The troubles of war, the difficulties of peace: Italy and Romania from 1917 to 1919
The troubles of war, the difficulties of peace: Italy and Romania from 1917 to 1919

Summary/Abstract: Italy and Romania followed a parallel path during the First World War. The two countries decided to be neutral when the conflict broke out, despite the pressures of the Triple Alliance, they both were linked to. Both countries eventually decided to participate to the war by the Triple Alliance side and both underwent severe hardships which, in 1917, led Italy to a disastrous defeat in Caporetto and Romania to being invaded and to make separate peace with its enemies in May 1918. Despite such a common way, Italy had not shown a strong interest towards Romania, considering it as playing in a regional context only indirectly connected with Italian objectives. Paradoxically, a few weeks before Romania got out of the war, new links between the two countries emerged. On the 8th of April 1918 a congress of the oppressed nationalities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was summoned in Rome, giving birth to voluntary groups fighting against the Central Empires, called Legions. The Romanian Legion was therefore created in Italy and its action, despite not being decisive as far as the military operations were concerned, had relevant symbolic implications. Such a background was present when, at the end of 1918, Romania regained the lands that had been occupied by enemies and eventually proclaimed the union between Transylvania and the Old Kingdom. The aim of this presentation is to make use of the sources of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs archive, the National Archives and the Military Archives, in order to understand the position and the interest Italy showed towards the union and how much the presence of the Legion affected the Italian position.

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