23rd August 1944: King Michael of Romania leads a coup d'etat against against Ion Antonescu

Michael was proclaimed king of Romania after his father, Carol II, was forced to abdicate by the newly-appointed Prime Minister General Ion Antonescu on 6 September 1940. In practical terms the 18-year old king was nothing more than a figurehead in Antonescu’s military dictatorship that went on to join the Axis powers on 23 November 1940.

On 22 June 1941 the Romanian army supported the German attack on the Soviet Union. By the summer of 1944 more than 1 million Romanian troops had fought on the Eastern Front, although the war itself was going badly for the Axis powers. King Michael had already begun talks with conspirators seeking to topple Antonescu and bring an end to the war when, on 20 August, Soviet troops launched their offensive on eastern Romania.

Three days later, on 23 August, the King summoned Antonescu to his palace where he was dismissed from the post of Prime Minister and arrested. That evening the king went on the radio to issue a cease-fire and declare Romania’s loyalty to the Allies. Although German forces responded with force, they were soon overwhelmed by the armies of Romania and the advancing USSR.

By 31 August the Red Army had reached Bucharest and, less than two weeks later, an armistice was signed on terms virtually dictated by the USSR. Nevertheless, King Michael was presented with the Order of Victory by Stalin and made Chief Commander of the American Legion of Merit by President Harry S. Truman. Antonescu was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against the peace, and treason. He was executed on 1 June 1946.