Figure 1.--This Romanian boy was photographed around 1910 before World War. His uniform would be that of a military school. Given his age he probably subsequently fought in World War I. The long coat was called a "great coat". |
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HBC has little information about military schools in Romania. We have noted several photographs of Romanian boys in military uniforms. We assume that this means that there were several Romanian military schools, but we know almost nothing about them at this time. We note a postcard describing the Mountain Hunters School taken in 1919-1920. We know nothing about the school. Hopefully our Romanian readers can provide some information. The boys wear military uniforms with very large berets. Romania at the time was an independent country having obtained its independence with Russian assistance from the Turks in the 19th century.
Romania for several centuries was a part of the Ottoman Empire. There were no separate Romanian military schools under the tooks, but Christain children were recruited to serve the sultan, both in the military and civil service. The boys etering the Ottoman military would have attended Ottoman military schools. The Romanians in the 19th century gradyally achieved their independence, first as an autonomaous principality within the Ottoman Empire and then in 1881 as an independent kingdom in 1878. This was possible in large part because of Russian military pressure on the Ottomans. Independent Romania was created with a German monarchy.
Romania fought in both World War. They fought on the Allied side in World War I and with the Axis in World War II.
Romania at first remained neurtral in World War I, but after attemting to seize Trayslvania from the Austrians in 1916 was crushed by German and Austrian forces. After Austrian and German forced desintigrated in late 1918, Romania rentered the War. The photograph of the Montain Hunters School was taken shortly after the War. The country has, however, gone through extreme political swings.
The democratic monarchy of the 1920s was replaced with authoritarian rule and then right-wing Fascist dictatorship. Romania was partitioned by the Soviets, Hungary and Bulgaria in 1940. The Romanians signed an alliance with NAZI Germany and fought with the Axis in World War II. Romanian was critical to the NAZI war effort because after the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Romaniabn oil fields were Germany's only major source of petroleum other than the domestic synthetic fuel program. Romanian troops participated in the German invasion of the Soviet Union (1941). The Red Army smashed the Romanian Army at Staligrad in 1942. It is unclear why the Romanians collapsed at the face of the Soviet offensive. One factor was that the Germans did not heavily arm them. The effectiveness of the Romanian miluitary leadership and the commitment of the Romanian soldiers is unclear. The Red Army occupied the country in 1944. The Russians installed a Communist People's Republic which was overthrown in 1989. These political swings would of course had significant repercussions on whatever military schools existed in Romania.
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We have found some photographs of Romanian boys in military uniforms. We assume these are military school uniforms. Several of the uniforms have a French look to them. Unfortunately We have no actual information at this time on these schools.
We have noted a photograph of a Romanian boy in a military school uniform (figure 1). We do not know the name of his school. We can't make out any details It is undated, but looks to have beern taken about 1910. The uniform has a rather French lookto it. Note the kempi cap.
We noted a postcard describing the Mountain Hunters School taken in 1919-1920. We know nothing about the school. Hopefully our Romanian readers can provide some information. The boys wear military uniforms with very large berets. The picture was taken immediately after World War I. Romania at the time was ruled by a constitutional monarchy and the country had not yet been taken over by right-wing Fascists.
We note another Romanian boy in a military uniform. Here we can see the uniform. The boy wears a plain jacket with a high collar. He has a soft white cap. Again we do not know the name of the school. We are unsure when the portrait was taken. We suspect that it was taken in the 1910s, but the early 1920s is possible.
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