ROMÂNIA ŞI ANTANTA ÎN CONTEXTUL DECLANŞĂRII PRIMULUI RĂZBOI MONDIAL
ROMANIA AND THE ENTENTE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE OUTBREAK OF WAR WORLD I

Summary/Abstract: In this study the author presents an analytical approach on Romania's relations with Entente, in the context of the outbreak of War World I, based on all the sources he had access to. The author also adds a number of completions and nuances, with respect to the historiographic contributions that the other historians have brought to this area of research. The study highlights that, although Romania’s diplomatic treaties with the Allied Powers influenced the decision adopted by the Romanian state to a certain extent, they did not play a leading role in it. The decision adopted by the Crown Council in Sinaia on August 3rd 1914 was based exclusively on an analysis of the opportunity to apply the treaty of alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It did not take into account the possibility of a political affinity with the Entente, and to an even lesser extent that going to war on the same side. Romania’s relationship with the Entente had not been discussed given the circumstances in which the option of King Carol I was to enter war alongside the Central Powers. The solution of military restraint, supported by prime minister I. I. C Brătianu and adopted by the Romanian government, was a solution that reflected Romania’s real interests. At the same time, it served as a premise for a policy which supported – even if only partially – the ideal of national unity. As a consequence, Romania’s foreign policy, which had taken shape in the previous period, continued on a new basis, defined by the decision of leaving the alliance with the Central Powers.

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