Greater Romania

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Greater Romania and its historical regions (1919–1940)

As Greater Romania ( Romanian România Mare ) was colloquially the Kingdom of Romania in the period 1919-1940, when it reached its greatest territorial extent. At that time Romania had an area of ​​294,967 km².

Establishment

Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Romania from 1921 to 1947

After the First World War and the Hungarian-Romanian War, Romania (the Altreich ) received several territories from Hungary ( Transylvania and parts of Banat , Kreischgebiet , Sathmar and Maramures ), Austria ( Bukovina ), Russia ( Bessarabia ) and Bulgaria (return of the South Dobruja) ). In these areas the connection to Romania was demanded by popular assemblies. The most important of these was the National Assembly of Alba Iulia, which passed a resolution on December 1, 1918. This is celebrated in Romania to this day on "Great Unity Day" (Ziua Marii Uniri) - the Romanian national holiday. Most Romanian cities have a Unity Square or a Unity Monument to commemorate this event. From April to August 1919 Romania and the Hungarian Soviet Republic waged a war over these areas, which Romania won. The territorial changes were later confirmed in the Paris suburb treaties of Neuilly-sur-Seine (1919), Trianon and Sèvres (both 1920).

Greater Romania in an atlas from 1926

Ferdinand I and Marie were crowned King and Queen of Greater Romania on October 15, 1922 in the specially built Orthodox cathedral in Alba Iulia. On March 29, 1923, a new constitution came into force. This established a uniform, centralized administrative system for the whole country. This was divided into 71 Jews , each subordinate to a prefect appointed by the central government in Bucharest - similar to the French departments. Regional autonomies - for example for the areas with a large Hungarian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian or German population - were not provided for in the “unified and indivisible nation state” according to the constitution. The Romanian Orthodox Church was not declared a state church, but its dominant importance for the country was established in the constitution. Many of the cities previously dominated by Hungarians and Germans in the previously Habsburg north-western part of Greater Romania were Romanianized. There was brisk construction activity, especially of government buildings (prefectures) and Orthodox churches, which were often designed in the neo-Byzantine or neo- Brâncoveanu style , which are considered typically Romanian .

In 1929 the right to vote for women was introduced in local elections, but it was made dependent on the level of education of women, social position and special merit towards society. The 1938 Constitution put men and women on an equal footing in terms of voting rights, and the 1939 Electoral Act stipulated that women and men who could read and write were allowed to vote at the age of 30.

Distribution of ethnic groups in the districts of Greater Romania (1930 census)

According to the 1930 census, Greater Romania had a population of 18 million, of which the Romanians represented 71.9 percent as the titular nation . Among the national minorities were about 1.4 million Magyars (Hungarians), 750,000 Germans , 730,000 Jews and 580,000 Ukrainians . In some areas, non-Romanian ethnic groups were even in the majority. Romanians were often in the minority, especially in the cities of the newly connected areas. The ethnic minorities were poorly integrated into the Romanian state: over half of them did not speak Romanian, which was the only official language.

Decay

Territorial losses in 1940: to the Soviet Union (dark orange), Hungary (yellow) and Bulgaria (green)

From 1934 on Romania turned to National Socialist Germany . After the beginning of the Second World War and the subsequent territorial reorganization of Europe in the Hitler-Stalin Pact , Romania lost large parts of its national territory: in the summer of 1940, the northern Bukovina , the Herza region and Bessarabia were occupied by the Soviet Union , while southern Dobruja became part of Bulgaria , Northern Transylvania ceded to Hungary (→ Second Vienna Arbitration ).

After these losses, Charles II went into exile, whereupon power actually fell to the new Prime Minister Ion Antonescu . This established a fascist regime and Romania joined the Axis powers . In 1941, during World War II, Romania participated in the initially successful German attack on the Soviet Union , the so-called " Operation Barbarossa ", which made the areas occupied by the Soviets a year earlier Romanian again. In addition to Bessarabia and the north of Bukovina , there was also the region between the Dniester and Bug rivers, called Transnistria by the Romanians . The Red Army's successful Operation Jassy-Kishinev in August 1944 led to the overthrow of Antonescu and the change of front in Romania . Romania lost around 378,000 soldiers and civilians during World War II. The Romanian government was actively involved in the murder of around 270,000 Romanian Jews as part of the Nazi genocide.

Romania got northern Transylvania back, but had to leave Bessarabia, the Herza area and the northern Bukovina of the Soviet Union. In the Paris Peace Treaty (1947) Romania finally officially recognized the loss of these territories. In addition, one year later (1948) Romania had to cede Snake Island to the Soviet Union. The main part of these areas is formed today by the independent Republic of Moldova , the rest ( Budschak and today 's Chernivtsi Oblast ) belongs to Ukraine .

With an area of ​​238,391 km², today's Romania corresponds to about 80 percent of the area of ​​Greater Romania.

The term is also used in an irredentist context , especially after the end of communist rule in Romania , not least by the Partidul România Mare (Greater Romania Party).

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Heinrich Rieser: The Romanian Banat - a multicultural region in upheaval. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, p. 87.
  2. ^ Gabriel Andreescu, Gusztáv Molnár: Problema transilvană. Polirom, Iași 1999, p. 155.
  3. ↑ Jenny Brumme: 'Inginer și femeie de servicu' - The Romanian language between patriarchal tradition and post-communist sexism. In: Wolfgang Dahmen (Hrsg.): Language and gender in Romania. Romance Languages Colloquium X . Volume 417 of the Tübingen Contributions to Linguistics, Gunter Narr Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-8233-5082-X , p. 68.
  4. ^ American Bar Association : Summary: Rights to Vote in Romania. ( Memento from October 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: impowr.org. April 29, 2013, accessed August 27, 2019.
  5. ↑ Text of the 1938 constitution , quoted from: American Bar Association : Summary: Rights to Vote in Romania. ( Memento from October 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: impowr.org. April 29, 2013, accessed August 27, 2019.
  6. ↑ Official Gazette of Romania No. 106bis, May 9, 1939, Article 5, quoted from: American Bar Association : Summary: Rights to Vote in Romania. ( Memento from October 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: impowr.org. April 29, 2013, accessed August 27, 2019.
  7. ↑ Lucian Boia : How Romania became Romanian. Frank & Timme, Berlin 2016, p. 46.
  8. ↑ Lucian Boia: How Romania became Romanian. Frank & Timme, Berlin 2016, p. 48.
  9. ↑ Günther H. Tontsch : The protection of minorities in Romania. In: Georg Brunner, Günther H. Tontsch: The protection of minorities in Hungary and Romania. Cultural Foundation of the German Displaced Persons, Bonn 1995, pp. 135-136.
  10. ^ Romania . In: Holocaust Encyclopedia in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  11. ^ Romania as an ally of the German Empire in the LeMO ( DHM and HdG ), accessed June 29, 2016.