Foreword
No other person better symbolizes the tragedy of the Romanians in the last half-century, but His Majesty King Mihai I of Romania. He was born to be king in a country standing as a gateway between Eastern and Western Europe.
The course of history was ve ry much against him and his people.
They had to fight first against the Nazis and then against the communists.
King Mihai was a constitutional monarch in a time when Europe was dominated by dictators.
These pages contain a part of the history of a king and his people. A history that is probably the most dramatic among the histories of other kings and queens in the twentieth century Europe.
It is the history of His Majesty King Mihai I of Romania and before all, it is the history of the people that gave the world much more than just Dracula or Ceausescu.
The Ancestors (1866-1921)
The Romanian Royal Family descends from the Hohenzollern Dynasty.
The main branch of the Hohenzollern family, the Nurenmberg branch, is the only surv iving today.
It split into two branches around 1200 ad into two branches: the Swabian branch and the Franconian branch.
The founder of the Romanian Royal Family, Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was a descendant of the Swabian line and was born in Sigmaringen (in the south of today's Germany) in April 1839.
He came incognito to Romania in 18 66. This was a necessary precaution due to the fact that Prussia and Austria were in tensioned relations at that time and he had to cross Austria to get to Romania.
He was proclaimed ruler of Romania later that year. In 1881 he became the first King of Romania.
Ferdinand, one of Carol's nephews succeeded him to the throne.
Carol had no direct heirs. During his reign Transilvania became part of Romania.
He was crowned as King of Great Romania in 1922.
King Ferdinand and Queen Marie had six children and the elder one, Prince Carol was to inherit the Romanian Crown.
Carol was the first of the Hohenzollern Family to be born on Romanian soil.
Carol had all the necessary quali ties to become a great king.
Unfortunately, his flaws shadowed his qualities and shattered the very foundations of the monarchy and democracy in Romania.
After several years of a questionable life style, in 1921 Carol married Princess Elena, from the Greek Royal Family. Later that year, on October 25, Mihai, the future King of Romania was born in Sinaia at the Foisor Castle.
The Childhood and the First Reign (1926-1930)
Mihai was born in a time of great changes in Romania.
Just after the WWI Romania had a new shape and a new international political position.
Internally a new land reform was undertaken.
Many peasants with no rights before became landowners in those yea rs. The Romanian Parliament passed in 1923 a new Constitution.
The Constitution excluded females as heirs of the Romanian Throne.
Thus, Mihai became the second in direct line to inherit the throne after his father, Carol.
Mihai's childhood was shadowed by the tension between his parents, generated by his father's behavior.
Prince Carol had a love affair with Elena Lupescu shortly after Mihai's birth. The relation proved to be more than just a passing passion.
In 1925, Carol runs to live in Paris with his mistress. He then announces King Ferdinand that he gives up his right to be the heir of the Romanian Crown.
Thus in 1926, being only 6 years old, Mihai becomes the heir of the throne.
Prince Carol takes on the name of C arol Caraiman and continues to live in Paris.
After only 13 years of glorious reign, King Ferdinand dies in 1927. Mihai becomes King of Romania and the Regency is formed to rule until Mihai will be 21.
The Regency was formed of Prince Nicolae - Mihai's uncle, Miron Cristea - The Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and Gheorghe Buzdugan - the president of the High Court of Justice.
Not longer after that the later one passed away and George Sarateanu took his place.
The young king starts the elementary school in Sinaia at the Peles Castle. His tutor was Professor Nicolae Saxu.
In those years Mihai developed his passion for mechanics, that later proved to be so useful in his career away from his country.
In 1930 however, Carol returns and just two days later, on June 8 Carol is proclaimed King of Romania in front of the Parliament.
Mihai, Great 'Voievod' of Alba-Iulia (1930-1940)
The return of Carol was greatly facilitated by the political situation in the country.
Under the reign of King Ferdinand the universal vote was introduced.
This led to a proliferation of political parties.
Before that, there were two politic al parties in Romania: the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party. After the WWI the situation changed.
The Conservative Party was disintegrated and dozens of other parties took its place.
The Liberal Party that formed the government, led by Ionel Brati anu opposed for a while to Carol's return.
Shortly after Ferdinand's death, Bratianu passed away, too. The government lost its influence in the political arena.
The Regency had little influence too. In 1928 the Peasants Party took the power, against the liberals. Despite its popularity, the new government could not do much to improve the political situation, being faced with the consequences of the world economic crisis.
On this background the idea was Carol would be the person who could end the fights between the parties and the political instability.
On June 6, 1930, Carol returns incognito to Bucharest and two days later the Parliament abrogates the laws that forbad e Carol from becoming the heir of the throne. He became King Carol II of Romania.
It was the first time in history that the father succeeded his son to the throne.
At this time Mihai was still an elementary school student. These events were a personal drama for him.
Not because he was not anymore a king, but because the return of Carol meant for him separation from his mother, Queen Elena.
She had to leave the co untry in 1932 and moved to Florence in Italy.
Mihai was conferred the pompous and meaningless title of Great 'Voievod' of Alba-Iulia.
After completing his elementary studies in Sinaia, Mihai continued his studies in special class organized for him and led by General Traian Grigorescu.
The students in his class were selected among the best in country so that they represented almost ev ery social category and ethnic minority from Romania of those times.
Among the professors one could find several well known scientists such as the historian Nicolae Iorga or the geographer Simion Mehedinti.
Each course ended every year with field trips in various regions of the country.
The students developed friendly relationships beyond the classroom and one of them, Mircea Ionitiu later became Mihai's personal secretary and even joined him in the exile in 1948.
Carol's reign lasted for ten years, between 1930 and 1940.
These years meant for Romania a strong economic growth following the world economic crisis on one hand.
On the other hand, Carol's reign brought the disintegration in 1938 of the parliamentaria n democracy in Romania.
The establishment of Carol's Royal Dictatorship was facilitated by both the internal and international political situation. In the 30's dictators already ruled most of the countries on the continental Europe.
In Romania the people were strongly disappointed by the political parties. In addition, right wing extremist movements flourished in those times.
The most important one was The Legionary Movement, led by Horia Sima and Corneliu Zelea-Codreanu. Violence was a current practice t o end political arguments.
Two Prime ministers were killed by the legionnaires under the reign of Carol II.
Meanwhile a new war was about to emerge in Europe.
Under these circumstances in 1938 Carol established a personal dictatorship regime without much opposition.
He outlawed all the political parties, establishing a new unique one.
His dream to be "The King of National Resurrection" was not to become real ity. He surrounded himself with a camarilla of dubious persons, most of them introduced by his mistress Elena Lupescu.
The following two years brought a lot of bad fortune to Romania.
In 1940, following a treaty between Hitler's Germany and Stalin's USSR, Romania lost Basarabia and Northern Bucovina to USSR and northwestern Transilvania to Hungary.
All this happened without a single gunshot fired.
Carol found himself without internal or external political support, facing rallies throughout the country militating against him.
The people considered him responsible for the loss of the above-mentioned territories and for the violence in the politica l life in the country.
Thus, in September 1940 Carol gives up most of his decision-making powers in favor of General Ion Antonescu who becomes the head of state.
More than that, the next day, on September 6, 1940 Antonescu forces Carol to abdicate and Mih ai becomes for the second time King of Romania.
He was only 19. Antonescu is the actual new ruler of Romania.
Carol leaves Romania for good on September 7, 1940 together with his mistress Elena Lupescu, in a special train.
Mihai I, King of Romania (1940-1947)
Mihai's second Reign begun under dramatic conditions. Romania was just a part of what it was just few years before.
The King's powers were extremely limited and the executive power was in the hands of Antonescu and his government formed most ly of legionnaires.
Public personalities such as Nicolae Iorga or Virgil Madgearu with anti-legionnaire views were killed.
On the international arena, Romania was already a satellite of Nazi Germany.
It became the main supplier of oil and grains for the German Army on the eastern front.
Although King Mihai was formally the Head of the Army and the Sovereign of Romania, Marshal Antonescu (he was promoted to this rank meanwhile) made everything to limit the King's role in the decision-making process.
The King was surrounded by guards an d personnel appointed by the Marshal.
Meanwhile, tension between Marshal and Horia Sima was building up. They both wanted the same thing, power. A violent confrontation was unavoidable.
In January 1941, Horia Sima and the legionnaires organized an armed rebellion with the purpose to elimin ate the Marshal Antonescu.
With the help of German troops, Marshal defeats the legionnaires and Horia Sima leaves the country.
On January 27, 1941 Antonescu establishes a new military government without any legionnaire. The third authoritarian Romanian regime is established in modern Romania, after the one of Carol II and the national-legionary one.
Marshal Ion Antonescu is th e new dictator and becomes the central figure of those days "free" press.
In less than a decade a new authoritarian regime will be established in Romania: the communist one.
In the same year (1941) Romania enters the WWII as Germany's ally against USSR.
On June 22, 1941 the Romanian troops crossed the river Prut (the border between Romania and USSR). Antonescu's decision is one of the most debated issues in the modern hist ory of Romania.
Some historians sustain that Antonescu wanted to recover the lost territories from USSR and later to persuade Hitler to force Hungary to give back northwestern Transilvania.
Of course this idea proved later to be rather a dream, since Hitl er was planning to use both Romania and Hungary to achieve his own goals.
However, the decision to enter the war as Germany's ally was sustained by the Army, the people, and most of the political personalities, although Antonescu decided this without consulting anyone in particular.
More than that, there was no formal treaty signed between Romania and Germany.
As an example of how Antonescu ruled the country is the strange fact that the King had to find out about this event from the news on the radio.
Once entered the war, Romanian troops were ordered not only to regain Basarabia and Bucovina but also to go further East along the German Army.
The Eastern Campaign cost Romania too much and many political personalities, together with the King and seve ral generals, opposed it. Antonescu could not be persuaded to call it off.
This led to a response from the Allied Powers (namely Great Britain and USA) to the previous war declaration on behalf of Romania. However, the American representatives declared th ey consider the participation of Romania in the WWII as Germany's ally was rather a constrain from Germany than free will.
to be continued ...
1. voievod is translated in some dictionaries as hospodar and it is a title given to the rulers of regions in the area of today's Romania.
(Authors: Andrian Marcus and Dragos Sabau)