With a single order from Ferdinand, the Kingdom of Romania's good days came to an end.
Of course, King Ferdinand of Romania, of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, certainly did not see it that way. Since ascending the throne, he had never enjoyed a single good day.
None of his three neighbors—the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria—were easy to deal with. Especially after the outbreak of the World War, before he could even react, war had been declared on him.
The capitalists within Romania were equally baffled. They had originally planned to wait for the Entente to court them before throwing in their lot with it, but who would have thought the other side would not even give them the chance, directly declaring war on them instead!
It was not that they possessed such great foresight. Geography was the main factor—they were wedged between Bulgaria and Russia. They did not know whether joining the Alliance would ultimately lead to victory, but they knew for certain that if Romania joined the Alliance, it would be finished at the first opportunity.
Had they been given a choice, they would rather have buried their heads in the sand and played dumb, claiming they had never received the Entente's declaration of war.
In fact, they had done just that, currying favor with the Entente through every possible channel and even maintaining ties with Britain and France. But it was useless. In the Black Sea region, only Bulgaria and Russia had any real say!
Ferdinand knew all this, yet he still chose to play dumb. Everyone was busy dragging one another down. If Romania was not dealt with, how could Bulgaria possibly unite the Balkan Peninsula?
For the Romanian government, things were simple now—they could be freed from their predicament directly.