The Kingdom of Romania (Romanian: Regatul României) was the form of government of Romania in 1881-1947.
It was a constitutional monarchy led by the King of Romania (Romanian; Regele României), and was at first half as large as Romania is today, lacking Transylvania, Bukowina and Bessarabia (modern Republic of Moldova).
For most of its history it was ruled by a few political parties who exercised a monopoly on power. Up until 1920, only propriety owning men were able to vote. Eventually, in the prelude to World War 2, Romania became an outright Fascist dictatorship.
After the war, the attempts of King Michael I and other politicians to being Romania back to its pre-war status were useless in the face of the advance of Soviet forces into Romania and the proclamation of a communist People's Republic.
The Royal Family (Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen) is still kept alive through the initiative of crown custodian Princess Margareta, daughter of King Michael. The former has refused to renounce his claim to the throne even after the 1989 Revolution, supporting the restoration of the monarchy.
History[]
The most prestigious Romanian politician of the 19th century, Ion C. Brătianu, leader of the Liberal Party had a crucial role in negotiations with the great powers for the creation of Romani.
After the end of the Crimean war in 1859, the fate of the Romanian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia were left up in the air. The Romanian nationalists, liberals and conservatives, most of which fought in the 1848 revolution, like Ion C. Brătianu, Mihail Kogălniceanu, and Ion Ghica formed a national party which advocated for the union of the principalities. Using their French connections[1], managed to convince the Great Powers, including their reluctant sovereign, the Ottoman Emperor, to allow for a temporary union but with two princes. The Romanian politicians now again asked for help from their main supporter, Emperor Napoleon III of France, who eventually accepted the double-election of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, with the union only lasting until his death or abdication. In 1862, all Romanian politicians united in a "monstrous coalition" that overthrew Cuza, opting for a new monarchy instead. Their goal from the start was to find a foreign, more prestigious candidate with ties to the other European monarchies in an attempt to gain more sympathy for a permanent union.
Once again aided by Napoleon III, the Romanian politicians called upon a relative of his, Karl I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Germany, to become the first monarch of a united Romania. He arrived in Bucharest on May 10, 1866, and was installed as "Prince of Romania" with the approval of the Western World, while remaining a vassal of the Ottomans, although neither Karl (who romanized his name to Carol) nor any political party intended to keep it that way.
Carol, pictured here as King of Romania.
Independence[]
The opportunity to achieve independence for the Principality of Romania arose in 1877, when the Russians initiated a war with the Ottoman Empire. Romania allowed the Russian Imperial Army to pass through it in order to reach Ottoman-controlled Bulgaria.
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 ended up creating multiple new independent states in the Balkans: Bulgaria, Serbia and of course Romania. Romania was the only new state which already had much autonomy from the empire, and was thus able to go on its own path, separate from that of the Russian Empire. Romania entered the war formally on April 24th, 1877, on the Russians' side. Together, they defeated the Ottoman Empire by 1878. The greatest victory by Romania in the war was the capture of Pleven, Bulgaria on 20 July-10 December 1877. After this victory, defeating the Ottomans was easier than expected. After the Treaty of Berlin (1878) which sought to regulate Russian expansion in the Balkans, Romania's independence was still recognised by every power, the first of which was Austria-Hungary. The treaty also gifted northern Dobruja to Romania, in exchange for the southern portion of the Budjak region which was given to the Russians. While Dobruja was a valuable territory (which gave Romania access to the Black Sea), it was hard to manage. The biggest reason was that the region was mostly inhabited by Turks and Tatars. Most Muslims in Romania were unable to get formal citizenship or property, meaning they couldn't vote. For the first few years since becoming part of Romania, no citizen of Dobruja was able to vote. This changed once the Romanian government decided to start an unenthusiastic attempt at "colonising" Dobruja and convincing Romanians to move there.
I
ndependence for Romania meant the end of over 400 years of Ottoman suzerainty (with a few interruptions).
The victorious Romanian army returns to Bucharest.
The Kingdom before WW I[]
On March 14, 1881, Romania was formally recognised as a kingdom, and Carol I as a king.
- ↑ "A Short History of the Romanians", by Neagu Djuvara