Romania Wank

[Zagan]

RomaniaWank
(first edition)​

Notes:
1. This is my first TimeLine.
2. It does not conform with the usual expectations of the AH community.
3. It has attracted a lot of flames.
4. The actual TL starts here.



Hi.
I have never written any alternative history before, though I have written a novel which could be described as secret / future history.
I have read a lot of AH stories, books, discussions, the FAQs here and on other sites, but I have still very much to learn.
My knowlegde of history and geography is quite solid, but I have limited knowledge of the military stuff.
I have read a lot of "Wanks" I liked most of them, although I prefer better believability. And because I have never found a "RomaniaWank", I would like to create one (possibly with help, if available).
The main idea is to get a Romanian State as big and as powerful as logically acceptable.

And now, the questions:
1. Is there any RomaniaWank already written?
2. When would be the best POD? I have thought about a few:
a) Antiquity (Dacian Kingdom) - I do not like it for several reasons, so please forget it.
b) Middle Ages (Michael the Brave?); are ASBs needed?
c) WW1 aftermath; are ASBs needed?
d) WW2 with German victory - cliche so please not.
e) WW2 without a German victory; some powerful ASBs are certainly needed.
f) Between the fall of communism and NATO / UE eastern expansion; ASBs probably necessary.
3. How to get it going?
a) Butterflies - probably not going to help
b) Major difference from OTL, but still (barely) concievable
c) ASBs: I do not like them very much (probably because of their large metallic wings ). I would only accept some "minor" interference which will go unnoticed by the general public / other countries.
d) ASBs: Utterly absurd / fantastic stuff - NO.
4) How much the "wank"? I.e. how large / powerful could it get? The problem is that it should also have some setbacks from time to time. Being victorious / growing all the time is not realistic at all. The final (net) result should be the "wank", not the entire AH.

The biggest issue in my opinion is that Romania is not Germany (for example). First of all, there aren't very many Romanians out there. To make things worse, we had neither political independence / freedom, nor political unity until late in our history. Worst of all, for the most part of our history we were controlled by 2-3 different foreign powers / empires.
It looks like a miracle that we got Greater Romania in 1919 after all!
So, even if we get a RomaniaWank of some kind, it still needs something to happen for it to be stable in time.
Solutions:
1. Somehow (greatly) increase the romanian ethnic population:
a) very high birth rate
b) ethnic assimilation of other peoples (by means of propaganda, economic incentives etc)
c) Aromanians / other Romance speaking peoples in the Balkan Peninsula start to "feel" Romanian.
d) bad things happening to other peoples (I do not like this)
2. Wait for or create the right circumstances (wrong for them) e.g. 1600, 1919 or other AH "right" moment.
3. Anyway, do not get waaaay to big / powerful to completely disturb the European balance of power and get all the Western Powers against us! So, keep it in the Balkan peninsula / Central-Eastern European area / Russia and do not mess with the West / Catholics to much.

Sorry for the long post.
I hope to get some tips / advice / criticism / encouragement.
Thank you for reading. (thank you more if you actually post something useful)

 

[Zagan]

The pre-POD generally unnoticed differencies

Well... I have absoultely no idea how I could present the following in the beginning of the story.
I could perhaps tell these later (for example as a PhD in post POD Romania about what stood behind the incredible succes of the Romanian State). Time will tell. (Any advice is welcome. I am repeating myself, I know.)

Another thing... There are some differencies in the way history is taught in OTL Romania and OTL Hungary, for example. And many things about Romanian history in A.D. 300 - 1200 are so to say, at least fuzzy. This is completely irrelevant to this story, because this is supposed to be the history of the winner anyway.

My knowledge of ancient history is not as good as of modern history, so this will be a little sketchy.


Part 1. The Road to Greater Romania


I. Antiquity

Well... The Dacians.
The Dacians were a little better at fending off invasions, so at least the core of Dacia was somehow safer than in OTL. And the fertile plains of Dacia produced enough food for (almost) everyone, so the population was booming. Many Dacians started to scatter in the nearby lands. Most of them were assimilated though. Anyway, at least in the North and East, the Dacian tribes were spread more than in OTL.
Nobody noticed this. The Dacians did not keep any records and the Greeks and Romans did not really know very well what was the situation in Sarmatia for example. As for the actual demography, of course nobody knew how many people were actually there and they knew even less about the actual ethnic make-up of a mixed population.
The fact is that in most European countries there were no reliable censuses until the 19th century.
This situation in Dacia went on for hundreds of years up to the Roman conquest in A.D. 106.
In Roman Dacia, romanization proceeded quite as in OTL. Somehow the Dacians started to use the Latin language (Latin and Dacian were quite similar perhaps), appropriated Roman customs and way of life. Somehow this radiated northwards and eastwards and the Free Dacians got romanized as well. In the same time, The Thracian tribes south of the Danube were romanized as well.
What do we have now (A.D. 270)? A huge mass of (neo) Latin speaking people, thinking of themselves as being Romans (they were all in fact Roman citizens after the Caracalla edict), thinking Roman, acting Roman and feeling Roman. This is the proto-Romanian people. They range from the Jirinek line in the south to Sarmatia in the north and from the Illiricum in the west to the Black Sea in the east. And there are around 7 milions of them!
Then Emperor Aurelianus retreated the Roman army and administration from Dacia and the proto-Romanians got separated in two halves. The northern "abandoned" half and the southern one still within the Empire's borders.
Daco-Roman continuity in Dacia is taken as a fact and not disputed by (almost) anyone.
Although Dacia was now outside the official borders of the Fatherland, the Roman way of life continued almost undisturbed in Dacia for hundreds of years until the great slavic invasion of the Balkans.
So, between 275 and around 600, the romanized Dacians continued to live as usual (and to breed as usual), to live like Romans (and to call themselves Romans), to trade and mix with the Romans on the other side of the Danube still controlled by the Roman Empire.
Well... not all the time of course. There were still the occasional invasions of the barbarians, but these were neither brutal enough, nor long enough to significantly alter the overall situation.
The Romanians (let's start to call them Romanians, it is simpler that way) learned quickly to just dismantle all infrastructure (not a lot of it anyway) and just hide in the thick forests / majestic Carpathian Mountains out of the harm's way.
The periods between the invasions were never long enough to allow the formation of strong and stable political formations. And the Romanians did not want a state of their own, because they had one: the Roman Empire just across the Danube.
If the invaders moved on, the Romanians simply returned and rebuilt their homes. If some barbarians settled the deserted countryside, the Romanians would eventually always outbreed them, mix with them and finally assimilate them in the ever larger Romanian people. No one cared about genetics back then!

 

[Zagan]

II. The Dark Ages

I know that this is not considered the proper term anymore, but for the Romanians the period 600-1300 was really dark.

Nothing changed until the final part of the 6th century, when the Romanians, both north and (after 610) south of the Danube were dealt a huge blow. A different kind of invader entered their lands. The Slavs.
There were two main differences between the Slavs and the previous invaders. The first is that there numbers were huge compared to all the other invaders and the secons is that having an agricultural society, they settled in the plains for good.
So, all the space inhabited by Romanians was settled, permanently, by a huge number of Slavs, both in Dacia and in the Balkan Peninsula. Thus, almost all Romanians lost almost all contact with the Roman Empire.
And to add insult to injury, some kind of a soft, hidden coup took place at the same time in Constantinopole. Greek replaced Latin as the official language of the Empire. Although still called the same, the Roman Empire turned into the Bizantine (Greek) Empire, alien now to Romanians and of no use to them. Since the Greeks called themselves Romans now, they wanted to differentiate between them and the Romanians, so they took a Slavic word and started to call the Romanians "Vlachs".
Some of the Romanians were displaced by the wave of Slavs and headed south towards Macedonia and Thrace and west towards the Illiricum and Pannonia. The Slavs invaded these areas anyway, although (except Pannonia) in less numbers.
Now, in this huge territory began in earnest a life and death ethnic struggle of assimilation between the Romanians and the Slavs. The Romanians had the advantage of sheer numbers, but the Slavs had the advantage of the political organization. Everywhere started to appear political entities small or large created and run mostly by a Slavic upper class and Slavic leaders. The whole church hierarchy was also controlled by the Slavs and the church language was Slavonic. The official alphabet was also the slavonic one. The Romanians who wanted political or economic power were assimilated into the Slavic elites and also many peasants were slavicized.
It is a miracle that the Romanians managed to survive and even thrive in these conditions.
The Romanians were thus in roughly 4 different situations:
1. Some were able to assimilate the Slavs in their midst and slowly start to create some Romanian proto-states after 1000-1100.
2. Some were caught in Slavic states such as Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia or the Rus. Here the elites were slavicized, but some of the peasantry managed to remain Romanian.
3. Some got scattered in the Byzantine Empire (mostly Thracia, Macedonia, Thessaly and Epirus) where some were subject to hellenization.
4. The rest got as far as Dalmatia or Pannonia where they mixed with the local romanized populations.
As if the Slavs were not enough, in the 10th century the Magyars invaded Pannonia and from there, in the following centuries also western Dacia. The pattern repeated itself. The Romanian elites got magyarized in order to keep their priviliges and some peasants also followed suit.
There is very difficult to determine how many Romanians were there in the different countries in the region. And there is almost impossible to determine the actual ethnic make up of these states. Back then, no historian was interested in the ethnicity of the lower classes. The Romanian historiography claimes that in all Romanian lands, the Romanians made up an absolute majority up until the 18th century national revival, but there are no means to substantiate this claim.

 

[Zagan]

III. The Middle Ages - Early Modern Period

There is not much to say about this period. It is mostly well-known and not disputed.
The fortunes of the Romanians turned worse as they got squashed between their more powerful neighbours - first the Byzantine Empire, the Slavic states, Hungary, Poland, the Tatars and later the Ottoman Empire, The Austrian Empire and the Russian Empire.
In the 18th century it seemed that the Romanians were completely doomed. They had no state of their own (except tiny Wallachia and Moldavia which comprised less than 10 percent of the Romanian population and were under a firm Ottoman yoke) and the Romanian territory was split between 3 of the mightiest empires in Europe.
Their only hope was their still very large population and the rather strange fact that the Romanian National Revival kickstarted a little earlier then the national revival of the other peoples. Maybe helped by the memory of Michael the Brave (who was better remembered than in OTL), the Romanians wherever they lived slowly acknowledged the fact that they were speaking the same language and started to feel as members of the same nation.

 

[Zagan]

IV. The 19th Century

In 1800 the Romanians were in the worst shape ever. It seemed that nothing could be done to get their fate to improve. However, as we know, the weakening of the Ottoman Empire (ongoing) and of the Russian Empire (after the Crimean War) gave the Romanians a breath of fresh air.
In 1859, (small) Moldavia and Wallachia united and in 1862 for the first time in history a state called Romania appeared on the European maps. In 1866 Romania got a prince from a foreign European dynasty, future King Carol I.
In the war of 1877-1878 against the Ottoman Empire, Romania got its Independence and Northern Dobrudja but had to endure two national humiliations: the loss of Southern Bessarabia to Russia and the creation of independent Serbia and autonomous Bulgaria on lands populated mainly by Romanians (at least by Romanian narrative).
This new Romanian Kingdom (1881) was boiling in nationalistic fever with (unofficial) irredentist claims against all its neighbours.
However, Romania was way too weak to act so the government was moderate and tried to keep the nationalists in check.
Trying to overcome its weakness, Romania started an ambitious program of industrialization and militarization under the umbrella of the Central Powers alliance (which included the much hated Austro-Hungarian Empire!)
The enormous agricultural and industrial output created a surplus which made the Romanian State very rich. The Romanian population was booming, both in Romania and abroad. Scientific research was encouraged and progress was visible in all areas.
However, nothing happened. Romania was simply waiting and buying its time. After all, everything was good. Its economy and population were growing quickly, its resouces were plentiful, literacy was growing, the relations with the diaspora were excelent (with the few exceptions of the war-mongers which wanted Romania to liberate them at once)
Romania was going to liberate the Romanians in the neighbouring countries. It just coudn't to that right now, that's all.
So, in 1900, the Romanians were in a much better shape and looking forward to a glorious future.

 

[Zagan]

V. Ready to Strike

In 1907, Romania was like a predator ready to strike at the first sign of weakness. The only question was where.
In the east was the backward but huge Russian Empire, where an unknown number of millions of Romanians were heavily oppressed. Romania was clearly not yet ready to attack it yet.
In the west and north was the Austro-Hungarian Empire home of over 10 million Romanians. However it was allied with Germany and even with Romania itself (not that it mattered very much).
In the southwest Romania had a very short border with Serbia, way to short to possibly squeeze an invasion force through there.
And in the south it was Bulgaria, still an Ottoman vassal (at least in theory)
Neither Bulgaria, nor Serbia even recognized the existence of Romanians on their territories, much less the fact that they were an apreciable part of the population.
There were also many Romanians in northern Greece and in the European part of the Ottoman Empire, but Bulgaria was in the way.
So, for now Romania had still to wait. But the consensus was that the strike will be southwards, for there was not really any other alternative.

And now the POD:
Well, sort of... The 1907 uprising (a Russian plot) never took place. Of course, the Romanian peasantry had a wonderful situation so it had absolutely no incentive to revolt.
And the great Romanian army was growing in numbers and in strength by the day, ready to mobilize and be deployed in no time in any part of the country because of the modern and extended railroad and road network.

Next year, when the Bosnian crisis erupted, Romania was more than prepared. Only one hour after the Bulgarian Independence was proclaimed, the Romanian army crossed the Danube and the Dobrudjan border. The first Balkan War just started and nothing will be the same ever again. Romania was finally meeting its destiny!

The introduction is now over.
The real stuff will begin soon.

 

[Zagan]

VI. The Romanian People in 1907

In 1907, Romania was small (less than 10% of Romanians lived in Romania), quite rich (good economy, lots of natural resources including oil, decent GDP), had a large, educated, hard-working population (14 million inhabitants, almost all of them ethnic Romanians) and a large military (at least 1 million soldiers, large cavalry, good weapons and artilery, a decent navy).
And, more important, Romania was, for the time being at least, safe. It was allied with the Central Powers - Germania, Austria-Hungary and Italy and no one wanted anything from it, so it was in no immediate danger of being invaded.
So, the population of Romania should have been happy. After all they were rich and safe! But there was a problem which did not let them to enjoy their pleasant life. It was the fate of their fellow Romanians suffering in the neighbouring countries.

Russia
The Romanians in Russia (mainly Bessarabia and Little Russia) were suffering of abject poverty, illiteracy, lack of schools, churches (in their native language - everything was in Russian), modern infrastructure, in fact lack of everything taken for granted in a normal 20th century country.
Bessarabia was flooded with Russians who occupied all important positions in the society pushing the Romanian majority to the periphery of social life in less then a century since the 1812 theft of Bessarabia. The situation for the Romanians in Little Russia was less known, but certainly even worse.
All Romanian society wanted Bessarabia back, but the Romanian State did not push the issue because it did not want to anger the Russian Empire. The nationalists demanded huge Russian territories up to the Don river.

Austria-Hungary
Allied with Romania and a more European, liberal and progresist state, Austria-Hungary was a better place for Romanians than any other country (except Romania of course).
The Romanians were poorer than the Germans and Hungarians and had no political power, but were officially recognized as a nation, appeared in censuses (albeit their numbers greatly underestimated) and were allowed to have a national life with newspapers, schools and churches in Romanian. They had very good relations with Romania and a political party - Romanian National Party (Partidul Național Român). It did mainly campain for an end to the magyarization program and asked for equality between the Romanians and Magyars. Romania cautiously supported them. The nationalists wanted no less then the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the annexation of all Transleithania, Bukowina, Galicia and even Lodomeria and Dalmatia to Romania.

Serbia
Even though they were anywhere between 30 and 60 percent of the population, the Serbian state did not acknowledge their existence at all and the Romanian language was forbidden.
Romania was diplomatically fighting for their official recognition and enfranchisement. The nationalists openly called for the outright annexation of all Serbia.

Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia
De jure autonomous and distinct parts of the Ottoman Empire, de facto an united, quasi-independent country.
The Romanians (probably a plurality) were officially called Vlachs, counted as only 7% of the population and heavily oppressed.
Romania had no diplomatic relations with Bulgaria, considering it as an Ottoman province. Because of that, Romania insisted in protesting and campaining for the Romanian cause in Bulgaria with the Ottoman government, which was nevertheless powerless to act in Bulgaria.
The nationalists pressed for an immediate invasion and annexation of all Bulgaria.

Greece
The Romanians in Greece had no official recognition, were called Vlachs and considered to be some kind of Greeks. Some of them were content with the situation while others were agitating for more rights. Since Romania had no common border with Greece, it could do very little for them. The nationalists wanted to annex some northern Greek territories (especially Thessaly).

Ottoman Empire
Since 1905, the Romanians had official recognition as a millet (people). They had schools, churches and newspapers, all payed by the Romanian government. However, the poverty was still the most serious issue.
Romania pressed the Ottomans to recognize Romania as the official protector of all the Romanians in the Empire, position still denied. The Nationalists wanted to annex all the European part of the Ottoman Empire, including its capital, Constantinopole.

Other countries
There were small pockets of Romanians in Austria proper, German Silezia, Congress Poland and North-Eastern Italy. Romania wanted decent minority rights for these people. The nationalists were less concerned.

 

[Zagan]

VII. The First Balkan War

On 5 October 1908, Bulgaria (which already controlled / was united with Eastern Rumelia) proclaimed its independence from the Ottoman Empire.
Bulgaria was, de facto, already united and independent, although not de jure. Most European countries treated Bulgaria as being independent. Not Romania, though. Even more than the Sovereign Power (Ottoman Empire), Romania had always insisted to consider Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia as two separate autonomous Ottoman provinces.

Less than an hour after news of the proclamation of independence reached Romania, the Romanian Army started to cross the border without any preparation or declaration of war or anything.
The Romanian government gathered quickly and issued a proclamation stating that two Ottoman provinces had rebelled and Romania is sending peace-keeping forces in order to end the rebellion and help mantain the integrity of the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottomans protested both the Bulgarian declaration of independence and the Romanian invasion, but did not even mobilize their army.
Austria-Hungary deplored the unilateral Romanian intervention and called for negotiations. Russia protested energically and threatened with a mobilization. Serbia offered to help the Bugarians for fear it could be next and asked for Russian help.
Bulgaria was in a very precarious position. Almost all its army was deployed in the south, facing a possible Ottoman invasion with the northern border left almost undefended. Now it was faced with the daunting task of quickly moving its army northwards, over the Balkan Mountains in order to contain the Romanians.
Bulgaria asked almost everyone for help: Serbia, Russia and the Central Powers. But time was running out.

After 24 hours, the Romanians have advanced to the Balkan Mountains, cutting the Bulgarian army almost in two. Vidin, Rusciuc (Ruse), Silistra, Turtucaia were occupied, Nicopol was bypassed and Tarnovo besieged. A Romanian army was heading to Burgas, trying to cut off Southern Dobrudja and another was going straight for the capital, Sofia.
In fact, most of the Bulgarian army was still south of the Balkan Mountains unable to do anything to save the country.

While Serbia was calling for mobilization, Austria-Hungary anounced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, deepening the crisis. Now Serbia forgot about the Bulgarians, more important being the Bosnian issue.
An European war looked more and more probable with Austria-Hungary, Russia, Germany and other European Powers being quickly trapped into the quarrel.
Anyway, for Bulgaria it was too late. After only 3 days of fighting the Romanian army had overwhelmed the northern part of the country, reaching the Ottoman border at the Black Sea in the east and capturing the Bulgarian capital city in the west.
The Bulgarian government capitulated, the army was disbanded and all Bulgarian territory swiftly occupied by the Romanian forces in the following days. The war was over in a week.

The Romanian army's performance was mediocre, but the Bulgarian army was badly misplaced and had very low mobility.
While the Romanian people was enthusiastic because of the quick and decisive victory, the government and the army was rather cautious and worried by the army's performance and the reactions of the Great Powers.
In order to appease the Great Powers and especially Russia, it was decided much to the consternation of the Romanian public not to annex Bulgaria. Romania continued instead with the legal fiction of Bulgaria being an Ottoman territory and the Romanian army being there only to help mantain Ottoman suverainity over the rebelled provinces.

Now, the "facts on the ground" meant that a general war has been avoided and diplomacy would kick in.
The Great Powers (Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and the Ottoman Empire) gathered again in Berlin in order to work out the problem. Romanian and Bulgarian representatives were neither invited not allowed to take part in the negotiations.
While the diplomatic effort was trailing in Berlin, the Romanians proceded with completely dismantling all traces of a Bugarian state. The local Romanians were suddenly in power and with the help of their brethren were quickly taking over the country under the cynical display of the Ottoman flag.

The Great Powers eventually reached a compromise in February 1909, which seemed very harsh towards Romania and very much angered the Romanian public.
The Berlin treaty was revised, the main points being:
1. The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary was officialy recognized.
2. The Sandjak was fully reintegrated into the Ottoman Empire.
3. Serbia, Montenegro and Greece got nothing. The union of Crete with Greece was not recognised, but nothing was done to anull it de facto.
4. The independence and unity of Bulgaria was recognized.
5. Romania was considered guilty of an unprovoked invasion without a declaration of war and plausible motive.
6. Romania had to evacuate Bulgaria in one month.
7. Romania had to pay reparations to Bulgaria.

 

[Zagan]

VIII. New Treaty of Berlin Aftermath

So, what happened?
- Romania lost 800 men in combat and millions of Lei in the logistics of the invasion.
- It had damaged its status in Europe, being considered something of a rogue country, dangerous and aggressive.
- It lost the support of its allies, probably scared by its expansionism.
- It strenghened the resolve of Russia and the Russo-Serbian friendship.
- It got an independent internationally recognized Bulgaria at its southern border and lost contact with its people living in the Ottoman Empire with which it now lacked a border.
- It was humiliated beyond any expectations
- It was pressed by all Great Powers, including its so called allies to quickly withdraw its army and provisional administration from Bulgaria
- It had to pay 15 millions Lei in gold to Bulgaria (a lot of money)
- The nationalists started country-wide strikes and demonstrations against the treaty and all kinds of disturbances.

Now, what options really had the Romanian government?
Actually, none. It had to comply, or else all its neighbours would invade and everything will be lost, maybe forever.
So, Romania duly accepted the treaty, protesting lightly that it was imposed under duress.

And then all hell broke loose. The nationalists attacked government buildings and occupied some, manning barricades in many cities. The government collapsed. The Great Powers warned of a possible intervention in order to calm down the anarhists. The aging King called the army to restore law and order in Romania.

The army obliged. Martial law was proclaimed and the nationalists were mopped from the streets and goverment property. After about a week calm reigned all over Romania. Many leaders of the uprising ended up in jail, only to be freed a few month later. Romania reafirmed its compliance to the treaty and quickly retreated all its army and fledgeling administration from Bulgarian territory. It was over. Or was it?

The fact was that this new independent state called Bulgaria was actually another Romanian state. The Romanian plurality had been swept into power and the ethnic Bulgarians had no way to reverse the situation.
The Bulgarian Knyaz Alexander abdicated and fled to Austria-Hungary. A regency was quickly put in place with the task of finding a new Knyaz from an European dynasty. It did not do its job, though. Maybe they did not try too hard...
The Regency, the government, the army, all the central and local administration of Bulgaria was comprised almost exclusively of the formerly oppressed ethnic Romanians. The ethnic Turks continued their flight across the border with the Ottoman Empire finding the life under Romanians rule as unsavory as under the former Bulgarian rule. Romania quickly paid all the reparations, providing thus much needed money for the now Romanian Bulgaria.

The next census yielded the following results: 58% Romanians, 28% Bulgarians, 12% Turks, 2% Others. It was really the end for any hope of an actual Bulgarian State to exist ever again.
But things got worse for the Romanians in Serbia, Greece, the Ottoman Empire and Hungary. The pace of assimilation increased steeply. And Romania could do nothing... for now.

In the next 4 years, Romania further improved its military capabilities and helped Bulgaria do the same, providing all kinds of aid in order to strengthen Bulgarian economy and raise the living conditions of the dominant Romanian majority. Slowly the Romanian and Bulgarian economies got interconnected and the border became nothing more than a theoretical line on the map. Of course, the armies stayed separated, in order to mollify the Great Powers.

 

[Zagan]

IX. The Second Balkan War
(OTL First Balkan War)

[As in OTL]
In 1912, the geopolitical situation in Europe was favorable to the Christian Powers in the Balkan Peninsula in their centuries-old struggle against the Ottomans. The Great European Powers were theoretically commited to the teritorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire, but unwilling or unable to act.
So, the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece plus a lot of Romanian "volunteers" in the Bulgarian army) attacked the Ottoman Empire and quickly (more quickly than in OTL) overwhelmed the thinly spread Ottoman army. Romania was officially neutral.

The Treaty of London ended the war in March 1913, ceding almost all Ottoman European territory (with the exception of a small sliver of land at the Marmara Sea) to the Balkan League, without properly defining the borders between its members. A tiny Albanian state was created much to the horror and consternation of the Serbs, Montenegrins and Greeks which had all plans for its territory.

The borders between the League's members were mostly defined by the military situation and based on status-quo, which pleased no one.
Bulgaria got all Thrace (except the small still Ottoman part) and North-Eastern Macedonia with Salonica and Mount Athos.
Montenegro became part of Serbia by an act of the Parliament sanctioned by a dubious referendum and got the Sandjak, Kosovo and North-Western Macedonia.
Greece got the rest of Macedonia and most of Epirus.

 

[Zagan]

X. The Third Balkan War
(OTL Second Balkan War)

The seeds of the new war were already planted before the peace treaty was even signed.
Greece wanted Salonica, Athos and Northern Epirus.
Serbia wanted Northern Albania, but since it did not get it, refused to honor its word and cede Vardar Macedonia to Bulgaria.
Bulgaria (the Romanians) wanted to get all (or as many as feasable) Romanian Lands.
Turkey wanted some parts of Eastern Thrace back.

Bulgaria pressed Serbia to evacuate Vardar Macedonia, but to no avail.
So, after Serbian refusal, Bulgaria invaded Vardar Macedonia, attacking Serbian forces. As per a secret alliance, Greece and then the Ottoman Empire joined the war against Bulgaria.
Finally, Romania entered the war as well in order to help Bulgaria avoid certain defeat. The mighty Romanian army crossed the Danube again, merged with the Bulgarian army and striked against Greece.
It swept through the Aegean Macedonia, passed the Pindus Mountains and occupied Epirus getting to the Ionian Sea. The Serbian and Greek forces were thus separated.

In the same time, the Romanians in Serbia finnaly revolted, setting the country ablaze. The Serbian army was caught between the advance of the Romanian army and the Romanian National Revolution behind the front lines. The Romanian conscripts rebelled as well and the Serbian army started to disintegrate from within.

The Ottomans wisely retreated behind the border and called for an armistice. As the Serbian state and army collapsed, the Romanians pushed further south in Greece and invaded Albania which collapsed completely after one month of independence. When Larissa fell, Greece sued for peace. Romania ignored the offer, continued its opperations in Thessaly and pressed south towards Attica.
Only when Russia mobilized its armies in Bessarabia, aware of the danger, Romania agreed to make peace with Greece and the Ottomans.

The peace was concluded in Bucharest (Pacea de la București).
- Romania got nothing.
- Bulgaria got nothing.
- An independent Macedonia was created from the Bulgarian, Serbian and Greek parts, including Southern Epirus (Greek) and Northern Epirus (Albanian).
- Serbia (and Montenegro) lost its part of Macedonia, but got a part of Northern Albania.
- Italy got Corfu from Greece, Valona from Albania and official recognition of its possesions of Libya and the Dodecanez.
- Austria-Hungary got a protectorate over the rest of Albania. The Romanian nation in Albania got official status.
- The Ottoman Empire mantained its border on the Enez-Kıyıköy line in Eastern Thrace.
- Greece lost Corfu, all newly conquered territories and Thessaly was made autonomous for the local Romanian population.
- Britain got official recognition for its possesion of Cyprus.
- Russia got nothing but enbitterment.
- Union with Bulgaria was proposed but rejected by the Great Powers.

Macedonia was actually the third Romanian State.
And, as the Treaty was signed, the victorious Romanian Revolution in Serbia seamlessly transformed Serbia into the fourth Romanian State. The next year's census looked like this: 44% Romanians, 32% Serbs, 16% Albanians, 8% Others.
In Macedonia, the census told the following: 64% Romanians, 11% Bulgarians, 11% Greeks, 9% Albanians, 5% Others.
The 4 Romanian States signed an alliance as Romania finally withdrew from the Central Powers. Their economies and military forces were fused in practice if not yet in theory.

 

[Zagan]

XI. Before the Great War

The Romanians basically got what they wanted in the Balkans. Now they tried to keep it that way. It looked as a tough challenge, because stormy clouds were converging upon them. The best way was too keep a low profile, anger no one anymore and try to play nice. Because they weren't too strong yet to face either the Central Powers or Russia.
The greatest problem to the Romanian countries right now were the Romanians themselves, the nationalists. Emboldened by the latest succeses they demanded even more, failing to understand that it was simply not possible.
And the worst situation was not in old Romania, where the political situation was stable, but in the new Romanias. Here there was only one Romanian party, the National one. So, in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia, the ruling party was the Romanian National Party. And they also lacked the moderating influence of the King, their Regencies being totally controlled by the nationalists as well.
The patience of the nationalists was running low. They wanted to unite the countries NOW!

Austria-Hungary and Russia were nervous. Something had to be done.
on 30 September 1914, the army carried simultaneously 3 coups d'etat, in Sofia, Belgrad and Salonica. The governments and Regencies were deposed, the Parliaments were disolved and pure military rule was strictly enforced. The nationalists were more or less silenced and the ethnic minorities allowed basic rights.

In the same time, the 4 economies were further unified and enocomic growth started to be felt even in the remotest corners of the former Ottoman provinces.
The 4 armies were continously strengthened and new technologies were incorporated, like aviation, armored vechicles and even a few tanks.
In 1915, the 4 Romanian states had more population, more internal cohesivity, a comparable economy and a much stronger combined army than Austria-Hungary. Only if it were not allied with Germany!

Anyway, this cat and mouse game could not go on forever. Austria-Hungary could not simply wait to be overwhelmed by the evergrowing power of the Romanians. They had to act as soon as possible or later prepare to surrender large parts of their Empire.
The Russians were not so stressed. Their Empire was much larger and powerful than Austria-Hungary and the Romanians there were completely invisible. Poor, uneducated and afraid of the political police Ohrana they did not even dare to speak Romanian in public, much less organize politically in any meaningful way.
And Russia wanted nothing from Romania. It wanted instead to "liberate" the Little Russians and Ruthenians from Austria-Hungary. The fate of the Bulgarians and Serbians was quickly forgotten and Russia started to side with the Romanians.
In the same time, the Romanian States started to get friendly with France and Great Britain, the other two powers of the Entente. The Romanians did not actually enter the Entente in order not to further antagonize the Central Powers. But it was to late. In the summer of 1916 Austria-Hungary decided that it had enough and must do something about the Romanian menace.

 

[Zagan]

XII. The Start of the Great War

On 8 August 1916, Austria-Hungary handed an ultimatum to Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Macedonia.
It had 18 points:
1. To limit the ground forces to 100.000 soldiers each.
2. To limit the navy in the Black and Aegean Seas.
3. To disband the navy from the Ionian and Adriatic Seas.
4. To disband the aviation.
5. To disband the motorized armoured units including the tanks.
6. To allow Austrian-Hungarian military observers to oversee the reductions.
7. To allow free passage on the Danube for all Austrian-Hungarian and German ships, with no taxation.
8. Several economic and mining concessions.
9. To stop supporting the Romanians from the Empire in any way.
10. To solemnly declare that the Romanians in Austria-Hungary are a minority and should not take control of Transleithania, Bukowina, Galicia, Lodomeria, Bosnia, Croatia, Dalmatia, Albania or any other territories.
11. To solemnly declare that their countries have absolutely no territorial ambitions towards Austria-Hungary.
12. Serbia to cede a small territory at the Adriatic coast in order for Austria-Hungary to get a land connection with Albania.
13. To allow Austria-Hungary to annex Albania.
14. To renounce all national rights for the Romanians in Albania.
15. To keep the 4 states separate and to never attempt to unite them.
16. To put foreign princes on the thrones of Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia.
17. To never attempt to join the Entente.
18. To allow national and political rights to Bulgarians, Serbs, Albanians, Greeks, Turks and Jews.

The Romanian States tried to stall at first, with no avail.
Austria-Hungary declared general mobilization and threatened war if the ultimatum was not fully accepted in 3 days.
The Romanian States ordered general mobilization and asked the Entente for help. The answer was evasive.

On 10 August 1916, in Bucharest (București), Sofia (renamed Serdica - the old Roman name), Belgrad (renamed Alba Danubiana) and Salonica (renamed Săruna - its name in the local Romanian dialect, Aromanian) was simultaneously issued a proclamation stating that:
1. The Romanian people from Romania proper (renamed Dacia), Romanian Bulgaria (renamed Thracia), Romanian Macedonia and Romanian Serbia (renamed Moesia) for ever unite their countries in one united and undividable country, Romania.
2. The shameful Habsburgic ultimatum is rejected in its whole.
3. Romania breaks all diplomatic relations with Austria and Hungary and declares war to both Austria and Hungary.
4. Romania calls for the complete dissolution of the Habsburgic Empire and the liberation of all its peoples.
5. Romania calls for all the Romanians in the Empire to leave its armed forces and to revolt against the Empire.
6. Romania calls for Romanian Hungary (Western Dacia and Pannonia) to be reunited with Romania.
7. Romania calls for Austria to cede Bukowina, Bosnia, Dalmatia and Albania to Romania.
8. Romania suggests that Germany annex the remainder of Austria since it is a majority German Land. German unity should be finally achieved this way.
9. Romania suggests that Lodomeria be made into a German Protectorate.
10. Italy should annex the Austrian Littoral with Trieste. Italy should negotiate with Romania the incorporation of some Italian Adriatic cities.
11. Romania declares itself part of the Entente.
12. Romania calls for all European Powers to accept this proclamation.

No less than 5 days passed until the Austrian and Hungarian armies crossed the border into Romania. The war has started.

 

[Zagan]

XIII. The Romanian Invasion

The Austrian and Hungarian armies were expelled from Romania in 2 days and the Romanian armies started their unrelented advance into Hungary and Austria.

The North Army invaded Bucovina and quickly overwhelmed the extremely poor Austrian defence there. By 21 August all Bucovina was in Romanian hands. The Romanians did not advance any further, but stopped at the Tscheremusch (Ceremuș) and trenched there. The idea was to not antagonize the Russians which wanted Galicia for themselves.

The Center Army invaded Transylvania and thrusted westwards as quick as possible. The Great Romanian Uprising helped this a lot.
On 25 August Klausenburg (Cluj) the capital of Transylvania was secured.
On 29 August the front line stabilized on the Western Carpathians. The whole of Transylvania was Romanian, but the offensive stalled and no further progress could be made.

The West Army invaded Bosnia and conquered the whole province by 24 August with the help of the Great Romanian Uprising there. By 28 August Slavonia, Croatia and Dalmatia were invaded. In Slavonia and Croatia, the Romanians met unusual resistence and were forced to retreat in Bosnia.
Dalmatia was quickly pierced and the Romanians reached the Adriatic in several places, izolating several pockets of Austrian army.

The South Army conquered Albania in 4 days and then headed north through Romanian territory in order to help the West Army with its offensive.

The East Army did not see any combat yet, since it manned the eastern borders with Russia and the Ottomans.

But the European Powers began to be tangled one by one into the ever growing conflict.
On 20 August, Germany declared war and send its large and powerful army into Austria-Hungary to help their allies fight the Romanians.
On 18 September, the Ottoman Empire invaded Romanian Thrace from the south-east.
On 30 September Russia entered the war invading Austrian Galicia and German East Prussia.
On 4 and 6 October, France and Britain entered the war to help their ally Russia and attacked Germany.
And that's how what at first looked like another Balkan War turned into the Great War.
However, the Entente joining the war was too late for the Romanian offensive. By then, the German forces, superior in both quantity and quality have first pushed the Romanians out of Transylvania and Bosnia and by 6 October managed to invade the Romanian soil.

 

[Zagan]

XIV. The Romanians Misfortunes

On 1 September, when the Romanian army clashed with the vastly superior German army, it was deep into enemy territory, overextended, with very long supply lines and very thinly spread across a very large area. It simply had no chance of keeping its positions.
By September 18, when the Ottoman invasion started, the Romanians have already been pushed back into Romania by the Germans. The concurrent Ottoman invasion only made things worse.

The Russians couldn't help much, being badly beaten by the Germans in East Prussia. Soon the Russian offensive turned into a hasty retreat. What was even worse from the Romanian point of view was that they were not able to occupy Galicia either and Romania's far-northern flank was exposed as well.

The Romanian Army Command quickly realized that the front line is too long and impossible to mantain.
They wanted to retreat to the north of the Danube into the old Romania, mainly because the oil fields were there, but also because no vengeful ethnic minorities meant less risque of sabotage.
However, the King (Ferdinand I was King of the Romanians from 1914) and the Government did not want to evacuate three quarters of the country for various reasons. Their main reason was emotional-political. They did not want so many Romanians from the new provinces to feel abandoned by their new State.
So, despite their better judgement, the military was forced to attempt the defence of the whole country. This was, obviously, impossible.

On 16 September the last Romanian soldiers in Dalmatia capitulated.
On 18 September the Ottomans opened a new front in Thrace.
On 19 September the Adriatic and Ionian fleets were almost completely destroyed by the Austrian navy.
On 20 September the Germans landed in Albania.
On 22 September a huge German force invaded Serbia and advanced towards Macedonia. There was a real danger of Romania getting cut in two if the German army reached Salonica.
On 25 September, the Romanians started an organized retreat from Albania, Epirus and Macedonia towards Bulgaria.
On 28 September the Ottomans captured Adrianopole and pushed on the Aegean Coast in order to make junction with the Germans which were getting near Salonica.
The 30 September Russian entry into the war bought the Romanians at least a few days of respiro.
On 3 October, the Aegean fleet headed for the Greek neutral ports and was interned there.
The entry into the war of Britain and France did very little to help the Romanians since they were very far away and unable to intervene directly. At least the pressure was relieved a little since the Germans had to commit more troups on the Western Front now.
On 19 October the Germans and the Ottomans met near Salonica and by 30 October all Romanian territory south of the Balkan Mountains was in the hands of the Central Powers.
The front stabilized on the mountains: The Carpathians in the north and the Balkans in the south. Both the Germans and the Romanians were exhausted and the war effort turned into trench warfare in horrendous circumstances - montanous terrain and frosty winter weather with an unusually high amount of snow.

 

[Zagan]

XV. Fortress Romania

The next 2 years were very hard for the Romanians, both in the free Romanian territory and in the occupied regions. All kinds of hardships inherent to wars plagued the Romanians: curfews, disease, food rations, aerial bombardments, hospitals overwhelmed with thousands of injured soldiers, the loss of more than half of the country to the enemy, dispair.
But Romania was not beaten and stood firm against its formidable opponents.

One problem was that the front line was still too long. After much thought, the Russian army was invited in Moldavia to keep the Eastern Carpathians Front. After the Russian Revolution it will be realized what a horrible mistake it was to allow the Russians in the country.

In France the front was stable and little intensity warfare was the norm.
In Russia however, the war was raging with full intensity.
The Italian entry in the war in June 1917 at the Entente side did little to change the overall balance. The Italian offensive bogged down in the Alps.
The Great Romanian Uprising in Austria-Hungary had been brutally suppressed and many Romanians lost their lifes in its aftermath.
The British captured the German colonies and won a few battles against the Ottomans but overall little progress was made by either side.

It appeared that Russia was slowly losing ground, but no immediate German breakthrough was possible. However the Russian State and Army were crumbling from the inside. If the overall situation in Romania was bad, in Russia it was abbysimal. Nothing could prevent anymore the imposion of the Russian State and the complete German victory in the east.

It March 1919, the Russian Emperor was forced to abdicate and the Russian Empire became the Russian Republic. The Russian war effort was however less and less efficient. The Republic was never stable and in December, the Communist Revolution plunged Russia into full fledged civil war and destroyed it almost completely.
The Eastern Front collapsed completely and the Germans captured Poland, the Baltics, White Russia, Little Russia, New Russia, Crimea, Bessarabia and Romanian Moldavia (since it was also guarded by the Russian army, now in disarray; the Romanian army could not take over quick enough to avoid it).
Finland got its independence right away and conquered Russian Karelia as well. Finally, the Germans captured Russia's capital Petersburg and the communist government moved to Moskow. The Russian civil war continued to rage in the rest of the former Empire.

Romania was now entombed in German hold territory, completely cut off from the outside world.
In February 1920, the Central Powers began a collosal offensive against Fortress Romania. The Romanians defended themselves with heroism and scored a few sensational victories against the aggresors.
But, by April it became clear that the army can not hold for much longer. On 5 May 1920, Romania asked for an armistice and the war paused...

In June, the Germans started to press the Romanians to accept a peace treaty and officially exit the war effort on the Entente side. The peace conditions were incomprehensibly harsh. Romania would be dismanted and a lot of territories would be lost. The Romanian side stalled the negotiations for as long as possible. However, by August the German's patience started to erode. Romania get another ultimatum: abide all the drastic conditions and sign the peace by 31 August or the Central Powers will end the armistice and attack Romania again in force.

But things were going to change.
In April, the Americans entered the war on the side of the Entente.
By May fresh American troops brought much needed relief on the Western Front.
In the summer, the Ottoman Empire was slowly losing the war.
By August the whole Ottoman army was collapsing and on 27 August it capitulated.
The British and French navies sailed in the Bosphorus and occupied Constantinopole, taking the Sultan into custody. For the Ottomans, the war was over.
On 28 August Greece declared war to the Central Powers.
On 30 August a new front was opened as the Greek army helped by Italian, French and British expeditionary corps attacked the German troops in the southern part of Romania.

In these conditions, Romania declined to sign the peace treaty and the war with Germany and Austria-Hungary restarted on 1 September 1920.

 

[Zagan]

XVI. The End of the Great War

On 3 September, the Germans broke the Romanian defenses on the Siret River and poured into the Baragan Steppe. Bucharest was evacuated, the King and Government of Romania moving to the temporar capital of Tarnava south of the Danube.
On 16 September Bucharest fell to the Germans.
By 2 October, no Romanian soldier faught north of the Danube. Romanian held land was now limited to the thin area between the Balkan Mountains and the Danube, including Dobrudja.
The Germans also kept pushing from the west and on 9 October captured Sofia. That would be their last victory in Romania.

On 11 October, the Entente armies pushing north from Thrace got to the Balkan Mountains and linked with the Romanian Fortress.
It was about the time. The local population, augmented with countless refugies was starving. And the September loss of the oil fields meant that the oil reserves could not have lasted for much long.
Now food, equipment, medicine, ammunition and oil from the Entente started to pour into Romania.

Total disaster has been narrowly avoided.
Now was the time for the Romanian Reconquista.
Time to strike again northwards, eastwards, westwards, until all Romanians will be free from oppression, united into a Gigantic Romania.

On 24 October 1920, the army and central government of Austria-Hungary capitulated.
On 27 October Republics were proclaimed in Vienna and Budapest and the Dual Monarchy was separated in its two halves.
On 28 October the Republic of German-Austria joined the German Empire.
On 29 October the Checzs proclaimed their independence in Prague. They were promptly crushed by the Germans.
On 30 October the Slovens and Croats proclaimed their independence in Laibach and Agram.
On 31 October the Italian army already in Istria started to advance in Dalmatia, Slovenia and Croatia. In the north, it stopped at the Alps.

By 1 November all of Romania was free from enemy forces.
On 3 November the Romanian and Italian armed forces met in Albania, Montenegro, Herzegovina and Dalmatia.
On 5 November the Romanians engaged the Hungarian army for a second time on Hungarian soil. The Romanian-Hungarian was has just started, even before the Great War was completely over.

 

[Zagan]

XVII. War with Hungary

The Entente was not happy with the Romanian plans for annexing the whole of Hungary. They pressured the Hungarian government to evacuate all territory east of the River Tissa to be occupied and annexed by Romania. In return, the Entente guaranteed the safety of the rump Hungarian Republic.
By 10 November the Romanian army was guarding the new Tissa border and was not going to stop there. Romania was no part of the Entente-Hungary arrangements and was not going to abide by them.

On 16 November the Romanians were crossing Tissa heading straight for Budapest. The Entente Powers protested but could not afford to attack their ally for the sake of Hungary while the war with Germany was still going on.
On 26 November Budapest fell to the Romanians. The next day there was no Hungarian soldier fighting east of the Middle Danube any more.
On 29 November the Romanian army got to the Balaton Lake.
On 30 November Gyor fell and Hungary finally succumbed to Romania without any formal capitulation.
By 3 December all of Hungary, Slavonia and most of Croatia were in Romanian hands.

Romania did not annex any part of Hungary, because it wanted all of it.
Annexing Greater Transylvania for example would have produced a rump Hungary with a very low Romanian population, exactly what the Entente wanted. The separation of Croatia-Slavonia from Hungary was not recognized as well in order to annex those territories together with Hungary.
So, Romania went on in Hungary with the same proven to work procedure as in Bulgaria and Serbia. The Romanian plurality (was it really a plurality?) was emboldened and put into power with the mission to destroy the Hungarian State from within.

And a new census, of course.
The Hungarian census: 30% Hungarians, 23% Romanians, 13% Slovaks, 19% Croats, 14% Germans, 1% Others.
The Romanian census: 20% Hungarians, 37% Romanians, 9% Slovaks, 16% Croats, 16% Germans, 2% Others.
What to think of all these numbers?

Only now was Romania ready to fight the Germans again. This time in Russia.

 

[Zagan]

XVIII. Looking at the Neighbours

Having settled the Hungarian issue, the Romanian army was free to look for pray in other directions.

In the south there was its ally Greece, so it was impossible to do anything there. After all, they retreated quickly after liberating some Romanian land alongside the senior Entente members.

In the south-east was the corpse of the Ottoman Empire. However Constantinopole and the Straits were guarded by the French and British. So, nothing to do there as well.

In the south-west there were the Italians occupying parts of Albania, Dalmatia, Croatia and all of Slovenia. They had already evacuated Montenegro of course, since it was Romanian land. War with Entente member Italy was unimaginable, but the border must be agreed on somehow. Diplomacy there.

In the west was German-Austria self declared member of the German Empire but defeated and having an armistice with the Entente. Just like Hungary... First of all, it was not advisable to irritate the Entente again. And second, there was no need to invade German-Austria. There were no Romanians there and in the future it will be nicer to have a friendly German Empire as a neighbour instead of an irredentist vengeful one.

In the north there was this new Polish State sandwiched between Germany and Russia. Better have them as friends. Very few Romanians there as well.

In the east there was the Black Sea, but in the north-east?
Well in the north-east there was nothing. It used to be the Russian Empire there. But there is no Russian Empire any more. Just some kind of a freak state - communist Russia, far, far away.
On the other shore of the Prut River there was a huge abbyss streching on for hundreds or even thousands of kilometers with no stable political entity claiming it, where dozens of small groups fought each other and the German army incessantly. Communists, anarhists, socialists, monarhists, Russians, Ukrainians (what was this nation any way?!), Ruthenes, Little Russians, Tatars, Cossacks, Germans and Romanians. Lots of Romanians.

So, without any doubt, the way to go was to the north-east, deep into Russia.

But first of all, the Poles need a little help.
With Bucovina already in Romanian hands, the Romanian army pushed north, occupied Pokutia and pushed into Galicia destroying the Ruthenian (West-Ukrainian) army and linking with Poland on 12 December.

With that problem solved, the Romanian army finally crossed the Prut River and liberated Bessarabia on 16 December.
With Bucovina, Pokutia and Bessarabia annexed to Romania, finally, after hundreds of years, all the Moldavian lands of Stephen the Great (Ștefan cel Mare) were again under Romanian rule.

Transnistria (the territory between Dnester and Southern Bug) was quickly occupied by 20 December with the help of the dense Romanian population found there.

And on 23 December 1920 the Romanian army crossed the Southern Bug venturing deep into Russia.
At the same time, the German war machine was finally reaching its exhaustion point and the war on the Western Front was quickly approaching its end.

Romania had to act quickly. After all, this Russian adventure was supposed to happen because of the need to engage the enemy, the German army, wherever it may be. Not because of Romanian expansionist policy, right?
If the war was over the Entente might get strange ideas, like the "teritorial integrity of Russia" or the "creation of an independent Ukrainian State" or whatever!
That was the reason why Romania was in such a hurry and just before Christmas, after 4 and a half years of war, horrific death and destruction, sent its war-hardened army into the Russian abbyss, into the unknown. For yet another war!

 

[Zagan]

XIX. Peace in the West

In December 1920, Germany was effectively lost. It was clear to almost everyone with a clear head that the war effort was not sustainable anymore and peace has to be made with the Entente.
There were however, some major obstacles:
1. The Kaiser who was not considered a reliable partner for dialog and according to the Entente "had to go";
2. Most of the army, undefeated on either the Western or the Eastern Fronts. (the only serios setback of Germany had been in Romania)
3. Some part of the civilian population which considered starving better than defeat.

The German government took care of the first two:
First, the most nationalistic generals were sent to the Eastern Front, deep within Russia to fight the communists.
Then, on 27 December the Kaiser was forced to abdicate and leave for neutral Netherlands. The German Empire became a (nominally) democratic republic, although still called officially the German Realm (Reich).
On 28 December the government resigned and a large spectrum political coalition was sworn in power.

On 29 December Germany asked for an armistice on the Western Front. The French demanded the cession of Alsace-Lorraine as a precondition.
Germany reluctantly accepted and on 31 December 1920, all fighting ceased on the Western Front.
The German army retreated beyond the Rhine and 4 different peace negotiations started in Paris between the Entente on one side and Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire on the other sides.