Partea I Partea a II-a Partea a III-a
O serie de articole de epocă, de la siteul The Great War in a Different Light, despre realităţile de pe frontul românesc, în timpul primului război mondial.
- from 'The War Illustrated', 16th September, 1916
- 'Why Rumania Is Our New Ally'

Nations Have No Friends, Only Interests

To be perfectly frank, Rumania has joined in the colossal conflict from the simplest, sincerest, and most universal of all human motives—self-interest. But while this is true, it is not by any means the whole truth, for in her case self-interest coincides, as it does not always nor even often, with the principles of justice and eternal right. When on Sunday, August 27th, she declared war on Austria-Hungary, and thereby also declared that she took the side of the Allies, she was inspired by the conviction that the time was opportune for her to realise that which she long has desired.
Frank Statement of "Casus Belli"
What Rumania wants is such an extension of her territory as will include the people of her own race, known as the Rumanes, who live in that part of Hungary called Transylvania, and who for many years have groaned under the tyranny and oppression of the Magyars. And she finds a further justification of her action in the well-grounded belief that her definite appearance in the field at the present juncture will tend to hasten the end of the vast and terrible struggle which has shaken the world to its foundations.
In the interesting Note, which was handed to the Austro-Hungarian Minister at Bukarest after the Crown Council had come to its momentous decision, Rumania defines her attitude in the matter with refreshing candour. Towards the close of this remarkable document, which writes the first page of a new epoch in her history, she observes very accurately that the war raises the gravest problems affecting the national development and the very existence of States, and then goes on to say that " Rumania, from a desire to contribute in hastening the end of the conflict, and governed by the necessity of safeguarding her racial interest, sees herself forced to enter into line with those able to assure to her the realisation of the national unity. The expression "sees herself forced," with the regret it implies, comes naturally enough from her past position, first with respect to the alliance which subsisted between her and Germany, Austria, and Italy prior to the war, and secondly with regard to her special relations with the Dual Monarchy.
Before the Note was published it was widely supposed, rather than positively known, that Rumania had entered into some sort of, treaty with the Central Powers and Italy, who in 1914 formed the Triple Alliance. This compact, she tells us, was essentially of a conservative and defensive character, its object being to guarantee security to the contracting parties against any attack from outside. When the war broke out both Italy and Rumania, rightly looking on the belligerency of Germany and Austria as distinctly aggressive, declined to endorse it, and refused to begin hostilities against the Entente Powers, but both still remained members—at any rate nominally—of the Triple Alliance, which only passed out of existence when Italy, in 1915, declared war on Austria.