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Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania. By Michael B. Barrett. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013. Pp. xx + 399. Cloth $45.00. ISBN 978-0253008657.
Historians have given the Romanian front of World War I little attention. Michael Barrett works to correct this gap, comprehensively describing Romania's 1916 invasion of Hungary and the reaction of the Central Powers. Barrett states boldly his position: "Historians, especially in the English-speaking world, have tended to minimize or dismiss the Romanian campaign as an almost farcical interlude in a serious war leading to a lopsided victory. That image is incorrect" (296). The author's ten chapters together provide a solid comprehensive military history of the Austro-German campaign in Romania.
Barrett begins with Romania's August declaration of war on Austria-Hungary. In doing so, the Romanian government turned its back on the Central Powers, motivated by the desire to take Transylvania-a province of the Dual Monarchy-and thus bring millions of ethnic Romanians into its realm. He then moves to describe the invasion of Transylvania by the inexperienced Romanian army. In response, the Germans and their Bulgarian allies, under the command of Field Marshal August von Mackensen, quickly crossed the Romanian border from Bulgaria in the Dobrogea region. Russian reinforcements joined the Romanians, but this "diversionary campaign . . . had succeeded beyond anyone's expectations," prompting the Romanian leadership to put "its precious offensive in Transylvania on...