Interwar Romania (1919–1939)

Greater Romania began the interwar period with profound reforms. The agrarian reform of 1921 expropriated the great estates and gave land to hundreds of thousands of peasants, changing the social structure. In 1918–1919 universal suffrage for men was introduced, and in 1923 a new Constitution was adopted, approved on 28 March, which guaranteed civil rights and constitutional monarchy. Political life was dominated by the National Liberal Party, led by Ion I.C. Brătianu and then by his brother Vintilă, and by the National Peasants’ Party, led by Iuliu Maniu.

The economy saw progress, but also difficulties. Romania was an agrarian country, with about 78% of the population living in villages, yet the oil industry of the Prahova valley and the metallurgical industry developed rapidly. The country was among the leading oil producers in Europe. The world economic crisis of 1929–1933 struck agriculture hard. Social problems also grew, such as the strike of the railway and oil workers at Grivița in 1933, which the government suppressed. Nevertheless, the period brought modernization: schools, hospitals, roads and fine cities, such as Bucharest, called “Little Paris”.

Romanian culture lived through a golden age. Among the writers were Liviu Rebreanu (“Ion”, 1920), Lucian Blaga, Tudor Arghezi, George Bacovia, Camil Petrescu, Mihail Sadoveanu, Ion Barbu, Mircea Eliade and Mihail Sebastian. Constantin Brâncuși revolutionized modern sculpture, with the “Endless Column” at Târgu Jiu (1938); George Enescu composed “Oedipe” and the “Romanian Rhapsodies”; and Nicolae Iorga and Vasile Pârvan gave a new impetus to historiography. The universities were expanded, and the University of Cluj became a Romanian institution in 1919.

In foreign policy, Romania sought to defend its borders through alliances: the Little Entente (1921) with Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, the alliance with Poland and France, and the Balkan Entente (1934). Nicolae Titulescu, foreign minister and president of the League of Nations, was a champion of collective security. After 1933 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union began to threaten the borders. Domestic politics became radicalized: the Legionary movement (the Iron Guard) appeared, led by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, with a nationalist, antisemitic and violent message, and it committed several political assassinations, including that of Prime Minister I.G. Duca in 1933.

After his return to the country in 1930, King Carol II tried to consolidate his power. In February 1938 he established a royal dictatorship, abolished the political parties and adopted a new Constitution which gave great power to the king. Corneliu Codreanu was arrested and assassinated in November 1938. A year later, in September 1939, the Second World War broke out. Romania initially tried to remain neutral, but the Ribbentrop–Molotov pact of 23 August 1939 placed it before great dangers, foretold by the disappearance of Poland.