100 Years Ago - Romania
KING FERDINAND AND THE CROWN PRINCE OF RUMANIA
RUMANIANS ON THE MARCH IN THE CARPATHIANS
RUMANIAN OFFICERS SELECTING POSITIONS FOR ARTILLERY
THE RUMANIAN ROYAL BODY GUARD.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/transylvania-and-its-frontiers-rqnr6frx8
Transylvania and its frontiers
August 30, 1916
From the west, this country rises towards the mountain barrier that separates it from Rumania in a comparatively gentle slope to the heights of the south-eastern and southern Carpathians. On the east the mountains break into huge and precipitous walls - a tremendous natural fortress.
Against invasion from Rumania nature has protected Transylvania by a formidable barrier of mountains. Transylvania is a highland, broken into innumerable hills and with plains scattered about its surface. From the west, this country rises towards the mountain barrier that separates it from Rumania in a comparatively gentle slope to the heights of the south-eastern and southern Carpathians. On the east the mountains break into huge and precipitous walls - a tremendous natural fortress. The northern part of the frontier is formed by the eastern Carpathians, which are cut by the Strol or Kirlibaba Pass almost at the point where the frontier of Bukovina joins that of Rumania. Thence the eastern Carpathian mountains go south in a great semicircle to the point where the Predeal (or Tomos) Pass provides a gateway for the railway from Kronstadt to Bukarest. Rising on the south-western side of the Predeal Pass, the Transylvanian Alps form almost the whole of the north-western frontier of Rumania. They merge into the Stretenye Mountains, which go to the bank of the Danube, and there, with the heights on the Serbian side of the river, form the famous gorge of the Iron Gates, near Orsova.
The chief passes in these mountain ranges are the Borgo Pass, just south of the Bukovina frontier, the Torgyes, and the Bekas, close together; the Predeal, already mentioned; the Torzburg; and in the Transylvanian Alps the Roter Turm or Red Tower Pass, carrying the railway from Bukarest to Hermannstadt; the Vulkan, the Teregova, and the Iron Gate. Through the last the railway from Temesvar in Transylvania goes to Craiova in Rumania.
The highland of Transylvania has a mean altitude of from 1,000 to 1,600 feet above sea level. A fertile plain about 60 miles in length and 50 in breadth lies almost in the centre of the country. The mountains on the frontier attain at points to great heights. Thus Negoi, just west of the Roten Turm Pass, reaches 8,345 feet; Busecz, just west of the Predeal Pass, 8,230 feet; Pietrosu and Konigstein, farther north, 7,544 and 7,352 feet. The climate of Transylvania is healthy, with no very great rainfall, but the winters are very cold and the summers correspondingly hot.
Transylvania formed part of the Roman province of Dacia. It has three “privileged nations” - the Hungarians, the Szeklers, and the “Saxons”. The Hungarians are the descendants of the Magyar conquerors. The Szeklers are closely akin to them. The “Saxons” are the descendants of German emigrants who came from Flanders and the Lower Rhine in the twelfth century to re-people the Hungarian plains, desolated by constant invasions of migrating peoples. These three races are altogether outnumbered by the Rumanes, who are spread all over the country and have long been excluded from power and political equality.
In 1849 Transylvania was taken from Hungary and made an Austrian Crown-land, and in 1860 it became for a short time an autonomous province with its own Diet. In 1863 the Diet met and decreed complete separation from Hungary, union with Austria, and recognition of the Rumanes as the fourth “nation”. The Magyars refused to recognize this Diet and packed another, which met at Kolozsvar in 1865 and declared in favour of union with Hungary.
The “compromise” of 1867 wrested the grant of this from Austria, and a year later Transylvania was deprived of the last remnants of its autonomy and was embodied in the Kingdom of Hungary. Since then it has been completely Hungarian, and its political control by the Magyars has been steadily completed and strengthened, in spite of all protests both from “Saxons” and Rumanes. Hungarian is the official language, and a Hungarian university was set up at Kolozsvar in 1872.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-struggle-for-the-passes-099zf2s6x
The Struggle for the Passes
August 30, 1916
When every allowance is made for the exceedingly difficult nature of the country, the broad fact remains that the enemy’s defences have suddenly become far more vulnerable, for they cannot everywhere dig themselves in.
Hostilities have developed with great rapidity between Rumania and Austria-Hungary, almost before the world has grasped the full significance of Rumanian intervention: Austrian monitors on the Danube have bombarded the town of Verciorova, at the Iron Gates, as well as Turnu-Severin, a little lower down the river, and Giurgevo, where the ferry-boats cross from Rustchuk on the principal route from Sofia to Bukarest. These towns all possess artillery defences, and Rumania has four serviceable river-monitors, as well as smaller armed craft. It is hardly to be expected that the river warfare will develop important dimensions, but it may be taken as reasonably certain that no more supplies for Bulgaria and Turkey will be carried by river below Belgrade.
The initial offensive of the Rumanian Army is evidently being begun in the Transylvanian Alps, which really form part of the Carpathian chain of mountains. Our new Allies are reported to be moving through the Roten Turm Pass in the direction of Hermannstadt, and through the Torzburg and Tomos Passes upon Kronstadt. The Tomos Pass is familiar to travellers by the Bukarest express, and is traversed by both road and railway. It is rather under 3,500ft high, and leads through wooded heights from Kronstadt to the pleasant summer resort of Sinaia, and thence to the Rumanian plains. The Torzburg Pass is a few hundred feet higher, and possesses a good road.
Kronstadt, which may prove to be the primary objective of the Rumanians in this region, is the principal town of Transylvania, and lies in a hollow of the hills. About a quarter of the inhabitants are Saxons, forming part of the German community which has been settled in the province for centuries. Rumanians, however, constitute the bulk of the population of Transylvania, and their constant oppression by the Magyars is one of the chief causes of Rumania’s decision. The Roten Turm Pass is very low, being not much more than a thousand feet high, but though it represents the easiest way into Austrian territory, and is also a railway route, it is very narrow. Hermannstadt is by far the most Saxon town in the province. For a long time after they obtain access into Transylvania the Rumanians will be fighting amid a tangle of forest-clad hills, and rapid progress cannot be expected.
The attacks on these three passes probably do not represent Rumania’s only lines of advance. The Magyars clearly expect invasion through the Verciorova Pass also, for some time ago they were hastily preparing defences at Karansebes and Lugos, and were said to be using Italian prisoners for the purpose. The recovery of the Banat of Temesvar is one of the dearest objects of Rumanian ambition. Possibly there may also be movements from Northern Rumania in close proximity to the Russian operations on the borders of the Bukovina. No indication can at present be obtained regarding the prospect of an attack from the north against Bulgaria, and any discussion of the probable details of such an enterprise would therefore be premature. Rumania has not declared war against either Bulgaria or Turkey, and the Bulgarians, whose official attitude is equally undisclosed, are undoubtedly in no great strength in their northern territories.
Whatever developments may follow in regard to Bulgaria, it is obvious that the cutting of the through route to Constantinople, which has many vulnerable points, remains an object of the highest importance to the Allies. The Germans struck against France and Russia, but their principal political aims are associated with the command of the route to the Near East. When the railway line is severed they will have been deprived of that uncontrolled access to the Balkans which was at the heart of their schemes. The appearance of Rumania in the field brings us nearer the day when German dreams of dominating the Near and Middle East will be finally shattered.
We must recognize that the welcome advent of Rumania into the war should in time go very far to transform the essential character of the conflict. When M. Take Jonescu, whose unfailing advocacy of the lofty objects of the Allies has earned him their deep gratitude, said that Rumanian participation should tend to shorten the war, he spoke no more than the truth. Hitherto on all the main fronts the struggle has tended to evolve itself into a war of positions. The Russians have recently imparted renewed movement into their operations in Galicia and the Bukovina, and they are still advancing in these areas.
Rumania has brought into the theatre of war a whole new front, extending in effect from the Bukovina to Lake Doiran. Whatever turn future developments may take in the Balkans, it is inconceivable that over this immense area the war of positions will again be produced on a large scale, for the simple reason that the enemy have not men enough to man such a line. When every allowance is made for the exceedingly difficult nature of much of the country now uncovered, the broad fact remains that the enemy’s defences have suddenly become far more vulnerable, for they cannot everywhere dig themselves in. These conditions must as time passes have a marked effect upon the future course and character of the war. Another great though less tangible result of Rumania’s decision is that for the first time it has shown the deluded masses of the population of Germany exactly where their country stands. Until now they have been fed on a daily diet of lies. The German Higher Command may lie to them about Verdun and the Allied triumphs on the Somme, they may concoct endless fictitious stories about the vain raids of the Zeppelins, they may seek to distract popular attention by silly claims about the voyage of the ocean submarine to America, but they cannot concede for a moment the hard and stern fact of the verdict of Rumania.
The sudden announcement that Rumania has joined the Allies has been for Germany like the touch of Ithuriel’s spear, and the whole monstrous fabric of deceit by which the truth has been obscured from the German public has collapsed in an instant. No wonder there is burning wrath in Berlin today, Great though the value will be of the help Rumania brings to the Allies, her most instant and almost immeasurable service is the moral effect of her adhesion to the Allied cause. King George has fittingly expressed in his telegram to the King of Rumania the feelings which the unsheathing of Rumania’s sword has aroused in “the whole British nation.” That the just and laudable aspirations so long and patiently cherished by the Rumanian people will meet with ample fulfilment is the heartfelt wish of every Briton.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-invasion-of-transylvania-3kdh0npx9
The Invasion of Transylvania
September 1, 1916
Transylvania has evidently been left comparatively defenceless, first because it was not believed that Rumania would join the Allies, and secondly because Austria cannot now adequately defend the province even if she wants to.
Two days ago we discussed the beginning of the struggle for the passes of the Transylvanian Alps, in the full expectation that Austria-Hungary would defend her south-eastern frontier; but there seems to have been no serious struggle at all. The first bulletin issued by Rumania, and published yesterday, showed that the Rumanian Army is already in possession of every important pass leading into Transylvania. The Austrians claim to be defending the road which leaves the Danube near Orsova, and passes through Karansebes and Lugos to Temesvar. They also profess to be repelling attacks on Herkulesbad, the pleasant, little summer resort which lies in a deep cleft in the hills about a dozen miles north of the Danube. Elsewhere they have, according to their own account, withdrawn their “fighting units” step by step, in accordance with plans made “a long time ago”. This unexpected proceeding at any rate disposes of the boast of the Berlin Lokalanzeiger, “On all the frontiers it is, in the lands of our enemies that the war is raging. Our newest enemy will have no better fate; Rumania also will become a theatre of war.”
The Magyars know better, for the troops of Rumania are pouring into their territory. Whatever the plans of the Austro-Hungarian Staff may be, they certainly cannot have provided for the voluntary admission of such a torrent of invasion. A few miles beyond the northernmost point of the Rumanian frontier Austrian and German troops are battling hard to hold the Kirlibaba Pass, on the edge of the Bukovina. There can be no coherence in military plans which aim at defending the Carpathian passes and leave the Transylvanian Alps unguarded.
The truth probably is that the Austrians have not been holding the Rumanian frontier in strength, because nearly all the forces they can now muster are engaged in the Trentino, on the Isonzo, and in Galicia. The natural place for the defence of Transylvania is on the line of the frontier. The present boundary is drawn along the summit of the range, and represents a geographical “divide”. No line farther back gives better advantages, and so far as is known no extensive attempt has been made to construct defences in the interior of Transylvania.
The Magyars are said to have been fortifying the approaches to Temesvar, but it is exceedingly improbable that elaborate preparations for resistance have been made at any other point. Transylvania, in short, has evidently been left comparatively defenceless, first because it was not believed that Rumania would join the Allies, and secondly because Austria cannot now adequately defend the province even if she wants to. The consequence is that the initial steps of Rumania’s great enterprise are proving easier than was foreseen by onlookers at a distance. Yet we must beware of drawing too sweeping conclusions from the first rush, for the greater part of Transylvania is a tangle of hills and woods, and the routes are not very favourable for the passage of armies.
The King of Rumania, in his stirring proclamation to the nation, unfolds the entirely justifiable aims which have prompted Rumanian intervention in the war. The deep and fervent hope of Rumania is to revive the kingdom established for a brief space by Michael the Great, and create a Rumanian union “on both sides of the Carpathians”. King Ferdinand looks forward to “a great and free Rumania from the Tysza (Theiss) to the Black Sea.” These aspirations are entirely in accord with expectations, for expressed in more precise terms they may presumably be taken to represent the Bukovina, Transylvania, and the old Banat of Temesvar, which extended to the Lower Theiss.
If these territories do not fly the Rumanian flag today, as they soon will do, it is largely because of the blight of Turkish domination, the civil effects of which have lasted in South-Eastern Europe for five hundred years. The power of the Turk kept Rumania in thraldom for centuries, and was the ultimate cause of the present division of the Rumanian race. The appearance of Rumania on the battlefield means, among other things, that a further step is being taken to right the wrongs which followed the incursion of the Ottomans into Europe, where they should never have been allowed to obtain a foothold. It is satisfactory to learn from Russian sources that a complete understanding exists between Russia and Rumania as to the impending satisfaction of Rumanian aspirations.
The deepest significance attaches to the confirmation of the news that Russian forces are marching across the Dobrudja, as they marched less than forty years ago, when they went to effect by long and costly sacrifices the liberation of Bulgaria. The Russian troops are understood to have crossed the Danube near Reni, some distance below Galatz. They have a considerable distance to traverse by road before they reach the new Bulgarian frontier, but we should soon see Russians and Bulgarians in conflict, a spectacle which no Bulgarian who reverenced the glorious memories of Plevna and the Shipka can ever have expected to witness. There is trepidation in the camps of both Bulgarians and Turks, as well there may be.
We hear little more of the singular Bulgarian offensive in Macedonia, which was the outcome of despair rather than of effrontery, and is probably already diminishing. These Balkan developments show that another of the muddled calculations of Germany is proving to be at fault. The chief aims of the Germans lay in the Balkans, and concerned the route to the East; but they seem to have thought that while they were attacking the French and Russian fronts the Balkans could be left undefended. Their mistake is dawning upon them now that they find their route to the East in danger.