Vizita lui Carol al II-lea în Alba Iulia, în cadrul manevrelor militare din octombrie 1934
Carol II’s Visit to Alba Iulia, during the Military Maneuvers from October 1934

Summary/Abstract: The paper explores the military manoeuvres held during the month of October, 1934, when Alba Iulia was the headquarter of the organisation. These manoeuvres became a tradition in the 1930s and were meant to create situations for the army as close as possible to real war conditions. The edition of 1934 was the largest organised until then, held in a large region including the counties Alba, Hunedoara and Sibiu and involving many resources as never before. Almost all of the army’s capacities were tested, from communications to transportation, from the construction of roads and bridges to the use of cavalry, infantry, tanks, aviation etc. during a possible conflict. This event also led to important improvements in the region, such as the construction or reparation of roads or bridges, which were later used by the local population. On the final day – 23 of October -, when the parade took place in a field near the town of Alba Iulia, king Carol II was present. Prime minister Gheorghe Tătărăscu, the high hierarchy of the Defense Ministry and foreign representatives were there as well. These special guests were accommodated in Alba Iulia, although the town didn’t have the proper capacity for such a deployment. The event gathered a lot of public from Alba Iulia and the vicinities and produced a positive and powerful impression with regard to the Romanian army. On the matter of historical methodology, the present article is based on several archive sources, a large number of articles from local or national newspapers and magazines, and a photo collection unpublished before. The text focuses on the event, trying to describe it in detail, but it also develops the context of some historical realities in the middle of the 1930s.

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