Protected: Romanian monarchs visiting the WP cemetery in Val du Pâtre, Alsace

I organised last Sunday (24 June ’12) a thematic architectural tour in Bellu Cemetery, also known as the national pantheon of Romania. We visited the Christian Orthodox section of this huge necropolis, which is in its turn is divided in a civilian part, the largest, and a smaller military one. I found there a headstone marking the grave of an US Army soldier and relief worker from the Great War era: “Edward Newell Ware, Illinois, Pvt. I Cl., Ambulance Service, US Army, American Relief Mission, May 7. 1919″. That is a rare find in Romania as the US Army was not directly involved in war operations on the Romanian front, where the largest number of casualties among allies came from the Russian Imperial Army, followed by the French Army. The British had fewer casualties, especially among the Navy, involved on the Danube operations. In any case, the American soldier interred at…

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Protected: King Ferdinand of Romania driving “powerful type car”

23 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by Diana Mandache in Romanian Royal Family, World War One

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First World War, Great War, istoria regalitatii, King Ferdinand of Romania, Regele Ferdinand, Romanian Royal Family, World War One

Great War memorial on village green with the effigy of King Ferdinand of Romania

23 Monday Aug 2010

Posted by Diana Mandache in Romanian Royal Family, Weekly Picture, World War One

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Balkans, Familia regala, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, istoria regalitatii, King Ferdinand, Primul Razboi mondial, Queen Marie of Romania, Regele Ferdinand, Romanian Royal Family, South-East European Monarchs, WWI

This post is dedicated to the anniversary tomorrow, 24 August, of King Ferdinand of Romania’s birthday (1865 – 1927), the sovereign of the country during the Great War.

The citizens of Zatreni in south west Romania, paid a high price during the Great War, with 233 men killed in action, a huge loss for a village. The memorial on the village green dedicated to the local heroes features a well rendered effigy of King Ferdinand, the supreme commander of the Romanian army, seen in the above photograph. The monument, most amazingly, survived the the communist period, probably because there was no inscription mentioning the sovereign’s name on the monument, which made the local communist authorities to propagate the idea that the bas-relief represented just a Great War era soldier personifying the army. Romania’s entry into the war on the side of the Entente was decided by a special Crown Council on 27 August 1916. DM

King Ferdinand’s Proclamation – 28 August 1916

Romanians! The war which for the last two years has been encircling our frontiers more and more closely has shaken the ancient foundations of Europe to their depths. It has brought the day which has been awaited for centuries by the national conscience, by the founders of the Romanian State, by those who united the principalities in the war of independence, by those responsible for the national renaissance. It is the day of the union of all branches of our nation. Today we are able to complete the task of our forefathers and to establish forever what Michael the Brave was only able to establish for a short moment, namely, a Romanian union on both slopes of the Carpathians. […] In our moral energy and our valour lie the means of giving him back his birthright of a great and free Rumania from the Tisza to the Black Sea, and to prosper in peace in accordance with our customs and our hopes and dreams.

Romanians! Animated by the holy duty imposed upon us, and determined to bear manfully all the sacrifices inseparable from an arduous war, we will march into battle with the irresistible élan of a people firmly confident in its destiny. The glorious fruits of victory shall be our reward. Forward, with the help of God! FERDINAND [Source: Records of the Great War, vol.V, National Alumni, 1923]