Army Culture, Interwar Politics, and Neutrality

Abstract

This chapter examines the culture and politics of the interwar Romanian Army. The First World War transformed the Romanian Army, re-equipping it with the panoply of modern war and acting as a catalyst that increased the officer corps' professionalism. Yet they soon lost to a devastating Austro-German-Bulgarian counteroffensive. French and British military missions then arrived to retrain and rearm the Romanian Army. Later, better armed, officered, and trained Romanian troops, backed by Russian soldiers, fended off a major Austro-German summer offensive. The Russian Army collapsed after the Bolshevik revolution, compelling Romania to agree to an armistice and sign a peace treaty, though it later rejoined the war and shared in the Entente Powers' victory. By 1919, the Romanian Army tried to build upon its progress in peacetime; however, it was frustrated by the social and economic realities of interwar Romania.