Averescu, Alexandru

Start of military service

Born in the village of Babel in the Principality of Moldova ( Izmail county of Bessarabia , now the village of Ozernoye, Odessa region of Ukraine ), to the north-west of Izmail in a poor family of a retired officer and petty official Konstantna Averescu.

He studied at the Romanian Orthodox seminary in Izmail, and then at the school of crafts and arts in Bucharest , planned to go to the Belgian Liege and study engineering mechanics there.

In 1876, he volunteered to join the Izmail squadron of horse gendarmes. He served in the Romanian cavalry during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 . Awarded for service, but transferred to the reserve for health reasons as a result of frostbite.

In 1878 he was reinstated in the army, in 1881 he graduated from the division school of non-commissioned officers in Romania, and in 1886 - from the military academy in Turin . In Italy, Averescu married an opera singer from La Scala, Clotilde Cagliaris.

He headed the Bucharest Military Academy in 1894 - 1895 .

In 1895-1898 he was a military attache of Romania in the German Empire. In 1899-1904 , he was the head of the 3rd operational department of the Romanian General Staff. In 1901 he was promoted to colonel, and subsequently to brigadier generals.

He led the brutal suppression of the peasant uprising of 1907 . Minister of War in the office of the National Liberal Party (PNL) (1907-1909). He also carried out a serious reform of the army: he reorganized the Romanian infantry on a modern basis, introduced a two-year service life, abolished the poorly trained infantry of variable composition, created small cadres of reserve units, strengthened field artillery and engineering troops, streamlined the processes of mobilization and training of reserve officers.

He commanded the 1st Infantry Division and the 2nd Army Corps. In 1912 he was promoted to major general.

In 1911 - 1913 - Chief of the General Staff. Planned the actions of the Romanian troops during the Second Balkan War

World War I

After Romania entered World War I in 1916, he commanded the 2nd Army in the southern Carpathians. Since September, he commanded the 3rd Army, and then the Southern Army Group (3rd and Dobrudzhin armies, as well as 4 divisions transferred from the 1st and 2nd armies). The Romanian army was defeated and was forced to leave Bucharest and move to Moldova, where the Romanian army was reorganized with French and Russian help.

Appointed Commander of the 2nd Army. Under his command, the Romanian troops won the battle of Maresti. He was awarded the Order of Mihai the Brave 1 class and July 9, 1917 from the Russian Provisional Government received the Order of St. George 4th degree. Although the course of the war was unsuccessful for Romania, the communist revolutions in Russia and Hungary reduced the military power of these states to zero and Romania was able to significantly increase its territory and population, occupying Transylvania and Bukovina after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Bessarabia after the collapse of the Russian Empire.

During this period, it gained extreme popularity among the population, which allowed historians to talk about the formation of a social phenomenon - the “Averescu myth”.

Politician

In 1918, Averescu founded the People's League. From February 9 to March 15, 1918 - the Prime Minister of Romania from January 29 to March 4, 1918 also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania . As prime minister, he began peace talks with German field marshal Mackensen . At the same time, he was negotiating with representatives of the Bolsheviks, who launched an offensive against the Romanian forces in Bessarabia. As a result of negotiations in Odessa and Iasi, the “Protocol for the Elimination of the Russo-Romanian Conflict” was signed, according to which the Romanian side agreed to clear Bessarabia within two months.

In 1920, he transformed the league into the People's Party. After the resignation of the government of Wajda Voevoda, the king appointed Avereska as Prime Minister. With the support of the king, Averescu called an early election. By government decree, the number of deputies of the House of Representatives was reduced to 369. Through the appointed prefects, the elections were held under strong administrative pressure. As a result, the People’s Party managed to win the election by receiving 206 seats (together with the Conservative Democratic Party - 223 deputies. During his stay in power, it became clear that there was a big difference between the collective imagination and reality and the “Averescu myth” began to collapse. Although he managed to achieve monetary unification, implement financial reform and complete the agrarian reform, but the expectations of the population were much higher.The most disappointed were the peasants who not only did not receive the promised 5 hectares, but the reform itself went with great difficulty.

In foreign policy, he refused to extradite Soviet Russia to Nestor Makhno , who was forced to flee to Romanian territory, on the grounds that the death penalty was prohibited in Romania, and the extradition of Makhno would have meant his death. Cabinet Averescu carried out agrarian reform. The Trianon Peace Treaty was signed with Hungary and the Lesser Entente was created. In December 1921, as a result of the political crisis, he resigned as prime minister.

In the mid-1920s, while in opposition, he managed to organize a mass movement against the liberal cabinet of Ionel Bratianu , at a mass demonstration in which 50,000 people took part, the participants demanded the resignation of the government. However, the experienced politician Bratianu, in negotiations with the general, convinced him to move away from the protest, promising to transfer power to him at the end of his term.

In the 1926 election , the People's Party received 53% of the vote in 1926-1927 , and he again took the post of prime minister. Having formed a government, Averescu began to orient in Italy in foreign policy, where Benito Mussolini came to power. In June 1927, King Ferdinand I ousted him and appointed the government of Barbu Stirbey , who also soon fell due to the liberals leaving him. In the July 1927 elections, the People's Party suffered a crushing defeat, as the general lost independence in the eyes of the electors, becoming part of Bretianu's political combinations. From that moment, the decline of Averescu’s political career began, which will intensify after the split of his party in 1932 .

After the proclamation in 1930 by King of Romania of Carol II , he was a member of the Royal Council, although he was in a somewhat strained relationship with Carol. In the same year he was awarded the title of Marshal of Romania.

On February 10, 1938, he responded to the call of the head of state to take part in the national government, led by Patriarch Miron as state minister, along with six other former prime ministers. Since March 30, after the royal decree on the dissolution of political parties, he becomes a royal adviser. He died shortly after this appointment.

• Vinogradov V.N. Romania during the First World War. - M. , 1969.
• Essays on the political history of Romania (1859-1944). - Kish. , 1985.
• Filipenko A. A. Alexandru Averescu - Romanian marshal from the village of Ozernoye. // Southwest. - Odessa. - Vol. 4. - S. 240—256.

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