Sub semnul Acvilei Cruciate (Under the Sign of the Cross Bearing Eagle)- Romanian AAR
Historical Background
The Interwar Years saw the materialisation of Romania's national aspirations, bringing the union of almost all the lands inhabited by Romanians under the crown of King Ferdinand I.
In late 1918 Romanian leaders traveled to Paris to forward the kingdom's broad territorial claims at the upcoming peace conference, insisting that the Allies respect the principle of national self-determination and fulfill the territorial promises made in 1916 that had brought Romania into the war on the side of the Allies. Most of the teritories that chose to unite to the Motherland were granted that freedom, except from Southen Banat and Western Crisana, granted to Yugoslavia and Hungary.
As a result of the peace negociations, the Hungarian Goverment resigned and turned power over to a coalition of social democrats and communists, who promised that the Soviet Union would help Hungary restore its prewar borders. The communists, under Béla Kun, immediately seized control and announced the founding of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, initiating military actions against Czechoslovakia. When the French threatened to retaliate, Kun turned his army on Romania. Romanian units, however, penetrated Hungarian lines on July 30, occupied Budapest, and scattered Kun's government. Romania's occupation of Budapest deepened ongoing Hungarian bitterness and revisionism.
The two postwar agreements that Romania signed, the Treaty of Saint-Germain with Austria and the Treaty of Trianon with Hungary, more than doubled Romania's size and brought it's population to 16 millions, adding Transylvania, Dobruja, Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and part of the Banat to the Old Kingdom. The treaties also fulfilled the centuries-long Romanian dream of uniting all Romanians in a single country.
Hungarian, Bulgarian and USSR's claims on interwar Romania
Yet, in the foreign arena, Romania faced Hungarian, Soviet, and Bulgarian demands for restoration of territories lost under the treaties. Romania was forced to gear its interwar network of alliances toward maintaining its territorial integrity surounded by revisionist potential enamies, and with friendly France too farr away and too conciliatorist to help.
Complicating an already unstable situation, the royal family in the mid-1920s suffered a scandal when Crown Prince Carol abdicated his right to the throne in favor of his six-year-old son Michael and went to Paris in exile. Ferdinand I died within several months, and a regency ruled for Michael. Due to the lack of legitimacy of the regency, Prince Carol was soon invited to return to his homeland. In 1930 Carol returned, and Romania's parliament proclaimed him king. King Carol proved an ambitious leader, but he surrounded himself with corrupt favorites and neglected Romania's need for stability and strong defenses.
Romanian Oilfields
Romania's economy boomed during the interwar period. The government raised revenue by heavy taxation of the agricultural sector and began admitting foreign capital to finance new electric plants, mines, textile mills, foundries, oil wells, roads, and rail lines. Romania was at the time a top oil producer and rafinner, hence it's immense strategic value to any long-term european war. Despite the industrial boom, however, Romania remained primarily an agricultural country. In 1929, when the New York Stock Exchange crashed, world grain prices collapsed, and Romania plunged into an agricultural crisis. Thousands of peasant landholders fell into arrears, and the government enacted price supports and voted a moratorium on agricultural debts to ease their plight. In 1931 Europe suffered a financial crisis, and the flow of foreign capital into Romania dried up. Worse yet, the new industries could not absorb all the peasants who left their villages in search of work resulting in high unemployment. When recovery began in 1934, the government used domestic capital to fund new industries, including arms manufacturing, to pull out of the agricultural slump. The depression slowed capacity growth, but industrial production actually increased 26 percent between 1931 and 1938, a period when practically all the world's developed countries were suffering declines.
On the eve of the second Warld War, Romania has a dangerous, yet interesting strategic position, un-friendly neighbours, a fairly large (in raport to it's scale) but obsolete army, and a dificult choice to make on the side it will back in the comming war.
Game settings
HoI 2 Doomsday, normal level, normal aggression, 1936 campaign.
Short to Medium Term Goals
**"Under the Sign of the Cross Bearing Eagle" is the meaning of this AAR's title. The Cross Bearing Eagle is the symbol of Romanian Nation, of it's Romanity, Christianity and historical tradition.
"Sub semnul Acvilei Cruciate" - a Romanian AAR
Historical Background
The Interwar Years saw the materialisation of Romania's national aspirations, bringing the union of almost all the lands inhabited by Romanians under the crown of King Ferdinand I.
In late 1918 Romanian leaders traveled to Paris to forward the kingdom's broad territorial claims at the upcoming peace conference, insisting that the Allies respect the principle of national self-determination and fulfill the territorial promises made in 1916 that had brought Romania into the war on the side of the Allies. Most of the teritories that chose to unite to the Motherland were granted that freedom, except from Southen Banat and Western Crisana, granted to Yugoslavia and Hungary.
As a result of the peace negociations, the Hungarian Goverment resigned and turned power over to a coalition of social democrats and communists, who promised that the Soviet Union would help Hungary restore its prewar borders. The communists, under Béla Kun, immediately seized control and announced the founding of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, initiating military actions against Czechoslovakia. When the French threatened to retaliate, Kun turned his army on Romania. Romanian units, however, penetrated Hungarian lines on July 30, occupied Budapest, and scattered Kun's government. Romania's occupation of Budapest deepened ongoing Hungarian bitterness and revisionism.
The two postwar agreements that Romania signed, the Treaty of Saint-Germain with Austria and the Treaty of Trianon with Hungary, more than doubled Romania's size and brought it's population to 16 millions, adding Transylvania, Dobruja, Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and part of the Banat to the Old Kingdom. The treaties also fulfilled the centuries-long Romanian dream of uniting all Romanians in a single country.
Hungarian, Bulgarian and USSR's claims on interwar Romania
Yet, in the foreign arena, Romania faced Hungarian, Soviet, and Bulgarian demands for restoration of territories lost under the treaties. Romania was forced to gear its interwar network of alliances toward maintaining its territorial integrity surounded by revisionist potential enamies, and with friendly France too farr away and too conciliatorist to help.
Complicating an already unstable situation, the royal family in the mid-1920s suffered a scandal when Crown Prince Carol abdicated his right to the throne in favor of his six-year-old son Michael and went to Paris in exile. Ferdinand I died within several months, and a regency ruled for Michael. Due to the lack of legitimacy of the regency, Prince Carol was soon invited to return to his homeland. In 1930 Carol returned, and Romania's parliament proclaimed him king. King Carol proved an ambitious leader, but he surrounded himself with corrupt favorites and neglected Romania's need for stability and strong defenses.
Romanian Oilfields
Romania's economy boomed during the interwar period. The government raised revenue by heavy taxation of the agricultural sector and began admitting foreign capital to finance new electric plants, mines, textile mills, foundries, oil wells, roads, and rail lines. Romania was at the time a top oil producer and rafinner, hence it's immense strategic value to any long-term european war. Despite the industrial boom, however, Romania remained primarily an agricultural country. In 1929, when the New York Stock Exchange crashed, world grain prices collapsed, and Romania plunged into an agricultural crisis. Thousands of peasant landholders fell into arrears, and the government enacted price supports and voted a moratorium on agricultural debts to ease their plight. In 1931 Europe suffered a financial crisis, and the flow of foreign capital into Romania dried up. Worse yet, the new industries could not absorb all the peasants who left their villages in search of work resulting in high unemployment. When recovery began in 1934, the government used domestic capital to fund new industries, including arms manufacturing, to pull out of the agricultural slump. The depression slowed capacity growth, but industrial production actually increased 26 percent between 1931 and 1938, a period when practically all the world's developed countries were suffering declines.
On the eve of the second Warld War, Romania has a dangerous, yet interesting strategic position, un-friendly neighbours, a fairly large (in raport to it's scale) but obsolete army, and a dificult choice to make on the side it will back in the comming war.
Game settings
HoI 2 Doomsday, normal level, normal aggression, 1936 campaign.
Short to Medium Term Goals
- The primary objective is to prevent Hungary and Bulgaria to indanger the teritorial integrity. A wor on two fronts, especially with Germany's backing should be prevented, even through preemtive military actions.
- The secondary objective is to make Romania a considerable power in the Southern Europe, strong enough to defend itself against major powers.
- The third objective is to find a way to remove the Soviet danger at the borders, by any means.
**"Under the Sign of the Cross Bearing Eagle" is the meaning of this AAR's title. The Cross Bearing Eagle is the symbol of Romanian Nation, of it's Romanity, Christianity and historical tradition.
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