1. Quoted in Radu R. Rosetti, Marturisiri (1914–1919) (Bucharest: Modelism, 1997), 153. See also Constantin Kiritescu, Istoria razboiului pentru intregirea Romaniei 1916–1919, 3rd ed., reprint (Bucharest: Editur Stiintifica si Enciclopedica, 1989), 1:515–16. Selected officials started departing for Iasi, while others remained to run things as best they could until 2 December.
2. Kiritescu states that the hysteria was terrible (Istoria razboiului pentru intregirea Romaniei 1916–1919, 1:558–60). However, Henri-Mathias Berthelot says apathy ruled (General Henri Berthelot and Romania: Mémoires et correspondence 1916–1919, ed. Glenn Torrey [New York: Columbia University Press, 1987], 28).
3. August von Mackensen, Briefe und Aufzeichnungen des Generalfeldmarschalls aus Krieg und Frieden (Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut AG, 1938), 295; Ernst Kabisch, Der Rumänienkrieg 1916 (Berlin: O. Schlegel [c. 1938]), 105–10.
4. Berthelot, General Henri Berthelot and Romania, 22; TNA FO 371/2869, Buchanan to FO, 15 and 23 January 1917.
5. Maurice Hankey, then a lieutenant colonel and secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defense, claimed that he thought up the mission (The Supreme Command, 1914–1918 [London: Allen and Unwin, 1961], 2:535).
6. TNA FO 371/2631, Barclay to FO, 13 November 1916; FO to Barclay, 17 November 1916. Norton-Griffiths arrived the next day.
7. Rosetti, Marturisiri, 149.
8. TNA FO 371/2869, G. Barclay to FO, “Report from Norton-Griffiths to DMI [Director of Military Intelligence],” 18 January 1917; “Report on the Destruction of Roumanian Oilfields,” 22 January 1917; “Report on the Destruction of Grain and Machinery in Roumania,” 27 January 1917; “Supplementary Report on the Destruction of Roumanian Oilfields,” 27 January 1917. According to Constantin Kiritescu, the Englishman destroyed 290 million gallons of various fuels (Istoria razboiului pentru intregirea Romaniei 1916–1919, 1:520).
9. Kiritescu, Istoria razboiului pentru intregirea Romaniei 1916–1919, 1:488–89.
10. Von Mackensen said the emissary was a Captain Lange (Briefe und Aufzeichnungen des Generalfeldmarschalls aus Krieg und Frieden, 309). Von Mackensen’s letter to the mayor is in Walter Vogel, Die Befreiung Siebenbürgens und die Schlachten bei Targu Jiul und am Argesch (Oldenburg, Germany: Verlag Gerhard Stalling, 1918), 129. Kiritescu also reproduces the letter, but he identifies von Mackensen’s emissary as a Captian Seidlitz (Istoria razboiului pentru intregirea Romaniei 1916–1919, 1:516–17).
11. Charles J. Vopicka, Secrets of the Balkans: Seven Years of a Diplomatist’s Life in the Storm Centre of Europe (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1921), 105–106.
12. BKA, 11th Bayer. Infanterie Division KTB, VI, 3–4, entry for 6 December 1916, 300–304; Alexandru Marghiloman, Note Politice (Bucharest: Machiavelli, 1994), 2:90. See also USAHEC, Rudolf Frantz, “The Campaign against Rumania, 1916–1917,” in Der Deutsche Land Krieg, vol. 5, part 2, of Der Grosse Krieg, 1914–1918, ed. Max Schwarte and Wilhelm Dommes, trans. Major Paul Harms, Army War College (Leipzig: Barth, 1923), 20.
13. Quoted in Kabisch, Der Rumänienkrieg 1916, 147.
14. BKA, Alpenkorps KTB, Bund 34, Akt. 4, 9AOK Ia/1401, 4 December 1917; USAHEC, Corps Ia [Operations Officer], “The Schmettow Cavalry Corps in Rou-mania (1916–1917),” translated in the office of the U.S. Military Attaché, Berlin, February 1923, pp. 27–28. See also Erich von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 1916/17 (Berlin: E. S. Mittler und Sohn, 1921), 2:91–92.
15. USAHEC, Corps Ia [Operations Officer], “The Schmettow Cavalry Corps in Roumania,” 30. Von Falkenhayn was pleased that his units entered the city first (Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 2:88–92). See also BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entry for 6 December 1916, 121–122; Hans von Zwehl, Erich von Falkenhayn, General der Infanterie: Eine biographische Studie (Berlin: E. S. Mittler und Sohn, 1926), 253–254.
16. LB-W, Württemberg Mountain Battalion Records, 70, “kleine-grosse Walachei,” 10–11; BKA, 11th Bayer. Infanterie Division KTB, VI, 3–4, entry for 6 December 1916, 300–304; Alpenkorps KTB, Bund 34, Akt 2, 9AOK, Ic/804, 28 November 1916. The Austrian records contain the detailed charge to the general (ÖStA, NFA, AK1/k7, Q. Op. 150.400, OKL, 23 November 1916).
17. Von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 2:87; BKA, Alpenkorps KTB, Bund 34, Akt. 4, 9AOK, 1334/Ia, 1 December; BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entry for 5 December 1916, 112–115, 118–120. On the 2nd, the 9th Army headquarters had moved to Rimnicu Valcea. In addition, the 2nd Cavalry Division had arrived from Russia.
18. BAMA, Nachlass Morgen, 227/6, 4; Kriegsberichte aus dem Großen Hauptquartier (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1915–1918), 27:9.
19. Kiritescu said the division commander, General Alexandru Costescu, was captured along with the staff and 2,000 soldiers, not 3,500 (Istoria razboiului pentru intregirea Romaniei 1916–1919, 1:519. For the German side, which makes no mention of taking a division commander, see BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entry for 6 December 1916, 120–121.
20. BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entry for 6 December 1916, 120–122. The progress of Szivo’s pursuit can be followed in his unit’s war diary, ÖStA, Gruppe Szivo, K3240–41, and in Bernhard Bellin, Strumtruppe Picht: Ein Erinnerungsblatt aus dem Kriege gegen die Rumänen im Jahre 1916 (Berlin: Verlag Tradition Wihlem Kolk, 1929). The Romanian account is in Romania in razboiul mondial 1916–1919 (Bucharest: Ministerul Apararii Natjionale, Marele Stat-Major, serviciul 1storic, 1934–1946) (hereafter RRM), Anexe 3, part 2, Nos. 800–950.
21. BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entries for 6–7 December, 121–123.
22. BAMA, Nachlass Morgen, 227/6, 4; Kriegsberichte aus dem Großen Hauptquartier, 27:8–9.
23. Martin Breitenacher, Das Alpenkorps, 1914–1918 (Berlin: Vorhut Verlag O. Schlegel, 1939), 132–133; LB-W, M130 Württemberg Mountain Battalion Records, 70, “kleine-grosse Walachei,” 11–12.
24. BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entries for 8 and 10 December 1916, 124 and 128; von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 2:93–98.
25. TNA, AO 2/36 56/3, Lieutenant Commander Gregory to Commander Locker-Lampson, 12 December 1916. Gregory was the acting commander of the British Armored Car Squadron in the Dobrogea with the Russians. Berthelot had given Joffre the same assessment on 4 December (General Henri Berthelot and Romania, 26–27). Kiritescu describes the suffering of the retreating Romanian Army in pseudo-religious terms in a chapter titled “The Road to Calvary” (Istoria razboiului pentru intregirea Romaniei 1916–1919, 1:520–22).
26. Rosetti, Marturisiri, 160; Berthelot, General Henri Berthelot and Romania, 26–27 and La Roumanie dans la Grande Guerre et l’effondrement de l’Armée russe: édition critique des rapports du général Berthelot, chef de la Mission militaire française en Roumanie, 1916–1918 (Paris: Harmattan, 2000), 119–121.
27. Berthelot, La Roumanie dans la Grande Guerre et l’effondrement de l’Armée russe, 137–138.
28. Rosetti, Marturisiri, 161; Berthelot, General Henri Berthelot and Romania, 26, and La Roumanie dans la Grande Guerre et l’effondrement de l’Armée russe, 29. For the Russian viewpoint, see Basil Gourko, War and Revolution in Russia, 1914–1917 (New York: MacMillan, 1919), 239–240. Gourko took Alekseyev’s place as Russian army chief of staff in November when the latter had to take sick leave.
29. Christescu became the deputy chief of staff, and General Eremia Grigorescu replaced Christescu as commander of the North Army. By this time, the North Army was reduced to the 15th Division at the Oitoz Pass and two brigades. It was renamed the Oitoz-Vrancea Group and assigned to the 2nd Army, acting as a corps headquarters (Kiritescu, Istoria razboiului pentru intregirea Romaniei 1916–1919, 1:525–26).
30. Rosetti, Marturisiri, 103, 162–164; Berthelot, General Henri Berthelot and Romania, 30–33. Rosetti’s name appeared on the list of “undesirables,” and he left for the front to take a regiment. Berthelot fought to keep him, later telling his sister-in-law that he would “stop moaning” over the major’s departure. Prezan wanted his own staff-in this case, his operations officer, Major Antonescu, who replaced Rosetti.
31. BAMA, PH 5/II 289, 9AOK Tagesbebehl, Ia 516 Op., 10 December 1916.
32. Ibid., entries for 9 December 1916, 125, and 13 December 1916, 132; PH 6/II 141XXXIX RK, Ia 5/24, 24 November 1916; BKA, Alpenkorps KTB, Bund 34, Akt. 4, 9AOK, Ia/1459, 7 December 1916.
33. BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entry for 11 December 1916, 129–130; USAHEC, Corps Ia [Operations Officer], “The Schmettow Cavalry Corps in Roumania,” 33–34; von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 2:97–103; Helmut Schittenhelm, Rasboi: Eine Soldatengeschichte aus dem Feldzug gegen Rumänien (Stuttgart: Karl Thienmanns Verlag, 1937), 81–82.
34. BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entry for 11 December 1916, 129–130; RGVIA, Fond 2003, Inventory 1, Archival Number 81, Order 21, 6 December 1916; Order 22, 7 December 1916; Order 23, 7 December 1916; and Order 24, 11 December 1916.
35. RGVIA, Fond 2003, Inventory 1, Archival Number 81, Romanian Front assumption of command order signed by Sakharov, 16 December 1916, and Ferdinand’s assumption of command, “Order to the Armies of the Romanian Front,” effective 16 December but dated 18 December 1916. Sakharov appointed General Shishkevich as his chief of staff.
36. Ibid., Danube Army Order 25, 13 December 1916; Order 26, 14 December 1916; Order 27, 14 December 1916; and Order 28, 15 December 1916.
37. Berthelot; General Henri Berthelot and Romania, 32. See also Berthelot, La Roumanie dans la Grande Guerre et l’effondrement de l’Armée russe, 133–136; BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entry for 15 December 1916, 136; BKA, Alpenkorps KTB, Bund 34, Akt. 4, 9AOK, 1560/Ia, 14 December 1916.
38. A good account of the logistical difficulties is in the Württemberg Mountain Battalion’s combat journal. See LB-W, M130 Württemberg Mountain Battalion Records, 70, “Von Buzau zum Par-Milkov, 1–3. See also USAHEC, Corps Ia [Operations Officer], “The Schmettow Cavalry Corps in Roumania,” 36.
39. BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entries for 15–20 December 1916, 135–142; von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 2:106–109.
40. BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entry for 19 December 1916, 140–14; BKA, Alpenkorps KTB, Bund 34, Akt. 4, Krafft Gruppe, Ia/1260, 19 December 1916.
41. LB-W, M130 Württemberg Mountain Battalion Records, 70, “Vom Buzaul zum Par-Milcov,” 3–23. Maps of the location of the units on 24 and 26 December are in BKA, Alpenkorps KTB, Bund 34, Akt 4.
42. Von Mackensen also blamed ammunition supply problems and what he called a decline in combat value of some of his Bulgarian and Turkish divisions for his inactivity (Briefe und Aufeichnungen des Generalfeldmarschalls aus Krieg und Frieden, 317).
43. Von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 2:109–111; von Morgen, Meiner Truppen Heldenkämpfe (Berlin: E. S. Mittler und Sohn, 1920), 115. Von Morgen’s papers reveal no contemporary concern on his part about the outcome of the battle (BAMA, Nachlass Morgen, 227/6, 5–6).
44. BKA, 11th Bayer. Infanterie Division KTB, VI, 3–7, entries for 26–27 December 1916.
45. Von Morgen, Meiner Truppen Heldenkämpfe, 115. For the Russian orders to retreat, see RGVIA, Fond 2003, Inventory 1, Archival Number 81, No. 628, 29 December 1916; BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entries for 22–26 December 1916, 4–10. The official German communiqué indicates this was their bloodiest battle of the campaign. See Kriegsberichte aus dem Großen Hauptquartier, 27:12–15.
46. Von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 2:112–114; 121–122; BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entry for 28 December 1916, 12.
47. Von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 2:115–116. See also BAMA, PH 5 II/284, 9AOK KTB, entry for 30 December 1916, 14; USAHEC, Corps Ia [Operations Officer], “The Schmettow Cavalry Corps in Roumania,” 42–43.
48. Gourko, War and Revolution in Russia, 240.
49. BKA, 11th Bayer. Infanterie Division KTB, VI, 3–7, entries for 5 and 8 January 1917. Copies of the orders for the division are in Akt 4 of this set of files. See also von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 2:115; von Mackensen, Briefe und Aufzeichnungen des Generalfeldmarschalls aus Krieg und Frieden, 317–319. Sakharov was furious when he discovered that Alieff, the 6th Army commander, planned to give up Braila without a fight. See his telegram No. 1009, to 6th Army, 5 January 1917, in RGVIA, Fond 2003, Inventory 1, Archival Number 81.
50. USAHEC, Corps Ia [Operations Officer], “The Schmettow Cavalry Corps in Roumania,” 44.
51. LB-W, M130 Württemberg Mountain Battalion Records, 70, “Vom Par-Milcovul an die Putna,” 1–6. See also Erwin Rommel, Infantry Attacks, trans. G. E. Kiddie (Novato, CA: Presidio, 1990), 95–111. A firsthand account from one of the Bavarian Leiber is given by H. v. Pr., “Odobesti,” in Wilhelm-Carl Maxon, ed., Die “Leiber” im Weltkrieg: Erinnergungen aus den Kämpfen der Bayer; Infanterie – Leib-Regiments seit Anfang des Krieges bis Sommer 1918; Geschrieben von Angehörigen des Regiments (Munich: Verlag der Archiv-Kommission des Bayer. Infanterie-Leib-Regiements, 1918), 200–209.
52. A summary of von Mackensen’s advance is in Kriegsberichte aus dem Großen Hauptquartier, 25:12–19.
53. BAMA, Nachlass Morgen, 227/6, 5–6; von Morgen, Meiner Truppen Heldenkämpfe, 115–116.
54. Von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 2:124–125; von Morgen, Meiner Truppen Heldenkämpfe, 117.
55. Von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 2:115.
56. Ibid., 124–125; von Morgen, Meiner Truppen Heldenkämpfe, 117.
57. Holger H. Herwig, The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914–1918 (New York: Arnold, 1997), 222; Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, and Rudolf Kiszling, eds., Österreich-Ungarns letzter Krieg (Vienna: Verlag der Militärwissenschaftlichen Mitteilungen, 1930–3 8), 5:626; Kriegsgeschichtliche Forschungsanstalt des Heeres, Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918 (Berlin: E. S. Mittler und Sohn, 1938), 11:392. The Germans cite fifty Russian divisions, but their estimate includes the Russian 9th Army, which straddled the Bucovina-Romanian border, while the Austrians and Herwig count only divisions inside Romania.
58. Glenn E. Torrey, The Romanian Battlefront in World War I (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2011), 170–88. Torrey’s book is virtually the only source in English on this aspect of the transformation of the Romanian army.
59. Von Morgen, Meiner Truppen Heldenkämpfe, 117–121.
60. Torrey, The Romanian Battlefront in World War I, 189–209.
61. Von Morgen, Meiner Truppen Heldenkämpfe, 122–26. See also von Mackensen, Briefe und Aufzeichnungen des Generalfeldmarschalls aus Krieg und Frieden, 322–342.
62. Schittenhelm, Rasboi, 112.
63. Torrey, The Romanian Battlefront in World War I, 210–236.
64. Shortly after the Romanian general headquarters arrived in Iasi, Bratianu showed Berthelot a letter his secret police had intercepted in October from Averescu to Petru Carp, the conservative Germanophile politician. Averescu wrote Carp: “If you form a ministry to make peace with the Germans, I will serve as your Minister of War” (quoted in General Henri Berthelot and Romania, 30–31). Rosetti confirms Averescu’s willingness to negotiate with the Germans (Marturisiri, 151). After the war, the general retired and entered politics, forming the People’s League and serving twice as prime minister.
65. Von Morgen led the negotiations for the Germans (Meiner Truppen Heldenkämpfe, 126–136. See also von Mackensen, Briefe und Aufzeichnungen des Generalfeldmarschalls aus Krieg und Frieden, 343–371). On the Romanian side, Hannah Pakula, The Last Romantic: A Biography of Queen Marie of Roumania (New York: Simon and Shuster, 1984), 227–237 is helpful, especially on the queen’s role. An English translation of the treaty is online at firstworldwar.com, “Primary Documents – Treaty of Bucharest, 7 May 1918,” http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/bucharest1918.htm.
66. Romania mobilized on 9 November 1918 and declared herself at war again with Germany on the 11th.
67. ÖStA, AK1/k8, AOK, pers. 34770, 3 December 1916. The elderly archduke took the hint and retired a few months later. He had viewed his post as that of a liaison with the Germans and had smoothed rough edges on many occasions (Ottokar Czernin von und zu Chudenitz, In the World War [London: Cassell, 1919], 22–23).
68. August von Cramon, Unser Österreich-Ungarischer Bundesgenosse im Weltkriege (Berlin: E. S. Mittler und Sohn, 1920), 88–93.
69. Gunther E. Rothenberg, The Army of Francis Joseph (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1976), 203. General (later Field Marshal) Franz Baron Rohr von Denta (1854–1927) took Arz’s place as 1st Army commander. Rohr had served in Italy with distinction.
70. Jan Karl Tennenbaum, General Maurice Sarrail 1856–1929: The French Army and Left-Wing Politics (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1974), 106–144; Jere Clemens King, Generals and Politicians: Conflict between France’s High Command, Parliament and Government, 1914–1918 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974), 134–139.
71. Kriegsgeschichtliche Forschungsanstalt des Heeres, Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918, 11:335.
72. The 12th Division had 5 percent of its men missing; the Württembergers none. See BKA, 11th Bayer. Infanterie KTB, VI, Akt 4–7, HQ, 11th Bay. ID”; “Statistical Report for the Period 11 October 1916 to 10 January 1917,” Appendix 1, n.d. See also LB-W, M130 Württemberg Mountain Battalion Records, 2, casualty report.
73. Both the German and Austrian official histories cite the estimate of 310,000 casualties from the Romanian General Georghe Dabija’s Armata romana in rasboine mondiale, which seems to include casualties from combat in 1917 and 1919 (see Kriegsgeschichtliche Forschungsanstalt des Heeres, Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918, 11:335; Glaise von Horstenau and Kiszling, Österreich-Ungarns letzter Krieg, 5:625–626).
74. Kiritescu, Istoria razboiului pentru intregirea Romaniei 1916–1919, 1:543–44; RRM, Anexe 1, “Mobilized Effectives by Branch and Service,” 17. In addition to the field army, the total mobilized figure includes the navy, fortress troops, and rear echelon units. See also Nicolae Ciobanu, “Pierderile umane ale României in timpul Razboiului de intregire,” www.once.ro/sesiuni/sesiune_2007/3_Pierderi.pdf.
75. See Kriegsgeschichtliche Forschungsanstalt des Heeres, Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918, 11:335; Dumitru Preda and Costica Prodan, eds., The Romanian Army during the First World War (Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 1998), 156; Vasile Milea, Victor Atanasiu, Emilian Bold, et al., Romania în aniiprimului rãzboi mondial (Bucharest: Editura Militara, 1987), 1:559.
76. See Norman Stone, The Eastern Front, 1914–1917 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975), 264–281; Herwig, The First World War, 217–222. In his 450-page monograph on the war, The First World War (New York: Knopf, 1999), John Keegan devotes only three pages (306–308) to the Romanian campaign. The major exception is Torrey, whose excellent The Romanian Battlefront in World War I, while pulling no punches over the faults of Romania’s flawed strategy and incompetent leaders, examines the seriousness of the combat and the significance of the war in that region with respect.
1. In fact, when word arrived in Pless of the capture of Bucharest, the kaiser was not quite sure what to award von Mackensen. He facetiously told Admiral Müller, the head of his Naval Cabinet (personnel office), that since von Mackensen had every possible military honor, he would have to name the next battle cruiser after him (Georg Alexander von Müller, The Kaiser and His Court: The Diaries, Notebooks and Letters of Admiral Georg Alexander von Müller, Chief of the Naval Cabinet, 1914–1918, ed. Walter GÖrlitz, trans. Mervyn Savill (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1961), 222.
2. Founded in 1813, the Iron Cross was a decoration that could be earned only in wartime. There were four levels, of which the Blücher Star, given only to von Hindenburg, was highest. The next level was the Grand Cross, and only four were awarded during the war: to von Hindenburg, Ludendorff, Prinz Leopold von Bayern, and von Mackensen. The decrees authorizing the decoration in various classes in each of Prussia’s or Germany’s wars since 1813 are in Freiherr von Brand, “Das Eiserne Kreuz,” in Deutsches Soldatenjahrbuch 1963 (Tettnang, Germany: Lorenz Verlag, 1963), 49–61.
3. Hans von Zwehl, Erich von Falkenhayn, General der Infanterie: Eine biographische Studie (Berlin: E. S. Mittler und Sohn, 1926), 261–265. Major Frantz wrote: “I would like to stress, that all the operational and tactical decisions of the Army Headquarters were prepared within; not from higher headquarters” (quoted in ibid., 191).
4. Erich von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 1916/17 (Berlin: E. S. Mittler und Sohn, 1921), 2:94.
5. Kriegsgeschichtliche Forschungsanstalt des Heeres, Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918 (Berlin: E. S. Mittler und Sohn, 1938), 11:335. On the writing of the official German history and the animosity of its editors and authors toward von Falkenhayn, see Robert T. Foley, German Strategy and the Path to Verdun: Erich von Falkenhayn and the Development of Attrition, 1870–1916 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 8–13.
6. August von Mackensen, Briefe und Aufzeichnungen des Generalfeldmarschalls aus Krieg und Frieden (Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut AG, 1938), 320.
7. Quoted in Ernst Kabisch, Der Rumänienkrieg 1916 (Berlin: O. Schlegel [c. 1938]), 188–191.
8. Helmut Schittenhelm, Rasboi: Eine Soldatengeschichte aus dem Feldzug gegen Rumänien (Stuttgart: Karl Thienmanns Verlag, 1937), 80.
9. BAMA, Nachlass Morgen, N227/6, 3. “Weigh, then venture” was the motto of the General Staff Corps.
10. “Romania Big Aid to Entente, Says Army Man,” Chicago Tribune, 29 August 1916.
11. All the headlines listed appeared in the New York Times on 29 August 1916. The paper also printed articles titled “Paris Lauds Briand for Rumanian Move,” on 29 August, and “Rumania in the Struggle on the Military Strategy in the European War. Advantageous for the Launching of an Attack Upon the Central Powers,” on 3 September.
12. Conrad spoke strongly of Romania’s treachery when he briefed General von Morgen as that officer headed for the front (Kurt von Morgen, Meiner Truppen Heldenkämpfe [Berlin: E. S. Mittler und Sohn, 1920], 99–101). Von Falkenhayn denounced Romania’s faithlessless in his assumption of command order (ÖStA, AOK, OOK, Ru Gruppe/k 551, 9AOK I a, 10 Op., 19 September 1916).
13. Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, and Rudolf Kiszling, eds., Österreich-Ungarns letzter Krieg (Vienna: Verlag der Militärwissenschaftlichen Mitteilungen, 1930–38), 5:625–626.
14. Von Falkenhayn, Der Feldzug der 9. Armee gegen die Rumänien und Russen, 1, 14.
15. Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August (New York: Macmillan, 1962), 417.
16. James S. Corum, The Roots of Blitzkrieg: Hans von Seeckt and German Military Reform (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992), 1–50; Robert M. Citino, The Path to Blitzkrieg: Doctrine and Training in the German Army, 1920–1939 (Boulder, CO: Rienner, 1999), chapter 2. Citino argues in this work (43) and his subsequent opus, The German Way of War: From the Thirty Years’ War to the Third Reich (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005; 240–244, 306–307) that the doctrine was not new but a mix of older traditions that were tempered by new technology that enhanced mobility and combined arms cooperation, the traditional German way of war.
17. Hanns Möller-Witten, Geschichte der Ritter des Ordens “Pour le Mérite” im Weltkrieg (Berlin: Bernard u. Graefe, 1935), 2:490.