King Michael's coup

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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Domains

  • Changes of government, elections and reigns
  • Dictatorships and coups

Dates

  • Date of occurrence 1944-08-23

Places

  • Romania (Location)
King Michael of Romania led a successful coup with support from opposition politicians and the army, successfully deposing the Antonescu-led governemtn. In a proclamation broadcast on the radio, the King issued a cease-fire just as the Red Army was penetrating into Romanian territory, proclaimed Romania's loyalty to the Allies, announced the acceptance of the armistice offered by Great Britain, the United States, and the USSR, and declared war on Germany. This, however, did not stop the rapidly advancing Soviet force, which captured more than 100,000 Romanian soldiers who were then sent to the Soviet Union's prison camps, where most of them perished. It has been suggested that the coup may have shortened World War II by six months.

117 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "King Michael's coup". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 May 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=7111, accessed 23 November 2024.]

7111 King Michael's coup 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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