NATO, and Brig. Gen. Nicolae Corduneanu, who represented the Romanian side. The exercise aimed at NATO standard operation procedures (SOPs) field training in peacekeeping operations, at the level of a multinational battalion. This unit, which was commanded by a Romanian officer, Lt. Col. Ioan Paˆs¸loiu, consisted of four companies, each having three platoons formed by military from different national contingents.

IN BOSNIA’S MOUNTAINS: IFOR AND SFOR MISSIONS The Joseph Kruzel 96th Engineering Battalion was established and put into action based on parliamentary Decision Nos. 23 and 43 dated 1995, Governmental Decision No. 63 dated 7 February 1996, and the decision of the General Staff dated December 1995 with the aim of participating in IFOR (Implementation Force), Bosnia-Herzegovina, initially for ten months, from March until December 1996. The same institutions extended the deployment period due to changes in the first European NATO mission. This first involvement of a Romanian unit in a NATO-led operation signified the political option of a definite engagement by Romania on its way to NATO, and the first real test the Romanian Armed Forces would face before its future allies. The process started in January 1994 in Brussels when the minister of foreign affairs, Teodor Meles¸canu, signed the PfP accession documents. The missions the battalion received from both the national command and the Allied Rapid 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 Bosnia, there arose the need for works to benefit the Republic of Sprska and the Croatian-Muslim Federation. Following parliamentary Decision No. 25, dated 1996, and governmental Decision 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 through several changes, and the number of the military in the theater decreased from 200 to 180. A liaison between the battalion and LANDCENT (NATO land forces that replaced the ARRC) was also created. In just the first two and a half years of the Romanian presence in BosniaHerzegovina, a total of 691 military were rotated as a part of the Joseph Kruzel 96th Engineering Battalion, which was named after the American diplomat who died in a plane crash while on a mission in Bosnia. The engineers of this battalion performed 200 specific missions. The battalion acted in 60,000 square kilometers of mountainous and wooded terrain, at the demarcation line between the Republic of Sprska and the Croatian-Muslim Federation, in landmine areas that had been refused by other specialized units already in the operation theater. As the number of SFOR troops decreased, the number of Romanian engineers also decreased. However, there emerged new subunits, such as a military police platoon, a national intelligence cell, and new positions for the Romanian 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 Camp Butmir, Sarajevo; a national detachment composed of forty-five engineers as part of the Dutch contingent in Banja Luka / Bogojno; a military police platoon with twenty-five military as part of the Military Support Unit; a national intelligence cell composed of four military; and seven officers holding various positions in CIMIC (Civil-Military Cooperation), PSYOPS, or JVB (Joint Visitors Bureau) branches within the SFOR headquarters.147

COOPERATIVE PARTNER NATO/PfP EXERCISE, CONSTANT¸A HARBOR, 1996 The second exercise organized on Romanian territory by AFSOUTH, commanded by the American admiral Leighton W. Smith, took place in Constant¸a (the biggest harbor city on the Romanian seashore) and maritime waters between 21 and 27 July 1996. The commander of NAVSOUTH (Allied Naval Forces 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 partner states took part in the exercise. The command post was placed aboard the destroyer Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti, the representative ship of the Romanian navy. The goal of the exercise was to improve the participants’ training skills and to promote some interoperability procedures in the contexts of humanitarian missions, evacuation of noncombatants, peacekeeping, naval monitoring, minesweeping, and convoys.

COOPERATIVE KEY NATO/PfP EXERCISE IN BUCHAREST, 1996 The third real NATO/PfP multinational exercise hosted by Romania was conducted between the 14 and 18 October1996 on the Nicolae Ba˘nciulescu air force base located near Bucharest. The exercise was coordinated by the commander 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 exercise were Brig. Gen. Thomas Waskov and air flotilla Gen. Ion Stan. Aircraft, infantry, and helicopters from Greece, Italy, Turkey, the United States, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania took part in the exercise. The goal was to practice NATO communications and logistical procedures in air operations such as land dropping and supplying cargo in a multinational intervention scenario for humanitarian assistance in response to a natural disaster. Medical evacuation operations were also conducted.

ARMED FORCES CHURCH PROTOCOL, OCTOBER 1995 (EXCERPT) Based on Article 29 (5) of the Constitution of Romania and the traditions of the Romanian people, based on the fact that the religious assistance in the Romanian Armed Forces remains a missionary and leading duty of the Church, until the adoption of the Law on Military Clergy and Religious Assistance in the Armed Forces, the following Protocol is signed hereinafter between the Ministry of National Defense and the Romanian Patriarchy. The provision of religious assistance starts again within the Armed Forces of 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 ethical education of the soldiers. The religious assistance is organized by the Romanian Patriarchy and the Ministry of National Defense and will be performed during the hours set up by units, taking into account the specific and the general requirements of the military system and the particularities of the respective branch or military unit. The clergy constituted in this regard will be part of the Defense Policy and International Relations Department and of the units foreseen in appendixes 1 and 2 of the present protocol. The Romanian Patriarchy and its dioceses will provide the necessary clerical personnel, in meeting the necessities of the armed forces and at the request of the Ministry of National Defense.

ROMANIAN MILITARY MEDIA148 The Romanian military media came into being on 23 July 1859, the day of publication of the first military review, Observatorul militar (the Military Observer), shortly after the union of the Romanian principalities. At first it was a private initiative that lasted only several months and aimed at covering in a journalistic style the whole range of military issues. A little later, on 6 February 1860, Monitorul oastei (the Armed Forces’ Monitor) was published as an official newspaper printed by the Ministry of War in which mainly official documents concerning military issues were printed. The last decades of the 19th century saw, besides the newspapers of general interest, the printing of military publications, especially magazines, that conveyed a well-crafted profile on the branches and services and addressed a public composed mainly of officers, but also of noncommissioned officers and soldiers. During the neutrality, between 1914 and 1916, and during World War 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 magazine comprised information and photos from European fronts, portraits of military commanders, and remarks made about the belligerent powers behind the scenes. During World War II, between 3 November 1939 and May 1944, the Military Gazette weekly magazine was published as an independent newspaper serving the national defense. It was dedicated strictly to disseminating military information and together with other internal or front pamphlets, it boosted the troops’ morale. The Armed Forces’ Voice weekly newspaper was printed for the first time on 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 Armed Forces, controlled by the Communist political structures and used as a ‘‘sharp tool to shape a new conscience within the Armed Forces.’’ In 1953 the newspaper was called the Homeland Defense and beginning in 1965, it became a weekly publication promoting the same Communist ideology. After December 1989 the main newspaper of the Ministry of National Defense started finding its form and rigor, specific for the military, under the name Romania’s Armed Forces. On 24 July 1994, the weekly publication returned to its original name the Military Observer. The first and the oldest Romanian military magazine was the Military Romania, the great-grandmother of the present Romanian Military Thought, published today by the Romanian General Staff. It was first published in Cuza’s era, in January 1864, and addressed topics in military art, theory, and history. Between World Wars I and II, more than seventy military publications were printed. The evolution of the Romanian military body was reflected in a maximum diversification of specialties. A spectacular evolution was experienced by the review Armed Forces, which was initially published on 16 May 1942 as a propagandistic military publication and then transformed by the Communist powers into an ideological vector until 1954. In 2003, after Viat¸a Armatei (the Armed Forces’ Life) recommenced publication, the main magazines were the Romanian Military Thought, published by the General Staff, and the Modern Military Spirit, published by the Armed Forces’ Media Corporation. The Romanian military cinema was born on 16 November 1916, when the Photo and Cinema Service of the Armed Forces was created. This occasion made official the status of cinematic front-line operator. More than 20,000 meters of film and 50 other topics followed, taken on the front lines or in the rear, and they formed the base for the future documentaries about World War I. The period between the world wars was relatively light on films, and military cinema regained the spotlight on 20 June 1941, when the entire personnel of the National Cinema Office and of the CIRO FILM company was employed as part of the Propaganda Section of the General Staff to serve the historical event represented by Romania’s entry into World War II. From the thousands of meters of footage taken on the front, two long documentaries resulted: The Holy War and The White Squadron. The Soviets halted the Romanian military cinema, which again came into being in 1963 only as a cinema club. In 1972, the club became the Cinema Studio of the Armed Forces, an institution that produced remarkable training movies and that became part of the Armed Forces Media Corporation in 2002. Romanian military television was born in March 1968, after Ceaus¸escu issued 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 television channel broadcast a show called Watching the Homeland, which like media of other forms experienced ideological and censorship turmoil. Starting in the summer of 1990, the military produced a weekly TV magazine called Pro Patria, which attracted a large audience. Besides this weekly one-hour show, the military produced movies representing the Armed Forces. After several reorganizations, since 2000 the television staff has been part of the Armed Forces Media Corporation and subordinated to the Public Relations Directorate. The first radio show of the armed forces, called Ora Armatei (The Armed Forces’ Hour), went on the air on 7 July 1940, a month after the Soviet ultimatums demanding Bessarabia and Bucovina from Romania. An agreement was signed between the General Staff and the national Radio Broadcasting Company. The Armed Forces’ Hour was also part of the general war effort, broadcasting for hundreds of hours and enjoying the cooperation of famous personalities of the time, including Constantin Ta˘nase, Stroe and Vasilache, and H. Nicolaide. At present, The Armed Forces’ Hour is broadcast every Saturday on the national station Radio News Romania.

ROMANIAN INFANTRYMEN IN OPERATION ALBA IN ALBANIA Following the resolution of the UN Security Council establishing the peacekeeping force for Albania under the aegis of OSCE, and based on the decision of the Parliament of Romania, on 30 April 1997 the tactical infantry detachment, called ROMDET Sfaˆntul Gheorghe, and composed of 400 military equipped with proper armament, boarded the ferry Eforie in the Black Sea harbour of Constant¸a and set out for the Albanian port Durres.149 ROMDET had two company-sized modules, each composed of peacekeepers coming from battalions from Bucharest and Craiova, plus a support company. The peacekeeping force headquarters in Tirana assigned it a responsibility area located in southern Albania; the camp was first set up in Gjirokaster and then a company was deployed to Tepelene. Once the operational authority was transferred from the Romanian authorities to the peacekeeping force headquarters, ROMDET became fully operational on 12 May 1997. For the next two months and three weeks, ROMDET performed its mandate through humanitarian convoy escort missions, and especially through security missions provided for the OSCE observers engaged in the Albanian general elections beginning on 29 June 1997. ROMDET was subordinate to the Friuli Italian Mechanized Brigade quartered in Vlora on the Adriatic shore. After

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20 June, ROMDET was reinforced by an Italian mechanized company; this was the first time that a country that was not a NATO member commanded a unit from a NATO member country. The ROMDET commander was Col. Sorin Ioan. During its participation in Operation ALBA, the Romanian military did not fire its guns and casualties did not occur. Between May and July 1997, the Romanian Armed Forces had various contingencies engaged in four different peacekeeping missions: UNIKOM in Iraq and Kuwait, UNAVEM III in Angola, SFOR in Bosnia, and ALBA in Albania.

ROMANIANS IN KFOR AND UNMIK The Romanian military presence in KFOR (Kosovo Force) started in March 2000 when the first officers and warrant officers specializing in psychological operations began to acquire positions in PSYOPS Branch in HQ KFOR Main, in Film City camp, in Pristina, the capital city of the province of Kosovo. From then until 2003, not only did the Romanian contribution in KFOR PSYOPS increase substantially, but so did the number of positions held within HQ KFOR Main branches. Consequently, in both HQ KFOR Main and KFOR Rear (located in Skopje), the Romanian officers and NCOs held 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, a Romanian national intelligence cell composed of three intelligence officers and one NCO started functioning near HQ KFOR Main, where the Romanian military worked alongside their counterparts from most of the thirty-nine contributing KFOR. The first subunit that entered the Kosovo theater of operations was a military police platoon composed of twenty-five professionals who were assigned traffic control and patrolling missions at the border checkpoint of Blace / General Jankovic, and were part of the Greek contingent of the East Multinational Brigade during April 2001 and July 2003. The second subunit deployed in the theater was an infantry company composed of eighty-nine military as part of the Belgian contingent of the NorthEast Multinational Brigade. This company acted first in the White Plains camp located in the mountainous area in the northern part of the province, where numerous Serbian and Albanian enclaves were mixed. The mission then continued in the Nothing Hill camp of the multinational group headquarters of the Belgian-led BELUKROKO, deployed near Leposavic. Between December 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 with Serbia, convoy escort, searching for armaments, security filtering, and VIP protection. The last subunit deployed in the area in February 2002 was also a company infantry part of the Italian contingent of the South-West Multinational Brigade. The subunit was quartered first in Klina and then, from July 2003, in the Serbian enclave of Goradsevac in Peci. This subunit was part of the battalion-sized battle group called Task Force Aquilla. In the western city of Kosovo there were also deployed 115 Romanian gendarmes who made up a special police unit that was part of UNMIK. The missions of this infantry company resembled those of their colleagues in BELUKROKO. The equipment and armament were also similar: nine armored personnel carriers, three DAC 665T trucks, three Panther radio stations, an auto repair shop, a medical van, and several 4x4 terrain vehicles. Finally, the Neagoe Basarab 26th Infantry Battalion from Craiova (replaced in the summer of 2002 by the Ca˘luga˘reni 2nd Infantry Battalion, based in Bucharest) was nominated as a SFOR/KFOR strategic reserve, and took part in the Dynamic Response NATO/PfP exercise series conducted by AFSOUTH in the Kosovo theater of operations.150

ROMANIA AND CENCOOP The letter of intent and the frame document regarding Romania’s entry into the Central European Nations’ Cooperation in Peace Support (CENCOOP) were signed in Vienna on 19 March 1998. These documents were also signed by Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Due to a voluntary decision by the members, an ad hoc multinational force was organized, having the size of a mechanized brigade and composed of the military contribution of two or more member states. The cooperation mechanism within CENCOOP provides specific structures at the political and executive levels, assistance furnished by experts, and a permanent working staff called the Multinational Planning Staff.151

SUPREME COUNCIL FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE The Supreme Council for National Defense arose on the grounds of article 188 of the 1991 Constitution of Romania (see the modifications of 2003), which stipulates that the institution ‘‘organizes and coordinates the defense and national security activities, the participation in international security and

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collective defense within military alliance systems and the participation in peacekeeping and peace support operations.’’ This institution is chaired by the Romanian president (article 92), who is also the commander of the armed forces. According to Law 415/2002 regarding the organization and functioning of the Supreme Council for National Defense, the chairman of this high public authority is the president of Romania, while the prime minister holds the position of vice president. The members of the Supreme Council for National Defense are the national security presidential councilor, the minister of foreign affairs, the minister of justice, the minister of public finances, the minister of national defense, the minister of the interior, the minister of industry and resources, the director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, and the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. The law states that the chairman leads the meetings and sets the 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), and Skopje (September 1998) that led to the formation of the Multinational Peacekeeping Force for South Eastern Europe (MPFSEE/SEEBRIG), which was the size of a brigade, and the Political and Military Steering Committee (PMSC), a meeting held in Bucharest on 30 November 1999 marked the creation of two new working tools to consolidate the stability and security in that area: 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 the constitutive documents, which provided shared intervention capabilities for natural disasters and an information system for emergency situations. Romania participates in SEEBRIG with an infantry battalion, a reconnaissance platoon, a transportation platoon, and a staff officer group. After SEEBRIG became fully operational for peacekeeping operations, on the grounds of the MPFSEE agreement, Romania took over the presidency of the Coordination Committee of the Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial (CC-SEDM) for two years, from 1 September 2001 to 25 July 2003. Ovidiu Dranga served as chairman of CC-SEDM and as of deputy chief of the Defense Policy and Euro-Atlantic Integration Department of PMSC. In June 2003, the SEEBRIG

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headquarters were transferred to Constant¸a, and between May and June 2003 Romania hosted the Cornerstone 2003 exercise.152

ROMANIAN-HUNGARIAN JOINT PEACEKEEPING BATTALION In accordance with the agreement that was ratified through Law No. 47, dated 1999, and that the Romanian and Hungarian governments signed on 2 March 1998, and in accordance with the Technical Agreement signed on 15 May 1999, the Romanian-Hungarian Joint Battalion was set up and structured to be perfectly equal in all fields, from the number of officers and soldiers (449 Romanians and 441 Hungarians) and ending with the six-month-long rotation of the Romanian and Hungarian officers holding the battalion command. The mother units of the joint battalion were the Ziridava 19th Mechanized Brigade, the Colonel Radu Golescu 191st Infantry Battalion from the western town of Arad, and the Bercsebyi Miklos 62nd Mechanized Brigade from Tamasi, Hungary. The Opening Windows–RO field communications exercise conducted between 15 and 19 November 1999 in Arad represented the first phase of the process developed to make the Romanian-Hungarian joint unit operational and able to perform real peacekeeping missions. In January 2000, the Romanian-Hungarian Joint Battalion became operational.153

THE ENDOWMENT OF THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES IN 1999 AND AT THE END OF 2004 With a population of 23 million and a surface area of 238,391 square kilometers (making it the twelfth-largest country in Europe), Romania at the beginning of 1999 had an armed forces composed of 178,000 persons, out of whom 40,000 were civilians. The limit established through the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty was 230,000. The projected number of soldiers in 2005 was 112,000 military and 28,000 civilians. Compared with the limits imposed by the CFE Treaty, the status of the service 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 systems 341 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-130 1 destroyer (missile and torpedo launcher) 6 missile frigates 3 corvettes 31 torpedo boats In 1998 the budget of the Ministry of National Defense was of US$832.4 million and in 2003 it represented 2.4–2.5 percent of the GDP. According to FARO 2005–2010 provisions (the projection of Romanian Armed Forces’ structure and size between 2005 and 2010) and the Objective Force 2007 plan between 2004 and 2007, the major equipment and modernization programs will be finalized to equip the armed forces with combat capability and equipment typical for the combat needs of the 21st century. The 8 April 1999 Order of the Minister of National Defense, the Guidance for Defense Integrated Management Acquisition System, came into effect. This document established logical phases for the armament acquisition process, starting with the combat needs and capability, continuing with priorities and resources, and ending with the functioning or cessation of combat practice. The implementation of the integrated management acquisition dictated the functioning of the three bodies ensuring the efficiency of the decisional system: the request system, the acquisition management system, and the planning, programming, budgeting, and evaluation system. Taking into account the new status of a full NATO member and the budgetary affordability provided by the development of the Romanian economy at the end of 2004, the situation of the Romanian Armed Forces’ endowment improved. Thus, the Armament Directorate of the Ministry of National Defense purchased between 2000 and 2004 several modernized armament systems and some systems that would be updated to properly equip the three services of the armed forces. When it came to the acquisition of modern equipment, the air force was the top priority. It was thus equipped with lowand medium-altitude surveillance radar and a ‘‘Gap-Filler.’’ This radar ensures compatibility with NATO’s systems and incorporates Romania’s air surveillance, which was already being conducted with FPS-117 radar at altitudes lower than 3,000 meters. The Air Surveillance Operational Center (ASOC)—another top priority of the air force—had as its main objectives to provide interoperability with NATO systems, the military and civil air traffic management, specific functions 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 illegal actions at low altitude). Another objective of the Air Force Staff was to develop the Air Navigation Terrestrial Technical Assistance System, which provides the airfields with radio-navigation and landing systems in any weather condition and a frequency for ground-to-air radio communication that cannot be jammed. Additional advantages of this system are the potential interoperability with similar systems used on the ground and in the air by NATO members and the interoperability with civil aviation systems. The air force has also started to modernize the IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter in cooperation with an Israeli company. This has provided NATO interoperability and allowed the Air Force Staff to carry out antitank combat missions, reconnaissance and live data transmissions, and search-and-rescue and recovery missions both day and night, at low altitudes, and in any weather condition. The integration of the MAGIC 2 missile with the MIG-21 Lancer constituted another ambitious objective of the Air Force Staff. It meant the equipping of the first Romanian fighter with an air-to-air medium-range infrared self-guided missile designed for medium interception and close air combat. Proper attention was given to IAR-99 training jet that underwent an extensive modernization process. The already-implemented platform of the aircraft was provided with a modern avionics and armament management system, similar to that of the MIG-21 Lancer, with double command for air-to-ground attack missions. Finally, the Air Force Staff has a friend-and-foe radio location and identification system that identifies equipment operating on Romanian territory and provides additional information about targets. The Romanian Armed Forces will be equipped with a SHADOW-600 unmanned aircraft squadron able to operate in the theater of operations in reconnaissance and surveillance missions and live data and video transmissions from the target objectives of the tactical field. These aircraft can be used 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 defense system able to respond in the daytime to threats at low altitudes and at night under difficult weather conditions. Completing the air defense is the 35 mm self-propelled system, which is interoperable with NATO systems and calls for 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 several years ago in the land forces. It is the modern alternative of the main infantry 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 well as thermal night vision firing equipment. MLI-84, the infantry combat vehicle, was also considered a novelty due to its superior firing capability thanks to a turret equipped with a 25 mm KBA gun that uses straight and phased shots. The APRA-40 (SISTEM LAROMACCS) also equips the land forces. It has a modern command firing system and increased technical and tactical characteristics (firing range, mobility, etc.). At the beginning of 2003, a new ripstop camouflage uniform was introduced, first only to the contingents performing missions abroad and then to all the military. This uniform’s material is of superior quality and the pattern on it is the desert and forest camouflage. One of the main objectives of the Navy Staff was to modernize the frigate Ma˘ra˘s¸es¸ti with an integrated communication system to enable the automated control and operation of the communication systems, as well as the effective monitoring of the system to meet the ship’s operational requirements both within the Romanian fleet and when cooperation with NATO is requested. The main objective of the Navy Staff was the acquisition and modernization of the British London– and Coventry 22–type frigates, which are now called King Ferdinand and Queen Mary. Such purchases stem from the Navy Staff’s need to have combat ships that can meet both the national and UN or EU common action requirements.154

THE EVOLUTION OF THE MILITARY OATH The pamphlet Military Oath and Words, published in 1914 by Pimen, the metropolitan bishop of Moldova, comprises the following formula of the military oath valid at the time: ‘‘In the name of Almighty God, we swear faith to our King Carol I, obedience 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 and Maj. Alexandru Pastia and comprising lessons applicable to all the military branches, presents in the chapter entitled ‘‘The Military Oath’’ the following explanations: The soldiers, through their oath for faith swear in front of God and the people that they will be faithful in doing their duty of homeland defenders, sacrificing their lives for the country. The words of the military oath are:

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, swear my faith to King ‘‘In the name of Almighty God, I, soldier Michael I and the Regency, obedience to laws and military duties in all circumstances, in peace and war. So help me God.’’

The oath is spoken in front of a priest as he asks for holy blessing of the soldier. The oath is sworn by putting the hand on the flag and kissing the flag—the same way a Christian kisses the icon of Jesus the Savior—as the flag is the icon of the country. He who breaks the oath is a sinner in front of God, and the laws of the country punish him as only rascals are punished. Several decades later, in 1965, the atheist, totalitarian Communist regime made changes to the military oath, in both form and content. It became more complicated as it had to comprise all the basic elements of the Communist ideology: To accomplish the sacred duty of homeland defense written in the Constitution, I, , citizen of the Socialist Republic of Romania, join the armed forces and swear unbroken faith to the Romanian people and my socialist country. I swear to respect 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 and war. I swear not to put aside my blood and life for defending the ancient land, the independence and sovereignty of my country and the socialist cause. If I break my oath, I bear the hard punishment through the laws of the Socialist Republic of Romania.

At present, the military oath is simpler and resembles the oath of the period before 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 to respect 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 laws of 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 is sworn. Initially the faith was dedicated exclusively to the king, then to both the people and the Socialist homeland, and finally only to the country. Despite the differences, there exists as a common element the solemnity of the military oath, which derives from the supreme importance of the act of swearing 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 Romanian Armed Forces took part between 1991 and 2003 were the following: • A field modular hospital functioned within the British operation Granby during the first Persian Gulf War, between 9 February and 22 March 1991. • Six or seven military observers rotated through UNIKOM on the border between Iraq and Kuwait from 1991 until March 2003, which represents the longest Romanian presence in a UN mission. • Twenty-four military observers in an OSCE mission performed in Moldova, Transnistria, between May 1992 and February 1993. • The 50th Field Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, acted within UNOSOM II 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, in UNAVEM III and then MONUA, Angola. It was one of the most consistent and distant Romanian missions since World War II, and was performed between 1 June 1995 and August 1999. • The Joseph Kruzel 96th Engineering Battalion composed of 200 military and the proper equipment was deployed to Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, in IFOR and SFOR, from 21 March 1996 until July 2000, when it was removed from the Bosnian operational theater. However, sixty-two Romanian military remained in Butimr (the Bosnia National Detachment) as part of SFOR, another fifty-two engineers as part of the Dutch contingent called the Netherlands Detachment remained in Banja Luka, and a group of seven officers worked within SFOR HQ. • ROMDET’s Sfaˆntu Gheorghe, a tactical infantry detachment composed of 400 military and the proper armament as part of Operation ALBA under the OSCE aegis, worked in Albania between May and July 1997, a period during which for the first time the Romanian Armed Forces was present simultaneously in four international peacekeeping missions: Albania, Angola, Bosnia, and Kuwait. • The Romanian PSYOPS specialists have been working within KFOR HQ in Pristina since March 2000. Subsequently, almost twenty officers and NCOs held different positions for six-month tours in HQ KFOR Main, in Film City, Pristina. In the summer of 2001, forty-one Romanian military acted within KFOR, UNMIK, and OSCE missions in Kosovo.

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Between February 2002 and July 2003, a military police platoon acted as part of the Greek contingent (April 2001–July 2003), an infantry company was deployed to Leposavic as part of the Belgian battlegroup BELUKROKO (April 2001–July 2003), and an infantry company within Italian Task Force Aquila, beginning with February 2002, was deployed to Klina and then to the Serbian enclave of Goradsevac. A military police platoon deployed in Kabul has acted since January 2002 in Afghanistan, within ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), together with the crew of one C-130 Hercules. An infantry detachment consisting of 405 military has been deployed in Kandahar since July 2002, within United States–led Operation Enduring Freedom. This military engagement signifies the first real combat mission performed beyond Romania’s borders since the end of World War II. After the announced end of the second Persian Gulf War on 1 May 2003, the Romanian Armed Forces engaged in Operation Iraqi Freedom with an infantry battalion, a military police detachment, an engineering detachment, and a special detachment, with staff officers working within different structures of the multinational coalition forces in Iraq. Starting on 30 November 1999, twenty-six Romanian military observers took part in MONUC, the UN mission in Congo. The UN and OSCE missions opened military observer positions in different parts of the world, such as Georgia, Ethiopia, FYROM, Kosovo, Ivory Coast, and Burundi.

The Romanian military participation in regional political and military cooperation initiatives are as follows: • For MPFSEE/SEEBRIG: an infantry battalion, an engineering company, a reconnaissance platoon, a transportation platoon, a group of officers and NCOs as part of the staff nucleus • To the Romanian-Hungarian Joint Peacekeeping Battalion: 191st Modular Infantry Battalion, and the personnel necessary for an integrated staff • For Multinational Standby Force High Readiness Brigade for UN Operations (SHIRBRIG): an infantry company and eleven staff officers and NCOs • For Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group (BLACKSEAFOR): a ship designated in accordance with the joint and periodical activation of the task group

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ROMANIA AND THE NORTHERN PEACEKEEPING INITIATIVE On 9 June 1998, the minister of national defense, Victor Babiuc, signed Copenhagen Romania’s letter of intent to join SHIRBRIG. Thirteen states founded this unit under chapter VI of the UN Charter. Among them were Austria, Canada, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden. Romania’s contribution consisted of an infantry battalion with a field hospital and a military police platoon.157

ANNIVERSARIES IN THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES 1 February: Logistics Day 1 March: Military Drivers’ Day First Sunday of April: NATO’s Day 23 April: Saint Gheorghe; Romanian Land Forces’ Day 25 April: Military Justice Day 30 April: Romanian Infantry’s Day 9 May: Europe’s Day; Romania’s National Independence Day 15 May: Military Chemists’ Day 31 May: Engineers’ Day 8 June: Ascension Day; Romanian Heroes’ Day 10 June: Military Paratroopers’ Day 17 June: Military Aviation’s Day 18 June: Military Constructors’ Day 29 June: Romania’s National Flag Day 1 July: Military Bands’ Day 15 July: Signals Day 20 July: Saint Ilie Tesviteanul; Air Force’s Day 23 July: Military Media’s Day 24 July: Romania’s Frontier Guards’ Day 25 July: Radiolocation’s Day 29 July 29: Romania’s National Anthem Day 1 August: Tankers’ Day 15 August: Navy’s Day; Artillery and Antiair Missile Day; Saint Mary’s Dormition 21 August: Military Medicine Day 1 September: Military Computer Specialists’ Day

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20 October: Public Relations’ Day 25 October : Armed Forces’ Day 3 November: Mountain Troops’ Day 10 November: Artillery Day 12 November: Military Scouts’ Day; Military Geodesists’ Day 16 November: Railroad and Military Transportation Day 1 December: Romania’s National Day 16–22 December: Gratitude Week (not stated by law).

SIGNIFICANT LAWS IN THE FIELD OF DEFENSE ADOPTED AFTER 1990 Law No. 45 dated 1994 on Romania’s national defense Law No. 73 dated 1995 on the preparation of the national economy and territory for defense Law No. 80 dated 1995 on the status of military cadres (subsequently modified) Law No. 46 dated 1996 on the preparation of the population for defense Law No. 106 dated 1996 on civil protection Law No. 132 dated 1997 on the requisition of goods and services done for the public’s benefit Governmental Decision No. 110 dated 1997 on MoD and General Staff reorganization Governmental Decision No. 618 dated 1997 on the ways of executing the alternate utility service Governmental Ordinance No. 7 dated 1998 on the social protection measures provided to the civilian and military personnel to be applied in the restructured large units, units, and formations belonging to the Ministry of National Defense Governmental Ordinance No. 52 dated 1998 on defense planning Governmental Ordinance No. 121 dated 1998 on the material responsibility of the military adopted in Law No. 25, dated 1999 Governmental Ordinance No. 1 dated 1999 on the states of siege and emergency Law No. 195 dated 2000 on the setting up and organization of the military clergy Law 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 and functioning of the Ministry of National Defense Governmental Emergency Ordinance No. 90 dated 21 June 2001 on the modification and completion of Law No. 80, dated 1995, on the status of the military cadres Military Pensions Law dated 2001 Law to revise Romania’s constitution dated 22 September 2003 Law No. 477 on the preparation of the territory for defense, promulgated by the president in December 2003 Governmental Decision No. 217 dated January 2004 regarding the modifications 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 in April 1999, the General Staff drafted FARO 2005–2010, a restructuring and modernization program of the armed forces, as well as the frame for its implementation. The documents were considered and approved by the Parliament of Romania. According to these documents, because Romania is located between two unstable areas (the territories of the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union), and because Romania’s defense capabilities are limited, Romania must build a credible and efficient defense capability. In order to fully guarantee the fundamental national interests, it is vital to integrate into NATO and the EU. Between 2000 and 2003 the continuation of the restructuring process was stressed along with the process of making the new military structures operational. The main constraint was the economic one. Taking into account the economic development of the country between 2004 and 2007, efforts will be made to modernize the military equipment and achieve the planned operational capability. From the operational point of view, Romania’s Armed Forces will comprise surveillance and early warning forces, crisis situation forces, main forces, and reserve forces. The Ministry of National Defense focused its efforts on thirteen main plans of action that cover both the national needs and the requests related to NATO integration. Objective Force 2007 will balance the requirements and the Romanian military engagements with the financial and economic realities of the country. The new military structure will provide both the defense of the country and the proper participation in collective defense, crisis response operations, and regional and

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European security. The strength of this permanent force is anticipated to comprise approximately 75,000 military and 15,000 civilians.159

THE STRUCTURE OF THE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE IN 2001 According to the Governmental Decision No. 14 dated 26 January 2001, the structure of the Ministry of National Defense was as follows: Central Structures of the Ministry of National Defense Defense Policy and Euro-Atlantic Integration Department Department for Parliament Liaison, Legislative Harmonization and Public Relations Armaments Department General Staff Inspectorate of the Ministry of National Defense General Secretariat General Intelligence Directorate of the Armed Forces Human Resources Management Directorate Financial and Accountancy Directorate Internal Audit Directorate Active Forces ground forces 1 army corps operational headquarters 1 division headquarters 6 combat brigades 3 combat support brigades 1 logistics brigade Air Force Air Surveillance Operational Center (ASOC) 6 fighter bombers squadrons 6 fighter squadrons 1 transport flotilla 1 air defense brigade and 1 air defense regiment 2 training bases

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2 air bases 1 radio and relay center 3 signals regiments Naval Forces 1 maritime flotilla headquarters 1 fluvial flotilla headquarters 1 frigate 5 ship divisions 1 electronic warfare center 1 diver center 1 marines battalion Territorial Land Forces 2 army corps territorial headquarters 9 combat brigades 5 combat support brigades 2 logistics brigades Territorial Air Forces 2 air division headquarters 1 air defense regiment 1 engineering regiment 1 training squadron Territorial Naval Forces 1 coastal missile battalion 1 fast boat division 1 naval base 1 fluvial base 1 signal regiment THE ROMANIAN MILITARY ENGAGEMENT IN ISAF AND OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM IN AFGHANISTAN160 The political decision made in the spring of 2002 to join the United States on the antiterrorism mission in Afghanistan was motivated primarily by the

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desire to decisively influence the Bush administration and win support for Romania’s accession to NATO through the invitation extended at the summit in Prague in November 2002. Initially, for Operation Fingal, as part of ISAF (International Security and Assistance Force), the Romanian military offer comprised a military police platoon (twenty-five personnel) and one C-130 Hercules with a crew of fourteen. For Operation Enduring Freedom, an infantry battalion and engineering, medical, and NBC units were offered. The Parliament of Romania approved on 30 April 2002 the military participation in Afghanistan, and the United States Central Command in Tampa, Florida, transmitted to the Romanian authorities the decision made by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which approved Romania’s contribution of an infantry battalion to Operation Enduring Freedom. The first Romanian military who left at the beginning of the February to take part in ISAF were those from the military police platoon led by Lt. Col. Gheorghit¸a˘ Teodorescu and the crew of the C-130 Hercules airplane. On 30 June 2002 the air transport of these 405 military started. They were part of the Neagoe Basarab 26th Infantry Battalion and in Afghanistan called themselves the Red Scorpions. Their commander was Maj. Nicolae Ciuca˘, who was promoted during the combat mission to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Concurrent with the transport of the personnel, the armament was transported by sea to the harbor of Doha: there were armored personnel carriers for recconnaissance and engineering operations, 4x4 vehicles with grenade launchers, heavy model DAC 665 T trucks, auto workshops, medical vans, and Panther and satellite communication stations. The missions assigned to the Romanian military in Kandahar were related to the surveillance of sensitive posts, considering the information on underground Taliban shelters, the attack and destruction of such shelters, humanitarian support, security of the Coalition’s deployment area, and combat missions such as attacks performed to support the deployment of the special forces. All these missions were performed under American command and control and in cooperation with two American battalions. The rotation took place every twenty-one days and followed this pattern: one week on the security of the Kandahar base; one week in combat missions based on the principle of rapid-reaction, with helicopter support at the border with Pakistan; one week of guarding and security missions at long distances (Kabul, Baghram). After the first six months, July–December 2002, the Romanian battalion known as the Red Scorpions was replaced by those from the Dej 811th Battalion in the first half of 2003, and then by their colleagues from 280th Infantry Battalion from Focs¸ani, who were known as the Black Wolves. The latter suffered the first loss: on 11 November 2003, returning from a Village Team mission 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 sergeants Iosif Silviu Foga˘ras¸i and Mihail Anton Samuila˘ lost their lives. Both NCOs— the first Romanian military killed in a combat mission outside Romania’s border since World War II—were promoted posthumously to the rank of first lieutenants. The president decorated them with the Military Virtue at the rank of knight with war insignia. Besides these combat troops, twelve liaison and staff officers held different positions in the headquarters of Operation Enduring Freedom, and they worked in periods of six months or a year in the United States Central Command in Tampa, the Joint Headquarters in Djibouti, and in the 180th Joint Headquarters in Baghram, Afghanistan. In 2003, Romania increased its contribution to Enduring Freedom: in October 2003, twenty-five military instructors in the Afghan National Army training detachment were deployed to Kabul to work with military from other countries on the training and organization of the new Afghan army. In December 2003, a team composed of sixteen specialists in civil military cooperation engaged in the reconstruction process of Afghanistan.

THE ROMANIAN MILITARY IN OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM The Romanian engagement in Operation Iraqi Freedom in the summer of 2003161 meant the continuation of the policy of alliance and solidarity with the United States that had started in 2002 in the antiterrorism war. The Romanian participation was consistent and varied when it came to military specialties and positions held in different structures of the Coalition Forces. As in Afghanistan, the largest contribution was an infantry battalion composed of 405 military, replaced every six months starting in July 2003 in Nasiriyah within the Sassari Multinational Brigade under Italian command of the Multinational South-East Division, which had a British command in Basra. The commander of the first detachment, which came from the 811th Battalion from Dej and also comprised a national intelligence cell, was Maj. Petru Pah, who was exceptionally promoted during the mission to the rank of lieutenant colonel. The armament was similar to that used in Afghanistan and consisted of the Zimbru armored personnel carrier model 33 and other armored carriers of the models TAB-C and TAB-C-Ge; Panther radio stations, terrain vehicles; trucks and vans; and a satellite communication kit. The transport of the personnel to the theater was accomplished with C-130 and BAC 1-11 airplanes, and the armament and materials were brought to the theater by ferry. The assigned missions consisted of patrols, reconnaissance,

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humanitarian support, and base security. In Nasiriyah under Italian command, a military police company composed of 100 military was also deployed; together with the Italian military police, it was assigned surveillance and reconnaissance missions, convoy escort, VIP protection, traffic control, and monitoring actions. To support these units, twelve staff officers and liaison officers held posts in the Italian and British commands. Two other subunits were deployed under the jurisdiction of the Central South Multinational Division under Polish command. Starting in August 2003, 149 Romanian engineers deployed in Al Hillah started to build and repair roads, platforms for helicopters, Mabey and Johnson bridges, and other engineering elements necessary for force protection or the benefit of the Iraqi civilian population. The Romanian special detachment in Babilon, which comprised fifty-six military, was equipped with unmanned aircraft and had as 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 positions within the Coalition Force’s headquarters in Tampa, in the Provisional Authority of the Coalition in Baghdad, and the 7th Joint Operational Command in Northwood, Great Britain, as well as in the Joint Operational Command in Rome. THE ROMANIAN SPECIAL FORCES The emergence of the special forces within the Ministry of National Defense was determined by the profound changes that occurred worldwide in the military field after 11 September 2001 and from the lessons learned from the United States–launched Operation Enduring Freedom. Thus, in 2002, the Operations Directorate of the General Staff drafted the special forces concept, which was subsequently approved by the Supreme Council for National Defense. The following year, the special forces doctrine was elaborated. In 2003 a special forces battalion was established on the American model, possessing three components: the Alpha component was twelve fighters, the Bravo component was the company, and the Charlie component was the battalion. All these special forces structures are trained to act on land and in naval or air operations, but they will be equipped with the proper armament only in the years to come.162 ROMANIA’S PATH TO NATO After the London Declaration dated 6 July 1990, when the heads of the NATO states and governments proposed political and military cooperation

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activities to the ex-Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the first official signal from Romania was the visit paid to NATO headquarters in Brussels by Prime Minister Peter Roman on 23 October 1990. He was received by Secretary-General Manfred Woerner. Among military officers, the first official high-level contact between Romania and NATO took place on 13 December 1990, when the chief of the General Staff, Gen. Vasile Ionel, visited NATO headquarters. Then the NATO secretary-general paid a visit to Bucharest on 4 and 5 July 1991, and then on 21 February 1992. The meeting between him and Ion Iliescu, the president of Romania, took place at NATO headquarters in Brussels on 17 February 1993. On 26 February 1994, right after the NATO summit in Brussels, Romania was the first country to sign (represented by the minister of foreign affairs, Teodor Meles¸canu) the Partnership for Peace Framework Document. On 28 April of the same year, Gheorghe Tinca, the minister of national defense, advanced the Partnership for Peace Program. From that moment on, the Romanian Armed Forces began to participate with significant contingents in almost all NATO/PfP applications and exercises and developed an individual program called the Membership Action Plan (MAP). The military reforms sought to increase the interoperability between the Romanian military structures and those of NATO headquarters. At the same time, Romania reacted to international crisis situations, such as those in Bosnia or Kosovo, as it would have, had it been a full NATO member. After 1996, the high-level contacts increased in both Bucharest and Brussels, including meetings between Romanian president Emil Constantinescu, the NATO secretary-general, Lord George Robertson, and the SACEUR and the defense ministers or chiefs of general staff from various nations. The visits between experts also increased, and the final aim was the preparation of the Romanian Armed Forces for NATO accession. Despite all this activity, the Madrid summit of July 1997 did not issue an accession invitation to Romania; only Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary formed the first accession wave. Nevertheless, the summit documents underscored the progress made by Romania. The longedfor invitation arrived only at the Prague summit in November 2002, when Romania was invited to join the alliance together with Bulgaria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The new foreign policy orientation of the United States and the beginning of the antiterrorism war were decisive for the robust enlargement decision. After passing through all the negotiation stages and the ratification of the accession documents by the parliaments of the member states, and after the documents were handed over to the United States on 23 March, Romania became a full NATO member on 2 April 2004.163

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1. According to the testimonies of a former Romanian lieutenant, Dumitru Arapu, published in France, Souvenirs de campagne 1941–1944—Front Est (Acade´mie Europe´enne de Livre, 1990), 15–19. 2. Quoted by Florin Sperlea in De la armata regala˘ la armata populara˘ [From the royal armed forces to the popular armed forces] (Bucharest: Editura Ziua, 2003), 102, from a handwritten note taken by Gen. Emil Bodna˘ras¸, a participant in that meeting with Stalin. 3. Quoted by Florin Constantiniu in O istorie sincera˘ a poporului romaˆn [A candid history of the Romanian people] (Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 1997), 30. 4. Dumitru Berciu and Adina Berciu-Dra˘ghicescu, Ra˘zboiul dintre get¸i s¸i pers¸i [The war 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˘ Romaˆna˘, 1972), 133–51. 8. D. Tudor, Mari ca˘pitani ai lumii antice [Great military leaders of the ancient world] (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica˘ Romaˆna˘, 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 I chose these two: D. Tudor, Mari ca˘pitani ai lumii antice [Great military leaders of the ancient world] (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica˘ Romaˆna˘, 1969), 305, and Hadrian Daicoviciu, Dacii [The Dacians] (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica˘ Romaˆna˘, 1972), 325–27. 11. Daicoviciu, Dacii [The Dacians], 342–65. 12. Constantin C. Giurescu and Dinu C. Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [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 romaˆnilor [History of the Romanians], 212–25. 16. Vlad Georgescu, Istoria romaˆnilor de la origini paˆna˘ ˆın zilele noastre [A history of the Romanians from the beginning to the present] (Bucharest: Editura Humanitas, 1992), 28. 217

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17. Kurt Treptow, ed., A History of Romania (Ias¸i: Center for Romanian Studies, Romanian Cultural Foundation), 65–66. 18. Treptow, History of Romania, 69–72. 19. Georgescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [History of the Romanians], 57. 20. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera˘ [Candid history], 80–81. 21. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [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 Romaˆniei ˆın date [The history of Romania in dates] (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica˘ Romaˆna˘, 1971), 88. 26. Treptow, History of Romania, 111. 27. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera˘ [Candid history], 97–98. 28. Giurescu, Istoria Romaˆniei ˆın date [The history of Romania in dates], 94. 29. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera˘ [Candid history], 99. 30. N. Stoicescu, Vlad T¸epes¸ [Vlad the Impaler] (Bucharest: Editura militara˘, Bucures¸ti), 7–88. 31. Treptow, History of Romania, 84–86. 32. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [History of the Romanians], 254–55. 33. Treptow, History of Romania, 116. 34. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [History of the Romanians], 311. 35. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [History of the Romanians], 319. 36. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [History of the Romanians], 308. 37. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [History of the Romanians], 311–13. 38. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [History of the Romanians], 313–14. 39. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [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 romaˆnilor [History of the Romanians], 378–79. 49. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [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 Les¸cu, Romaˆnii ˆın armata imperiala˘ rusa˘ [Romanians in the Russian Imperial Army] (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 romaˆnilor [History of the Romanians], 400–401. 55. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [History of the Romanians], 408–9. 56. Constantiniu, Istorie sincera˘ [Candid history], 162. 57. Treptow, History of Romania, 182.

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58. Treptow, History of Romania, 195–96. 59. Giurescu, Istoria Romaˆniei ˆın date [History of Romania in dates], 153. 60. Giurescu and Giurescu, Istoria romaˆnilor [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 Romaˆniei ˆın date [History of Romania in dates], 174. 64. See the study by Cornel Scafes¸, ‘‘Construct¸iile s¸i amenaja˘rile destinate armatei permanente’’ [Buildings dedicated to the permanent army], in Magazine of the Central Military Museum, 12 (1979), 13 (1980), and 16 (1983). 65. Scafes¸, ‘‘Construct¸iile’’ [Buildings]. 66. Treptow, History of Romania, 252. 67. Nicolea Rotaru and Zoe Rotaru, Compendiu etic [Ethical compendium] (Bucharest: Editura Ministerului de Interne, 1999), 319–23; Berciu-Dra˘ghicescu, Adina, G. D. Iscru, Velter Tiberiu, and David Aurel, Tricolorul Romaˆniei [The Romanian national flag] (Bucharest: Sigma, 1995). 68. Treptow, History of Romania, 268–77. 69. Petre Otu, Teofil Oroian, and Ion Emil, Personalita˘¸ti ale gaˆndirii militare romaˆnes¸ti [Personalities of Romanian military thought] (Bucharest: Editura Academiei de ˆInalte Studii Militare, 1997), 7–42. 70. The official list of the head of war / defense ministers from 1859 to the present is displayed in the mail hall of the building of Ministry of National Defense. 71. Nicolae C. Nicolescu, S¸efii de stat s¸i de guvern ai Romaˆniei. 1859–2003 [The heads of state and government of Romania: 1859–2003] (Bucharest: Meronia, 2003), 13–23. 72. See the study by Cornel Scafes¸, Horia S¸erba˘nescu, Ioan Scafes¸, and Cornel Andone, Armata romaˆna˘ ˆın vremea lui Alexandru Ioan Cuza [The Romanian army in the era of Alexandru Ioan Cuza] (Bucharest: Muzeul Militar Nat¸ional and Total Publishing, 2003). 73. Constantin Degeratu, Statul Major General. O tradit¸ie care obliga˘ [The General Staff: A tradition that is an obligation] Gaˆndirea Militara˘ Romaˆneasca˘, serie noua˘, 5 (1999): 15–19. 74. See the official list published in Gaˆndirea Militara˘ Romaˆneasca˘, serie noua˘, 5 (1999): 10–15. 75. Nicolae C. Nicolescu, S¸efii 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 Lives On (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 aviat¸iei romaˆne [The history of the Romanian aircraft] (Bucharest: Editura S¸tiint¸ifica˘ s¸i Enciclopedica˘, 1984), 40–51. 82. Balotescu et al., Aviat¸iei romaˆne [Romanian aircraft], 32–38. 83. Balotescu et al., Aviat¸iei romaˆne [Romanian aircraft], 52–56.

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84. Scafes¸, ‘‘Construct¸iile’’ [Buildings]. 85. Ion Safta, Rotaru Jipa, Tiberiu Velter, and Floricel Marinescu, Decorat¸ii romaˆnes¸ti de ra˘zboi [Romanian war decorations] (Bucharest: Universitaria, 1993), 30–33. 86. S¸tefan Pascu et al., Istoria militara˘ a poporului romaˆn [The military history of the Romanian people], vol. 5 (Bucharest: Editura Militara˘, 1988), 118–19. 87. Ioan Munteanu, 1907: Represiune sau rat¸iuni de stat? [Repression for state reasons?] 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., Decorat¸ii [Decorations], 66–69. 95. Gheorghe Buzatu et al., Mares¸alii Romaˆniei [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., Mares¸alii [Marshals], 163–64. 98. Buzatu et al., Mares¸alii [Marshals], 166–70. 99. See the monograph about the sovereign by the historian Nicolae Iorga, Regele Ferdinand [King Ferdinand] (Ias¸i: Editura Port¸ile 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 T¸epelea, 1919 sur les fronts de l’Europe nouvelle (Oradea: E´ditions Cogito, 1996), 101–44. 104. T¸epelea, 1919 l’Europe nouvelle, 180–212. 105. Matei, Encyclopedic Survey, 35–36. 106. Matei, Encyclopedic Survey, 36. 107. Valeria Ba˘lescu, Eroul necunoscut [The unknown hero] (Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 2005), 50–51, 55. 108. Ba˘lescu, Eroul necunoscut [Unknown hero], see the whole English summary, 433–40. 109. Balotescu et al., Aviat¸iei romaˆne [Romanian aircraft], 217–27. 110. See the study by Constantin P. Ivanovici, Album aviatic. Un documentar de aviat¸ie [Aircraft album: An aircraft documentary] (Bucharest: Romanian Airlines, 1986). 111. Matei, Encyclopedic Survey, 37. 112. Vasile Soare, Fort¸ele speciale. Comandouri aeropurtate ˆın act¸iune [The special forces: Airborne commandos in action] (Bucharest: Editura Ziua, 2002), 76–83. 113. Cornel I. Scafes¸ et al., Armata romaˆna˘. 1941–1945 [The Romanian armed forces: 1941–1945] (Bucharest: RAI, 1996), 18–23. 114. Scafes¸ et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 24–31. 115. Scafes¸ et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 36–38. 116. Eftimie Ardeleanu et al., Armata romaˆna˘ ˆın cel de-al doilea ra˘zboi mondial [The Romanian army in World War II] (Bucharest: Editura Meridiane, 1995), 67–69. 117. Scafes¸ et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 49–57.

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118. Constantin Ucrain and Dumitru Dobre, Personalita˘¸ti ale infanteriei romaˆne [Personalities of the Romanian infantry] (Bucharest: Editura Gedaprint, 1995), 101–8. 119. Ardeleanu et al., Armata romaˆna˘ ˆın cel de-al doilea ra˘zboi mondial [Romanian army in World War II], 92. 120. Scafes¸ et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 70. 121. Scafes¸ et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 78–79. 122. Scafes¸ et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 81–84. 123. Scafes¸ et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 86–87. 124. Scafes¸ et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 88–92. 125. Eugen Ichim, Generalul Nicolae S¸ova [General Nicolae S¸ova] (Bucharest: Editura Modelism, 1966), 7–42. 126. Scafes¸ et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [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 romaˆna˘ ˆın decembrie 1989 [The Romanian armed forces in the December 1989 revolution] (Bucharest: Editura militara˘, 1998), 46. 134. Codrescu et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 138–43. 135. Balotescu et al., Aviat¸iei romaˆne [Romanian aircraft], 556–70. 136. Codrescu et al., Armata romaˆna˘ ˆın decembrie 1989 [The Romanian armed forces in the December 1989 revolution], 28–35. 137. Codrescu et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 35–41. 138. Codrescu et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 49–51. 139. Codrescu et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 46. 140. Codrescu et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 52–54. 141. Codrescu et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 156–92. 142. According to the information about the mission provided to me by Col. Dumitru Ba˘rboi. 143. All the information and data concerning the participation of the Romanian military in international missions abroad after 1991 I collected myself directly from the concerned commanders or participants and from reports published in the regular or special military publications. 144. Constantin Degeratu, Statul Major General [General Staff], 20–23. 145. Ca˘lin Hentea et al., Armata romaˆna˘ ˆın misiuni internat¸ionale [The Romanian armed forces in international missions] (Bucharest: Coresi, 2004), 8–11. 146. Hentea et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 13–18. 147. Hentea et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [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˘ fa˘ra˘ frontiere [Propaganda without borders] (Bucharest: Nemira, 2002), 273–303. 149. Based on my notes taken during my participation in this mission in 1997 as a public relations officer within the Romanian Detachment staff. 150. Based on my personal experience and information collected during my two missions in KFOR headquarters, Pristina, Kosovo, in 2003 and 2004.

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151. Ovidiu Dranga, ed., Romania on its way to NATO (Bucharest: Ministry of Public Information, 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 by the 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 romaˆna˘ ˆın misiuni internat¸ionale [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 as needed. 159. Dranga, Romania on its way, 51–58. 160. Hentea et al., Armata romaˆna˘ aˆn misiuni internat¸ionale [The Romanian armed forces in international missions], 37–42. 161. Hentea et al., Armata romaˆna˘ [Romanian armed forces], 42–46. 162. Vasile Soare, Fort¸ele 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 romaˆna˘ ˆın cel de-al doilea ra˘zboi mondial [The Romanian army in World War II]. Bucharest: Meridiane, 1995. Balotescu, Nicolae, et al. Istoria aviat¸iei romaˆne [The history of the Romanian aircraft]. Bucharest: Scientific and Encyclopedic Publishing House, 1984. Berciu, Dumitru, and Adina Berciu-Dra˘ghicescu. Ra˘zboiul dintre get¸i s¸i pers¸i [The war between the Gaetians and the Persians]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 1986. Berciu-Dra˘ghicescu, Adina, G. D. Iscru, Tiberiu Velter, and David Aurel. Tricolorul Romaˆniei [The Romanian national flag]. Bucharest: Sigma, 1995. Buzatu, Gheorghe, et al. Mares¸alii Romaˆniei [Marshals of Romania]. Bucharest: Editura Academiei de Inalte Studii Militare, 1999. Codrescu, Costache, et al. Armata romaˆna˘ ˆın decembrie 1989 [The Romanian army in the December 1989 revolution]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 1998. Constantiniu, Florin. O istorie sincera˘ a poporului romaˆn [A candid history of the Romanian people]. Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 1997. ———. De la ra˘zboiul fierbinte la ra˘zboiul rece [From the Hot War to the Cold War]. Bucharest: Corint, 1998. Daicoviciu, Hadrian. Dacii [The Dacians]. Bucharest: Romanian Encyclopedic, 1972. Dogaru, Maria. Heraldica Romaˆniei [Romania’s Coat of Arms]. Bucharest: JIF, 1994. Dranga, Ovidiu, ed. Romania on its way to NATO. Bucharest: Ministry of Public Information, 2002. Durandin, Catherine. Istoria romaˆnilor [The history of the Romanians]. Ias¸i: European Institute Publishing House, 1998. Fillman, George. George Pomutz: The Story of His Life and Times. Bucharest: Galaxia, 1998. Garoescu, Col. George. Ra˘zboaiele balcanice 1912–1913 s¸i campania romaˆneasca˘ ˆın Bulgaria [The 1912–1913 Balkan wars and the Romanian campaign in Bulgaria]. Sfaˆntu Gheorghe, 1935. Georgescu, D. I. Istoria armatei romaˆne s¸i a ra˘zboaielor romaˆnilor [The history of the Romanian army and of the Romanian wars]. Bucharest: Geniului, 1928. Georgescu, Vlad. Istoria romaˆnilor de la origini paˆna˘ ˆın zilele noastre [A history of the Romanians from the beginning to the present]. Bucharest: Editura Humanitas, 1992. 223

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Giurescu, Constantin C., ed. Istoria Romaˆniei ˆın date [The history of Romania in dates]. Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica˘ Romaˆna˘, 1971; Chis¸ina˘u: Crai Nou, 1992. Giurescu, Constantin C., and Dinu C. Giurescu. Istoria romaˆnilor [The history of the Romanians]. Bucharest: Albatros, 1971. Hentea, Ca˘lin. Propaganda˘ fa˘ra˘ frontiere [Propaganda without borders]. Bucharest: Nemira, 2002. Hentea, Ca˘lin, Cornel Scafes¸, and Horia S¸erba˘nescu. Armata romaˆna˘ ˆın misiuni internat¸ionale [The Romanian armed forces in international missions]. Bucharest: Coresi, 2004. Hentea, Calin, and Laurent¸iu Sfintes¸. Armata romaˆna˘ ˆın misiuni de pace [The Romanian armed forces in peace missions]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 1998. Ionescu, Mihail, and Liviu Rotman, eds. The Holocaust and Romania. History and contemporary significance. Bucharest: Institute for Political Studies of Defence and Military History, 2003. Iorga, Nicolae. Istoria armatei romaˆne [The history of the Romanian army]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 1970. Iorga, Nicolae. Regele Ferdinand [King Ferdinand]. Ias¸i: Editura Port¸ile Orientului, 1996. Les¸cu, Anatol. Romaˆnii ˆın armata imperiala˘ rusa˘ [Romanians in the Russian imperial army]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 2005. Manafu, Alexandru. Intendent¸a armatei romaˆne [The intendancy of the Romanian armed forces]. Bucharest: Per Omnes Artes, 1999. Matei, Horia C. Romania. An Encyclopedic Survey. Bucharest: Meronia, 1999. Ma˘rda˘rescu, Gen. G. D. Campania pentru eliberarea Transilvaniei s¸i cucerirea Budapestei [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. S¸efii de stat s¸i de guvern ai Romaˆniei. 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. Personalita˘¸ti ale gaˆndirii millitare romaˆnes¸ti [Personalities of Romanian military thought]. Bucharest: Editura Academiei de Iˆnalte Studii Militare, 1997. Pascu, S¸tefan, et al. Istoria militara˘ a poporului romaˆn. Vol. 5 [The military history of the Romanian people. Vol. 5]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 1988. Revista de istorie militara˘ [Military history review]. Bimonthly magazine edited by the Institute for Defense Policy and Military History within the Ministry of National Defense, 1990–2004. Romanescu, Gheorghe. Armata romaˆna˘ de-a lungul secolelor [The Romanian army through the centuries]. Bucharest: Military Publishing House, 1976. Safta, Ion, Tiberiu Velter, Rotaru Jipa, and Floricel Marinescu. Decorat¸ii romaˆnes¸ti de ra˘zboi 1850–1947 [Romanian War Decorations]. Bucharest: Universitaria, 1993. Sasu, Aurel. George Pomutz: The Legend Lives On. Bucharest: Galaxia, 1996. Scafes¸, Cornel. ‘‘Construct¸iile s¸i amenaja˘rile 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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Scafes¸, Cornel, Horia S¸erba˘nescu, Ioan Scafes¸, and Cornel Andone. Armata romaˆna˘ ˆın vremea lui Alexandru Ioan Cuza [The Romanian army in the era of Alexandru Ioan Cuza]. Bucharest: Muzeul Militar Nat¸ional and Total Publishing, 2003. Scafes¸, Cornel, Horia S¸erba˘nescu, Ioan Scafes¸, Cornel Andone, Ioan Da˘nila˘, and Romeo Avram. Armata romaˆna˘. 1941–1945 [The Romanian Armed Forces: 1941–1945]. Bucharest: RAI, 1996. Scorpan, Constantin. Istoria Romaˆniei: O enciclopedie [The history of Romania: An encyclopedia]. Bucharest: Nemira, 1997. Stoenescu, Alex Mihail. Armata, mares¸alul s¸i evreii [The army, the marshal and the Jews]. Bucharest: RAO, 1998. Stoenescu, Alex Mihail. Istoria loviturilor de stat ˆın Romaˆnia [The history of the coup d’e´tat in Romania]. Bucharest: RAO, vol. 1: 1999, vol. 2: 2001, vol. 3: 2002, vol. 4(a): 2004, and vol. 4(b): 2005. Soare, Vasile. Fort¸ele speciale. Comandouri aeropurtate ˆın act¸iune [The special forces. Airborne commandos in action]. Bucharest: Editura Ziua, 2002. S¸perlea, Florin. De la armata regala˘ la armata populara˘ [From the royal armed forces to the popular armed forces]. Bucharest: Editura Ziua, 2003. Treptow, Kurt, ed. A History of Romania. Ias¸i: Center for Romanian Studies, Romanian Cultural Foundation, 1996. Tudor, D. Mari ca˘pitani ai lumii antice [Great military leaders of the ancient world]. Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica˘ Romaˆna˘, 1969. T¸epelea, Ioan. 1919 sur les fronts de l’Europe nouvelle. Oradea: E´ditions Cogito, 1996. Ucrain, Constantin, and Dobre Dumitru. Personlita˘¸ti ale infanteriei romaˆne [Personalities of the Romanian Infantry]. Bucharest: Editura Gedaprint, 1995.

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About the Author

Ca˘lin Hentea was born in 1958 in Bras¸ov, graduated in 1983 from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, is married, and has one son. Since 2001 he has been a staff officer in the PsyOps section of the Operations Directorate of the Romanian General Staff. He is a former TV journalist, speaker, and executive producer of the Romanian military TV show Pro Patria (1995–1999), an editor of the weekly military newspaper the Military Observer (1999–2000), and a film director in the Cinematographic Studio of the Armed Forces (2000–2001). From April 1997 to July 1997 he was the public information officer of the Romanian Detachment participating in Operation Alba in Albania, under the OSCE flag. In 2003 he was a staff officer in the PsyOps branch of HQ KFOR in Pristina, Kosovo, and the senior national representative for the Romanian contingent of KFOR. In 2004 he served as deputy chief of the Info Ops branch of HQ KFOR in Pristina and as the senior national representative of the Romanian contingent of KFOR. Colonel Hentea was awarded two first prizes at the International Military Film Festival for his video documentaries 55 Years Ago Behind the Front Line (1996) and Romania–NATO, the Power of Destiny (1997). He directed video documentaries on behalf of the Romanian armed forces and Romania, such as 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 documentaries for both the military and civilian populations, mainly about propaganda and the military’s relationship with the media. He is the main contributor to The Romanian Armed Forces in Peacekeeping Missions (1998) and The Romanian Armed Forces in International Missions (2004). He has also written several books: 150 Years of Media Wars: 227

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About the Author

The Military and the Media in Times of War (2000), Propaganda without Borders (2002), Romanian Armed Forces and Fights: A Brief Military History (2002), Weapons That Won’t Kill (2004), and Balkan Propaganda Wars (2006). Colonel Hentea’s main hobby is collecting propaganda and military postcards from around the world. All of his books are illustrated with appropriate postcards and photos from his private collection.

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