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Half-Romanian half-Hungarian here, born and raised in Transylvania. The truth is that both HU and RO were cursed by their geographic position (in between Germany and the Soviets). If we were positioned like Portugal or Spain, we would have the luxury of being 'neutral' while still supporting the side we want to win the war. Instead, we had war fought on our own borders, and hundreds of thousands of our young men fight and die in foreign lands for foreign benefits. And then we got 45 years of communism as a 'reward'. Never again.
@@petergoge2072 if this is an attempt to justify communism, in the name of millions in my people that suffered from communism and hundreds of thousands of innocents killed by this evil, a heartfelt “da-te-n mortii ma-ti de terminat” ❤
Fun fact. Bulgaria did not take part in operation Barbarossa. This is most likely why it was allowed to keep the territory it took from Romania while Hungary did not.
@MehdiEpsilon the Soviets stolen Bessarabia and North Bucovina in 1940. Even now in Romania is a big hatred against Russia for this. Hungary did not just occupied the Transylvanian territory but also they committed atrocities against Romanian civilians.
Well, it seems they did exactly nothing to contribute to the Axis, besides skirmishing with the Soviet Black Sea Fleet that attacked their commerce. They did send a train with medical personnel, and the train was used to evacuate wounded personnel away from the frontline, but that's about it.
actually the Bulgarian High Command correctly predicted the outcome of Operation Barbarossa and let the Soviets know their thoughts. even the Soviets didnt believe in themselves back then
I was hoping you would mention the Ploiesti Air Attack. For those who dont know, in 1943 allied troops attempted to decrease axis fuel capacity by bombarding the romanian oil fields. This was called "Operation: Tidal Wave" and it took palce on 1st of August 1943. Long story short: it failed as the allied aircraft engaged in a battle against the romanian airforce and the luftwaffe. Only around a hundred people died mostly prisoners after an american plane crashed into a complex. Romanian army may have been severly weakened but it was still capable of fighting
My grandfather was a fighter pilot and he fought in that battle. His plane was later shot down by the Russians. He survived and recovered in hospital. By the time he recovered the Germans had peaced out and Romania switched sides.
Around half of those 100 people died from the prison crash. Others happened from delayed fuse bombs and ground strafe attacks. To continue, the Allied air campaign over Romania restarted in 1944 but still failed at its goal of reducing the oil production capacity by at least 60-70% (as I've read, it was only reduced by 40-50% before the campaign was called off in August 1944 due to Soviet demands). The campaign did achieve some things: disrupting of Romanian industry, damaging of infrastructure and demoralizing the population and airmen who engaged the US and British bombers and fighters. Also fun fact, the last US air raid over Romania happened on 26 August 1944 and it was called in by the Romanian leadership against the German troops occupying the Băneasa and Otopeni airports.
As a basarabian (current day Republic of Moldova), my grand-grandfather was enrolled in the Romanian army when they crossed the river Prut and pushed the soviets back. My parents village is not far from the border, so I assume it was early on when the Barbarosa operation started. He got captured by the soviets probably in Crimea (some details have been lost) and spent a number of months as a POW. After the Soviets occupied basarabia back or after Romanian surrender (again, details unclear), my grand-grandfather was told that he now is part of the soviet red army, and he's going to fight against germans now. How far he got with the soviet army, again, is lost.. But that was a common story for soldiers from basarabia. P.S. I now live in Transilvania :D
My grandfather, also from Basserabia, was 18 when the soviets were pushing back and was taken straight into the war, by the Red Army. Lol. Like literally, "Congratulations Komrade, you are soviet now, welcome to the army". Fortunately he made it out alive and even got some decorations (for bravery, there is the story where he went to do reconnaissance or something and came back with a german for interrogation), although he was almost blown up in an air raid/attack (and was probably close to death on other occasions too). It's weird to think that if he would have died there, I wouldn't exist.
@@Daki.theUpper6 Moldova is definitely not owned by Romania nor do we wish to "own" Moldova in any capacity. They are a friendly sovereign state that we share culture with and we agree and collaborate on many things. But there's no ownership in that relation.
My great grandfather fought in the Romanian army in Odessa. 🇷🇴 His cousin was captured at the end of the war and released 9 years later. Everyone thought him dead.
Only nation that is bordering Serbia and never went to war against them of their own will. And giving that Serbia was at war with all other neighbors (except Macedonians and Montenegrins but they are sperate story) that is quite the achievement. As they say in Romania: 'we only have two friends on this world: Serbs and the sea.'
Romania always goes into war of it's own will. In the second balkan war, enemies of Bulgaria were already outnumbered, so Romanians know, that they could easily gain more territories if they join. Another example for my statement is the Great war. Romania lost the war, the united forces of the centeal powers marched into Bucharest and Romania signed a peace treaty. But, a day before the end of the war Romania rejoined and did absolutely nothing in that one day, just to became a winner and gain lands. WW2 weren't an exception, as we could see in the video. Romania joined to war, to get back it's gained and then lost lands...
@@MaceY._. That was my point, in WW2 they were forced to join. Even allowing German troops to attack Yugoslavia. Only time in history they went to war against Serbia.
@@2SSSR2 1396, Crusade of Nicopolis. Now you can also say, that "Serbia was forced to go into war", but they happily joined. Joined in the hope of rewards, not in the fear of consequences.
@@2SSSR2 I think on that occasion parts of Banat where on offering from Germany to Romania if it joined the attack. That is the catch people kind of forget.
@@korosuke1788most popular theory is that romanians are dacians that were romanized by the Romans. Another theory is that romanians are actually illyrian. But the most proof one is the dacian one
@@Samsung-1.9Cu.Ft.MicrowaveRomanians were something at some point before being latinised, maybe a mixture of what kind of populations were present north west of nowadays Greece, illyrian like you said, together with some thracian/dacian influences. What is clear is that there is some connection in between the Romanian and Albanian vocabulary. For sure there was a giant migration at some point towards the Carpathian mountains. @korosuke1788 man you should really learn more stuff about Romanian people 😂
@@CristianDudutthere was no migration anywhere. there was a non-interrupted language continuum between years 100 to 600, severed by the slavic migrations, those "belorussian" invaders... and dacian and illyrian shared already some words with each other that ended up being ultraconserved. others were adopted because Albanian merchants ended up in Bucharest selling either "varză" or "curechi"
@@porphyry17 Yea, I guess they weren't minding all the invaders for all those centuries. They were hosting the Goths and the Gepids and many others in their little wood cabins in the more touristic areas.
I am romanian.Both of my great grandfathers died on the eastern front , fighting for Germany. One at Sevastopol and the other one in Stalingrad, my grandpa was only 2 years old when his father died.. RIP!
@@masterlee005that’s probably the worst way to die. PTSD. Just imagine fear so strong and so real that rips you into pieces from inside and from outside in a way.
Thanks for this very interesting video. I was born in Transilvania , half Romanian half German. Had a great childhood there. My Romanian grandfather fought at Stalingrad and survived.
Killing Codreanu was a huge mistake made by Carol II, because the Iron Guard became truly fanatical and firmly aligned itself with Germany's insane ideological program, in addition of Codreanu becoming a martyr and worshiped like a saint by the Guard.
its crazy to think that the Joining of Romania caused so much damage to both sides during WW2 but its even crazier to think that Romania only took part to the wars because both the Allies and the Axis forced them into it by seizing romanian land
why is this crazy, though? No normal country willingly participate in a war that they have no interest in until provoked. Look at Switzerland! They live just fine without siding with anyone in any war. And that's what we were about to do, too, but the geopolitical affairs have dragged us into the war. I genuinely see nothing crazy about deciding to stay neutral forever, do you mind explaining your logic behind calling this decision crazy?
@@blabla-rg7kyregardless Romania still committed genocide against its own Jewish-Romanian citizens, without the influence of Nazi germany. You can claim geography as the reason for siding with potentially the most evil army in recent history, but the truth isn’t really bright for a Romanian looking to find comfort in WW2
@@blabla-rg7ky Staying neutral forever is unrealistic. Whenever you stay neutral, you in fact take the side of the stronger party, regardless if that party fights for a just cause or not.
@@blabla-rg7ky Switzerland remained neutral and didn't get invaded because it would have been a pain in the ass to invade Look at its geograpgy, full of mountains
German Alliance to Romania in a nutshell If you have oil and I have oil and I have a straw and my straw reaches acccrrrooosss, the field starts to drink your oil I drink your oil. I drink it up
Good brief presentation of the WW2 history. Many assassinations/murders happened during this time that influenced the political scene in Romania. My grand-grandfather (a senior civilian) was killed by the soviets in his home when the red army crossed into Romania, while Romania was allied with the soviets. They also did unimaginable things to civilians that can not be replicated in a RUclips comment.
My grandfather fought in 1944 in Romanian Army being allied with the Soviets in the Tatra mountains for the liberation of Cehoslovacia. The Soviets were using them as cannon fodder, sending them in advance before sending the red army troops.
Sanatescu and Groza were not actual communists, more like lefty, big tent kind of solutions for the what proved to be a transitional period, one could argue that Sanatescu had monarchy sympathies.
@@mrwhips3623 Because that's what lead to the politics Romania was ruled by, the Legionary Movement (Iron Guard as its translated) was inspired by national-socialism, they had to take on jews, and it kept Romania close to the Axis
@@dragosstanciu9866 HAHAHAHH no they did not, thoes good relations continued throught the cold war making romania effectively not affected by the "iron curtain". It's possible to read up on history before you say things you know.
@@tortellinifettuccineThis is Romania in WW2, not Romania in the Cold War during the rule of Nicolae Ceausescu. In WW2 Romania as a member of the Axis was at war with the USA.
Hitler's promises to Romania's command in order to go past Bessarabia: - Winter gear - Powerful AT guns - Tanks - Modern german planes - Rations What the romanian soldiers actually get: - Squat - Some light AT guns captured from the french - Squat - A couple of old fighters - Squat
We got a Panzer III tanks from Germany. It was named the T4 in Romania. And by Barbarosa we didn’t need German fighters as we were already producing the IAR 80 and IAR 81.
As a Romanian I thank you for making a video with Romania in World War Two since not a lot of people know about Romania's involvement in the conflict. Also Romanian military was the second most powerful from the Eastern Front and we had important victories at Odessa, Kiev, Sevastopol and we even participated in the battle of Stalingrad. Fun fact: Prime Minister of Romania from WW 2 Ion Antonescu yelled at Hitler once and even called him crazy that shows how much confidence and guts Antonescu had and he was very respected by Hitler because he was always very documented about history and when Antonescu was meeting Hitler he always gave history lessons to Hitler also criticizing the Second Vienna Award.
😅they made a quick move to the Allies, I'd say that was extremely lucky or genius. Today not many people know that Romania was a German ally and that it was antisemitic.
@@davianoinglesias5030 Well, I can say that the decision to betray the Axis Powers wasn't particullary genius since the Soviets still occupied our nation and forced communist rule. Antonescu tried to make a separate peace with Britain and United States so our nation will be occupied by U.S.A and Britain not by the Soviets but sadly it failed.
@@vulpes7079 please... for all his faults, and yes he comitted war crimes and crimes against humanity, Antonescu was at heart a true, professional military man. Google his last letter to his wife, before he was executed.
My grandfather fought at Stalingrad. He started the war on day one of the liberation of Bassarabia. From his unit at Stalingrad only him and 12 others managed to escape and returned back to Romania by foot in the winter. When the soviets reached the country he again joined the fight and was wonded near the city of Iasi. After the war the new comunist goverment put him in prison because he was a member of the Iron Guard back in the 30's when he was in highschool. He got out after 7 years and died in 1990. He was highly decorated in combat. RIP grandpa!
@LittleDolfie Codreanu may have been charming, and not completely without principles. Horia Sima, however, who took over the leadership of the Iron Guard, was nothing like Zelea Codreanu. That change of leadership completely changed the Iron Guard's nature. Under Sima's leadership, the Iron Guard was in no way better than the German nazis or the Italian fascists. Also, charismatic as he might have been, Codreaun preached authoritarianism, was fiercely racist and violent. That's not charming and not idealistic - unless your ideal is a society dominated by violence.
@LittleDolfie Democracy functions exactly as good as the people that make up the nations. Democracy will be ruled by money and by low quality masses when the people making up that democracy will be greedy cowards. It isn't violence that built Rome. It's discipline and respect for hard work and strong legal institutions and technological innovation. It isn't so much military strategy or individual martial qualities that makes up Rome's heritage. It's Roman law, the aqueduct, baths, roads and the Collosseum. It's agriculture and Roman cement. It's sanitation and surgery. To this day, what keeps Europe, a community of rather small countries, relevant on the international stage, isn't military proves, it's its capability to generate innovation and to educate its people better than any other part of the world, despite its fragmentation. Violence brings nothing but destruction. There were long centuries, after Rome fell, during which Europe was ravaged by violence. Nothing good emerged from that time. Much of what Rome built was destroyed and forgotten. Countless invaders managed to run over Europe almost unopposed. The renaissance had to happen, which had nothing to do with violence, before Europe started to rebuild, after more than a thousand years of almost constant internal waring - and then immediately sparked Europe's colonial era, during which superior European culture and technology spread over all other continents. True, colonialism was associated with a ton of violence, but that was just the consequence of a thousand years of war not disappearing overnight. None of the European empires acted like the Ottomans or the Mongols, destroying and plundering and building nothing in place of what they destroyed. They all were eager to impose their culture and habits in the colonized territories and to build peaceful and productive societies there, obviously to the benefit of the empire's heartland more than to the benefit of the colonies, but still, it was a huge difference to the way Russia or China, both non-European cultures (geographically Moscow, the origin of the Russian empire, lies in Europe, but its cultural identity, especially in its early days, was given by its Mongol rulers) extended their empires by e terminating whatever they found in place and putting absolutely nothing in place. Russia and some smaller Latin American countries are very good examples of what violence leads to: failed states, where human life has no value, no decent life is possible and no evolution to the benefit of humanity overall ever happens. When was the last time you heard of some outstanding academic or technological achievement coming out of a violence-ridden country? Do you believe a group of violent rowdies would be able to build a space ship?
My great grandfather fought in Stalingrad also! he served on a Vickers anti air gun, he survived and manage to came back home in Arges. But sadly he died 2 years latter of PTSD...
My grandpa's brother, Simeon also fought on the Eastern front but was wounded just before Stalingrad, he was lucky, very few of his companions came back. He died in 1989 (26 December) in Bucharest. He had a heart attack triggered by the Revolution. His wife died on the same date 10 years later. My grandpa was younger and he only joined in 1944 - he fought on the western front. He'd reached Czechoslovakia when the war was declared over.
as a romanian, i swear, when we had to learn about WW2 I stopped. I couldn’t accept the fate we had after the war, belive me when 30 ish kids start to cry in history class, then you know it really meant a lot to us. We want our basarabia back
Romania was at its direst hour before and during WW2…not to mention after. In these tough times my grandparents lived. My grandparent fought at Stalingrad and came back alive…
king mihai was a soviet collaborator, he betrayed his country and served Romania on a dish to the soviets unconditionally, despite that Antonescu's government was already negotiating peace with the Allied forces with fair conditions for his country
Thank you for covering this dark bit of Romanian history. This just goes to show that Romania has been, and continues to be, at a crossroads of geopolitical instability in Europe. This is probably why the US also considers Romania as a valuable ally in this part of Europe.
Hey guys it would be great if you could do one for Bulgaria as well! There are some great novelties like it being the only country to refuse to ship out their jews, gain territory after losing the war AND having its Tsar (likely) assassinated in the process. Great video as always!
Winston Churchill: I was saving the planet from an Axis of Darkness, while you were back home opening National Parks! Yes! Oversimplified: This enraged the allies, who punished the Axis severely.
It would be very interesting for you guys to tackle ww2 from the Thai perspective. They aren't really mentioned as often, but I would like to consider them an axis collaborator. Great video as always!
Im romanian,and I enjoyed this documentary! I would like to add some things: 1)You forgot to include the German bombing of Bucharest; 2)The Romanian armies participated in the liberation of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, our armies reaching the Tatra mountains.
@@HaartieeTRUE Soviets used the rhetoric of liberation as well, starting even before Barbarossa. You see, everyone not in Soviet sphere is a capitalist or fascist and therefore not free by default.
My grandpa is a big fan of the civl war and has always been interested in the battle of Franklin in Tennessee in 1864 I was hoping you could do a vid on it. Thank you
Romainia is often under looked and largely seen as bad as Italy because of their part in the German defeat at Stalingrad im glad we got a video that covers their perspective and how they where one of Germany’s more useful Allies in the war
You forgot to mention that Romania warn the germans about imminent counter offensive of Russians at Stalingrad... not once, multiple times, You focus so much on jews that you forgot to say about the American attack on Romania.
Romania under the rule of Nazi puppet regime of Antonescu or the Soviets was never the official country of Romania. so you thinking that Americans bombed "Romanian targets" is somehow bad is not ok. Americans bombed Nazi army equipment or oil fields to destroy the Nazi regime. Antonescu was a coward and traitor of Romania. the official government of Romania was that of the king Michael.
That helmetless guy in 10:55 looks a lot like a future leader of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu. King Michael is an interesting character. If I'm not mistaken, him having died just few years ago, he was the last surviving person, to have been in charge of a belligerent nation in WW2.
I know some people don’t like these kinds of videos but if you could do a Hungarian perspective video it would really appreciate it as I play a Hungarian army In a tabletop game and their is not a lot of good material in English (though there are some good ones few and far between)
Finally! I have wanted this video for a while. Thank you. I would like to suggest Thailand's perspective in WWII since they are another forgotten axis power.
Romania do not give up the Cadrilater(Southern Dobruja) at Second Vienna Award , the treaty was only with Hungary .The treaty of Craiova was with Bulgaria
It is really nice to see a video about a country that doesn't get talked about much. Thanks for making these videos Side Note: I feel like it would be amazing to see a collaboration with The Armchair Historian and Extra History for a video
Romania mentioned🥳🥳🥳🇷🇴🇷🇴🇷🇴❤️❤️❤️ As a Romanian thank you for sharing this video about our history. There’s so much more to tell, so much context that you understandably had to skip in order to not make this video too long. What I would like to add and I think it’s important to mention is that despite the Carol and then Antonescu regime as well as the Iron Guard who all took anti-semitic measures in order to ally with Hitler, most Romanians were not anti-semitic and were in favour of democracy, hence why King Michael I together with the democratic traditional parties, most notably PNL and PNȚ, were able to arrest Antonescu in 1944 and restore democracy for a short couple of years before the soviets forced communism upon us🥲
Under the 1947 Treaty of Paris, the Allies did not acknowledge Romania as a co-belligerent nation but instead applied the term "ally of Hitlerite Germany" to all recipients of the treaty's stipulations. Like Finland, Romania had to pay $300 million to the Soviet Union as a war reparations. However, the treaty specifically recognized that Romania switched sides on 24 August 1944, and therefore "acted in the interests of all the United Nations". As a reward, Northern Transylvania was, once again, recognized as an integral part of Romania, but the border with the USSR and Bulgaria was fixed at its state in January 1941, restoring the pre-Barbarossa status quo (with one exception). Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Eastern territories became part of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.
Finally, I'm really glad there are more videos outlining the war perspective of lesser scale conflicts. Hopefully soon Czechoslovakia, Poland and Denmark can have a video aswell.
Fun fact : Beetween January 1944 and January 1945 Bucharest was bombed by France , Great Britain, USA , USSR and Germany , probably the Japanese plane didn't have enough fuel to get a part of the action . After the war a monument for the Great American liberators was established (almost 30k casualties from their bombing alone) history will forever be written by the victors .
You act like that was wrong. Or they are trying to hide it. This is still US strategy today. Why risk losing your own people when you can strike them without high casualties from the air. Better technology wins.
Antonescu knew we would lose, Michael prevented further catastrophes since our war capabilities are finished, further people would die which would be unnecessary@@brazzy3881
@@brazzy3881 Antonescu and Mihai were not opposed leaders. This is something I hoped the video would touch upon, as to stop the "Antonescu-Mihai" feud, no such luck unfortunately.
someone didn't made his homework properly.... i believe on the website of israeli counterintelligence appeared, some years ago, a message thanking romanians for helping the jews during the ww2. i find hard to believe that this was due to the pogroms conducted by romanian army on that days. even that it is officialy know that the stationed germans done those actions. well, you never know...
Some justice happened here in Romania. Some Romanians from that period were acknowledged as saints recently and canonized in the Romanian Orthodox Church. Some jew organisations didn't like this, but who cares?
One of the countries I most wish we could've spared from Soviet occupation. Very special place with a very unique and cool history that spent a long time with a boot on its neck until the people were fed up with it. It's got a very similar problem that former East German territories and Hungary have where they could all be much better off today if they weren't used as a way to feed Moscow.
A bit wrong on the iron guard part. There is nothing mentioned regarding ethnicity and purity in their manifesto or views. There is also no restriction for a non Romanian to join the iron guard.
@@dubl33_27 , well, there was no real "anti-semitism" , hence why recently this classification was removed from law when describing it. You usually describe anti-semitism as something that revolves around having a race-hating or ethnicity-hating thought/thoughts, but the Iron Guard was not National-Socialist, nor did Codreanu ever say that Jews were "disliked" for being Jews. But to say that the Iron Guard promoted ideas such as "ethnic purity" is nonsense, and Codreanu himself wasn't "pure" to begin with. Even our whole "romanity of Romanians" talks about us not being pure, but instead being a breed of multiple people groups ( invaders / migrants / natives ). A quote from Codreanu: "It doesn't matter that he is a Jew and please remember forever that the relentless fight of an authentic legionnaire must not be directed against the Jews as such, but against those who harm Romania and the Christian Church. (C. Z. Codreanu about saving a Jew from drowning)"
The Iron Guard was a important thing for interwar Romania but it never called the shots until 1940, Romania was rulled until 1938 by the traditional democratic parties.
WW2 from the Romanian Perspective but you fail to mention quite a bit. Such as the many Romanian victories against Soviet forces, apart from the Lascar Group.
@@bogdanbotis1524 Well if you knew some basic history, since by your name I'm guessing you're Romanian, you'd know that Lascar's efforts saved thousands if not hundreds of thousands of lives and not only that but showed outstanding bravery. It's not a skirmish either, it was a full on battle, let alone the dozen others he didn't care to cover.
@@kingswood9064 Geez, if only I knew some basic history... How could you possibly ascertain my level of knowledge from our exchange so far? Truth is, nothing that the romanian army achieved on the eastern front was decisive in nature, despite those events making for some fascinating stories.... So why criticize that those events were not included in a 17 minute video covering romania's position in the whole war? Just for national pride? But anyway, your tone leads me to believe that you're not really interested in a discussion, or honest criticism and just want to brag to internet strangers that you know some obscure facts, in order to get some cheap attention..
@@bogdanbotis1524 Romania often found itself to be the vanguard of the Axis Forces in the South-East. A lot of the victories achieved, at Odessa, Sevastopol and so forth were lead by Romanian forces on the ground and indeed commanded by Germans with Romanian generals advising. In a video where you detail a nation's position in a war, you don't just skip over certain facts. It's like talking about Germany's position and ignoring half their victories. When one goes into history to talk about wars, you go in depth regarding each side's perspective no matter how important they might be. Yes, exactly, national pride because people often don't know or have forgotten Romanian history and what the nation stands for. You can't detect my tone since this is a written message, but yea I don't want to have a discussion with someone who has virtually nothing important or interesting to say and thus far hasn't.
NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!! I asked for this on my other channel " shrek " a few times never thinking that you would actually make a video on it and you did! Man im absolutely thrilled right now i really, really appreciate you reading the comments and giving to your listeners what they ask haha!
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hi
Hello
What about the Soviet perspective of ww2 or the battle of Kursk from the tank perspective
Hi
Do ww2 perspective from Spain 🇪🇸
Half-Romanian half-Hungarian here, born and raised in Transylvania. The truth is that both HU and RO were cursed by their geographic position (in between Germany and the Soviets). If we were positioned like Portugal or Spain, we would have the luxury of being 'neutral' while still supporting the side we want to win the war. Instead, we had war fought on our own borders, and hundreds of thousands of our young men fight and die in foreign lands for foreign benefits. And then we got 45 years of communism as a 'reward'. Never again.
Well said!
as a Romanian, you're right :(
adevarat
„Communism“
@@petergoge2072 if this is an attempt to justify communism, in the name of millions in my people that suffered from communism and hundreds of thousands of innocents killed by this evil, a heartfelt “da-te-n mortii ma-ti de terminat” ❤
Switzerland: I have no enemies!
Romania: All I have is enemies!
Switzerland is like Thorfinn and Romania as Eren
*Duşmanii!*
fr bro
@@jadeorbigoso5212 glad someone got that reference
@@jadeorbigoso5212
THAT is 100% True. Always enemies. A single small country between empires.
Fun fact. Bulgaria did not take part in operation Barbarossa. This is most likely why it was allowed to keep the territory it took from Romania while Hungary did not.
Effectively making Bulgaria the only Axis power to end the war with a net territorial gain.
@@CG-yq2xy most allied powers did not have a territorial gain either. if anything, everyone lost territory sooner or later
@MehdiEpsilon the Soviets stolen Bessarabia and North Bucovina in 1940. Even now in Romania is a big hatred against Russia for this. Hungary did not just occupied the Transylvanian territory but also they committed atrocities against Romanian civilians.
Well, it seems they did exactly nothing to contribute to the Axis, besides skirmishing with the Soviet Black Sea Fleet that attacked their commerce. They did send a train with medical personnel, and the train was used to evacuate wounded personnel away from the frontline, but that's about it.
actually the Bulgarian High Command correctly predicted the outcome of Operation Barbarossa and let the Soviets know their thoughts. even the Soviets didnt believe in themselves back then
Fun Fact: Romania was a more useful ally than Italy (Hungary and Vichy France likewise)
That was obvious
That’s like smelling nicer than poo.
Both WW, tjey (ITALY) decided to join the "wrong party" and twice they tried to switch to the winning team, as soon there were better opportunities😂
Only better than hungary because of having more people. Hungary had a larger armored force tbh. Switching sides isnt really useful
German when entering Romania where's the Oil 😂
I was hoping you would mention the Ploiesti Air Attack.
For those who dont know, in 1943 allied troops attempted to decrease axis fuel capacity by bombarding the romanian oil fields. This was called "Operation: Tidal Wave" and it took palce on 1st of August 1943.
Long story short: it failed as the allied aircraft engaged in a battle against the romanian airforce and the luftwaffe. Only around a hundred people died mostly prisoners after an american plane crashed into a complex.
Romanian army may have been severly weakened but it was still capable of fighting
My grandfather was a fighter pilot and he fought in that battle. His plane was later shot down by the Russians. He survived and recovered in hospital. By the time he recovered the Germans had peaced out and Romania switched sides.
@eongerbe stiu ca se prăbușeșc ca paserile noaste
Around half of those 100 people died from the prison crash. Others happened from delayed fuse bombs and ground strafe attacks.
To continue, the Allied air campaign over Romania restarted in 1944 but still failed at its goal of reducing the oil production capacity by at least 60-70% (as I've read, it was only reduced by 40-50% before the campaign was called off in August 1944 due to Soviet demands). The campaign did achieve some things: disrupting of Romanian industry, damaging of infrastructure and demoralizing the population and airmen who engaged the US and British bombers and fighters.
Also fun fact, the last US air raid over Romania happened on 26 August 1944 and it was called in by the Romanian leadership against the German troops occupying the Băneasa and Otopeni airports.
And King Michael visited the downed American pistols in the military hospital, as he said himself in a interview
Yet it surrendered as soon as the USSR reached its territory after being destroyed in Stalingrad and Kursk, lmao
As a basarabian (current day Republic of Moldova), my grand-grandfather was enrolled in the Romanian army when they crossed the river Prut and pushed the soviets back. My parents village is not far from the border, so I assume it was early on when the Barbarosa operation started. He got captured by the soviets probably in Crimea (some details have been lost) and spent a number of months as a POW.
After the Soviets occupied basarabia back or after Romanian surrender (again, details unclear), my grand-grandfather was told that he now is part of the soviet red army, and he's going to fight against germans now. How far he got with the soviet army, again, is lost..
But that was a common story for soldiers from basarabia.
P.S. I now live in Transilvania :D
My younger brother has visited your country. Said it’s very beautiful. Got to see the Russian band Любэ on may 8th.
My grandfather, also from Basserabia, was 18 when the soviets were pushing back and was taken straight into the war, by the Red Army. Lol. Like literally, "Congratulations Komrade, you are soviet now, welcome to the army". Fortunately he made it out alive and even got some decorations (for bravery, there is the story where he went to do reconnaissance or something and came back with a german for interrogation), although he was almost blown up in an air raid/attack (and was probably close to death on other occasions too). It's weird to think that if he would have died there, I wouldn't exist.
Transnistria doesn’t exist ! It’s rightfully owned by Moldova 💋 and Moldova by Romania 💋
@Daki.theUpper6 what does Transnistria have to do with anything?
@@Daki.theUpper6 Moldova is definitely not owned by Romania nor do we wish to "own" Moldova in any capacity. They are a friendly sovereign state that we share culture with and we agree and collaborate on many things. But there's no ownership in that relation.
Thanks for this video. My grandfather fought in the 4th romanian army during ww2. His cousin who I'm named after died at stalingrad.
goatman9997?
Damn. Cousin slayed hard with name goatman9998
My grandfather's brother also was part of the 4th army and died or got captured at Stalingrad
My great grandfather fought in the Romanian army in Odessa. 🇷🇴 His cousin was captured at the end of the war and released 9 years later. Everyone thought him dead.
RIP goatman9998 at Stalingrad
Romania fought bravely, and they were stuck between a rock and a hard place for the whole war
So for you bravery means the killing of 300.000 Jews and 100.000 Romas by forced labor and by death marches?
Romanian history in a nutshell going back to the Roman Empire then the Ottomans.
How about the poles, they were trapped between a dictator with bloodlust towards them and another dictator out who wanted to extinguish them.
😂😂😂😂😂
“Fought bravely” shouldn’t really be used in context of being allied with Hitler 💀
Only nation that is bordering Serbia and never went to war against them of their own will. And giving that Serbia was at war with all other neighbors (except Macedonians and Montenegrins but they are sperate story) that is quite the achievement.
As they say in Romania: 'we only have two friends on this world: Serbs and the sea.'
Romania always goes into war of it's own will. In the second balkan war, enemies of Bulgaria were already outnumbered, so Romanians know, that they could easily gain more territories if they join.
Another example for my statement is the Great war. Romania lost the war, the united forces of the centeal powers marched into Bucharest and Romania signed a peace treaty. But, a day before the end of the war Romania rejoined and did absolutely nothing in that one day, just to became a winner and gain lands.
WW2 weren't an exception, as we could see in the video. Romania joined to war, to get back it's gained and then lost lands...
@@MaceY._. That was my point, in WW2 they were forced to join. Even allowing German troops to attack Yugoslavia. Only time in history they went to war against Serbia.
@@2SSSR2 1396, Crusade of Nicopolis. Now you can also say, that "Serbia was forced to go into war", but they happily joined. Joined in the hope of rewards, not in the fear of consequences.
@@2SSSR2 I think on that occasion parts of Banat where on offering from Germany to Romania if it joined the attack. That is the catch people kind of forget.
@MaceY._. The BOZGOR strikes again!😂😂😂
As a half Greek by blood I find Romanian origin history to be very interesting. The clay comes and goes but the spirit of the people lives on
What do you mean? Romanians ate not greek. They just took the land but kept their slavic culture.
@@korosuke1788most popular theory is that romanians are dacians that were romanized by the Romans. Another theory is that romanians are actually illyrian. But the most proof one is the dacian one
@@Samsung-1.9Cu.Ft.MicrowaveRomanians were something at some point before being latinised, maybe a mixture of what kind of populations were present north west of nowadays Greece, illyrian like you said, together with some thracian/dacian influences. What is clear is that there is some connection in between the Romanian and Albanian vocabulary. For sure there was a giant migration at some point towards the Carpathian mountains. @korosuke1788 man you should really learn more stuff about Romanian people 😂
@@CristianDudutthere was no migration anywhere. there was a non-interrupted language continuum between years 100 to 600, severed by the slavic migrations, those "belorussian" invaders... and dacian and illyrian shared already some words with each other that ended up being ultraconserved. others were adopted because Albanian merchants ended up in Bucharest selling either "varză" or "curechi"
@@porphyry17 Yea, I guess they weren't minding all the invaders for all those centuries. They were hosting the Goths and the Gepids and many others in their little wood cabins in the more touristic areas.
I am romanian.Both of my great grandfathers died on the eastern front , fighting for Germany. One at Sevastopol and the other one in Stalingrad, my grandpa was only 2 years old when his father died.. RIP!
RIP 🪦 ☠️ 🕯️
I'm romanian. My great grandfather fought also in Stalingrad on a Vickers anti air gun, he survived! came home but died 2 years latter of PTSD.
@@masterlee005that’s probably the worst way to die. PTSD. Just imagine fear so strong and so real that rips you into pieces from inside and from outside in a way.
Dumnezeu sa-i ierte.Au inbatranit in pamant strain.De parca ei ar fi dorit sa mearga acolo?Dar ordinul se executa nu se ...discuta .
this man and his team are a legend
thx
Was literally just thinking about how well done these videos are. Definitely a treat to watch for military history nerds like me.
Well, I hope his content is better researched for other videos. This one was a major letdown.
Thanks for this very interesting video.
I was born in Transilvania , half Romanian half German. Had a great childhood there.
My Romanian grandfather fought at Stalingrad and survived.
Killing Codreanu was a huge mistake made by Carol II, because the Iron Guard became truly fanatical and firmly aligned itself with Germany's insane ideological program, in addition of Codreanu becoming a martyr and worshiped like a saint by the Guard.
Not like Codreanu was a saint, by any means...
The Iron Guard already assasinated the Prime Minister and Carol II wasn't far away from the same fate either, ticking time bomb.
@@batty4103did you even know why they have killed the Prime Minister?
@@batty4103the original poster does have a point though, unknown at the time, but Horia Sima was a far more cruel and bloody leader than Codreanu was.
@@batty4103The prime minister had ordered the murder of two legionnaires from the guard
Romanian battle doctrine: We don't have to win. We just have to make sure you lose.
Romania death Corp of Krieg confirmed.
its crazy to think that the Joining of Romania caused so much damage to both sides during WW2 but its even crazier to think that Romania only took part to the wars because both the Allies and the Axis forced them into it by seizing romanian land
why is this crazy, though? No normal country willingly participate in a war that they have no interest in until provoked. Look at Switzerland! They live just fine without siding with anyone in any war. And that's what we were about to do, too, but the geopolitical affairs have dragged us into the war. I genuinely see nothing crazy about deciding to stay neutral forever, do you mind explaining your logic behind calling this decision crazy?
@@blabla-rg7kyregardless Romania still committed genocide against its own Jewish-Romanian citizens, without the influence of Nazi germany. You can claim geography as the reason for siding with potentially the most evil army in recent history, but the truth isn’t really bright for a Romanian looking to find comfort in WW2
@@blabla-rg7ky Staying neutral forever is unrealistic. Whenever you stay neutral, you in fact take the side of the stronger party, regardless if that party fights for a just cause or not.
@@blabla-rg7ky Switzerland remained neutral and didn't get invaded because it would have been a pain in the ass to invade
Look at its geograpgy, full of mountains
@@isg4 if it had some oilwells, you bet it would have been airdropped like Crete
German Alliance to Romania in a nutshell
If you have oil and I have oil and I have a straw and my straw reaches acccrrrooosss, the field starts to drink your oil
I drink your oil. I drink it up
Reference to the Movie: There Will Be Blood
"Don't bully me, Germany!"
Also funny: They called There will be blood a vampire movie in disguise
US: *DID YOU SAY OIL???*
Was an economic and political alliance. Was NO military treaty between Berlin - Bucharest.
Good brief presentation of the WW2 history. Many assassinations/murders happened during this time that influenced the political scene in Romania.
My grand-grandfather (a senior civilian) was killed by the soviets in his home when the red army crossed into Romania, while Romania was allied with the soviets.
They also did unimaginable things to civilians that can not be replicated in a RUclips comment.
Its allmost like we hated commies for a reason ... hmmmm
My grandfather fought in 1944 in Romanian Army being allied with the Soviets in the Tatra mountains for the liberation of Cehoslovacia. The Soviets were using them as cannon fodder, sending them in advance before sending the red army troops.
So did the germans too
Fun fact: Romania was the only country in the world with king and communist government :)
Wasn't Cambodia in the same situation? I think they still have the monarchy.
Grenada also for a time was under Communist rule but still had Queen Elizabeth as monarch.
it was a king and a fascist government.
Sanatescu and Groza were not actual communists, more like lefty, big tent kind of solutions for the what proved to be a transitional period, one could argue that Sanatescu had monarchy sympathies.
Have u ever been to United Kingdom recently ?
Wow as a romanian i m surprised about this one
Thank you and keep your content go !
Half of this video was just rambling about anti-Semitism. Like seriously no one on earth cares can he just get on with the video
world class comedy
@@mrwhips3623 Because that's what lead to the politics Romania was ruled by, the Legionary Movement (Iron Guard as its translated) was inspired by national-socialism, they had to take on jews, and it kept Romania close to the Axis
that's happen when you skip history class (however bad or boring would it be)
We didn't choose between Nazi and Allies. We choose between Nazi and Soviet Union. We always had good relation with UK and US even during war
Those "good relations" ended when Romania declared war on the US in December 1941.
@@dragosstanciu9866 HAHAHAHH no they did not, thoes good relations continued throught the cold war making romania effectively not affected by the "iron curtain". It's possible to read up on history before you say things you know.
@@tortellinifettuccineThis is Romania in WW2, not Romania in the Cold War during the rule of Nicolae Ceausescu. In WW2 Romania as a member of the Axis was at war with the USA.
That's such a good point
Hitler's promises to Romania's command in order to go past Bessarabia:
- Winter gear
- Powerful AT guns
- Tanks
- Modern german planes
- Rations
What the romanian soldiers actually get:
- Squat
- Some light AT guns captured from the french
- Squat
- A couple of old fighters
- Squat
We got a Panzer III tanks from Germany. It was named the T4 in Romania. And by Barbarosa we didn’t need German fighters as we were already producing the IAR 80 and IAR 81.
As a Romanian I thank you for making a video with Romania in World War Two since not a lot of people know about Romania's involvement in the conflict. Also Romanian military was the second most powerful from the Eastern Front and we had important victories at Odessa, Kiev, Sevastopol and we even participated in the battle of Stalingrad.
Fun fact: Prime Minister of Romania from WW 2 Ion Antonescu yelled at Hitler once and even called him crazy that shows how much confidence and guts Antonescu had and he was very respected by Hitler because he was always very documented about history and when Antonescu was meeting Hitler he always gave history lessons to Hitler also criticizing the Second Vienna Award.
😅they made a quick move to the Allies, I'd say that was extremely lucky or genius. Today not many people know that Romania was a German ally and that it was antisemitic.
@@davianoinglesias5030
Well, I can say that the decision to betray the Axis Powers wasn't particullary genius since the Soviets still occupied our nation and forced communist rule. Antonescu tried to make a separate peace with Britain and United States so our nation will be occupied by U.S.A and Britain not by the Soviets but sadly it failed.
Antonescu just sounds like a Putin
@@vulpes7079 please... for all his faults, and yes he comitted war crimes and crimes against humanity, Antonescu was at heart a true, professional military man.
Google his last letter to his wife, before he was executed.
@@StirbMensch I have no sympathy for a monster who was complicit in the Holocaust, and the fact that you do says a lot about your (lack of) character
My grandfather fought at Stalingrad. He started the war on day one of the liberation of Bassarabia. From his unit at Stalingrad only him and 12 others managed to escape and returned back to Romania by foot in the winter. When the soviets reached the country he again joined the fight and was wonded near the city of Iasi. After the war the new comunist goverment put him in prison because he was a member of the Iron Guard back in the 30's when he was in highschool. He got out after 7 years and died in 1990. He was highly decorated in combat. RIP grandpa!
@LittleDolfie Codreanu may have been charming, and not completely without principles. Horia Sima, however, who took over the leadership of the Iron Guard, was nothing like Zelea Codreanu. That change of leadership completely changed the Iron Guard's nature. Under Sima's leadership, the Iron Guard was in no way better than the German nazis or the Italian fascists.
Also, charismatic as he might have been, Codreaun preached authoritarianism, was fiercely racist and violent. That's not charming and not idealistic - unless your ideal is a society dominated by violence.
@LittleDolfie Democracy functions exactly as good as the people that make up the nations. Democracy will be ruled by money and by low quality masses when the people making up that democracy will be greedy cowards.
It isn't violence that built Rome. It's discipline and respect for hard work and strong legal institutions and technological innovation. It isn't so much military strategy or individual martial qualities that makes up Rome's heritage. It's Roman law, the aqueduct, baths, roads and the Collosseum. It's agriculture and Roman cement. It's sanitation and surgery. To this day, what keeps Europe, a community of rather small countries, relevant on the international stage, isn't military proves, it's its capability to generate innovation and to educate its people better than any other part of the world, despite its fragmentation.
Violence brings nothing but destruction. There were long centuries, after Rome fell, during which Europe was ravaged by violence. Nothing good emerged from that time. Much of what Rome built was destroyed and forgotten. Countless invaders managed to run over Europe almost unopposed.
The renaissance had to happen, which had nothing to do with violence, before Europe started to rebuild, after more than a thousand years of almost constant internal waring - and then immediately sparked Europe's colonial era, during which superior European culture and technology spread over all other continents.
True, colonialism was associated with a ton of violence, but that was just the consequence of a thousand years of war not disappearing overnight. None of the European empires acted like the Ottomans or the Mongols, destroying and plundering and building nothing in place of what they destroyed. They all were eager to impose their culture and habits in the colonized territories and to build peaceful and productive societies there, obviously to the benefit of the empire's heartland more than to the benefit of the colonies, but still, it was a huge difference to the way Russia or China, both non-European cultures (geographically Moscow, the origin of the Russian empire, lies in Europe, but its cultural identity, especially in its early days, was given by its Mongol rulers) extended their empires by e terminating whatever they found in place and putting absolutely nothing in place.
Russia and some smaller Latin American countries are very good examples of what violence leads to: failed states, where human life has no value, no decent life is possible and no evolution to the benefit of humanity overall ever happens. When was the last time you heard of some outstanding academic or technological achievement coming out of a violence-ridden country? Do you believe a group of violent rowdies would be able to build a space ship?
And you are proud of your nazi grandfather, are you?
My great grandfather fought in Stalingrad also! he served on a Vickers anti air gun, he survived and manage to came back home in Arges. But sadly he died 2 years latter of PTSD...
My grandpa's brother, Simeon also fought on the Eastern front but was wounded just before Stalingrad, he was lucky, very few of his companions came back. He died in 1989 (26 December) in Bucharest. He had a heart attack triggered by the Revolution.
His wife died on the same date 10 years later.
My grandpa was younger and he only joined in 1944 - he fought on the western front. He'd reached Czechoslovakia when the war was declared over.
I'm Romanian and i love your videos!
Dah
His video is total antiromanian. Wtf is with you ?
I was actually researching Romania's involvement in the conflict just before this. Thanks for the upload.
As a romanian who watches you daily i respect you for doing this. Hats down armchair historian🫡
as a romanian, i swear, when we had to learn about WW2 I stopped. I couldn’t accept the fate we had after the war, belive me when 30 ish kids start to cry in history class, then you know it really meant a lot to us. We want our basarabia back
You're willing to go to war for it? 🤡
Northern Bukovina was not part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact but the USSR wanted it anyway.
Yes, and that was because Stalin make a "wrong" drawing on the map.
And they took what Stalin draw.
I really appreciate these other perspectives on WW2! I look forward to one on the Swedish perspective one day...
As a Romanian born and living in Romania I will enjoy this informational video greatly!
Thanks! Excellent and as a Romania 🇷🇴 I love this video, can you make one about Transnistria conflict.
Sadly we cannot cover such minor topics.
@@ghost7344 could be a section on a video about Socialist Romania and Moldavian SSR
I don't think so. It has no jews in it.
@@Louschen94did they all migrate to Israel?
Two of my great-grandfathers fought in the war. One was captured by the soviets, the other fought against germany.
“I would rather live in a swamp of Greater Romania than in a paradise of a small Romania” is such a hard quote.
Typical nationalist brainrot
Love that
agreed
HoI IV loading screen quotes
Looks like we settled on a bit of each and got a ''small'' ''swamp''. lol Just joking.
Romania 🇹🇩🇹🇩🇹🇩!!!!!
As a romanian, I am glad tha you've made this video
Constanta is nice. And the people seem friendly.
multumim frumos@@lugo8824
@@lugo8824 romanians are friendly generally, as long as you arent driving 😉😉
You used the Chad flag :(
:(@@theafinaman7260
Let’s go I have been watching you for 5 years now and I have been wanting Romania 🇷🇴 for so long and I am sure everyone else has to
I am from romania and I am so happy that you made this love your vids
Traiasca Romania Mare!
ieși și du-te naibii de naționalist.@@batty4103
Interesting perspective love the fact that 80 years later everyday I learn new stories of WW2
I feel like any Romanian perspective needs to be narrated by The Count from Sesame Street.
"Vun! Vun Vurld Var!"
"Two! Two Vurld Var! A-ha-ha"
Lol, I love dark humor! Please don't stop! 😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Always glad to see an upload from this channel.
Love to see the mixing of history with memes
Romania was at its direst hour before and during WW2…not to mention after. In these tough times my grandparents lived. My grandparent fought at Stalingrad and came back alive…
It was the king that despised the Iron Guard, not the other way around.
He despised anyone who threatened his power, deeply unpopular as he was.
king mihai was a soviet collaborator, he betrayed his country and served Romania on a dish to the soviets unconditionally, despite that Antonescu's government was already negotiating peace with the Allied forces with fair conditions for his country
Thank you for the education you provide us! Especially in animated form!
cool pfp bro
@@levtrot3041 Thanks bro. You to comrade!
13:13 did anyone else notice the ghost leave the soldiers body after he collapsed?
Another great video from one of the greatest History RUclipsr.
Thank you for covering this dark bit of Romanian history. This just goes to show that Romania has been, and continues to be, at a crossroads of geopolitical instability in Europe. This is probably why the US also considers Romania as a valuable ally in this part of Europe.
By ally you mean puppet...
Romania and Poland are key to stop potential russian invasion like planned before WWII.
I really like the way you storytell.
same, this story is awesome like the rest of your videos!
Babe wake up! The new WW2 perspective just dropped!
Hey guys it would be great if you could do one for Bulgaria as well! There are some great novelties like it being the only country to refuse to ship out their jews, gain territory after losing the war AND having its Tsar (likely) assassinated in the process. Great video as always!
Just yesterday I was thinking about the possibility of you making this video
Thank you so much!!
dude, the details of the designs in this clip are purely amazing!
Romania: Sirs, this is the scariest moment of my life but I'm willing to fight on your side!
Germany and Italy: mhhhh... oil🤤🤤
Thank you so much for making this video! I am so glad the minor axis nations get more recognition.
Winston Churchill: I was saving the planet from an Axis of Darkness, while you were back home opening National Parks! Yes!
Oversimplified: This enraged the allies, who punished the Axis severely.
erb?
It would be very interesting for you guys to tackle ww2 from the Thai perspective. They aren't really mentioned as often, but I would like to consider them an axis collaborator.
Great video as always!
Bro, i just finished my romania playthrough in hoi4 as this drops
My great grandpa fought in an AA regiment in ukraine 1943 and 1944 i respect you man. Thanks for making this video
Im romanian,and I enjoyed this documentary!
I would like to add some things:
1)You forgot to include the German bombing of Bucharest;
2)The Romanian armies participated in the liberation of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, our armies reaching the Tatra mountains.
Hello ;)
@@CampiaTurziiMapper hello :))
Hungary was not 'liberated'. Such an american-tier thing to say
@@HaartieeTRUEIt was turned into a german puppet state, so before the soviets installed the communist government, it was kinda liberated
@@HaartieeTRUE Soviets used the rhetoric of liberation as well, starting even before Barbarossa. You see, everyone not in Soviet sphere is a capitalist or fascist and therefore not free by default.
My grandpa is a big fan of the civl war and has always been interested in the battle of Franklin in Tennessee in 1864 I was hoping you could do a vid on it. Thank you
Romainia is often under looked and largely seen as bad as Italy because of their part in the German defeat at Stalingrad im glad we got a video that covers their perspective and how they where one of Germany’s more useful Allies in the war
So much history, only 17 minutes to tell it, at least it wasn't a ticktock, thanks for making this
You forgot to mention that Romania warn the germans about imminent counter offensive of Russians at Stalingrad... not once, multiple times, You focus so much on jews that you forgot to say about the American attack on Romania.
Romania under the rule of Nazi puppet regime of Antonescu or the Soviets was never the official country of Romania.
so you thinking that Americans bombed "Romanian targets" is somehow bad is not ok.
Americans bombed Nazi army equipment or oil fields to destroy the Nazi regime.
Antonescu was a coward and traitor of Romania.
the official government of Romania was that of the king Michael.
The Jews were a huge part of WW2. They provided the stolen wealth, scapegoat status, and slave labor that powered the Nazis.
Thank you for the video, my great grandfather fought in the defense of Bucharest in 1944, so thank you again.
I'm from România and I liked this video 👍
That helmetless guy in 10:55 looks a lot like a future leader of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu. King Michael is an interesting character. If I'm not mistaken, him having died just few years ago, he was the last surviving person, to have been in charge of a belligerent nation in WW2.
Yup, you're right
Yeah, he was in charge for like a few days, before his western friends played him, and soviets sent him into exile
keep up the good work, absolutely LOVE your vids
I know some people don’t like these kinds of videos but if you could do a Hungarian perspective video it would really appreciate it as I play a Hungarian army In a tabletop game and their is not a lot of good material in English (though there are some good ones few and far between)
Finally! I have wanted this video for a while. Thank you. I would like to suggest Thailand's perspective in WWII since they are another forgotten axis power.
Romania do not give up the Cadrilater(Southern Dobruja) at Second Vienna Award , the treaty was only with Hungary .The treaty of Craiova was with Bulgaria
Thank you for all you do!!!
Fascinating! Really enjoyed it!
It is really nice to see a video about a country that doesn't get talked about much. Thanks for making these videos
Side Note: I feel like it would be amazing to see a collaboration with The Armchair Historian and Extra History for a video
Nice video onde again. Coudl you do Czechoslovakian perspective next?
A VIDEO ABT ROMANIA FROM MY FAVORITE HISTORY CHANEL RAGGGGH🦅🇹🇩🇹🇩🇹🇩
Romania mentioned🥳🥳🥳🇷🇴🇷🇴🇷🇴❤️❤️❤️ As a Romanian thank you for sharing this video about our history. There’s so much more to tell, so much context that you understandably had to skip in order to not make this video too long. What I would like to add and I think it’s important to mention is that despite the Carol and then Antonescu regime as well as the Iron Guard who all took anti-semitic measures in order to ally with Hitler, most Romanians were not anti-semitic and were in favour of democracy, hence why King Michael I together with the democratic traditional parties, most notably PNL and PNȚ, were able to arrest Antonescu in 1944 and restore democracy for a short couple of years before the soviets forced communism upon us🥲
This is actually perfect: I'm writing an essay on Romania in WWII right now
Under the 1947 Treaty of Paris, the Allies did not acknowledge Romania as a co-belligerent nation but instead applied the term "ally of Hitlerite Germany" to all recipients of the treaty's stipulations. Like Finland, Romania had to pay $300 million to the Soviet Union as a war reparations. However, the treaty specifically recognized that Romania switched sides on 24 August 1944, and therefore "acted in the interests of all the United Nations". As a reward, Northern Transylvania was, once again, recognized as an integral part of Romania, but the border with the USSR and Bulgaria was fixed at its state in January 1941, restoring the pre-Barbarossa status quo (with one exception). Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Eastern territories became part of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.
It was a switch of regime after a coup d etat, and yes, ulterior switch of sides. It didnt just happen from thin air.
They had to pay $300 million to the aggressors? Outrageous...
Finally, I'm really glad there are more videos outlining the war perspective of lesser scale conflicts. Hopefully soon Czechoslovakia, Poland and Denmark can have a video aswell.
Please do WW2 From the Irish Perspective next ☘️💚🤍🧡🇮🇪
Good how chill you seem in your recent videos 😄
Fun fact : Beetween January 1944 and January 1945 Bucharest was bombed by France , Great Britain, USA , USSR and Germany , probably the Japanese plane didn't have enough fuel to get a part of the action . After the war a monument for the Great American liberators was established (almost 30k casualties from their bombing alone) history will forever be written by the victors .
"liberators"😂
Romania put in work on Jews and other unwanted people just like Germany. Don't try to act like a victim. You reap what you sow.
You act like that was wrong. Or they are trying to hide it. This is still US strategy today. Why risk losing your own people when you can strike them without high casualties from the air. Better technology wins.
King Micheal mewing pretty hard at 15:54 when he refuse to work with the axis.
Antonescu was better, as a romanian
@@brazzy3881antonescu was a traitor of the guard, he executed young teenagers who cooperated with the guard..
Every time I see modern slang, I lose -15 in intelligence.
Antonescu knew we would lose, Michael prevented further catastrophes since our war capabilities are finished, further people would die which would be unnecessary@@brazzy3881
@@brazzy3881 Antonescu and Mihai were not opposed leaders.
This is something I hoped the video would touch upon, as to stop the "Antonescu-Mihai" feud, no such luck unfortunately.
someone didn't made his homework properly....
i believe on the website of israeli counterintelligence appeared, some years ago, a message thanking romanians for helping the jews during the ww2. i find hard to believe that this was due to the pogroms conducted by romanian army on that days. even that it is officialy know that the stationed germans done those actions.
well, you never know...
I hope once again that nobody forgetting what happened to Antonescu for all the allegations. Waiting for Palestine
Some justice happened here in Romania. Some Romanians from that period were acknowledged as saints recently and canonized in the Romanian Orthodox Church. Some jew organisations didn't like this, but who cares?
@@sfappetrupavelandrei The True church has not sold out.
One of the countries I most wish we could've spared from Soviet occupation. Very special place with a very unique and cool history that spent a long time with a boot on its neck until the people were fed up with it. It's got a very similar problem that former East German territories and Hungary have where they could all be much better off today if they weren't used as a way to feed Moscow.
"I cannot forgive Churchill, who threw us into the hands of the Russians" - King Michael, reference to Yalta Conference.
Promises were made and broken.... Honestly this looks like a recurring pattern for every small nation, when dealing with it's western 'friends'
@@bogdanbotis1524 Yeah because their Eastern friends were so nice /s
@@bogdanbotis1524 It's called terrible diplomacy mate.
please do Bulgaria next please
just the picture won me over and i had to watch
A bit wrong on the iron guard part. There is nothing mentioned regarding ethnicity and purity in their manifesto or views. There is also no restriction for a non Romanian to join the iron guard.
a bit wrong on more than one part
also kept saying "antisemetic and anti-all-those-other-ethnicities" as if jews were more important than everybody else.
There were also many greeks in the iron guard from the otoman period.
@@dubl33_27 , well, there was no real "anti-semitism" , hence why recently this classification was removed from law when describing it. You usually describe anti-semitism as something that revolves around having a race-hating or ethnicity-hating thought/thoughts, but the Iron Guard was not National-Socialist, nor did Codreanu ever say that Jews were "disliked" for being Jews. But to say that the Iron Guard promoted ideas such as "ethnic purity" is nonsense, and Codreanu himself wasn't "pure" to begin with. Even our whole "romanity of Romanians" talks about us not being pure, but instead being a breed of multiple people groups ( invaders / migrants / natives ).
A quote from Codreanu:
"It doesn't matter that he is a Jew and please remember forever that the relentless fight of an authentic legionnaire must not be directed against the Jews as such, but against those who harm Romania and the Christian Church. (C. Z. Codreanu about saving a Jew from drowning)"
I love watching videos about Romania❤
The Iron Guard was a important thing for interwar Romania but it never called the shots until 1940, Romania was rulled until 1938 by the traditional democratic parties.
They weren't very democratic. Ion Duca had political opponents murdered by the gendarmerie.
Very good short documentary of what was a quite difficult times
WW2 from the Romanian Perspective but you fail to mention quite a bit. Such as the many Romanian victories against Soviet forces, apart from the Lascar Group.
What, you want him to cover every batallion-sized skirmish on the eastern front?
@@bogdanbotis1524 Well if you knew some basic history, since by your name I'm guessing you're Romanian, you'd know that Lascar's efforts saved thousands if not hundreds of thousands of lives and not only that but showed outstanding bravery. It's not a skirmish either, it was a full on battle, let alone the dozen others he didn't care to cover.
@@kingswood9064 Geez, if only I knew some basic history... How could you possibly ascertain my level of knowledge from our exchange so far? Truth is, nothing that the romanian army achieved on the eastern front was decisive in nature, despite those events making for some fascinating stories.... So why criticize that those events were not included in a 17 minute video covering romania's position in the whole war? Just for national pride? But anyway, your tone leads me to believe that you're not really interested in a discussion, or honest criticism and just want to brag to internet strangers that you know some obscure facts, in order to get some cheap attention..
@@bogdanbotis1524 Romania often found itself to be the vanguard of the Axis Forces in the South-East. A lot of the victories achieved, at Odessa, Sevastopol and so forth were lead by Romanian forces on the ground and indeed commanded by Germans with Romanian generals advising. In a video where you detail a nation's position in a war, you don't just skip over certain facts. It's like talking about Germany's position and ignoring half their victories. When one goes into history to talk about wars, you go in depth regarding each side's perspective no matter how important they might be. Yes, exactly, national pride because people often don't know or have forgotten Romanian history and what the nation stands for. You can't detect my tone since this is a written message, but yea I don't want to have a discussion with someone who has virtually nothing important or interesting to say and thus far hasn't.
NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!
I asked for this on my other channel " shrek " a few times never thinking that you would actually make a video on it and you did!
Man im absolutely thrilled right now i really, really appreciate you reading the comments and giving to your listeners what they ask haha!
THANK YOU SO MUCH, I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS EPISODE SINCE 2020! I LOVE YOUR WORK!
Glad that the channel is covering lesser known players from WWII
Love Romania 🇷🇴 from Canada 🇨🇦 🐺😎
love u back 🇷🇴❤🇨🇦
Animation gets better every video, thank you for still posting on RUclips
fun fact. Romania was the only ally who was ready to go in war on the side of Czechoslovakia, when they mobilized against Germany.
Video about romania, Huge W