The Strategic Importance of the Danube in Attention to the Romanian General Staff at the End of the Second World War
The Strategic Importance of the Danube in Attention to the Romanian General Staff at the End of the Second World War

Summary/Abstract: By presenting a document from the “Manuscripts” Collection of “King Ferdinand I” National Military Museum, drawn up in the context of the end of the Second World War and the beginning of negotiations for the peace treaty, which was to be signed by Romania in Paris, on 10 February 1947, this article brings to the fore the issue of the Danube and the interests of our country in the area. Prepared by the Historical Service, a structure subordinate to the Romanian General Staff, the mentioned document, which is typewritten, is structured in two distinct parts. The first part, using several historical, economic, statistical and legal data, addresses topics such as: the works carried out by the European Danube Commission and the Danube Maritime Directorate, as well as the history of the works carried out at the Iron Gates, the future projects for the promotion of the Danube, the economic importance of the river, the history of navigation on it and its political and legal regime during the time. The second part, which has the coat of arms of Romania embossed on the cover, includes the appendices. They consist of sketches and maps, some of them hand-made, as well as provisions of the treaties and conventions relating to the Danube regime among which we mention: the Treaty of Paris (1856), the Treaty of London (1871), the Treaty of Berlin (1878), the Treaties of Saint-Germain and Neuilly (1919), the Treaty of Trianon (1920), as well as the Conference in Barcelona (1921), the Montreux Convention (1936), and the Sinaia Agreement (1938).

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