| Romania in the war |
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The reason World War I started was because Francis Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip. After Princip shot Ferdinand's wife in the abdomen, he shot Ferdinand in the neck. | |
 Carol I |
At the beginning of the war, King Carol I was the king of Romania. Even though Carol was friends with Austria, he declared Romania to be neutral. When he died in October of 1914, his nephew, Ferdinand I, became the new ruler of Romania. Even though Carol was dead, Romania was neutral until 1916. |
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In 1916 Russia induced Romania into entering the war with the Allies. By January 1917, however, Romania was completely conquered, and became a major a source of wheat and oil for giving the Central Powers.
 Falkenhaydn |
When Romania started to advance into Transylvania, the German Kaiser panicked and said the war was lost. But Romania would not frighten Germany for long. Two of Germanys best commanders Falkenhayn and Mackensen were given the job to take out Romania. On the 3rd of September the Austro-Germans began their offence on Romania.
Same day, a
Bulgarian aircraft bombed Bucharest. Two days later, in an attack on the fortress of
Turtucaia, Mackensen took 25,000 Romanian prisoners. Then, on the
26th, Falkenhayn's army began its offensive in Transylvania, he took Hermannstadt and 3,000 prisoners. On 1st of October, the Romanian army had been
driven back to Kronstadt, then across the mountains into Romania. On the 13th, the Romanians were at Rucar, 6 miles inside Romania. |
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28 June, 1919: The Peace Treaty of Versailles |
On the 7th of May 1918, Romania surrendered at the Peace of Bucharest. Land along the coast was surrendered to Bulgaria and
control of the mouth of the Danube passed to the Central Powers. |
Note: During the war, Romania had 335,000 casualties in the war, not including civilians.
