"Is It 'Rumania' or 'Romania?' " Part 4

The aftermath of the World War* saw Rumania gain control of Bukovina, a region under Austro-Hungarian control for about the previous 150 years, and a region of mixed ethnicity, as besides Rumanians, it contained substantial numbers of Poles, Jews and especially Ukrainians. Rumania also took over  a large part of the Banat, a multi-ethnic region also previously part of Austria-Hungary, and which contained a large number of ethnic groups, but especially Serbs, Germans and Hungarians. All in all, the Rumania of the early 1920s was far larger in area and population than the Rumania before the World War, but it was also a far less truly Rumanian entity.

Rumania became a large oil producer in the post World War era, and its agriculture also did well. In 1927 King Ferdinand I died. This brought Ferdinand's grandson, Michael, to the the thrown, as Michael I. The problem was, Michael was not yet even six years old, and so a regency was set up to act in his stead until he came of age.** The Great Depression brought economic problems for Rumania and exacerbated political divisions within the country. In what was really a coup, Carol returned from exile and took the throne as King Carol II, thus ousting his young son and the regency, and also ignoring his own earlier renunciation of the throne. The 1930s saw Rumania move decisively toward fascism, as right wing and ultra nationalist elements were given favor by Carol II, who eventually circumvented the national constitution by proclaiming emergency powers and then having a rewritten constitution approved in a highly debatable "free" referendum, where voters had to "openly" (not by secret ballot) voice support for the document. The terms of the new "constitution" made Carol a dictator and it gave his right wing/fascist allies a large role in governing with his consent, but all was not well ....

More in the next segment ... 

* I am using the term "World War," just to keep the historical perspective that the term "World War One" (or "First World War") was not in use back then, because there had been no World War Two. Many historians referred to the war as "The Great War."

** To put a complicated situation into simple terms, Ferdinand's son Carol had been the legitimate heir to the thrown, but Carol got caught up in an extra marital affair, causing him to renounce his right to the thrown in favor of his own son Michael, who then became king at less than six years of age in 1927. Carol left the country at that time.

The following were consulted for this article on Rumania: "Kingdoms of Europe" by Gene Gurney, published by Crown Publishers, Inc. NY 1982

"Romania/An Illustrated History" by Nicolae Klepper, published by Hippocrene Books, NY 2002

WORD HISTORY:
Foot-This word for the lower part of the leg goes back to Indo European "ped/pod," which meant "foot." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "fot," which gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "fot" (presumably with a long 'o' sound). This later became "foot." The other Germanic languages have: German "Fuß" ('ß'=ss, and it is also written with the double 's' in Switzerland and Liechtenstein), Low German Saxon "Foot," Dutch "voet," West Frisian "foet," Danish "fod," Swedish and Norwegian "fot," and Icelandic "fótur."