General Notes

Ferdinand, b.  Aug.  24, 1865, d.  July 20, 1927, succeeded his uncle, Carol
I, as king of Romania in October 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War
I.  Although a Hohenzollern, and thus related to the German royal family, he
was induced to enter (August 1916) the war on the Allied side by promises of
major territorial concessions as well as by the influence of his English wife,
Marie.  Romania was soon overrun by Austro-German forces, and Ferdinand was
forced to conclude a separate peace in May 1918.  However, he reentered the
war on Nov.  10, 1918 just before its conclusion and thus won the promised
territories--Transylvania, and much of the Hungarian plain--in the peace
settlement.  Ferdinand was crowned king of Greater Romania in 1922.