Author: Dr. Constantin CORNEANU

Romanian-Soviet Relations in the ‘80s (II)*

Romanian-Soviet Relations in the ‘80s (II)*

Posted by | 5 Aug 2024 | , , , , |

The extremely tense Romanian-Soviet relations after April 1964 would deteriorate even more during Mikhail S. Gorbachev‘s mandate. The leaders of Kremlin criticised Nicolae Ceaușescu and, at the same time, could not forgive him for his ambition and his demonstrative flirting with the West. Speaking about Nicolae Ceaușescu, Mikhail S. Gorbachev stated that after August 21, 1968, he began to distance himself from the Soviet Union and to emphasize his demand for Romania’s independence and sovereignty to be respected in every way possible, so that this basic demand in itself, repeated on every occasion and even without reason, turned into a kind...

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Romanian-Soviet Relations in the ‘80s (I)*

Romanian-Soviet Relations in the ‘80s (I)*

Posted by | 16 Jul 2024 | , , , , |

The extremely tense Romanian-Soviet relations after April 1964 would deteriorate even more during Mikhail S. Gorbachev‘s mandate. The leaders of Kremlin criticised Nicolae Ceaușescu and, at the same time, could not forgive him for his ambition and his demonstrative flirting with the West. Speaking about Nicolae Ceaușescu, Mikhail S. Gorbachev stated that after August 21, 1968, he began to distance himself from the Soviet Union and to emphasize his demand for Romania’s independence and sovereignty to be respected in every way possible, so that this basic demand in itself, repeated on every occasion and even without reason, turned into a kind...

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Romania and Hungary in the Context of 1989*

Romania and Hungary in the Context of 1989*

Posted by | 4 Jul 2024 | , , , , |

The article below tackles the relations between Hungary and Romania in the context of the internal and external political developments of the two states during 1989. An old and historical rivalry regarding the historical ownership over Transylvania, taking a turn for the worse after 1918 and especially after 1945, would influence the relations between Budapest and Bucharest despite the fact that both states embraced the same ideology and social-economic development model. The very good relations between the leaders in Budapest and those in the Kremlin, especially after 1956, would serve to uphold Hungary’s increasingly belligerent attitude towards Romania, having...

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The strategic interests of Romania and Russia in the Black Sea Basin*

The strategic interests of Romania and Russia in the Black Sea Basin*

Posted by | 24 Apr 2017 | , , , , |

On December 15, 1941, in the opening lesson on the history of the Black Sea, historian Gheorghe I. Bratianu identified two “key positions”, respectively decisive geopolitical positions that Romania had to include in its strategic calculations: “1. The entry of the Bosphorus and, in general, of the system of straits leading the navigation beyond this closed sea; and 2. Crimea, which, through its natural harbours, through its fortresses from the oldest times, through the advanced sea bastion it represents in the Black Sea is obviously a dominant position over all the maritime complex here. Whoever has Crimea can dominate...

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When dawn came, they…weren’t sleeping. „The Soviet Preemptive Strike” and the German reply of June 22, 1941 (2)

When dawn came, they…weren’t sleeping. „The Soviet Preemptive Strike” and the German reply of June 22, 1941 (2)

Posted by | 18 Jun 2016 | , , , , |

On June 17, 1945, a group of Soviet military investigators conducted an interrogation of Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel who would declare: “I must affirm that the preparatory measures carried out by us in the spring of 1941 were defensive preparations in the event of a Red Army offensive. Thus, the entire Eastern war, for the most part, can be called preventive. We thought…to prevent the offensive of Soviet Russia and, with an unexpected blow, to obliterate its armed forces. In the spring of 1941 I had formed a clear opinion: the concentration of Russian troops and their subsequent offensive...

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