Kingdom of Romania

Kingdom of Romania
Regatul României (Romanian)
1881–1947
Motto: Nihil Sine Deo
("Nothing without God")
Anthem: Marș triumfal
("Triumphant March")
(1881–1884)

Trăiască Regele
("Long live the King")
(1884–1948)

The Kingdom of Romania in 1939
The Kingdom of Romania in 1939
The Kingdom of Romania in 1914
The Kingdom of Romania in 1914
Capital
Largest cityBucharest (1881–1916, 1918–1947) Iași (1916–1918)
Official languagesRomanian[1]
Common languages
List
Religion
Romanian Orthodox (State Religion)[2]
Demonym(s)Romanian
GovernmentConstitutional monarchy
King 
• 1881–1914
Carol I
• 1914–1927
Ferdinand I
• 1927–1930 (1st reign)
Michael I
• 1930–1940
Carol II
• 1940–1947 (2nd reign)
Michael I
Prime Minister 
• 1881 (first)
Ion Brătianu
• 1940–1944
Ion Antonescu[a]
• 1945–1947 (last)
Petru Groza
LegislatureParliament
(1881–1937; 1939–1940)
None (rule by decree)
(1937–1939; 1940–1946)
Assembly of Deputies
(1946–1947)
• Upper house
Senate
(1881–1937; 1939–1940)
• Lower house
Assembly of Deputies
(1881–1937; 1939–1940)
Historical era
1881
30 December 1947
Area
1915[b]137,903 km2 (53,245 sq mi)
1940[b][c]295,049 km2 (113,919 sq mi)
Population
• 1915[b]
7,900,000
• 1940[b][c]
20,058,378
GDP (nominal)1938[d] estimate
• Total
$2.834 billion
CurrencyRomanian Leu
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
1881:
Principality of Romania
1913:
Kingdom of Bulgaria
1918:
Moldavian Democratic Republic
Duchy of Bukovina
Kingdom of Hungary
1947:
Romanian People's Republic
1940/1944:
Moldavian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
1940:
Kingdom of Bulgaria
Today part of
  • a. ^ Was formally declared Conducător (literally, "Leader") of the state on 6 September 1940, by a royal decree which consecrated a ceremonial role for the monarch.[3]
  • b. ^ Area and population according to Ioan Suciu, Istoria contemporana a României (1918–2005).[4]
  • c. ^ The indicator for the localities of Romania (1941).[5]
  • d. ^ 1938 GDP in lei amounting to 387.204 billion (20,487 lei per capita at an estimated population of 18.9 million[6]) at the 1938 average exchange rate of 1 leu for $0.00732.[7]

The Kingdom of Romania (Romanian: Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed from 13 March (O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 with the abdication of King Michael I and the Romanian parliament's proclamation of the Romanian People's Republic.

From 1859 to 1877, Romania evolved from a personal union of two principalities: (Moldavia and Wallachia) called the Unification of Moldavia and Wallachia also known as "The Little Union" under a single prince to an autonomous principality with a Hohenzollern monarchy. The country gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire during the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War (known locally as the Romanian War of Independence), after which it was forced to cede the southern part of Bessarabia in exchange for Northern Dobruja. The kingdom's territory during the reign of King Carol I, between 13 (O.S.) / 25 March 1881 and 27 September (O.S.) / 10 October 1914 is sometimes referred to as the Romanian Old Kingdom, to distinguish it from "Greater Romania", which included the provinces that became part of the state after World War I (Bessarabia, Banat, Bukovina, and Transylvania).

With the exception of the southern halves of Bukovina and Transylvania, these territories were ceded to neighboring countries in 1940, under the pressure of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union. Following the abolishment of the 1923 constitution by King Carol II in 1938, the Kingdom of Romania became an absolute monarchy, only to become a military dictatorship under Ion Antonescu in 1940 after the forced abdication of King Carol II, with his successor, King Michael I being a figurehead with no effective political power. The country's name was changed to Legionary Romania.

The disastrous World War II campaign on the side of the Axis powers led to King Michael's Coup against Ion Antonescu in 1944, as a result of which the Kingdom of Romania became a constitutional monarchy again and switched sides to the Allies, recovering Northern Transylvania. The influence of the neighbouring Soviet Union and the policies followed by Communist-dominated coalition governments ultimately led to the abolition of the monarchy, with Romania becoming a Soviet satellite state as the People's Republic of Romania on the last day of 1947.

  1. ^ "Constitutiunea din 1923" (in Romanian). Legislatie pentru Democratie. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  2. ^ Bataković, Dušan T. (2011). Minorities in the Balkans: State policy and interethnic relations (1804 - 2004): Les minorites dans les Balkans. Balkanološki institut SANU. p. 98. ISBN 9788671790680.
  3. ^ Dennis Deletant, Hitler's Forgotten Ally: Ion Antonescu and His Regime, Romania, 1940–1944, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2006. ISBN 1-4039-9341-6
  4. ^ Ioan Scurtu (2005). "Istoria contemporana a României (1918-2005)" (in Romanian). Bucharest. Archived from the original on 21 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  5. ^ Institutul Central de Statistică (1943). "Indicatorul localităților din România" (PDF) (in Romanian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  6. ^ Berg-Schlosser, D.; Mitchell, J. (8 January 2016). D. Berg-Schlosser, J. Mitchell, Springer, Feb 23, 2000, The Conditions of Democracy in Europe 1919-39: Systematic Case Studies, p. 392. Springer. ISBN 978-0-333-99377-4. Archived from the original on September 21, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  7. ^ "United States - Bureau of Mines, Economics and Statistics Branch, December 1944, Foreign Minerals Survey - The Mineral Resources of Rumania, p. 4". 1943. Archived from the original on 2024-09-21. Retrieved 2023-03-13.