The Treaty of Bucharest was the peace treaty that officially ended the Weltkrieg between the Central Powers and the Kingdom of Romania on the Eastern Front, following the stalemate reached after the campaign of 1917 left Romania isolated after Russia's unilateral exit from the war. With Romania out of the war, the situation in the East stabilized and more troops could be transferred to the Balkans against Greece and the Entente forces in Salonika as well as to the Western Front.
Prelude[]
- Main article: Weltkrieg
Following the Central Powers' ultimatum issued during the meeting between King Ferdinand I of Romania and the Austro-Hungarian foreign minister Ottokar Czernin on 27 February 1918, King Ferdinand summoned a Crown Council in Iași, the Romanian capital-in-exile, as Bucharest had been under German and Austrian occupation since late 1916. After long and difficult discussions, which lasted 3 days, the council decided to accept the ultimatum and send envoys to negotiate a preliminary peace treaty.
The preliminary peace treaty was concluded on 5 March 1918, shortly after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Russia. Romania accepted frontier rectifications in favor of Austria-Hungary, to cede the whole of Dobruja, to demobilize at least 8 divisions, to evacuate the Austro-Hungarian territory still in its possession and to allow the transport of Central Powers' troops through Western Moldavia and Bessarabia towards Odessa.
Alexandru Marghiloman, then Prime Minister of Romania, signed the final treaty at the Cotroceni Palace, Bucharest, on 7 May 1918 and it was ratified by the Chamber of Deputies on 28 June and by the Senate on 4 July 1918. However, King Ferdinand himself never signed and promulgated the treaty.
Terms of the treaty[]
The Treaty of Bucharest (7 May 1918)
- Romania and the Central Powers declare the end of the state of war between them and that the diplomatic and consular relations between them would be resumed.
- The Romanian military has to be demobilized.
- Romania returns Southern Dobruja and cedes the southern part of Northern Dobruja to Bulgaria.
- The rest of the province is ceded by Romania to the Central Powers and thus remains under joint Central Powers' control. The Central Powers guarantee the commercial road to the Black Sea for Romania by way of Cernavodă and Constanța.
- Romania cedes various Carpathian mountain passes to Hungary.
- All parties renounce war indemnities, except for special agreements regarding the regulation of war damages.
- Romania leases its oil wells to Germany for 90 years.
- The Central Powers recognize the Union of Bessarabia with Romania.
- The German and Austrian occupation of Romania continues until a date "later to be determined".
- All of the occupation costs are to be paid for by Romania.
- All of Romania's "surplus" agriculture has to be handed over to Austria-Hungary and Germany with an Austro-German commission deciding what was Romania's "surplus" production and what price to be paid for the "surplus" production.
- All of the railroads, telephones, telegram and post systems in Romania are to remain under the control of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
- German civil servants with the power to veto decisions by Romanian cabinet ministers and to fire Romanian civil servants are appointed to oversee every Romanian ministry, effectively stripping Romania of its independence.
Aftermath[]
The treaty put Romania in a unique situation compared to other German-occupied countries. It completely respected Romania's de jure independence, and Romania ended up with more territory after the union with Bessarabia, through the requirement that German civil servants with the power of veto power be stationed in Bucharest together with the German occupation to continue until a date "later be determined", effectively turned Romania into a de facto German protectorate.
Germany was able to repair the oil fields around Ploiești and by the end of 1918 had pumped a million tons of oil. They also requisitioned two million tons of grain from Romanian farmers. These materials were vital in keeping Germany in the war till the Treaty of Versailles in November 1919.
Although Bulgaria received a part of Northern Dobruja, the fact that it could not annex the whole province had a strong effect on the Bulgarian public opinion. Bulgarian Prime Minister Vasil Radoslavov was forced to resign on 20 July 1918 after the failure to acquire the whole Dobruja, which was seen as a Bulgarian core territory. Nevertheless, Bulgaria continued to lobby Germany and Austria-Hungary for the annexation of the whole province, including the condominium established by the Treaty of Bucharest. Representatives of Bulgarian Dobrujans held a second general assembly in Babadag on 23 September, adopting a final resolution requesting Dobruja's incorporation into Bulgaria. After negotiations, a protocol regarding the transfer of the jointly administered zone in Northern Dobruja to Bulgaria was signed in Berlin on 24 September 1918, by Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. In return, Bulgaria agreed to cede the left bank of the Maritsa river to Turkey.