King Carol's main objective in Romania’s foreign…
October 1883 CE
King Carol's main objective in Romania’s foreign policy (shared by the majority of Liberal and Conservative leaders) is to make his country a regional power and an indispensable ally of the Great Powers in maintaining international stability, thereby guaranteeing his kingdom's security and vital interests.
To this end Carol and a small number of ministers, harboring an almost obsessive distrust of Russia, sign a secret treaty of alliance with Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy in 1883.
The primary attraction is Germany, whose military and economic power they admire and hope to use as protection against Russia, but because the majority of Romanians are sympathetic to France, the treaty is kept a closely guarded state secret.
Moreover, Romania's adherence to the Triple Alliance is under constant strain because of friction with Germany's partner, Austria-Hungary.
King Carol is of German ancestry.
That, coupled with his wish to turn Romania into a center of stability in Southeastern Europe (as well as his fear of Russian expansion and their competing claims on Bessarabia), leads Romania secretly joining the Triple Alliance on October 18, 1883.
Only the King and a handful of senior Romanian politicians know about it.
Romania and Austria-Hungary pledge to help each other in the event of a Russian, Serbian, or Bulgarian attack.
There are, however, several disputes between the two countries, the most notable being the policy of Magyarization of Transylvania's Romanian population.
Romania will eventually manage to achieve the status of Regional Power in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars and the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest, but less than a year later, the First World War will start and Romania, after a period of neutrality, in which both the Central Powers and the Allies try persuading Romania to join their respective sides, will eventually join the Allies in 1916, after being promised Romanian-inhabited Austro-Hungarian lands.
Romania's official reason for not siding with the Triple Alliance when the war starts will be the same as Italy's: the Triple Alliance is a defensive alliance, but Germany and Austria-Hungary have taken the offensive.