Romania entered the First World War in 1916, having signed a secret treaty with the Entente powers under which they would take control of a number of regions controlled by the Central Powers in which ethnic Romanians lived. This was a nationalist compromise since their ultimate aim was to unite both with these regions, and also with Bessarabia that had been annexed by Russia in 1812.
Romania’s armistice with the Central Powers in December 1917 had the potential to end the country’s nationalist ambitions. However, political unrest in Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution led to Bessarabia proclaiming union with the Kingdom of Romania in April 1918. Encouraged by this and, spurred on by hope for self-determination as laid out in Woodrow Wilson’s famous ‘14 Points’, nationalists maintained their call for unification with Romanians in Austria-Hungary.
Romania returned to the war a few days before the fighting ended. Two weeks later, on 28 November 1918, the General Congress of Bukovina voted for unification with Romania. Meanwhile preparations were made for the National Assembly of Romanians of Transylvania and Hungary to meet in the city of Alba Iulia. On 1 December the delegates voted unanimously for ‘the unification of those Romanians and of all the territories inhabited by them with Romania’. All these proclamations were later recognised under the terms of the First World War peace treaties.
1 December is now known in Romania as Great Union Day and is celebrated as a national holiday.
