The union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on 1 December [O.S. 18 November] 1918 by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia. Great Union Day, also called Unification Day, is a national holiday in Romania celebrated on 1 December. The holiday was established after the Romanian Revolution, and celebrates the unification not only of Transylvania, but also of Bessarabia and Bukovina and parts of Banat, Crișana and Maramureș with the Kingdom of Romania. Bessarabia and Bukovina had joined with the Kingdom of Romania earlier in 1918.
The union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on 1 December [O.S. 18 November] 1918 by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia. Great Union Day, also called Unification Day, is a national holiday in Romania celebrated on 1 December. The holiday was established after the Romanian Revolution, and celebrates the unification not only of Transylvania, but also of Bessarabia and Bukovina and parts of Banat, Crișana and Maramureș with the Kingdom of Romania. Bessarabia and Bukovina had joined with the Kingdom of Romania earlier in 1918.
Causes and leading events
17 August 1916: Romania signed the secret Treaty of Bucharest with the Entente Powers, according to which Transylvania, Banat, and Partium would become part of Romania after World War I if the country entered the war. The planned border followed a line some 20-40 kilometres west of the present Hungarian-Romanian border, but joined river Tisza in the South, thus granting the whole of Banat to Romania.
27 August 1916: Romania attacks Austria–Hungary. The offensive is soon halted by Austro–Hungarian and German forces. In return, with a combined push from Transylvania and from Bulgaria, the Central Powers occupy Wallachia, including Bucharest. The Romanian capital temporarily moves to Iași.
December 1916: The German offensive is stopped along the Mărășești–Galați line.
6 December 1916: The capital city, Bucharest, was captured by the Central Powers, which now controlled two-thirds of the territory of Romania.
8 December 1916: German General August von Mackensen was appointed as the military governor of the occupied territories of Romania.
May–July 1917: Romanian troops halt a German offensive and push them back to the last trench line, but lose the momentum.
9 December 1917: Romania signs an armistice with the Central Powers.
January 1918: US President Woodrow Wilson condemns any secret treaties and requests autonomy for the ethnic groups of Austria–Hungary.
26–28 March 1918: A Congress of Nationalities of Austria-Hungary takes place in Rome. A motion is passed, demanding the recognition of the right of each nation to constitute into a national state, which would stay independent, or would unite with its already existing national state.
9 April [O.S. 27 March] 1918: Bessarabia, after a three-month independence from Russia, proclaims Union with the Kingdom of Romania. Romanian and some minority deputies (86 in total) vote for, while the majority of the minorities' (Ukrainian, Russian, German, Jewish, and Gagauz) representatives (36 in total) abstain. Two Ukrainian and one Bulgarian deputies vote against. The declaration is co-signed by the (pro-German) prime-minister Alexandru Marghiloman for the Romanian government.
18 May [O.S. 5 May] 1918: A peace treaty is signed between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria–Hungary and Bulgaria) and the Kingdom of Romania, to replace the five-month-old armistice. Romania recovers its pre-war territory occupied by the Central Powers in December 1916, except for Dobruja and the mountain regions. The treaty is not ratified by Romania, in the hope that the tide of the war would turn the other way. The Central Powers, in accordance to the treaty, begin to pull out its troops from occupied Wallachia.
24 August 1918: A National Council of Romanian Unity is created in Paris, with Take Ionescu as president, Vasile Lucaciu, Octavian Goga, Dr. Constantin Angelescu and Ioan Theodor Florescu as members. It is recognized as "the exponent of the interests of the Romanian nation of Austria-Hungary" by France (29 September), the United States (23 October), the United Kingdom (29 October), and Italy (9 November), the four powers of the Entente.
2 September 1918: A Congress of Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Romanians, Serbs, Croatians, and Ruthenes of Austria-Hungary takes place in New York City. A resolution demanding the division of Austria–Hungary and the liberation of its peoples is passed.
12 October 1918: The Executive Committee of the Romanian National Party, the major party in Transylvania representing Romanians in the Kingdom of Hungary, takes place in Nagyvárad (Oradea). A declaration is passed, demanding the creation "in virtue of the national right of every nation to decide its own fate" of a Central National Romanian Council, a provisional governing body for Transylvania. To this end the Romanian National Party forms an Action Committee, seated in Arad, and presided by Vasile Goldiș.
18 October, 1918:
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, the preeminent Romanian politician in Austria–Hungary, reads the above Declaration of Self-determination in the Parliament of the Hungarian part of Austria–Hungary in Budapest.
Emperor Charles I of Austria puts forward a "Manifesto to my faithful peoples", about the reorganization of Austria–Hungary into a federation of six independent states: Austrian, Hungarian, Czech, Yugoslav, Polish, and Ukrainian. The Manifesto fails to achieve its goal, being regarded as a step that comes way too late. National Councils spring up throughout Austria–Hungary, and prefer to negotiate directly with the Entente powers, rather than with the failing Central Government.
A reply to Charles' manifesto is passed by the Corps of the Transylvanian and Bukovinian Volunteers in the Austrian-Hungarian Army, which calls for a union of the territories inhabited by Romanians with the Kingdom of Romania. Iuliu Maniu, a preeminent Transylvanian politician, gathers in Vienna 70,000 Transylvanian soldiers from the Austrian-Hungarian Army, and takes them to Transylvania.
23 October 1918: Rudolf Brandsch, a Saxon representative in the Hungarian parliament in his speech declared the adherence to the territorial integrity of Hungary, outlining in case other minorities would be granted privileges the Saxon community do not bear, it should be equalized and the rights of the Germans of Hungary should continue to be respected in the future as well.
31 October 1918: A new government, led by Károlyi Mihály is formed in Budapest, with the democrat Oszkár Jászi as Minister of Nationalities. The Hungarian government terminates its union with Austria, officially dissolving the Austro-Hungarian state.
3 November 1918:
General Weber, on behalf of Austria–Hungary, signs the armistice treaty in Padua, Italy.
The Romanian National Council is created from representatives of the Romanian National Party and those of Social-Democrat Party of Transylvania, and takes control over the local authorities in Transylvania. The Hungarians administrative apparatus disintegrates. Károlyi Mihály's Hungarian government enters negotiations with the Central National Romanian Council.
6 November [O.S. 24 October] 1918: As the Entente's victory on the Western Front seems more and more likely, and as the Army of General Maurice Sarrail from Salonica breaks through the Bulgarian lines on the Balkan Front, the Romanian pro-German government of Alexandru Marghiloman resigns. A new government, with General Constantin Coandă as Prime Minister, is formed. The general mobilization is decreed.
10 November [O.S. 28 October] 1918: Romania re-declares war on the Central Powers.
12 November 1918: The first Romanian troops enter Hungary and occupy the Gyergyótölgyes (Tulgheș) mountain pass accessing the Székely Land Region.
13 November 1918: An Armistice on the Balkan Front is signed in Belgrade, Serbia, between the French General Franchet d'Esperey, chief of the Entente's Oriental Army, and the Hungarian government. Small-scale military action continues for a few days in southern Hungary. The agreement fixes demarcation lines between Hungary, Serbia and Romania, according to which the region of Banat goes under Serbian administration, in spite of the 1916 secret treaty with Bucharest. Körösvidék (Crișana) and Máramaros (Maramureș), including the cities of Szatmárnémeti (Satu Mare), Nagyvárad (Oradea), Belényes (Beiuș), and Arad, as well as the inner Transylvania up to the river Maros (Mureș), are left under Hungarian administration. Hungary is required by the Entente Powers to allow Romanian troops to enter the Transylvanian territories east of the demarcation line along Mureș. Hungary is allowed to keep only eight army divisions. Disarmed troops are returning home.
13–15 November 1918: Negotiations are held in Arad between the Hungarian government of Károlyi Mihály and the Central National Romanian Council (of Transylvania), without reaching any agreement. News about the Belgrade agreement reach the Romanian (Transylvanian) delegation. The Central National Romanian Council retreats from negotiations and decides to hold elections and convey for November 18/December 1 the National Assembly of Romanians from Transylvania and Hungary, and to hand power to the latter.
13–20 November 1918: Romanian troops occupy further major mountain passes on the northeastern border of Hungary. They have the intent to occupy up about a quarter of the territory of Transylvania, as allotted by the 13 November armistice in Belgrade to pass under its temporary administration. Hungary pulls out troops to comply with the armistice treaty. Isolated armed clashes with the Hungarian military police occur.
November 1918: During a 12-day interval, elections are held for the National Assembly of Romanians of Transylvania and Hungary. Its 1,228 members are elected 5 each from the electoral districts established in 1910 (600 members in total), and 628 to represent different social, professional and cultural organizations (clergy, teachers' unions, military). The local enthusiasm gains momentum, as demands such as land reform, universal vote, and possible union with Romania are put forward.
23 November 1918: A Farman F.40 of the Romanian Air Corps lands at Blaj carrying several important documents regarding the union for the Central National Romanian Council which included letters from Ion I. C. Bratianu and Nicolae Bălan. News that the Romanian Army had crossed into Transylvania were also delivered. On the return flight a day later, the decision for the union with Transylvania and the date for the planned National Assembly is brought to Romania.
25 November 1918: The Romanian Army occupies Marosvásárhely (Târgu-Mureș), the most important town of Székely Land, in eastern Transylvania.
25 November 1918: The General Council of the Saxons in Nagyszeben (Sibiu) decided in question of Transylvania to choose clear neutrality, without committing themselves either to the Hungarian or the Romanian side.
28 November 1918: The National Assembly of Székelys in Marosvásárhely (Târgu-Mureș) reaffirms their support to the territorial integrity of Hungary.
28 November 1918: The elected 100-member General Congress of Bukovina passes a resolution of unconditional union with the Kingdom of Romania. Deputies speaking Romanian (74), German (7) and Polish (6) vote for, while the 13 Ukrainian deputies leave before the final vote.
Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia
On 1 December 1918 (N.S., 18 November O.S.), the National Assembly of Romanians of Transylvania and Hungary, consisting of 1,228 elected representatives of Romanians in Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș, convened in Alba Iulia and decreed (by unanimous vote):
the unification of those Romanians and of all the territories inhabited by them with Romania.