ABSTRACT
The Romanian Army played a dramatic role in the overthrow of the old regime. The Army’s first year of post-Communist existence involved more turmoil and conflict with the new civilian authority, than any other East European army outside of Yugoslavia. The Royal Romanian Army was the only European military establishment to contribute significant forces to fight alongside Germany against the Soviet Union and, after August 23, 1944, alongside the USSR against Nazi Germany. The consequent higher degree of continuity between the war-time and post-war Romanian officer corps, as compared to its regional counterparts, further hampered attempts to “remake” it in the Soviet image. Depoliticization, and the more specific problems of determining the military’s role during the revolution and defining the domestic role of the military for the present and future, convulse Romanian civil-military and intra-military relations. Victor Atanasie Stanculescu’s candidacy for the post was conditioned by the lack of alternatives facing the Iliescu-Roman government.
