Romania cannot be safe as long as there still exists an Ottoman State.
(war propaganda in a Romanian newspaper)
The Second Romanian-Ottoman War
That the Romanian public opinion was shocked and outraged is an understatement. The Ottoman invasion rocked the very fabric of the Romanian society. But should it have been so unforeseen?
Firstly,
the myth that we have been the innocent victims of an unprovoked and vicious attack is of course completely unfounded.
Even if completely understandable (the Greek civilians were massacred all over the Ottoman Empire), the fact remains that Romania has declared war to the Ottoman Empire and not the other way around.
In a nutshell, the situation can be described like this:
We declared war and while attempting to mobilize our army, they attacked us! Unbelievable! Of course not.
Secondly, at least
the upper echelons of the Romanian Army were well aware of the imminent disaster.
The way the crisis was handled was abysmal.
The Greeks had been formenting trouble in the Ottoman Empire for quite some time. It would not have been very difficult to realize that there was a definite possiblity that Romania might also get involved.
Instead of preparing for a possible war with a still relatively powerful Empire (clearly greater and more populuos than Romania), the Romanian Army and authorities continued to entertain two dangerous ideas even to the eve of the invasion: that we had absolutely no duty to help the Greeks and that Romania was completely inexpugnable. Most telling, the nationalistic discourse portrayed the Greeks as more dangerous enemies to the Romanian State than the Turks.
Even when the Turks began to assemble a huge army in European Turkey, the Romanian Generals did not get a sense of urgency. It was widely expected that more than half a million Romanian soldiers could be easily levied in two to three weeks. This proved to be delusional.
Thirdly,
either treason or utter stupidity.
After less than 100,000 Romanians answered the call to arms, the Generals started to panic.
It is almost certain that the situation, dire as it was, could have been bettered even in the last moments. The Romanians could have been informed of the great danger they and the country were facing. Being told bluntly that Romania was going to be invaded with an overwhelming force would have certainly brought more Romanians to the conscription centres as it actually happened after the news of the invasion appeared in the press.
Instead, the Generals prefered to negotiate with the Turks, without the knowledge of the Romanian Government, and even promissed them safe passage through the Platamona region if they desired to invade mainland Greece.
Five Generals were court-martialled and three of them were found guilty and executed.
Fourthly,
Romania was clearly in a very disadvantageous situation.
Most Romanians did not come to the recruitment centres; the best legionnaires were busy policing Hungary and the Romanian Tissa Province, hundreds of miles away from the Romanian-Ottoman border; the greatest military strategist of the Romanians, their Emperor himself, was old and ill, having recently suffered a stroke; the forces promissed by the allies were small and late to arrive.
It was obvious that the Ottomans would take advantage and attack Romania while it still was in the aforementioned unfavourable situation.
It was simply illogical to believe that the Ottomans would just wait for the Romanians to become strong enough and invade Ottoman Europe.
And yet, however illogical, it happened. Most Romanians, including the military, continued to hope until the eve of the invasion that the war Romania had declared could still be somehow avoided.
August 1629, South-Eastern Romania
The Ottoman invasion of Romania proceeded extremely fast, the Ottomans speeding North, towards the Danube, while bypassing or simply ignoring any Romanian strongholds they encountered.
Most of the Romanian Army retreated in good order while destroying bridges and roads, burning crops and poisoning wells as they usually did from their remotest history.
A few Army Commanders however, probably willing to prove their military prowess, engaged the enormous Ottoman Army, only to have their legions completely shattered. More than 4000 Romanian soldiers died uselessly, feeding the absurd pride of their leaders.
By the end of the month, the Ottomans had overrun Eastern and Western Thrace, Dobrudja and most of Bulgaria and had attempted several times, albeit unsuccessfully, to cross the Danube into Greater Wallachia.
The Ottoman soldiers behaved like the worst savages, destroying everything in their path, burning villages and towns and indiscriminately killing the inhabitants who failed to flee.
That was the moment when the Romanian patriotism started to manifest itself. Enraged by the grousome and vivid descriptions from the newspapers, the Romanians finally had a clear reason for going to war: to expel the invaders from their beloved country!
In less than three weeks, 1,737,000 Romanians (more than half of the male population!) offered to enroll in the Army, much more than the Army could realistically absorb.
After selecting only the best, Romania was able to field in excess of 500,000 men, about half of them on each side of the Danube.
12 August 1629, Alba Iulia
The 28th anniversary of Romanian Statehood was not celebrated at all. Nobody was in the mood for celebrations when the Country was seemingly falling apart and the dreaded Turks were once again pillaging the Lands of the Romanians.
How was that possible? Why were we not prepared for the worse? How could I trust those incompetents? Those damned Greeks! All this is only happening because of their gigantic ego.
I cannot stay here anymore! I have to go to war myself. Once more. For the last time. And this time I have to crush the Turks once and for all. My God! I cannot leave Iulia to deal with this menace after my death. I cannot die and leave an Ottoman State on our borders!
Mihai: "Cristina, I am leaving tomorrow morning. Take care of Maria, of Iulia and of yourself. And pray for me and for Romania."
Cristina: "Sure, Mihai. I fully understand the gravity of the situation. Do what you have to do and save the Country once again. I will take care of our family and pray."
Iulia: "I want to go to war too!"
M: "Don't be ridiculuos! Women do not go to war."
I: "Jeanne d'Arc did."
M: "My dearest Iulia... You are needed here, in the Capital. If I do not return... No, Cristina, let me finish! The child must be told the truth. So, Iulia, you have to accept there is a possibility that I die on the battlefield. If this happens, you become the Empress of Romania. If we both die, who will reign? Maria? She is three years old for Christ's sake!"
I: "I am not of age either..."
M: "Cristina will be Regent. You two seem to get along very well."
I: "Yes, Cristina is like my sister. I love her very much."
C: "I love you too, my darling."
M: "Obviously, I do not intend to die on the battlefield. We just have to take into account all the possibilites, even the tragic ones, that's all."
I: "I understand, granddaddy. I will do what is expected of me. But, after this war is over, may I go to the Military Academy? If I am to be Empress one day, I will have to know how to wage war, won't I?"
M: "Oh, no! Not again! Cristina, please, stop telling her about your Ioana d'Arc!"
August 1629, South-Eastern Romania (continued)
Mihai had taken once again command of his armies and had gone to war, perhaps for the last time. At 71, Mihai was an old man and he actually started to feel old. Especially after that attack of apoplexy or whatever it might have been. His head was almost constantly hurting, the rheumatic attacks were increasingly annoying, his recurring back pain made riding a horse almost a torture and his eyes were not so sharp as they used to be.
If this war ends with the annihilation of the Ottoman State, no further wars will be necessary in the foreseeable future.
Mihai reinforced the Danube in order to prevent any possible attempts of the Turks to cross it and sent small groups of soldiers in occupied Bulgaria to harass the Ottoman Army.
At the same time, the bulk of the Southern Romanian Army liberated Romanian Thrace dislodging the small occupying force left behind by the Ottomans.
September 1629, Ottoman Thrace
Instead of turning North to face the bulk of the Ottoman Army and to liberate the occupied Romanian territories, Mihai crossed into Ottoman Thrace and advanced towards Burgas were he was greeted by the Romanian sailors who had occupied the Port through another spectacular amphibious operation.
After just six weeks since the invasion, the mighty Ottoman army, while still controlling a vast Romanian territory, had found itself completely surrounded.
The Sultan started to panic as the spectre of defeat raised its ugly head.
And only a month before he gloated that his armies had overrun a seventh of Romania in less than two weeks!
The situation was indeed dire. The territory controlled by the encircled Ottoman armies, mainly Dobrudja and Eastern Bulgaria, was almost devoid of resources. The only hope was to abandon any plans of conquest and try to break out towards Adrianople.
22 September 1629, near Târnava Mare (Veliko Tarnovo), Romania
The major battle of Târnava Mare more than anything else highlighted the enormous qualitative difference between the Ottoman and the Romanian armies. After Târnava Mare, all the Ottoman commanders realized that they should never again attempt to engage the Romanians in battle.
The battle also marked the point in history when the Western Powers began to notice with increasing concern the way the Romanians understood to prosecute war.
The opposing forces were almost equal as regards the number of soldiers: around 40,000 each. Their armaments were clearly not. The superior precision of the Romanian rifles alone could have rendered the battle one-sided. The Romanians simply shot the Turks from a safe distance with complete impunity.
The Ottomans quickly realized that they have to take cover in a nearby forest lest they be annihilated. Nothing should have prevented them to reach the relative safety of the forest. Nothing but the Romanian cannons.
The Romanian Army managed a superb barrage of artillery which stopped and confused the already disintegrating Ottoman Army.
The Turks could not comprehend how the Romanian cannons could possibly have such range and precision while being fired from the other side of a hill which completely obstructed the view. The Romanian artillerists simply thanked the matematicians and thought no more about it.
When the dusk began to set in, the Sultan had a glimmer of hope. Nightfall might save his army or at least buy another eight hours.
That little hope was shattered when the skies lit up with hundreds of incendiary devices catapulted towards his battered soldiers.
A sticky, self-combusting oil engulfed horses and men alike who screamed in atrocious pain. That concoction could not be extinguished with water and it produced horrible wounds which did not heal.
The position became completely untenable. The Sultan surrendered.
We cannot fight these Vlachs. They are of the Devil. This country is worse than hell itself. Cursed be the day when I decided to cross its border! And that burning oil! It comes straight from hell for sure! There isn't such a thing here on Earth that burns even under water. I made a horrible mistake attacking them. Now everything is lost.
23 September 1629, Târnava Mare
The Sultan together with two Pashas and 17 other high ranking Ottoman military commanders were presented to the Emperor.
Mihai: "So you are the Sultan of the Ottomans, the Caliph of all Muslims?"
Sultan Mehmed IV: "Yes, I am."
M: "I came here to judge you. To judge you all. You are guilty of heinous crimes against your own subjects of Greek ethnicity, of mass killings of tens of thousands of innocent civilians and of war crimes against Romania and the Romanian people. Do you have to say anything on your behalf?"
M4: "You do not have the authority to judge me or my subjects. We are prisoners of war and you shall specify a ransom."
M: "I do not want you to give me money. I will take all your money when I will liberate Constantinople and destroy your Sultanate. And you are not prisoners of war. You are nothing but criminals. Cold blooded murderers of women and children. Anyway, since you have nothing to say on your behalf, I will now sentence you."
M4: "Allah is great!"
M: "Oh, no, Allah is [censored]. And if you interrupt me ever again, I will have your tongues cut. So, where were we? Yes, the sentence. I sentence all of you to death by impaling, following two weeks of torture. Beginning now."
Pasha #1: "Have mercy!"
M: "Oh, yes. I have almost forgotten. If any of you decides to convert to Christianity, I can guarantee that my men will not hurt him anymore and he will be immediately released. Before the torture commences, if any of you is hungry, we have some pork and wine. We also have some water, but I would not recommend it, since, you know, we had to poison the wells because of you. I will see you in a week. In the mean time, I have a war to take care of. Have a good day."
P1: "Is he serios?"
M4: "He seems to. We'd better convert. Allah knows better that we do not mean it."
P2: "Are you sure, Your Majesty?"
M4: "Yes, the war is lost anyway. Our martyrdom will not change anything."
************
Guard: "Măria Ta, the Sultan wants to speak with you. He decided to convert."
M: "Did they... put him to the apparatus?"
G: "Oh, no, Măria Ta, it was not necessary."
M: "Good, bring a priest."
The Sultan, the two Pashas and 11 of the other military leaders were baptized in the Romanian Orthodox Church in a public ceremony on a high pedestal in front of the masses of Ottoman prisoners gathered below.
************
M: "Now, that you converted to the true faith, tell me, please, in your former religion, Islam, is apostasy a punishable offence? And what would the punishment be, because it seems that I have forgotten it."
M4: "What relevance does that have anymore? I will never return to a Muslim land anyway."
M: "But you will return in the middle of your men soon enough. And I asked you because they did not seem happy watching your baptism."
M4: "You gave your word! You said that if we converted you would spare our lives! Was it a lie?"
M: "No. I did not lie. I only said that none of my men would hurt you. I did not say that I would prevent your own men from hurting you. God have mercy of your souls... Because I cannot. Now throw them to the crowds."
