Russia: hey Romania, can we use your country as a highway to Turkey? Romania: Yeah, sure Russia: Can you give us a couple of your men to help us fight Romania: Ok, no prob Russia: Can we take some of your land too? lol Romania: Wait, wut?
@@МахмудТалибов-ц5г And most of Russian history today is written by Tsar Putin. Makes me so glad my grandfather came to the USA in 1905 and never looked back!
Fun Fact : Moldova and Wallachia were forced by to ottoman empire to choose each a lord (domnitor) as to not unite the 2 states but both states chose the same guy on 2 different elections and they were basically united
Some Romanian sources claim the Allies promised to start an offensive on the Salonica front to keep the Bulgarians (and friends) pinned, giving Romania the opportunity to only deal with Austria-Hungary. Of course, the leaders of the country could've changed the plan after realizing that the offensive wasn't going to happen. As a Romanian, I have to say the first 3-4 months of the war for us are pretty depressing to remember :).
@@stevensamuels4041 The Central Powers didn't have that much to offer. Austria-Hungary wasn't going to budge on its treatment of Romanians, or cede any land. There was a segment that was pro-German in the elites, but some of those people were for neutrality, not for joining the war. The people that were actually for joining the Central Powers were a minority. Public opinion was very pro-Entente. Given how unprepared the army turned out to be in 1916, I don't think the side we were on would've made a difference.
Yep! It was the British, French and Italians but instead they decided to help Serbia and Greece first and took their sweet old time while we were left all alone to fight on two different huge fronts because they convinced us to attack. Finally russia and the Cossacks arrived to help us but they left after like only a year in 1917 because of the horrible communist revolution that kicked off
they are both Christian exceptions...polish guys are Slavs and (really devout, over 90% declare themselves as believers) Catholic Christians ... and Romanians are Latin and(really devout, over 90% declare themselves as believers) Orthodox Christians ... just a fun fact......may Cthulhu devour you last reader
Just amazing what you did here! Perfectly explained! You kinda covered all the main ideas of Romania's modern history. Congrats for the pronunciation of names, very good :)
I have only just discovered this site, and It is an excellent channel indeed. I am English, and we have a very narrow view of WW1. You open it up wonderfully. Your enthusiasm is evident, keep up the most excellent work.
The awkward thing is.... the interbelic period is considered a golden age in Romanian history, although we kinda lost during WW1. All thanks to mr Lenin.
Great video guys, but you got something wrong. There were two Ion C. Brătianu, both politicians. The one you are talking about is Ion I. C. Brătianu, Prime Minister of Romania during the first world war. However you are showing dates for his father, Ion C. Brătianu.
Thank you so much! I grew up in Romanian in the '70s and all the history I was taught in school was pure propaganda - had to unlearn all the lies I was told and re-learn the true historic facts. Awesome program - thanks again!
Well... hats off to you this time!!! This is a spot on video and a small piece of history. Proper research, good information, beautifully illustrated. Very enlightening for some I'm sure. Bravo!!! Bravo!!
Their optimism wasn't *completely* blind, since their primary opponent (so they thought) was going to be Austria under Hotzendorf, and Austria had had a very tough time with Serbia and had lost a great deal to the Russians as well. But yes, for some reason wars always seem easy for those who don't have to fight them.
Well it's true that Hotzendorf would inspire great optimism in any would be invader. BUT you have to also take in account that Mackensen is only about 100 km away from your border. You do not start a fight unless you have at least a 1000 km buffer zone between you and Mackensen!
The prime minister was Ion I.C Bratianu, not his father, Ion C. Bratianu (correctly showed as living until 1891). The older Bratianu had been prime-minister during the russian-ottoman war of 1877; the young one died in 1927, after dominating the political scene from 1914 onwards.
lack of preparation is the constant of Romanian Army. Almost always at the beginning of a war the Romanian Army had to suffer and when put with the back at the wall to prevail with great sacrifices and as soon as the things calm down they forget everything what happen ASAP. It was in: - 1877: artillery purchased in the last moment from Germany. The heroism of the soldiers compensated a lot but the problem is that the Romanians always dreamed about this after and did nothing to improve the situation; - 1913: ill prepared officers and medics; - 1916: poor prepared officers (Battle of Turtucaia), poor prepared medics, antique artillery (Battle of Turtucaia), lack of ammo and weapons (all of them). They learned nothing from 3 years ago and was needed the entire effort of French Expeditionary Corp to train the Romanian Army. Even today, Gen. Henri Berthelot (French General) is considered a hero in Romania. I would say that he deserve an episode or at least a mention when we reach 1917 (Marasesti, Marasti, Oituz). - 1941: one of the most diverse aviation equipment in existence (Romanian, Polish, German, British, French) which made a logistical nightmare, poor artillery, obsolete tanks, no adequate transportation, almost no antitank capabilities, some weapons were from WW1; - 1989: really bad prepared army causing a lot of "friendly" fire between the Army units or even on civilians, lack of coordination between air forces and the commanding units, lack of communication; - 2001-2016: lack of proper APC (despite the fact that in Romania it was the project of a modern APC and the capacity to produce it), logistical nightmare, poor food and water supplies to the forces (some embezzlement and stupidity acts cooperated here). In Iraq some units had 1 liter (for real!) of water per day and only when the menace of a mutiny appeared ... suddenly all the food and water appeared (magic?). The aviation is basically on its last leg, the Navy is obsolete, the .... you name it, is not taken care of. More than this, we are seeing a censorship in Romania regarding the activity of Romanian troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. We know nothing about what they are doing or done there and we look really stupid when a Polish or American veteran thanks Romanian for help. It happen to me at least 4 (four!) times. What the hell they have done there to deserve thanks??? To all of the above are only three causes: politics, nepotism and corruption. The Romanian politicians are the worst enemy of Romania. Only the war is missing now...
Kaiser Franz Joseph I No I mean it... I liked both episodes a lot... I can say that they can be educating even for today's politics and how things may turn out for the small nations' alliances (changing them, get divided over to who's side enter a possible war etc)...
Thank you for making a proper video about Romania. Took too long to wait (months), but at least it's better than the last episode. And it was really well done.
Months? We joined the war on August 27th 1916 and they already talked about that last week. They have to do these episodes as the war progresses, you know, can't skip ahead just because we like to see our favourite bit... :D
Romania did not had an optimistic fantasy about its army. They had the heart to fight for their land with Germany,Austro-Hungarians,Bulgarians and Ottomans while Russia fucked themselves up. It seems like Romania hold one of the greatest battles in 1917 on the Mărăști, Mărășești and Oituz line while russian troops didn't want to fight and were asking for help from their romanian allies. Not only that, but the Allies promised Romania to keep the Bulgarian-Ottoman armies occupied in southern Bulgaria while Romania could fight in Transilvania. Guess who did not kept its promises and let 4 armies invade Romania? With much respect for all of the countries who fought in the WW1, I think its fair to say that Allies lost southern front of Romania and Russia prefered to run and not fight instead of helping. Even the odds, Romanian Army kept fighting for their country showing the true love for your land. Mackensen did not lose a single battle until he fought Romanian Army. Much respect for the fallen soldiers! Let it be peace and happy times between our nations.
@@forthepotentates7526 Trusting the Western powers in WW1 brought us the unification of all our lands, not our destruction. In those who trusted the Central Powers got destroyed in the end. Look at Hungary, Austria or Turkey today.
Romania PM Ion Bratianu - said to have influenced Romania to join the allies, but he is noted as having lived from 1820-1891. I really enjoy your show! keep it up guys!
As a bit of advice i would suggest that any future episodes in the museum could have Indy actively walking around the museum with each new scene taking place in a different exhibit. The episode was good overall but it felt weird that Indy was just standing there with helmets in the background. Can't wait to see you guys visit the Premyszl battlefields.
"Make Vlad Tepes great again." Sorry, it was irresistible. Unfortunately, my knowledge about Romania is very poor (but I like Edward Maya and Akcent!). Only thing I got was that joke.
Great work! I'm looking forward to more on location stuff. It's really interesting to hear about the smaller players roles in the great war. Are you all going to do battlefield walks?
+Stefan T well royalty is utter bullshit, if it was any real scientists wouldve found something in their blood already lol. It's just a bunch of cunts that give themselves powers over their totally normal genetics. Oh and they believe a god that never proved to exist gave them power, so they are psychotics too.
Recognition as an equal to the great powers of Europe. Even after the Russo-Japanese war, where Japan put Russia completely to shame, they were still viewed as an inferior nation due to the racist thinking's of the western powers at the time. Japan hoped that they could further prove themselves, and eventually stand on the same podium as nations such as France, Britain, and Germany. They also hoped to gain territory in Asia at the expense of the Central Powers/Germany to both expand their influence, and to acquire resources, as the Japanese home islands had very little in the way of natural resources. This was actually a major reason that they were relatively (They were still forced to sign many unequal treaties) untouched by western colonial powers, unlike China which had many things in abundance.
very good video indy and i am very happy you talked about my country since it teached me quite a bit but you botched the names so bad i couldnt stop laughing. great video tho i love it
Ok so if the Austrian/German percentage of the population more closely allied itself politically with the Hungarian contingent then it would realistically seem to be more of even political ideology division?
I AM VLADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDRACULAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
+Kaiser Franz Joseph I No you're not. The profile says "Kaiser Franz Joseph". Now stop misleading people Franz, it ain't nice. Instead go keep an eye on Hoetzendorf or something, I'm sure the troublesome wretch got in trouble with the neighbours again.
Moldovia = the english translation of Moldova Just like Hungary is the english transaltion of Magyarorszag or Germany instead of Deutschland Austria instead of Osterreich Spain instead of Espana and so on
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanen ^ the term "german" exists in the german language. So I think there are 2 classes of foreign country names: either using a different but valid historical name, or just fucking up. I think "Germany" falls in the first category, while "Moldavia" in the 2nd :D
Bogdan Cozma That sounds about right. Personally I prefer a different name than the native one, like Germany is, rather than Moldavia for Moldova or Peking for Beijing, which are just plain broken I-can't-be-arsed-to-pronounce-correctly names :)
Yo! You got the wrong Bratianu( The name and the dates at least. You got the picture right though!). The one that you show died in 1891 as it is written in your video also at 08:22. The one that was actually prime minister during 1916 is this one en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_I._C._Br%C4%83tianu. Small differences but still get it right and make your researche more accurate! Btw big thumbs up for the episode from Bucharest!
The video discusses everything except Romania during the war. It talks about Romania when other countries were at war. Not about the Romanian part of the war.
not to long ago i found out that my great great grandfather was romanian and fought in the war. i have also two other great grandfathers who faught for canada germany and france. crazy to think you can have so many family members fight for diffrent sides in the war
they finally made LOVE not WAR ps, you are not special snowflake, this happens quite a lot, especially in Europe, even in relative modern wars, i.e there are a lot of Croat-Serb, or Russian-Ukrainian people getting married
Be proud. Romanians are fierce,not even scared of Ottomans or Russians,you should start reading about Stefan The Great(Stefan cel Mare). My ancestors are polish origin,came in Moldova in Stefan's timeline :)
"Olga Nikolaevna (1893-1953), Daughter of Nicholas II" (6:22) I believe there's a mistake there, as Czar Nick's daughter Olga wasn't born until 1895 and died (together with the whole of her family, famously) in 1918...
Hi! Great job as usual! But you got the dates for Olga Nikolaevna wrong at 6:26. She was born in 1895 and died in 1918, together with her family during the Russian Revolution.
great episod. we got with much of stories releted by grandfathers and censored historical facts by commies but you sank very deep into. bravo great work. blessings to you and crew.
@Giorgos Bookhunte For example in Communist Historical Books did not exist the First and Second Balkan War, because Ro had just defensive wars and WWI was a liberation War for Transilvania. Carol or Ferdinad was not mentioned in the book etc etc
What save the austro-hungarian army was the german suport (Falkenhayn and von Mackensen offensives); prior to that they were defeted, infact helter skeltered.
A point on facts: Wallachia, Moldavia & Transylvania where medieval principalities - associating them with the Roman Empire makes no sense. The Roman Empire conquered Dacia after two costly wars in the II century AD which roughly comprised the area where these three principalities later developed. At the beginning of xx century Romania was a Central Powers' ally and looked with apprehension at Bulgaria's predatory behavior in the Balkans. Bulgaria was until the end of the First Balkan War a Russian satellite. When Romania entered the Second Balkan War on the side of Greece and Serbia, it did so not because Bulgaria forgot to gave her the town of Silistra, but because a "Greater Bulgaria" would have upset the regional balance of power. Romania's involvement in the Second Balkan War is pretty important as it marks the first formal brake with the Central Powers, which then supported Bulgaria. Romania intervened in the war with the full assent of the Entente powers and Serbia engaged Bulgarian forces after a plan drawn up by the Romanian staff. Up until 1914 Romania's adherence to the Triple Alliance aka the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) was an open secret, though never formally acknowledged by Romania's government.French diplomacy squarely placed Romania in the Central Powers camp in the early 1900s. Starting with 1906-1907 Romania changed course gradually towards the Entente as Russia wasn't perceived as a grave threat anymore and because of Austro-Hungary's policies concerning ethnic minorities. Romania was actively involved in supporting the Romanians living in Transylvania and Hungary by financing their cultural and political associations, although it refrained from actively undermining the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For the latter's diplomacy it became evident especially after 1907 that Romania will not join the Central Powers in a conflict with the Entente. The 1914 Crown Council was dramatic, but not because of the revelation of the alliance with the Central Powers. Every Romanian prime-minister was briefed by the king when taking office about the alliance. It was dramatic because it showed the rifts inside the Romanian elite and because King Carol I could not convince the liberal opposition to go to war against the Entente Powers. It was a bitter defeat for the old king which drove him to his grave two years later. Very good observation concerning Russia not wanting Romania as an ally, Russia knew that Romania was militarily weak and any lengthening of the Eastern front would not be in its favor. Actually Romania may have inadvertently help foster the Russian Revolution.
When you said that neutral Romania was a guard for Russia's southern flank, didn't the learn anything from Belgium? They were neutral and protecting France's northern border, but the Germans siding care
I highly doubt the Germans would have invaded a neutral country ruled by the Kaiser's relative, especially when Bismark himself promised eternal German protection of said country at the treaty of Berlin.
First of all, I want to say that your episodes are great and entertaining to watch. Second of all, I want to ask you if you are going to do a special episode on Ion Antonescu(Chief of the Army in WW1 and Romania's Supreme Commander and fascist leader during ww2) about what he did in the Great War.
Umm... I think you're confusing "chief of staff", which then major Antonescu was in WW1 (he was General Constantin Prezan's chief of staff, basically an aide-de-camp) with "chief of the army", which was General (later Marshall) Alexandru Averescu. Antonescu might have been a capable commander, but he didn't do enough during ww1 to warrant an episode of TGW.
Thank you for making a special episode on Romania before the war, I really wanted to hear a neutral opinion on this matter since I know that the history taught in our schools has a level of subjectively, I didn't even know Romania invaded Bulgaria, because it was not taught, great work, by the way, it is really funny how you pronounce Romanian names and places :D
Being an American that doesn't understand these alliances and such, I am going to have to watch this a few times to try to get it straight, but I still enjoyed it.
Fun fact 2: In 1878, immediately after gaining independence Bulgaria made a proposition to Romania of uniting in a single Balkan state with the capital at Bucharest. The proposal was turned down because the Romanian government did not want have a common border with the ottoman empire anymore and wanted Bulgaria as a buffer state.
another fun fact in the same period there was a idea of a trans Danubian Empire, or better said a Lower Danube Commonwealth if you may, basically the AH Empire+Southern Slav Nations + Romania (basically today's Eastern Half of the E.U), the benefits were that the AH empire would gain Black Sea entrance as for Romania they would realise the big dream of reuniting the 3 Principalities in a way ... the same for the big dream( after the Yugoslav state truly a real life nightmare) of the Unification of all Southern Slavs
Actually it is the opposite. Romania proposed to Bulgaria to unite, but Russia as always won't like a big, united country in the Balkans and forced Bulgaria to reject the offer.
Toshko Milkinski Why would Romania propose to Bulgaria when Romanian foreign policy at the time was get away from the ottoman empire as fast as possible.
Toshko Milkinski Bulgaria was a new country with no army, diplomatic ties, and currency sorrounded by two enemies (serbia and the turks) and two neutral countries (romania and greece), until 1913 we never to war against one another so there was no historical animosity liek with the greeks plus we shared an empire until the Mongols invaded the north of the danube
The Grand Duchess Olga was born in 1895, not 1893 (her parents weren't married until 1894) and she died in 1918, killed with her family. Her aunt, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna lived 1882-1960, so no clue where this "1893-1950" comes from.
