Romania refuses to support Serbia

The British chronology of the war records under 25 January 1915 that Romania rejected the Entente’s suggestion that it come to Serbia’s aid together with Greece. This was a direct consequence of the British offer to Greece made the day before. The Greek prime minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, considered that without Romania’s cooperation his country could not risk war, and King Constantine I made his consent conditional on it. Athens therefore approached Bucharest with a proposal for joint action, and the Entente supported it.

The reply of the prime minister, Ion I. C. Brătianu, was polite but evasive. A memorandum that Venizelos submitted to the king a few days later shows that Romania did not intend to undertake joint military action with Greece unless Bulgaria joined them. Venizelos even doubted whether Bucharest would be satisfied with an official declaration of neutrality from Sofia, let alone whether such a declaration could be obtained. It was not the first such disappointment. As early as autumn 1914 Brătianu had refused to guarantee that he would hold back the Bulgarians if Greece helped the Serbs.

Transylvania instead of Macedonia

Romania had its own reasons for caution. Its war aim was Transylvania, not the fate of Macedonia, over which its neighbours were quarrelling. The secret agreement with Russia of autumn 1914 promised it this acquisition in return for benevolent neutrality, without the need to enter the war at once. Brătianu wanted to choose the moment of entering the war himself and to pay as little as possible for it. Helping Serbia would have meant entering the war in the middle of winter, with an army that still lacked artillery and ammunition.

Above all, however, Bulgaria was feared. In 1913 Romania had taken Southern Dobruja from it, and in Bucharest it was expected that the Bulgarians would want to win it back as soon as the Romanian army became engaged elsewhere. The Entente tried to draw Sofia to its side with promises of territory, but the Romanians had no intention of giving up their own gains for that. Without Bulgaria, let alone against it, joint action by Romania and Greece was too risky for Brătianu.

Waiting for a better moment

Bucharest also preferred to act side by side with Italy. Since the autumn Romania had been bound to Rome by a secret agreement in which the two states promised each other consultation and a common policy of neutrality, and in January they discussed extending it. At the same time Romania was arming. In January it obtained a loan in London for the purchase of arms, but it was still unprepared for war.

Romania’s refusal decided the fate of the whole plan. Without it King Constantine would not even consider helping Serbia, and Venizelos was left only with an attempt to win over Bulgaria at the cost of Greek concessions. Romania entered the war on the side of the Entente only in August 1916. Bulgaria entered the war earlier, in autumn 1915, but on the side of the Central Powers, and its attack on Serbia sealed the Serbs’ defeat.