Rumania

   Rumania was created in 1858 by the merging of the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallacia, which were rebellious Christian provinces of the Ottoman Empire subject to Russian intervention. Austria occupied the provinces between 1854 and 1857 until the Treaty of Paris guaranteed their autonomy. Rumania remained Ottoman until full sovereignty resulted from the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen ruled as King Carol I from 1881 until 1914. Rumania participated in the Second Balkan War and acquired Southern Dobrudja as a territorial prize. Carol I maintained ties with the Triple Alliance, partly in resentful reaction against Russian favoritism toward Bulgaria in the Russo-Turkish War, and came progressively within Germany’s sphere of influence, permitting direct railroad communication from Berlin and Vienna through Rumania to Constantinople in 1898. Rumania declared itself neutral when war broke out in 1914 but was induced to join the war on the Allied side in August 1916 with promises from France of Russia of territorial reward.

   See also <>.

   FURTHER READING:

    Duggan, Stephen. The Eastern Question: A Study in Diplomacy. New York: AMS Press, 1970;

    Hitchins, Keith. Rumania, 1866–1947. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.

   CARL CAVANAGH HODGE