The Treaty of Bucharest signed on 18/28 May 1812 ended the Russo – Turkish war which started in 1806. The Russo- Turkish war started in 1806, with Tsar Alexander I ordering his troops to cross the Dniester and occupy the Romanian Principalities of Walachia and Moldova. In spite of initial reassurances given by the Russian empire that it “did not seek to gain any territory from Turkey”, the Russian Tsar ultimately obtained the approval of the French sovereign regarding the occupation of the two Romanian Principalities, in case the Russians won the war with the Turks. Stratford Canning, a British diplomat and Ambassador at Constantinople (1818 – 1812), has contributed to arranging the Treaty of Bucharest between Turkey and Russia. The treaty included the annexation of Bessarabia by Russia. The Russians also secured amnesty and a promise of autonomy for the Serbs. The implementation of the treaty has been forestalled by a series of disputes, while Turkish troops invaded Serbia again the next year.

The Treaty of Bucharest, signed on 10 August 1913 ended the Second Balkan War. The troubled regional context of the First and Second Balkan Wars was seen by Romania as an opportunity to have a say in this conflict. Through the Bucharest Peace Treaty, Bulgaria was given a small part of Macedonia and a strip of the Aegean coastline containing the port of Dedeağaç (Alexandroúpolis). Serbia got northernand central Macedonia whileGreecereceivedsouthern Macedonia and Romania thesouthern part of Dobruja,thecity of Silistra included. Another important consequence of the Second Balkan War is the fact that Bulgaria had maintained the desire to regain what it had lost, this representing the core motivation for Bulgaria’s diplomacy and involvement in World War I.

The treaty of Bucharest/Buftea on 7th May 1918 was concluded, on the one side, between Romania and the Central Powers, on the other hand, as a result of the stalemate reached after the campaign of 1916 – 1917 and Romania’s isolation on the Eastern front after Russia’s unilateral exit from World War I. The terms of the treaty were highly unfavourable to Romania. Through the treaty, Bucharest had to return Southern Dobruja and the southern part of Northern Dobruja to Bulgaria. The rest of the Dobruja province was placed under the joint control of the Central Powers, leaving the Danube Delta to Romania. The commercial road to Constanta was also placed under the control of the Central Powers. The treaty was denounded in October 1918 and nullified by the terms of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 as well as by the treaties of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) and Neuilly-sur-Seine. Romania’s border with Hungary was settled through the Treaty of Trianon (1920).

Read more and bibliography: The Peace Treaties of Bucharest (pdf, 72kb)