PETRE OTU

Abstract

After the campaign of 1916 that ended with a great military defeat, the Romanian Army was subjected to a vast reorganization, restructuring, instruction, and endowment program under very difficult conditions during the winter of 1917. The recovery was performed with the support of the French Military Mission that arrived in Romania at the beginning of October 1916 and was led by General Henri Mathias Berthelot. The new Romanian Army was capable to carry out offensive actions, as was
the one in Mărăşti, and to reject the repeated attempts of the Armed Forces of the Central Powers at Mărăşeşti and Oituz, meant to exclude Romania from the war. These victories were obtained under circumstances in which the Russian Military Forces had diminished their combative capacity as a consequence of the Revolution of February 1917. The victories of the Romanian Army at Mărăşti, Mărăşeşti, and Oituz were among the most important ones of the Entente during 1917.

Keywords: World War I, Romania, Romanian Army, French Military Mission, Alexandru Averescu, Constantin Prezan, Henri Mathias Berthelot.

ONE CENTURY SINCE THE GREAT CONFRONTATIONS OF THE SUMMER OF 1917 ON THE ROMANIAN FRONT