RUMANIA'S 
 SACRIFICE 
 
 GOGU NEGULESCO 
 

 
 
 
 ./'%, 
 
 O- 
 
 0' 
 

 ^ ^^ 
 
 
 ^^^''^■ ^ 
 
 
 V -*■ 
 
 ' .. 
 
 ir^,^' :.:^C^,^= %c< 
 
 <f ^<' 
 
 ^V .r> 
 
 
 ,0^^ ' .- '^:->^*';^\.\ 
 
 '.\^ 
 
 
 .^^o...^<.'^^^^^^.^^ 
 
 """ , ■ 
 
 >o^ 
 
 
 -<:> 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^^-" -^^^^ 
 
 ' ' ■ •}• r^ 
 
 
 ?,'?■ 
 
 rfe^^ 
 
 
 
 
 a\' 
 
 jO 
 
 -?. <?•- 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
Royal Family 
 Crown Prince Crown Princess 
 Ferdinand — Marie — now 
 
 now king queen 
 
 Carmen Sylva Kin^ 
 
 Carl 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 HER PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE 
 
 BY 
 
 GOGU NEGULESCO 
 
 M 
 SENATOB OF THE RUMANIAN PARLIAMENT 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 MRS. C. BE S. WAINRIGHT 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH 
 PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAPS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE CENTURY CO. 
 
 1918 
 
2.0 
 
 
 Copyright, 1918, by 
 The Centxjey Co. 
 
 Puhlishedt September, 1918 
 
 SEP 30 1-9I8 
 
 '©GLA503632 
 
 '\\<i \ 
 
\ INTRODUCTION 
 
 > 
 
 Before Rumania entered the war she was 
 almost unknown in the United States. The 
 pohtical and commercial relations between the 
 two countries were very slight; Rumania had 
 no minister or consuls here. 
 
 Her entry into the war on the twenty- 
 seventh of August, 1916, followed in three 
 months by the retreat of her armies before the 
 enemy, the fall of the capital, and the occupa- 
 tion of more than three parts of the country by 
 the enemy, caused Rumania to become known, 
 but in a rather poor way. Her enemies, with 
 the intention of causing a feeling of antipathy 
 towards her, worked persistently to present the 
 Rumanian policy as unstable and one of con- 
 quest, giving false information and leading to 
 an unjust impression of the events taking place 
 in Rumania. For example, the following re- 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ports were spread about : first, that in the Ru- 
 manian Army there were German generals 
 who during the struggles were passing with 
 their troops into the camp of the enemy, while 
 in reality not a Oerman has been officer in the 
 Rumanian Army and not a unit of the Ruma- 
 nian Army ever passed to the enemy; second, 
 that the provision depots of the army were 
 placed in Dobrudja — ^a Rumanian province 
 near the Bulgarian frontier — so that the enemy 
 might more easily capture it and leave the Ru- 
 manian Army without food; this is absolutely 
 false; third, that it had been decided that Ru- 
 mania should attack the Bulgarians, but that 
 at the last moment this plan was changed by 
 an attack upon Austria-Hungary, while it is 
 very well known that any war plans were made 
 in agreement with the Allies, not to say im- 
 posed by Russia; fourth, that the war plans 
 were delivered to the enemy by Rumanian offi- 
 cers. It has been proved that no Rumanian 
 officer would have been capable of such trea- 
 
 vi 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 son and that, on the contrary, they all did 
 their duty, but that it was the Russian Govern- 
 ment which transmitted these plans to the 
 enemy, throwing at the same time calumny 
 upon her ally by false information that the Ru- 
 manian soldier does not know how to fight, 
 although in reality he is a warrior in the true 
 sense of the word. Among many other things 
 it was said that the political men were either 
 incapable or were being bought. 
 
 It is none the less true that all these false 
 affirmations were taking root ; they were pene- 
 trating public opinion little by little. There 
 was no Rumanian officialdom over here to ex- 
 plain things and to give the lie to these calum- 
 nies, so that the name of Rumania was spoken 
 with mistrust, if not antipathy. 
 
 The formation of this unfortunate atmos- 
 phere was all the easier for the enemies of 
 Rumania because even European public opin- 
 ion of the Allies was cold and sometimes severe 
 towards Rumania. The EngHsh press asked, 
 
 vii 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 "Why did Rumania enter tHe war?" THe 
 Russian press cried out that the Rumanian in- 
 tervention was a burden for the AUies, and 
 added all sorts of calumny. The Italian press 
 was very severe in its criticism, and France, as- 
 tonished, did not know what to believe. 
 
 All this time Rumania was struggling 
 desperately not only against numerous enemies 
 who were encircHng her on all sides, but also 
 in the endeavor to push aside the distrust of 
 her allies. 
 
 The events which took place in Russia in 
 the beginning of 1917 threw some light on this 
 drama: the czarist regime having been over- 
 thrown, the representatives of the revolution 
 published the documents proving completely 
 that Rumania was betrayed by Russia; Eu- 
 ropean public opinion received with satisfac- 
 tion these proofs and convinced itself imme- 
 diately that Russia had betrayed the cause of 
 the Allies and that Rumania honestly did her 
 duty. 
 
 viii 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Especially when the Rumanian Army on the 
 Sereth resisted for a year the drives of the 
 enemy, fighting battles which have remained 
 memorable and proving at every turn her loy- 
 alty towards her allies, did the first sentiments 
 of mistrust transform themselves into true feel- 
 ings of admiration for the Rumanian Army 
 and for Rumania. France first of all gave the 
 signal. Military critics, political men, and 
 the entire press hastened to bring out the in- 
 justice done to Rumania, her loyalty, and the 
 bravery of her army, which, isolated, without 
 support, betrayed, in want of ammunition and 
 sufficient food, "held for a long time by only 
 her own means against more numerous adver- 
 saries better armed than herself ; she astonished 
 them by the vigor and duration of her resist- 
 ance, she has shown herself worthy of her past 
 and of her noble traditions of knightly brav- 
 ery . . ." ^ 
 
 In England and the neutral countries of Eu- 
 
 1 General de La Croix "L' Effort de la Rumanie," Paris, 
 Mean. 1917, p. 20. 
 
 is 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 rope there was formed the same favorable cur- 
 rent of opinion towards Rumania; the whole 
 world did her justice now, pitying her for not 
 having been supported and for being crushed 
 by her enemies and for the betrayal of her ally. 
 But if in Europe it has been easy to put 
 in evidence the loyalty and the sacrifice of Ru- 
 mania, here in the United States the matter 
 has been much more difficult. The first im- 
 pression had taken root in public opinion, 
 aided by the unfortunate events which pre- 
 cipitated themselves in Rumania without a 
 logical explanation, as well as by the organized 
 persistency of her enemies in attacking and 
 maligning her. Time was needed^ work was 
 needed, especially organized and persistent 
 work, in order to dissipate the first bad im- 
 pressions. The extent of this great country, 
 the lack of official action by the Rumanian 
 Government, the lack of widespread propa- 
 ganda, rendered very difficult the formation of 
 favorable public opinion towards Rumania. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 A few scattered Rumanians did attempt to 
 do some things for their country. My brother, 
 Paul Negulescu, professor at the University 
 of Bukharest, pubhshed during one year a 
 review written in Enghsh and in Rumanian; 
 Madame Dr. Stanculeanu, a charming and 
 good Rumanian, held several lectures in 
 American circles; the young and sympathetic, 
 such as the Messrs. Borccea and loanidu, 
 engineers, also held lectures; the charming 
 Mme. Orghidan and her husband, the presi- 
 dent of the Rumanian Commission to New 
 York, worked incessantly to interest the 
 American public in the sufferings of the Ru- 
 manian people; I myself published several 
 articles, thanks to the courtesy of the editor of 
 the "New York Herald" and especially of Mr. 
 Miller, one of the editors of the "New York 
 Times"; Mme. Bazsesco, a great Rumanian 
 artist, Mr. Spiresco, Dr. Andronescu, Petre 
 Nastasesco, and many other Rumanians never 
 ceased or wearied of trying to interest their ac- 
 
 xi 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 quaintances and friends in the question of our 
 native country. But all these attempts kept 
 their private character, timid and isolated, giv- 
 ing, nevertheless, some slight appreciable re- 
 sults. 
 
 At last in January, 1918, a minister. Dr. 
 Angelesco, arrived to represent Rumania in 
 Washington. The Rumanians over here were 
 full of hope that at last the moment had ar- 
 rived for the true propaganda so long desired, 
 and this hope was all the more justified as the 
 Rumanian minister was received by President 
 Wilson with edifying and encouraging words 
 for Rumania. But after two months the min- 
 ister departed for Europe before having really 
 begun his work, and left the mission in charge 
 of a secretary. There remains only the mili- 
 tary attache of the legation, who is working 
 for the formation of a committee with the aim 
 of relieving the sufferings of so many Ruma- 
 nian orphans, and has had considerable success 
 in this direction. 
 
 xii 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The gracious and distinguished Miss Wilson, 
 daughter of the President, is directing this 
 noble work, so we feel sure that the results will 
 be successful. 
 
 In cooperation with the Rumanians here 
 several Americans with kindly hearts and great 
 ability have interested themselves deeply in 
 Rumania. The delightful Mrs. McVickar, 
 Mrs. Fletcher, wife of the American ambassa- 
 dor in Mexico, Mr. Trowbridge, Mr. T. T. 
 Wells, Major Louis Livingston Seaman, H. 
 E. John Riddle, former American ambassa- 
 dor in Russia, and many others too numer- 
 ous to mention, have greatly contributed 
 in drawing the attention of the public to Ru- 
 mania either by individual efforts or by ap- 
 peals sent out in the name of the American- 
 Rumanian Relief Committee. 
 
 At the same time the American newspapers 
 have shown themselves very greatly disposed 
 in favor of Rumania. 
 
 In the daily papers and in periodicals in- 
 xiii 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 teresting articles have appeared. Private ac- 
 tivity, but above all, the help of the press, has 
 succeeded in attracting at least in part tlie at- 
 tention of the public to tlie fact that Ruma- 
 nia has been betrayed by Russia and that her 
 army did its full duty. As for myself I have 
 become convinced of tliis change in public 
 opinion. In the different American drawing 
 rooms of New York and Chicago where I have 
 had the honor of being received I have seen 
 that the men and women — the charming 
 American women who manifest tlieir individ- 
 uahty in a maimer so delicate and gracious — 
 gave mudi attention to the cause of Ruma- 
 nia and through their different questions 
 showed their desire to know her better. 
 
 — What has been tlie motive which has de- 
 termined the Rumanian Go vermnent to enter 
 the war ? 
 
 — "^Miat has been the cause of the defeat? 
 
 ' — A\Tiy did the Grovenmient enter into war 
 xiv 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 without the necessary armament and hospital 
 supplies? 
 
 — In what consists the treason of Russia? 
 
 — Why was peace declared? Was it im- 
 possible to resist any further? 
 
 — What is the origin, the language, the cus- 
 toms, the laws of Kumania, what constitutes 
 her economic life? 
 
 — Is it true that Rumania had made an 
 alliance with Germany before the war? 
 
 — Do you beheve that if the Allies had not 
 failed in the Dardanelles the Bulgarians and 
 the Turks would have given up their neutrality 
 — and that in any case the position of Ruma- 
 nia would have been better? 
 
 These are some of the many questions that 
 prove the desire of the Americans to imder- 
 stand better, if possible, the condition of Ru- 
 mania. 
 
 To reply more completely to these questions 
 I decided to write this book; but a difficulty 
 
 XV 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 arose. I am not very familiar with this beau- 
 tiful American language. Then two charm- 
 ing American ladies, Mrs. C. de S. Wain- 
 wright and her daughter, offered to help me 
 as a labor of love for suffering Rumania. 
 
 In this book I have examined very closely the 
 events which have taken place in Rumania. 
 The work is far from being complete ; it is but 
 a resume. My intention has been to draw the 
 attention of the public to Rumania by a book 
 easy to read. I hope in publishing this book 
 to render a service to my native country. She 
 must become known to the great democracy 
 of the United States, known under her real 
 aspect without exaggeration for good or ill, 
 without hatred, without admiration for any one 
 person. I have made this my aim. I hope 
 that the American people may know that in 
 Europe at the mouth of the Danube there ex- 
 ists a people of Latin origin, vigorous, inhabit- 
 ing a country rich by nature, which has a right 
 to liberty and to her national unity; a people 
 
 xvi 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 with whom America can enter into economic 
 relations profitable to both sides; a people in 
 fact which looks with confidence towards this 
 great democracy from which spring the great 
 principles of democracy, the right to live for all 
 nations, great or small, the right of self-gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 To facilitate the reading I have divided the book 
 into three parts : the first, Rumania in war ; the sec- 
 ond, Rumania after the war, as all Rumanians desire. 
 In this second part I have shown the wealth of Ru- 
 mania, the necessity of having this used to better 
 advantage and the commercial relationships which 
 the Americans can undertake with that country. 
 For those who may be interested in this direction I 
 have written the third part, which contains besides 
 not only details of the economic life of Rumania, but 
 which touches also on her origin, her political organ- 
 ization, etc. There is also an appendix containing 
 testimonials of the bravery of the Rumanian Army. 
 
 xvu 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Poor Rumania! An outpost of Latin cul- 
 ture set up in the East, surrounded by the 
 Hun, the Turk, the Bulgar and the Russ, has 
 been struck a coward's blow below the belt. 
 Betrayed, with death and starvation in her 
 midst, she had to di^op out from the too unequal 
 struggle. Can any land blame her? 
 
 Senator Negulesco's book explains how Ru- 
 mania was betrayed after her hopeless, but 
 valiant struggle and shows us how worthy she 
 is of the moral and poHtical support of these 
 United States. 
 
 The Senator's excellent book shows what are 
 Rumania's wrongs and how America can help 
 to restore Rumania to prosperity and give 
 again freedom and happiness to that corner of 
 Europe where live our friends and former 
 allies, so that again she may be given a chance 
 
 xix 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 to live and bring forth the full fruits of her 
 Latin civilization in freedom. 
 
 The many invasions of Rumania in the past, 
 due to her position on the road from the East 
 to the West, have tended to preserve her Latin 
 tongue and race consciousness, because when 
 the invaders came the Kumanians fled into the 
 fastnesses of the mountains and the people of 
 the different districts met and talked and the 
 story of the race was recited and sung in the 
 musical Latin tongue, so that all were brought 
 to speak in the same way and to likewise main- 
 tain the same traditions of the race. 
 
 When you come to study the popular songs, 
 tinged with the melancholy due to their suffer- 
 ings, and with the light and atmosphere of their 
 woods and mountains, of their great plains and 
 rushing rivers, of the Danube and the Black 
 Sea, you are bound to be fascinated. When 
 you remember how they have to shiver in the 
 winter from the cold and winds coming from 
 the great Russian steppes and how they 
 
 XX 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 swelter in summer under an almost tropical sun 
 you are bound to admire their grit and toil in 
 having made their land into such a prosperous 
 and rich agricultural country, as it was before 
 it entered the war. As you see the spiritual 
 faith with which the rites of the grand Eastern 
 Orthodox Church are followed by the people 
 your sympathy draws you to them. But to 
 know them and see their generosity and their 
 loyalty to their race, their traditions and their 
 friends, to learn of their kind and gentle and 
 brave qualities makes you love them. 
 
 We Americans in our young republic are 
 further drawn to them by the very contrast of 
 their long past history with their ties with 
 Rome, with Bysantium, with the Venetian Re- 
 public and with Constantinople and its Phana- 
 riote colony which gave Moldavia and Mol- 
 tenia so many hospodars. It is a pleasant con- 
 trast for us in our dull colored clothes to think 
 of the old boyards in purple, scarlet, blue and 
 green satins with pointed toed slippers of gold 
 
 xxi 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 and silver embroidery. Of the haiducs and 
 brigands in the mountains — often a sort of 
 Robin Hood helping the poor from the spoils 
 taken from the Turkish tax gatherer — ^the tra- 
 ditions and the tales fill us with delight. 
 
 Their struggles for liberty, for union of the 
 two great provinces and their modern demo- 
 cratic constitution draw us to them. But un- 
 fortunately we know too little of all this ! 
 
 The book which Senator Negulesco puts be- 
 fore us should and I trust will, excellent as it is, 
 be but the beginning of a wide interest in Ru- 
 mania, both past and present, which will not 
 end without bringing the people of America to 
 know all about Rumania, its commercial possi- 
 bilities, its political needs, its people and the 
 poetry and history of that land of plains and 
 mountains, of rich traditions and future pros- 
 perity. 
 
 T. TiLESTON Wells, Litt. D. 
 
 XXll 
 
CONTENTS 
 PART I 
 
 OHAPTBK „^ „ PAGE 
 
 I The Eueopean Wae and Kumania . o 
 
 II German and French Influence • . 16 
 
 III Before the Declaration of War . 26 
 
 IV The Declaration of War . . . . 34« 
 V The Political and Military Conven- 
 tions Between Rumania and Her 
 
 Allies ^^ 
 
 VI The Struggle ....... 64 
 
 VII The Causes of the Rumanian Defeat 86 
 VIII The Struggle with the Russians and 
 
 THE German Ultimatum . . . 127 
 
 IX Rumania and Peace 13*7 
 
 X The Union of Bessarabia and Ruma- 
 nia " • ^^^ 
 
 XI The Causes that Determined Peace 160 
 
 PART II 
 
 XII Rumania After the War .... 177 
 XIII Rumania of Yesterday .... 184) 
 XIV The Rumanian Provinces Under For- 
 eign Domination ^"7 
 
 XV Different Estimates of the Ruma- 
 nian Army ^^^ 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Royal family Frontispiece 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 Review of Rumanian troops 8 
 
 Troops awaiting inspection by the French Gen- 
 eral Berthelot . . 9 
 
 A regiment of infantry in the Carpathians . . S2 
 King Ferdinand reviewing his troops ... 33 
 The Royal Family watching the Bishop blessing 
 
 the troops from Transylvania .... 48 
 The troops from Transylvania taking the oath 
 
 of fidelity 49 
 
 Rumanian soldiers building a bridge across the 
 
 Danube 64 
 
 King Ferdinand consulting his general staff 
 
 about war plans 65 
 
 A search-light at the front 80 
 
 Soldiers descending into the trenches . . .81 
 Rumanian soldiers at the front resting . . . 88 
 King Ferdinand decorating soldiers for bravery 89 
 
 Special cannon for the trenches 112 
 
 The Queen and her children visit the front . .113 
 Sentinel in first line trench . . . . . .128 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 iPAOINQ 
 PAGE 
 
 Cooking at the front • • ^^^ 
 
 Austrian prisoners yo^ 
 
 Prince Carl with a French machine gun . .153 
 Queen Marie in peasant costume . . . .164* 
 Artillery on the way to the front . . . .165 
 Rumanians from Transylvania taken prisoners 
 
 by their own countrymen 1 <^ 
 
 A company of bicyclists ^ «^'' 
 
 Sinai 
 
 Peasants in national costume, and means of 
 
 transportation ^^" 
 
 Poiana Tapului, a village in the mountains . . 208 ' 
 Returning after washing new linen in the river . 209 
 
 A lake of oil at Baicioi ^^^ 
 
 Oil wells in Campina ^^^ 
 
 A business street in Bukharest . . . • 240 
 
 A street in Braila ^^^ 
 
 Political and ethnological map of Rumania and 
 the regions inhabited by the Rumanians . . 248 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 PART I 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE EUROPEAN WAR AND 
 RUMANIA 
 
 THE CONVENTION OF 1883 
 
 WHEN the great European War broke 
 out in August, 1914, Rumania found 
 herself, because of the political-military con- 
 vention concluded in 1883, on the side of the 
 Triple Alliance, composed of Germany, Aus- 
 tria-Hungary, and Italy. 
 
 Situated thus, between two powerful em- 
 pires, Russia on the one side, Austria-Hungary 
 on the other, it was to Rumania's interest to 
 
 3 
 
BUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 ally herself with one of these two, for alone, 
 she was always in danger of being crushed by 
 one or the other of her neighbors. 
 
 Russia was not satisfied to see this little coun- 
 try of Kumania, Latin in origin, with a Hohen- 
 zollern on her throne, isolated among the Slavic 
 masses who wished to control the Orient ; Aus- 
 tria-Hungary, on the other hand, aimed at the 
 realization of her plans for the domination of 
 the lower valley of the Danube, and at the same 
 time looked upon Rumania as a point of at- 
 traction and even support for all those Ruma- 
 nians subject to the Crown of Hapsburg. To 
 obtain the friendship of one of these neighbors, 
 was a means for Rumania to obtain necessary 
 peace and work out her development and her 
 future. She had to choose between Austria 
 and Russia. The Congress of Berlin of 1817 
 had driven Rumania from the latter. The ob- 
 ligation which this congress imposed upon her 
 by forcing her to yield to the exigencies of 
 Russia and to abandon Bessarabia to her, ren- 
 
 4i 
 
THE EUROPEAN WAR AND RUMANIA 
 
 dered impossible a Russo-Rumanian friend- 
 ship. "The antagonism toward Russia per- 
 sisted and as Austria was the traditional rival 
 of the Russian influence in the Balkans, it was 
 Paris who showed to Bukharest the road which 
 led to Vienna." ^ 
 
 On the other hand Bismarck had done his 
 very best to attract Rumania within the orbit 
 of the Central powers. France, too much pre- 
 occupied with her own rehabilitation after the 
 events of 1870, was not interested in the destiny 
 of Rumania ; Italy sought her own security by 
 the side of Austria and Germany ; and England 
 did not know Rumania. 
 
 The Prime Minister of Rumania, T. Bra- 
 tiano, the father of the first prime minister of 
 1916, went to Berlin to see Bismarck and some- 
 time afterwards Prince Charles of Rumania 
 went to Gastein to see the Emperor of Austria, 
 in order to sign the political-military agreement 
 
 1 N. lorga, "Histoire des Relations entre la France et les 
 Roumans," p. 248. 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 that would bind Rumania to the Triple Al- 
 liance. This agreement had for its aim the 
 maintenance of European peace, reciprocal de- 
 fense against every foreign attack, and the 
 economical development of the contracting 
 parties. 
 
 It had always been said that this alliance was 
 the personal work of King Charles and that he 
 did it of his own initiative and without con- 
 sulting the men in pohtical power in his coun- 
 try. This is an error and an injustice to the 
 memory of a great king. Political circumj 
 stances and the interest of Rumania imposed 
 this action. 
 
 The consequences of this agreement were 
 many. "First, from that moment the na- 
 tional claims fell to second place, for the offi- 
 cial world declared many times, and in a solemn 
 manner, that it renounced all endeavor to ob- 
 tain there, limiting itself from time to time by 
 claiming in a friendly manner, but without re- 
 sult, better treatment for the people of the 
 
 6 
 
THE EUROPEAN WAR AND RUMANIA 
 
 same race and of the same language living un- 
 der the crown of St. Etienne." ^ 
 
 Thus Rumania could no longer carry into 
 effect any of her national claims. It is very 
 true that in the schools thej^ never failed to ex- 
 plain to the pupils that a great part of 
 Rumania was under foreign domination, but 
 they presented their deliverance as a dream to 
 be realized later. 
 
 The official world avoided making any allu- 
 sion to the Rumanians beyond the Carpathians, 
 in order to avoid diplomatic conflicts with an 
 ally, and if, in opposition, a political party at- 
 tacked the Government for showing weakness 
 in its external policy with Austria-Hungary, 
 it said nothing more, and the role changed with 
 each party that came into power. 
 
 Too small and between enemies that were too 
 strong, Rumania could not prepare for na- 
 tional unity, because any action whatsoever 
 authorized by the officials immediately drew 
 
 1 N. lorga, op. cit., p. 249. 
 
 7 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 the intervention of the cabinets of Vienna and 
 Berlin. 
 
 It is true that throughout the country the 
 people had full liberty, guaranteed by the con- 
 stitution, to publish newspapers and write re- 
 views and books, to cultivate and to develop the 
 sentiment of national unity, but this movement 
 presented itself only in a slow and isolated 
 way, without great influence among the masses 
 of the people ; and even these intellectual mani- 
 festations were prevented from passing the 
 frontier into Austria-Himgary. 
 
 THE MILITARY PREPARATION 
 
 The military preparation was yet more diffi- 
 cult. The convention of 1883 had foreseen, it 
 is well understood, the conflict that was to take 
 place between Russia and Bulgaria. Ruma- 
 nian fortifications were built around Bukharest 
 and on the line of Galatz, Namoloasa, and 
 Tocsani, in order to prevent a possible Rus- 
 sian invasion, but the passes of the Carpathians 
 
 8 
 
^ 
 
m 
 
 o 
 
 fc 
 
THE EUROPEAN WAR AND RUMANIA 
 
 were never studied by the staff of the Ruma- 
 nian Army and were not provided with forti- 
 fications. 
 
 Rumania was at liberty to purchase muni- 
 tions wherever she pleased, but it was very nat- 
 ural to address herself to the principal one of 
 her allies. It was Germany who had furnished 
 her with cannons, guns, and munitions, and it 
 was Germany who had promised to procure for 
 her all necessary armament and money in case 
 of war. 
 
 Political circumstances had prevented Ru- 
 mania from inaugurating any industry by 
 which she could supply the necessities of her 
 army. She was obhged to buy everything 
 from abroad, and so she was at the mercy 
 of Germany. This was the situation before 
 August, 1914. After this date it became still 
 more delicate. In times of peace Rumania 
 could concentrate 150,000 men, and in times 
 of war she could easily mobilize from 350,000 
 to 400,000 men, as was proved in the campaign 
 
 9 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 against the Bulgarians; but in the two years 
 from August, 1914, to August, 1916, the ef- 
 fective force grew to between 700,000 and 800,- 
 000 men. These needed ammunition, arma- 
 ment, and cannons in particular. Therefore 
 they also needed much money. As an ally of 
 the Central powers, Rumania could rely for 
 money and the indispensable material of war 
 on Germany. But, as a neutral, to whom 
 could she apply? The German government, 
 for various reasons, had even prevented the de- 
 livery of the orders made prior to the Ruma- 
 nian declaration of neutrality in August, 1914. 
 The Entente were not willing to help Rumania 
 without proof that she would join their cause. 
 To give up neutrahty required money and 
 armament, but in order to obtain it, it was 
 necessary to relinquish neutrality. Can any 
 one conceive a more embarrassing situation? 
 
 The Rumanian Government found the way 
 to cut the Gordion knot: to declare war on 
 Austria-Hungary with the hope that the Allies 
 
 10 
 
THE EUROPEAN WAR AND RUMANIA 
 
 would send them money and the necessary am- 
 munition. Then, in the anxious moments 
 which followed after the declaration of war and 
 while the Rumanian armies, struggling with 
 bayonets against German cannon were about 
 to move upon Austria-Hungary, military com- 
 missions were sent to France, Italy, England, 
 Russia, Japan, and the United States, in order 
 to obtain supplies indispensable for the army 
 from the various manufacturers already en- 
 gaged in sending large orders to the Allies. 
 To illustrate these facts, we will quote part of a 
 speech made by General Rudeanu, chief of the 
 military mission sent to Paris for the purpose 
 of placing military orders. 
 
 "There was the most thorough mutual con- 
 fidence and therefore speaking a few days after 
 the commencement of the Austro-German 
 counter offensive a great French statesman 
 asked me, 'With what did you enter into the 
 war in the way of armament?' I could n't an- 
 swer except to tell him that we had very little 
 
 11 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 armament. Then he repeated the question, 
 'But, tell me, then, with what did you com- 
 mence the war?' I replied, we commenced it 
 with the ever-increasing confidence which we 
 had in France." ^ 
 
 It is true that France was loyal. She made 
 all possible sacrifices in order to help her ally, 
 Rumania. But the difficulty was to ask her 
 for munitions and materials of war at the very 
 moment when she herself was in such need of 
 them. The difficulty of transporting by the 
 North Sea, where everything was watched by 
 the German submarines or of transporting 
 through Russia, where there was neither good- 
 will, administration, nor railroads, makes one 
 easily understand the utter lack of proper mili- 
 tary preparation by Rumania. 
 
 Scarcely by March, 1917, had there arrived a 
 few great cannons and a part of the munitions 
 ordered from France, also several French offi- 
 cers. But by that time Rumania was already 
 invaded ; the capital had fallen, and the Ruma- 
 
 iLa Revue Hebdomadaire, No. 32, page 284. Discours du 
 General Rudeanu, Directeur superieur de rarmament Rouman. 
 
 12 
 
THE EUROPEAN WAR AND RUMANIA 
 
 nian troops had withdrawn to the Sereth, where 
 they had been resisting the attacks of the enemy 
 since December, 1916. The cannons arrived, 
 as well as the brave French officers, and they, 
 struggling bravely with their Rumanian com- 
 rades, greatly aided the Rumanian Army in 
 resisting the German drive. The arrival of 
 these cannons and officers, which was called the 
 Reorganization of the Rumanian Army, up- 
 lifted the morale of that army, which had be- 
 lieved itself abandoned by the rest of the Allies ; 
 it also gave the French officers a chance to ap- 
 preciate the bravery of the Rumanian soldiers. 
 To meet the necessary expenses of the war 
 Rumania had contracted a loan in Lrondon. 
 In fact this loan had been one of the conditions 
 of her entering the war, and it had been ac- 
 cepted as such by the Allies. The Rumanians 
 had also the reserve of the Rumanian National 
 Bank, Based upon these funds, the Ruma- 
 nian Govermnent gave orders to a commission 
 to purchase quickly and everywhere the articles 
 
 13 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 that were indispensable to the army. The mili- 
 tary commission sent to the United States was 
 well received by the American manufacturers, 
 although the United States was not at that 
 time one of the Allies. Orders were given, 
 and part of them were even filled, but unfor- 
 tunately everything stopped here. The Eng- 
 lish Government was unwilling to send to 
 America the money necessary to obtain the 
 fulfilment and shipment of the orders. We 
 do not know if in the agreement for the loan 
 there was any clause stipulating that Rumania 
 was to buy only from England, but we do 
 not believe that such a clause could exist, be- 
 cause at this very moment England was in 
 the midst of transforming all her industries for 
 her own military interests; she herself bought 
 from American merchants mihtary necessities, 
 and sending the Rumanian Military Commis- 
 sion to the United States could otherwise have 
 no raison d'etre. In Japan the same thing 
 happened. At the same time the funds of the 
 
 ,14 
 
THE EUROPEAN WAR AND RUMANIA 
 
 national bank, sent to Moscow in Russia, to as- 
 sure security, had been seized by the Bolsheviki, 
 so that Rumania found herself with no money, 
 and her people, and even her army, had no 
 food, no medical supplies, and no ammunition. 
 They died of famine, of cold, of disease, and 
 yet they were still obliged to fight. 
 
 16 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 GERMAN AND FRENCH IN- 
 FLUENCE 
 
 ANOTHER veiy important consequence 
 of the political-military convention of 
 1883 was a great economical rapprochement 
 between Rumania and Germany. From 1875 
 to 1886 there had been a commercial agreement 
 between Rumania and Austria-Hungary. At 
 this period, about 1875, the means of com- 
 munication in Rumania were so restricted that 
 Austria-Hungary was able to monopolize her 
 market. This agreement, which gave great 
 advantages to Austria-Hungary for the place- 
 ment of her industries, assured to Rumania the 
 export of her cereals and her cattle. But this 
 neighboring empire, which needed Rumanian 
 
 16 
 
GERMAN AND FRENCH INFLUENCE 
 
 cereals to transform into flour, did not have 
 the same interest in Rumanian cattle. With a 
 narrow policy, Austria-Hungary, alleging 
 sanitary motives, began to prevent the intro- 
 duction of cattle and ended by suppressing it 
 entirely. This fact, and Austria-Hungary's 
 wish to impose her authority on the navigation 
 of the lower Danube, which belonged to the 
 Rumanians, Bulgarians, and Serbs, greatly 
 cooled the relations between Austria and Ru- 
 mania, and in 1886 a custom-house war broke 
 out between these two countries and lasted 
 more than five years. In 1885, Rumanian im- 
 ports were 293,000,000 lei, and of this Austria- 
 Hungary sent merchandise to the value of 
 134,000,000 lei; but during this tariff war the 
 products of Austria-Hungary fell to 50,000,- 
 000 lei. During this time Germany came into 
 the Rumanian market under favorable con- 
 ditions. At the same time Berlin offered to 
 make good all the loans of her ally, Rumania. 
 Germany studied well the wealth of Rumania 
 
 17 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 and the qualities of her population, and pur- 
 sued her policy of economical penetration into 
 Rumania with great perseverance. Traveling 
 salesmen representing the greatest German 
 houses went everywhere throughout the coun- 
 try, giving long-time credits to merchants, and 
 taking great care to see that the orders for mer- 
 chandise were properly executed and promptly 
 shipped. The German business man always 
 found in his own country banks that were 
 ready to discount his drafts. German com- 
 mercial policy was preoccupied not only with 
 keeping up, but specially with increasing the 
 number of its Rumanian customers. Several 
 great German banks founded banks in Ru- 
 mania, which, on the one hand, procured for 
 landlords and farmers capital and machinery, 
 of which they were in need, and on the other 
 hand, founded industries for the manufacture 
 of merchandise that could no longer be im- 
 ported, owing to the protective tariff of 1891 
 and 1893. 
 
 18 
 
GERMAN AND FRENCH INFLUENCE 
 
 The Austrians, frightened by their danger- 
 ous competitors, tried to obtain in 1893 another 
 agreement with Rumania, on the basis of the 
 clause of "the most favored nation." They 
 sought to regain their place in her market by 
 trying to imitate the methods of the Germans, 
 but they had no success whatever. In 1913 
 Germany exported into Rumania 237,819,146 
 lei worth, and Austria-Hungary 138,192,076 
 lei worth of a total of 650,000,000 lei im- 
 ports. 
 
 This policy of Germany resulted in great 
 economical development of Rumania, great 
 profit for German merchandise, and great Ger- 
 man influence on both the political and financial 
 markets. 
 
 Mr. Carp, former prime minister, lately 
 brought out this fact in Parliament. "Do not 
 forget that it is Germany who gave us the 
 money necessary for our development ; France 
 gave to us only with difficulty." Replying, 
 Mr. Take Jonesco said very justly: 
 
 19 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Could it be possible that we might find ourselves 
 in an alliance which at a given moment could place 
 us in a camp hostile to that of France, and that we 
 should expect France to give us money? I find that 
 the few hundred millions of Rumanian revenue taken 
 up by France constitute a miracle, since it would 
 have been natural if all our loans had been with those 
 [the Germans] who were to draw profit from our 
 economical and military development. It was 
 natural, once having entered into an alliance, that 
 Germany should aid us in completing our economical 
 condition in order to complete our armament and to 
 consolidate our finances.^ 
 
 Rumania was in a period of transition. She 
 needed foreign capital to develop her riches. 
 If it is true that Germany gave Rumania all 
 the money necessary for her development, it is 
 no less true that the economical and political 
 life of Rumania fell under the influence of Ger- 
 many. "We were at the mercy of Germany 
 for everything, for our arms and for our mu- 
 nitions of war." ^ It is true that great benefits 
 accrued to foreign capitalists; but at the same 
 
 iXenopolj op. cit., p. 207. 
 
 20 
 
QERMAN AND FRENCH INFLUENCE 
 
 time the Rumanian workmen profited ; the state 
 profited through the levying of different taxes, 
 as well as the people who had at their disposal 
 the production of a better market. The indus- 
 tries financed with foreign capital were again 
 a great advantage to Rumania as they stimu- 
 lated Rumanian capital, which, timid at first, 
 finally began to show itself in the line of indus- 
 try in an encouraging manner. King Charles, 
 by his very presence on the throne, contributed 
 also to the encouragement of this German in- 
 fluence. It is true that he never exercised any 
 direct action along these lines, but during 
 forty-eight years his attitude, which was both 
 dignified and reserved as constitutional king 
 and as a private citizen, drew to him the love 
 and respect of the country, and these senti- 
 ments reflected themselves upon the country of 
 his birth. Also great pohtical personalities 
 like the late D. Sturdza, chief of the liberal 
 party and former prime minister, the late T. 
 Majoresco, prime minister of the Conservative 
 
 £1 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 party and one of the best-known leaders of the 
 intellectual movement of Rumania, and Mr. 
 Carp, former chief of the Conservative party 
 and prime minister, manifested openly their ad- 
 miration for Germany. 
 
 FRENCH INFLUENCE 
 
 Beside this German influence stood the 
 French influence. In intellectual and social 
 circles there was great sympathy for France. 
 Since 1848 and even before that the wealthy 
 families were in the habit of sending their sons 
 to Paris to take up their studies and finish their 
 education. Returning into their own country, 
 these jioung men brought back from France 
 not only their scientific knowledge, but also 
 love and gratitude toward this hospitable land 
 that had instilled in them all the great ideas of 
 right and of liberty, and thej^^ tried to introduce 
 into their own midst her ideals, and their ad- 
 miration for France and the soil was so pro- 
 pitious that the affection for this noble country 
 
 ^2 
 
GERMAN AND FRENCH INFLUENCE 
 
 penetrated deeply into the hearts of the intel- 
 lectual class, to the extent that they often re- 
 placed the Rumanian language with the 
 French language in the salons. 
 
 The common origin of these two countries, 
 the preponderant influence of French culture, 
 the good political relations that have always 
 existed between France and Rumania, the fact 
 that France had always been the initiator of 
 great social reforms, the bravery and loyalty 
 of this country throughout all the events of its 
 history, were the many reasons that augmented 
 and even exaggerated the love of the Ruma- 
 nians for all that was French or came from 
 France. 
 
 The greater part of the institutions and the 
 laws of Rumania were copied from the French 
 institutions and laws. The literature was ap- 
 preciated; French manufactures were very 
 fashionable, and French taste was followed. 
 
 The Rumanians never forgot that it was 
 through Napoleon III that they were able to 
 
RUIVIANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 realize the union of their principahties, Wal- 
 lachia and Moldavia, in order to form Ru- 
 mania; nor did they forget that through the 
 same support she founded her national dynasty. 
 And when in 1912 and 1913 the conflict arose 
 between Rumania and Bulgaria, and the 
 French press, deceived by King Ferdinand of 
 Bulgaria, took a hostile attitude towards Ru- 
 mania, the hearts of the Rumanians, though 
 profoundly wounded, beat none the less 
 strongly in their love for France. This influ- 
 ence is all the more interesting as France has 
 never sought to draw near or to win the soul of 
 Rumania. Except for Napoleon III and very 
 few others, the political and industrial men 
 of France never gave her much thought. It 
 is true that some French capital was invested 
 in the country, but in general it was placed un- 
 der the protection of Austro-German enter- 
 prises. 
 
 Some years ago the Rumanian minister of 
 finances, Mr. Marghiloman, now prime minis- 
 
 m 
 
GERIVIAN AND FRENCH INFLUENCE 
 
 ter, went to Paris to negotiate a loan, which 
 they refused to consider. He immediately se- 
 cured one in Germany, and the French bankers 
 subscribed to this loan, which nevertheless kept 
 its German character. In consequence, if 
 France always held a great influence in the in- 
 tellectual life of Rumania, and if she con- 
 tributed without any volition to the formation 
 of the taste of the upper classes, she had no in- 
 fluence over the economical and political life. 
 
 »5 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 BEFORE THE DECLARATION OF 
 WAR 
 
 EARLY in the month of August, 1914, 
 King Charles convoked a crown council 
 to determine the attitude of Rumania. 
 
 This council consisted of members of the 
 Government, presidents of the legislative body, 
 and former prime ministers, chiefs of the polit- 
 ical parties. These men had only the right 
 of discussion without voting; they met simply 
 to indicate their views to the king, who, never- 
 theless, had the power to act independently. 
 King Charles believed that Germany would be 
 victorious, and he felt that it would not be a 
 wise move to disregard the advantages of cre- 
 ating for Rumania recognition and gratitude 
 
 26 
 
BEFORE THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 on the part of the victor, specially as Rumania 
 was bound to the Triple Alliance by the con- 
 vention of 1883. A sharp discussion took 
 place among the members of the council. Mr. 
 P. Carp said that Rumania should respect the 
 convention of 1883 in order to gather the fruits 
 of a policy practised for forty years. "We 
 must fight," said Mr. Carp, "in order to pre- 
 vent the success of Russia." He felt that the 
 success of Russia was the beginning of the 
 death of Rumania. According to his views, if 
 Russia should take Constantinople, which was 
 her great ambition, Rumania would be forever 
 cut off from all means of export to the West. 
 She would then be subjected to the economical 
 policy of Russia, who would not fail on the very 
 first occasion to give her a death blow, in order 
 to satisfy her greedy desire for monopoly.^ 
 
 1 Rumania had two outlets for the export of her wealth: 
 by rail across Austria-Hungary and Germany, and by sea 
 across the Black Sea and the Dardanelles. If the straits were 
 closed to commercial navigation, her export and import re- 
 mained at the mercy of the Hungarians, which meant sure 
 ruin for the country. 
 
 ^7 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 After the speeches of Mr. Bratiano, chief of 
 the Liberal party and prime minister, and Mr. 
 Marghiloman, the chief of the Conservative 
 party, upheld by Mr. N. Filipesco, one of the 
 most noted members of the Consei^vative party, 
 the majority of the council decided, neverthe- 
 less, for neutrality. Mr. Take Jonesco, the 
 leader of the conservative Democrats, declared 
 himself for a permanent and absolute neutral- 
 ity. It was believed that the question of neu- 
 trality was imposed upon Rumania by the atti- 
 tude of Count Tisza, the all-powerful states- 
 man of Hungary, who had pushed the declara- 
 tion of war, convinced that the propitious mo- 
 ment had arrived to solve the problem of na- 
 tionalities for the profit of the Hungarians ; and 
 in other quarters they believed that as the con- 
 vention of 1883 had a defensive character it 
 had now become void since Germany and 
 Austria-Hungary were at war and Italy was 
 neutral. In the midst of these discussions in- 
 formation was received from Rome of Italy's 
 
 28 
 
BEFORE THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 intention to remain neutral. This news greatly 
 influenced the decision of the majority, as the 
 situation of the two countries in relation to 
 the Central powers was identical. 
 
 King Charles had the authority under the 
 constitution to call Mr. Carp into power and 
 to grant him the dissolution of Parliament. 
 But the king, an ardent pacifist, earnestly 
 wished to avoid the ravages of war for his coun- 
 try and was unwilling to do this. He ob- 
 served loyally the state of neutrality until his 
 death, October 10, 1914. 
 
 THE ATTITUDE OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES 
 
 Although neutrality was admitted as a fact, 
 certain political circles began agitations for in- 
 tervention on the side of the Entente. This 
 movement, which at first was rather cautious, 
 grew more and more determined, and when 
 General Mackensen took command of the 
 Austro-German armies in order to attack 
 Serbia, the Conservative party under the late 
 
 29 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Filipesco demanded the urgent intervention of 
 Rumania in order to prevent the crushing of 
 Serbia and the uniting of the German and Bul- 
 garian armies. But Mr. Bratiano was not to 
 be moved, specially as the cabinet of Vienna 
 had given him all necessary assurances that 
 Austria vs^^as not acting in a spirit of conquest, 
 that she was aiming in no way towards terri- 
 torial acquisitions. At the same time, the Cab- 
 inets of Sophia and Belgrade asked the Cabinet 
 of Bukharest whether the violation of the 
 treaty of Bukharest would constitute a cause 
 for war by Rumania. Mr. Bratiano replied 
 that it would not. Serbia, squeezed between 
 the great Germano-Austro-Bulgarian forces, 
 was crushed, and direct communication be- 
 tween the Germano-Austrian and the Bulgaro- 
 Turkish armies was established across her terri- 
 tory. This event had a great influence on the 
 Rumanian policy. Some considered that 
 henceforth there could no longer be any ques- 
 tion of entering the war on the side of the Al- 
 
 30 
 
BEFORE THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 lies, because Germany had become too strong 
 in this part of the East, having under her power 
 all the strength of the Allies. Mr. Marghilo- 
 man stood out more strongly than ever for neu- 
 trality, but Mr. Filipesco upheld, on the con- 
 trary, that Rumania should enter at any cost 
 and as soon as possible on the side of the En- 
 tente. On account of this difference of opin- 
 ion there was a clash between these two men in 
 the midst of the Conservative party that 
 brought about a secession in May, 1915. The 
 Conservative party divided itself into groups 
 of political friends. 
 
 At the same time Mr. Take Jonesco, the 
 chief of the Democrats, renouncing his ideas 
 of absolute and irrevocable neutralitj^^, turned 
 completely about and sided with Mr. Filipesco. 
 
 The chief of the Liberal party and the prime 
 minister, Mr. Bratiano, held their own counsel, 
 thereby mystifying their followers. 
 
 A violent campaign had been undertaken by 
 the press and in public meetings among 
 
 31 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 the interventionists and non-interventionists, 
 among the pro- Allies and the pro-Germans. 
 At the same time the intei^entionists eagerly- 
 urged the king and the Government to give up 
 their neutrality and to enter the war on the side 
 favored by each of these groups. 
 
 THE SECOND CROWN COUNCIL 
 
 This merciless struggle continued until the 
 twenty-seventh of August, 1916, when King 
 Ferdinand convoked the second Council.^ On 
 this occasion the chief of the Government, Mr. 
 Bratiano, declared himself for immediate en- 
 trance into war on the side of the Entente. 
 Mr. Marghiloman did his best to prevent any 
 action of his country, and Mr. Carp upheld, 
 with the same force as in the first council, Ru- 
 mania's entrance on the side of Germany. 
 
 1 Mr. Stere, deputy and professor at the University of Jassy, 
 a liberal socialist and personal friend of Mr. Bratiano, was 
 publishing at this time a review which was greatly appreciated 
 and in which he demonstrated the miserable state of affairs of 
 Russia and the grave danger, should Rumania rally to the 
 cause of Russia. 
 
i 
 
 be 
 
 :2 
 
 
BEFORE THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 His profound conviction was that Rumania 
 could be victorious and obtain the realization 
 of her national ideal for regaining Bessarabia 
 only through the help of Germany. He ended 
 his discourse with these memorable words, 
 "Majesty, if you approve the policy of the 
 Government, you will lose both your country 
 and your throne." 
 
 The majority of the council voted for the 
 entrance into war on the side of the Allies. 
 His Majesty, King Ferdinand, considering 
 that the majority of the council represented the 
 ^will of the country and wishing to retain his 
 role of constitutional king, gave his approba- 
 tion to this decision of the Government, to de- 
 clare war against Austria-Hungary. > 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 ON the evening of August 27, 1916, the 
 Rumanian Government, Mr. T. Bra- 
 tiano presiding, without consulting parliament 
 addressed the following declaration of war to 
 Austria-Hungaria : 
 
 The alliance concluded between Germany and 
 Austria-Hungary and Italy had, according to the 
 official declaration of the Government, a character 
 which was essentially conservative and defensive. 
 Its principal aim M^as to guarantee the Allied coun- 
 tries against every attack from the outside and to 
 consolidate the state of affairs created by former 
 treaties. It was through the desire to place her poli- 
 tics in accord with these peaceful tendencies that 
 Rumania joined this alliance. 
 
 Devoting herself to the work of the interior recon- 
 struction and loyally resolved to maintain an ele- 
 
 S4i 
 
THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 ment of order and equilibrium in the region of the 
 lower Danube, Rumania never ceased to contribute to 
 the maintenance of peace in the Balkans. The last 
 Balkan Wars, by destroying the status quo, imposed 
 a new line of conduct upon her. Her intervention 
 hastened peace and re-established the balance of 
 power; she contented herself with a rectification of 
 her frontiers, which gave her a greater security 
 against every aggression and repaired at the same 
 time the injustice committed against her by the Con- 
 gress of Berlin. But while pursuing this objective 
 Rumania was deceived by the attitude of the Con- 
 gress of Vienna, which was not what she had the right 
 to expect. 
 
 When actual war broke out, Rumania, as did Italy, 
 refused to join in the declaration of war with Austria- 
 Hungary, not having received from the Congress of 
 Vienna the proper notification. In the Spring of 
 1915 Italy declared war against Austria-Hungary, 
 and the Triple Alliance existed no longer. The 
 reasons that had prompted Rumania to join herself 
 to this political system disappeared at the same time. 
 In place of a group of states struggling with a com- 
 mon effort to work for unity, in order to assure peace 
 and the preservation of the state of affairs and of 
 right created by the treaties, they found themselves 
 in the presence of powers at war one against the 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 other, whose aim was to effect a complete transforma- 
 tion in the former arrangement that had served as a 
 basis to their treaty of alliance. 
 
 These radical changes were evident proof for Ru- 
 mania that the objective she pursued by joining her- 
 self to the Triple Alliance could no longer be reached 
 and that she had to direct her views and her efforts 
 in other directions ; all the more so as the act under- 
 taken by Austria-Hungary had assumed a character 
 menacing to the essential interests of Rumania, as 
 well as for her most legitimate national aspirations. 
 
 In face of so radical a modification in the situation 
 created between the Monarchy of Austria-Hungary 
 and Rumania, the latter retook her liberty of action. 
 
 The neutrality which the royal Government im- 
 posed upon itself following the declaration of war, 
 which conformed neither to its desires nor to its inter- 
 ests, was adopted in virtue of assurances given by the 
 imperial and royal Government that the monarchy, 
 by declaring war on Serbia, was not acting in a spirit 
 of conquest, and that she aimed in no manner at ter- 
 ritorial acquisition. These assurances have not been 
 realized. 
 
 We face to-day a state of affairs which can give 
 birth to great territorial transformation and to po- 
 litical changes of such a nature as to constitute a 
 grave menace for the future security of Rumania. 
 
 36 
 
THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 The peaceful work that Rumania, faithful to the 
 spirit of the Triple Alliance, struggled to accomplish, 
 was rendered sterile by those very ones which should 
 have upheld and defended it. 
 
 By adhering in 1883 to the grouping of Central 
 powers, Rumania, far from forgetting the bonds of 
 blood that united the people of the kingdom to the 
 Rumanian subjects of the Austro-Hungarian mon- 
 archy, had seen in the relation of friendship an alli- 
 ance which had established itself between the three 
 great powers, a precious pledge for her interior tran- 
 quillity as well as for the amelioration of the fate of 
 the Rumanians of Austria-Hungary. In fact Ger- 
 many and Italy, who had reconstituted their state 
 upon the grounds of the principle of nationality, 
 could not fail to recognize the legitimacy of the basis 
 upon which rested their very existence. As for 
 Austria-Hungary, she found in the friendly relations 
 which were established between her and Rumania as- 
 surances for her interior tranquillity as well as for 
 those of our common frontiers. She knew the degree 
 of discontent of the Rumanian population, which cast 
 her back again upon us and threatened at every mo- 
 ment to trouble the good relations existing between 
 the two states. 
 
 The hope that we conceived in this regard in our 
 adhesion to the Triple Alliance has been deceived. 
 
 31 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 During a period of more than thirty years the Ru- 
 manians of the monarchy never saw reforms of a na- 
 ture that would give them a semblance of satisfac- 
 tion ; they have even been treated as an inferior race 
 and condemned to undergo the oppression of a 
 foreign element that constituted but a minority 
 among the diverse nationalities composing the estate 
 of Austria-Hungary. All the injustice to which our 
 brothers have been subjected have maintained be- 
 tween our country and the monarchy a continual state 
 of animosity, which the Government of the kingdom 
 succeeded in calming only at the price of great diffi- 
 culties and numerous sacrifices. When war actually 
 broke out there was born a hope that the Austro- 
 Hungarian Government would be convinced at the last 
 moment of the urgent necessity of putting an end 
 to this injustice, for it formed a danger not only in 
 our friendly relations, but equally in the normal inter- 
 courses which should exist between neighboring states. 
 
 Two years of war have demonstrated to Rumania 
 that Austria-Hungary, hostile to every interior re- 
 form capable of ameliorating the existence of the peo- 
 ples which she governs, was as prompt to sacrifice 
 them as she was incapable of defending them against 
 every foreign attack. 
 
 The war in which almost all of Europe participates 
 brings out the gravest problems which affect the 
 
 38 
 
THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 national development and the very existence of states ; 
 Rumania, imbued with the desire to contribute to 
 hasten the end of the conflict and under the imperative 
 necessity of safeguarding her racial interests, sees 
 herself under the necessity of entering the ranks of 
 those who are better able to assure her national 
 unity. 
 
 For these reasons she considers herself from this 
 moment in a state of war with Austria-Hungary. 
 
 Bukharest, August 27, 1916, 9 o'Clock in the 
 evening. 
 
 Signed 
 
 Em. Porumbaro, 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 According to this historical document the 
 principal motives that determined the Govern- 
 ment to take a step placing the very existence 
 of the country in jeopardy were: 
 
 First, the freedom of the Rumanians from 
 the domination of Austria-Hungary. Ru- 
 mania found herself under the imperative 
 necessity of safeguarding her racial interests, 
 and the Entente alone was able in a measure to 
 assure her national unity. Secondly, the occu- 
 
 39 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 pation of Serbia by the Austro-Hungarian and 
 Bulgarian forces was of such a nature as to pro- 
 duce in the Balkans great territorial transform- 
 ations and political changes constituting a 
 grave menace for the future security of Ru- 
 mania. She was forced, therefore, to inter- 
 vene in order to prevent these transformations 
 and political changes. Thirdly, to hasten the 
 end of the European conflict. 
 
 Beyond these motives of high national policy 
 were yet others of a character exalted, but more 
 human, which, nevertheless, weighed heavily in 
 the balance of the war. 
 
 The Allies, and specially France, brought 
 much weight upon the king, upon the prime 
 minister, and upon all the noted men of the 
 country, to force Rumania to give up her neu- 
 trality. The political men and the press of the 
 west of Europe were making appeals to all the 
 sentiment of the Rumanians to urge them to 
 join their cause; they became severe in their 
 criticisms, blaming the attitude of a Latin 
 
 40 
 
THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 country that remained indifferent in the face 
 of a danger threatening the liberty of the world 
 and the Latin race. 
 
 Mr. Briand, then Prime Minister of France, 
 played a prominent role in this matter, because 
 the entrance of Rumania into war was an im- 
 portant point in his program; and he made a 
 great effort to come to an agreement with the 
 Rumanian Government. "If some of these 
 points had not been agreed upon, France 
 would have run the risk of not being effica- 
 ciously aided in her struggle against the ag- 
 gressor." ^ 
 
 At another sitting of the French Parlia- 
 ment Mr. Pichon, minister of foreign affairs, 
 after having stated that it was specially grati- 
 fying to France that Rumania had intervened 
 in the war, and that this was one more reason 
 why she should feel herself pledged to that 
 country, felt compelled to declare that he had 
 
 1 Declaration made by Mr. Briand at the session of Parlia- 
 ment on the eleventh of January, 1918, reproduced from "Rou- 
 mania," Paris, January, 17, 1918. 
 
 41 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 informed the Rumanian Government that "the 
 Allies would maintain in a complete manner 
 all pledges made it from the moment when it 
 intervened." ^ 
 
 Mr. Ernest Daudet, the well-known French 
 writer, in an interesting article, "La Roumanie 
 et la Guerre," said: 
 
 He [King Charles] leaned rather towards Ger- 
 many, and it is against this tendency that Mr. 
 Camille Blondet, then representing France in Ru- 
 mania, was forced to counteract. By the light of 
 what transpired when the war broke out we must 
 recognize that thanks to his efforts and with the 
 collaboration of his Russian and English colleagues, 
 he succeeded, if not with the king, at least with the 
 political men of the Rumanian states.^ 
 
 Influenced in great part by this exterior 
 action, the interventionists' opposition com- 
 menced a violent campaign against the Govern- 
 ment, in order to force it to give up its neu- 
 trality. 
 
 1 From the newspaper "La Roumanie," Paris, No. I, 1918. 
 2"Courrier des Etats Unis," June 19, 1917. 
 
 4i2 
 
THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 Filipesco and Take Jonesco demanded the 
 immediate intervention on the side of the Al- 
 lies; every moment of delay was, according to 
 them, a grave danger to the national questions. 
 Preparations, the favorable moment, the 
 danger to the very existence of the country, 
 were no longer of any interest. We must 
 enter the war at any price. 
 
 History will probably reproach those directing the 
 rationalistic movements for not having known how 
 to lessen the impatience and moderate the enthusiasm 
 raised for a war against Austria. They all followed 
 the example of Nicholas Filipesco, whose ardent 
 patriotism was unwilling to recognize obstacles and 
 who, having all the qualities of a leader of a crowd, 
 never possessed those of a skilled diplomat. In their 
 political meetings that no hall in Bukharest was large 
 enough to hold the interventionists demanded imme- 
 diate mobilization, and their imposing manifestations 
 sought to obtain from the Government entrance into 
 the war without delay. Every advance of the Rus- 
 sians served them as a pretext to demand the partici- 
 pation of Rumania in the common action; according 
 to them, the Government was losing every occasion 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 and would permit the Russians to arrive alone at 
 Budapest. These impatient ones imagined that 
 p€ace would come from one moment to the other and 
 that Transylvania would remain under the Hun- 
 garian yoke or would pass under that of another.^ 
 
 And yet again: "To deserve truly the role of 
 director of a nation, this party, Filipesco, Take 
 Jonesco, should show more wisdom than im- 
 patience." ^ This was the idea that many Ru- 
 manians expressed during the year 1915, when 
 they felt that the end of neutrality was de- 
 manded too lightly. It is incontestable that 
 these feverish and violent movements drew into 
 the current the maj ority of those who form the 
 public opinion of the country and have great 
 influence over the king and the Government, 
 and this influence was all the more dangerous 
 in that it worked on sentimental ground. We 
 were passing through a crisis of sentimentalism. 
 Reasons on practical lines espoused by the par- 
 tizans of Mr. Marghiloman had no longer any 
 
 1 Serbesco, op. cit., p. 200, 
 sijerbesco, op. cit., p, 203. 
 
 44 
 
THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 chance to influence the Government. The 
 pressure brought to bear from Berlin for the 
 neutrality of Rumania was losing its in- 
 fluence each day with Mr. Bratiano, and 
 the Government commenced to lean visibly 
 towards the interventionists and the side of 
 the Entente. In order to understand better 
 this policy of sentiment, which was so fatal to 
 Rumania, we must add the provoking attitude 
 of the Hungarian policy. Every Rumanian 
 of Transylvania between the ages of sixteen 
 and forty-five was sent in the first ranks 
 against the Russians, the Hungarians forming 
 only the reserve troops. A severe requisition 
 was levied wholly on the Rumanians ; the chil- 
 dren and the old people were in want of food, 
 and the women were obliged to leave their 
 homes and their children to work in the 
 trenches or to follow the troops in order to wash 
 the clothes of the Hungarian soldiers. The 
 least protestation was punished with death. 
 Many of the Rumanians were hanged for slight 
 
 45 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 offenses. Terror was spread among the Ru- 
 manians of Transylvania, and the Hungarians 
 wanted to annihilate the race. All those who 
 could escape passed into Rumania. More than 
 50,000 men, women, and children, crossing at 
 night the passes of the Carpathians and escap- 
 ing the pursuit of Hungarian gendarmes, came 
 into Rumania and related everywhere their suf- 
 fering, begging for delivery. It was known in 
 Bukharest that Berlin was disgusted with the 
 pohcy of Vienna and Budapest, and that Ger- 
 many was insisting upon obtaining the auton- 
 omy of Transylvania and thus paralyzing 
 every move of Rumania. Vienna and Buda- 
 pest were not able to come to an understanding 
 on this point. If this problem had been solved, 
 Rumania would have been saved, and the con- 
 flict of nationalities would have ended. This 
 fact caused the illusion that Germany would 
 never intervene in the Austro-Hungarian- 
 Rumanian conflict, because it was a matter 
 which concerned only relations between these 
 
 46 
 
THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 two countries ; also because Germany, who had 
 reconstituted her state upon the basis of the 
 principle of nationalities, could not fail to rec- 
 ognize the legality of the Rumanian act. It 
 was believed also that Bulgaria could have no 
 interest in attacking Rumania. Three days 
 before Rumania's entrance into the war Rado- 
 slavov. Prime Minister of Bulgaria, made the 
 following declarations concerning the relations 
 between the two countries: 
 
 "Our relations with Rumania," he said, "are 
 not only correct, loyal, and good; they are 
 peaceful and sure. We desire absolutely on 
 our side that Rumania should never be either 
 provoked or irritated; we wish to remain at 
 peace with her." ^ On the other hand, Russia 
 boasted that she would punish Bulgaria, "her 
 ungrateful child," as she bound herself to de- 
 fend Rumania on the side of the Danube, to 
 forestall an eventual attack of Bulgarians, and 
 at the same time she insisted that Rumania 
 
 1 Serbesco, op. cit., p. 270. 
 
 .47 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 should come to a decision as quickly as possible. 
 The Russian minister at Bukharest, aided by 
 his English and French colleagues, warned the 
 Government and the interventionist chiefs that 
 if Russia should cross the Carpathians alone 
 and should penetrate into Transylvania, Ru- 
 mania would lose forever the opportunity to 
 regain her rights. The successes of the Grand 
 Duke Nicholas against the Austrians and the 
 occupation of Bukowina were of such a nature 
 as to uphold the statement of the Russian 
 minister. The Rumanian Government was 
 keeping its own counsel, but little by little its 
 purpose showed itself. The concentration of 
 troops on the Hungarian frontier and their ab- 
 sence on the side of Russia, the sale of wheat to 
 the English, some purchases for the army, how- 
 ever discreetly made, in neutral markets or 
 even from the Entente, refusal to sell benzin to 
 the Germans, although they offered a price 
 many times greater than the normal, were facts 
 to convince the Germans that they could no 
 
 48 
 
H 
 
THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 longer count on the neutrality of Rumania. 
 Then they changed their political tactics. In 
 Russia they had great influence in certain polit- 
 ical circles. Thanks to the weakness of the 
 czar, the Russian Government had fallen into 
 the hands of warm partizans of Germany. In 
 March, 1916, Stiiniier was named prime min- 
 ister. The Russian Revolution, which took 
 place later, brought all this to light. It proved 
 that an understanding existed between Berlin 
 and Stiirmer to divide Rumania as the price of 
 peace which Russia had planned to make with 
 Germany. From the moment that Stiirmer 
 and Berlin came to an agreement great pres- 
 sure was exerted at Bukharest to hasten Ru- 
 mania's entrance into war, because it was the 
 most favorable moment for Germany. The 
 Rumanian Government and the Allied govern- 
 ments did not understand the trickery of Stur- 
 mer. The Rumanian minister at Petrograd, 
 Mr. Diamandy, very proud of his position of 
 trust granted through the friendship of Mr. 
 
 49 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Bratiano, was only too pleased to cooperate in 
 forming a closer relationship between his coun- 
 try and the great Muscovite empire, and daz- 
 zled by his surroundings, he never appreciated 
 the realities. He sent reports to his prime 
 minister to advise him to have full confidence 
 in the army and the Russian policy and 
 specially in the sincerity of Stiirmer. The late 
 Mr. Filipesco, who was the soul of intervention- 
 ism, was invited to Germany and to Russia to 
 visit the front and to see for himself the respec- 
 tive forces and their organization. He refused 
 to go into Germany, but he went to Russia, 
 whence he returned with a certificate of ability 
 for Mr. Diamandy and with a sickness that sent 
 him to his grave two months after the entrance 
 of Rumania into war. These are the circum- 
 stances that greatly influenced Prime Minister 
 Bratiano, who dreamed, as does every good 
 Rumanian, of the reahzation of a national ideal, 
 but who thought at the same time that fate had 
 reserved for him the favor of presiding at an 
 
 50 
 
THE DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 act which would tell to the world and to future 
 generations the grandeur of his political genius. 
 They feared the danger throughout the country 
 lest this ambition should lead him to a precipi- 
 tate and dangerous move. Unfortunately for 
 Rumania, this was the case. 
 
 51 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE POLITICAL AND MILITARY 
 
 CONVENTIONS BETWEEN RU- 
 MANIA AND HER ALLIES 
 
 T has been asked if Rumania had made any 
 political-mihtary convention with her 
 allies before entering the war. Such a con- 
 vention, if it existed, was concluded in the very 
 greatest secrecy, being known only to the king, 
 the Government, and the chiefs of the interven- 
 tionists. It will be published later in the 
 "Green Book" of the Ministry of Foreign Af- 
 fairs of Rumania, as well as by those of her 
 allies; but for the moment nothing is known 
 of it. It is true that after August, 1916, they 
 spoke, or rather whispered, that such an agree- 
 ment existed and that it assured to the Ru- 
 
 52 
 
POLITICAL AND MILITARY CONVENTIONS 
 
 manians every guarantee. In October, 1916, 
 when the reverses of the policy of the Kuma- 
 nian intervention were beginning to show them- 
 selves, that is to say, when the Rumanian troops 
 of Dobrudja and Transylvania were obhged to 
 withdi-aw before the overpowering forces of the 
 enemy; when Bukharest was bombarded day 
 and night by enemy aeroplanes and Zeppelins, 
 without possibihty of defense; when the sup- 
 port of the Alhes did not show itself; when at 
 last excited public opinion wished to know 
 facts, they began to speak openly of the exist- 
 ence of an agreement with the Allies, in order 
 to explain the foresight of the Government and 
 the want of sincerity of Russia. At this time 
 there appeared in the "Gazette de Geneve" of 
 Geneva an article written by Mr. N. Basilesco, 
 deputy professor at the University of Bukha- 
 rest, in which were laid down even the items of 
 such a convention, and the fact that this article 
 was immediately reproduced by "L'lndepend- 
 ence Roumaine," the official newspaper of the 
 
 53 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Government, specially of the brothers Bra- 
 tiano, who at that moment disposed of the fate 
 of the country, gave it an authentic character 
 and caused the belief that an agreement existed 
 imder the conditions exposed therein. The 
 categorical statements of the author in that 
 which concerned the clauses of the agreement 
 and his estimate of the conduct of the Allies, 
 which breathes of anxiety and reproach, and 
 above all, the fact of the publication in the 
 newspaper of the Government indicated that 
 those who had assumed the responsibilities were 
 not too ignorant of what this article contained. 
 We will here reproduce this article exactly. 
 It is too important both in fact and observa- 
 tion to give a resume of it. 
 
 In spite of the imperative motives which were forc- 
 ing the Rumanians to pass the Carpathians, the 
 Rumanian statesmen hesitated for a long time before 
 dragging Rumania into this war where they felt 
 that she was about to put her very existence in 
 jeopardy. 
 
 54 
 
POLITICAL AND MILITARY CONVENTIONS 
 
 The example of Serbia was, in any case, fuU of 
 warning. 
 
 Yes, this small nation gave the opportune cause; 
 but how involuntary she was in the great conflagra- 
 tion! She had the opportunity of either avoiding 
 the war or of terminating it before being crushed 
 by an honorable peace with the Central powers. 
 She did not do this. The help of the Allies was 
 delayed; Serbia was crushed; even if reestablished 
 in her former frontiers, it will be hard for her to 
 rehabilitate herself. 
 
 Greece, more prudent, avoided the catastrophe by 
 standing aside; what might not have happened to 
 Greece if she had yielded to the pressure of the Allies 
 and had entered in this terrible furnace at the time 
 of the attack on Serbia? The Austro-Germans, the 
 Turks, the Bulgarians, would have swallowed her 
 up ; by remaining neutral she has been able to render 
 services to the Allies which she has already rendered 
 and which she renders yet to-day, notably that of 
 serving through her port of Saloniki for the bases 
 of their armies in the East. 
 
 As to the Bulgarians, they had been acquired by 
 the Central powers long before the second Balkan 
 Wars, which they had dared to undertake only after 
 being encouraged and excited by them. Even for 
 those who are least clear-sighted the decision of 
 
 55 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Bulgaria was evident from the start ; it became mani- 
 fest to all on the day that Germany consented to 
 grant her a loan of 300,000,000 marks. 
 
 If Rumania, in her turn, had committed the im- 
 prudence of entering the war at the time of the at- 
 tack upon Serbia, she would have met with the same 
 fate as Serbia, for the Germans would have preferred, 
 as they have since said openly, to attack Rumania 
 rather than Serbia as the booty would have been 
 richer, the prey more easily seized, and the military 
 advantages incomparably superior. What oceans 
 of ink were used by the best writers of the Allies to 
 pursuade the Rumanian Government to enter the 
 war! M. J. C. Bratiano only made the decision, 
 however, when he was assured that the entrance of 
 Rumania into the European War would be effectively 
 opportune and that every condition to which he had 
 subordinated his offensive would be fulfilled. 
 
 What are these conditions? 
 
 The first was that all the Allies, France, England, 
 Russia, Italy, should guarantee to Rumania not only 
 the new territorial acquisitions which she claimed, 
 but the integrity of her territory. They wished 
 to avoid the risks run in 1879 when after a glorious 
 war Rumania saw herself bereft by her own ally of a 
 part of her territory. 
 
 56 
 
POLITICAL AND MILITARY CONVENTIONS 
 
 The second condition asked for military assistance, 
 which, the Allies promised her. 
 
 We have known since the day that we had shed our 
 blood on the plains of Bulgaria, at Plevna, at 
 Grivitza, at Opanez, at Vigin, that the Bulgarians, 
 whom we had called to life, would be our implacable 
 enemies for the very reason that they owed us grati- 
 tude. This belief was confirmed, in the Balkan Wars, 
 during which the Bulgarians published openly their 
 determination to take Dobrudja from us. It be- 
 came an absolute certainty at the time of the con- 
 ference at London and of that at Petrograd. After 
 our intervention of 1913 and after the Treaty of 
 Bukharest, which made of small Bulgaria a great and 
 powerful state, no Rumanian, except, perhaps, some 
 incurable Bulgarophile, but had the conviction that 
 the Bulgarians would not fail to jump on our backs 
 as soon as we should cross the Carpathians. They 
 would act toward us as they did against the Serbs. 
 
 It was in vain that I shouted in the ears of the 
 greatest men in authority in Paris ; they were all 
 firm in their belief in the word of Ferdinand of 
 Coburg and in his protestations of friendship for 
 France. 
 
 This is why Rumania stipulated, as a second con- 
 dition essential to her entrance into the war, that on 
 
 67 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 the one side a Russian army of several hundred tl: 
 sand strong should pass the Danube, should a 
 Dobrudja, and should take up arms against 
 Germano-Turco-Bulgarians, who for a long time '. 
 been massed on the Rumanian frontier, making 
 this war a Russian war, and of this battle froE 
 Russian front. 
 
 On the other hand, the Army of Saloniki, wh 
 they said, was more than 400,000 strong, shouL 
 and this is the third condition — in its turn att 
 the Turco-Bulgarian Army simultaneously with 
 Rumanian offensive in the Carpathians. As to t^ 
 concerns the Russian Army, landed in Dobrudja, 
 are ignorant of its force; it is to be hoped tha 
 will be strong enough to hold the enemy forces, 
 though up to the present it may not have made 
 weight felt. But what is the Army of Saloniki 
 ing? That is the question at Bukharest. It 
 mains virtually stationary. Why.? They give i 
 pretext the uncertainty in the movement of the po 
 of Greece. But we must say that this situa 
 does not date from to-day. It existed at the "v 
 moment when the Allies made their agreement ^ 
 Rumania to set in motion this army, which was s 
 posed to be so powerful that with no help it wc 
 be sufficient to crush the Turco-Bulgarians. At 
 cost it must be marched forward and that vigoroi 
 
 5S 
 
POLITICAL AND MILITARY CONVENTIONS 
 
 if we are not to find ourselves before irreparable dis- 
 asters. 
 
 The fourth condition stipulated and formally 
 promised by the Allies, the one that brought them 
 to Bukharest, the one that determined the Rumanian 
 Government, was the general offensive, the realiza- 
 tion of the famous formula of Mr. Briand of a con- 
 certed action upon a united front in order to prevent 
 the interior manoeuvers of a common enemy. We 
 are still waiting for this general oft'ensive. 
 
 But another question faces the Rumanians, against 
 whom the Austro-Germans are concentrating to-day 
 all their forces and all their hatred. 
 
 Why does not the Grand Duke Nicholas transport 
 his numerous troops in Europe, and why does he not 
 open for himself the road to Constantinople through 
 Dobrudja and Bulgaria? Is this not the key of 
 the war? It is in the Balkans, it is by the taking of 
 Constantinople, it is by the opening of the straits, 
 that victory will be determined; it is here that the 
 greatest efforts must be made. 
 
 This way alone will permit the Allies to furnish 
 arms and munitions to the Russo-Rumanian armies 
 and to fulfil thus the fifth condition of the treaty of 
 Rumania with the Allies. We do not share the fol- 
 lowing opinion, which "The London Times" of Sep- 
 tember 14 gives to the Rumanian, to leave or to 
 
 59 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 weaken the Transylvanian front, in order to march 
 against the Bulgarians ; a Balkan war is not the 
 war of the Rumanians ; this they told the Allies be- 
 fore their entrance into war; they repeated it again 
 to-day; they demand that each should respect the 
 given word, that the Allies should go into the Balkans 
 to fight the Turco-Bulgaro-Germans, as they engaged 
 to do. 
 
 We must speak plainly: if the Allies should com- 
 mit in regard to Rumania the same fault that they 
 permitted in regard to Serbia ; if they leave the trans- 
 Danubian Rumania without defense while the Ruma- 
 nians shed their blood in Transylvania against the 
 Austro-German armies preparing, cutting, and open- 
 ing the road for the Russian Army, Germany will 
 then be playing a sure game.^ 
 
 The Bolsheviki have published lately the 
 secret documents relating to the entrance of 
 Rumania into the war. According to these 
 documents it appears that the Rumanian Gov- 
 ernment was not forced to enter into war by 
 threats of the Central powers or of the Entente, 
 as it attempts to make believe. 
 
 1 "L'Independence Roumaine," Bukharest, October 19, 1916. 
 
 60 
 
POLITICAL AND MILITARY CONVENTIONS 
 
 According to the same documents it would 
 seem that the Rumanian Government made 
 no agreement of alliance, that it asked only 
 that it should be guaranteed the possession of 
 the provinces which it wishes to regain, and 
 that the Entente should continue the war until 
 Rumania should realize her pretentions. The 
 representative of the Allies, and specially Rus- 
 sia, would have refused this last condition 
 until August, 1916. On the eighteenth of 
 August, 1916, as these same documents ex- 
 plain, the Allies signed the protocol which ad- 
 mitted these demands of Rumania, and conse- 
 quently, on the twenty-eighth of the same 
 month she entered the war. 
 
 These documents are of the greatest impor- 
 tance. According to them, the Rumanian 
 Government acted in a trifling manner almost 
 criminal. It is very difficult, nevertheless, to 
 admit that any government, even the most 
 incapable one, could be satisfied to ask absurd 
 conditions from others who are struggling at 
 
 61 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 the time under the same difficulties as them- 
 selves, without assuring in the first place 
 indispensable military cooperation. Mr. 
 Pichon, the French minister of foreign af- 
 fairs, declared that the Allies must maintain 
 absolutely every agreement made with the 
 Rumanian Government. What does this 
 declaration refer to? To the agreement indi- 
 cated by the publications of the Bolsheviki? 
 That 's hardly probable, because this declara- 
 tion of Mr. Pichon was made at a date — 
 December, 1917, — when we had already the 
 proof that Rumania could not conquer the 
 countries with which she was at war. It must 
 then be that this declaration refers to a poli- 
 tical-military convention that guarantees to 
 Rumania through military assistance on the 
 part of the Allies not only the new territorial 
 acquisitions which she claimed, but also the in- 
 tegrity of her territory. 
 
 The declarations of Mr. Pichon are perfectly 
 in accordance with the agreement contained in 
 
 62 
 
POLITICAL AND MILITARY CONVENTIONS 
 
 the article reproduced from "L' Independence 
 Roumaine," and we may admit that a military- 
 political agreement was settled upon between 
 the Allies and Rumania on the eve of her en- 
 trance into war. This hypothesis is all the 
 more plausible as it agrees with the attitude of 
 all the representatives of the Allied countries 
 who lately refused to recognize the validity of 
 a concluded peace. 
 
 The Rumanian Government has not hesi- 
 tated to punish with the greatest severity all 
 those who failed in their duty even through 
 imprudence. How, then, can we admit that it 
 committed on top of so many imprudences the 
 gravest thoughtlessness, — ^worse than -the crime 
 of treason, — that of allowing the country to 
 slip into an abyss? We cannot believe it with- 
 out seeing the "Green Book." 
 
 63 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE STRUGGLE 
 
 DURING the night of August 27, 1916, 
 the Rumanian Army received the or- 
 der to cross the Carpathians. 
 
 With admirable enthusiasm, passing eight- 
 een mountain peaks, it penetrated deeply into 
 the territory of Transylvania, repulsing every- 
 where the advance forces of the Austro-Hun- 
 garian Army. The Rumanian population 
 eagerly welcomed the army of King Ferdinand, 
 and the first impressions were favorable for 
 the action of the Rumanian Government. 
 The press of the Alhes greeted this move with 
 enthusiasm and even spoke of the end of the 
 World War, thanks to the intervention of 
 Rumania. 
 
 64i 
 
>< 
 
THE STRUGGLE 
 
 But hardly had the first impression of the 
 entrance into war come to pass, than the reahty 
 
 HUN G>^R.V ^ 
 
 began to make itseK felt in a most disquieting 
 way. 
 
 65 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 On September 1, 1916, Germany declared 
 war on Rumania, and at the same time Bul- 
 garia took a hostile attitude. 
 
 The Rumanian Government, counting upon 
 General Sarrail's offensive of Saloniki against 
 the Bulgarians, according to the peaceful dec- 
 laration made formally by the Bulgarian prime 
 •minister in regard to Rumania and specially 
 upon the assurances from Petrograd that Rus- 
 sia would take, in any case, military measures 
 to safeguard the frontier at the south of 
 Rumania against all Bulgarian attacks, had 
 left in Dobrudja only a few divisions. Thirty 
 to forty thousand men, mostly of the mihtia, oc- 
 cupied Turtukai, a small fortified city situated 
 near the Bulgarian frontier, and there were 
 also two to three divisions on the line of Kus- 
 tendje. An army of one hundred and eighty 
 thousand, composed of Germans, Bulgarians, 
 and Turks, provided with heavy cannons and 
 all the modern material of war, was advancing 
 under the command of General Mackensen to- 
 _ 66 
 
THE STRUGGLE 
 
 wards Turtukai. For the time being this 
 caused great stupefaction. For nine days this 
 little army of Turtukai resisted heroically all 
 attacks of a greatly superior adversary. For 
 want of cannons, for want of strong artillery, 
 for want of sufficient ammunition, the Ruma- 
 nians were forced to attack with the bayonet, 
 repulsing many times the advances of their 
 adversary. All fought bravely, but the sec- 
 ond regiment of Graniceri (Elite Infantry) 
 specially distinguished themselves. In a single 
 day this regiment made seventeen attacks with 
 bayonets. Out of 3500 men there remained 
 170; out of 50 officers only 7 survived. 
 Colonel Sheinesco, the head of the regiment, 
 with all his subordinate officers, was killed. 
 
 The Bulgarian population of Turtukai con- 
 ducted itself in a most atrocious manner to- 
 wards the wounded Rumanians. They beat 
 them unmercifully. And the women, when 
 the wounded asked for water, threw boiling 
 water on the unfortunate men. The remain- 
 
 67 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 ing troops of Turtukai withdrew to the east. 
 
 After this first shock general headquarters 
 withdrew several divisions from the Transyl- 
 vanian front in order to send them with all 
 haste to Dobrudja to help the forces which 
 were on the line of Kustendje and prevent the 
 advance of Mackensen. The Premier of 
 Rumania sent Stiirmer a very touching tele- 
 gram, asking urgently for the help formerly 
 agreed upon, pointing out that, otherwise, 
 everything was lost. 
 
 To this telegram Stiirmer replied imperti- 
 nently, thus : 
 
 Who is menacing Rumania from that side? We 
 cannot shift our troops from one place to another! 
 All we can do is to send you two or three divisions. 
 
 After the fall of the stronghold of Turtukai 
 two Russian divisions and one composed of 
 Serbian volunteers arrived from Russia. 
 
 I would not like to go any further without 
 expressing my highest admiration of that Ser- 
 
 68 
 
THE STRUGGLE 
 
 bian division which has fought so bravely side 
 by side with the Rumanian Army, resisting 
 heroically a numerically superior foe in the 
 many terrible attacks and battles in Dobrudja. 
 
 A great battle took place at Dobrici ; it lasted 
 days. Colonel Brosteano distinguished himself 
 greatly, ordering all his men to sing the national 
 hymn, he dashed into the attack at the head 
 of his regiment; he was grievously wounded. 
 
 The Rumanian troops, under the pressure 
 of greater numbers and of perfected instru- 
 ments of war, were obliged to withdraw to- 
 wards Cusgun, where another sanguinary bat- 
 tle took place. On the line of Cobadin the 
 Rumanians also took the offensive, causing 
 great losses in the enemy's lines. 
 
 These struggles in Dobrudja lasted from 
 the first days of September until the end of 
 October, 1916, when the Rumanian troops were 
 obliged to withdraw on the left bank of the 
 Danube, blowing up the famous bridge on this 
 river, because Mackensen, surprised by the re- 
 
 69 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 sistance of the Rumanians, had planned that 
 other armed forces should pass the Danube into 
 Rumania at other points and should thus put 
 the capital itself in danger. 
 
 While the troops of Dobrudja were sacrific- 
 ing themselves so heroically, the armies of 
 Transylvania were also in very great danger. 
 The Germans had withdrawn from the West 
 front (Franco-English) and from the Russian 
 front forty-two divisions (about 800,000 
 men) composed of the very best troops, and 
 had sent them under the command of General 
 Falkenhayn to reinforce the Austro-Hunga- 
 rian troops that were facing the Rumanian 
 Army. 
 
 This formidable force of over a million and 
 a half men, composed of Germans, Aus- 
 trians, and Hungarians, under the command 
 of a general provided with heavy artillery, 
 ample ammunition, and asphyxiating bombs, 
 began to drive back the Rumanian army, which 
 then had no more than from 400,000 to 450,000 
 
 70 
 
THE STRUGGLE 
 
 fighters, — for of a total of 800,000 men we 
 must deduct the sanitary service, the adminis- 
 trative service, the wounded, the dead, and the 
 divisions sent into Dobrudja, — and was with- 
 
 AUSTRIA- 
 H UN G> 
 
 out cannons, without sufficient munitions, in 
 fact, without any of the modern instruments 
 of war that the other armies had in such pro- 
 fusion. 
 
 The Rumanians were obliged to withdraw, 
 71 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 yielding ground step by step, hoping to find 
 shelter in the mountains in order to better re- 
 sist, and to await the Russian reinforcements 
 and the promised material of war. 
 
 Having reached the passes of the Car- 
 pathians, they showed extraordinary resist- 
 ance; sanguinary struggles occurred all along 
 the Carpathians, but specially in the valley 
 of Zin, where memorable battles took place. 
 
 Falkenhayn had decided to cross by the Vul- 
 can Pass, which was defended by General 
 Dragalina. After rigorous and repeated at- 
 tacks, in which many of their best divisions 
 were sacrificed, the Germans penetrated into 
 Rumanian territory. The Rumanians resisted 
 desperately, but the German cannons drove 
 them back. 
 
 General Dragalina died as a hero. His son, 
 a young officer of artillery, died by the side of 
 his father. The Rumanians stopped at the 
 foot of the peak near to the little city of Tay- 
 azin to fight again. In defense of their native 
 
 7a 
 
THE STRUGGLE 
 
 land the inhabitants of this city, under the 
 command of a young girl, took up arms and 
 ran to meet the enemy. The losses were great 
 on both sides. 
 
 The drive of the Germans on the side of the 
 Carpathians never ceased for a moment. 
 They were determined to overcome at any 
 price the stubborn resistance of the Ruma- 
 nians. 
 
 This resistance lasted until the beginning of 
 November, 1916, and during all this time the 
 Rumanian Government pleaded everywhere 
 for help, because it felt itself at the end of its 
 strength. 
 
 Unfortunately, General Sarrail at Saloniki 
 did not move; the Russian offensive did not 
 begin. On all other fronts absolute calm 
 reigned; the help and the munitions did not 
 arrive ; the Rumanians, attacked on two fronts, 
 were left alone, facing forces that were too 
 great. "It was the same with the offensive of 
 Sarrail as with the general offensive. It 
 
 73 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 seemed as though the allies of Rumania were 
 seated on a balcony to watch how little 
 Rumania was about to knock down the giant 
 Germano-Austro-Bulgaro-Turk." ^ At the 
 
 AUSTRIA — 
 H U M G >^ I=i.^V 
 
 BLACK 
 SEA 
 
 end of October, 1916, the army of General 
 Mackensen began to cross the Danube at sev- 
 eral points and penetrate Rumania. By this 
 movement the situation of the Rumanian arm- 
 
 1 "Journal of Geneva," February 15, 1918. 
 
 74 
 
THE STRUGGLE 
 
 ies of the north, which were defending the 
 peaks of the Carpathians, became very critical. 
 There was danger of their being caught be- 
 tween two fires, that is to say, between the 
 
 A U S T R. I >X —"""'"^ 
 H U IS G A R."r 
 
 ,CONSTANZA 
 
 BLACK 
 SEA 
 
 forces of Mackensen, who was advancing from 
 the south, and the forces of Falkenhayn, who 
 was pushing forward from the north. The 
 Rumanian troops were therefore obhged to 
 withdraw, to unite with the troops withdrawn 
 
 75 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 also from Dobrudja, and to try to defend the 
 capital. The enemy forces invaded Rumania 
 by the north and by the south, and the two 
 armies came together under the command of 
 General Mackensen. 
 
 The Rumanians withdrew to the left bank 
 of the river Arjish, and there fought a great 
 battle. During three days and three nights 
 victory was disputed between the adversaries. 
 At the most critical moment the commander 
 of the Rumanian Army urged three Russian 
 divisions, which were standing aside, to enter 
 the struggle. They refused categorically. 
 Their intervention might have given us the 
 victory. Berlin was very anxious over the 
 result of this great battle, and when the 
 Rumanians were forced to withdraw before the 
 greatly superior forces of the enemy, the Em- 
 peror of Germany decorated Hindenburg and 
 Mackensen for the great deeds accomplished 
 on the field of battle of Rumania. 
 
 The Rumanian troops withdrew, abandon- 
 76 
 
THE STRUGGLE 
 
 ing Bukharest, their capital, in order to save it 
 from bombs, and it was occupied by the enemy 
 on the second of December, 1916. The royal 
 family, the Government, the diplomatic corps, 
 and many citizens withdrew to Jassy, near the 
 Russian frontier. Yet the Rumanians did not 
 regard themselves as vanquished. Many other 
 hard fights took place at Bocov, Buzen, Rim- 
 nik and Fo^sani, and they afterwards withdrew 
 on the line of the Sereth, where the front was 
 narrower and their rear covered by the Rus- 
 sian frontier. For more than a year the 
 Rumanian Army opposed the German armies 
 so vigorously that they were not able to ad- 
 vance further. 
 
 Here on this line of Sereth in the month of 
 January, 1917, there at last arrived several 
 Russian divisions, which completed the defense 
 of the Rumanian front, and at the end of 
 March, 1917, there also arrived some large 
 guns, sent by France, which had for a long time 
 been lost in Siberia through the connivance of 
 
 77 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 the Russian administration. Here in Sereth 
 a series of battles took place; the Germans 
 wished to pass at any cost, but their effort to 
 break the line was useless, and the sacrifice in 
 
 men was enormous on both sides. Although 
 the Rumanian Army was very short of mod- 
 ern materials of war, although she lacked even 
 food, nevertheless, the resistance and heroism 
 of this army reached the limits of what man 
 
 78 
 
THE STRUGGLE 
 
 can do. Each regiment wanted to distinguish 
 itself, each soldier and each officer, to surpass 
 in heroism. Even a young girl gave a bril- 
 liant example of courage and bravery. She 
 demonstrated that the woman has these quali- 
 ties as highly developed as the best of soldiers 
 and that she is able to face death with the same 
 disdain as anj other hero. The Commander 
 Teiusanu, former military attache of the Ru- 
 manian legation at Washington, related the 
 following facts in the "Rumanian Review of 
 Chicago," No. 7, February, 1918. 
 
 In this extraordinary war many acts of bravery 
 have happened in all the countries involved. In 
 Rumania, specially, the bravery of the soldiers and 
 their definace of death have astonished the officers of 
 the Allied armies attached to the Rumanian Army. 
 
 In all the Allied armies women have distinguished 
 themselves by their spirit of devotion and sacrifice, 
 taking care of wounded and sick without fear of con- 
 tracting contagious diseases from those affected. 
 
 Seldom, very seldom, are women found who have 
 soldiers' quahfications. In Rumania we have nowa- 
 days a real " Jeanne d'Arc," a girl of only sixteen, 
 
 79 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 but of extraordinary courage. She was so flamingly 
 patriotic that she won the admiration of all. But 
 let me tell jou the story of the facts as they occurred 
 and were seen by myself in my capacity as com- 
 mander of the company of this heroine, Miss Ecater- 
 ina Theodoroiu, daughter of a captain of cavalry. 
 She was a sophomore in one of the colleges in 
 Bukharest. During the vacation of June, 1916, she 
 came to Targu-Jiu where her family had a small 
 farm near Schela. 
 
 When the war broke out in Rumania in August, 
 1916, she enlisted in the Boy Scout company to 
 render service as a dresser of wounds and a stretcher- 
 bearer behind the front. Despite the measures which 
 had been taken to prohibit the Boy Scouts from ap- 
 proaching the front line, Ecaterina did not leave 
 her third brother, who was a corporal in the 8th 
 Company of the 18th Regiment of Infantry, because 
 she had lost two brothers (officers) in the battle of 
 Turtukai a few days previously. Her mother was 
 living at Schela in the territory which had been oc- 
 cupied by the invaders in their first invasion, and 
 her brothers had been killed at the front. Her 
 flaming patriotism inspired her to go to fight in 
 defense of her beloved country and to relieve the 
 soul's grief that her enemies had caused. 
 
 Several times she was sent away by the colonel, 
 
 80 
 
< 
 
THE STRUGGLE 
 
 who said that her place was not at the front. But 
 the brave girl disguised herself as a volunteer soldier, 
 putting on an overcoat, cap, knapsack (empty, how- 
 ever), and bearing a gun. Thus equipped, I have 
 seen her receiving instructions from her brother, 
 paying close attention to the directions of firing, 
 fixing bayonet, etc. Twenty successive days she 
 fought, ate, and slept by the side of her only living 
 brother, until he, too, was slain in battle. Afflicted 
 beyond measure by this last blow, she decided to 
 fight for her country until she, too, should die. 
 
 Plunging into the fight, she was captured and 
 taken to the prisoners' camp without it being known 
 that she was a girl. Though disarmed, she was 
 able to conceal a revolver, with which she killed the 
 guard on her way to the enemy camp. Then she 
 crawled cautiously through the undergrowth of 
 familiar ground and, guided by the sounds of the 
 machine-guns of Section 2 of my company, in which 
 she was fighting, she succeeded in finding us again 
 at three o'clock in the morning, and giving precise 
 information about the enemy, who were preparing a 
 surprise attack upon our unit. 
 
 After twenty days of fighting it happened that a 
 shell shattered both her legs, producing a double 
 fracture of the right. I was in the same train with 
 her. I was leaving Krajova and she was transported 
 
 81 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 to the hospital. When she was brought to Bukhar- 
 est, special care was given her by Queen Marie and 
 princesses themselves. 
 
 I have since been requested by His Majesty, King 
 Ferdinand, to make a report in detail upon her, as 
 I was the one who knew most about her. She was 
 awarded "Virtutea certaseasca en aur pentru fapte 
 de razhoi" [The Boy Scout Virtue in gold for heroic 
 deeds], an order specially created for the bravery 
 of the Boy Scouts of the Jiu, and she was also 
 awarded the Militarj^ Virtue. 
 
 Recovered from her fracture after four and a 
 half months, she insisted on going back again to 
 the front. It was allowed as an exception, and in 
 the meantime she was advanced to the rank of suh 
 locotenent [second lieutenant]. With what pride 
 and with what skill she commanded her platoon! 
 The men deified her; her incomparable bravery in- 
 spired more courage in the soldiers while they were 
 fighting. 
 
 How great and what interminable ovations were 
 given her in the theatre hall of Botoshani, when, 
 being authorized myself to read the high degree 
 of the decoration of the Boy Scout Theodoroiu, to 
 the surprise of all who did not know her, there ap- 
 peared a young suh locotenent with breeches, boots, 
 and short hair, and campaign equipment. It is be- 
 
 82 
 
THE STRUGGLE 
 
 yond my power to describe here the manifestations 
 of sympathy that were given her by her college mates, 
 who had been refused permission to follow her ex- 
 ample, as this great deed must remain unique. 
 
 Taking part in the battle of "Marasesti," Miss 
 Sub Locotenent was not seriously wounded, but she 
 dii not want to quit her unit. She was proposed 
 for advancement to the grade of locotenent [lieuten- 
 ant], but the heroine has not had the happiness of 
 wearing "galoanele de Locotenent,''^ because she was 
 killed at the head of her company in one of their 
 bayonet charges. 
 
 In order that the beautiful example of the Jeanne 
 d'Arc of Rumania may remain for posterity as a 
 lesson and a true proof of the forefathers' virtues, 
 her name and pictured face ought to be found in all 
 the Rumanian schools and homes. 
 
 In the month of July, 1917, the Rumanian 
 troops, led by General Averesco, undertook a 
 very vigorous offensive, and in two days they 
 arrived at the frontier of Transylvania, taking 
 many important positions on a depth of more 
 than thirty kilometers (seventeen miles). 
 This offensive might have driven the enemy out 
 
 83 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 of the country. Unfortunately, the prime 
 minister ordered the cessation of the offensive, 
 because Petrograd had demanded it, and it was 
 justified by the Russian failure in Gahcia. 
 Several days later the Germans commenced a 
 strong offensive, which lasted fifteen days and 
 fifteen nights. 
 
 The battle now entered the acute phase, the 
 eighth of August, 1917. The Germans deter- 
 mined upon a most violent offensive, but all 
 the attacks were repulsed with frightful losses. 
 German prisoners declared that they had never 
 seen such a bitterly contested battle since Ver- 
 dun. The Germans had twelve divisions on 
 the Marasesti front (the line of Sereth) ; the 
 Rumanians had only five. August fourteenth 
 was a day of great carnage. The 89th Prus- 
 sian Division was completely decimated. The 
 efforts of the Germans were again repulsed. 
 At the same time at other points on the same 
 front great battles had taken place at Cas- 
 sinu, Oituf, Okna and Panciu. 
 
 84> 
 
THE STRUGGLE 
 
 The deeds of heroism and courage performed 
 by the Rimianian troops in these different 
 fights surpass all power of imagination. They 
 endured without hesitation the most terrible 
 artillery bombardment. The attacks en masse 
 made with extreme violence by the Bavarian 
 and Prussian soldiers were broken by the re- 
 sistance and bravery of the Rumanian soldiers, 
 who, greatly inferior in number, struggled with 
 incomparable endurance. 
 
 We must cite the case of the heroic 32nd 
 Regiment, whose officers and soldiers, abandon- 
 ing their equipment, helmets, and jackets, 
 rushed to the attack with such enthusiasm that 
 they put the enemy to flight. It is a miracle 
 that in such circumstances the Rumanian Army 
 could hold during more than one year against 
 the crushing blows of the enemj^. The begin- 
 ning of the year 1918, found the Rumanian 
 army at the end of its resources and its 
 strength, but still courageous. 
 
 85 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN 
 DEFEAT 
 
 THE defeat of the Rumanians was a sur- 
 prise to the whole world. One could not 
 explain how it was possible for a rich country, 
 rich in substances and provisions, with an ex- 
 cellent army, a situation to be envied, and spe- 
 cially a brilliant future, — a country to which 
 neutrality had brought unquestionable profits, 
 and which was not forced to enter the war, — 
 to cast itself into the fui'nace and in three 
 months see itself invaded by the enemy, and 
 shortly afterward reduced to famine and 
 obliged to make a separate and disastrous 
 peace. Distinguished political men, writers, 
 and recognized critics have tried to explain 
 this phenomenon. 
 
 86 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 THE RUSSIAN TEEASON 
 
 First of all we invoke the Russian treason. 
 To-day it is known that the Russia of the 
 czar and the Revolutionary Russia betrayed 
 Rumania. But, the question is, why should 
 Russia act in that way? What was her in- 
 terest in betraying an ally ? How can one ex- 
 plain the fact that Russia entered into war 
 against Germany and afterward, by betraying 
 Rumania, facilitated the operations of Ger- 
 many against herself? In reality all these 
 questions form a great problem which only 
 the future can explain. 
 
 For the moment one can only draw conclu- 
 sions from facts known up to the present, in 
 order to explain the reasons of a betrayal which 
 exists as a sure and incontestable fact. 
 
 In 1877, when Russia was obliged by cir- 
 cumstances to ask immediate help of Rumania 
 against Turkey, European public opinion 
 highly praised the Rumanian Army, thanks to 
 
 87 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 which the Russian Army was saved from dis- 
 aster. This fact produced a bad impression 
 at Petrograd. A sentiment of jealousy or 
 even of hatred toward Rumania manifested it- 
 self on the part of the colossus of the North. 
 And at the Congress of Berlin in 1878 official 
 Russia, instead of showing gratitude and a pro- 
 tective spirit toward her small ally, dragged 
 from her a part of her territory. Since then 
 the relations between Russia and Rumania 
 have been cool. Bulgaria speculated quite a 
 little over the affection that Russia showed 
 her, and tried to foster in Petrograd a senti- 
 ment of mistrust in regard to Rumania. In 
 1911 the czar wished to make a rapprochement 
 with Rumania, and visited King Charles, there 
 being at that time a question of a marriage be- 
 tween one of the daughters of the czar and 
 the Crown Prince of Rumania. The Bulgar- 
 ians were furious, and the political Russian 
 circles showed themselves unfavorable. 
 
 In other ways Russia always saw in Ru- 
 88 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 mania an obstacle to her policy of expansion 
 towards Constantinople, because Rumania was 
 the ally of the Central powers ; she proposed to 
 prevent all passage of Russian armies through 
 her territory towards Constantinople, and she 
 never showed herself delighted to undergo any 
 of the influence of Russian civilization. 
 
 When the events of the great war began 
 to develop, when the Allies saw themselves de- 
 ceived by Bulgaria, who made them believe to 
 the last moment that she would be on their 
 side, the statesmen of the Allies felt that the 
 only solution which would give any satisfac- 
 tion for her defeat in the East was to win 
 Rumania over. Starting with this idea, the 
 cabinets of London and Paris began a lively 
 action in this direction, although Russia held 
 absolutely against this solution. The Rus- 
 sians, who were announcing their arrival in 
 Berlin in a very short time, were nervous at 
 seeing that London and Paris insisted upon 
 making an appeal to Rumania, specially as 
 
 89 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 they considered this intervention a decisive 
 blow for Austria-Hungary and the approach 
 of the end of the war. The claims of exten- 
 sion of Rumania, found just and equable by 
 London and Paris, angered the political circles 
 of Petrograd, which saw in this extension of 
 the territory of their neighbor a policy con- 
 trary to the interest of Russia. 
 
 Even General Alexeief , who had in hand the 
 direction of the Russian Army, was absolutely 
 against the intervention of Rumania. But in 
 the end the conditions fixed by the Rumanian 
 Government had to be accepted by Russia, 
 who, nevertheless, wanted to prove that she 
 was right in her appreciation of the value of 
 the Rumanian intervention, and under this 
 prejudice, her own interest, and that of the 
 Allies, fell upon the second plan. This policy 
 was all the more easy, because since March, 
 1916, Stiirmer, known as a Germanophile, had 
 been named Prime Minister of Russia.^ 
 
 1 1 was in Petrograd when that great man, Miljukoff, the 
 
 90 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 From the first moment of the Rumanian in- 
 tervention the attitude of the Russians mani- 
 fested itself hostile to that country. There 
 was no answer to all the Rumanian Govern- 
 ment's entreaties for help from Russia. When 
 the army of Dobrudja found itself crushed 
 by the German-Bulgarian-Turkish forces, the 
 large body of the Rumanian Army being in 
 
 chief of the cadets, later minister of foreign aifairs of the 
 Provisional Government, then member of the opposition, gave 
 a violent discourse against the Government presided over by 
 Sturmer, demonstrating that this Government wished to make 
 a separate peace with Germany. 
 
 Speaking of the manner in which Rumania had been helped, 
 Mr. Miljukoff showed that the munitions and the armament 
 were being transported under bad conditions; that Russia was 
 sending very few troops, particularly cavalry, when artillery 
 was most needed; that the manner in which they were acting 
 could only be called "incapacity or treason." At this speech 
 all the deputies of the opposition called out, "Surely there is 
 treason!" Such was the atmosphere of the Russian political 
 world at the beginning of November, 1916. 
 
 I made a call on Mr. Miljukov, and left with high esteem 
 and admiration for this great man. I thanked him as a Ru- 
 manian for his beautiful defense of my country, for his ardent 
 appeal that urgent help should be sent to Rumania. As I was 
 leaving, Mr. Miljukoff handed me a copy of his speech, which, 
 according to the order of the Government, has not been pub- 
 lished in the official journal, I entrusted it to Mr. Cantaco- 
 fino, Minister of the Rumanian Legation at Petrograd, to send 
 to the Rumanian Government. "American-Rumanian Re- 
 view," Chicago, August, 1917, Paul Negulescu. 
 
 91 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Transylvania, the Russians responded to this 
 desperate appeal of the Rumanian Government 
 too late, and then only by sending two to three 
 divisions, about 50,000 men, mostly cavalry. 
 The army of 500,000 men, which the Russians 
 were to send into Dobrudja to cover the south- 
 ern front of Rumania, according to the agree- 
 ment made among all the Allies, never came. 
 When the Rumanian armies of Transylvania 
 were driven by the Prussian forces of Falken- 
 hayn and threatened by Mackensen, who in- 
 vaded Rumania in the south, the Russians re- 
 mained immovable to the appeals of Rumania 
 and to the urgings of Paris and of London; 
 when, in the great battle of Arjish the com- 
 mander of the Rumanian Army asked the 
 Russian forces, who were then very close to 
 Bukharest, to enter into the fight, they ab- 
 solutely refused; and in the end complete in- 
 action reigTied even on the Russian front, thus 
 leaving the Germans a free hand to strike 
 their blow at Rumania. 
 
 92 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 Facts speak for themselves; almost com- 
 plete Russian inaction in the Carpathians and 
 in Moldavia ; continual promises, never carried 
 out, of an offensive by the army of Lechitsky; 
 delays, then passive attitude of the Muscovite 
 contingent brought into Moldavia. But there 
 is still more. Throughout the course of the 
 campaign the attitude of the war office and 
 that of the Russian generals was in every re- 
 spect most singular. When the Rumanians 
 had hardly been attacked and were not yet 
 subjected to any check, a great chief at Stafka 
 said, looking at a map of Rumania, "This is 
 where we will resist !" And he pointed to the 
 line of Sereth. Many superior officers, among 
 them General Bielaief, never ceased spreading 
 hostile insinuations in regard to Rumania, and 
 finally one of the highest Muscovite authori- 
 ties, as he was being solicited to help the 
 Rumanians during the battle of Bukharest, re- 
 plied clearly, "Not one man and not one can- 
 non!" Such speeches — and these are not the 
 
 93 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 only ones that we could repeat — are sufficient 
 to demonstrate the evident ill-will of the 
 war office of Nicholas II. We must add 
 to this the criminal indifference of a Sakharof 
 who lost Dobrudja, while his staff gave 
 a repugnant example of thoughtlessness and 
 inconsistency and, above all, of military in- 
 capacity. 
 
 Numerous facts corroborate this opinion. 
 
 The London "Times," January 29, 1918, in 
 a letter of December 6, from its correspondent 
 at Jassy, relates the following: 
 
 During the last days of November, 1916, while at 
 Jassy, I was present at a conversation between a 
 Frenchman and a Russian general commanding a 
 corps of the army ; the latter declared that he had 
 received the order to direct his troops towards the 
 Moldavian frontier, but after learning of the in- 
 vasion of Wallachia, he asked authority at Stafka 
 to march upon Bukharest, in order to take part in 
 the imminent battle. Some hours afterwards, this 
 astounded general declared, he received the order to 
 direct himself, in spite of all, towards the Transyl- 
 
 94< 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 vanlan frontier. Such facts could be enumerated ad 
 libitum.^ 
 
 General Alexeief had decided to do nothing 
 for Rumania unless the line of battle should 
 be at Sereth. In fact, when the Rumanian 
 troops fell back on the line of Sereth after the 
 invasion of Rumania at the south, there they 
 found Russian forces already installed and 
 fortified. 
 
 Thus was Petrograd content to have exe- 
 cuted its program ; that is to say, to have proved 
 that the Rumanian intervention was not use- 
 ful, that her cooperation had been nil, and that, 
 therefore, she had no right to territorial acqui- 
 sition or to any aggrandizement; but, if it is 
 true that the Government of Petrograd has 
 executed its occult program, it is none the less 
 true that it has crushed under foot its engage- 
 ment, that it has betrayed Rumania and the 
 cause of the Allies. 
 
 1 "Le Mystire Roumain et la Defection Russe," Charles 
 Stienon, pp. 207-208. 
 
 95 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 The fact that the Russians fought seri- 
 ously only on the line of the Sereth after the 
 occupation of more than half of Rumania is evi- 
 dence of their intention to stop there the ad- 
 vance of the Germans. 
 
 This rather suspicious fact has been ex- 
 plained by different political men and by a 
 secret convention, which was supposed to exist 
 between Stiirmer and Berlin, to divide 
 Rumania with the line of the Sereth as a fron- 
 tier. They bring as a proof the fact that the 
 German minister at Bukharest, on leaving, said 
 to the secretary of the American embassy, Mr. 
 Andrews, who accompanied him, "Here is the 
 Sereth, the new Russian frontier." 
 
 Events precipitated themselves in Russian. 
 The czar's regime having been overthi'own, it 
 could no longer follow its program in regard to 
 Rumania. Kerensky had become the idol of 
 the Russian people. The new regime gave 
 publicity to secret acts in order to prove the 
 former regime's treachery to Rumania; an at- 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 mosphere of confidence in Rumania began to 
 make itself felt; the new commander of the 
 Russian forces took severe measures to bring 
 order in his army, which participated in sev- 
 eral fights. 
 
 Unfortunately this experience was very 
 short. Lenine and Trotzky became masters 
 of the situation. Their anarchist propaganda 
 penetrated deeply into the ranks of the army 
 and destroyed everything; disorder showed it- 
 self everywhere. The chiefs of the army, the 
 officers, were no longer obeyed; the soldiers 
 commenced to abandon the front in order to 
 devastate, to pillage the Rumanian popula- 
 tion, already so sorely tried. The Russian 
 armies scattered, giving place to ruin and to 
 disaster. 
 
 Trotzky, commissioner for foreign affairs, 
 published the secret treaties between Russia 
 and her allies. Among these documents there 
 is found a report made by a former minister 
 of war and pubhshed in the "Pravda," the 
 
 97 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 newspaper of the Bolsheviki. This document 
 shows clearly the mentality of the Russian 
 pohtical circles in November, 1916, and it also 
 shows the antipathy and the bad faith that fed 
 the Russian statesmen in regard to Rumania. 
 
 At the beginning of the European War Rumania 
 had adopted officially a neutral attitude, which fluc- 
 tuated very frequently and very noticeably, some- 
 times on the one and sometimes on the other side, 
 according to the state of military operations. This 
 attitude was inspired by two principal motives : the 
 desire not to arrive too late to share in the division 
 of Austria, and to win as soon as possible at the 
 expense of the belligerents. Our successes in Galicia 
 and Butowina in 191^ and at the beginning of 1915, 
 l:he capture of Lemberg and Przemysl, and the ap- 
 pearance of our advance guard on the other side of 
 the Carpathians, decided for us the question of in- 
 tervention. At the end of May of the same year our 
 retreat from Gahcia and Poland, the abandoning 
 of Bukowina, took place. From this the state of 
 mind of the Rumanian leaders modified itself, also, 
 and the parleys, in view of the intervention of 
 Rumania in the war, stopped. At the end of 1915 
 and at the beginning of 1916 the poHcy of Rumania, 
 
 98 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 after the crushing of Serbia^ and the intervention of 
 Bulgaria, leaned very clearly to the side of our 
 enemies. At this period the Rumanian Government 
 concluded a series of very advantageous commercial 
 agreements with Austria-Hungary and Germany. 
 This circumstance forced the military, financial, and 
 commercial departments to adopt a very prudent 
 attitude in regard to the question of the importing 
 from Russia into Rumania military equipment and 
 different provisions, which might fall into the hands 
 of our enemies. The offensive of General Brusilov in 
 the spring and summer of 1916 turned the neutral- 
 ity of Rumania again to the side of the powers of 
 the Entente, and presented an opportunity for again 
 taking up the interrupted parleys concerning in- 
 tervention. It is to be noticed that from the begin- 
 ning the chief of staff of the commander for military 
 reasons considered the maintenance of Rumanian 
 neutrality more advantageous for us than her ac- 
 tive intervention in the war. Later, General Alexeief 
 adopted the point of view of the Allies, which saw 
 in the intervention of Rumania a decisive blow for 
 Austria-Hungary and the beginning of the end of 
 the war. In August, 1916', a military and political 
 agreement was signed with Rumania, which assured 
 her territorial acquisition (Bukowina and the whole 
 of Transylvania) and which manifestly did not cor- 
 
 9^ 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 respond to the measure of her participation in the 
 military operations, for she had pledged herself only 
 to declare war on Austria-Hungary and had limited 
 herself to operations in Transylvania. The follow- 
 ing events have demonstrated how much our allies 
 deceived themselves in overestimating the Rumanian 
 intervention. Under the influence of the unexpected 
 catastrophe there arose in Rumania itself elements 
 that were opposed to the continuation of the war 
 and imposed upon themselves the task of concluding 
 as soon as possible peace, even if it should be a 
 separate peace. The misfortune that has struck 
 Rumania is the natural consequence of the complete 
 insufficiency of military preparation and the ambigu- 
 ous policy of Bratiano. The easy victories of 1913 
 and Rumania's diplomatic success after the Balkan 
 War contributed, in great part, to give to the people 
 and to the Government an exaggerated idea of their 
 importance. In political and military points of view 
 the Rumanians have exaggerated their value and 
 feel now a bitter deception. From the point of view 
 of Russian interests, the following considerations 
 should guide us in the appreciation of the actual 
 situation in Rumania. 
 
 If matters had developed In such a fashion that 
 the political and military agreement of 1916 with 
 Rumania might have been completely realized, a very 
 
 lOQ 
 
CAUSES OF THE RIBIANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 strong state might have been created in the Balkans, 
 composed of Moldavia, Wallachia, Dobrudja (actual 
 Rumania), of Transylvania, Banat, and Bukowina 
 (acquisitions in virtue of the Treaty of 1916), with 
 a population of nearly 13,000,000. Later this state 
 would have held with difficulty any friendly senti- 
 ments toward Russia, and their ambition would have 
 been to realize their national dreams in Bessarabia 
 and the Balkans. Consequently, the failure of the 
 plans of the great power of Rumania in these men- 
 tioned propositions do not oppose particularly the 
 political interests of Russia. This circumstance 
 must be utilized by us in view of the consolidation 
 of these forced bonds which unite Russia to Rumania 
 for as long time as possible. 
 
 Our successes on the Rumanian front have for us 
 an extraordinary importance, as unique a possibility 
 as for answering once and for all, in the sense de- 
 sired by us, the question relating to Constantinople 
 and the straits. The actual events in Rumania have 
 wholly modified the conditions of the Treaty of 
 1916. In place of the relatively modest support 
 that Russia felt bound to give in Dobrudja, she 
 was compelled to intrust the defense of all Rumanian 
 territory almost exclusively to the Russian troops. 
 This military aid of Russia has now taken such pro- 
 portions that the promise of territorial indemnity to 
 
 101 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Russia for her entrance into war, provided for in 
 the agreement just mentioned, should undoubtedly 
 be subjected to a revision." 
 
 POLIVANOV. 
 
 Revision! That is the essential word, the 
 key of Russian policy towards Rumania. It 
 is beyond doubt that the treaty made in 
 August, 1916, was the starting point for the 
 discontent of Russia; those close to Nicholas 
 II evidently saw in the invasion of Wallachia 
 and the intervention of the Muscovite army a 
 means of revising the agreements concluded 
 with Bukharest in favor of Petrograd. This, 
 since the publication of the document of 
 Polivanov could not be contested. Besides, 
 this note is a moral proof of the czarist treason 
 toward King Ferdinand. It asserts that the 
 Russians should be happy by the want of suc- 
 cess of the latter. From this we understand 
 that the voluntary delay of the Muscovite 
 troops contributed to this result only one step. 
 Without temerity one can affirm that the 
 
 102 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 revelations of the future will only bring forth 
 more clearly the truth already partly seen. 
 In any case the document of PoUvanov is one 
 of the most important that the Russian in- 
 surrection has brought to light.^ 
 
 BAD WAR PLANS 
 
 Rumania should have attacked Bulgaria and 
 should have remained on the defensive to the 
 northwest against Austria-Hungary. This is 
 an opinion which has been heard on all sides 
 and which has often been repeated here in 
 America, as constituting the principal cause of 
 the Rumanian defeat. Before the Russian 
 treason was known this opinion was thrust 
 forth and presented as the cause for the de- 
 feat. 
 
 Vice- Admiral Fournier, former chief of the 
 French Navy, in an article appearing in the 
 "Courrier des Etats Unis" of February 6, 
 1917, wrote: 
 
 1 Ch. Stienon, op. dt., p. 2^21. 
 103 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 As long as Rumania kept her neutrality, the active 
 part of the Russian Army, facing the north to help 
 the offensive of General Brussilov, was directly cov- 
 ered on its flank by Wallachia and Moldavia and, 
 in the rear, by Dobrudja. The Russians thought 
 that in case of a Rumanian intervention on the side 
 of the Entente their new allies would keep the de- 
 fensive in Transylvania in order to attack Bulgaria 
 en masse (we were holding her most effective troops 
 before Saloniki). They estimated that they would 
 have time to execute the necessary change of front 
 to support and to cover the offensive of their neigh- 
 bors before the heavy German reinforcement could 
 arrive at its destination. 
 
 This plan was also extolled by General Averesco, 
 who was one of the most esteemed chiefs of his own 
 country. Unfortunately, other views prevailed, and 
 the plan of attack against Bulgaria was replaced by 
 a plan of an offensive in Transylvania. 
 
 Almost the whole of the Rumanian Army then 
 penetrated into Transylvania, turning its back on 
 the principal enemy and weakening itself as, driving 
 back the Hungarians by degrees, it widened the 
 front until the day when it met the German rein- 
 forcements, which had hastened to the help of their 
 allies. Then this valiant army was broken and 
 thrown back again to the frontier, losing in the 
 
 104 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 retreat a great part of its artillery and almost a 
 third of its effectiveness. In the meantime the Bul- 
 garians, making use of the ambiguity with which 
 they had cleverly surrounded their real intentions, 
 were invading Dobrudja and were marching upon 
 Bukharest, having easily crossed the Danube, which 
 for several hundred kilometers was guarded by one 
 single division of militia. Under these conditions 
 the taking of Bukharest and the invasion of a great 
 part of Rumania was inevitable. 
 
 As for the Russian Army, surprised by the rapid 
 succession of the Rumanian reverses, the commanders 
 suspended the offensive of Brussilov's army in or- 
 der to direct great reinforcements into Rumania. 
 But the available troops were such that it was not 
 possible to cover the flank in Wallachia and the rear 
 in Dobrudja rapidly enough to arrest the advance 
 of the invaders. 
 
 It was on the Sereth that the Russians, uniting 
 with the first body of troops that had arrived from 
 the army of General Salikarov, formed a defensive 
 front enlarged by several good Rumanian divisions. 
 The actual resistance of this front, the points of 
 support which it can find in the rear, the uninter- 
 rupted and progressive flow of reinforcements which 
 reached it, permits one to hope that the most press- 
 ing peril is now almost averted. 
 
 105 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 The czar himself, who did me the great honor to 
 receive me at dinner and at breakfast at general 
 headquarters, has in a private audience given me the 
 assurance that in a verj few weeks the military situa- 
 tion in the Balkans would commence to change. 
 
 This article was written after the vice-ad- 
 miral had visited Rumania and Russia, where 
 he had the honor of being invited to breakfast 
 and to dinner by the czar. The opinion ex- 
 pressed in this article is certainly the result of 
 the interview which he had with the czar and 
 with other important personages of Russia; 
 it reflects exactly the views of the czarist pohcy, 
 which tried to cast upon Rumania all the re- 
 sponsibility of her defeat and to justify the 
 want of help which was due to Rumania from 
 Russia. 
 
 One certain fact remains of that which the 
 vice-admiral wrote, and that is that the czar 
 and those of his entourage were surprised by 
 the entry of the Rumanian Army into Transyl- 
 
 106 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 vania; that, therefore, there was another plan 
 known to the Russian staff — the offensive in 
 Bulgaria. Herewith are the words of the 
 former chief of the Rumanian staff, the one 
 who had the responsibility, the conception, and 
 the execution of the war plan : 
 
 The Russian Government submitted to us an 
 elaborated plan of campaign in which the probable 
 role of Bulgaria was not taken into account. At 
 our objection Mr. Boris Sturmer, then the president 
 of the council, replied that never would Bulgaria be 
 willing to fight against Russia. Then we asked for 
 two hundred thousand men of the Russian troops for 
 the Dobrudja front. We were told that twenty thou- 
 sand men would amply suffice for a demonstration of 
 a purely political character. Twice our staff de- 
 manded that the Russian Government commence by an 
 operation against Bulgaria, which would have taken 
 the form of the occupation of a strip of land on the 
 right banks of the Danube. The taking of Roust- 
 chouk would have been security for our capital. The 
 French staff shared entirely our opinion but Russia 
 placed upon this an absolute veto.^ 
 
 iComnene, op. cit., p. 169. 
 
 107 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 This declaration was made to the representa- 
 tives of the press in April, 1917. 
 
 In the "Figaro" of July 7, 1917, under the 
 signature of "Polybe," we read: 
 
 I have acquired the conviction, having seen the 
 official papers, that the principal mistakes of strategy 
 and of general tactics which have been committed by 
 the staff of Bukharest were advised, if not dictated, 
 by the Russian StavJca and the Government of Petro- 
 grad. 
 
 Which one of these two hypotheses is the 
 true one? Either this bad plan was the work 
 of General Iliesco or it was imposed by Rus- 
 sia? It is difficult to know the truth; but if 
 the first hypothesis is true, it proves that Gen- 
 eral Iliesco was not a big enough man for this 
 position; if the second hypothesis is true, it 
 proves that Mr. Bratiano and his chief of staff 
 were guilty of having accepted a plan of war 
 imposed upon them when the very existence 
 of the country was at stake. 
 
 We must leave to specialists to appreciate 
 108 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 which of these two plans would have been the 
 better, and we must recognize from circum- 
 stances that the result would have been the 
 same whether the offensive was carried against 
 Bulgaria or whether it was carried against 
 Austria. Had the Kumanian Army pene- 
 trated into Bulgaria, leaving small forces on 
 the offensive on the side of the Carpathians, 
 Russia would have had the same attitude to- 
 wards Rumania, the Army of Saloniki would 
 not have been any more energetic, on the other 
 fronts there would have been the same calm; 
 that is to say, Rumania would have been left 
 alone just as she has been, and then the 
 Rumanian Army would have found itself in 
 Bulgaria facing the forces of Mackensen, and 
 nothing would have prevented Falkenhayn, 
 who was in Transylvania, from entering 
 Rumania by the passes of the Carpathians and 
 then covering all the lines of retreat of the 
 Rumanian Army. If the whole of the Ruma- 
 nian Army was not able to resist in the Car- 
 
 109 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 pathians the drives of Falkenhayn, how could 
 one beheve that only a part of this army could 
 have had any better result? Perhaps if there 
 had been an offensive in Bulgaria the whole of 
 the Rumanian Army would have been made 
 prisoners, crushed between the forces of Mac- 
 kensen and Falkenhayn and abandoned by 
 Russia. According to the plans already exe- 
 cuted, a work imposed by the Russian Govern- 
 ment or made by General Iliesco, the Ruma- 
 nian Army was at least able to withdraw on the 
 S^reth and to prove its courage and resist- 
 ance ; at least it has escaped the ridiculous posi- 
 tion of being enveloped on every side by the 
 enemy and obliged to surrender. 
 
 WANT OF MATERIAL PREPARATION 
 
 The material preparation of the army was 
 wholly incomplete. 
 
 Heavy artillery, aviation, machine-guns, have the 
 mastery in war. Despite this, after two years' reflec- 
 tion, — years so fertile in lessons, — the national army 
 
 110 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 had only, all told, eight old 150's, some 105's, and 
 75's in rather insignificant numbers. There were 
 munitions stored for about three months, and these 
 insufficiencies all flowed from the same principle 
 falsely preconceived, the powerlessness of the ad- 
 versary to parry. Thus before starting to fight the 
 army carried within itself one element of her defeat. 
 But Brussilov had just annihilated in Galicia 600,000 
 Austro-Hungarians ; on the Somme the English and 
 the French were decimating the German divisions ; 
 before Gorizia, the Duke of Aosta was cutting to 
 pieces the army of General Buroevic. Presumption 
 gave birth to failure. Will one ever be able to say 
 how much, especially among those of our allies who 
 are the most Latin, how much we have lowered our- 
 selves by misconstruing in a systematic manner the 
 qualities of an enemy? 
 
 As for the technical personnel, neither the officers 
 nor their men had learned the latest perfections in 
 tactics. The defilement of a battery, the lifting of 
 a barrage ... so many procedures which have be- 
 come the classics on our lines, but which remain un- 
 known at Bukharest. A war in the mountains, it is 
 true, lends itself poorly to the application of new 
 procedures, but as early as October they were fight- 
 ing in the plains, and one saw then the incredible in- 
 experience of the artillery. How many times did it 
 
 111 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 not happen under the steady bombardment of the 
 Germans, as at Zinnicea, that our unfortunate allies 
 could not even form a battery. And seeing the waves 
 of assault rushing behind movable barrage of artil- 
 lery, the defenders of the city remained stupefied. 
 As for aviation, it did n't even exist ; several out-of- 
 date equipments without value. Thus for several 
 months the Rumanians knew nothing of what was hap- 
 pening with the adversary, and he, on the contrary, 
 was perfectly posted. The arrival of the French 
 escadrille overcame this cause of inferiority at least. 
 The same remarks can be made on the subject of 
 the sanitary corps, the transportations, and the effi- 
 ciency of the railroads. Truly one might think that 
 two years of neutrality served for nothing. The 
 country possessed a large and disciplined army, but 
 not an effort was made to adapt it to the new 
 exigencies. The staff was ignorant even of a trench, 
 thus calling holes that were incapable of any pro- 
 tection. And one single shot of a 77 bearing upon a 
 shelter brought about a general crumbling up. It 
 was, then, necessary to teach officers the art of cam- 
 paign fortification. . . . Everywhere there was the 
 same negligence. The committee on general safety 
 was incapable of doing its task and did not know, or 
 was unwilling to, how to repress spying, an evil too 
 well-known in France for us to ignore its ravages. 
 
 112 
 
<V (U 
 
 a 
 
IIS 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 But if the beginnings of the Rumanian Army were 
 sad, the continuation became more discomforting.^ 
 
 These observations, made with great com- 
 petency, are unfortunately very just. 
 
 General Iliesco made the following declara- 
 tion to the Prussian representative in April, 
 1917: 
 
 Early in the beginning of the great war Rumania 
 felt sure that she would have to enter into the war by 
 the side of the Allies. Already, in the month of 
 August, 1914, we had began to prepare and re- 
 organize our army. It was an arduous task and a 
 long one. From 180,000 men we had to bring our 
 army to 820,000 men, out of which 560,000 were 
 fighting men. Our list of officers had to be tripled. 
 We had neither munitions nor machine-guns. 
 
 Therefore, — ^let not this affirmation surprise you, 
 — in July, 1916, taking into consideration the im- 
 mense difficulties of transportation and of communi- 
 cations with our Western allies, Rumania, who, how- 
 ever, had worked without ceasing, "was not ready." ^ 
 
 General Rudeanu, head of the Rumanian 
 
 1 Stienon, op. cit., p. 319. 
 
 2 Comnene, op. cit., p. 168. 
 
 114< 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 Military Mission to Paris, declared also that 
 Rumania commenced the war without great 
 armament, but ''with the confidence that we 
 had in France." ^ 
 
 These declarations, far from having the char- 
 acter of a justification, constitute, on the con- 
 trary, one of the irrefutable proofs of the 
 weakness with which the Government presided 
 over by Mr. Bratiano conducted itself during 
 the gravest moments in the history of this coun- 
 try. 
 
 This Government has frivolously declared 
 through two authorized organs that it de- 
 clared war on Austria-Hungary without the 
 army being ready. It must be understood that 
 the want of sufficient preparation has not con- 
 stituted the cause of the Rumanian defeat, but 
 a good material preparation would have proved 
 the earnestness of the Government, and the 
 army would have been in a better position to 
 resist the attacks of the enemy; this want of 
 
 1 See p. 12. 
 
 116 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 prepaTation could not contribute to the cause 
 of the defeat because it was impossible for Ru- 
 mania to resist alone those who attacked her. 
 
 General Hiritesco, former Second Chief of 
 the General Staff of the Rumanian Army and, 
 with General Averesco and Her j en, one of the 
 wisest and most brilliant of Rumanian gen- 
 erals, said in the council of generals that it is 
 absolute folly to believe that one could possibly 
 fight on two fronts totaling 800 miles with an 
 army of from 500,000 to 600,000 men even 
 though they were the very best that the world 
 could provide and armed sufficiently with the 
 completest modern instruments of war. 
 
 Rumania is a small and isolated country. 
 Her army could not be valuable except with the 
 immediate and complete help of the Russian 
 armies; but fatality, or rather Petrograd, was 
 not willing that the Russian Army should move 
 at the very moment when Rumania was playing 
 the most dangerous game. 
 
 116 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 WANT OF MORAL PREPARATION 
 
 But what do we understand by moral prep- 
 aration? "The Rumanians lacked also the 
 hatred of the enemy." ^ 
 
 To explain this thesis one of the critics of the 
 author of "Le Mystere Roumain et la Defec- 
 tion Russe" states that the Rumanian soldier 
 had no reproach for the Turks, the Bulgarians, 
 or the Germans ; that they had only antipathy 
 for the Hungarians as illegitimate possessors 
 of Transylvania. "Neither hatred nor ideal 
 led them to it." 
 
 These observations might lead one to be- 
 lieve that the Rumanian soldier fought reluc- 
 tantly, that he was wavering, without bravery 
 and without resistance; but Mr. Stienon does 
 not draw these conclusions ; on the contrary, he 
 recognized at every step in his excellent book 
 the bravery and the sacrifice of the Rumanian 
 soldier. "I believe," he says, "that I have 
 
 1 Stienon, op. cit., p. 318. 
 
 117 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 neglected no occasion to praise the individual 
 valor of the Rumanian soldier. I recognize 
 that the morale preparation of the soldier to 
 hate his enemy is useful — though it is not indis- 
 pensable. But the failure to do so does not 
 constitute a cause for the Rumanian defeat." ^ 
 It might happen that the preparation of the 
 soldier to hate or to love his future probable 
 enemy or ally is useless and even dangerous. 
 One never knows the attitude which those in 
 power of a country may take sometimes at the 
 last moment. Bulgaria gave a striking ex- 
 ample of such a case. There the people were 
 brought up to love and respect "Holy Russia." 
 The least among the Bulgarians knew that 
 Russia had liberated them from the yoke of the 
 Turks and had always protected them. This 
 sentiment of love and gratitude was so deep 
 that in Russia everybody believed before the 
 war that never would a Bulgarian soldier dare 
 to touch a soldier of the Russian czar. And 
 
 iStienon, op. cit 319. 
 
 118 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 even in Bulgaria they feared the effect of such 
 an education; on the other hand an element of 
 the Bulgarian religion tried to inspire hatred 
 among the Bulgarian population against the 
 Rumanians. 
 
 Nevertheless in the struggles v^^hich took 
 place in Dobrudja, the Bulgarian soldiers 
 fought with the same bitterness against the 
 Russians as against the Rumanians and the 
 
 1 Mr. Oscar Spiresco published in November, 1917, in the 
 New York newspapers an article in which he writes, among 
 other things: "I have read with interest in the Press of No- 
 vember 10 an excerpt of the Bulgarian 'Hymn of Hate,' 
 which reveals to the world the real mind of the Bulgarian peo- 
 ple. Quite futile it is for the Bulgarian minister in Washing- 
 ton to dismiss this damning revelation of the Bulgarian mind 
 by saying that the author of the Bulgarian 'Hymn of Hate' is 
 an unknown scrivener and that this hymn is an obscure utter- 
 ance, for of all Bulgarian authors, Ivan ArnaudofF is one of 
 the most widely read and best qualified to express the spirit of 
 Bulgaria. In fact, for the very reason that Mr. Arnaudofif is 
 a leader of Bulgarian thought he enjoys his high position as 
 a member of the Bulgarian Board of Education. Ivan Arnau- 
 dofF is the mentor of his people, the Kipling of Bulgaria, and 
 well has he caught the spirit of his race in the demoniacal words 
 of the Bulgarian 'Hymn of Hate': 'Let not one stone rest on 
 another. Let not one child rejoice; not one old man lean on 
 his grandson's shoulders. Throw their skulls to the starving 
 dogs; let there remain on the ruins your hand has sown only 
 skeletons and ghosts.'" 
 
 119 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Serbs ; and it is important to remember that the 
 soldier and the Bulgarian population showed 
 themselves just as ferocious against the Rus- 
 sian prisoners as against the Serbian or Ru- 
 manian. They did not hesitate to disembowel, 
 to put out the eyes, to cut out the tongue, or to 
 allow their prisoners to die of hunger, whether 
 they were Rumanians, whether they were 
 Serbs, or whether they were Russians. 
 
 But the Rumanian soldier has never known 
 or hated the German soldier. Nevertheless he 
 threw himself with bayonet in hand against the 
 Germans with the same spirit as against the 
 Hungarian or the Bulgarian, sowing death 
 among them without any hesitation; but the 
 difference between the Rumanian and the Bul- 
 garian lies in the fact that after the battle is 
 over the Rumanian is never capable of touching 
 his prisoner may he be Hungarian, Turk, or 
 Bulgarian; on the contrary, he takes care of 
 him, and he yields him willingly, if necessary, 
 his last piece of bread, content with having re- 
 
 120 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 lieved the sufferings of one who has been con- 
 quered. Should a Rumanian officer dare to 
 give the order to his troops to massacre the 
 prisoners, the women, the children, or the old 
 men of the enemy, surely his order would be dis- 
 obeyed by that very army which excels else- 
 where in its discipline. Advise the Rumanian 
 soldier to escape to the enemy, to no longer lis- 
 ten to his leaders, to betray his native land, all 
 this is useless ; he does not listen. During this 
 war one single Rumanian officer deserted to the 
 enemy, but he went alone. No one was willing 
 to follow him, not even his orderly, who was 
 driving the automobile as chauffeur and who 
 refused to enter the enemy lines, preferring to 
 be killed by his superior officer rather than to 
 betray his duty as soldier. Trotzky has had 
 the pretension to introduce Maximalism into 
 Rumania. His agents did their utmost to cor- 
 rupt the Rumanian soldiers, to have them de- 
 sert their duty, but with no success. 
 
 The Rumanian soldier is not only the work 
 121 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 of discipline ; it is rather his personal character 
 that guides him. Each nation, or rather each 
 race, has characteristics inherited from its an- 
 cestors and influenced more or less by circum- 
 stances in the past of its people. The Bul- 
 garian is brave and ferocious because it is a 
 characteristic of his to be so; the Rumanian is 
 brave and gentle for the same reason ; each one 
 of these retains the characteristics of his ances- 
 tors. The Rumanian soldier is profoundly 
 conscientious. Even before the war, during 
 the mobilization of 1913, also of 1916, the peas- 
 ant gave startling proofs of his great patriot- 
 ism. As an example we will cite but two cases 
 of the thousands that took place. Electrified 
 by the clarion which calls he leaves everything 
 and runs to place himself under the flag. The 
 Bukharests have noted with enthusiasm the 
 case of a peasant who was the conductor of a 
 tramway. He was in the principal street of 
 Bukharest as a group of recruits was passing; 
 the bugle was announcing in all the streets the 
 
 12S 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 general mobilization. The conductor stopped 
 his car, left everybody seated therein, and went 
 to place himself in the ranks of those who were 
 mobilized. 
 
 At Sinaia, as a peasant was passing peace- 
 fully with his cart loaded with merchandise, he 
 heard the clarion calling to arms. He leaves 
 his cart, begs the first passer-by to drive it back 
 to his home, and enters the group of recruits, 
 although he yet had forty-eight hours' time in 
 which to report to his regiment. 
 
 It is noticeable that in all the mobilization 
 only three or four per cent, failed to answer the 
 call. 
 
 The Rumanian peasant is conscientious, in- 
 telhgent, and always ready to face death. It 
 does not frighten him. It is not necessary for 
 him to hate the enemy in order to be able to 
 fight. All that he needs is to know that his 
 country calls him, that he must fight for her, 
 for this land which he so loves, and that is all; 
 he has understood; he knows how to do his 
 
 123 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 duty; he fights, indifferent if his enemy is Hun- 
 garian, Bulgarian, or Russian. This has been 
 largely proved during this war. The Ru- 
 manian soldier has fought with the same hero- 
 ism against the Bulgarians, the Turks, the 
 Germans, the Austro-Hungarians, and when 
 at last he had to fight against the Russians, his 
 companions of yesterday, he struck them with 
 such ardor that they were forced to surrender 
 or take to flight. A soldier must be filled with 
 the desire to do his duty, to sacrifice himself for 
 his native land. His ideal must be to respond 
 with courage and abnegation to the call of his 
 country, and it is that which constituted the 
 moral education, that he has his ideals for which 
 he sacrifices himself without a murmur and 
 without bitterness. 
 
 Before this world war one might have be- 
 lieved that the faculty of facing death belonged 
 rather to the least civilized people, those least 
 capable of reasoning, to those people with more 
 
 124 
 
CAUSES OF THE RUMANIAN DEFEAT 
 
 or less warlike education; one could have be- 
 lieved that the man of to-day, accustomed to a 
 more intellectual and more agreeable life, 
 would not be capable of enduring the miseries 
 of a war. 
 
 But this war has given us great surprises; 
 heroism has manifested itself everywhere, 
 among all the peoples in the struggle; and the 
 surprise is all the greater when we see that the 
 army of the United States, organized at one 
 stroke among men educated specially in indus- 
 try, commerce, agriculture, business, — this 
 young army of a civilized country, civilized 
 from top to bottom and from bottom to top, — 
 conducts itself on the field of battle with an 
 enthusiasm and a heroism which equals that of 
 the most brilliant armies of warlike countries. 
 
 The Russians alone have not reached this 
 height, although this population is the least 
 civilized and the least happy. But what can 
 a people do when badly led? The true Rus- 
 sian soldier is good when he is well disciplined 
 
 125 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 and well led. Perhaps there is yet time, for 
 certain things may happen to bring out the 
 patriotism of the true Russians who are to-day 
 scattered without leadership, but who to-mor- 
 row may redeem by their sacrifices so many 
 errors and so many crimes. 
 
 126 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE STRUGGLE WITH THE RUS- 
 SIANS AND THE GERMAN 
 ULTIMATUM 
 
 THE Bolsheviki, not content with all the 
 misfortunes which Russia had caused 
 Rumania, gave the order for their army to 
 leave Rumania. This retreat finished the pil- 
 lage and the devastation of the country ; at the 
 same time the Rumanian minister at Petrograd 
 was arrested, King Ferdinand was threatened 
 with arrest if Rumania did not consent to make 
 peace with the Central powers on the side of 
 the Bolsheviki. Rumania refused this ulti- 
 matum of one ally, and then a Russian army of 
 several divisions advanced against Rumania. 
 Immediately a part of the Rumanian Army 
 was detached from the Sereth front and sent 
 against Russia. 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Many battles took place between the Rus- 
 sians and the Rumanians near Galatz. The 
 Rumanian soldiers attacked with great en- 
 thusiasm the Russians, who were forced to 
 withdraw into Bessarabia. The Rumanians 
 pursued them, and a great battle took place 
 near Reiney in Bessarabia; 20,000 Russians 
 were made prisoners; the rest of the Russian 
 Army withdrew in disorder, leaving a great 
 deal of ammunition in the hands of the Ru- 
 manians. 
 
 All of Bessarabia was occupied by the troops 
 of King Ferdinand, and the Rumanian flag 
 was raised on the public buildings of the towns 
 and villages of Bessarabia. 
 
 The Bolsheviki protested against this occu- 
 pation, threatening to send against Rumania 
 much larger forces ; at the same time the armis- 
 tice between Rumania and the Central powers 
 had expired, and they were sending an ulti- 
 matum to Rumania to determine whether she 
 wanted to make peace or continue the war to 
 
 128 
 
^MiMi 
 
 imiMm 
 
THE STRUGGLE WITH THE RUSSIANS 
 
 the bitter end. Herewith is the opinion of the 
 French press upon this great event. 
 
 "Journal des Debats," February 11, 1918 
 (A. Gauvin). 
 
 We feel deeply for our brave Rumanian friends in 
 this, their new trial. We should send them rather 
 encouragement than counsel, for one can hardly well 
 appreciate the situation except on the spot. The 
 communications of the West with Jassy and Kief are 
 so slow and subjected to so many risks that we miss 
 the most precious elements of appreciation. Never- 
 theless, it is more than likely that Rumania is not 
 exposed to an immediate offensive. The enemies' 
 troops are not very numerous in comparison to the 
 troops of King Ferdinand. They are probably not 
 in a condition to bring about a decisive stroke. The 
 Rumanian Government appears, then, to have time 
 to appreciate the possibilities open to it. If it is 
 more reassured on the Russian side, it might certainly 
 hold, at least during some time, against the Bulgaro- 
 Touranians. If it should be attacked also on the 
 side of Ukraine, one dares not think of the extremi- 
 ties to which it would be reduced. 
 
 "Le Temps," Febmary 11, 1918 (Edito- 
 rial). 
 
 129 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 The role of Rumania, which has not been very 
 grievous for these long months past, is becoming 
 again important. This is the desired policy of the 
 enemy, affirmed by the parleying of Brest-Litovsk and 
 confirmed by the resolutions of Berlin. 
 
 The governments of Germany and Austria-Hun- 
 gary are in haste to grasp the provisions of Ukraine. 
 They think, probably, that the best means to defend 
 their people against the Maximalist propaganda is to 
 feed them better. But between the Central powers 
 and the port of Odessa, where the shipment of wheat 
 to reach the Danube might take place, there exists a 
 much more serious obstacle than the Maximalist an- 
 archy against which the German newspapers fulmi- 
 nate; there is Rumania, that is to say, an organized 
 state, a patriotic nation, a robust army, which is 
 wanting neither in officers nor in material of war. 
 Thus it is not surprising that General Mackensen has 
 called upon Rumania to negotiate peace. He would 
 like to set aside the watchman who is in front of the 
 granary. The summons sent to the Rumanians is an 
 attempt at intimidation rather than an attack. 
 
 But we must consider all the hypotheses, even the 
 one that Rumania should really be obliged to choose 
 between a war to the bitter end or a separate peace. 
 
 One cannot compromise with pitiless masters like 
 the Austro-Germans. Valiant Rumania, who has a 
 
 130 
 
THE STRUGGLE WITH THE RUSSIANS 
 
 right to her liberty and her unity, has but one policy 
 to follow — that which Mr. Orlando defined after the 
 enemy offensive of Venetia, when he exclaimed, "Re- 
 sistere, resistere, resisterel" ^ 
 
 "Le Petit Journal," February 10, 1918. 
 
 One has not forgotten that Rumania has adhered 
 to the armistice which united the whole of the Rus- 
 sian front. But the heroic Rumanian Army, which 
 has a strength of several hundred thousand men, the 
 Rumanian Government, the King and Queen of Ru- 
 mania, in a unanimous burst of patriotism have held 
 themselves aside from the negotiations of Russia with 
 the Central empires. 
 
 By holding themselves as they have done until now 
 they have forced Germany and her Allies to hold 
 themselves motionless far from the Western front, 
 both men and material. 
 
 In order to give all freedom of action to his king, 
 Mr. Jean Bratiano, president of the council, who has 
 been in power during the past four years, and who on 
 the twenty-ninth of August, 1916, had associated 
 Rumania with the destinies of France and her allies, 
 has just handed in his resignation. 
 
 At this hour so tragic in her destiny Rumania can- 
 
 1 N. A. The advice is good, but one should have wherewith 
 to eat in order to follow it. 
 
 ISl 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 not ignore, no more than she has already done since 
 the day when the grievous hours commenced for her, 
 that to yield to her enemies is not to appease them, 
 but it is to render their appetite more insatiable. 
 
 Let us await what her wisdom and her heroism shall 
 dictate to her. 
 
 "L'Homme Libre," February 10, 1918. 
 
 From Paris it is difficult for us to judge exactly 
 the situation of Rumania and her army. This army, 
 well rehabilitated, guards jealously the soil which 
 the Austro-Boches have hesitated to attempt to take 
 away from her. The ultimatum to Rumania, like an 
 ultimatum to the Government of Petrograd, demands 
 troops and material. On the Rumanian front, moun- 
 tainous and difficult, any advance appears yet more 
 hazardous. 
 
 It remains to be known what is the state of revic- 
 tualizing this army in provisions and munitions ; 
 there are unknown questions and difficult to solve, the 
 reply of King Ferdinand alone will show the value. 
 
 Whilst Trotsky seeks to enter upon "the game of 
 secret documents" with the German Government, as he 
 did with us, to the profit of our enemies, King Ferdi- 
 nand prepares at Jassy the reply to the Mackensen 
 ultimatum. Awaiting this decision, France can only 
 remind herself of the valor of her unfortunate ally. 
 
 isa 
 
THE STRUGGLE WITH THE RUSSIANS 
 
 "Echo de Paris," February 11, 1918 (Per- 
 tinax). 
 
 All our thoughts are with Rumania. We must 
 hope that, despite her critical condition, the army, 
 with an eifective force greatly superior to all those 
 who are opposed to her, upheld rather than weakened 
 by the heroic sacrifices already sustained, will remain 
 faithful to the duties of her alliance. The last 
 thought of the French cabinet and, without doubt, 
 of the other Allied cabinets, has been expressed to 
 King Ferdinand and to his counselors. The decision 
 rests with their consciences. 
 
 The German policy displays at this moment a su- 
 preme attempt to obtain the disarmament of the only 
 great force which yet threatens between the Carpath- 
 ians and the Ural. 
 
 "La Victoire," Februarjr 10, 1918 (Gustave 
 
 Herve). 
 
 Poor Rumania ! That Ukraine should anger us, 
 we, the great major democracies of the West, Eng- 
 land, Italy, France, and America, we are large 
 enough after this treason not only to defend ourselves 
 against Germany, but to bring her to her knees. 
 
 It is cowardly of Ukraine to stab in the back the 
 heroic Rumanian Army, which, with her back to the 
 
 llSS 
 
 n 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 frontiers of southern Russia, awaited against all hope 
 a resurrection of the Russian Army in the fight. 
 
 By her capitulation Ukraine delivers the Rumanian 
 Army, hands and feet bound, to Germany. Reduced 
 to a quarter of her territory, Rumania could only con- 
 tinue to fight if Southern Russia continued to revict- 
 ualize her at the expense of the Allies both as to food 
 and munitions. By withdrawing from the breeches 
 with this absolute irresponsibility the Ukrainians drive 
 unfortunate Rumania to capitulate herself. 
 
 Already it is announced that the President of the 
 Rumanian Council, Bratiano, has handed in his resig- 
 nation and that Mackensen has just sent an ultimatum 
 to the Rumanian Government to demand the conclud- 
 ing of peace within four days. 
 
 It is gay, when one is a little nation, to be our ally ! 
 
 It is gay, when one is a great nation, to be the ally 
 of Russia ! 
 
 "La Victoire," Febmaiy 11, 1918 (Gustave 
 Herve) . 
 
 Is there anything more frightful than the situation 
 of Rumania since Ukraine has consented to kiss the 
 German boot? 
 
 Neither the situation of unfortunate Serbia nor 
 the situation of unhappy Belgium has anything to 
 be compared to this ! 
 
 134< 
 
THE STRUGGLE WITH THE RUSSIANS 
 
 Independent Serbia is reduced to a shred of terri- 
 tory in the vicinity of Monastir; but the Serbian 
 army, solidly flanked and surrounded by English, Ital- 
 ian, Greek and French troops, can await, without 
 fear, and without despair, the hour of vengeance. 
 
 Since October, 1916, there is left of free Belgium 
 only a few hundred kilometers in the neighborhood of 
 the Yser, occupied by the Belgian army, but encom- 
 passed solidly by the English and French troops ; the 
 noble little army knows well that the hour of deliver- 
 ance will ring for the whole of Belgium and that she 
 will enter one day in triumph into Ghent, into Ant- 
 werp, into Brussels, and into Liege. 
 
 The fate of the Rumanian Army is otherwise 
 atrocious. 
 
 To-day it is a blow with a club on her rear. 
 Ukraine makes peace with the Central empires, and 
 Mackensen gives her four days to surrender. If 
 unhappy Rumania, betrayed by the Ukrainians, has 
 been driven to capitulate, it is not she who should 
 be blamed, but those who have reduced her to this 
 harsh extremity. 
 
 To see an Allied nation assassinated and to be 
 powerless to bring her any direct aid, what a heart- 
 ache for all the Western Allies ! And more particu- 
 larly for us Frenchmen who have so many causes to 
 love this new martyred people !" 
 
 135 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 "Le Figaro," February 11, 1918 (Polybe). 
 
 The Rumanian Army, on the contrary, has never 
 yet been more strong, better disciplined, or better 
 provided with artillery. In the course of a long and 
 frightful tragedy she has given proof of a tried en- 
 durance and of a valor worthy of an epic poem. 
 Some one said one day that she was making but a 
 "half war." It is a whole war that she has fought 
 against the "Quadruplice," and, alas, also against 
 the Russian troops. A few divisions are established 
 solidly in Bessarabia, a region as fertile as Ukraine, 
 with infinite fields of wheat, rich fields where are pas- 
 tured herds of ostriches. Never has glory made 
 more of a halo for the "head of Auroch" in the coat 
 of arms of Moldavia ! Mackensen, I acknowledge, 
 plays his game, but while playing it he allows his 
 cards to be seen! 
 
 This should be enough to dictate to the Entente 
 her duty. There are no circumstances in the world 
 where it should await events. Everywhere there is 
 something to be done; at Jassy, at Petrograd, and 
 again elsewhere. There is something to be done with- 
 out delay for all the peoples of the Entente. Japan 
 is one of these people ; it is the "Empire of the Rising 
 Sun." Will she permit that another sun shall rise 
 out of the shadow to mount the heavens of extreme 
 Asia? 
 
 136 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 RUMANIA AND PEACE 
 
 RUMANIA has concluded a peace — a 
 peace imposed, but not desired. 
 Isolated and without help, unable to obtain 
 food or materials of war, the Rumanian Army 
 found itself squeezed in front by Mackensen, 
 strangled in the rear by Russia, and menaced 
 on the north by German forces, which operated 
 on the Russian front, but which had been lib- 
 erated by the desertion of the army of Lenine. 
 The disaster was complete; all was lost save 
 honor: we did retain the honor of our valiant 
 army, which had struggled with heroism 
 against the enemy, against its own ally, and 
 against all manner of privations; we still kept 
 
 137 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 the admiration of the whole world for this brave 
 population which suffered with resignation the 
 invasion of the enemy, sickness without medical 
 help, starvation, and pillage by the Russian 
 Army. 
 
 The government of Bratiano, which with 
 Take Jonesco, made the war, became fright- 
 ened at the result of their acts, resigned and fled 
 at the critical moment ; the king then appealed 
 to Mr. Marghiloman, chief of the Conservative 
 party, in order that he might take up the re- 
 sponsibility of the situation. He accepted this 
 charge and concluded a peace. Mr. Marghilo- 
 man has been from the very beginning of the 
 European War constantly on the side of neu- 
 trality. 
 
 A protest of several Rumanian organizations 
 against the Treaty of Bukharest was received 
 from Paris through official French channels. 
 The dispatch follows : 
 
 A protest against the Treaty of Bukharest, signed 
 by the committee of the Paris Rumanian colony, by 
 
 188 
 
RUMANIA AND PEACE 
 
 the committee of Rumanians from Transylvania and 
 Bukowina, and by the delegates of the Committee of 
 Oppressed Nationalities says : 
 
 "The Rumanian people have been crossed from the 
 list of free nations. The peace imposed upon Ru- 
 mania by the Central powers is the very negation of 
 the political and economic independence of our coun- 
 try. It is an act of hatred and vengeance done with 
 violence and with utter disregard of the most ele- 
 mentary principles of justice. 
 
 "might succeeds over bight 
 
 "The Rumanian people cannot accept it. Her 
 enemies imposed upon her what they call a peace 
 based on German friendship. In fact, it is the most 
 cruel and insulting subjection: military subjection 
 through the loss of the Carpathian range; political 
 subjection through German interference in all the 
 great state administrations; commercial subjection 
 through the theft of Dobrudja, the only maritime 
 province of Rumania, and through the domination 
 established by the Germans over the Danubian naviga- 
 tion; industrial subjection through the monopoly of 
 the most important mineral wealth of the country — 
 the oils ; financial subjection through the control 
 established by the Germans over the chief product of 
 the country — cereals. 
 
 139 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 "Such is the political and economic slavery to 
 which the Germans intend to subject Rumania. 
 Might succeeded over right. Germany has trampled 
 under foot the sacred principles of liberty and jus- 
 tice for which all nations, united, fight. 
 
 FREE RUMANIANS PROTEST 
 
 The free Rumanians who live in the land of noble 
 France raise their voices in protest against the 
 monstrous crime. The Bukharest act is not a peace 
 treaty ; it is an evident contradiction of the idea 
 of peace as the civilized world understands it. The 
 clauses of this treaty excluded very plainly the free 
 consent of Rumania. It is one more act of hard vio- 
 lence imposed by a pitiless enemy. 
 
 The Rumanian people, left without arms before the 
 German bayonets, no more enjoying any freedom in 
 their actions and opinions, cannot express a protest 
 against this peace of spoliation and subjection. But 
 they turn to their great allies in full confidence and 
 hope. The interests of the Rumanian nation are 
 solidly with those of the great Western democracies. 
 Rumania at the door of the Balkan Peninsula, is the 
 only barrier against German invasion toward the 
 south and toward Asia. In the name of the Ru- 
 manian people we declare that to-day as yesterday 
 we are the allies of the Entente powers, and we pro- 
 
 140 
 
RUMANIA AND PEACE 
 
 claim that the Treaty of Bukharest, with all classes 
 and added conventions, is null and void.^ 
 
 It is true that peace under the conditions im- 
 posed is disastrous for Rumania, but what else 
 could be done ? 
 
 The question was how to keep out of this mis- 
 erable situation. By the time peace was con- 
 cluded, the disaster was complete. All Mr. 
 Marghiloman could accomplish was to salvage 
 bits from the wreckage. 
 
 By this peace Rumania loses in the first place 
 Dobrudja, which is a large part of her territory, 
 comprising the land between the Danube and 
 the Black Sea, where Kustendje is situated, 
 her only deep-sea port. 
 
 Rumania, by reason of her geographical po- 
 sition, had as sole communication for her ex- 
 ports to Western Europe two ways, one by rail 
 across Austria-Hungary, the other by the 
 Black Sea. The first route is too costly and 
 places her at the mercy of Hungary, who will 
 
 1 From the New York "Tribune," May 30, 1918. 
 141 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 cause worse difficulties henceforth than in the 
 past; the second remains — through the Black 
 Sea. 
 
 By the treaty of peace New Dobrudja passes 
 into the hands of Bulgaria, and the northern 
 part, Ancient Dobrudja, goes to the Central 
 powers. 
 
 Ancient Dobrudja belonged to Rumania 
 (Wallachia) before the fourteenth century; 
 later it fell under the domination of the Turks 
 and afterwards was ceded to Rumania in 1878 
 by the Congress of Berlin. It had a popula- 
 tion of 300,000, of which 70 per cent, were 
 Rumanians ; the rest were composed of Turks, 
 Bulgarians, Germans, and Itahans. In 1913 
 by the peace of Bukharest Rumania obtained a 
 small part of Bulgaria, about 5000 square 
 miles, known under the name of New Do- 
 brudja. In this region the Rumanian element 
 is in the minority, the majority of the popula- 
 tion being Turks and Bulgarians. 
 
 Rumania spent large sums of money for the 
 142 
 
RUMANIA AND PEACE 
 
 development of Ancient Dobrudja. The Tur- 
 kish villages were transformed into fine cities. 
 The village of Kustendje became a first-class 
 port. Bridges, railroads, schools, hospitals, 
 etc., opened great possibilities in this province. 
 
 Great installations for the depots of grain 
 and petroleum destined for export were made 
 at Kustendje, and this port was bound to the 
 centers of the country by a pipe-line. Do- 
 brudja represented the lungs of Rumania. 
 She could breathe ; she had no access to the sea 
 except here. 
 
 Besides all this, Rumania had to submit to 
 rectifications of boundaries on the side of Hun- 
 gary; the conditions are not as yet known; but 
 the demands will no doubt include her great 
 wealth of forests, petroleum, and minerals. 
 
 It is true that the treaty of peace is made 
 without "indemnities" of war, but the value of 
 the land annexed is so great that it outweighs 
 any indemnity. The formula "No annexa- 
 tions, no indemnities," adopted in March, 1917, 
 
 143 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 by the Reichstag, and even by the chancelors 
 Michaelis and Hertling, has been completely 
 set aside on the occasion of this unfortunate 
 peace. Besides annexation the Central powers 
 reserve for themselves the right of requisition 
 of all kinds of food on the production of 1918 
 and many more humiliating and burdensome 
 conditions. 
 
 It is understood that this peace had produced 
 great satisfaction in the military-political cir- 
 cles of Austria and Germany, but we doubt 
 if it made the same impression on the industrial 
 and commercial circles of these two countries. 
 Rumania has been one of their best customers. 
 She imports each year merchandise to the value 
 of 590,012,640 lei (which represents approxi- 
 mately $100,100,000) and from Germany 
 alone she buys 237,810,146 lei worth, from 
 Austria 138,122,076 lei worth. 
 
 At the same time German capital con- 
 tributed greatly to the home manufactures of 
 Rumania, establishing factories in the country, 
 
 144 
 
RUMANIA AND PEACE 
 
 thus avoiding the heavy taxes which had been 
 imposed by the Rumanian Government to pro- 
 tect these newly estabhshed industries, as well 
 as in the production of petroleum. Germany 
 and Austria should have, then, no interest in 
 crushing a country which had been one of their 
 best markets and exceedingly profitable for the 
 capital. 
 
 By the loss of Dobrudja Rumania is closed 
 in on every side, with no access to the sea, and 
 she is condemned to a sure and slow death. 
 She cannot recover from her disaster. 
 
 Whatever may be the conditions, even if they 
 should be outrageous, even if they should take away 
 her outlets and her independence, Rumania will sign 
 peace, for she cannot do otherwise. There will prob- 
 ably be some people who will find in themselves the 
 sad courage to reproach her for this. As for us, we 
 bow with respect before her misfortune.^ 
 
 We herewith reproduce the text of the treaty 
 of peace published in an American newspaper, 
 "The New York Times," May 9, 1918: 
 
 1 "Journal de Geneve," March 1918 (Wm. M.). 
 
 145 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 RUMANIA SHACKLED BY TREATY 
 WITH FOE 
 
 Text of the Document shows the Kingdom is com- 
 pletely under Teuton domination 
 
 JOY EXPRESSED BY KAISER 
 
 He sajs the German people are fighting step by step 
 for a happy future 
 
 The peace treaty just signed between Rumania and 
 the Central powers consists of eight clauses, says a 
 Vienna dispatch to-day. 
 
 It reads : 
 
 CLAUSE I 
 
 Reestablishment of Peace and of Friendship 
 
 Article I. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, 
 and Turkey, on the one hand, and Rumania, on the 
 other, declare the state of war ended and that the 
 contracting parties are determined henceforth to live 
 together in peace and friendship. 
 
 Article II. Diplomatic and consular relations be- 
 tween the contracting parties will be resumed imme- 
 diately after the ratification of the peace treaty. 
 The admission of consuls will be reserved for a future 
 agreement. 
 
 146 
 
RUMANIA AND PEACE 
 
 CLAUSE U 
 
 Demobilization of the Rumanian Forces 
 
 Article III. The demobilization of the Rumanian 
 Army, which is now proceeding, will immediately after 
 peace is signed be carried out according to the pre- 
 scriptions contained in Articles I and VII. 
 
 Article IV. The regular military bureau, the 
 supreme military authorities, and all the military 
 institutions will remain in existence as provided by 
 the last peace budget. The demobilization of divi- 
 sions 11 to 15 will be continued as stipulated in the 
 treaty of Focsani signed on March 8, last. Of the 
 Rumanian divisions 1 to 10, the two infantry di- 
 vision now employed in Bessarabia, including the 
 Jaeger battalions, which are the remnants of dissolved 
 Jaeger divisions, and including two cavalry divisions 
 of the Rumanian Army, will remain on a war footing 
 until the danger arising from military operations now 
 being carried on in the Ukraine by the Central powers 
 ceases to exist. 
 
 The remaining eight divisions, including the staff, 
 shall be maintained in Moldavia at the reduced peace 
 strength. Each division will be composed of four 
 infantry regiments, two cavalry regiments, and one 
 battalion of pioneers, together with the necessary 
 technical transport troops. The total number of the 
 
 147 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 infantry of the eight divisions shall not exceed 20,000 
 men; the total number of cavalry shall not exceed 
 8200; the entire artillery of the Rumanian Army, 
 apart from the mobile divisions, shall not exceed 
 9000 men. The divisions remaining mobilized in 
 Bessarabia must, in case of demobilization, be reduced 
 to the same peace standard as the eight divisions 
 mentioned in Article IV. 
 
 All other Rumanian troops that did not exist in 
 peace time will at the end of their term of active 
 military service remain as in peace time. Reservists 
 shall not be called up for training until a general 
 peace has been concluded. 
 
 Article V. Guns, machine-guns, small arms, 
 horses, and cars, and ammunition which are available 
 owing to the reduction or the dissolution of the Ru- 
 manian units shall be given into the custody of the 
 supreme command of the Allied (Teutonic) Forces in 
 Rumania until the conclusion of a general peace. 
 They shall be guarded and superintended by Ru- 
 manian troops under supervision of the Allied com- 
 mand. The amount of ammunition to be left to the 
 Rumanian Army in Moldavia is 250 rounds for each 
 rifle, 2500 for each machine-gun, and 150 for each 
 gun. The Rumanian Army is entitled to exchange 
 unserviceable material at the depots of the occupied 
 region, in agreement with the Allied supreme com- 
 
 148 
 
RUMANIA AND PEACE 
 
 mand, and to demand from the depots the equivalent 
 of ammunition spent. The divisions in Rumania 
 which remain mobilized will receive their ammunition 
 requirements on a war basis. 
 
 Article VI. The demobilized Rumanian troops to 
 remain in Moldavia until the evacuation of the occu- 
 pied Rumanian regions. Excepted from this pro- 
 vision are military bureaus and men mentioned in 
 Article V, who are required for the supervision of 
 the arms and material laid down in these regions. 
 The men and reserve officers who have been demobil- 
 ized can return to the occupied regions. Active and 
 formally active officers require, in order to return to 
 these regions, permission of the chief army command 
 of the Allied forces. 
 
 Article VII. A general staff officer of the Allied 
 powers, with staff, will be attached to the Rumanian 
 commander-in-chief in Moldavia, and a Rumanian 
 general-staff officer, with staff, will be attached as 
 liaison officer to the chief command of the Allied 
 forces in the occupied Rumanian districts. 
 
 Article VIII. The Rumanian naval forces will be 
 left to their full complement and equipment, in so far 
 as their crews, in accordance with Article IX, are 
 not to be limited until affairs in Bessarabia are clear, 
 whereupon these forces are to be brought to the usual 
 peace standard. Excepted herefrom are river forces 
 
 149 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 required for the purposes of river police, and naval 
 forces on the Black Sea employed for the protection 
 of maritime traffic and the restoration of mine-free 
 fairways. Immediately after the signing of the 
 peace treaty these river forces will, on a basis of 
 special arrangement, be placed at the disposal of the 
 authorities intrusted with river policing. The nauti- 
 cal Black Sea commission will reserve the right of dis- 
 posing of the naval forces on the Black Sea, and a 
 naval officer is to be attached to this commission in 
 order to restore connection therewith. 
 
 Article IX. All men serving in the army and navy 
 who in peace time were employed in connection with 
 harbors or shipping shall on demobilization be the 
 first to be dismissed in order that they may find em- 
 ployment in their former occupations. 
 
 CLAUSE III 
 
 Cessions of Territory Outlined in Articles X, XI, 
 and XII 
 
 Article X. With regard to Dobrudja, which, ac- 
 cording to Paragraph I of the peace preliminaries, is 
 to be added by Rumania, the following stipulations 
 are laid down: (a) Rumania cedes again to Bulgaria, 
 with frontier rectifications, Bulgarian territory that 
 fell to her by virtue of the peace treaty concluded at 
 Bukharest in 1913. 
 
 150 
 
RUMANIA AND PEACE 
 
 A commission composed of representatives of the 
 Allied powers shall shortly after the signature of the 
 treaty lay down and demarkate on the spot the new 
 frontier line in Dobrudja. The Danube frontier be- 
 tween the regions ceded to Bulgaria and Rumania fol- 
 lows the river valley. Directly after the signature of 
 the treaty further particulars shall be decided upon 
 regarding the definition of the valley. Thus the 
 demarkation shall take place in autumn, 1918, at low 
 water level. 
 
 (b) Rumania cedes to the Allied powers that por- 
 tion of Dobrudja up to the Danube north of the new 
 frontier line described under section (a) ; that is to 
 say, between the confluence of the stream and the 
 Black Sea, to the St. George branch of the river. 
 The Danube frontier between the territory ceded to 
 the Allied powers and Rumania will be formed by the 
 river valley. The Allied powers and Rumania will 
 undertake to see that Rumania shall receive an as- 
 sured trade route to the Black Sea, by way of Tcher- 
 navoda and Kustendje. 
 
 Article XI says that Rumania agrees that the 
 frontiers shall undergo rectification in favor of 
 Austria-Hungary as indicated on the map and con- 
 tinues : 
 
 Two mixed commissions, to be composed of equal 
 numbers of representatives of the powers concerned, 
 
 151 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 are immediately after the ratification of the peace 
 treaty to fix a new frontier line on the spot. 
 
 Article XII. Property in the ceded regions of 
 Rumania passes without indemnification to the states 
 which acquire these regions. Those states to which 
 the ceded territories fall shall make agreements with 
 Rumania on the following points : First, with regard 
 to the allegiance of the Rumanian inhabitants of these 
 regions and the manner in which they are to be ac- 
 corded the right of option ; secondly, with regard to 
 the property of communes split by the new frontier ; 
 thirdly and fourthly, with regard to administrative 
 and juridical matters ; fifthly, with regard to the 
 effect of the changes of territory on dioceses. 
 
 Clause IV deals with war indemnities, of which 
 Article XIII declares that the contracting parties 
 mutually renounce indemnification of their war costs, 
 and special arrangements are to be made for the set- 
 tlement of damages caused by the war. 
 
 The fifth clause relates to the evacuation of occu- 
 pied territories, embodied in articles XIV to XXIV, 
 summed up as follows : 
 
 The occupied Rumanian territories shall be evacu- 
 ated at times to be later agreed upon. The strength 
 of the army of occupation shall, apart from the 
 formation employed in economical functions, not sur- 
 pass six divisions. Until the ratification of the treaty 
 
 152 
 
RUMANIA AND PEACE 
 
 the present occupation administration continues, but 
 immediately after the signature of the treaty the Ru- 
 manian Government has the power to supplement the 
 corps of officials by such appointments or dismissals 
 as may seem good to it. 
 
 Up to the time of evacuation a civil official of the 
 occupation administration shall always be attached to 
 the Rumanian ministry in order to facilitate so far 
 as possible the transfer of the civil administration 
 to the Rumanian authorities. The Rumanian author- 
 ities must follow the directions which the command- 
 ers of the army of occupation consider requisite in 
 the interest of the security of the occupied territory, 
 as well as the security, maintenance, and distribution 
 of their troops. 
 
 For the present, railways, posts, and telegraphs 
 will remain under military administration and will, in 
 accordance with proper agreements, be at the dis- 
 posal of the authorities and population. As a gen- 
 eral rule the Rumanian courts will resume jurisdiction 
 in the occupied territories to their full extent. The 
 Allied powers will retain jurisdiction, as well as the 
 power of police supervision, over those belonging to 
 the army of occupation. Punishable acts against the 
 army of occupation will be judged by its military 
 tribunals, and also offenses against the orders of the 
 occupation administration. Persons can only return 
 
 153 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 to the occupied territories in proportion as the Ru- 
 manian Government provides for their security and 
 maintenance. The army of occupation's right to 
 requisition is restricted to corn, peas, beans, fodder, 
 wool, cattle, and meat from the products of 1918, 
 and, further, to timber, oil, and oil products, always 
 observing proper regard for an orderly plan of pro- 
 curing these commodities, as well as satisfying the 
 home needs of Rumania. 
 
 From the ratification of the treaty onwards the 
 army of occupation shall be maintained at the expense 
 of Rumania. A separate agreement will be made with 
 regard to the details of the transfer of the civil ad- 
 ministration, as well as with regard to the withdrawal 
 of the regulation of the occupation administration. 
 Money spent by the Allied powers in the occupied ter- 
 ritories on public works, including industrial under- 
 takings, shall be made good on their transfer. Until 
 the evacuation these undertakings shall remain under 
 the military administration. 
 
 CLAUSE VI 
 
 Regulations Regarding Navigation on the Danube 
 
 Article XXIV. Rumania shall conclude a new 
 Danube navigation act with Germany, Austria-Hun- 
 gary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, regulating the legal 
 
 154» 
 
RUMANIA AND PEACE 
 
 position on the Danube from the point where it be- 
 comes navigable, with due regard for the prescrip- 
 tions subsequently set forth under Sections A to D, 
 and on conditions that the prescriptions under Sec- 
 tion B shall apply equally for all parties to the 
 Danube act. Negotiations regarding the new 
 Danube navigation act shall begin at Munich as soon 
 as possible after the ratification of the treaty. 
 
 The sections follow : (A) Under the name Danube 
 Mouth Commission the European Danube Commis- 
 sion shall, under conditions subsequently set forth, be 
 maintained as a permanent institution empowered 
 with the privileges and obligations hitherto apper- 
 taining to it for the river from Braila downwards, 
 inclusive of this port. The conditions referred to 
 provide among other things that the commission 
 shall henceforth only comprise representatives of 
 states situated on the Danube or the European coasts 
 of the Black Sea. The commission's authority ex- 
 tends from Braila downwards to the whole of the 
 arms and mouth of the Danube and adjoining parts 
 of the Black Sea. 
 
 (B) Rumania guarantees to the ships of the 
 other contracting parties free navigation on the Ru- 
 manian Danube, including the harbors. Rumania 
 shall levy no toll on ships or rafts of the contracting 
 
 155 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 parties and their cargoes merely for the navigation 
 of the river. Neither shall Rumania in the future 
 levy on the river any tolls save those permitted by the 
 new Danube Navigation Act, 
 
 156 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE UNION OF BESSARABIA AND 
 RUMANIA 
 
 FROM Basle, Switzerland, come the fol- 
 lowing notices of the telegrams ex- 
 changed between Mr. Marghiloman, Prime 
 Minister of Rumania, and Mr. C. C. Arion, 
 minister of foreign affairs. Mr. Marghiloman 
 telegraphed from Kisineu (a large city in Bes- 
 sarabia) : 
 
 After two days of deliberation the Diet of Bes- 
 sarabia has voted solemnly the reunion of Bessarabia 
 to Rumania on the ninth of April, 1918, at seven 
 o'clock in the evening, by eighty-six voices against 
 ten. I have taken cognizance of this vote, and in 
 the name of the Rumanian people I have proclaimed 
 the union in the midst of indescribable enthusiasm. 
 At eight o'clock in the evening divine service took 
 
 157 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 place in the cathedral. Everybody rejoiced. I am 
 happy. A. Marghiloman. 
 
 Mr. Arion replied: 
 
 Right has conquered. I congratulate you with 
 all my heart for this brilliant success. The wounds 
 of the country shall find some amelioration. 
 
 The important act which ratifies this union con- 
 fers new strength for Rumania, who has become 
 greater. Long live Bessarabia ! Long live Ru- 
 mania! C. C. Arion. 
 
 It is incontestable that the union of Bes- 
 sarabia with Rumania constitutes a claim to 
 
 glory for the Govern- 
 ment of Mr. Marghilo- 
 man and at the same 
 time a great consolation 
 for Rumania. 
 
 This province was a 
 part of Rumania until 
 1812, when Russia occupied it without any 
 other claim than that of force; three parts of 
 the population is Rumanian. After the fall of 
 
 158 
 
 AUSTRIA-, 
 
BESSARABIA AND RUMANIA 
 
 the czarist regime, Bessarabia was proclaimed 
 an independent republic under the name of The 
 Republic of Moldavia. 
 
 On the occasion of her union to Rumania the 
 National Council of Bessarabia adopted a reso- 
 lution which contains the conditions under 
 which this union is made, and which commences 
 with this declaration: 
 
 The Moldavian people's republic, lying between the 
 Pruth, the Dniester, the Danube, and the Black Sea, 
 and the old Austrian frontiers, which more than a 
 hundred years ago had been torn away from old Mol- 
 davia, is now permanently uniting with the Rumanian 
 fatherland on the basis of historical and national 
 rights, as well as of the right of self-determination 
 of peoples.^ 
 
 iThe "New York Tribune." 
 
 159 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE CAUSES THAT DETERMINED 
 PEACE 
 
 TO enable the reader to understand the 
 causes that determined the Rumanian 
 Government, presided over by Mr. Marghilo- 
 man, to conclude peace, we reproduce the ap- 
 peal made by the Queen of Rumania to the 
 American people, and published in July, 1917, 
 in several newspapers of various cities in the 
 United States: 
 
 Death, in all its forms, has broken down my coun- 
 try : the sword, flames, and invasion, famine and sick- 
 ness. Lands have been taken away from us, hope has 
 been destroyed, and cities and villages devastated. 
 That which yet remains of our country is overrun by 
 the terrible inpouring of those who saved themselves 
 from the brutalities of the enemy. Our hospitals are 
 
 160 
 
CAUSES THAT DETERMINED PEACE 
 
 overfilled, our food insufBcient. In vain do we strug- 
 gle against the storm which already crushes us. 
 
 But we have not yet lost courage. Step by step, 
 we struggle for the blessed land of our native 
 country ; no sacrifice is too hard, no suffering is too 
 great. But the terrible want of food faces us. For 
 a long time I have had good and faithful friends 
 among the Americans; I feel, therefore, sure that 
 they will help my people by sending me what I am 
 unable to procure, — food, clothing, and medicinal 
 supplies, — so that I may not remain powerless be- 
 fore the tears of a nation in torment. 
 
 Many words are useless. Rumania is desperate, 
 grief-stricken. Must I insist more? I await help 
 from the great and generous hearts of America. Do 
 not leave my hands empty, when mothers and chil- 
 dren, soldiers and wounded, call to me in their incred- 
 ible misery! 
 
 And again: 
 
 QUEEN MARIE CABLES PRESSING NEEDS 
 OF THE RUMANIANS 
 
 Jassy, Rumania, July 26. 
 (Delayed.) 
 Having heard of the generous suggestion in the 
 Chicago "Daily News" that an appeal be made on 
 
 161 
 
U UM A X IA^ SACRIFICE 
 
 nf HT iiDSTTliilt,, I viih t.: exrre?;? tr it f-'^^ to 
 
 .-iaibes. 
 
 5T of PletBigri^ 
 
 Xew^" Juhr 27, 1917: 
 : >5 ry jassy 
 
 ^^r :i -T ispfltcb fram lis C' 
 - z^ - - : z ZZ-. Bssset D^|li^: 
 
 ttere JsgT-T 
 
CAUSES THAT DETERMINED PEACE 
 
 help for the sick troops. The need is so dire that 
 blessings will be lavished on the donors by the suf- 
 ferers. 
 
 I am not at libertT to quote the exact text, bat 
 the Queen's letter, which is in her o-wn handwriting, 
 corroborates the news from numerous source that 
 the health situation in northern Rumania is extremely 
 bad. An intelligent censorship will recognize the 
 desirabilitT of obtaining wide publicity of this fact, 
 as hushing it up would simply be dealing a cruel blow 
 to our suffering Allies, depriving them of aid from 
 abroad. 
 
 I have recently found numerous letters in the Rus- 
 sian press describing the health situation in Jassy 
 as appalling — almost as bad as at Xish in the spring 
 of 1915. Contagious disease is rampant, compelling 
 the constant destruction of bedding and hospital gar- 
 ments. 
 
 Pending the call for bedding and garments for 
 American troops in France, the urgent crisis at 
 Jassy demands prompt and generous aid- If every 
 American woman now making bandages and garments 
 for the Red Cross would put aside one day's output 
 next week for i)est-ridden Jassy, where Queen Marie 
 herself is working from early in the morning till late 
 at night as hard as any other hospital nurse, it would 
 greatly improve the situation, save numerous lives, 
 
 163 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 and earn the deep gratitude of the Queen and of 
 the nation. 
 
 Following these touching appeals, Chicago 
 subscribed $35.00. In other cities the results 
 were almost nil. The people of the United 
 States — who have wealth, generosity, and 
 nobility of heart, and who have given hundreds 
 of millions of dollars to relieve the suffering 
 of the French, Belgian, Serbian, and Monte- 
 negrin population — have not, apparently, been 
 able to appreciate the suffering of Rumania. 
 
 We can only explain this by laying the 
 blame on the former Rumanian Government, 
 which did not place before the American pub- 
 lic the Rumanian cause before and after her 
 entrance into war. Official propaganda for 
 Rumania has not reached the United States. 
 Individuals, Rumanians, have tried to do some- 
 thing in this direction; but their work, without 
 the support of the Rumanian Government, 
 could only obtain weak results. 
 
 In New York, at 43 Cedar Street, a corn- 
 ier 
 
CAUSES THAT DETERMINED PEACE 
 
 mittee was formed, the Rumanian Relief of 
 America, under the patronage of Queen Marie 
 of Rumania, and under the direction of two 
 distinguished Americans, Mr. Breck Trow- 
 bridge and Mr. T. Tileston Wells, our very- 
 sympathetic Consul, aided by the delightful 
 Mrs. McVickar and Madame Constantin 
 Orghidan, as honorary secretaries. This com- 
 mittee, during the month of April, 1917, re- 
 ceived, up to now, some $10,000. 
 
 We are profoundly grateful to all these 
 charitable people for the interest they have 
 shown in relieving the suffering of the Ruma- 
 nian population. We also feel very grateful 
 to the American Red Cross, which sent a com- 
 mission to Jassy with doctors and medicinal 
 supplies. 
 
 The "Rumanian Review" of Chicago, in 
 March, 1918, pubhshed an article by Mr. H. 
 Gideon Wells, a professor at the University 
 of Chicago. Mr. Wells was a member of the 
 special mission, under the direction of Lieu- 
 
 165 
 
ROLINIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 tenant- Colonel Henry W. Anderson, sent into 
 Rumania by the Red Cross to relieve the suf- 
 fering of the population. JVIr. Wells's article 
 said, in part : 
 
 One of the most striking impressions we all had 
 on reaching Jassy was the sense of order and high- 
 spirited endeaTor that prevailed in the provisional 
 capital — an impression which, if anything, grew as 
 we saw the rest of Moldavia. Everywhere there was 
 good discipline, industry, and an evident spirit of 
 zeal and loyal purpose that refused to yield to dis- 
 aster or to submit to any invader, whether Hun, 
 Slav, or epidemic and famine. After suffering un- 
 expected and overwhelming military disaster, fol- 
 lowed by one of the most serious epidemics of mod- 
 ern times, augmented by famine, cold, and priva- 
 tion of almost all the necessities of life, the Rumanian 
 people were still unconquered. From the royal lead- 
 ers to the peasants, all were working unceasingly 
 and together for the salvation of their country, and 
 for that alone. 
 
 The spirit of unselfish devotion shown by all was 
 most impressive. Everywhere there was a lack of 
 everv material supply. There was sufficient of noth- 
 ing, and of many needed materials there were none ; 
 yet reorganization was going forward despite these 
 
 166 
 
CAUSES THAT DETERMINED PEACE 
 
 handicaps. If there were no nails to be had, barracks 
 were built without nails. If there was no wood, 
 clay and mud were made to serve, and there seemed to 
 be no difficulty that could not be overcome in some 
 way. The ingenuity of the peasants in using the 
 materials that came to their hands was everywhere 
 manifested. . . . 
 
 The surgical supplies were correspondingly 
 meager, with barely enough dressings and ordinary 
 supplies for the day's work, a dearth of rubber 
 goods of aU kinds, a severe shortage of chemicals, 
 and no reserves to meet serious emergencies or an 
 unexpected rush of freshly wounded soldiers. Like- 
 wise the food for the population was at a minimum 
 — there was enough wheat to last only until January, 
 enough corn until April, meat enough only to pro- 
 vide a luxury to be enjo^^ed but once a week, and 
 other food supplies only occasional and not to be 
 relied upon. 
 
 The people had such clothes as had survived since 
 the beginning of the war, or had been brought or 
 worn in fleeing from Wallachia ; for there had been 
 practically no new supplies to be obtained in 
 Moldavia or to bring from outside. Even in Sep- 
 tember and October, the months of harvest and 
 plenty, we found many of the refugees and the 
 families evacuated from behind the line suffering 
 
 167 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 severely from their privations. Diseases due to de- 
 ficiencies in the diet, especially to deficiencies in qual- 
 ity, were extremely prevalent among those unfor- 
 tunate people. Pellagra, "war dropsy," and dysen- 
 tery were especially abundant. 
 
 The full supply in most places was known to be al- 
 together inadequate for the coming winter, and there 
 was no prospect of remedying this deficiency with 
 warm clothing. Shoes were almost unobtainable, and 
 even the army could not be supplied with proper 
 footgear. And everywhere were scattered clouds of 
 Russian soldiers, always hungry, always idle ex- 
 cept in foraging, always a reminder to the Ruma- 
 nians of their own unmerited misfortunes, but always 
 an example of the results of disorder, disorganiza- 
 tion, and lack of national unity. . . . 
 
 We violate no confidence in saying that we found 
 both the American Red Cross and the American 
 Government willing and anxious to do all that they 
 possibly can to help their sorely afflicted Ally — and 
 the measure of what they do for Rumania will be de- 
 termined by what the conditions in Russia permit, 
 rather than by what America will try to do.^ The 
 brave struggle Rumania has made to stand on her 
 own feet since her disaster arouses the admiration 
 
 1 Unfortunately, circumstances did not permit one to take 
 other measures to aid Rumania. 
 
 168 
 
CAUSES THAT DETERMINED PEACE 
 
 of all who know of it, and makes them zealous to help 
 her because of her own zeal to help herself. 
 
 H. Gideon Wells. 
 
 Having read the appeal of the Queen and 
 the recollections of Professor Wells, it is easy 
 to understand that if in July, 1917, the popula- 
 tion of Rumania was in want of hospital sup- 
 plies and clothing, her situation must have been 
 much worse in February, 1918, when peace 
 parleys were commenced — especially as in the 
 interval no amelioration had taken place. 
 Surrounded entirely by enemies, without the 
 possibility of any communication with the Al- 
 lies, the population of Rumania was con- 
 demned to die of hunger. 
 
 The surplus of refugee population from the 
 parts occupied by the enemy increased the 
 number of those who themselves had neither 
 food nor clothing nor the wherewithal to warm 
 themselves. In the cities the population had 
 become so dense that many families were forced 
 to sleep in the streets, in garrets, in cellars, or in 
 
 169 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 the hallways of houses almost too overcrowded. 
 Epidemics made nmnerous victims, and the 
 want of food, medical supplies, and fuel in- 
 creased this danger. In less than three months 
 of the winter of 1916, 300,000 persons of those 
 who inhabited cities perished; more than 150,- 
 000 soldiers died of diseases; and many 
 wounded, who fought to defend the honor of 
 their country, became infected and died for 
 the want of medical and surgical help. In the 
 winter of 1917 and 1918 the losses were equally 
 severe. 
 
 In the villages the situation was even worse, 
 if such a thing were possible. Famine had 
 arrived there. Children perished. Mothers, 
 made desperate by their inability to feed their 
 starving children, were seen throwing them- 
 selves into rivers or wells to put an end to their 
 mental and physical torture. 
 
 Add to all this pillage, murder, the violation 
 of women by drunken Russian soldiers, to com- 
 plete the chain of suffering which a people had 
 
 170 
 
CAUSES THAT DETERMINED PEACE 
 
 been forced to undergo in this century of civil- 
 ization. No other country has suffered so 
 vitally as Rumania. No other country has 
 seen her sons disappear in such great numbers 
 and with such frightful rapidity as Rumania. 
 And, at the same time, no other country has 
 suffered to the degree that she has as a result of 
 the indifference and even the criticism of 
 former friends. 
 
 King Ferdinand, at the opening of Parha- 
 ment in Jassy, declared that the prolongation 
 of the war had sapped Rumania's strength to 
 the point of exhaustion and that a forced peace 
 was necessary for her existence. 
 
 To the telegram in which Prime Minister 
 Marghiloman announced to the King that 
 peace was concluded, the King replied: 
 
 In taking cognizance of the treaty of peace at 
 Bukharest, I thank you and the other Rumanian 
 delegates for the difficult and devoted labor which 
 you have accomplished for the defense of our rights 
 in these grievous hours. 
 
 171 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 As the King and as a Rumanian, I put all my hope 
 in the future of my brave and valiant country and 
 people, and I thank you for the assurance of con- 
 fidence which you have in the prosperity and the 
 strength of the country under my direction and 
 that of the dynasty. 
 
 It is plain that the causes that determined 
 Rumania to conclude peace were famine and 
 absolute helplessness. Without this peace the 
 very existence of the country was at stake. 
 Following are some of the newspaper com- 
 ments on Rumania's action: 
 
 Rumanian has just signed a peace of disaster. 
 She could not hope for any other. Under the con- 
 ditions where the treason of the Czarist Government, 
 represented by the Emperor and Empress and Ras- 
 putin, had led her, and also by the treason of the 
 revolutionary Government represented by Lenine, 
 Trotzky, and Krilenko, she had no other option than 
 to submit to the will of her conquerors. ("L'Evene- 
 ment," Paris, May 10, 1918. 
 
 The German dagger at her throat, the Austro- 
 Hungarian sword at her heart, Rumania has been 
 forced to lay down her arms. She has done this 
 
 112 
 
IS 
 
CAUSES THAT DETERMINED PEACE 
 
 with so much dignity, so much nobihty, that her 
 honneur sauf is resplendent in the somber disaster. 
 
 She is the great victim of Russia; she has been 
 played and betrayed by her. Thrust into Tran- 
 sylvania, she has not been upheld in Dobrodgea, and 
 when, having bound her wounds, she was about to 
 take up again the struggle, she saw herself encircled 
 by perils, the Germans in front, the Austro-Hun- 
 garians behind, the Bolsheviki and the Russians who 
 had become hostile. 
 
 Isolated, abandoned, being able to accept no help 
 from her Allies, poor Rumania was forced to lay 
 down the broken pieces of her valiant sword at the 
 feet of her conquerors. ("Le Petit Nicois," May, 
 14, 1918.) 
 
 The German-Rumanian treaty, signed under the 
 pressure of necessities, is the greatest diplomatic 
 absurdity of which Germany has been guilty. 
 ("New York Herald," Paris, May 14, 1918.) 
 
 It is so grievous (this peace), because, on seeing 
 this Rumania so abominably mutilated, dismembered, 
 humiliated, one recalls the period, yet so near, when 
 she threw into battle, resolute and confident, a mag- 
 nificent army, which astonished the world by the 
 prodigies that she was able to accomplish ag^nst 
 
 17^ 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 an enemy ten times superior in numbers. . . . We 
 had counted, alas, without the Russian treason. It 
 was not a treason of a day, or of one man ; it was 
 a slow and progressive defection of an entire coun- 
 try, whose solemnly promised concourse was indis- 
 pensable. 
 
 Of all the crimes of which Bolshevism will bear the 
 heavy responsibility in history, this one is, I believe, 
 the most odious. It did not content itself, in fact, 
 to refuse to Rumania the help that the Government 
 of the Czar had engaged itself to send; it obliged 
 her, by making a pact with the enemy, to lay down 
 her arms while she had yet the means to defend her- 
 self had she not been knifed in the back. ("Le 
 Gaulois," Paris, May 10, 1918.) 
 
 174 
 
PAR^T II 
 
 *'War disorganizes, but it is in order to reorgan- 
 ize." — Emerson. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 RUMANIA AFTER THE WAR 
 
 THE Rumanian people, driven into an 
 abyss by the want of forethought of her 
 statesmen, have shown so much energy and 
 resistance that, whatever may happen, Ru- 
 mania will not perish. She will recover from 
 her deep wounds — all the more so as the treaty 
 of Bukharest represents every chance of being 
 modified. 
 
 Let us hope that, at the conclusion of a 
 general peace, Europe and America, convinced 
 that the application of the principle of na- 
 tionalities is the sole basis for a durable peace, 
 will decide that Rumania must be reconsti- 
 tuted within her natural limits between the 
 Tisza, the Danube, and the Dniester, in order 
 
 177 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 to form in the southeast of Europe a kingdom 
 of progress and of civihzation, causing thus 
 to disappear forever the fatal troubles of peo- 
 ple subjected by force, but free by their sen- 
 timents of courage and dignity. 
 
 We dream of a great Rumania, mistress of 
 two slopes of the Carpathians, uniting together 
 all her scattered sons to make them work in 
 all directions of human activity with the cour- 
 age and ardor of free men, laying thus the 
 solid basis of prosperity and the influence of 
 the real Humania as a sovereign State. 
 
 But, in order that a country may have a free 
 and progressive political life, it is necessary 
 that it should have also a free economic life: 
 because the political life is closely bound to 
 the economic life. The great countries that 
 are called to-day to set the new basis of life 
 for humanity must aid Rumania to obtain her 
 complete economic and political independence. 
 
 Until to-day, only Germany has known Ru- 
 mania and pursued a policy of ecpnomic pene- 
 
 178 
 
RUMANIA AFTER THE WAR 
 
 tration. She completely succeeded by making 
 the economic life of Rumania dependent upon 
 herself; and those who wished to give to Ru- 
 mania, in this war, a political life separated 
 from her economic life, by forcing her to give 
 up her neutrality, have seen the country 
 deprived of so many industrial, indispensable 
 elements, because Germany, the sole supplier, 
 had cut off the supply. The neglect of the 
 statesmen to take account of this situation con- 
 tributed very largely to the disaster of Ru- 
 mania. 
 
 Financiers, business men, manufacturers, 
 and statesmen of other countries have not 
 hitherto attempted to understand the wealth of 
 Rumania — her petroleum, salt, lignite, forests, 
 the waterfalls, the picturesque beauty of her 
 mountains, the marvelous possibilities of agri- 
 culture, and the vitality of her people. But 
 in this war Rumania has drawn to herself the 
 attention of the whole world because of her 
 sacrifices and the bravery of her peasants. 
 
 179 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Let us hope that henceforth she will be better 
 known and better appreciated. 
 
 American capitalists, so daring and so clear- 
 sighted, will turn their energies toward Ru- 
 mania; they will undertake to establish closer 
 relations with this country. Business men will 
 find important outlets for their merchandise; 
 manufacturers will construct factories in Ru- 
 mania; capitalists will found banking houses; 
 a large field of activity will be opened. The 
 Rumanian State must borrow to recover from 
 her disaster, and this will be the first act in 
 which this collaboration will manifest itself. 
 
 Rumania is one of the chief sufferers in this 
 war, because two-thirds her territory has been 
 the theater of battles and was occupied by the 
 enemy. The Rumanian troops, yielding 
 ground step by step in their retreat, devastated 
 everything in an effort to impede the advance 
 of the enemy and to prevent the food supply 
 from falling into the enemy's hands. And 
 what little remained was destroyed by the in- 
 
 180 
 
RUMANIA AFTER THE WAR 
 
 vader. This must all be reconstructed — 
 houses, roads, railways, bridges, factories, 
 everything. 
 
 In the parts not occupied the movement of 
 the Rumanian army and the pillaging of the 
 Russian army formed a real zone of operation. 
 Here also all is to be rebuilt. 
 
 Rumania hopes to be aided in the recon- 
 struction of her country. But, let it be un- 
 derstood, it is not only a question of rebuild- 
 ing all that has been destroyed: Rumania will 
 achieve a great development in her economic 
 life. 
 
 Owing to the lack of road-beds, the system 
 of railways is approximately twenty- four hun- 
 dred miles. In order to develop her forests, 
 mines, and her quarries, Rumania's railways 
 must be multiplied. For agi-icultural develop- 
 ment it will be necessaiy to increase the amount 
 of arable land by draining swampy grounds 
 and the delta of the Danube. The waterways 
 must be improved by dredging canals, etc. 
 
 181 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 In the cities and villages, buildings must be 
 put up; systems of lighting and of tramways 
 must be organized. 
 
 The petroleum industry should be greatly 
 developed. We must not lose sight of the 
 important part that petroleum has played in 
 this war. The petroleum of Rumania has been 
 especially valuable, owing to its quality and 
 the geographical location of the country; be- 
 sides, this industry is the sole source of energy 
 necessary in order that Rumania might re- 
 commence the activity of her shipping and her 
 manufactures. Other indispensable industries 
 of the country must be re-built and created. 
 There can be no doubt that Rumania cannot 
 reconstruct herself alone, Rumanian capital be- 
 ing too small. 
 
 In order that Rumania may recover from her 
 disaster, and above all that she may be able 
 to utilize her wealth, she will for a long time 
 yet have need of foreign capital, which will 
 bring great returns while rendering as well 
 
 182 
 
RUMANIA AFTER THE WAR 
 
 great service to Rumania; and, with time, the 
 energies of the country will succeed in eman- 
 cipating Rumania from foreign influence in 
 her economic life, especially when this eco- 
 nomic influence does not follow the political in- 
 fluence, and all the more will the financial 
 intervention of America be desirable for Ru- 
 mania because the United States has no politi- 
 cal interest to pursue in that country beyond 
 proving that they intervene always for the 
 defense of the hberty of people — especially the 
 small ones as well on the political ground as 
 upon the economic. 
 
 183 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 THE LIMITS — THE BOUNDARIES 
 
 THE Kingdom of Rumania lies in the 
 southeastern part of Europe, between 
 the Carpathian Mountains on the north and 
 west, the Danube on the south, and the Black 
 Sea and the River Dniester on the east. 
 
 To the north and the west is Austria-Hun- 
 gary, separated by the Carpathians; on the 
 south, Serbia and Bulgaria, separated by the 
 Danube as far as the city of Turtukai, and 
 thence to the Black Sea by a conventional line ; 
 and on the northeast from Russia by the river 
 Prutu. 
 
 Although Rumania has a very ancient his- 
 tory, she has remained undeveloped and has 
 
 184* 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 taken little part in the life of Europe until 
 within the last fifty years. The reason for 
 this lack of development is the continual wars 
 that she has had to wage against barbarian 
 invasions and rapacious neighbors who wished 
 to gain possession of her fertile lands. Ru- 
 mania's past is filled with suffering, and even 
 her existence is due wholly to the warlike char- 
 acter of her people, who defended throughout 
 the centuries her liberty, her language, and 
 her religion with courage and sacrifices. 
 
 THE ORIGIN 
 
 In the southeastern part of Europe existed 
 until the year 107 A. D. the Kingdom of Dacia. 
 The Dacians were a warlike and courageous 
 people, often making incursions even into the 
 possessions of the Roman Empire itself, until 
 the Roman Emperor Trajan declared war on 
 them, conquered them, and took possession of 
 their lands and made it a Roman province in 
 the year 107. 
 
 186 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Because of the density of population in the 
 Roman Empire, many Roman colonists came 
 to establish themselves in this new province, 
 whose fertile fields, rich mountains, and pleas- 
 ant climate promised them an easier and richer 
 life. 
 
 Out of this amalgamation of the inhabitants 
 of ancient Dacia and the Roman colonists was 
 formed the people known as Rumanians. 
 
 The Roman province of Dacia lasted hardly 
 more than two hundred years ; for, in the latter 
 half of the third century, Germany made con- 
 tinual attacks upon it. The Roman Emperor 
 Aurelian, in the years 270 to 275 a. d., seeing 
 that he could no longer defend this province, 
 recalled his armies and his public functionaries, 
 bringing them across the Danube into the mid- 
 dle Moecia, leaving the province of Dacia to 
 its fate. 
 
 The Latin element in Dacia — ^that is to say, 
 the colonists brought by Trajan — found them- 
 selves left alone to resist the invasion of the 
 
 186 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 Asiatic peoples who overflowed into Europe 
 through Dacia, that being the shortest and easi- 
 est route. The Dacians withdrew into the 
 Carpathians, and strengthened themselves in 
 natural fortresses in order to resist the enemy. 
 After an invasion had subsided, they would 
 descend from their mountains into the plains 
 again. These many invasions lasted from the 
 third to the fifteenth centuries. 
 
 Towards the end of the thirteenth century 
 the Roman-Dacian population — the Ruma- 
 nians of to-day— grouped themselves into vari- 
 ous small States. 
 
 The chief of one of these little States, formed 
 in the year 1320 the State of Wallachia; the 
 chief of another State formed the State of 
 Moldavia in 1360. 
 
 WALLACHIA AND MOLDAVIA 
 
 These two States, Wallachia and Moldavia, 
 were governed by a prince elected by the peo- 
 ple, and for many years they were obliged to 
 
 187 
 
ROIAXIA^S SACRIFICE 
 
 sustain great wars against their rapacious 
 neighbors. The Turks, the Poles, the Rus- 
 sians, and the Hungarians never ceased in their 
 efforts to conquer Wallachia and Moldavia. 
 But, through manv memorable battles, the Ru- 
 manian princes succeeded in retaining their 
 country. In 1600 the Prince of Wallachia, 
 3Iihai the Brave, succeeded in uniting to his 
 crown Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania. 
 Unfortunately, the realization of this dream 
 of the Rumanians was of short duration, for 
 Prince ^lihai was killed by the Yalon Basta. 
 
 These troublous times in Moldavia and Wal- 
 lachia continued until the year 18o9, when 
 these two httle States, realizing that united 
 they could withstand more easily the attacks 
 of their neighbors, constituted themselves into 
 one single State, having one reigning prince. 
 
 PETN'CE CTTZA 
 
 On Februaiy 5, 1859, Colonel Cuza, elected, 
 a few days earher. Prince of Moldavia, was 
 
 188 
 
ROIAXIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 also elected Prince of Wallachia. Then was 
 proclaimed the union of the two principahties 
 under the name of Ritmaxia. 
 
 Prince Cuza was the author of great re- 
 forms, and he laid the foundation for a mod- 
 em Rumania. He introduced new laws con- 
 forming with the times, taking for a model 
 the Xapoleonic code. He secularized the 
 lands belonging to the Greek monasteries, and 
 placed them in the hands of the State. He 
 also aided in building up the army. He or- 
 ganized schools, brought order into the ad- 
 ministration and finances, and created personal 
 and free peasant property, taking away from 
 great landowners certain portions of their 
 lands, paying for them at a fair valuation, and 
 selling them to the peasants, who paid for 
 them in annual instalments. 
 
 Prince Cuza greatly loved the peasants, who 
 never forgot their great protector; at the same 
 time, he detested the noble class, the ambitious 
 and intriguing Boiars. He openly manifested 
 
 189 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 these sentiments. One day, meeting a peas- 
 ant, he shook hands with him, saying: "Well, 
 how are you?" "I am sad," responded the 
 peasant, "because a BoTard has slapped my 
 face." "Go and tell the Boiard that where he 
 slapped you a prince has embraced you." And 
 he kissed the peasant on the cheek. 
 
 On February 24, 1866, a conspiracy in the 
 palace put an end to the reign of Prince Cuza. 
 He abdicated. Great patriot that he was, he 
 made no objection to this move, seeking to 
 avoid all difficulties for his country, and being 
 partially convinced himself that a foreign-born 
 prince might be of greater value. 
 
 PRINCE CAROL 
 
 On April 8, 1866, by popular vote, Carol 
 de Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was elected the 
 reigning prince. 
 
 His father, Charles Antoine, was the head 
 of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, 
 and related to the King of Prussia. On July 
 
 l&O 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 30, 1866, Prince Carol took the oath to respect 
 the Constitution of the country. In 1868 he 
 married the Princess Elizabeth of Wied. 
 
 From the start he tried to assure the Ru- 
 manian nation a path of evolution that was 
 active, wise, and well balanced, paying special 
 attention to the organization of the army. Up 
 to this time Rumania had been under the 
 suzerainty of Turkey. In the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, too weak to resist the attacks of their 
 neighbors, Moldavia and Wallachia asked 
 the protection of Turkey. The Rumanian 
 princes considered this the only means of as- 
 suring the autonomy of their country. The 
 principalities kept their absolute liberty; they 
 were merely obliged to pay a sum of money 
 each year to the Turks. This policy continued 
 after the union of the two principalities. 
 
 THE WAR OF 1877-1878. 
 
 In 1877 war between Russia and Turkey 
 broke out. Russia sought to liberate Bulgaria 
 
 191 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 from the Turkish domination, Bulgaria heing 
 at that time a Turkish province. Russian arm- 
 ies passed into Turkey (the Bulgaria of to- 
 day) through Rumania. Great battles were 
 fought, but finally the Russian Army was in 
 grave danger, driven towards the Danube by 
 a vigorous attack of Osman-Pasha, the Com- 
 mander of the Turkish forces. Then the chief 
 of the Russian Army, Grand Duke Nicholas, 
 appealed to Prince Carol to intervene in order 
 to prevent the Christians from being crushed by 
 the Turks. 
 
 On May 10, 1877, Rumania proclaimed her 
 independence of Turkey, and on May 17, 1877, 
 she entered the war on the side of Russia. 
 Prince Carol, taking command of his army, 
 crossed the Danube in order to pass into 
 Turkey. The Rumanian Army met with great 
 success at Nicopol, Rahova, Smardan, Gri- 
 vitza, and Opanef ; and on November 28, 1877, 
 the Turkish fortress Plevna, which was the 
 center of their operation, fell. The Turks 
 
Sinaia. At this place the King has his summer residence 
 
p^ 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 were forced to capitulate before the Russo- 
 Rumanian forces ; but the Turkish commander, 
 Osman-Pasha, refused to surrender his sword 
 to any other than Prince Carol as an homage 
 of the bravery of the Rumanian Army. 
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN 
 
 In the month of July, 1878, the Congress 
 of Berlin opened to regulate the peace be- 
 tween Russia, Rumania, and Turkey. To the 
 surprise of victorious Rumania, Russia de- 
 manded that Rumania should be obliged to 
 yield part of Bessarabia, which the Congress 
 of Paris had returned to Rumania in 1856.^ 
 None of the members of the Congress made any 
 opposition to this injustice. Neither the treaty 
 between Rumania and Russia — by which was 
 guaranteed the integrity of the Rumanian ter- 
 ritory — nor the services rendered by Rumania 
 to Russia had the slightest effect, in spite of 
 all the protestations of the Rumanians. In 
 
 1 See page 2^50 entitled "Bessarabia." 
 
 193 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 exchange Rumania obtained Dobrudja, a 
 Turkish province situated between the Dan- 
 ube and the Black Sea. 
 
 The decision of the Congress made a pro- 
 found impression on Rumania, and general 
 indignation was manifested against the action 
 of the Russians, especially as Bessarabia was 
 Rumanian land inhabited by Rumanians and 
 rich in agricultural productions, and Dobrud- 
 ja ^ was a Turkish province sparsely peopled 
 
 1 Dobrud j a has been known a long time. Nine centuries be- 
 fore Christ the Greeks created commercial relations, specially 
 at Tomi and Kallatis (Mangalia). Tomi derives its name from 
 the King ^ctes, the king of Colchis, the father of the beautiful 
 Medea. She, fleeing with her lover at sea and being pursued 
 by her father, cut her little brother Absyrtus into pieces, 
 and threw the body into the sea. The unhappy father, King 
 of ^ctes, stopped on his way to pick up the pieces of his 
 son's body and landed on the coast of the Black Sea to bury 
 these pieces. This coast and the smaU village which was formed 
 later on, received the name of Tomi, a name which is supposed 
 to come from the Greek verb, re/iva} to cut. 
 
 The Romans had in their possession Dobrudja, known then 
 under the name of Scythian Minor. We find today many traces 
 of this domination. There is found the famous monument Tro- 
 paeum Trajani, the statue of Ovid, and the ruins of the Roman 
 village Traianenses Tropacenas. They believe that the name 
 of Dobrudja is derived from the Slavic name "Dobrice,". which 
 means "stony region." 
 
 Dobrudja is a large part of Rumania situated on the borders 
 
 194) 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 by Turks and Tartars. It was rather a wild 
 country, without cities, without communicating 
 roads, without any cultivated lands. It pre- 
 sented a single advantage — the sea.^ 
 
 The decision of the Congress of Berlin in- 
 fluenced the political orientation of Rumania; 
 
 of the Black Sea and at the mouth of the Danube, an ancient 
 Rumanian province under the rule of the rumanian Prince 
 Mircea in the year 14.18. Later it became a Turkish Province, 
 
 When the Congress of Berlin gave this province to the Ru- 
 manians, it was in a lamentable state, as are all the Turkish 
 provinces. The Rumanians made great efforts to develop it. 
 The small and dirty cities became large and beautiful. Kus- 
 tendje became a first-class port. Railroads traversed the prov- 
 ince in all directions, and a bridge, which was a European 
 work of art, stretched across the Danube, linking together 
 Dobrudja and the mother country. Schools, roads, hospitals, 
 and intelligent agricultural and mineral exploitations sprang 
 up; a pipe-line connecting the oil wells of Rumania with the 
 port of Kustendje was built; oil tanks, as well as depots of 
 grain destined for export, have cost vast siuns to Rumania; so 
 they transformed Dobrudja into a veritable garden. 
 
 In 1913, on the occasion of the Treaty of Bukharest, a recti- 
 fication of the frontier of Rumania and Bulgaria was admit- 
 ted by giving to Rumania a small portion known by the name 
 of the New Dobrudja. 
 
 The population of Dobrudja was approximately three hundred 
 and fifty thousand inhabitants, of which Rumanians in ancient 
 Dobrudja represent seventy per cent. The rest is comprised 
 of Turks, Bulgarians, Tartars, Germans, etc. In New Do- 
 brudja the majority of the population consists of Bulgarians 
 and Turks. 
 
 iThe father of the one who was Prime Minister in 1916. 
 
 195 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 she felt herself estranged forever from Rus- 
 sia. The Prime Minister Bratiano all his 
 life manifested a profound hatred toward Rus- 
 sia, and directed all his policies toward Ber- 
 lin. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF RUMANIA 
 
 In 1881 the representatives of the nations 
 proclaimed the Kingdom of Rumania, which 
 was recognized by the foreign powers and, on 
 the tenth of May, 1881, Prince Charles was 
 crowned King of Rumania. This was a great 
 fete-day for all Rumanians. Divine services 
 were held throughout the country; thousands 
 of peasants, arrayed in brilliant native cos- 
 tumes, came to Bukharest; the capital pre- 
 sented a fairy-like aspect, ornamented with 
 flags and triumphal arches, festooned with 
 chains of variegated-colored flowers, under 
 which Prince Charles passed amidst an en- 
 thusiastic crowd on his way to receive the royal 
 
 196 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 crown, forged from the cannon taken as trophy 
 from the enemy in the war of 1877. 
 
 King Charles having no children, and the 
 constitutional monarchy being hereditary, his 
 nephew, Prince Ferdinand, son of his brother, 
 was proclaimed hereditary prince of the throne. 
 
 THE WAR OF 1912-1913 
 
 When in the autumn of 1912 mobilization 
 was commenced in the Balkans, they did not 
 yet believe at Bukharest that war was to be 
 declared. But events precipitated themselves, 
 and on the eighth of October, 1912, Monte- 
 negro declared war on Turkey, followed shortly 
 by Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece. All these 
 countries, wishing to deliver their own people 
 from under the domination of the Turks and 
 not being able to obtain willingly the ameliora- 
 tion of their conditions, declared war on Turkey 
 and, by a common action, the empire of the 
 sultan, being at this moment so rotten that 
 
 197 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 it could offer no resistance, the war was 
 quickly ended by the reduction of the Otto- 
 man Empire into a much smaller terri- 
 tory. 
 
 Shortly after the declaration of peace dis- 
 putes arose among the former allies because 
 Bulgaria wanted to take everything. She was 
 unwilling to share the spoils of war with the 
 others. On the twenty -ninth of June, 1913, 
 the Bulgarians attacked Serbia, and a new war 
 broke out, with Bulgaria on the one side and 
 the Serbs, the Greeks, and the Montenegrins 
 on the other. The prospect of the aggrandize- 
 ment of Bulgaria at the expense of the other 
 Balkan countries disturbed Rumania, in whose 
 interest it was to have equilibrium maintained 
 among all the countries in the Balkans. At 
 the same time Europe felt anxious lest these 
 internal conflicts in the Balkans might bring 
 about general trouble. Under these condi- 
 tions intervention by Rumania imposed itself. 
 For a long time she had been telling the Bul- 
 
 198 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 garians that she could not accept a Bulgarian 
 hegemony founded upon the crushing of Serbia 
 and Greece. A short time after the Bulgarian 
 aggression, the Rumanian Army crossed the 
 Danube and penetrated deeply into Bulgaria 
 towards the capital with such rapidity that the 
 Bulgarians had not even the time to recover 
 from their surprise. 
 
 THE PEACE OF BUKHAREST 
 
 Bulgaria capitulated, and the plenipotentiar- 
 ies of Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Rumania 
 met at Bukharest in August, 1913, to conclude 
 the peace. It was in the power of the allies 
 to crush Bulgaria under the weight of their 
 demand. Mr. Venizelos, Prime Minister of 
 Greece, and Mr. Pachitch, Serbian prime min- 
 ister, were in favor of this solution. The rep- 
 resentatives of Rumania, through the voice of 
 its great man, Titu Majorescu, prime min- 
 ister, made everj^ effort to modify the preten- 
 sions of the allies. Rumania wa^s not pursuing 
 
 199 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 a policy of conquest. She had intervened with 
 the assent of all Europe to bring about calm in 
 the Balkans and maintain equilibrium. This, 
 then, was her attitude throughout all the dis- 
 cussions of peace. She demanded only a recti- 
 fication of the frontier on the side of Bulgaria. 
 Peace was concluded; they hoped that hence- 
 forth calm might be assured for Europe, but 
 one year afterwards, in August, 1914, the great 
 European War broke out. 
 
 THE WAB OF 1914 
 
 King Charles, being a determined pacifist, 
 was absolutely against a war between the pow- 
 ers of Europe ; and before the great war broke 
 out he was approached by the Austro-Hun- 
 garian minister at Bukharest, Count Czernin, 
 and sounded on the attitude of Rumania in 
 case of a European war. The king told the 
 Austrian minister at Bukharest that he could 
 not count upon Rumania. On the eighteenth 
 of July, 1914, the Austrian minister tele- 
 
 aoo 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 graphed to the Government at Vienna : "The 
 king tells me that, in case Russia should be 
 against us, we could not, unfortunately, count 
 upon any military support from Rumania." ^ 
 In August, 1914, after the beginning of the 
 great European War King Charles convoked 
 immediately the crown council. 
 
 The majority pronounced themselves for 
 neutrality ; King Charles was convinced of the 
 German military strength and of the weakness 
 of the Russians, and he felt that it was in the 
 true interest of Rumania to be on the side of 
 Germany; nevertheless he bowed before the 
 opinion of the majority of the council, that is to 
 say, for neutrality. Had he truly wished Ru- 
 mania to enter the war on the side of Germany, 
 he had only to name as prime minister, Mr. 
 Carp, former prime minister, who was a de- 
 termined partizan of the entry of Rumania into 
 war on the side of the Central powers, and 
 
 iThe Austrian "Red Book," which appeared at Vienna in 
 1916, according to Comnene, "Notes sur la guerre en Rou- 
 mania," p. 155. 
 
 ^01 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 to grant him the dissolution of Parhament. 
 If Mr. Carp could obtain the Parliamentary 
 majority, the attitude of Rumania would have 
 been drawn in this direction. But King 
 Charles did not wish this; he preferred neu- 
 trality. 
 
 During the whole of his reign of forty-eight 
 years he always maintained his dignity as man 
 and as king. No one could ever boast of any 
 friendship with the king. He was always the 
 same towards everybody, amiable, deliberate, 
 showing great tact and forethought. His fine 
 qualities gave him great prestige at home and 
 abroad. During his reign he received at 
 Bukharest, at Sinaia, his summer residence, 
 and at Kustendje, many brilliant guests and 
 statesmen, among whom were the Emperor of 
 Austria-Hungary, Francis Joseph, and the 
 czars of Russia, Alexander II and Nicholas II. 
 He died in October, 1914, leaving a will that 
 profoundly impressed the country, because a 
 great part of his fortune was bequeathed to 
 
 202 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 charities and to institutions important to the 
 country. 
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was a worthy companion 
 to this great man. She was an accomphshed 
 musician, and wrote under the name of "Car- 
 men Sylva." She loved the people and in the 
 war of 1877 and 1878 she consecrated herself 
 to the care of the wounded and the relief of 
 suffering. Her great regret was that she had 
 no children, because she recognized that the 
 role of the woman as a mother was the most 
 delicate and the most noble. In March, 1890, 
 having been urged to deliver a speech in the 
 academy, she uttered these beautiful words : 
 
 Woman must be silent in the Church! Not even 
 to-day have I changed this opinion and I will always 
 say that the activity of a woman should never de- 
 part from the holy interior of the family. The path 
 of the woman is nowhere more charming than at her 
 fireside in the midst of her children. As for me, the 
 great God has enlargedl- my fireside. Is not my dear 
 
 203 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 country, with its dear children, a great and charm- 
 ing fireside? If I have decided to speak it is be- 
 cause here I am at home in the midst of my chil- 
 dren. I have to read you a story ; a story about 
 snakes and brave men and if, while speaking, I am not 
 holding a distaff in my hand, I will nevertheless 
 try to spin a long and thin thread from which the 
 one who listens to me may be able to weave. 
 
 According to these words we can appreciate 
 the character and the soul of Queen Elizabeth. 
 She worked constantly to encourage the domes- 
 tic industry of the peasant woman. She often 
 used to dress, specially when she was young, in 
 the costume of the peasant. She died in Oc- 
 tober, 1915. 
 
 King Charles and Queen Elizabeth are both 
 buried in the monastery Curtiu of Arjish, 
 according to wishes that they had expressed. 
 The Rumanian people profoundly regret the 
 death of this great man and of his good and 
 gentle queen, specially in these extremely try- 
 ing moments through which Rumania has had 
 to pass. 
 
 ^04< 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 KING FERDINAND 
 
 King Ferdinand is the son of Leopold of 
 Hohenzollem,' who is the eldest brother of 
 King Charles. He it is "who reigns to-day- 
 over Rumania and shares his eJfforts and his 
 suffering with those of the soldiers who are 
 fighting for national unity." ^ 
 
 QUEEN MARIE 
 
 King Ferdinand married the Duchess Marie, 
 daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and 
 Gotha. They have five children, the sixth hav- 
 ing been killed during this war by a bomb 
 thrown into Bukharest by an aeroplane of the 
 enemy ; he was seven years of age. The queen, 
 known for her beauty, her kindliness, and her 
 energy, has devoted herself to the relief of the 
 sufferings of her people during this terrible 
 Calvary. 
 
 1 N. Jorga, "Histoire des relations entre la France et la 
 Roumanie," p. 245. 
 
 205 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 The Rumanian language forms part of a 
 group of the Latin languages. It represents 
 a mixture of Latin with Dacian, influenced 
 somewhat by Slavic and Greek. Its base, how- 
 ever, is Latin. It resembles greatly the Italian 
 of to-day; at the same time it is also compara- 
 ble with French and Spanish. The grammar 
 is easy and the spelling, simple. The sound of 
 the words is agreeable as they are rich in vowels 
 with no special accent. 
 
 The language is the same in the kingdom and 
 in all the provinces inhabited by Rumanians 
 and subjected to foreign domination. The 
 dialects are not numerous and of very little 
 importance. In other words, the Rumanians 
 of Transylvania can be very well understood 
 by those of the kingdom and of Bessarabia. 
 Between the cultivated class and the people 
 there exists a very slight difference in speech. 
 
 206 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 THE RELIGION 
 
 In Rumania the religion is orthodox. It is 
 not obligatory. The basis of this religion is 
 the New Testament written by the four apos- 
 tles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The 
 ceremonies are decided according to rules es- 
 tablished by the twelve synods of Nicaea. The 
 orthodox religion forms a part of the orthodox 
 Greek Church, which separated from the 
 Roman Catholic Church in 1054 a. d. Among 
 the religions of the United States the Episcopal 
 is very close to the orthodox in belief, ritual, 
 and adornment of the church. The Rumanian 
 Church is independent. It is under the direc- 
 tion of a head called metropolite, resident at 
 Bukharest. He is elected by a college com- 
 posed of senators, deputies, and the members 
 of the synod. 
 
 20T 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 THE CLIMATE 
 
 The climate of Rmiiania is Continental. 
 The seasons are about like those of the eastern 
 part of the United States. As a rule the sky- 
 is blue and the months of the spring and of 
 the autumn are very beautiful. The tempera- 
 ture varies from ten degrees Fahrenheit below 
 zero during the winter to one hundred above 
 zero during the summer. 
 
 In summer one can go to many attractive 
 places in the foot-hills of the mountains, where 
 the temperature is very agreeable. One can 
 also make pleasant excursions into the Car- 
 pathian JNIountains, and their picturesque beau- 
 ties equal those of Switzerland and the Pyre- 
 nees. 
 
 THE CUSTOMS 
 
 The customs of the Rumanian people are 
 very important from an ethnological stand- 
 point. In reality, these customs owe their 
 
 208 
 
^ 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 origin to the old customs of Rome, and they 
 are upheld not only in the Kingdom of Ru- 
 mania, but among all the Rumanians who are 
 found in the provinces subjected to Austria- 
 Hungary, Russia, and even Macedonia. 
 
 COLINDETZA 
 
 On Christmas Eve the children of the people 
 organize themselves into little groups in the 
 cities, as vrell as in the villages, and go through 
 the night from house to house, singing seasonal 
 hymns. The people that they visit give these 
 children fruits and a special kind of bread 
 called Covrigi. 
 
 SORCOVA 
 
 During the early morning of the New Year 
 groups of children run about through the 
 streets carrying paper flowers called Sorcova, 
 with which they strike the passers-by, wishing 
 them a "Happy New Year." 
 
 209 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 PAPAEUDA 
 
 After Easter the young gypsy girls cover 
 their dresses with foliage and go in groups in 
 the different courtyards of the houses, dancing 
 and singing and invoking the god of rain. 
 The people that they are visiting sprinkle a 
 little water upon them and give them pennies. 
 
 STEAUA 
 
 Before Christmas groups of children carry 
 into the streets a large, silver, illuminated star 
 made of paper, in commemoration of the Star 
 of Bethlehem. They sing in chorus and are 
 called into the different houses and are given 
 petite monnaie. 
 
 VICLEIMUL 
 
 During the carnival before and after Christ- 
 mas the men of the people run through the 
 streets during the evening, dressed in fantastic 
 costumes representing Herod and the three 
 
 210 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 Wise Men of the East. They are called into 
 the different homes while singing in chorus and 
 acting and relating the hirth of Christ. They, 
 also, are given petite monnaie. 
 
 OUAROSI 
 
 On Easter Day in every family, from the 
 king's down to that of the very poorest peas- 
 ant, hard-boiled eggs colored red are served 
 at the table. Each member of the family takes 
 one of them and knocks it on the egg of the 
 one standing next to him, at the same time 
 wishing him a *'Happy Easter." 
 
 It is customary for the king to knock his egg 
 on the one held by the chief prelate of the 
 Church. 
 
 There exists among the people the belief 
 that when Jesus Christ rose from the dead a 
 Jewish woman was going to her house holding 
 eggs in her apron; on her way she met a man 
 who said to her, "The Christ is risen," and she 
 replied, 
 
 211 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 "Jesus Christ would rise from the dead, 
 When these eggs would turn red," 
 
 and at that moment she saw that the eggs were 
 red. 
 
 NATIONAL COSTUME 
 
 The peasants still hold to one special cos- 
 tume. The women, specially, dress very pret- 
 tily. They weave their own linen of extremely 
 fine texture and on it they embroider flowers in 
 color and in gold. With this material they 
 make their dress, embroidering a waist and 
 skirt with bands at the bottom of the skirt. 
 Over this they wear a shorter skirt of heavier 
 material, and this they also embroider. The 
 national costume is worn only in the villages 
 and by the peasants. In the cities they wear 
 the European dress, French styles predominat- 
 ing in the drawing-rooms of the Rumanian 
 cities. The late Queen Elizabeth (Carmen 
 Sylva) and also the present Queen Marie have 
 given a great impetus to the industry of home 
 
 21S 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 weaving among the peasants. The beautiful 
 blouses worked by the Rumanian peasants have 
 been greatly admired by the women of Lon- 
 don, Paris, and Berlin. The two queens took 
 great pleasure in dressing from time to time in 
 the costume of the peasant in order to develop 
 this taste among the society women. 
 
 The shepherds of Rumania and of Tran- 
 sylvania wear a caciula (woolen cap) and 
 zeghea (cloak) exactty like those worn by the 
 Dacians and the Romans of old Dacia. On a 
 stone column erected in Rome by the Emperor 
 Trajan one can see sculptured the shepherds 
 of Dacia in costumes identical with those worn 
 by the shepherds to-day. 
 
 THE AREA 
 
 Rumania has an area of 53,489 square miles 
 or a surface approximately the size of the State 
 of Illinois. The elevations vary greatly, from 
 peaks over 8000 feet in the Carpathian Moun- 
 tains to low foot-hills, which finally lose them- 
 
 213 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 selves in the plains below. Numerous small 
 rivers traverse the country and empty into the 
 Black Sea and the Danube River, both of which 
 are included in the boundary of the country. 
 
 POPULATION 
 
 The population in Rumania was a little more 
 than doubled during the period of years be- 
 tween 1860 and 1914, the latter date being 
 that of the latest official census. In 1860 the 
 inhabitants numbered 3,717,541 and in 1914 
 these figures had increased to 7,508,009. Of 
 this number more than six million persons are 
 in the rural communities, the remaining one 
 and one-half millions residing in the seventy 
 cities and small towns of the country. 
 
 AGRICULTURE 
 
 Agriculture is the principal occupation of 
 the country, and the land is specially adapted 
 for this purpose. It has been conceded that 
 the most productive land in the world is to 
 
 214 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 be found in Rumania, southern Hungary, and 
 southern Russia. The soil is black and rich, 
 mixed with clay and very deep. On account 
 of the compactness of the soil, due to the pres- 
 ence of the clay, it has been plowed very deeply. 
 The Rumanian peasant is an excellent 
 farmer and, although still partial to his old- 
 time plow and oxen, he makes use of many 
 modern agricultural machines, specially reap- 
 ers and binders. A majority of these ma- 
 chines are of American make. After the war 
 there will undoubtedly be a very great demand 
 for American-made machinery of all kinds, 
 specially of auto-tractor plows. 
 
 CULTIVATED ACREAGE 
 
 Previous to the war, Rumania held the dis- 
 tinction of ranking third among European 
 countries in the export of cereals. In 1911 
 there were 15,000,000 acres under cultivation 
 in that country, and they yielded a harvest of 
 $269,000,000. 
 
 215 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 The majority of cereals exported went 
 to Belgium, Holland, France, and Italy. 
 Huge granaries were constructed at Brai'la and 
 Kustendje to store these grains for export. 
 
 WHEAT 
 
 Wheat is one of the most important of the 
 crops. In the year 1912 there were approxi- 
 mately 5,000,000 acres planted in wheat, pro- 
 ducing an average of from 14 to 16 bushels per 
 acre. 
 
 CORN 
 
 Equally important is the annual maize crop, 
 which yielded in the same year an average of 
 17.25 bushels per acre from a cultivated area 
 of little more than 5,000,000 acres. 
 
 BARLEY 
 
 Barley is next in the list of staples, with a 
 cultivated acreage in 1912 of 1,234,715 acres, 
 netting a total of 20,636,387 bushels. 
 
 216 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 OATS 
 
 The oats crop for the same year amounted 
 to 20,182,832 bushels from a total of 943,008 
 acres cultivated. 
 
 RYE 
 
 Rye is cultivated to a considerable extent 
 for breweries and for export, the acreage tilled 
 being about 400,000 acres and j^elding an- 
 nually in the neighborhood of 11 bushels per 
 acre. 
 
 OTHER CROPS 
 
 Numerous other crops are produced in 
 smaller amounts, among them being buck- 
 wheat, millet, flax, peas, hemp, potatoes, len- 
 tils, sugar-beets, cabbages, onions, etc. 
 
 VINEYARDS 
 
 The vineyards occupy an area of 241,419 
 acres and produce annually an average of 
 22,000,000 gallons of wine, valued at $9,000,- 
 000. 
 
 aiT 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 FRUITS 
 
 Other fruits are also extensively cultivated, 
 specially prunes, apples, pears, cherries, 
 peaches, and English walnuts. Fully 50,000,- 
 000 trees bearing these fruits are to be found, 
 in addition to which are smaller fruits of vari- 
 ous kinds and delicious flavors. 
 
 FORESTS 
 
 Rumania possesses 7,000,000 acres of large 
 and very old forests, 3,000,000 of which be- 
 long to the Government and the remainder to 
 private persons. The trees include oak, beach, 
 pine, fir, larch, elm, maple, willow, walnut. 
 Excellent timber for construction work is ex- 
 ported in large quantities into various parts 
 of Western Europe, as are also resinous woods 
 and those suitable for furniture. 
 
 DOMESTIC ANIMALS 
 
 Before the war Rumania possessed an ade- 
 quate supply of domestic animals for all pur- 
 
 ^18 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 poses. In 1916 there were in the country 
 nearly 2,000,000 horses, 8,000,000 sheep, 2,000- 
 000 pigs, 4,000,000 cows and bulls, besides 
 goats, donkeys, poultry, and other small ani- 
 mals. On account of difficulties of customs, 
 the export of meat was not highly developed 
 in the past. 
 
 FISH 
 
 Rumania abounds in beautiful lakes, which 
 are plentifully supplied with many varieties of 
 fish, and the exporting of fish is one of the im- 
 portant industries of the country. Specially 
 is the fresh caviar of Rumania greatly appre- 
 ciated in Europe. 
 
 COMMERCE 
 
 There were in Rumania before the war ap- 
 proximately 120,000 business firms, of which 
 79,000 were Rumanian, 25,000 Jewish, and 
 16,000 of other nationalities. Chambers of 
 commerce were organized in 1886 in eleven of 
 the larger cities of the country. 
 
 219 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 EXPORTS 
 
 The exports of Rumania are composed spe- 
 cially of cereals and their products. In 1913 
 Rumania exported to a total value of 670,- 
 705,335 lei. 
 
 The cereals mount up to a value of 448,412,- 
 269 leij among which wheat represents a value 
 of 208,152,226 lei and maize 115,764,527 lei. 
 
 To the export of wheat we must add flour, 
 which in 1913 represented the value of 34,044,- 
 115 lei. Then follow oats, barley, rye, and 
 millet. 
 
 The countries that import the most cereals 
 from Rumania are: 
 
 Belgium 1,074,335 tona 
 
 Austria 616,020 
 
 Italy 341,136 
 
 Holland 217,170 
 
 France 162,055 
 
 England 148,895 
 
 Germany 128,020 
 
 220 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 To the exports we must add vegetables, flow- 
 ers, grains, trees, wood, animals used for food, 
 live stock, skins, wool, fruit, etc. 
 
 Petroleum comes next to cereals as export 
 merchandise, but we must also note that the 
 money that is derived from the sale of the 
 cereals reverts to the Rumanian producers. 
 On the other hand, the money derived from the 
 sale of petroleum goes entirely to foreign- 
 owned companies. 
 
 Recently the production of petroleum has 
 greatly increased. In 1913 the export of re- 
 fined petroleum amounted to 428,098 tona. 
 
 Benzin 241,726 tona 
 
 Mineral oils ^ 7,732 " 
 
 Paraffine 664 " 
 
 By-products 377,688 " 
 
 Refined petroleum is exported to England, 
 Italy, Egypt, and Germany. Benzin is ex- 
 ported specially to France and Germany. 
 
 221 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 IMPORTS 
 
 Rumania imported in 1913 merchandise to 
 the value of 590,012,640 lei ($1,026,109). 
 Germany leads in the importation into Ru- 
 mania, followed by Austria-Hungary; the 
 other countries are far behind. Rumania im- 
 ports from Germany metals, manufactured 
 metals, and other mineral products to the value 
 of 89,643,608 lei. 
 
 Machinery 35,215,635 lei 
 
 Woolens, bristles, and man- 
 ufactured goods of this 
 
 class 14,056,180 « 
 
 Explosives 18,217,168 " 
 
 Vehicles 14,341,489 " 
 
 Skins and manufactured 
 
 articles from skins 10,489,392 " 
 
 Silk and silk goods 4,626,589 " 
 
 We will not enumerate all the other articles 
 in which Germany occupies the second rank. 
 As a total, in 1913 Germany imported mer- 
 
 222 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 chandise into Rumania to the value of 237,- 
 819,146 lei. 
 
 After Germany came Austria, which im- 
 ported merchandise to the total of 138,192,076 
 lei in 1913; but she holds her own with diffi- 
 culty in the Rumanian market on account of 
 the German competition. She sends specially 
 raw celluloid, white celluloid, mineral waters, 
 horseshoe nails, oak lumber, carbonic acid, tar- 
 taric acid, agricultural implements, linen, 
 glassware, dyes, woolen goods, shoes, porce- 
 lains, and tanned skins. 
 
 Fine materials are imported into Rumania 
 by Germany amounting to forty-six per cent., 
 Austria twenty-six per cent., England seven- 
 teen per cent., France and Italy nine per cent. 
 
 The necessary equipment of armament for 
 the army is bought in very small part from 
 Austria, France, and Italy, as the greatest part 
 comes from Germany. 
 
 With France the commercial relations are 
 223 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 very slight. In 1913 she sold to Rumania to 
 the amount of 34,135,788 lei, according to the 
 Rumanian statistics, and to the amount of 16,- 
 200,000 according to French statistics, and she 
 bought from Rumania to the amount of about 
 50,000,000 lei. 
 
 With the United States the following com- 
 mercial relations existed: 
 
 The trade relations between the United States and 
 Rumania, while small, have, according to statistics, 
 extended over a period of more than forty years. 
 The following table represents the Imports and ex- 
 ports of the two countries during the years 1909-' 
 1916. 
 
 Year Import Export 
 
 1900 $ 41,562 $101,042 
 
 1901 26,560 000,000 
 
 1902 
 
 128,879 
 
 289 
 
 1903 
 
 214,215 
 
 6,554 
 
 1904 
 
 234,078 
 
 5,592 
 
 1905 
 
 902,506 
 
 8,224 
 
 1906 
 
 617,608 
 
 4,026 
 
 1907 
 
 685,231 
 
 6,545 
 
 1908 
 
 447,759 
 224 
 
 11,135 
 
m 
 
 < 
 
'a 
 
 S 
 a 
 U 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 Year Import Export 
 
 1909 647,045 9,340 
 
 1910 470,364 36,181 
 
 1911 964,398 273,597 
 
 1912 906,819 91,773 
 
 1913 £,417,591 348,481 
 
 1914 2,306,377 489,620 
 
 1915 391,001 97,881 
 
 1916 112,437 20,079 
 
 These figures represent merely the direct trade be- 
 tween the United States and Rumania, but, in addi- 
 tion, a large amount of American goods were bought 
 each year in other countries, specially in Germany, 
 by the Rumanian merchants. 
 
 The imports from the United States consisted 
 mostly of agricultural machines and implements, also 
 metals, leather, and leather goods, cotton-seed oil 
 etc., while the exports into the United States were 
 copper ore, petroleum, walnut lumber, furs, fish, 
 cheese, beans, grass seed, tobacco, toys, laces, etc. 
 
 The development of trade relations between the 
 United States and Rumania has been slow, on ac- 
 count of the lack of Rumanian diplomatic and com- 
 mercial representation in the United States, the 
 insufficient advertising of the United States in Ru- 
 mania, the lack of direct shipping facilities between 
 
 225 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 the two countries, and the difficulty of language and 
 of banking. The small amount of trade already ex- 
 isting was due to private initiative without official 
 interference, and this is a proof that many Ameri- 
 can goods are highly prized in Rumania and a better 
 market might be secured if the work were better or- 
 ganized.^ 
 
 TARIFF 
 
 To protect and to encourage her own manu- 
 factures, Rumania in 1906 adopted a protect- 
 ive tariff, maintaining at the same time special 
 protective commercial arrangements with 
 England, France, Italy, Belgium, and Hol- 
 land. 
 
 SHIPPING 
 
 Rumania's shipping effectives consist of 
 nearly 800 merchant vessels of different sizes, 
 and an average of 9,000,000 tons of domestic 
 and foreign vessels enter and clear from Ru- 
 manian ports annually. 
 
 1 Dr. D. I. Andrenescu, "Rumanian Review," of Chicago, 
 February 7, 1918. 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 CUSTOMS 
 
 The three customs houses of Rumania are 
 located at Bukharest, Braila, and Galatz. 
 Merchandise passing through these three cus- 
 toms houses annually amounts to nearly 94,000 
 tons. 
 
 SALT 
 
 There are several large salt deposits in Ru- 
 mania. The principal ones are located at 
 Ocnele-man, Targu-Ocna, Slanik and Dof- 
 tana. The annual output of salt is estimated 
 to be 125,000,000 tons. Considerable amounts 
 of salt are exported yearly. 
 
 INDUSTRIES 
 
 Industry is yet very young in Rumania. It 
 hardly commenced in 1886 when under the 
 protection of an autonomous tariff a law wasf 
 passed on the 21st of April, 1887, for the en- 
 couragement of national industry. Among 
 these industries we must count in the very first 
 
 227 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 rank, with the exception of petroleum, the flour 
 industry, of which is exported to the value of 
 34,044,155 lei, and the manufacture of woolen 
 goods, the product of thirteen factories. 
 
 After these above-mentioned industries 
 comes the manufacture of linen goods, sugar, 
 wood, paper, metals, vegetable oils, soap, sul- 
 phuric acid, glasswares, dyes, cement, the can- 
 ning of fruits and vegetables, meats, etc. 
 
 Here we have given a very slight resume of 
 our principal industries. The total produc- 
 tion represents a value of 550,000,000 lei. It 
 supplies specially the interior necessities of the 
 country. We must take into account that in 
 almost all of these industries foreign capital, 
 particularly German capital, takes a large 
 share. Naturally a great part of the benefits 
 derived from these capitals reverts to Germany. 
 The following is a list of the distribution of 
 capital according to nationalitj'-. 
 
 German 160,000,000 lei 
 
 Holland 60,000,000 *' 
 
 2^8 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 French 45,000,000 « 
 
 English 115,000,000 « 
 
 Itahan 10,000,000 « 
 
 Belgian 10,000,000 " 
 
 Austria-Hungarian 6,000,000 " 
 
 American 25,000,000 " 
 
 Rumanian 25,000,000 « 
 
 PETROLEUM 
 
 Rumania possesses very rich petroleum 
 wells. These are only partly exploited, and 
 their quality is extraordinary. When the 
 wells have been driven tremendous eruptions 
 have taken place, throwing up the petroleum 
 to a great height. Some of these wells have 
 produced such a quality and quantity of petro- 
 leum that they have been worth five to six 
 millions of dollars. 
 
 Much foreign capital has come into Rumania 
 to extract the petroleum, to refine it in numer- 
 ous distilleries that have been built near the 
 petroleum centers. Afterward it is sold either 
 for interior consumption or for exportation. 
 
 229 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 The annual production of peiroleum is about 
 2,000,000 metric tons or 14,380,000 barrels. 
 In 1911 there were manufactured from 1,243,- 
 570 tons of raw petroleum (or 8,941,268 
 barrels) : 1,386,267 barrels of benzine, 2,630,- 
 763 barrels of kerosene, 201,320 barrels of 
 mineral oil, etc. In the same year were ex- 
 ported 1,653,700 barrels of petroleum valued 
 at $1,364,285; also 2,286,420 barrels of re- 
 fined petroleum valued at nearly $2,000,000 
 and 891,560 barrels of benzine valued at 
 $3,000,000. 
 
 INSTRUCTION AND THE CHAEACTER OF 
 THE PEOPLE 
 
 In Rumania there are three grades of in- 
 struction: first, primary schools, where all the 
 children from seven to fourteen years are 
 obliged to follow the courses for four years; 
 second, intermediate schools, for those who 
 have the means; this course is eight years in 
 the college ; third, professional or advanced col- 
 
 230 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 lege work for which we have two universities, 
 one at Bukharest, with five faculties, and the 
 other at Jassy, with four. Besides these there 
 are special schools for engineering, military- 
 training, fine arts, music, agriculture, industry, 
 and other branches of education. 
 
 The Rumanian peasant has been described 
 by all foreigners visiting Rumania as possess- 
 ing a lively intelligence, subtleness of mind, 
 great courage, and a lively imagination. Pop- 
 ular poetry, the folk-lore, and the stories are 
 full of wit and charm. Sentiments like love, 
 sacrifice, courage, abnegation, altruism, pre- 
 dominate everywhere among the works of these 
 people. 
 
 They are always happy to receive in their 
 homes a traveler, whether he be Rumanian or 
 foreign, who asks for shelter, and to share with 
 him the modest repast, exceedingly happy to 
 have been able to do a good deed, but never 
 thinking of asking or of receiving money for 
 such hospitality as they may be able to give. 
 
 231 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 Rumania is a constitutional monarchy, 
 hereditary, having the rank of a kingdom. 
 The rules that govern the country are deter- 
 mined by a constitution. The Law of Laws, 
 voted and put into effect in 1866, is modeled 
 on the Belgian Constitution. 
 
 The principal point of the constitution is in- 
 dividual liberty ; the liberty of thought, speech 
 in public meetings, and of the press is guaran- 
 teed. 
 
 All distinctions of classes have been abol- 
 ished; all citizens are equal before the law and 
 have the same right and the same obliga- 
 tion. No one since 1866 has the right to bear 
 any title of nobility, such as prince, count, 
 baron, etc. This right is reserved wholly to 
 the members of the royal family. Property, 
 domicile, and letters are inviolable. Military 
 service is obligatory, and primary instruction 
 both compulsory and free. 
 
 232 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 The sovereignty of the state is represented 
 by three bodies, which control each other 
 and counter-balance then- influence: the leg- 
 islative power, the judiciary, and the execu- 
 tive. 
 
 The legislative power, that is to say, the one 
 that makes the laws, belongs to the king and 
 to the people. The people elect their repre- 
 sentative deputies and senators, who discuss 
 and make the laws, but these laws must also be 
 approved by the king. 
 
 The judiciary power administers the laws. 
 For small lawsuits there are the Circuit 
 Judges, who travel from village to village, to 
 attend to small lawsuits. For the more im- 
 portant cases amounting to more than 3000 lei, 
 in each department there are courts composed 
 of three judges, the attorney, and the examin- 
 ing magistrate. 
 
 Against the decision of the court the case 
 can be carried to a court of appeals, of which 
 there are five. There is also the supreme 
 
 233 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 court, which has general control over all the 
 courts of appeal. 
 
 The judges are elected by the king after be- 
 ing recommended by the minister of justice, 
 and they must be graduates of the law college. 
 For crime the jury system of twelve citizens is 
 used. 
 
 The executive power belongs to the king, 
 who, in turn, is controlled by rules fixed by the 
 constitution. All administrative functionaries 
 hold their office by the will of the king. He is 
 also the chief of the army. His person is 
 inviolable. He is never responsible for his 
 acts; the only one responsible is the minister 
 who signs the acts, which have no value with- 
 out his signature. 
 
 The king is aided by a prime minister and 
 by nine other ministers. They form the gov- 
 ernment, which is indicated to the king by the 
 majority of the Parliament. The govern- 
 ment has all the responsibilities in the conduct 
 of the state, because it has also all the rights, 
 
 234 
 
RUMANIA OF YESTERDAY 
 
 having the power even to refuse to sign an act 
 demanded by the king. 
 
 To facihtate the administration of the coun- 
 try, it is divided into thirty-three departments. 
 At the head of each department there is a pre- 
 fect named by the king to represent the Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 THE ARMY 
 
 In time of peace there are 150,000 men in 
 the Rumanian Army, 3500 officers, 15,000 
 horses, and 500 cannons. In time of war 400,- 
 000 to 450,000 men can be mobihzed. By in- 
 creasing the age limit to 46 years from 700,- 
 000 to 800,000 fighting men can be obtained. 
 
 There are three mihtary school for officers, 
 the war college, etc. The military education 
 of a soldier and of an officer is complete and 
 very strict. 
 
 THE CITIES 
 
 The capital of Rumania is Bukharest, which 
 has half a million inhabitants. It is a dainty 
 
 235 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 city, with pretty houses, generally from one to 
 two stories high. Very nearly every house has 
 a flower garden in front, and in the rear fruit- 
 trees are grown. The public buildings are 
 large and beautiful. Life is gay and elegant, 
 and the Parisian style and taste reigns every- 
 where. 
 
 In Bukharest there is a university, special 
 schools, libraries, etc. It is the principal in- 
 dustrial center of the country, as well as the 
 most important commercial center. 
 
 Next comes Jassy, the former capital of 
 Moldavia; Krajova, the center of agriculture 
 and commerce; Braila, a port on the Danube; 
 Galatz, the most important commercial cen- 
 ter; Ployeschi, an important industrial center, 
 with factories and petroleum distilleries; 
 Kustendje, the only port on the Black Sea in 
 deep water. 
 
 236 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE RUMANIAN PROVINCES 
 UNDER FOREIGN DOMI- 
 NATION 
 
 T is to the interest of the reader to know 
 the Rumanian regions under foreign dom- 
 ination, in order to understand better the mo- 
 tive that determined Rumania to enter the war. 
 
 The Rumanians form a compact mass on 
 the territory between the river Tiza in Hun- 
 gary to the north of the country of the 
 Maramoureche ; to the south to the Danube, 
 continuing to the east by Moldavia, Bukowina, 
 and Bessarabia as far as the Dniester, that is 
 to say, including Banat, Bukowina, and 
 Bessarabia. 
 
 237 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 TRANSYLVANIA 
 
 One of the Rumania states, situated between 
 the Carpathians and Tiza, is the former Duchy 
 of Transylvania. No one, not even the Hun- 
 garians, contests the fact that Transylvania 
 is a part of ancient Dacia occupied by Roman 
 colonists in A. i>. 107. But the Hungarian 
 historians, in order to justify their claims over 
 Transylvania, have raised a question : they pre- 
 tend that when in a. d. 270 Emperor Aurelian 
 abandoned this province he withdrew all the 
 Roman and Dacian population living there — 
 all the Roman colonists established in those 
 regions for more than one hundred and fifty 
 years and the autochthon population, and 
 transported them into middle Mcecia on the 
 other side of the Danube; in consequence, so 
 they say, in the eleventh century, when the 
 Hungarians came there, they found a coun- 
 try completely vacated, and the Rumanians 
 came there after them. These arguments, sus- 
 
 238 
 
UNDER FOREIGN DOMINATION 
 
 tained by Rossler, A. De Bertha, and others, 
 were contested by both Hungarian and Ger- 
 man historians. The orders of the Emperor 
 Aurehan could not be obeyed except by the 
 army, the functionaries, and the rich class; it 
 is not possible to believe that the whole of the 
 population left the land to which it belonged. 
 This phenomenon was even put into evidence 
 in our day, when the means of transportation 
 are very much easier. When the Germans 
 penetrated into Belgium, France, Serbia, and 
 Rumania, the rich class and those in authority 
 could save themselves, but the great portion 
 of the people were obliged to remain at home. 
 The colonists could not find there any better 
 conditions, being just as much exposed to bar- 
 barian invasions, and the Carpathians offered 
 them a fairly good protection in their own 
 country. 
 
 The Hungarian historian Keza says that at 
 the time of the Hungarian invasion these coun- 
 tries were inhabited by a Rumanian popula- 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 tion made up of shepherds and older colonists. 
 
 The anonymous chronicler of the Hunga- 
 rian king Bela explains that when the Hunga- 
 rians came into Transylvania they found the 
 principality of Gelu, which was purely Ruma- 
 nian, and that they had to struggle with the 
 Rumanian Dukes of Transylvania. 
 
 In 1910 the minister of commerce of Buda- 
 pest published a book entitled "Hungary," in 
 which it is also explained that the Roman colon- 
 ists who were established there and who ac- 
 quired *'by the sweat of their brow" lands, 
 vineyards, houses, could not have abandoned 
 with their families all that they possessed in 
 order to "search for a new country." It is 
 perfectly clear that Transylvania, a country 
 purely Rumanian, has been invaded by the 
 Hungarians. 
 
 After the battle of Mohacs (1526) Transyl- 
 vania succeeded in becoming independent, and 
 in the year 1599 the principalities of Wal- 
 lachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania were re- 
 
 240 
 
^!B*^SS£SS^5a3S"* 
 
 .^^' 
 
 < 
 
 I. . a^!4*£. yii"-^- .*l:i:'^ 
 
UNDER FOREIGN DO:^^NATION 
 
 united under the rule of the Wallachian Prince 
 Mihai the Brave. This great Rumanian event 
 lasted but a short time, because the prince was 
 assassinated by the Austrian Basta. 
 
 Transylvania continued to keep her inde- 
 pendence, but, being attacked sometimes by the 
 Turks, sometimes by the Hungarians and by 
 the Poles, she was obliged to form an alliance 
 with the House of Hapsburg, the reigning 
 House of Austria. In 1691 the relations be- 
 tween Transylvania and the House of Aus- 
 tria were settled in the Diploma of Leopold I. 
 This treaty formed the fundamental pact of 
 Transylvania until 1867 and established the 
 autonomy of Transylvania. All the emperors 
 who succeeded Leopold I respected this treaty. 
 The Emperor Francis Joseph even recognized 
 this State by a document dated June 15, 1863. 
 
 In 1866, Austria, defeated at Sadowa, was 
 obiged to become reconciled to the Hungarians. 
 In exchange for this reconciliation they de- 
 manded that Austria cede Transylvania to 
 
 241 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 them. The emperor, forgetting the incon- 
 testable rights of the Rumanians to Transyl- 
 vania, to autonomy, forgetting that he did not 
 have the right to cede a country which did not 
 belong to him, accepted the proposition of the 
 Hungarians, and signed the treaty of 1867, 
 which put an end to the autonomy of Transyl- 
 vania. By this act Transylvania, annexed to 
 Hungary, lost all her rights, and the Hun- 
 garians, pretending to be the masters, pro- 
 posed to transform the Rumanians into Hun- 
 garians. 
 
 THE PERSECUTION OF THE RUMANIANS 
 
 In order that the Hungarians might carry 
 out their program, they sought through force 
 to make the Rumanians forget their national- 
 ity, language, and religion. 
 
 The Hungarians began their persecution by 
 forbidding the teaching of the Rumanian lan- 
 guage in the schools, and when the Rumanians 
 created by their own means thirty-five thou- 
 
 242 
 
UNDER FOREIGN DOMINATION 
 
 sand elementary schools in which they also 
 taught Hungarian, the Government, on differ- 
 ent pretexts, closed these schools. The Ru- 
 manians were even obhged, under various 
 penalties, to send their children from the age 
 of three years to special schools where only the 
 Hungarian language was taught. 
 
 When a Rumanian wished to occupy a pub- 
 lic office, — ^which happened very rarely, — ^he 
 was obhged to speak perfect Hungarian and 
 even to change his name from a Rumanian to a 
 Hungarian one, and he was immediately dis- 
 charged if he was caught speaking his own 
 language. 
 
 The hberty of the press and of pubhc meet- 
 ings was entirely restricted. If a Rumanian 
 newspaper man or an orator had the audacity 
 to write or speak, even in a most guarded man- 
 ner, demanding the equality of rights for the 
 Rumanians, he was at once arrested and cited 
 before a Hungarian court on the accusation 
 of having made an attempt against the secur- 
 
 243 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 ity of the state. Without exception, he was 
 condemned to prison for from one to five 
 years. 
 
 Despite the electoral law, the Rumanians 
 had the right to vote, but, the vote being verbal, 
 the Hungarian authorities terrorized the voters 
 in order to assure the success of the Hungarian 
 candidate. Under this system the Rumanian 
 population, which represented a quota of four 
 million inhabitants, could send to the Parlia- 
 ment at Budapest but one or two representa- 
 tives. The elections took the form of a veri- 
 table civil war in which on the one side stood 
 the unarmed Rumanian voter and on the other 
 side the Hungarian policeman armed to the 
 teeth, and not hesitating to kill the Rumanian 
 voter for the slightest cause. 
 
 The hatred of the Hungarians for the Ru- 
 manians was always kept alive by the authori- 
 ties and by the press. In order to better edify 
 the reader, I will reproduce a few examples of 
 the manner in which the Hungarians edited 
 
 S44i 
 
UNDER FOREIGN DOMINATION 
 
 their papers against the Tlumanians, and also 
 give the opinions of several foreign persons 
 of note who were impartial. 
 
 The Hungarian newspaper "Koloswar," of 
 August 3, 1891, wrote: "Brutal force alone 
 can make an impression on this boorish mass, 
 the Rumanians. We must gain the authority 
 of power to impose it upon Rumania herself." 
 
 The Hungarian newspaper "Szatmar," of 
 the twenty-eighth of February, 1891, wrote: 
 "This wild beast, the Rumanian, cruel and sav- 
 age, is athirst for the blood of the Magyar. 
 We will sweep thee out of the country, a peo- 
 ple ungrateful and perfidious. If our lan- 
 guage does not please you, get out of here. 
 Go to the devil, for many trees in our forest 
 and a crowd of crows await your bodies." 
 
 The Hungarian newspaper "Elenzek," num- 
 ber 146, 1887, published with satisfaction the 
 following correspondence of Caransebes: 
 "The 23rd of June all along the streets of 
 Orsova passed at a gallop a carriage in which 
 
 245 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 were seated two policemen. Behind this car- 
 riage was tied a Rumanian peasant; he had 
 been forced to run behind the carriage for three 
 miles and, being unable to longer stand on his 
 legs, had fallen and was being dragged in that 
 condition." 
 
 Georges Clemenceau, the present Prime 
 Minister of France, with a thorough knowl- 
 edge of the different nationalities of Hungary, 
 after having written the history of the Ruma- 
 nian claims, which he found to be absolutely 
 legitimate, protested with vigor against "this 
 sovereignty force erected on the principle of 
 public rights in Transylvania by the Hun- 
 garians." 
 
 Madame Juliette Adam wrote in the 
 "Nouvelle Revue" of May 15, 1894, the follow- 
 ing words : "One knows what is taking place 
 in spite of the promises of emancipation by 
 Kossuth, in spite even of those of Deak, for the 
 small Slavic nationalities of the Kingdom of 
 St.-Etienne. For more than forty years it 
 
 S46 
 
UNDER FOREIGN DOMINATION 
 
 has been the same for Transylvania, whom the 
 followers of the Germanophile Tizsa insist 
 upon Magyarizing; but the Rumanians of 
 Transylvania and of Banat have the intangible 
 spirit of the race and they propose to remain 
 Latin. The laws of exception which regulate 
 Transylvania are a continual threat of trouble. 
 Four million Rumanians live under the regime 
 of the good will of a government which has 
 exceptional favors only for those of the Ger- 
 man race." 
 
 Mr. Flourens, a former minister of France, 
 wrote in 1894 the following words: "The 
 claims of the Rumanians, co-existing in equal 
 number if not superior to the Hungarians, on 
 the soil of Transylvania, are all the more just 
 and more moderate, and because of this one 
 is astonished, on reading them, that, at the 
 end of the nineteenth century a European peo- 
 ple should be so reduced as to be obliged to 
 claim the exercise of rights as essential and 
 incontestable." ("Voix Latines," p. 109.) 
 
 24n 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 A well-known Englishman, H. W. Seton- 
 Watson, who writes under the nom-de-plume 
 of Scotus Viator, published in 1908, "The 
 Political Persecution in Hungary," which con- 
 tains a real speech for the crown against the 
 "barbarous conduct" of the Hungarians, who 
 by their acts against nationalities "have lost 
 their rights to the title of civilized people." 
 
 Mr. Henry Wickham Steed writes in his 
 book, "The Hapsburg Monarchy," on page 
 66 and page 429 the following: 
 
 Francis Joseph, at the risk of alienating as im- 
 portant a race as the Rumanians in Transylvania, 
 tolerated the tactics of Tisza and of the Hungarian 
 Prime Minister who followed him to Magyarize the 
 Rumanians ; and he showed himself indifferent to the 
 use of corruption and of pressure as a means of 
 government. 
 
 Here, as in the question of the Slavs of the South, 
 the short-sighted Chauvinism of the Hungarians must 
 again be blamed. While attempting vainly to 
 Magyarize a prolific race, well gifted and in no way 
 inferior to themselves even from an intellectual point 
 
 248 
 
44 
 
!lillil!l!IIIII!i{inie^7?ti^iMiiii!iiiiiiiiii{ii|iii!|iiiiiiii|i{!iiiiiJ!,iL 
 
 j^,G A |l_ I 'C ? A V ■ : ' ' „ iesie- ■«'- POLITICAL and ETHNOLOGICAL MAP 
 
 OF 
 
 R U M A N I A 
 
 AND THE REGIONS 
 INHABITED BY 
 THE RUMANIANS. 
 
UNDER FOREIGN DOMINATION 
 
 of view, although long persecuted, the Magyars 
 
 In their "Histoire Generale" Mr. Lavisse 
 and Mr. Rambaud branded this policy "of de- 
 clared Magyarization," and were indignant at 
 the measures applied in Transylvania "with a 
 rigor and with unusual meannesses." (Vol- 
 ume 12, p. 170.) 
 
 BANAT 
 
 Banat consist of three counties, Krasso, 
 Temes, and Torontal. In this part the popu- 
 lation, in the greater majority, is Rumanian 
 and Serbian, and their existence is as bad as 
 in Transylvania. 
 
 BUKOWINA 
 
 Bukowina formed a part of Moldavia until 
 the year 1775, when it was occupied militarily 
 by the Austrians, with the excuse that it was 
 necessary from a strategic point of view. 
 Turkey, upon whom the Moldavians called, 
 
 249 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 not only approved the occupation, but killed 
 the Moldavian Prince Gr. Ghika, who pro- 
 tested. 
 
 The ancient documents of these days show 
 that Kaunitz, the minister of Maria Theresa, 
 the Empress of Austria, had given to the grand 
 vizier of Turkey 10,000 florins to assure the 
 moral cooperation of the Turks. 
 
 In Bukowina are found many old Rumanian 
 monuments. There is found Suceavea, the 
 former capital of Moldavia; there also is found 
 the monastery of Putna where is situated the 
 tomb of the Moldavian Prince Stefan the 
 Great. 
 
 BESSARABIA 
 
 Bessarabia formed a part of Moldavia un- 
 til the year 1812, when it was occupied by the 
 Russians through the Peace of Bukharest. 
 The Russians fought the Turks, and the lat- 
 ter gave Bessarabia to Russia, although the 
 province did not belong to them. 
 
 250 
 
1600 
 
 i7Tr 
 
 1812 
 
 1856 
 
 1878 
 
 1913 
 
 ^ 
 
 R.US 
 
 ■SIA 
 
 AUSTRIA- 1^^^^^ 
 
 
 
 MUNGAR-V^^^^ 
 
 
 y 
 
 B U UO APil A 
 
 r 
 
 
 B U ua AR.I A 
 
 Rumania's territory at different times 
 251 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 By the treaty of Paris in 1856, following the 
 Crimean War, they forced the Russians to 
 return to Moldavia three departments of the 
 southwestern part of Bessarabia; but by the 
 Congress of Berlin of 1878 the Russians took 
 these three departments back again. 
 
 Bessarabia has a population of about 3,000,- 
 000 persons, of which three fourths are Ruma- 
 nians. It is situated between the rivers 
 Pruth, Dniester, Danube, and the Black Sea. 
 The soil is fertile and rich. The population 
 retains its Rumanian language, although the 
 Russians attempted to make them forget both 
 language and their origin. 
 
 MACEDONIA 
 
 In Macedonia there are six hundred thou- 
 sand Rumanians, who guard their language, 
 religion, customs, and love for their mother 
 country in spite of the persecution of the 
 Turks and the Bulgarians. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 DIFFERENT ESTIMATES OF 
 THE RUMANIAN ARMY 
 
 THE history of Rumania proves to us that 
 the Rumanians who have been called to 
 fight against barbarians or against too rapa- 
 cious neighbors have always shown themselves 
 to be true warriors. All French-Belgian- 
 German military critics recognized, specially 
 in the Russo-Turco-Rumanian war of 1877- 
 1878, when for the first time Rumania drew 
 the attention of the whole world, that the Ru- 
 manian Army is an armj^ of the first order, 
 made up of excellent soldiers and distinguished 
 officers. 
 
 In 1913 the same critics praised highly the 
 same army, which penetrated Bulgaria as far 
 as Sophia, in order to stop the troubles of the 
 
 253 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 BalkanSj so swiftly and skilfully that the Bul- 
 garians were paralyzed and obliged to accept 
 the Peace of Bukharest. 
 
 In 1916 the Rumanian troops advanced into 
 Transylvania under good conditions and later, 
 being pushed by the greater forces of the 
 enemy and threatened by the invasions of the 
 Germano-Turco-Bulgarian armies at the 
 south, withdrew, but yielding ground only step 
 by step, in perfect order and with sanguinary 
 battles. This year of retreat was witnessed by 
 the French Vice- Admiral Fournier, who was 
 at this period in Rumania. He wrote in the 
 Paris newspapers: 
 
 In my automobile trips on the roads of Rumania, 
 covered with marching troops in perfect order, I 
 met only magnificent soldiers admirably equipped, in 
 excellent form, singing, and in perfect good humor; 
 their discipline is perfect. At the canteens, where 
 thousands of men fill their cups with hot tea poured 
 from large copper caldrons used for this purpose, 
 one hears no loud voices ; everywhere there reigns an 
 impressive silence.^ 
 
 1 "Courrier des Etats Unis," February 6, 1917. 
 254. 
 
THE RUMANIAN ARMY 
 
 This truth, attested by a competent observer, 
 explains itself not only by the warlike tem- 
 perament of the Rumanian soldier, but also by 
 the fact that during more than forty years 
 King Charles was occupied with the organiza- 
 tion of the army, introducing a regime very like 
 that of Germany; and if the democratic spirit 
 of Rumania was not willing to allow these mili- 
 tary institutions to become an instniment of 
 domination and tyranny, it is none the less true 
 that in accord with public liberties it formed 
 the basis of her national force. 
 
 The greater number of the officers came from 
 either special French, Belgian, Grcrman, or 
 Italian schools, or from the mihtary and Spe- 
 cial War School of Bukharest, which King 
 Charles had modeled on the French and Ger- 
 man professional schools. 
 
 The Rumanian soldier is not only very cour- 
 ageous and vigorous in the attack, but he is 
 sober, resisting fatigues and the inclemencies 
 of the weather. He is able to march for whole 
 
 255 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 days and nights in rain or under the sun, with- 
 out a murmur, content with very little to eat, 
 and always ready to rush to the attack with 
 spirit and enthusiasm. 
 
 Queen Marie, in an interview with a rep- 
 resentative of the Associated Press, said: 
 
 ^'Heroism is one of the greatest qualities of 
 my soldiers. Their contempt for suffering has 
 never been surpassed. They endure the most 
 horrible wounds with perfect equanimity. 
 Pain does not terrorize the brave men of Ru- / 
 mania; they bear it with the same courage with 
 which they struggle for their native land." 
 
 Nowhere else have strangers been better able 
 to appreciate the valor of the Rumanian Army 
 than in the great battles fought on the line of 
 Sereth. All those who have had the oppor- 
 tunity to view closety this army have felt high 
 admiration for its endurance and its bravery. 
 Tokens of appreciation reach the army from all 
 sides. We reproduce the telegram published 
 in "The London Times" of September 20, 
 
 256 
 
THE RUMANIAN ARMY 
 
 1917, in connection with the declaration made 
 by one of the representatives of the Russian 
 democracy on this subject. 
 
 Mr. Jablanofsky, high commissioner of the pro- 
 visional Government of the southwest front, has just 
 returned after passing several days at Odessa where 
 he had been called to regulate several questions on 
 the subject of revictualizing. Being questioned on 
 the events happening at the Rumanian front, the 
 high commissioner declared that Crimea and Odessa 
 owed not having fallen under the power of the Ger- 
 mans entirely to the valor and the tenacity of the 
 Rumanian armies, who sacrificed themselves with 
 heroic grandeur to the common cause. 
 
 "History," continued Mr. Jablanofsky, "will place 
 on the same footing with the immortal conquerors 
 of the Marne and of Verdun the Rumanian peasant 
 soldiers who fought one against five under the crush- 
 ing blows of huge bombs without one hour of rest, 
 in order to save from invasion that which yet re- 
 mains free of the territory of our Rumanian Ally." 
 
 "The London Times," relating the defense 
 of the sector of Marasesti, gives these details 
 of the admirable resistance of the Rumanian 
 soldiers : 
 
 257 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 The defense of the sector of the Marasesti to the 
 north of Focsani is the most glorious feat of arms 
 of the Rumanian Array, which resisted forces far 
 superior in number and possessing an element of sur- 
 prise. The principal objective of the Germans was 
 to reach the bridge of Cosmesti and to cross the line 
 of Sereth without difficulty, which would place the 
 whole of Moldavia in the power of the Germans. 
 Mackensen chose the eighth of August to attack, on 
 which date the Russians were relieved by the Ruma- 
 nians. One Rumanian division resisted for three 
 days the violent attacks of three German divisions, 
 which attempted to cross the bridge at any cost. 
 The twelfth of August the enemy, realizing the use- 
 lessness of its efforts, attacked more to the west. 
 The losses of the enemy were enormous ; the 12th 
 Bavarian Division was almost annihilated; there re- 
 mained but 2000 men. The losses of the Rumanians 
 were equally heavy. 
 
 The following days the enemy attacked on the 
 whole front of the Marasesti with twelve divisions, 
 the Rumanian forces, very much inferior in num- 
 ber. That attempt also failed. The fourteenth of 
 August the enemy, after ejecting strong asphyxiat- 
 ing gases, returned to the assault. The Rumanians, 
 despite their heavy losses, resisted heroically. The 
 
 258 
 
THE RUMANIAN ARMY 
 
 French Captain Verneuille was killed in the midst 
 of the fight. After the battle the 84th Prussian 
 Division, decimated, was obliged to retire. 
 
 The last attempt of the Germans was on the nine- 
 teenth of August; two German divisions and one 
 Austrian attacked the Rumanians on the northeast 
 of Panchiu. The Rumanians, in the presence of the 
 king and of Prince Charles, struggled with a brav- 
 ery beyond all commendation. The enemy reached 
 the Rumanian wire entanglements. A counter at- 
 tack of the last Rumanian reserves threw them back 
 in disorder; the Germans threw down their guns 
 and surrendered, and six hundred Austro-Gerraan 
 prisoners filed out in parade before the king. 
 
 This German check was the most serious that the 
 enemy had to undergo on the Oriental front. 
 
 Mr. Dechanel, president of the Frencli 
 Chamber, in a speech made before the French 
 Parhament on the occasion of the reception of 
 the Rumanian mission, said : 
 
 "The Kumanian army, thrown into full com- 
 bat, without the promised help of the Rus- 
 sians, resists for many months the Germano- 
 
 g59 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 Austro-Bulgaro-Turkish armies with bravery 
 and heroic tenacity, relieving thus the other 
 fronts." ^ 
 
 The French General La Croix writes in his 
 book, "Effort de la Kumanie," p. 20: 
 
 She [the Rumanian Army] held out for a long 
 time alone by her own means, against more numer- 
 ous and better armed adversaries ; she astonishes them 
 by the vigor and duration of her resistance and she 
 shows herself worthy of her past and of her noble 
 traditions of chivalric bravery.^ 
 
 Mr. Lacour Gayet, member of the Institute, 
 has outlined in the "Journal" of March 9, 
 1917, a stirring picture of the valor of the Ru- 
 manians : 
 
 Since the twenty-seventh of August, 1916, the 
 Rumanian Army has sustained ten months of heroic 
 struggle. She had an army of 450,000 fighting men, 
 excellent soldiers, incomparable with bayonet, very 
 enduring, rude peasants, virtually all of them. They 
 had to defend a front of 1350 kilometers, which 
 
 1 According to "Roumanie" Paris, September 8, 1917. 
 
 2 Comnene op. cit., p. 183. 
 
 260 
 
THE RUMANIAN ARMY 
 
 was threatened in every part except on the side of 
 the Russian frontier. Do we know what a front 
 of 1350 kilometers means? It is the length of the 
 Western front of Russia; but there the Russians 
 have a milhon and a half fighting men. Our Anglo- 
 French front, from the North Sea to the Vosges, 
 measures only 100 kilometers, and on this stretch 
 of ground, relatively small, how many times 450,000 
 
 men have we? 
 
 This Rumanian Army, too feeble for so extensive 
 a front, has done marvelous deeds. During nearly 
 four months, without being reinforced, she held 
 against at least triple forces well-fed all the time 
 and with a formidable material of heavy artillery at 
 their disposal. She yielded ground only by dis- 
 puting it step by step; she forced the enemy to buy 
 it with the most cruel losses.^ 
 
 Mr. Stanley Wascheburn, who has witnessed 
 the struggle of the Riimanians, cannot say 
 enough in praise of the Kumanian Army. In 
 *'The London Times" of November 7, 1916, 
 among other things he extols the virtues of 
 the Rumanian Army, its soldiers, their endur- 
 ance, and what he calls "their obstinacy m 
 
 iComnene, op. cit., p. 181. 
 
 261 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 resistance and their superb morale even in the 
 most tragic hour." ^ 
 
 General von Falkenhayn, interviewed in 
 Berlin on the twenty-eighth of November, 
 1916, declared to the correspondent of the 
 Associated Press of New York, "The desper- 
 ate bravery of which the Rumanians have 
 given proof in their constantly repeated as- 
 saults is recognized by all the German 
 troops." ^ 
 
 The German Commander Franz Karl End- 
 ers of the German Army has just published a 
 book, "La Guerre Contre la Kumanie." This 
 pamphlet is a most precious document for the 
 Rumanians. It is a testimony from an enemy, 
 which bears witness that the Rumanian Ai'my 
 has struggled everywhere with courage and 
 impetuosity and that she has been the cause 
 of enormous losses to Germans. The German 
 author writes: 
 
 1 Comnene, op. cit., p. 181. 
 
 2 Comnene, op. cit., p. 187. 
 
 262 
 
THE RUMANIAN ARMY 
 
 The Rumanians are holding fast; thej; have re- 
 sisted step by step the German drive. Their armies 
 have fought with bravery, but the conduct of their 
 operations has been forced to yield before ours and 
 before our plans. ... As to the taking of Bukliar- 
 est, it could not have been avoided unless the Ru- 
 manians had had double forces. However, there 
 were painful hours for the brave German troops, 
 and it is only after furious attacks that we have 
 been able to conquer on the Argesh. ... As for us, 
 the German Army will keep of the Rumanian War a 
 recollection of fighting filled with difficulties, but 
 in which she was able to show her power ; a recollec- 
 tion of fights without precedent which have cost us 
 many hard sacrifices.^ 
 
 Major Tokinoly, military attache of Japan 
 to the G. Q. G. of the Rumanian Army, made 
 to the Rumanian press of Jassy the following 
 declarations : 
 
 The whole of Japan follows with emotion and 
 sympathy the superhuman efforts of Rumania. We 
 know your sufferings. 
 
 Accustomed to love those who are small and glori- 
 ous, accustomed to hate with all passion the odious 
 
 i"La Roumanie," Paris, January 24, 1918. 
 
 S63 
 
RUMANIA'S SACRIFICE 
 
 tyranny against which you have risen with bravery, 
 can there yet be any question in what manner we 
 see you giving new birth to your native land ? 
 
 All of the Nippon press speaks with merited praise 
 of the heroism of the Rumanian Army. 
 
 Our newspapers do not hesitate to show your 
 marvelous qualities. They deplore the distance and 
 the impossibility of giving you all our help. 
 
 The nomination of a representative of Rumania at 
 Tokio shows clearly enough the reciprocal intention 
 of solid friendly relations. 
 
 We will be happy to form close relations with a 
 brave people, industrious and honest, like the Ruma- 
 nian people, and it would be only to tell you banali- 
 ties to assure you that all our solicitude is yours.^ 
 
 Then Franco-English-Italian press, the 
 Austrian and German press, as well as the 
 press of the neutrals, have recognized without 
 reserve that the Rumanian soldier is a brave 
 man who has attracted the attention of all the 
 military critics, of all political men, in fact, 
 of the whole world. Military critics have de- 
 clared that the bravery of the soldiers cannot 
 
 i"La Roumanie," Jan. 17, 1918. 
 
 264 
 
THE RUMANIAN ARMY 
 
 be better appreciated than in a stiTiggle with 
 the bayonet, and it is just with the bayonet that 
 the Rumanian soldier has distinguished him- 
 self. He fought as in the ages when "the 
 human material" had the upper hand in bat- 
 tles ; in a war where the upper hand belongs to 
 the machines of war, and is fatal to him and 
 to his heroic enthusiasm, he replied from the 
 trenches with asphyxiating gases, with enor- 
 mous bombs, and the great cannons. Never- 
 theless, the Rumanian soldier was able to resist 
 and to inflict great losses upon the enemy. 
 
 THE END 
 
 S65 
 
^^ " 
 
 .0*^ 
 
 ..,^^ 
 
 ^"^ •^, 
 
 ./' '% 
 
 - x.^ 
 
 
 
 X^°^. 
 
 
 '■'^- ,^^' 
 
 ^ .-<^ 
 
 >b^'-^ 
 
 
 ^^' 
 
 -i^^ 
 
 V^^ 
 
 O 0" 
 
 ,H -r 
 
 -^ -^ 
 
 ^V .^^ 
 
 .^ -^> 
 
 J 1 \ " \^ 
 
 oV 
 
 '^^.-'b. 
 
 - -V- 
 
 -0- s 
 
 )0^ 
 
 "o 
 
 
 vOO. 
 
 5o. 
 
 ■%- .^^ 
 
 aV -/', 
 
 '<^.. c^^ 
 
 
 3^ 
 
 O 0^ 
 
 c>, * 
 
 y 
 
 
 -I '-Ji 
 
 :?0 
 
 ^A V 
 
 -:*-, 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process, 
 ^s ' Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 ^S ^^ Treatment Date: ^^^ 200t 
 
 j,'?-''^ ' PreservatlonTechnologies 
 
 '^ " I A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 
 
 Kf*(!%^ 111 Thomson Park Drive 
 
 ~~~- ^ Cranberry Township. PA 1 6066 
 
 (724)779-2111 
 
 rA'" 
 
 '■T^, ' 
 

 
 AV 
 
 
 »^ * » Ki ^ ^C^ 
 
 >./ 
 
 
 ..V^' 
 
 'j^. 
 
 
 
 cP- 
 
 o 
 
 J- 
 
 <K 
 
 
 ■^/. '"' . 
 
 
 .^^ 
 
 -^^^ 
 
 •=^ ^A ""' •>■' a^ 
 
 ^/;:r.:^\#' 
 
 ^.-^ 
 
 0^ ,. V ' o , '^, ' » ' ^ ■ . \' 
 
 
 ^-{s ^ 
 
 
 
 • 0- 
 
 ^ .c^':''«^■^/** 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■* vV 
 
 
 "-^j^r:. 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 i^- 
 
 
 'oO 
 
 
 %^ 
 
 .--^ 
 
 x\\ , N c ^ -^^ 
 
 "^ .^' <J^' 
 
 ^"^ .#* 
 
 
 .0^ 
 
 
 "^tr> ->^^ 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 ss^ I" 11" Hill iiii iiiiiiiirll 
 
 007 628 247 A