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German postcard map of the Romanian theater of war, with map labels in Bulgarian added in red. From north to south the labels are Russia, the Austro-Hungarian regions of Galicia and Bukovina, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and, along the Black Sea, the Romania region of Dobruja. Romania's primary war aim was the annexation of the Austro-Hungarian region of Transylvania, with its large ethnic Romanian population.
Propaganda postcard of General Paul von Hindenburg as Colossus astride East Prussia and Russian Poland. Hindenburg commanded German forces in East Prussia.
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and some of his troops.
Postcard of a German soldier guarding French POWs, most of them colonial troops, the colorful uniforms of a Zouave, Spahi, Senegalese, and metropolitan French soldier contrasting with the field gray German uniform. A 1915 postcard by Emil Huber.
Russian troops stopped by barbed wire.
"On August 27, 1916, on the basis of the agreement reached with the Entente Powers, Romania entered the war against Austria-Hungary. At the Crown Council held the same day, Prime-Minister Ion. I. C. Brătianu explained the reasons underlying that decision of historic importance: 'In a vortex like that of the present war, in which the world map is remade, a country like ours, a country with national aspirations, cannot remain neutral to the end without definitively compromising its future. Therefore, it is imperative to renounce neutrality. On the other hand, national unity being our ideal, we are obliged to pursue its achievement, because nobody knows whether there will be another favourable moment in the centuries to come [. . .]. Even if we were to be defeated, by the fact that four of the greatest powers of the world have recognized the justness of our national claims, and have sanctioned through a solemn act the ethnic borders of the Romanians beyond the Carpathians, the Romanian cause will make a greater and more important step forward than any time so far.'" ((1), more)
"[General Falkenhayn's] star, moreover, was now setting, for too many heavy responsibilities lay on his shoulders: the check at Verdun, the unfortunate Austrian undertaking against the Italian front, the disastrous revival of Russian activity, the appearance in line of the British beside the French along the Somme, the using up of German effectives, the resulting moral depression in the Central Empires, and, to crown it all, during these last days in August, the declaration of war against Germany by Italy and that against Austria-Hungary by Rumania. On August 28th, Marshal Hindenburg was appointed Chief of the General Staff with General Ludendorff as his Quartermaster General." ((2), more)
"The Emperor is judicious, moderate and hard-working. As a rule his ideas are very sensible. He has a lofty idea of his functions and the strongest sense of duty. But his education is inadequate and the scale of the problems it is his mission to solve only too frequently exceeds the measure of his intelligence. He does not know men, affairs or life itself. His distrust of himself and others means that he is always suspicious of superiority, and the result is that he can only tolerate nobodies around him. He is also very religious, in a narrow and superstitious way, and this makes him very jealous of his authority, as he receives it from God." ((3), more)
"Allied intelligence assessed German casualties in July as between 130,000 and 175,000. By the end of August, that figure had risen to 200,000, which was actually a significant underestimate: after the war the German official history acknowledged 243,129 casualties in the first two months. The heart seemed to be being torn out of the old army, while its material and human resources were also stretched. G.H.Q. analysts noted a dispiriting report from one soldier's home town: 'You should have seen the recruits who were mustered this week; it was like the boys coming out of school, but they have all become soldiers; it hardly seems possible.' Older untrained men, 'until now unfit for active service, and those who have become unfit during the war,' were also to be mustered, 'Germany's last hope.'" ((4), more)
"Around 6 p.m. the first wounded appeared; they had attacked only three hours earlier. We were all at work. Our orderlies were busily cutting away the stained garments. Only the heavily-wounded had been brought, and their injuries were indescribably terrible: heads, chests, stomachs, arms, legs, every kind of wound was there and we found body after body smashed, broken, lacerated. The operating hut became intolerably hot and the flies, too, gave us no peace. There were many deaths. . . ." ((5), more)
(1) Prime Minister Gheorghe Brătianu had finally negotiated Romania's entry into the war, thinking the moment, one of Austro-Hungarian distress on its Russian and Italian fronts, opportune, in great part because of the success of Russia's Brusilov Offensive and Italy's Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, both of which had come to a standstill at the end of August. The 'national claims' the Prime Minister referenced were the large ethnic Romanian population in Austria-Hungary's Transylvania, across the southern Carpathian Mountains from Romania. The 'four great powers' were the Triple Entente of France, Russia, Great Britain, joined by Italy.
Romania in World War I, a Synopsis of Military History by Vasile Alexandrescu, pp. 16–17, copyright © 1985, publisher: Military Publishing House, publication date: 1985
(2) For all the reasons French General Pétain catalogs, German Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn was replaced by Paul von Hindenburg on August 28, 1916. Hindenburg and his second Erich Ludendorff commanded the German army and increasingly large sectors of the German economy. Falkenhayn was immediately responsible for the siege of Verdun and its failure. He opposed both the Austro-Hungarian Asiago Offensive, which broke through the Italian front in Trentino but exposed the Austro-Hungarians to Russia's Brusilov Offensive, and the Italian counter-attack in the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, Italy's most successful offensive to date. The British, French, and German forces suffered heavy losses in the Battle of the Somme, with a German toll of roughly 250,000 casualties by August 29. Germany had tried but failed to woo Romania to enter as its fourth ally or to remain neutral. The Russian and Italian military successes, and Germany's and Austria-Hungary's failures, helped lead Romania into war against the latter.
Verdun by Henri Philippe Pétain, pp. 197–198, copyright © 1930, publisher: The Dial Press, publication date: 1930
(3) Former President of Russia's Imperial Council of Ministers Count Vladimir Kokovtsov speaking to Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, on August 29, 1916. Kokovtsov had been Prime Minister from September 18, 1911 to January 30, 1914 and had also served as Finance Minister.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. III by Maurice Paléologue, pp. 14–15, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(4) German casualties in the first two months of the Battle of the Somme exceeded those of the first six months in the Battle of Verdun.
Three Armies on the Somme by William Philpott, page 272, copyright © 2009 by William Philpott, publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, publication date: 2009
(5) Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross writing on August 31 (August 18 Old Style), 1916. Whatever success the Russians had enjoyed in the Brusilov Offensive of June and July had ended.
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, page 232, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
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