Generalii armatei române la finalul domniei Regelui Carol al II-lea: tabloul înaintărilor din iunie 1940
The Generals of the Romanian Army at the End of King Carol II’s Reign: Overview of the Military Promotions of June 1940

Summary/Abstract: In the aftermath of the Battle of Odessa in 1941, Marshal Ion Antonescu complained that he was being forced to wage war with an army and a senior command shaped by the previous regimes, especially that of King Carol II. The implications were that many of the military promotions of the 1930s had owed more to favouritism and corruption than to professional merit, and had therefore produced a leadership deficient in military ability. To test such a claim, I examined the group of 38 generals elevated to two-, three-, and four-star ranks in June 1940 – the final round of senior military promotions under King Carol II – just before a spiral of territorial losses brought about the end of „Greater Romania” and the monarch’s reign.

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