Map showing the territorial gains (darker shades) of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece, primarily at the expense of Turkey, agreed in the Treaty of Bucharest following the Second Balkan War. Despite its gains, Bulgaria also lost territory to both Romania and Turkey.
The Balkan States According to the Treaty of Bucharest; Acquisitions of New Territory shown by darker shades
"Alexeyev now began to recognize that he would have to do something. The Kowel offensives had failed, and attacks in eastern Galicia were also dying down in failure; now the Central Powers had almost reached the Danube delta, and seemed to threaten southern Russia. Stavka first sent VIII Army to the Dniester, and then agreed to send another army, under Sakharov, to constitute, 'Army of the Danube' with a view to the defence of the delta and Gălăti. Finally, IV Army was ear-marked for Romania. Throughout November, a great movement of Russian troops was underway—thirty-six infantry and eleven cavalry divisions."
Romania entered the war on August 27, 1916 invading Transylvania, part of Austria-Hungary, expecting that Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary's ally and Romania's enemy from the Second Balkan War three years before, would not attack, and further expecting that Russian support would be quickly forthcoming. Neither hope came true. In September and October a German and Austro-Hungarian army drove the invaders back into Romania, while a combined German, Bulgarian, and Turkish army pushed the Romanians from southern Dobrudja, a region between the Danube River and the Black Sea. The Russians provided some support for Romania, but Russian chief of staff Alexeyev had no desire to commit his troops to the virtually indefensible Romanian region of Walachia. By late November, he had little choice, as the enemy advanced closer to Bessarabia, Russian territory on the Black Sea and Romanian border. Stavka was Russian military command.
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by Norman Stone, page 279, copyright © 1975 Norman Stone, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1975
1916-11-22, 1916, November, Romania, Dobruja
