Marshal Antonescu of Rumania
"Ion Antonescu" Part One
Background on Rumania: First, I prefer the spelling "Rumania," but "Romania" has become more popular in English in recent decades. Next, Rumanian history is highly complex and thus beyond the scope of this article, although I may do another article giving a bit of this southeastern European country's earlier history. Rumania (a "kingdom") fought on the side of the Allies in World War One. The resulting post-war treaties gave Rumania more territory, much of it with Rumanian majorities, but with non Rumanian minorities, but the ceding countries, Hungary and the Soviet Union (successor to the Russian Empire), were unhappy with the territorial adjustments, and tensions remained. During the 1920s and 1930s right wing and fascist movements arose in many European nations, and Rumania was no exception, with the political right growing in power by the latter 1930s, encouraged by the success of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and his expansion of German territory in eastern Europe. There was also a rise in Rumanian feelings against Jews and Gypsies (Roma/Romani).
Hitler's successes brought about a simultaneous decline in the influence on Rumanian foreign policy by Rumania's traditional allies, Britain and France. Highly anti-Soviet, Rumania's political right saw Hitler as the best bet to keep Rumania from Soviet influence or domination. Hitler's agreement with Soviet leader Josef Stalin just prior to the beginning of what became World War Two gave the Soviet dictator leeway to take over former Russian territories from Rumania in 1940. King Carol II brought many pro-German/anti Soviet rightists into the government, but it could not save him, and he abdicated in favor of his son, Michael. Military strongman Ion Antonescu became dictator and in November 1940, Rumania joined the pact directed against communism (the Anti-Comintern),* but especially directed against the Soviet Union, the major source of communist influence in those times. So Rumania joined other pact members Germany, Italy, and Japan. Germany supplied military advisers to help modernize the Rumanian military, and the presence of actual German military units in Rumania continued to increase. Rumania had substantial oil and refining facilities, extremely important to oil-dependent Germany.
When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Rumanian forces joined in the attack, as Rumania sought to recover the lost territories, and to even gain additional lands. In mid November 1942 the Soviets launched a massive offensive directed at Rumanian troops, bolstered to some degree by German troops, on either side of the German Sixth Army in the Soviet city of Stalingrad. The Soviet forces broke through the Rumanian lines and proceeded to encircle German and Rumanian forces in Stalingrad. The resulting surrender of these troops brought a pronounced increase to the prospects of an Axis defeat in the war. With Allied bombings of the Rumanian oil fields, of Bucharest (the capitol), and the with the approach of Soviet forces, Rumanians, led by King Michael, overthrew Antonescu in August 1944. Rumania then changed sides. Soviet occupation brought a decidedly pro-Communist government to power and King Michael abdicated in 1947. Rumania remained under Communist rule until December 1989 when revolution brought down the government of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, who was tried an immediately executed (along with is wife). Since those times Rumania has joined the ranks of democratic nations. About a half million Americans claim at least some Rumanian ancestry, per the 2000 Census, and Greater Cleveland is home to a fair number of those people.
* The Comintern was a shortened form of "Communist International," dating from 1919, an organization advocating the spread of communism.
"Part Two" will contain some basic information on Antonescu.
WORD HISTORY:
Note: I will return to words related to "lose" in the next article, but since I mentioned "solve" in the last article, I decided to do it first.
Solve-The Latin ancestor of this word was a compound (se-leu/se-lu) of Indo European "s(w)e," a pronoun essentially meaning "we, ourselves," and Indo European "leu/lu," which had the notion of "undo, loosen, separate," the same ancient ancestor of English "lose, loose, loss, (for)lorn, and the suffix -less." This gave its Latin offspring "solvo," meaning "undo, loosen," and this then produced Latin "solvere," with the same basic meaning, but with the additional "become free of a problem," which seems to have had emphasis on "becoming free of debts;" thus the derived word "solvent," one of the meanings of which is "able to pay debts," but also "a liquid that loosens (usually) solid materials." English borrowed "solve" in the 1400s as "solven," by which time the word was also taking on more of the meaning "undo or dissipate a problem," its more common meaning ever since.
Background on Rumania: First, I prefer the spelling "Rumania," but "Romania" has become more popular in English in recent decades. Next, Rumanian history is highly complex and thus beyond the scope of this article, although I may do another article giving a bit of this southeastern European country's earlier history. Rumania (a "kingdom") fought on the side of the Allies in World War One. The resulting post-war treaties gave Rumania more territory, much of it with Rumanian majorities, but with non Rumanian minorities, but the ceding countries, Hungary and the Soviet Union (successor to the Russian Empire), were unhappy with the territorial adjustments, and tensions remained. During the 1920s and 1930s right wing and fascist movements arose in many European nations, and Rumania was no exception, with the political right growing in power by the latter 1930s, encouraged by the success of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and his expansion of German territory in eastern Europe. There was also a rise in Rumanian feelings against Jews and Gypsies (Roma/Romani).
Hitler's successes brought about a simultaneous decline in the influence on Rumanian foreign policy by Rumania's traditional allies, Britain and France. Highly anti-Soviet, Rumania's political right saw Hitler as the best bet to keep Rumania from Soviet influence or domination. Hitler's agreement with Soviet leader Josef Stalin just prior to the beginning of what became World War Two gave the Soviet dictator leeway to take over former Russian territories from Rumania in 1940. King Carol II brought many pro-German/anti Soviet rightists into the government, but it could not save him, and he abdicated in favor of his son, Michael. Military strongman Ion Antonescu became dictator and in November 1940, Rumania joined the pact directed against communism (the Anti-Comintern),* but especially directed against the Soviet Union, the major source of communist influence in those times. So Rumania joined other pact members Germany, Italy, and Japan. Germany supplied military advisers to help modernize the Rumanian military, and the presence of actual German military units in Rumania continued to increase. Rumania had substantial oil and refining facilities, extremely important to oil-dependent Germany.
When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Rumanian forces joined in the attack, as Rumania sought to recover the lost territories, and to even gain additional lands. In mid November 1942 the Soviets launched a massive offensive directed at Rumanian troops, bolstered to some degree by German troops, on either side of the German Sixth Army in the Soviet city of Stalingrad. The Soviet forces broke through the Rumanian lines and proceeded to encircle German and Rumanian forces in Stalingrad. The resulting surrender of these troops brought a pronounced increase to the prospects of an Axis defeat in the war. With Allied bombings of the Rumanian oil fields, of Bucharest (the capitol), and the with the approach of Soviet forces, Rumanians, led by King Michael, overthrew Antonescu in August 1944. Rumania then changed sides. Soviet occupation brought a decidedly pro-Communist government to power and King Michael abdicated in 1947. Rumania remained under Communist rule until December 1989 when revolution brought down the government of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, who was tried an immediately executed (along with is wife). Since those times Rumania has joined the ranks of democratic nations. About a half million Americans claim at least some Rumanian ancestry, per the 2000 Census, and Greater Cleveland is home to a fair number of those people.
* The Comintern was a shortened form of "Communist International," dating from 1919, an organization advocating the spread of communism.
"Part Two" will contain some basic information on Antonescu.
WORD HISTORY:
Note: I will return to words related to "lose" in the next article, but since I mentioned "solve" in the last article, I decided to do it first.
Solve-The Latin ancestor of this word was a compound (se-leu/se-lu) of Indo European "s(w)e," a pronoun essentially meaning "we, ourselves," and Indo European "leu/lu," which had the notion of "undo, loosen, separate," the same ancient ancestor of English "lose, loose, loss, (for)lorn, and the suffix -less." This gave its Latin offspring "solvo," meaning "undo, loosen," and this then produced Latin "solvere," with the same basic meaning, but with the additional "become free of a problem," which seems to have had emphasis on "becoming free of debts;" thus the derived word "solvent," one of the meanings of which is "able to pay debts," but also "a liquid that loosens (usually) solid materials." English borrowed "solve" in the 1400s as "solven," by which time the word was also taking on more of the meaning "undo or dissipate a problem," its more common meaning ever since.
Labels: English, etymology, Fascism, Germany, Ion Antonescu, Latin, Rumania, Soviet Union, World War Two
posted by Randy at 1:05 PM
4 Comments:
The Romanian Church in Cleveland is on W. 150, right? They are kind of famous for the fish fry I think.
It is on W. 150th. The area on the near Westside from the Detroit Avenue area up to the lake had a lot of Rumanians, and some are still there, but like many ethnic neighborhoods, the parents grandparents, or great grandpoarents came to America and settled in an area, but their descendants often moved to other areas.
We are both wrong, Randy. That is Warren Rd. not W. 150th.
Hopefully you will never stop to ask me for directions to the restroom in a restaurant, or you might end up in the kitchen. Just so non-Clevelanders understand OUR mistake (you didn't think I was going to take the blame all by myself, did you?), W. 150th links with Warren Rd., with some people then referring to Warren Rd (incorrectly) as W. 150th.
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