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108-498: In March 1944, Hungary was occupied by the Wehrmacht . This invasion was formally known as Operation Margarethe (Unternehmen Margarethe). Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Kállay , who had been in office from 1942, had the knowledge and the approval of Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy to secretly seek negotiations for a separate peace with the Allies in early 1944. Hitler wanted to prevent

216-576: A personal union of two principalities : ( Moldavia and Wallachia ) called the Unification of Moldavia and Wallachia also known as "The Little Union" under a single prince to an autonomous principality with a Hohenzollern monarchy. The country gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire during the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War (known locally as the Romanian War of Independence ), after which it

324-454: A GDP per capita of 20,487 lei at an estimated population of 18.9 million. The 1938 average exchange rate was of 1 leu for US$ 0.00732. Romania's 1938 GDP thus amounted to $ 2.834 billion. Romania's public debt as of 1 April 1938 amounted to 112,267,290,144 lei, of which 78,398,078,964 lei consisted of external debt. Total public debt thus amounted to 29% of Romania's 1938 GDP, while public external debt amounted to just over 20%. Despite

432-552: A Soviet-backed government under Béla Miklós was nominally left in control of the entire country. A High National Council was appointed in January to assume the regency, and included members of the Hungarian Communist Party , like Ernő Gerő , and later Mátyás Rákosi and László Rajk . Upon the kingdom's establishment soon after World War I, the country suffered from economic decline, budget deficits, and high inflation as

540-514: A few border settlements were exchanged between Romania and Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . The most notable Romanian acquisition was the town of Jimbolia , while the most notable Yugoslav acquisition was the town of Jaša Tomić . Romania made no further territorial claims; nonetheless the kingdom's expansion aroused enmity from several of its neighbors, including Bulgaria, the Soviet Union, and especially Hungary. Greater Romania now had

648-507: A government that would co-operate fully with Germany. Otherwise, Hungary would be subject to an undisguised occupation. Horthy appointed Döme Sztójay as prime minister to appease German concerns. Being a complete surprise, the occupation was quick and bloodless. The initial German plan was to immobilise the Hungarian Army, but with Soviet forces advancing from the north and the east and the prospect of British and American forces invading

756-746: A new conflict in Central Europe; both countries were facing strong diplomatic pressures to avoid any military operations. Finally both parties accepted the arbitration of Germany and Italy, known as the Second Vienna Award , and as a result Northern Transylvania was assigned to Hungary. Shortly afterward, the Kingdom of Hungary joined the Axis powers . Hitler demanded that the Hungarian government follow Germany's military and racial agenda to avoid potential conflict in

864-584: A number of professions. Later it scapegoated the Jews for the country's failing economy. In March 1944, responding to the advancing Soviet forces, Prime Minister Miklós Kállay , with Horthy's backing, established contacts with the Allies in order to open negotiations and switch sides; however, this became known to the Germans, who proceeded to invade Hungary and quickly overran the country, meeting only limited resistance. With

972-503: A population of 18,057,028. Romanians made up 71.9% of the population and 28.1% of the population were ethnic minorities . Largest cities as per 1930 census: Notes: 1 - including 12 suburban communities. Two of Romania's seven largest cities in 1930 are currently located outside of Romania as a result of World War II border changes . While the Romanian nobility had a long tradition of sending their sons to Europe's finest schools,

1080-481: A reconciliation with her, and Carol soon arranged for Magda Lupescu's return to his side. Her unpopularity was a millstone around Carol's neck for the rest of his reign, particularly because she was widely viewed as his closest advisor and confidante. Maniu and his National Peasant Party shared the same general political aims as the Iron Guard: both fought against the corruption and dictatorial policies of King Carol II and

1188-517: A result of the loss of economically important territories under the Treaty of Trianon , including to Czechoslovakia , Romania , and Yugoslavia . The land losses of the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 caused Hungary to lose agricultural and industrial areas, making it dependent on exporting products from what agricultural land it had left to maintain its economy. Prime Minister István Bethlen 's government dealt with

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1296-434: A short-lived royal dictatorship, sanctioned 17 days later by a new constitution under which the king named personally not only the prime minister but all the ministers. In April 1938, King Carol had Iron Guard leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (aka "The Captain") arrested and imprisoned. On the night of 29–30 November 1938, Codreanu and several other legionnaires were killed while purportedly attempting to escape from prison. It

1404-594: A significant Hungarian population in Székely Land ). Republican Austria , the successor of the former other half of the dual monarchy also received some minor territory from Hungary. Thus the post-1918 kingdom can be described as a rump state . Hungary's interwar politics were dominated by a focus on the territorial losses suffered from this treaty, with the resentment continuing until the present. Nazi Germany 's influence in Hungary has led some historians to conclude that

1512-433: A significant minority population, especially of Hungarians , and faced the difficulty of assimilation. Transylvania had significant Hungarian and German population who were accustomed to being the power structure; with a historically contemptuous attitude towards Romanians, they now feared reprisals. Both groups were effectively excluded from politics as the postwar regime passed an edict stating that all personnel employed by

1620-457: Is generally agreed that there was no such escape attempt, but that they were murdered in retaliation for a series of assassinations by Iron Guard commandos. The royal dictatorship was brief. On 7 March 1939, a new government was formed with Armand Călinescu as prime minister; on 21 September 1939, three weeks after the start of World War II, Călinescu, in turn, was also assassinated by legionnaires avenging Codreanu's murder. In 1939, Germany and

1728-508: Is unclear; at any rate, István was killed in an airplane crash in August that year, and a new Deputy Regent was not appointed. During his first ten years, Horthy led increased repression of Hungarian minorities. In 1920, the numerus clausus law formally placed limits on the number of minority students at university, and legalized corporal punishment for adults in criminal cases. Although the law seemingly applied in equal measure to all minorities,

1836-660: The Sfatul Țării , or National Council, to proclaim the union of Bessarabia with Romania . War with the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 resulted in the occupation of Budapest by Romanian troops and the end of Béla Kun 's Bolshevik regime. At the Paris Peace Conference , Romania received the territories of Transylvania , part of Banat and other territories from Hungary , as well as Bessarabia (Eastern Moldavia between Prut and Dniester rivers) and Bukovina. In

1944-476: The Allies , recovering Northern Transylvania . The influence of the neighbouring Soviet Union and the policies followed by Communist -dominated coalition governments ultimately led to the abolition of the monarchy, with Romania becoming a Soviet satellite state as the People's Republic of Romania on the last day of 1947. The 1859 ascendancy of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as prince of both Moldavia and Wallachia under

2052-731: The Entente side. Romania engaged in a conflict against Bulgaria but as a result Bulgarian forces, after a series of successful battles, regained Dobruja , which had been previously ceded from Bulgaria by the treaty of Bucharest and the Berlin congress . Although the Romanian forces did not fare well militarily, by the end of the war the Austrian and Russian empires were gone; various assemblies proclaimed as representative bodies in Transylvania , Bessarabia and Bukovina decided on union with Romania. In 1919 by

2160-550: The First Vienna Award reassigned the southern parts of Czechoslovakia to Hungary, and shortly after Czechoslovakia was abolished Hungary occupied and annexed the remainder of the Carpatho-Ukraine . After the successful revision policy Hungary sought further solutions to the remainder of its former territories and demanded the concession of Transylvanian territory from Romania. The Axis powers were not interested in opening

2268-689: The Galați shipyard using parts manufactured in Austria-Hungary, and the first one launched was Lascăr Catargiu , in 1907. The Romanian monitors displaced almost 700 tons, were armed with three 120 mm naval guns in 3 turrets, two 120 mm naval howitzers, four 47 mm anti-aircraft guns and two 6.5 machine guns. The monitors took part in the Battle of Turtucaia and the First Battle of Cobadin . The Romanian-designed Schneider 150 mm Model 1912 howitzer

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2376-717: The Hungarian State ( Hungarian : Magyar Állam ) and the Second Hungarian Republic was soon thereafter proclaimed in 1946, succeeded by the communist Hungarian People's Republic in 1949. Upon the dissolution of Austria-Hungary after World War I, the Hungarian Democratic Republic and then the Hungarian Soviet Republic were briefly proclaimed in 1918 and 1919, respectively. The short-lived communist government of Béla Kun launched what

2484-618: The Hungarian prime minister . The succession after Horthy's death or resignation was never officially established; presumably the Hungarian Parliament would have selected a new regent, or possibly attempted to restore the Habsburgs under Crown Prince Otto . In January 1942, Parliament appointed Horthy's eldest son István as Deputy Regent and expected successor. Whether this represents an attempt to gradually re-establish monarchy in Hungary

2592-770: The Initial Balkan War against the Ottoman Empire , the Kingdom of Romania entered the Second Balkan War in June 1913 against the Tsardom of Bulgaria . 330,000 Romanian troops moved across the Danube and into Bulgaria. One army occupied Southern Dobruja and another moved into northern Bulgaria to threaten Sofia, helping to bring an end to the war. Romania thus acquired the ethnically mixed territory of Southern Dobruja, which it had desired for years. In 1916 Romania entered World War I on

2700-511: The Mareșal tank destroyer , which is credited with being the inspiration for the German Hetzer , a Renault R-35 tank with a T-26 turret and an artillery tractor known as T-1 . Warships built include the submarines NMS  Rechinul and NMS  Marsuinul , a class of 4 minesweepers , 6 Dutch-designed torpedo boats and 2 gunboats. According to the 1930 Romanian Census , Romania had

2808-483: The Mausoleum of Mărășești (1938) were erected. The oil industry was also greatly expanded, making Romania one of the top oil exporters by the late 1930s, which also attracted German and Italian interest . In 1938, Romania produced 6.6 million tons of crude oil, 284,000 tons of crude steel, 133,000 tons of pig iron , 510,000 tons of cement, and 289,000 tons of rolled steel. Romanian military industry during World War I

2916-719: The Red Army had already reached Budapest and a long siege started , while Szálasi fled the capital. On 21 December 1944, a Hungarian "Interim Assembly" met in Debrecen , with the approval of the Soviet Union. This assembly elected an interim counter-government headed by Béla Miklós , the former commander of the Hungarian First Army . Budapest capitulated in February 1945 and the so-called Government of National Unity, now in exile in Munich ,

3024-594: The Romanian occupation forces, the Kingdom of Hungary was restored. After the collapse of the short-lived Communist regime, according to historian István Deák : On 29 February 1920, a coalition of right-wing political forces united and returned Hungary to being a constitutional monarchy . However, it was obvious that the Allies would not accept any return of the Habsburgs . Earlier, Archduke Joseph August had declared himself regent , but he stood down after two weeks when

3132-723: The Royal Hungarian Army remained loyal to Horthy and thus Charles was arrested and exiled to Madeira . On 6 November 1921 the Diet of Hungary passed a law nullifying the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 , dethroning Charles IV and abolishing the House of Habsburg's rights to the throne of Hungary. Hungary was a kingdom without royalty. With civil unrest too great to select a new king, it was decided to confirm Horthy as Regent of Hungary. He remained in that powerful president -like status until he

3240-504: The Siege of Budapest the capital fell to the Soviets on 13 February 1945 and the government fled. Kingdom of Hungary (1920%E2%80%931946) Hungary under Horthy was characterized by its conservative , nationalist , and fiercely anti-communist character. The government was based on an unstable alliance of conservatives and right-wingers. Foreign policy was characterized by revisionism —

3348-670: The Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , which stipulated, among other things, the Soviet "interest" in Bessarabia. After the 1940 territorial losses and growing increasingly unpopular, Carol was compelled to abdicate and name general Ion Antonescu as the new Prime-Minister with full powers in ruling the state by royal decree. At the time of the proclamation of the Kingdom, there were already several industrial facilities in

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3456-562: The Soviet Union . Fearing a potential turn of support to the Romanians, the Hungarian government sent armed forces to support the German war effort during Operation Barbarossa . This support cost the Hungarians dearly. Almost the entire Second Army Group of the Royal Hungarian Army was lost during the Battle of Stalingrad . By early 1944, with Soviet forces fast advancing from the east, Hungary

3564-491: The Treaty of Saint-Germain and in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon most of the territories claimed were assigned to Romania. The Romanian Old Kingdom ( Romanian : Vechiul Regat or just Regat ; German: Regat or Altreich ) is a colloquial term referring to the territory covered by the first independent Romanian nation state , which was composed of the Danubian Principalities – Wallachia and Moldavia. It

3672-539: The Treaty of Trianon on 4 June 1920, thereby reducing Hungary's size substantially: the whole of Transylvania was taken by Romania; much of Upper Hungary became part of Czechoslovakia; Vojvodina was assigned to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (known after 1929 as Yugoslavia); and the Free State of Fiume was created. With a succession of increasingly nationalist prime ministers, Hungary steadily came to resent

3780-587: The Treaty of Trianon , Hungary renounced in favor of Romania all the claims of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy over Transylvania. The union of Romania with Bukovina was ratified in 1919 in the Treaty of Saint Germain , and in 1920 some of the Western powers recognized Romanian rule over Bessarabia by the Treaty of Paris . Thus, Romania in 1920 was more than twice the size it had been in 1914. The last territorial change during this period came in 1923, when

3888-659: The Wehrmacht into her territory, thus supporting Germany and Italy in the invasion of Yugoslavia . After the Independent State of Croatia was proclaimed, Hungary joined the military operations and was allowed to annex the Bačka (Bácska) region in Vojvodina , which had a majority of Hungarians, as well as the region of Muraköz (present-day Prekmurje and Medjimurje ), which had large Slovenian and Croatian minorities, respectively. On 27 June 1941, László Bárdossy declared war on

3996-637: The Allies refused to recognize him. It was thus decided to choose a regent to represent the monarchy until a settlement could be reached. Miklós Horthy , the last commanding admiral of the Austro-Hungarian Navy , was chosen for this position on 1 March. Sándor Simonyi-Semadam was the first prime minister of Horthy's regency. In 1921 Charles returned in Hungary and tried to retake its throne , even trying to march on Budapest with some rebel troops in October 1921; however, his attempts failed as much of

4104-406: The Allies, and also considered leaving the war. Because of this Hungary was occupied by Germany and Horthy was deposed . The extremist Arrow Cross Party 's leader Ferenc Szálasi established a new Nazi-backed government , effectively turning Hungary into a German-occupied puppet state . After World War II, the country fell within the Soviet Union 's sphere of influence. It changed its name to

4212-653: The Balkans , the German military decided to retain Hungarian forces in the field and so sent troops to defend the passes through the Carpathian Mountains from a possible invasion. Following the German military occupation, Adolf Eichmann was instructed to arrange the transportation of 550,000 Hungarian Jews from wartime Hungary (including Jews from territories that had been annexed from Czechoslovakia (Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia), Romania and Yugoslavia) to extermination camps with Hungarian authorities' collaboration. Despite

4320-458: The Central Powers in 1916. The Romanian military campaign ended in stalemate when the Central Powers quickly crushed the country's offensive into Transylvania and occupied Wallachia and Dobruja, including Bucharest and the strategically important oil fields, by the end of 1916. In 1917, despite fierce Romanian resistance, especially at the Battle of Mărășești , due to Russia's withdrawal from

4428-465: The Eastern Front, Horthy was finally able to remove him in August 1944 and replaced him with the more balanced Géza Lakatos . By October of the same year, the Hungarians were again caught trying to quit the war, and the Germans launched Operation Panzerfaust . They replaced Horthy with Arrow Cross leader Ferenc Szálasi . The Government of National Unity was proclaimed, and it continued the war on

German invasion of Hungary (1944) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4536-500: The German legation. When Horthy arrived, von Jagow gave him a letter from Hitler saying Hitler wanted to see him at Schloss Klessheim in Austria on 18 March. As both heads of state conducted their negotiations at Schloss Klessheim, German forces not already stationed in Hungary quietly marched from Reichsgaue of the Ostmark into Hungary. The meeting served merely as a ruse to keep Horthy out of

4644-484: The Hungarian state of the 1930s and '40s can be classified as fascist. According to Richard Griffiths , the regime's increasing economic dependence on Germany, its passage of antisemitic legislation and its participation in exterminating local Jews all place it within the realm of international fascism. 47°29′54″N 19°02′25″E  /  47.49833°N 19.04028°E  / 47.49833; 19.04028 Kingdom of Romania Trăiască Regele ("Long live

4752-556: The Hungarians from deserting Germany. On 12 March 1944, German troops received orders by Hitler to capture critical Hungarian facilities. Hitler invited Horthy to the Palace of Klessheim , near Salzburg . On the evening of 15 March 1944, when Admiral Horthy was watching a performance of the opera Petofi , he received an urgent message from the German Embassy minister Dietrich von Jagow , which stated that he had to see Horthy immediately at

4860-572: The King") (1884–1948) The Kingdom of Romania ( Romanian : Regatul României ) was a constitutional monarchy that existed from 25 March ( O.S. 13 March) 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family ), until 1947 with the abdication of King Michael I and the Romanian parliament's proclamation of the Romanian People's Republic . From 1859 to 1877, Romania evolved from

4968-652: The Kingdom of Romania in 1881, and the annexation of Southern Dobruja in 1913. The term came into use after World War I, when the Old Kingdom was opposed to Greater Romania , which included Transylvania, Banat , Bessarabia, and Bukovina. Nowadays, the term is mainly of historical relevance, and is otherwise used as a common term for all regions in Romania included in both the Old Kingdom and present-day borders (namely: Wallachia, Moldavia, and Northern Dobruja). Romania delayed in entering World War I, but ultimately declared war on

5076-592: The Malaxa factory under French licence, eventually 126 being built until March 1941. Czechoslovak licence was acquired in 1938 to produce the ZB vz. 30 machine gun, with 5,000 being built at the Cugir gun factory until the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. Romania also acquired the licence to produce the R-1 tankette, but ultimately only one prototype was built locally. German licence

5184-580: The National Liberal Party. The worldwide Great Depression that started in 1929 and was also present in Romania destabilised the country. The early 1930s were marked by social unrest, high unemployment, and strikes. In several instances, the Romanian government violently repressed strikes and riots, notably the 1929 miners' strike in Valea Jiului and the strike in the Grivița railroad workshops. In

5292-405: The Nazis, became the new Hungarian prime minister . Sztójay governed with the aid of a Nazi military governor, Edmund Veesenmayer : he legalized the antisemitic and pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party , started to deport Hungarian Jews en masse to Germany and initiated a violent crackdown on liberal and leftist opposition. Increasingly appalled by Sztójay's methods and alarmed by the imminent collapse of

5400-404: The Romanian state in the interwar period , and by extension, to the territory Romania covered at the time. Romania achieved at that time its greatest territorial extent (almost 300,000 km (120,000 sq mi) ). At the 1930 census, there were over 18 million inhabitants in Romania. The resulting "Greater Romania" did not survive World War II. Until 1938, Romania's governments maintained

5508-402: The Treaty of Trianon, and aligned itself with Europe's two fascist states, Germany and Italy, which both opposed the changes to national borders in Europe at the end of World War I. The Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini sought closer ties with Hungary, beginning with the signing of a treaty of friendship between Hungary and Italy on 5 April 1927. Gyula Gömbös was an open admirer of

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5616-437: The changes to the electoral system were reversed. Social conditions in the kingdom did not improve as time passed, as a very small proportion of the population continued to control much of the country's wealth. Jews were continually pressured to assimilate into Hungarian mainstream culture. The desperate situation forced the Regent, Horthy, to accept the far-right politician Gyula Gömbös as prime minister. He pledged to retain

5724-422: The counties) to be ruled by rezidenți regali (approximate translation: "Royal Residents") - appointed directly by the King. This administrative reform did not last and the counties were re-established after the fall of Carol's regime. 28 November. The union of Bukovina with Romania is declared. 1 December. The union of Transylvania with Romania is declared. This day concludes a series of unifications between

5832-425: The country and to leave the Hungarian Army without orders. Negotiations between Horthy and Hitler lasted until 18 March, when Horthy boarded a train to return home. On 19 March, the military occupation of Hungary began. When Horthy arrived in Budapest, German soldiers were waiting for him at the station. Horthy was told by von Jagow that Hungary would remain sovereign only if he removed Kállay and replaced him with

5940-446: The country increasingly became a client state after 1938. The Kingdom of Hungary was an Axis power during World War II, intent on regaining Hungarian-majority territory that had been lost in the Treaty of Trianon, which it mostly did in early 1941 after the First and Second Vienna Awards and after joining the German invasion of Yugoslavia . By 1944, following heavy setbacks for the Axis, Horthy's government negotiated secretly with

6048-462: The country now under German occupation, Horthy was forced to remove Kállay from his position and appoint pro-Nazi politician Döme Sztójay as the new prime minister. Sztójay legalized the antisemitic and pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party , deported large numbers of Hungarian Jews to Germany and initiated a violent crackdown on liberal and leftist opposition. As the months went by, Horthy became increasingly appalled by Sztójay's brutal methods and alarmed by

6156-461: The country to the status of a kingdom, and Carol was crowned king on 10 May. The new state, squeezed between the Ottoman , Austro-Hungarian , and Russian Empires, with Slavic populations on its southwestern, southern, and northeastern borders, the Black Sea due east, and Hungarian neighbours on its western and northwestern borders, looked to the West, particularly France, for its cultural, educational, and administrative models. Abstaining from

6264-443: The country, especially in part due to the economic effects of the failure of the Österreichische Creditanstalt bank in Vienna , Austria. From the mid-1930s to the 1940s, after relations improved with Germany, Hungary's economy benefited from trade. The Hungarian economy became dependent on that of Germany. Initially, despite a move towards nationalism , the new state under Horthy, in an effort to prevent further conflicts, signed

6372-462: The country: The Assan and Olamazu steam mills , built in 1853 and 1862 respectively, a brick factory built in 1865, and two sugar factories built in 1873, among others. In 1857, the first oil refinery in the world was built at Ploiești . In 1880, after several railways were built, the CFR was founded. After proclamation of the Kingdom, the pre-established industrial facilities began to be highly developed: 6 more, larger, sugar factories were built and

6480-505: The destruction provoked by the First World War, Romanian industry managed significant growth, as a result of new establishments and development of the older ones. The MALAXA industrial engineering and manufacturing company was established in 1921 by Romanian industrialist Nicolae Malaxa and dealt especially with rolling stock maintenance and manufacturing. It developed rapidly, and by 1930 Romania had managed to cease importing locomotives altogether, all required rolling stock being supplied by

6588-407: The economic crisis by seeking large foreign loans, which allowed the country to achieve monetary stabilization in the early 1920s. He introduced a new currency in 1927, the pengő . Industrial and farm production rose rapidly, and the country benefited from flourishing foreign trade during most of the 1920s. Following the start of the Great Depression in 1929, the prosperity rapidly collapsed in

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6696-460: The economy. Already the Iron Guard had embraced the politics of assassination, and various governments had reacted more or less in kind. On 10 December 1933, Liberal prime minister Ion Duca "dissolved" the Iron Guard, arresting thousands; consequently, 19 days later he was assassinated by Iron Guard legionnaires. Throughout the 1930s, these nationalist parties had a mutually distrustful relationship with King Carol II. Nonetheless, in December 1937,

6804-545: The educated were otherwise a tiny minority. Transylvania had the most educated population in Greater Romania, while Bessarabia fared the worst. While legally all Romanians were required to undergo at least four years of schooling, in practice few actually did and the system was designed to separate those who would go on to higher education from those who would not. While this was partially necessary due to limited resources, it ensured that peasants had almost no chance of becoming educated. High school and college education in Romania

6912-404: The electoral system was changed to reintroduce an open vote system outside Budapest and its vicinity and cities with county municipal rights. Bethlen's political party, the Party of Unity , won repeated elections. Bethlen pushed for revision of the Treaty of Trianon . After the collapse of the Hungarian economy from 1929 to 1931, national turmoil pushed Bethlen to resign as prime minister. In 1938

7020-449: The ethnicity quota system was never fully introduced and the law acted largely to conceal anti-Jewish action from foreign observers. Limitations were relaxed in 1928. Racial criteria in admitting new students were removed and replaced by social criteria. Five categories were set up: civil servants, war veterans and army officers, small landowners and artisans, industrialists, and the merchant classes. Under István Bethlen as Prime Minister

7128-403: The exception of the southern halves of Bukovina and Transylvania , these territories were ceded to neighboring countries in 1940, under the pressure of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union . Following the abolishment of the 1923 constitution by King Carol II in 1938, the Kingdom of Romania became an absolute monarchy , only to become a military dictatorship under Ion Antonescu in 1940 after

7236-435: The existing political system. Gömbös agreed to abandon his extreme antisemitism and allow some Jews into the government. In power, Gömbös moved Hungary towards a one-party government like those of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany . Pressure by Nazi Germany for extreme antisemitism forced Gömbös out and Hungary pursued antisemitism under its "Jewish Laws". Initially, the government passed laws restricting Jews to 20 percent in

7344-399: The fascist leaders. Gömbös attempted to forge a closer trilateral unity between Germany, Italy and Hungary by acting as an intermediary between Germany and Italy, whose two fascist regimes had nearly come to conflict in 1934 over the issue of Austrian independence. Gömbös eventually persuaded Mussolini to accept Hitler's annexation of Austria in the late 1930s. Gömbös is said to have coined

7452-412: The field on 10 November 1918, a day before the war ended in Western Europe. Following the proclamation of the union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania on 1 December 1918 by the representatives of Transylvanian Romanians gathered at Alba Iulia , Transylvania was soon united with the Kingdom, as was Bessarabia earlier in 1918, since the power vacuum in Russia caused by the civil war there allowed

7560-593: The first locally-built warship, the minelayer NMS  Amiral Murgescu . During the war, Romania copied and produced hundreds of Soviet M1938 mortars , as well as designing and producing up to 400 75 mm Reșița Model 1943 anti-tank guns. Infantry weapons designed and produced by Romania during the war include the Orița M1941 sub-machinegun and the Argeș flamethrower . Romania also built 30 Vănătorul de care R-35 , 34 TACAM T-60 , 21 TACAM R-2 tank destroyers and rebuilt 34 captured Soviet Komsomolets armored tractors . A few prototype vehicles were also built, such as

7668-426: The forced abdication of King Carol II, with his successor, King Michael I being a figurehead with no effective political power. The country's name was changed to Legionary Romania . The disastrous World War II campaign on the side of the Axis powers led to King Michael's Coup against Ion Antonescu in 1944, as a result of which the Kingdom of Romania became a constitutional monarchy again and switched sides to

7776-469: The form, if not always the substance, of a liberal constitutional monarchy. The National Liberal Party , dominant in the years immediately after World War I, became increasingly clientelist and nationalist , and in 1927 was supplanted in power by the National Peasants' Party . Between 1930 and 1940 there were over 25 separate governments; on several occasions in the last few years before World War II,

7884-552: The future. Antisemitism was already an established political cause by the far right in Hungary. In 1944, after the ousting of Horthy by Hitler and before the installation of the National-Socialist Arrow Cross Party, the Hungarian government readily aided Nazi Germany in the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust , where most of them died. In April 1941, Hungary let

7992-427: The king appointed National Christian Party leader, the poet Octavian Goga , as prime minister of Romania's first Fascist government . Around this time, Carol met with Adolf Hitler , who expressed his wish to see a Romanian government headed by the pro-Nazi Iron Guard. Instead, on 10 February 1938 King Carol II used the occasion of a public insult by Goga toward Lupescu as a reason to dismiss the government and institute

8100-424: The king free rein to dissolve parliament and call elections at will; as a result, Romania experienced over 25 governments in a single decade. Increasingly, these governments were dominated by a number of anti-Semitic , ultra-nationalist, and mostly at least quasi-fascist parties. The National Liberal Party steadily became more nationalistic than liberal, but nonetheless lost its dominance over Romanian politics. It

8208-643: The local industry. Industrial facilities acquired along with the new provinces, such as the Reșița works , also contributed to the rapid development of Romanian heavy industry. Other important establishments were the Copșa Mică works , producing non-ferrous metals and the Romanian Optical Enterprise . Construction also developed, as great monuments like the Caraiman Cross (1928), Arcul de Triumf (1936), and

8316-543: The matter in their own hands. The land reform passed in 1921 accomplished little however. Large landowners still controlled up to 30% of Romania's land, including the forests peasants depended on for fuel. The redistributed plots were invariably too small to feed their owners and most peasants could not overcome their tradition of growing grain over cash crops. Nothing was done to remedy basic problems such as rural overpopulation and technological backwardness. Draft animals were rare, to say nothing of machinery, actual productivity

8424-432: The mid-1930s, the Romanian economy recovered and the industry grew significantly, although about 80% of Romanians were still employed in agriculture. French economic and political influence was predominant in the early 1920s but then Germany became more dominant, especially in the 1930s. As the 1930s progressed, Romania's already shaky democracy slowly deteriorated toward fascist dictatorship. The constitution of 1923 gave

8532-464: The monarchy as a form of government, and Hungarian newspapers continued to refer to the country as the Kingdom of Hungary ( Magyar Királyság ), although Magyarország (Hungary) was used as an alternative. From May to June 1944, Hungarian authorities rapidly rounded up and transported hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews to Nazi concentration camps, where most died. After the fall of the Szálasi regime,

8640-580: The nominal suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire united an identifiably Romanian nation under a single ruler. On 24 January ( O.S. ) / 5 February 1862, the two principalities were formally united to form the Principality of Romania , with Bucharest as its capital. On 11 ( O.S. ) / 23 February 1866 a so-called " monstrous coalition ", composed of Conservatives and radical Liberals, forced Cuza to abdicate. The German prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

8748-642: The occupation, Horthy regardless attempted to negotiate a peace treaty and surrender with the Soviet Union. By October 1944 the Soviet Budapest offensive was nearly ready to launch and Horthy made a radio broadcast that an armistice had been agreed. The Germans were ready, however. Horthy was overthrown in Operation Panzerfaust , a coup that placed the National Socialist-friendly Arrow Cross Party (NyKP) in power. Following

8856-569: The phrase "axis", which he applied to his intention to create an alliance with Germany and Italy; those two countries used it to term their alliance as the Rome–Berlin axis . Just prior to the Second World War, Hungary benefited from its close ties with Germany and Italy when the Munich Agreement obliged Czechoslovakia and Hungary to settle their territorial disputes by negotiation. Finally,

8964-411: The railway network was expanded more. Another, more modern brick factory was built in 1891. Despite all of these industrial achievements, the overwhelming majority of Romania's economy remained agricultural. In 1919, a staggering 72% of Romanians were engaged in agriculture. The Romanian peasantry was among the poorest in the region, a situation aggravated by one of Europe's highest birth rates. Farming

9072-517: The rapidly collapsing Eastern Front . In August 1944, he deposed the pro-German prime minister and installed a more balanced government led by Géza Lakatos , in an effort to engage with the Allies and avoid occupation by the Soviet Union. This did not sit well with Hitler and, in October, German forces overthrew Horthy and Lakatos and installed a puppet regime led by Ferenc Szálasi of the Arrow Cross Party. The Arrow Cross Party never abolished

9180-475: The result being the most effective field howitzer in Europe at that time. Romania even managed to design and build from scratch its own model of mortar, the 250 mm Negrei Model 1916. Other Romanian technological assets include the building of Vlaicu III , the world's first aircraft made of metal. The Romanian Navy possessed the largest warships on the Danube. They were a class of 4 river monitors, built locally at

9288-464: The rivalry between the fascist Iron Guard and other political groupings approached the level of a civil war. Upon the death of King Ferdinand in 1927, his son, Prince Carol , was prevented from succeeding him because of previous marital scandals that had resulted in his renunciation of rights to the throne. After living three years in exile, with his brother Nicolae serving as regent and his young son Michael as king, Carol changed his mind and with

9396-529: The side of the Axis . Szálasi did not replace Horthy as regent, but was appointed as the "Leader of the Nation" (" Nemzetvezető" ) and prime minister of the new "Hungarist state". Antisemitic persecution and pogroms increased during Szálasi's regime and his militias were singularly responsible of the murder of 10,000-15,000 Hungarian Jews. The new Quisling regime, however, was to be short-lived, for in November 1944

9504-757: The state had to speak Romanian. The new state was also a highly centralized one, so it was unlikely that the Hungarian or German minorities would exercise political influence without personal connections in the government in Bucharest. Despite these policies, the Romanian government permitted both Germans and Hungarians the freedom to have separate schools, publications and judicial hearings in their respective languages. These rights were not extended to other minorities, Jews in particular. The Romanian expression România Mare (literal translation "Great Romania", but more commonly rendered in English: "Greater Romania") generally refers to

9612-478: The support of the ruling National Peasants' Party he returned and proclaimed himself king. Iuliu Maniu , leader of the National Peasants' Party, engineered Carol's return on the basis of a promise that he would forsake his mistress Magda Lupescu , and Lupescu herself had agreed to the arrangement. However, it became clear upon Carol's first re-encounter with his former wife, Elena , that he had no interest in

9720-423: The total or partial revision of the Treaty of Trianon , which had seen Hungary lose over 70% of its historic territory along with over three million Hungarians , who mostly lived in the border territories outside the new borders of the kingdom, in the Kingdom of Romania and the newly created states of Czechoslovakia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (in greatly enlarged Romania there also remained

9828-621: The war following the October Revolution , Romania, being almost completely surrounded by the Central Powers, was forced to also drop from the war, signing the Armistice of Focșani and next year, in May 1918, the Treaty of Bucharest . But after the successful offensive on the Thessaloniki front which put Bulgaria out of the war, Romania's government quickly reasserted control and put an army back into

9936-515: The war, Romania acquired from France the licence to produce hundreds of Brandt Mle 27/31 and Brandt Mle 1935 mortars, with hundreds more produced during the war, and also the licence to produce 140 French 47 mm Schneider anti-tank guns at the Concordia factory, with 118 produced between 26 May 1939 and 1 August 1940 and hundreds more produced during the war; these guns were to be towed by Malaxa Tip UE armored carriers, built since late 1939 at

10044-406: Was achieved when, under the auspices of the Treaty of Paris (1856) , the ad hoc Divans of both countries – which were under Imperial Ottoman suzerainty at the time – voted for Alexander Ioan Cuza as their prince, thus achieving a de facto unification. The region itself is defined by the result of that political act, followed by the inclusion of Northern Dobruja in 1878, the proclamation of

10152-410: Was acquired in 1938 to produce 360 37 mm Rheinmetall anti-aircraft guns , but only 102 were produced until May 1941. British licence was acquired to produce 100 Vickers Model 1931 75 mm anti-aircraft guns at the Reșița works , with the first battery of 6 guns entering service on 1 August 1939, and 100 more guns were built during the war for a total production of 200. On 14 June, Romania launched

10260-413: Was appointed as Prince of Romania, in a move to assure German backing to unity and future independence. He immediately adopted the Romanian spelling of his name, Carol , and his cognatic descendants would rule Romania until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1947. For more than a decade after the formal union of the two principalities, Romania was still nominally a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. However, this

10368-603: Was caught attempting to contact the British and the Americans to secretly escape the war and establish an armistice with the Allies. On 19 March 1944, the Germans responded by invading Hungary in Operation Margarethe . German forces occupied key locations to ensure Hungarian loyalty. They placed Horthy under house arrest and replaced Prime Minister Miklós Kállay with a more pliable successor. Döme Sztójay , an avid supporter of

10476-580: Was considered one of the most modern field guns on the Western Front. The Romanian armament industry was expanded greatly during the Interwar period and World War II. New factories were constructed, such as the Industria Aeronautică Română and Societatea Pentru Exploatări Tehnice aircraft factories, which produced hundreds of indigenous aircraft, such as IAR 37 , IAR 80 , and SET 7 . Before

10584-516: Was disbanded at the end of March 1945. Under Soviet occupation , the fate of the Kingdom of Hungary was already determined. A High National Council was appointed as the country's collective head of state until the monarchy was formally abolished on 1 February 1946. The regency was replaced by the Second Hungarian Republic . It was quickly followed by the creation of the Hungarian People's Republic . There has been some debate as to what extent

10692-421: Was divided into 33 counties. After World War I, as a result of the 1925 administrative unification law, the territory was divided into 71 counties, 489 districts ( plăși ) and 8,879 communes . In 1938, King Carol II promulgated a new Constitution , and subsequently he had the administrative division of the Romanian territory changed. Ten ținuturi (approximate translation: "lands") were created (by merging

10800-775: Was eclipsed by parties like the (relatively moderate) National Peasants' Party and its more radical Romanian Front offshoot, the National-Christian Defense League (LANC) and the Iron Guard . In 1935, LANC merged with the National Agrarian Party to form the National Christian Party (NCP). The quasi-mystical fascist Iron Guard was an earlier LANC offshoot that, even more than these other parties, exploited nationalist feelings, fear of communism, and resentment of alleged foreign and Jewish domination of

10908-531: Was forced to cede the southern part of Bessarabia in exchange for Northern Dobruja . The kingdom's territory during the reign of King Carol I, between 13 ( O.S. ) / 25 March 1881 and 27 September ( O.S. ) / 10 October 1914 is sometimes referred to as the Romanian Old Kingdom , to distinguish it from " Greater Romania ", which included the provinces that became part of the state after World War I ( Bessarabia , Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania ). With

11016-490: Was increasingly a legal fiction. Romania had its own flag and anthem, and from 1867 had its own currency as well. Following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 , Romania was recognized as an independent state by the Treaty of Berlin, 1878 and acquired Dobruja , although it was forced to surrender southern Bessarabia ( Budjak ) to Russia. On 15 March 1881, as an assertion of full sovereignty, the Romanian parliament raised

11124-401: Was known as the " Red Terror ", involving Hungary in an ill-fated war with Romania . In 1920, the country fell into a period of civil conflict, with Hungarian anti-communists and monarchists violently purging the communists, leftist intellectuals, and others whom they felt threatened by, especially Jews. This period was known as the " White Terror ". In 1920, after the pullout of the last of

11232-512: Was mainly focused on converting various fortification guns into field and anti-aircraft artillery. Up to 334 German 53 mm Fahrpanzer guns, 93 French 57 mm Hotchkiss guns, 66 Krupp 150 mm guns and dozens more 210 mm guns were mounted on Romanian-built carriages and transformed into mobile field artillery, with 45 Krupp 75 mm guns and 132 Hotchkiss 57 mm guns being transformed into anti-aircraft artillery. The Romanians also upgraded 120 German Krupp 105 mm howitzers,

11340-531: Was modeled after the French system. Students undertook a rigid curriculum based around the liberal arts. Romania suffered from the same problem as the rest of Eastern Europe, which was that most students, coming from aristocratic backgrounds, preferred to study subjects such as theology, philosophy, literature and the fine arts over science, business, and engineering. After Independence, the Romanian Old Kingdom

11448-587: Was overthrown in 1944. Horthy's rule as Regent possessed characteristics such that it could be construed a dictatorship . As a counterpoint, his powers were a continuation of the constitutional powers of the King of Hungary , adopted earlier during the federation with the Austrian Empire . As Regent, Horthy had the power to adjourn or dissolve the Hungarian Diet (parliament) at his own discretion; he appointed

11556-557: Was primitive and machinery and chemical fertilizers almost unheard of. The Regat (prewar Romania) was traditionally a land of large estates worked by peasants who either had little or no land of their own. The situation in Transylvania and Bessarabia was marginally better. After peasant calls for land reform snowballed into an avalanche, King Ferdinand had to oblige, especially once the Russian Revolution had encouraged peasants to take

11664-511: Was worse than before. Romanian agriculture struggled in the international market, and with the onset of the Great Depression , collapsed completely. Romania's 1913 GDP at the 1990 exchange rate amounted to $ 11.7 billion. However, the 1990 dollar was 9.27 times weaker than the 1938 dollar. Thus, Romania's 1913 GDP at the 1938 exchange rate amounted to $ 1.262 billion. The 1938 Romanian GDP amounted to 387.204 billion lei, with

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