Romania

===World Wars and Greater Romania===
{{Main|Romania in World War I|Greater Romania|Romania in World War II}}
[[File:Austria-Hungary (ethnic).jpg|thumb|left|Late 19th century ethnic map of Central Europe depicting predominantly Romanian-inhabited territories in blue. [[Hungarians]] are marked in yellow and [[Germans]] in pink.]]

Fearing Russian expansionism, Romania secretly joined the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]] of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy in&nbsp;1883, but public opinion remained hostile to Austria-Hungary.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|pp=149–150}}{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=165}} Romania seized [[Southern Dobruja]] from Bulgaria in the [[Second Balkan War]] in 1913.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=150}} German and Austrian-Hungarian diplomacy supported Bulgaria during the war, bringing about a rapprochement between Romania and the [[Triple Entente]] of France, Russia and the United Kingdom.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=150}} The country remained neutral when [[World War&nbsp;I]] broke out in&nbsp;1914, but Prime Minister [[Ion I. C. Brătianu]] started negotiations with the Entente Powers.{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=122}} After they promised Austrian-Hungarian territories with a majority of ethnic Romanian population to Romania in the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1916)|Treaty of Bucharest]], Romania entered the war against the [[Central Powers]] in 1916.{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=122}}{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=151}} The German and Austrian-Hungarian troops defeated the Romanian army and occupied three-quarters of the country by early&nbsp;1917.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|pp=169–170}} After the [[October Revolution]] turned Russia from an ally into an enemy, Romania was forced to sign a [[Treaty of Bucharest (1918)|harsh peace treaty]] with the Central Powers in May&nbsp;1918,{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=155}} but the collapse of Russia also enabled the [[union of Bessarabia with Romania]].{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|pp=170–171}} [[Ferdinand I of Romania|King Ferdinand]] again mobilised the Romanian army on behalf of the Entente Powers a day before [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Germany capitulated]] on 11&nbsp;November 1918.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=155}}

[[File:King Carol I of Romania with his nephew and great nephew.jpg|thumb|right|upright|King [[Carol I of Romania]] with his nephew [[Ferdinand I of Romania]] and great-nephew [[Carol II of Romania]]]]

Austria-Hungary quickly disintegrated after the war.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=155}} The [[General Congress of Bukovina]] proclaimed [[Union of Bukovina with Romania|the union of the province with Romania]] on 28&nbsp;November 1918, and the [[1918 Romanian National Assembly election|Grand National Assembly]] proclaimed [[Union of Transylvania with Romania|the union of Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș with the kingdom]] on 1&nbsp;December.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=156}}{{sfn|Pop|1999|pp=124–125}} Peace treaties with Austria, Bulgaria and Hungary delineated the new borders in 1919 and 1920, but the [[Soviet Union]] did not acknowledge the loss of Bessarabia.{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=125}} Romania achieved its greatest territorial extent, expanding from the pre-war {{convert|137000|to|295000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=189}} A new electoral system granted [[voting rights]] to all adult male citizens, and a series of radical agrarian reforms transformed the country into a "nation of small landowners" between 1918 and 1921.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=167}} [[Gender equality]] as a principle was enacted, but women could not vote or be candidates.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=180}} [[Calypso Botez]] established the National Council of Romanian Women to promote feminist ideas.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=180}} Romania was a multiethnic country, with ethnic minorities making up about 30%&nbsp;of the population, but the [[1923 Constitution of Romania|new constitution]] declared it a unitary national state in 1923.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=189}}{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=127}}{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|pp=158, 183}} Although minorities could establish their own schools, Romanian language, history and geography could only be taught in Romanian.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=183}}

[[Agriculture in Romania|Agriculture]] remained the principal sector of economy, but several branches of industry—especially the production of coal, oil, metals, synthetic rubber, explosives and cosmetics—developed during the [[interwar period]].{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=128}}{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=179}} With oil production of 5.8&nbsp;million tons in 1930, Romania ranked sixth in the world.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=179}} Two parties, the [[National Liberal Party (Romania, 1875)|National Liberal Party]] and the [[National Peasants' Party]], dominated political life, but the [[Great Depression in Romania]] brought about significant changes in the 1930s.{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=129}}{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|pp=167–169}} The democratic parties were squeezed between conflicts with the fascist and [[anti-Semitic]] [[Iron Guard]] and the authoritarian tendencies of [[Carol II of Romania|King Carol&nbsp;II]].{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|pp=167–168}} The King promulgated a [[1938 Constitution of Romania|new constitution]] and dissolved the political parties in 1938, replacing the parliamentary system with a royal dictatorship.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|pp=174–175}}{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=207}}

[[File:PérdidasTerritorialesRumanas1940-ro.svg|thumb|left|upright=1|Romania's territorial losses in the summer of 1940. Of these territories, only [[Northern Transylvania]] was regained after the end of World War II.]]

The 1938 [[Munich Agreement]] convinced King Carol&nbsp;II that France and the United Kingdom could not defend Romanian interests.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=198}} German preparations for a new war required the regular supply of Romanian oil and agricultural products.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=198}} The two countries concluded a treaty concerning the coordination of their economic policies in 1939, but the King could not persuade [[Adolf Hitler]] to guarantee Romania's frontiers.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|pp=198–199}} Romania was forced to [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union]] on 26&nbsp;June 1940, [[Northern Transylvania]] to Hungary on 30&nbsp;August, and Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria in September.{{sfn|Pop|1999|pp=131–132}} After the territorial losses, the King was forced to abdicate in favour of his minor son, [[Michael I of Romania|Michael&nbsp;I]], on 6&nbsp;September, and Romania was transformed into a [[National Legionary State|national-legionary state]] under the leadership of General [[Ion Antonescu]].{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=133}} Antonescu signed the [[Tripartite Pact]] of Germany, Italy and Japan on 23&nbsp;November.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=213}} The Iron Guard staged a coup against Antonescu, but he crushed the riot with German support and introduced a military dictatorship in early 1941.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|pp=214–215}}

[[File:Operation Tidal Wave in 1943.jpg|thumb|right|American [[B-24 Liberator]] flying over a burning oil refinery at [[Ploiești]], as part of [[Operation Tidal Wave]] on 1&nbsp;August 1943. Due to its role as a significant supplier of oil to the [[Axis powers|Axis]], Romania was a prime target of [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] strategic bombing in 1943 and 1944.]]

Romania entered [[World War&nbsp;II]] soon after the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]] in June 1941.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=208}} The country regained Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, and the Germans placed [[Transnistria Governorate|Transnistria]] (the territory between the rivers Dniester and Dnieper) under Romanian administration.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|pp=216–217}} Romanian and German troops massacred at least 160,000 local Jews in these territories; more than 105,000 Jews and about 11,000 Gypsies died during their deportation from Bessarabia to Transnistria.<ref name="Commission">{{cite web |author=International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania |title=Executive Summary: Historical Findings and Recommendations |work=Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania |publisher=[[Yad Vashem]] (The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority) |date=28 January 2012 |url=http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/events/pdf/report/english/EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.pdf |access-date=28 January 2012 |author-link=Wiesel Commission |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112184554/http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/events/pdf/report/english/EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.pdf |archive-date=12 January 2012 }}</ref> Most of the Jewish population of Moldavia, Wallachia, Banat and Southern Transylvania survived,{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=222}} but their fundamental rights were limited.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=210}} After the September 1943 [[Armistice of Cassibile|Allied armistice with Italy]], Romania became the second Axis power in Europe in 1943–1944.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VMk-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 David Stahel, Cambridge University Press, 2018, ''Joining Hitler's Crusade'', p. 78]</ref><ref>Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', p. 9</ref> After the [[Operation Margarethe|German occupation of Hungary]] in March 1944, about 132,000 Jews – mainly Hungarian-speaking – were deported to [[extermination camp]]s from Northern Transylvania with the Hungarian authorities' support.<ref name="Commission"/>{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=689}}

After the Soviet victory in the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] in 1943, [[Iuliu Maniu]], a leader of the opposition to Antonescu, entered into secret negotiations with British diplomats who made it clear that Romania had to seek reconciliation with the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|pp=211–212}} To facilitate the coordination of their activities against Antonescu's regime, the National Liberal and National Peasants' parties established the National Democratic Bloc, which also included the [[Romanian Social Democratic Party (1927–48)|Social Democratic]] and [[Romanian Communist Party|Communist]] parties.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=219}} After a successful Soviet offensive, the young [[King Michael's Coup|King Michael&nbsp;I ordered Antonescu's arrest]] and appointed politicians from the National Democratic Bloc to form a new government on 23&nbsp;August 1944.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=215}} Romania switched sides during the war, and nearly 250,000 Romanian troops joined the Red Army's military campaign against Hungary and Germany, but [[Joseph Stalin]] regarded the country as an occupied territory within the Soviet sphere of influence.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|pp=215, 221}} Stalin's deputy instructed the King to make the Communists' candidate, [[Petru Groza]], the prime minister in March 1945.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|pp=223–224}}{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=138}} The Romanian administration in Northern Transylvania was soon restored, and Groza's government carried out an agrarian reform.{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=138}} In February 1947, the [[Paris Peace Treaties, 1947|Paris Peace Treaties]] confirmed the return of Northern Transylvania to Romania, but they also legalised the presence of units of the Red Army in the country.{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=692}}{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=224}}