Armata Română

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Flag of Romania.svg Romanian Army
Armata Română
Coat of arms of the Romanian Armed Forces, svg
guide
Commander in Chief : President
Klaus Johannis
Defense Minister: Nicolae Ciuca
Military Commander: Chief of Staff Daniel Petrescu
Headquarters: Bucharest
Military strength
Active soldiers: 69,000
Conscription: No
Eligibility for military service: 18th
household
Military budget: $ 5.043 billion
Share of gross domestic product : 2.04%
history
Founding: December 24, 1861
The Romanian River Navy in Tulcea

The Armata Română (Romanian Army) as the armed forces of Romania are integrated into NATO's defense and security concept . On March 29, 2004, the armed forces joined the cross-Atlantic military alliance.

history

Army of the Kingdom of Romania

Beginnings

In 1859 Alexandru Ioan Cuza (Alexander Johann I) was elected prince of the two principalities of Wallachia ( Țara Românească , literally "Romanian country") and Moldova ( Moldova ) and on December 24, 1861 proclaimed the sovereign state of Romania. Romania's independence was achieved in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 , when Romanian units supported the Russians in their victory over the Ottoman Empire .

First World War

Under Ferdinand von Hohenzollern (Ferdinand I 1916–1927) Romania joined the Entente and from 1916 to 1918 entered the First World War . The declaration of war against Austria-Hungary on August 27, 1916, was preceded by secret negotiations with Russia . The tsarist empire accepted Romanian territorial claims to Bukovina , Transylvania and the Banat . As part of its participation in the war , Romania was initially able to conquer the south-east of Transylvania in the late summer of 1916, but was gripped by German - Austrian troops from the north and a Bulgarian- German army corps from the south. Within a few months, large parts of Romania (Lesser and Greater Wallachia) were occupied. The German occupation lasted from December 1916 until the German surrender. In the northeastern province of Moldova, the Romanian army was reorganized with French aid, and a local German offensive towards Moldova was halted in July 1917. King Ferdinand tried to save what could still be saved with the Peace of Bucharest .

Interwar period

In the Hungarian-Romanian War of 1919, the Romanian army occupied areas in Transylvania that belonged to Hungary but were mostly Romanian settled , invaded the Hungarian capital Budapest in August 1919 and forced the dissolution of the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic . In the Peace Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and the Peace Treaty of Trianon in 1920, the Kingdom of Romania was able to enlarge its national territory with the areas in which the Romanians represented between 49% and 90% of the resident population. Carol II ruled until 1940 and initially leaned on the " little Entente ", but from 1934 on, for economic reasons, also on Hitler's Third Reich .

At the end of June 1940, in the wake of its annexation of the Baltic states , the Soviet Union also forced Romania through an ultimatum to cede northern Bukovina and Bessarabia immediately. Due to the Second Vienna Arbitration Award in August 1940, Romania was forced by the National Socialist German Reich and fascist Italy to cede the northern part of Transylvania back to Hungary and the southern part of Dobruja to Bulgaria. With this arbitration and the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia, Romania lost 30% of its national territory and 25% of the population by 1939.

In order to prevent the invasion of Hungary and the Soviet Union and thus the complete collapse of the Romanian state, King Carol II was forced to accept all these territorial assignments; However, there was no longer any thought of continuing to rule. He appointed War Minister Ion Antonescu as the new Prime Minister on September 4, 1940, abdicated on September 6, 1940 and went back into exile. After taking power, Antonescu and his fascist allies from the Iron Guard (also known as the "Legion of Archangel Michael") declared Romania a national legionary state. Romania concluded an assistance pact with Hitler and joined the " Axis ". The construction and equipment of the Romanian armed forces were regulated by contract, and German troops were allowed to move into Romania as a protective force against the Soviet Union. Stalin protested vigorously, but without intervening militarily.

Second World War

Romanian soldier, Eastern Front, 1942

On the side of the German Reich, Romanian troops took part in the campaign against the Soviet Union from the summer of 1941 . Romania was the only ally who had been informed of the Barbarossa case in advance . The fact that the Romanian Army not only provided the third most numerous armed forces of the Axis Powers during the Second World War , but also the fourth most numerous armed forces of the Allies after the conversion is often ignored . After the fall of Italy , it was therefore the second most important Axis power in Europe and after its conversion it suffered the third highest losses of all allied forces.

cavalry

When the war broke out, the Romanian army had 26 cavalry regiments , including 12 Roșiori regiments, 13 Călărași regiments and a guard regiment . Traditionally, the Roșiori regiments were the regular regiments , while the Călărași regiments were responsible for garrison and defense services. However, this division was abandoned after the First World War, so that training and equipment were almost identical. Likewise, even before the First World War, the cavalry was only used as mounted infantry .
All Roșiori and six of the Călărași regiments were organized into brigades and later into divisions . The other seven Călărași regiments were divided into infantry divisions and corps to take on a reconnaissance role there. In 1942, each Romanian infantry division had a squadron of cavalry (consisting of three platoons ) assigned to divisional reconnaissance and another squadron that was divided between the regiment reconnaissance battalions.
During the course of the war, the independent Romanian cavalry units underwent major organizational changes. First, some units were motorized with trucks and motorcycles and finally, as mentioned, were upgraded by brigades to form divisions. In 1942 each cavalry division consisted of three cavalry regiments, two of which were mounted and one was motorized. The Romanian cavalry represented a kind of mobile elite unit that was deployed in the later war, similar to the armored and armored infantry troops of the Wehrmacht .

Armored forces

During the Second World War, the Romanian army deployed 126 R-2 tanks. These were assigned to the first tank regiment of the tank division from 1941 to 1942 and initially achieved good results against the disorganized Soviet forces. From 1942 the R-2s were assigned to the Romanian 3rd Army to defend the Don. When retreating to the Tschir at the end of 1942 , despite 26 replacement tanks, Panzerkampfwagen 35 (t) from early 1942, only 19 R-2 tanks remained.

Time of socialism

At the beginning of 1944, King Mihai I and Iuliu Maniu prepared secret negotiations with the Western powers and later the Soviet Union to break away from the German alliance and to overthrow Antonescu . After the Red Army's summer offensive under the name Operation Jassy-Kishinev, which began on August 20, 1944, made tremendous progress in a few days, Romania switched fronts on August 23, 1944. Within a few weeks it was completely captured and occupied by the Red Army. Now Romania - contrary to the hopes and earlier statements of Stalin - came completely under Soviet influence. The Romanian Workers Party (RAP) took power, its leader was Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej . In 1955 the People's Republic of Romania became a member of the Warsaw Treaty , but was only partially involved in the military structure. The Romanian People's Army ( Armata Populară Română in Romanian ) did not participate in the smashing of the Prague Spring in 1968 . However, under Nicolae Ceaușescu's regime, which had been in power since 1965, the military was only equipped with limited resources, and the soldiers were often used as cheap labor. During the Romanian Revolution in 1989 , army units with tanks also massacred the crowd in Bucharest. The army later fraternized with the insurgents, however, Ceauşescu and his wife Elena were arrested and tried on December 25, 1989 before a military tribunal and shot dead . Shortly before the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the troop strength in 1990 was 300,000 men.

Reforming the Romanian Army since 1994

In 1994 Romania became the first country to join NATO - “ Partnership for Peace ”. In 1996 the government actively applied for NATO membership, but was not among the first Warsaw Pact member states to be granted membership in 1999. In 2001 Romania participated in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan with a 400-man battalion and an ABC company of 70 soldiers in Kandahar . In 2002 Romania also participated in the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).

In the course of joining NATO on March 29, 2004, a complete restructuring took place, so the number of personnel was reduced to 116,873 soldiers by September 1, 2003. The reform is to be completed in a total of six phases by 2007, when the plan is for 75,000 soldiers and 15,000 civilians to be employed in the army. Its aim is greater flexibility and effectiveness in order to meet all requirements for current and future NATO missions. After officially joining the EU on January 1, 2007, the army consists almost exclusively of professional soldiers and 15,000 civilian employees.

Romanian soldiers in Afghanistan (September 30, 2003)

Romania continues to be involved in the NATO- led SFOR and KFOR missions. The army is also supporting the anti-terrorist operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan , where Romanian soldiers equipped with TAB-77 troop transports joined the task force (Red Scorpion) with parts of the 82nd US Airborne Division . Romania also took part in the so-called coalition of the willing in the war in Iraq . Around 1500 Romanian soldiers are currently deployed abroad.

tasks

The Romanian Armed Forces have the mandate

  • defend the territorial integrity of the national territory and protect Romanian diplomatic missions and citizens abroad;
  • defend the Euro-Atlantic alliance territory within NATO ;
  • to make a peacekeeping or peacebuilding contribution to the resolution of international conflicts within the framework of international organizations or bilateral or multilateral agreements;
  • to contribute internally to the protection of the free and democratic basic order and, in particular, to provide assistance in emergencies or disasters.

structure

Armed forces

Romanian Military Police (Poliţia Militară) vehicle

The Romanian Armed Forces ( Armata Română ) are subordinate to the Ministry of Defense in Bucharest and consist of the three armed forces:

Land Forces

The operational land forces are the largest of the armed forces and consist of eight combat brigades, four combat support brigades and two logistic brigades; a total of 84,600 men. These can fall back on a fleet of battle tanks TR-85 , armored vehicles and artillery pieces . Parts of the operational land forces are involved in missions that are deployed outside the country or where there is a possibility that they could be deployed there.

Air Force

Romanian MiG-21

The air force has an operational command unit, two air division commands and four air force bases. Two flight bases and two to three airports can be mobilized as a reserve. The air force is the second largest military force with 10,000 men. In March 2013 it was announced that the outdated MiG-21 Fishbed fighter aircraft would be replaced by 24 used US American F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. In a first tranche, 12 copies are to be taken over from Portugal, which are to be stationed with the 86th Air Flotilla in Feteşti .

marine

When it comes to the navy, a distinction is made between the marine fleet and the river fleet. The river fleet supports the guard, defends the Danube Delta and secures the border rivers. The marine fleet is stationed on the Black Sea , the river navy in Tulcea . She has British frigates and mine hunters. The navy has a strength of 5,500 men.

Commander and structure

According to Article 92 of the Constitution, the Supreme Commander of the Romanian Army is the President, currently Klaus Iohannis . The direct command of the army is Defense Minister Ioan Motoc , who reports to parliament and the government.

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References

See also

Web links

Commons : Armata Română  - collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  • International Institute for Strategic Studies: The Military Balance. 2002
  • The World Defense Almanac 2006, Mönch Publishing Group, Bonn 2006

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c "Defense Expenditure of NATO Countries (2012-2019)", Press Release Communique PR / CP (2019) 069, NATO Public Diplomacy Division, June 29, 2019 (PDF; 128 kB)
  2. ↑ Report on ainonline.com (English)