Ion I. C. Brătianu

Ion I. C. Brătianu
Ion I. C. Brătianu
	Barbu Ştirbey
Succeeded by	Petre P. Carp; Alexandru Averescu; Artur Văitoianu; Alexandru Averescu; Vintilă Brătianu
Personal details
Born	Ionel I. C. Brătianu; 20 August 1864; Eliza Știrbey
Profession	Engineer

Ion Ionel Constantin Brătianu (Romanian pronunciation:

Old Romanian Kingdom with Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia (see: Greater Romania). In 1923, he was elected an honorary member of the Romanian Academy

.

Biography

Early life

Born at Florica, his father's estate in

Romanian Army's artillery, serving for six months before becoming a Second lieutenant. During his military service, Brătianu studied engineering. He left for Paris in 1883, and attended the Collège Sainte-Barbe, then took classes (without being a registered student) at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (1884–1889). Brătianu received an engineer's diploma, but not a licence to practice

.

In 1889, he returned to the country and was assigned orders by the Army, being promoted to Lieutenant. Later in that year, he joined the Romanian Railways as an engineer, working under the leadership of Anghel Saligny.

Early politics

He became a member of the PNL in 1895, the same year he ran in elections and was elected to the

1907 Peasants' Revolt

. In 1909, he was elected head of the National Liberals, a position he was to hold until his death; he first became Prime Minister in January 1909, and kept the office until 28 December 1910.

Brătianu's policies moved the PNL towards an acceptance of

Conservative Party

.

World War I

The outbreak of the world conflict in 1914 brought a major polemic in Romanian society. The Conservatives oscillated between a neutral stance and participation alongside the Central Powers (to which Romania had committed itself); instead, the PNL called for an alignment with the Entente Forces. Despite the fact that Brătianu was again Prime Minister from 16 January 1914 to 9 February 1918, his policies in this respect were procrastinated. Initially, a decision on the matter was blocked by King Carol, until his death in September 1914. Afterwards, with the ascension of Ferdinand I (who was to remain a political ally of Brătianu for the rest of his life), the government started secret negotiations with the Entente, meant to condition Romania's participation with the granting of Austro-Hungarian lands with a majority Romanian population. In August 1916, Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary.

Minor advances into Transylvania were met with a Central Powers counter-offensive that swept through

Treaty of Bucharest

in May 1918.

Auguste Léon

In the meantime, Brătianu's had been replaced with the crisis government of General

Compiègne armistice

with Germany removed all legal value of the Bucharest Treaty.

Brătianu was antisemitic and opposed the granting of Romanian citizenship to Jews.^[1]^[2] After World War I, however, antisemitism disappeared from the Liberals' political program, even forming alliances with Jewish politicians.

Third cabinet and support for Averescu

The spectre of

1919 Paris Peace Conference, where he was a vocal supporter of the union with Transylvania and Bukovina. Although ultimately Romania received most territories it claimed, he resigned in 1919 since he would not accept a compromise on the disputed territories in Banat that had become part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. However, Romania had registered other successes - notably, Russia's exit from the war had led to the union with Bessarabia (the Moldavian Democratic Republic

).

Soon, the PNL found itself threatened by the political realities of a

People's Party, a new and strong populist

movement under General Averescu, had begun a campaign for both an urgent land reform and for bringing about the prosecution of PNL politicians as agents of the economic hardships. Faced with a choice, Brătianu approached Averescu and offered PNL support for a People's Party cabinet in return for moderation.

Fourth and fifth cabinet

The PNL retreated its backing after finding a more convenient option in a

centralised model it favored, it drew suspicion from the Transylvanian politicians that it served the goal of a National Liberal-dominated Old Kingdom

(especially after the constitution was approved of through a simple vote in Parliament). At the same time, the PNL cabinet began carrying out a national-level land reform.

As the

Barbu Ştirbey

.

On 21 June 1927, Brătianu returned with his fifth and final cabinet. He died in Bucharest, from complications of laryngitis, and was replaced as Prime Minister by his brother Vintilă Brătianu until the calling of elections.