ABDICATION OF KING CAROL II AND BRINGING GENERAL ANTONESCU AT THE HEAD OF THE ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT (4-6 SEPTEMBER 1940)
ABDICATION OF KING CAROL II AND BRINGING GENERAL ANTONESCU AT THE HEAD OF THE ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT (4-6 SEPTEMBER 1940)

Author(s): Dorel BUȘE
Subject(s): History, Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949)
Published by: Carol I National Defence University Publishing House
Keywords: Ion Antonescu; King Carol II; Romanian political crisis; authoritarian regime; Second Vienna Award.
Summary/Abstract: This article analyses the political and institutional circumstances that enabled General Ion Antonescu’s accession to power in Romania in September 1940, against the background of profound territorial losses, internal political fragmentation, and the collapse of King Carol II’s authority. It examines the cumulative impact of the surrender of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, the Vienna Award, and escalating social unrest on the legitimacy of the royal regime. Particular attention is paid to Antonescu’s relations with the monarchy, the main democratic parties, the Legionary Movement, and the German diplomatic representatives, highlighting how both domestic pressures and external geopolitical considerations converged in his appointment. The study traces the gradual transfer of power through decrees granting full authority, the suspension of constitutional life, and the abdication of King Carol II, which collectively marked the end of parliamentary democracy and the establishment of an authoritarian regime. By contextualizing Antonescu’s rise within the crisis of the Romanian state in 1940, the article argues that his assumption of power was perceived at the time as a necessary solution to state disintegration, while simultaneously laying the foundations for a personal dictatorship reliant primarily on the army and conditional cooperation with the Legionary Movement.

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