Greater Romania - Definition and Overview

Greater Romania (România Mare) generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First and Second World Wars, the greatest territorial exent of a united country of ethnic Romanians, on historically Romanian lands. The word now carries a nationalistic connotation within Romania and is the name of a nationalist political party. The politically correct Romanian term "România Întregită" has its closest meaning in English as "Whole Romania".

In 1918, at the end of World War I, Transylvania and Bessarabia united with the Romanian Old Kingdom, Transylvania united by a Proclamation of Union of Alba Iulia voted by the Deputies of the Romanians from Transylvania; Bessarabia, having declared its independence from Russia in 1917 by the Conference of the Country (Sfatul Ţarii), called in Romanian troops to protect the province from the Bolsheviks who were spreading the Russian Revolution. The union of the regions of Transylvania, Maramureş, Crişana and Banat with the Old Kingdom of Romania was ratified in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon which recognised the sovereignty of Romania over these regions and settled the border between the independent Republic of Hungary and the Kingdom of Romania. The union of Bucovina and Bessarabia with Romania was ratified in 1920 by the Treaty of Versailles. Romania had also recently acquired the Southern Dobrudja terrritory called the Quadrilateral from Bulgaria as a result of its victory in the Second Balkan War in 1913.

See also

• History of Romania

România Mare is also the name of a political party. See Great Romania Party.