GHEORGHE BUZATU (Iasi, )

NICOLAE TITULESCU AND

"Transylvania is not only the political heart of Romania. Look at the map: Transylvania is the geographical heart of Romania. Transylvania is the cradle which protected it child- hood, is the school which gave birth to its people, is the charm which sustained its life," said , who was one of those invited to a large, public meeting at Ploiesti in 1915. Titulescu's speech was well received by his audience, for then public opinion favored Romania's immediate intervention against - for the liberation of in - Transylvania and Bucovina.1 This speech by itself was enough to rank Titulescu, a university professor and member of the leg- islature as one of Romania's elite orators alongside , P. P. Carp, B. ?tefanescu-Delavrancea, N. Iorga, Take and I. Petrovici. But Titulescu did not Ionescu, stop here; ' after becoming involved with internal politics, he would make his mark in the international arena where this remarkable diplomat, in contrast to others, would become one of the great ora- tors in the in during the inter-war period. At the same time, Titulescu became one of the great champions of Transylvania: first, for its union with Romania at Alba Iulia in 1918 and then for the international recognition of that union, as well as for the Consolidation of united Romania and for the defense of Romania's national independence and sovereignty.2 After consulting documents in Titulescu's per- sonal archives, deposited at the Hoover Institution on War, Revo- . lution and Peace located at Stanford University in the USA,3 we . propose to show a segment of Titulescu's diplomacy with special theoretical and practical attention to the affirmation and defense

1. Antolgie a oratorilor romdni, ed. V. Hane? (Bucure?i: Editura Socec, n.d.), pp. 173-74. 2. 7Ytulescu ii strategia pacii, ed. Gh. Buzatu (Ia,I: Editura , 1932), passim. 3. Ibid., pp. 69-78. 92 of Romania's fundamental rights and interests in Tran- sylvania. In 1918, following the separate treaty of between Romania and the Triple Alliance, Titulescu, along with his political chief and all others who then left the Moldavian capital of trumpeted the ideal of the union of all Romanians in the capitals of the , especially in . Now (1918-19) begins Titulescu's diplomatic activity.4 It was dominated by a fundamental objective: the union to romania of Romanian provinces, which were subject to neighboring em- pires, in particular, Transylvania. He was one of the most active members of the romanian National Council in Paris, where he established important political contacts and where he effectively espoused Romania's rights. In praising his successes and expe- , rience, the cabinet of General appointed . him-at the suggestion of Take Ionescu in March 1920-to be Romania's primary delegate to the Peace Conference was to draft the final version and to sign a treaty with Hungary. This was the occasion for Titulescu to use his remarkable professional quali- ties, his patriotism and finally, together with Dr. I. Cantacuzino to sign for romania the Trianon Peace Treaty of 4 June 1920 which sanctioned the vote of the National Assembly at Alba Iulia on 1 December 1918 concerning the union of Transylvania to Romania. These happenings in the life of a great diplomat were deeply imprinted in his memory, some representing landmarks in the birth of . It is not by accident that he would often reflect on them as he would soberly and properly do in a curriculum vitae prepared for the British press at the beginning of his mission to and which we discovered in his archives: "He was in 1918 and 1919 a member of the National Council created in Paris for the defense of Romania's cause. After the victory of the allies he was appointed a delegate at the Peace Conference. On 4 June 1920 he signed the Treaty of Trianon which consecrated the union of Transylvania with Roman:a."5 It is clear that in his diplomatic posts (minister in London, 1922-27 and 1928-32; permanent delegate to the League of Nations beginning in 1920; minister of foreign affairs, 1927-28 and 1932-

4. I. M. Oprea, Nicolae Titulescu (Bucure?ti: Editura ?tiin?ificä, 1966), pp. l18- . 20. 5. Hoover Institution Archives: Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace; Standord University, Palo Alto, California; N. Titulescu, "Diary and correspondence," Box No. XIII.