The geopolitical considerations that determined England’s differentiated perspectives on the territorial cessions in Dobruja, Moldova, and Transylvania (1940) (Part II)

Abstract

The article examines the escalation of Romania’s territorial crisis during the summer of 1940, when Romania was forced to cede Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, Southern Dobruja and north-western Transylvania. Faced with the Blitz, London gradually abandoned the defense of the status quo and sought to transform the Romanian–Hungarian conflict into a catalyst for German–Soviet rivalry. The instructions sent to the British Minister in Budapest, Owen O’Malley, authorized him, for the first time, to refrain from discouraging “dangerous adventures”, in the hope of triggering a local war that would “set the Balkans alight”. At the same time, the British Minister in Sofia, George Rendel, suggested to the Bulgarian government that London would view with sympathy a swift settlement of the Southern Dobruja issue. On the ground, reports by military attaché Geoffrey Macnab and diplomat Robert Hankey described the demoralization of the Romanian army and anti-German protests, while no political leader in Bucharest succeeded in organizing effective resistance. The documents also reveal how Hungary “played the Russian card”, exploiting the Soviet threat to push Berlin towards imposing the Vienna Award. Publicly the British government declared that it would not recognize territorial changes achieved through coercion; in reality, the discreet support extended to Sofia and Budapest contradicted this official position. The analysis demonstrates that, for Whitehall, intensifying German–Soviet tensions became a priority, and propaganda was preferred over concrete support for Romania.