Map of Romania and the Allied and Central Power campaign plans for 1917. 'Romanian Territories under Foreign Rule' include Transylvania, Austria-Hungary, northwest of the Carpathian Mountains, and Bessarabia, Russia, to the east between the Prut and Nistru Rivers, regions with large ethnic Romanian populations. From Romania in World War I, a Synopsis of Military History by Colonel Dr. Vasile Alexandrescu.
The Romanian Army in the 1917 CampaignRomanian territories under foreign ruleThe Romanian territory invaded by troops of the Central Powers in the 1916 campaignThe Romanian-Russian campaign plan for the summer of 1917The German-Austro-Hungarian campaign plan for the summer of 1917Romanian troopsRussian troopsTroops of the Central Powers
"The Romanian government was making huge efforts to find a way out and save the country from catastrophe. Under those particularly critical circumstances, the sole alternative which prevented the crushing of the army and dissolution of the State was to carry negotiations, which had to be protracted as much as possible. The Western Allies realized Romania's extremely difficult situation, her impossibility to pursue the fight. Military hostilities between the Romanian troops and German and Austro-Hungarian ones were suspended on December 9, 1917, when negotiations were started at Focşani with a view to concluding the armistice. After the armistice had been signed, von Mackensen delivered an ultimatum to the Romanian government, demanding her to conclude a separate peace with the Central Powers as quickly as possible."
Romania entered the war on the side of the Entente Allies on August 27, 1916, and was overrun by Central Power forces by the end of the year, driven out of Wallachia and Dobruja and back to Moldavia where the Russians held the Allied line. After rebuilding with support, training, and weapons from France, the Romanian army returned to battle in July, 1917, in joint Russian-Romanian offensives. On July 25 Russian Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky ordered Russian troops to stop any offensive action. In November he was overthrown in the Bolshevik Revolution that brought Vladimir Lenin to power, in part because of Lenin's consistent and adamant demand for an end to the war. Romania was unable to stand alone. German General August von Mackensen had commanded a Central Power army that invaded Romania from Bulgaria in 1916, and would remain in command of occupation forces in Romania through the end of the war.
Romania in World War I, a Synopsis of Military History by Vasile Alexandrescu, page 73, copyright © 1985, publisher: Military Publishing House, publication date: 1985
1917-12-09, 1917, December, Romania, von Mackensen, August von Mackensen
