Aftermath of the Great War
The armistice wasn't necessary beneficial for the countries in the region, Romania in particular, whose purpose at the time was unification with Transylvania. The peace treaties were based on military facts and the terms and conditions implied by the armistice. The states newly created after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires were the ones who benefited the most from this historical event. In March 1918, Bessarabia was united with the Romanian Kingdom, and 8 months later, in November and December, Bukovina, Banat and Transylvania also joined the Romanian state, to form Greater Romania.
In November 1918, the Romanian authorities were still in Moldavia, where they had taken refuge since late 1916, when the German and Austrian-Hungarian troops occupied Bucharest. The Romanian army was still on alert, although a rather humiliating Peace Treaty had been signed in Bucharest in March 1918. The Romanian army had had its own contribution to quashing the Bolshevik revolution at the end of 1917 and in early 1918.
Germany saw the armistice and the peace treaties as a great shame brought to the country. The armistice was regarded as humiliating to the German people. It is interesting to know that when the official signing of the treaty took place, Romanian politician Ion I.C. Bratianu stated in front of the members of the Romanian delegation that Germany was not a country to take defeat lightly. One could say that the Treaty of Versailles gave birth to the virus which would eventually start World War II.
The world was in turmoil at the end of World War One. The relief triggered by the end of the war was mixed with the revolutionary upheaval of the radical socialists who sought to create a new world, as well as with a strong desire to establish new nation-states, and with the sorrow and frustration of the defeated. Never before had the world known a more radical and sudden transformation than the one that occurred between 1917-1920.
In 1918, new states were cropping up on the map of Central and Eastern Europe, among them Greater Romania. The new map involved a reshuffling of political structures on national criteria, and the last manifestation of the spirit of modernity, the anti-imperial struggle. The principle of national self determination on the basis of ethnic majority was fundamental to the creation of the new state entities, a principle which is still used in international relations.
The peace treaties signed in the aftermath of World War I were an extension of the situation on the ground. The allies, victorious, imposed their conditions on the Central powers, breaking up their spheres of influence. Aside from the fact that they lost territory, they also paid heavy war compensation and underwent major structural changes internally. Romania, which had been on the side of the Allies, fortunately, and, based on the principles of national self-determination and on the treaty it had signed with the Allies in 1916, felt it was within its rights to ask for quite a lot when signing the peace. Germany and Austria-Hungary, the principal central powers, underwent the most dramatic transformations.
The armistice meant an end to military operations, making way for the peace conference that opened in January 1919. On that occasion treaties were signed with each state that was a member of the Central Powers. The first treaty was that with Germany, signed on June 28th 1919, which also had provisions regarding Germany's position towards the other states as well. In it, Germany committed to respecting Romania's new boundaries, paying war reparations for the occupation, especially for the minting of lei through the General Bank of the Principality of Wallachia, which did not have gold backing, and which was a coin imposed under occupation. Other provisions referred to other states, this being what became known as the Treaty of Versailles. The other treaties, with each of the defeated country separately, were also signed in Versailles, but in separate palaces, so they bear different names.
The Romanian ethnics in the Austro-Hungarian empire were in favor of uniting with the Kingdom of Romania, as evidenced by the Great General Assembly of Alba Iulia on December 1st, 1918. The place was symbolic, having a Romantic association. On November first 1599, Mihai Viteazu, prince of Wallachia, entered the city after defeating the prince of Transylvania, Adrei Bathory, and took the crown of the principality. Romantic historians have deemed this the first time when Romanian were ever united under one rule. On December first, 1918, 1228 delegates of the 27 Romanian counties in Austria-Hungary came to that symbolic place to vote in favor of uniting with Romania. The Union resolution was read by Vasile Goldis and, on December 3rd, a delegation made up of Alexandru Vaida Voevod, Vasile Goldis and Greek-Catholic bishop Iuliu Hossu and Orthodox bishop Miron Cristea handed king Ferdinand I the Alba Iulia resolution. On December 25th, by royal decree, the king proclaimed the creation of Greater Romania. The National Assembly announced that the fundamental principles at the foundation of the new Romanian state were national freedom for all the minorities living in Romania, freedom of religion for all, universal suffrage, freedom of the press, freedom of association, radical agrarian reform, and rights for industrial workers.
The new state needed international recognition, which was not obtained that easily. The problem was that Bratianu, the head of the Romanian delegation at the peace conference, believed, or deluded himself, that Romania would be treated on an equal footing with the other states. According to him, if we were equals in fighting and sacrificing, we should be equal at the peace conference. However, a group of four countries formed there: the US, Great Britain, France, and Italy, which was making the decisions. Of course, Bratianu sought to enforce equality between the victorious countries. however, US president Wilson himself wanted to make a point at the conference of saying that each country's worth is measured in military potency. Romania, compared with the above mentioned countries, was not a great military power. That was the crux of the issue. Of course there was some harassment in terms of signing separate peace treaties, there was a problem with the fact that the 1916 treaty did not refer specifically to Bessarabia, what is now the Republic of Moldova, but only to the Romanian territories in Austria-Hungary. Then there were problems with the reparations, the free circulation of people and merchandise belonging to Allied powers on Romanian territory, and the protection of minorities. Bratianu's said that Romania was at any time ready to grant minorities the rights granted by the four powers. In other words, he wanted that Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Greece should not be discriminated against. Of course, Bratianu's calls fell on deaf ears.
Although in the end prime minister Ion C. Bratianu got recognition for the new state of Romania with support from France, he resigned on November 12th, 1919, and refused to sign the peace treaty on Romania's behalf. Bratianu's reason was that part of the area of Banat, with a Romanian population, was now part of Yugoslavia. In the end, the treaty was signed on Romania's behalf by Alexandru Vaida Voevod, the first Transylvanian to hold the position of prime minister for Greater Romania. In spite of all difficulties, Greater Romania was an entity which all Romanians could call home.
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