Union of Transylvania With Romania - Causes and Leading Events

Causes and Leading Events

See also: History of Transylvania and Romanian Campaign (World War I)

• 1906 - A group of scholars surrounding the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand creates a plan (that never came to pass) of the United States of Greater Austria, which suggests that once the Archduke would become Emperor, the Empire would be reformed into a federation of 15 autonomous states.
• 1914 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo, in Austrian-administered Bosnia. World War I starts.
• August 17, 1916 - Romania signs a secret treaty with the Entente Powers (United Kingdom, France, Italy and Russia), according to which Transylvania, Banat, and Partium would become part of Romania after World War I if the country entered the war. The planned border followed a line some 20-40 kilometres west of the present Hungarian-Romanian border, but joined river Tisza in the South, thus granting the whole of Banat to Romania.
• August 1916 Romania attacks Austria-Hungary. The offensive is soon halted by Austrian-Hungarian and German forces. In return, with a combined push from Transylvania and from Bulgaria, the Central Powers occupy Wallachia, including Bucharest. The Romanian capital temporarily moves to Iaşi.
• 1916 - Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria dies. Emperor Karl I succeeds him.
• December 1916 - The German offensive is stopped along the Mărăşeşti-Galaţi line.
• May-July 1917 - Romanian troops halt a German offensive and push them back to the last trench line, but lose the momentum.
• December 9, 1917 - Romania sign armistice with Central Powers
• January 1918 - US President Woodrow Wilson condemns any secret treaties and requests autonomy for the ethnic groups of Austria-Hungary.
• March 26–28, 1918 - A Congress of Nationalities of Austria-Hungary takes place in Rome. A motion is passed, demanding the recognition of the right of each nation to constitute into a national state, which would stay independent, or would unite with its already existing national state.
• April 9 1918 - Bessarabia, after a three-month independence from Russia, proclaims the Union with the Kingdom of Romania. Romanian and some minority deputies (86 in total) vote for, while the majority of the minorities' (Ukrainian, Russian, German, Jewish, Gagauz) representatives (36 in total) abstain. 2 Ukrainian and 1 Bulgarian deputies (3 in total) vote against. The declaration is co-signed by the (pro-German) prime-minister Alexandru Marghiloman for the Romanian government.
• May 18 1918 - A Peace Treaty is signed between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria) and the Kingdom of Romania, to replace the five-month-old armistice. Romania recovers its pre-war territory occupied by the Central Powers in December 1916, except for Dobruja and the mountain regions. The treaty is not ratified by Romania, in the hope that the tide of the war would turn the other way. The Central Powers, in accordance to the treaty, begin to pull out its troops from the occupied Wallachia.
• August 24, 1918 - A National Council of Romanian Unity is created in Paris, with Take Ionescu as president, Vasile Lucaciu, Octavian Goga, Dr. Constantin Angelescu and Ioan Theodor Florescu as members. It is recognized as "the exponent of the interests of the Romanian nation of Austria-Hungary" by France (September 29), the United States (October 23), the United Kingdom (October 29), and Italy (November 9), the four powers of the Entente.
• September 2, 1918 - A Congress of Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Romanians, Serbs, Croatians, and Ruthenes of Austria-Hungary takes place in New York City. A resolution demanding the division of the Austria-Hungary and the liberation of its peoples is passed.
• October 12, 1918 - The Executive Committee of the National Romanian Party of Austria-Hungary, the major party in Transylvania, takes place in Oradea. A declaration is passed, demanding the creation "in virtue of the national right of every nation to decide its own fate" of a Central National Romanian Council, a provisional governing body for Transylvania. To this end the National Romanian Party forms an Action Committee, seated in Arad, and presided by Vasile Goldiş.
• October 18, 1918 - Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, the preeminent Romanian politician in Austria-Hungary, reads the above Declaration of Self-determination in the Parliament of the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary in Budapest.
• same day - Emperor Karl I puts forward a "Manifesto to my faithful peoples", about the reorganization of Austria-Hungary into a Federation of six independent states: Austrian, Hungarian, Czech, Yugoslav, Polish, and Ukrainian. The Manifesto fails to achieve its goal, being regarded as a step that comes way too late. National Councils spring up throughout Austria-Hungary, and prefer to negotiate directly with the Entente powers, rather than with the failing Central Government. Britain pours in its diplomacy.
• same day - A reply to Emperor Karl I of Habsburg's Manifesto is passed by the Corps of the Transylvanian and Bukovinian Volunteers in the Austrian-Hungarian Army, which calls for a union of the territories inhabited by Romanians with the Kingdom of Romania. Iuliu Maniu, a preeminent Transylvanian politician, gathers in Vienna 70,000 Transylvanian soldiers from the Austrian-Hungarian Army, and takes them to Transylvania.
• October 28, 1918 - Czechoslovakia declares its independence.
• October 29, 1918 - The southern Slav areas of Austria-Hungary declare the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.
• October 31, 1918 - A new government, led by Károlyi Mihály, is formed in Budapest, with the democrat Oszkár Jászi as Minister of Nationalities. The Hungarian government terminates its union with Austria, officially dissolving the Austro-Hungarian state.
• November 3, 1918 - General Weber, on behalf of Austria-Hungary, signs the armistice treaty in Padua, Italy.
• same day - Central National Romanian Council is created from representatives of the National Romanian Party and those of Social-Democrat Party of Transylvania, and takes control over the local authorities in Transylvania. The Hungarians administrative apparatus disintegrates. Károlyi Mihály’s Hungarian government enters negotiations with the Central National Romanian Council.
• November 6 1918 - As the Entente's victory on the Western Front seems more and more likely, and as the Army of General Maurice Sarrail from Salonic breaks through the Bulgarian lines on the Balkan Front, the Romanian pro-German government of Alexandru Marghiloman resigns. A new government, with General Constantin Coandă as Prime Minister, is formed. The general mobilization is decreed.
• November 10 1918 - Romania re-declares war on the Central Powers.
• November 11, 1918 - The Armistice on the Western Front is signed in Compiègne, France.
• November 12, 1918 - The first Romanian troops enter Hungary and occupy the Gyergyótölgyes (Tulgheş) mountain pass accessing the Szekler Land Region.
• November 13, 1918 - Armistice on the Balkan Front is signed in Belgrade, Serbia, between the French General Franchet d'Esperey, chief of the Entente's Oriental Army, and the Hungarian government. Small-scale military action continues for a few days in southern Hungary. The agreement fixes demarcation lines between Hungary, Serbia and Romania, according to which the region of Banat goes under Serbian administration, in spite of the 1916 secret treaty with Bucharest. Crişana and Maramureş, including the cities of Satu Mare, Oradea, Beiuş, and Arad, as well as the inner Transylvania up to the river Mureş, are left under Hungarian administration. Hungary is required by the Entente Powers to allow Romanian troops to enter the Transylvanian territories east of the demarcation line along Mureş. Hungary is allowed to keep only 8 army divisions. Disarmed troops are returning home.
• November 13–15, 1918 - Negotiations are held in Arad between the Hungarian government of Károlyi Mihály and the Central National Romanian Council (of Transylvania), without reaching any agreement. News about the Belgrade agreement reach the Romanian (Transylvanian) delegation. The Central National Romanian Council retreats from negotiations and decides to hold elections and convey for November 18/December 1 the National Assembly of Romanians from Transylvania and Hungary, and to hand power to the latter.
• November 13–20, 1918 - Romanian troops occupy further major mountain passes on the North-Eastern border of Hungary. They have the intent to occupy up about 1/4 of the territory of Transylvania, as allotted by the November 13 armistice in Belgrade to pass under its temporary administration. Hungary pulls out troops to comply with the armistice treaty. Isolated armed clashes with the Hungarian military police occur.
• November 1918 - During a 12-day interval, elections are held for the National Assembly of Romanians of Transylvania and Hungary. Its 1,228 members are elected 5 each from the electoral districts established in 1910 (600 members in total), and 628 to represent different social, professional and cultural organizations (clergy, teachers' unions, military). The local enthusiasm gains momentum, as demands such as land reform, universal vote, and possible union with Romania are put forward.
• November 25, 1918 - The Romanian Army occupies Târgu-Mureş, the most important town of Szekler Land, in eastern Transylvania.
• November 28, 1918 - The National Assembly of Székelys in Târgu-Mureş reaffirms their support to the territorial integrity of Hungary.
• November 28, 1918 - The elected 100-member General Congress of Bukovina passes a resolution of unconditional union with the Kingdom of Romania. Romanian (74), German (7) and Polish (6)-speaking deputies vote for, while the 13 Ukrainian deputies leave before the final vote.