Romania's Russia Scare

 Before my recent trip to Romania, I had brushed up on my Romanian history in anticipation of the museums and battlefields I planned to visit. One aspect of Romania's history I wasn't familiar with was its late 19th-century Russia scare. If this sounds familiar to British readers, it should. We had a similar scare with Russia and the French during the same period, and started building fortifications in response. The Palmerston Forts on the south coast are the best example, including the artillery museum at Fort Nelson.

Romania had been part of the Triple Alliance since 1883, which put it at risk of Russian invasion. The border area, with modern-day Ukraine, was probably indefensible, so in 1887, they started to build a line of forts along the Siret River, known as the Focşani-Namoloasa-Galati (FNG) fortified region. Essentially, a shorter defence line between the Carpathian Mountains and the Danube River. They also built a series of forts around Bucharest to defend the capital. There isn't a great deal of the line to see today, other than the very fine WW1 memorial at Mărășești. 

However, the National Military Museum has a series of Osprey-style booklets, including one on the FNG and another on the Bucharest forts. Only three of the series were on sale, at the bargain price of £10 for all three. I would have bought the whole series at that price.

While the main text is in Romanian, there is a summary in English, and the many illustrations, as well as the colour plates, have English captions. 

The fortifications cost the newly independent state a fortune and were controversial at the time. The designer was German Major Schumann, and the FNG included one fort and 15 groups of armoured batteries. There were more batteries at Galati defending the Danube port. An unusual feature was portable 37mm quick-firing guns, supplemented by 53mm guns and 120mm howitzers. 

53mm Grusson Cannon

There were 18 forts built around Bucharest, with another 18 batteries. This resulted in an 8km gap between positions. The forts had 210mm and 150mm guns in cupolas and disappearing turrets. There were smaller guns and machine guns as well. A railway was built to supply the ring of forts, with a garrison of 33,000 troops. Some of the forts exist today and are still used by the military.

Ironically, the FNG defences had to be reversed during WW1, when Romania left the Triple Alliance and faced an invasion from Austro-Hungary to the south.