The legacy of I.G. Duke in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: a opened the doors of the League of Nations for the interests of Romania

Facing abroad, there should be no parties, but a unique and inseparable Romania.

IG Duque, January 30, 1922.

Duca’s tenure as head of Romanian diplomacy overlapped with an effervescent historical period: in central and eastern Europe, small states, which had just gained independence, fought for sovereignty and opposed revisionism by the states inheriting the ancient empires; In the West, they were working closely together at a high international level, with one eye on Germany, the great loser of the war, and Russia, the new Bolshevik empire. In this general atmosphere, I.G. Duca fought for Romania’s interests to be heard and respected, especially at the negotiating table of the newly established League of Nations (League of Nations), the forerunner of the UN and an international institution based on the principles of Wilsonian universalism. .

But I.G. The duke avoided both in his writings and in his daily life, insisting on his own professional achievements. He worked reluctantly. He preferred to launch into international analyzes of diplomatic tensions that Romania had to handle in the most sensitive way possible, but also effectively for its own interests. Valeriu Râpeanu, literary critic and historian, observes that Duca described in his memories only six years of activity, of more than three decades. “He did not mention the years when, as Foreign Minister, he tried for the country and for himself satisfactions and achieved undeniable successes, linking his name to essential moments of post-war diplomacy, to the adaptation and signing of the remaining treaties in history “, Râpeanu pointed out in the volume” Culture and history “.

M. Nincić, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes; I. G. Duca, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Romania; Edvard Beneš, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia, at the Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Small Agreement, in July 1923, in Sinaia PHOTO Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Solving Banat’s problem

One of Duca’s most important merits, in Externe, could be the fact that he decided to bring to the Romanian diplomatic corps young graduates, connoisseurs of foreign languages. He chose people of culture and writers as spokesmen; Therefore, it was ensured that Romania would be represented by professionals, diplomats with a vocation.

Then he unveiled his policy under which he directed the ministry: Romania had to be a strong state in the Balkans, as a kind of bridge between Turkey, the Balkan states and Europe. In this sense, the duke supported the Little Entente (Little Entente), the alliance formed between 1920 and 1921 by Romania, the future Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, to avoid the revisionism of the Hungarians, who wanted to recover Transylvania, lost to the Romanians after the first World War. At the same time, he supported the Polish-Romanian Alliance, in 1921; cultivating friendship with France, with which he managed to conclude a bilateral treaty in 1926, as well as a rapprochement with Great Britain. “Since I came to government, I have launched the Little Entente periodic conference system. I have had four conferences so far. I had one in Belgrade in 1922; I had my second in autumn 1922 in Prague; I had my third this summer in Sinaia. I had my room now in Belgrade. We will have the future again in Prague. “

In order to strengthen good neighborhood relations, I was also concerned with solving the Banat problem, with the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian Kingdom: “With the Serbs we solved the problem of the Banat border … we reached an agreement with the Serbs to regulate the situation of the inhabitants whose properties are isolated from the border, and at the moment we are dealing directly with the Belgrade government to solve the problem of schools and churches in the Serbian Banat and the Romanian Banat, “he said in 1924.

The little understanding session. Edvard Beneš, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia, IG Duca, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, and Vojislav Marinković, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, in July 1924, in Prague PHOTO National Archives of Romania MAE

“It is not a blind submission policy”

Foreign policy ideas had been consolidated since the pre-war period, as emerged from his speech: “Our foreign policy, from Romania, can no longer be a defense policy. It can be a policy of mere friendship, it can be a policy of alliances, even of intimate and faithful alliances, but not a policy of blind obedience. And the abdication of any individuality and any spirit of initiative, because such a policy is incompatible with the interests of this State and with our national dignity, “summed up the vision of the country’s position in the world.” We have to trust ourselves more. same as in others. The Iron Chancellor used to say: “To make a foreign policy, you must first have a good and strong internal situation …”. “To strengthen Romanian democracy, he campaigned to resolve the difficulties of the peasants, reduce social and economic inequalities.

IG The Duke also participated in the international recognition of the union with Bessarabia, despite the Soviet protests. In 1922, in Genoa, he and Ionel Brătianu discussed with Gheorghi Cicerin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, the Romanian delegation unilaterally assumed its commitment of non-aggression towards the Russians. Furthermore, the two Romanian representatives strongly insisted that recognition of the union with Bessarabia cannot be conditioned by the renunciation of the Moscow treasury.

We need to trust ourselves more than others. The Iron Chancellor used to say: “To make a foreign policy, you must first have a good and strong internal situation …”.

IG Duca

Attention to national minorities.

“An important direction of Ion Gheorghe Duca’s activity was related to the participation of our country in the politics of the League (non-League) of Nations”, writes Victor Gabriel Osăceanu, professor at a university in Teleorman, in the volume ” Ion Gheorghe Duca: a rare flower in the field of Romanian politics. ” Thanks to his participation in meetings and debates on documents from Geneva, where the League was located, and from Bucharest, where the Duke was Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Romanian diplomat was appointed, in 1924, Vice President of the League General Assembly and President. Disarmament Commission, which is one of the great objectives of the international organization.

Sextil Puşcariu, linguist and philologist, presented a part of I.G. Duca to the League of Nations, in 1925: “He expressed (non-Duca) our point of view on the issue of minorities, emphasizing their duty to be loyal, expressing all confidence in the wisdom of the Council (which of course was taken on behalf of and showing that, if any changes were made, it should be done in the direction that Romania had requested, through Brătianu (no. – Ion IC) still in Paris: that all states, and the great powers, should have the same obligations to their minorities as we do. “

In Romania, the duke sought to encourage dialogue with representatives of Germans, Hungarians, and ethnic Jews. In fact, during his tenure as minister, the president of the administrative and minority section of the League, Erik Colban, made information trips to Romania in 1923, 1924 and 1926, at the invitation of the authorities. On his first visit, the duke assured him that the state was promoting a liberal policy towards minorities and that it dealt with relations with the Germans and the Ruthenians, in addition to helping the Jews.

Diplomat Constantin Diamandy and I. G. Duca, at the International Conference in Lausanne, between 1922-1923 PHOTO: Gallica, National Library of France

Preparing for war, under the magnifying glass of I.G. Duca

Shortly before the outbreak, but also during World War I, the duke was observing the details of the protocol meetings of Kings Carol I and Ferdinand with characters in power. For example, a day before Tsar Nicholas II’s arrival in Constance, in 1914, the duke, then Minister of Education, traveled with Queen Maria at the head of Tuzla. The queen, the Tsar’s first summer, described it bluntly. “Like everyone else, you have heard of ‘Niky’ (as he was nicknamed in the family) who is stupid, without any physical attraction. The emperor is not an Adonis, but you will see tomorrow that he is not, since the legend around him. As a sovereign, I do not defend him, but as a man I assure you that he is not stupid and, in any case, that he is full of simplicity and charm, “Duca said in” Political memories “.

Duca suspected that the tsar’s visit had come in the context of preparing the ground for the First World War, that Nicholas II wanted and so he knew that Romania’s support should not be rejected: “It seemed to me then that the autocrat’s visit to all Russians was due The desire expressed for some time by Russian diplomacy to improve relations with Romania At the time of World War II, our Kingdom was too important a factor for the Tsar not to seek his good will. In fact, in public opinion, Russian diplomacy managed, through the visit of Constanţa, to establish a spiritual closeness with the Russian Empire. “

Like everyone else, you’ve heard that “Niky” is stupid, without any physical attraction. The emperor is not an Adonis, but you will see tomorrow that he is not, since the legend was created around him. As a sovereign I do not defend it, but as a man I assure you that it is not stupid and, in any case, that it is full of simplicity and charm.

Queen Mary, on Tsar Nicholas II, narrated by I.G. Duke in “Political Memories”

After the death of King Carol I in October 1914, and Ferdinand’s accession to the throne, diplomatic visits continued, as did external pressure. In 1915, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany sent Duke Johann Albert of Mecklenburg to Romania to persuade the sovereign to enter the war. Fernando greeted the yacht “Ştefan cel Mare”, in Măcin. “As I accompanied the royal family,” wrote the duke, “I was allowed to witness this meeting, and I must say that both the king and queen were very bored, because they did not know how to get rid of their perseverance.” “The duke continued to give an example to the King of Bulgaria, who had been persuaded to participate in the war, and King Ferdinand kept telling him that Romania wanted to remain neutral.

Tomáš Masaryk, President of Czechoslovakia, and I. G. Duca, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, in 1924, in Prague PHOTO: National Archives of Romania

Union against Austria-Hungary

In August 1916, Romania had entered the war on the side of the Entente, made up of France, the Russian Empire, and the British Empire. Albert Thomas was another minister who put Romania, in 1917, on the priority list. And the Romanians welcomed France’s socialist and arms prime minister correctly, with a royal audience, official meetings and banquets. “The warm friendship he showed us, the words of sympathy and encouragement he brought us from France calmed our pain and lifted our spirits,” said Duca.

Tomáš Masaryk, the future President of Czechoslovakia, also passed through Romania, full of hopeful thoughts about the future. He had come to Iasi to speak to the government about “the need for solidarity among the oppressed peoples of the Habsburg monarchy, for whom war meant regaining their national freedom.”

Masaryk wanted to hold a nationality congress in Austria or France in Italy or France to talk about national demands. From then on, with a well-defined diplomatic vision, Duca understood his message very clearly. “The idea was as logical as it was useful. Instead of everyone struggling to make their propaganda in isolation, it was better to unite all our efforts and demonstrate that we all, without distinction, consider the Habsburg monarchy an anachronism, which must be demolished and the peoples must be liberated in their runes. (…) Masaryk’s proposals won me from the beginning, but Brătianu, without rejecting them, reluctantly approved them. “

1917 was also the year that the German Emperor Wilhelm II wounded the pride of King Ferdinand and Romanian politicians. During a visit, he went only to the trenches in Marasesti, not Bucharest. “King Ferdinand said nothing, but I know he suffered. (…) While at this time some sought to humiliate us in Wilhelm II, others surrounded us with sympathy and esteem that moved us deeply.”

“He ate with the relatives of his boyarde, rode a bicycle, knew German and learned English”

Ion Gheorghe Duca was born on December 20, 1879 in Bucharest, in a family that came from Prince Grigore III Ghica. Gala Galaction, writer and priest, outlined the portrait of the student and child I.G. Duca, in his own memoirs, where he compares his learning style with that of the future diplomat and prime minister. The two met in fifth grade, at the “St. Sava” College in Bucharest, in the fall of 1894: “He was an exact and diligent student, I was a fool and a novel reader; he was a little parrot from the book I was an innovator and an emancipator, so there would be no closeness between us. (…) A simple topographic circumstance made me friends with Duca, because he also lived on the same street. Only one house separated us. ” Galaction, from a peasant family, also illustrates the differences between their lifestyles. “The duke was a boy of boyars, he went to his palace with his mother, he ate with his boyar’s relatives, he had a bicycle, he knew German, he learned English. (…) As soon as he graduated from high school, he went to Paris and, while feeling like a stranger and friendless, he wrote me quite long letters. ”Duca made new friends abroad, as expected, but she also stayed close to Gala Galaction.

Doctor of Law and Political Science

In Paris, at the Sorbonne University, Duca received his doctorate in law and political science between 1897 and 1902. Since then, he had begun publishing articles in which he expressed his liberal visions. After returning to Romania, he was elected a deputy of the National Liberal Party and was appreciated by the party’s president, Ion I.C. Bratianu. The duke was only 35 years old when, in 1914, he took over the first portfolio of Minister – of Public Instruction and Worship (Education). He was the youngest member of the Executive during the First World War. Subsequently, he served as Minister of Agriculture, Foreign Affairs and Internal Affairs, and on November 14, 1933 he became Prime Minister of Romania.

“The moral order, an essential condition”

IG Duca was guided in all his years of politics by certain principles, which he also mentioned when he assumed the position of prime minister: “Today more than ever the moral order is the essential condition of any fruitful act.” But his tenure as prime minister was brief, as he was assassinated by Nicaraguan nationals, the legionaries Nicolae Constantinescu, Doru Belimace and Ion Caranica on December 29, 1933 on the platform at the Sinaia station. At 54 years old, I.G. The duke paid with his life for the measures of repression against the Legionary Movement that he took during the period that the government led.

INTERVIEW Florin Müller, historian: „I.G. The duke was a role model for the political class of the time. “

Florin Müller, PhD professor at the University of Bucharest History Faculty, who also teaches courses on totalitarian movements in Romania during the war, explains the context in which I.G. Duke Prime Minister and why he was assassinated by the legionaries, recalling that King Charles II could have played an important role in that episode. The historian also points out that Duca was an honest politician, with an impeccable reputation and that he did not seek to make fortunes from his position.

“Weekend Adevărul”: how the political context in the country helped I.G. Duca to become Prime Minister, especially because he did not want to cooperate with King Charles II?
Florin Müller: IG The duke had a bad relationship with King Charles II, especially at the beginning of the new regime, in 1930, when he was against the Restoration. In 1933, the situation changed, because in the fall, the government of the National Peasant Party, led by Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, was already feeling the effects of the economic crisis and, of course, King Carol’s increasingly intrusive line in political life. Then, this context was relatively favorable for the return of the National Liberal Party to power. IG The duke faced very complicated problems, generated, first of all, by the increased danger represented by the extreme right, by the Legionary Movement, in the context of the resolution of some serious social problems bequeathed by the PNT and, in second, because of the crisis. Economic period 1929-1933.

IG The duke set out to fight the extreme right. You spoke on another occasion about “legitimate state violence” and how the Legionary Movement used it to pose as a victim of the liberal government.
The legitimate violence of the state against the Legionary Movement is related to the need to resolve the emergence of the Movement in 1933; we are talking about a context generated by the electoral campaign of December 1933. The Government of I.G. The duke had a great need for legitimacy through the elections, he had come to power in November and the parliamentary elections were established in December, which would lead to the victory of the PNT. In December, however, there were some serious events for Romanian political life. First, the Legion Movement was banned by a Newspaper of the Council of Ministers and was no longer able to participate in the elections, although it had drawn up its lists of candidates. In this context, conflicts broke out between the state authorities, the Gendarmerie and the Police, on the one hand, and the Legionary Movement, on the other. There were some serious incidents at Iasi, where legionaries died. Other clashes were reported in Constanta, and there was a wave of legionary arrests across the country. Romanian political life has been put in a difficult situation.

Carlos II did not assume the legionaries’ illegality.

What kind of articles appeared in publications that support the Legionary Movement?
We note a furious press campaign by the newspaper “Cuvântul”, under the leadership of Nae Ionescu, and the newspaper “Calendarul”, directed by Nichifor Crainic, in favor of the Legionary Movement and against the I.G. Duca. Added to this is the growing hostility between Nae Ionescu and King Carlos II. Nae Ionescu was no longer part of the royal chamberlain. Carlos II had accepted to get rid of him and move on to an increasingly personal policy. We cannot say that in 1933 Carol was considering the establishment of a dictatorship, but it is true that some of her former supporters from 1930 were no longer on the same barricades. Nae Ionescu published, at one point, an incisive article in which he drew a parallel between the situation in Romania and that of the Kingdom of Judea, where, in ancient times, the murder of children had taken place, at the behest of King Herod, in amid fear and misinterpretation. from a prophecy that Jesus will take the throne. After the violent actions of the Police and the Gendarmerie, Nae Ionescu built a similarity between the death of innocent children and the death of the legionaries. This semantic overlap indicates not only the theological dimension of Nae Ionescu’s speech, but also his attempt to fully apologize to the legionaries for government violence, as if the Movement was not to blame for being repressed by the liberal government. In this context, the most dramatic moment is being prepared: the murder of Duca, on December 29, 1933.

The only plausible explanation would be King Charles II’s implicit intention to let things happen in such a procedure, to lose an opponent of the authoritarian model he would establish, to get rid of a personal adversary. , although he was the first counselor.

The legionary movement was outlawed, but not by royal decree. How is it explained?
The royal decree did not have the legal coverage that a Journal of the Council of Ministers could give it, but is rather a legal interpretation. The political interpretation is the most important: namely, that King Carlos II did not want to have any responsibility for the illegalization of the Legionary Movement. He withdrew from this political context, so that far-right circles, legionary circles in the first place, would not hold him responsible for the government’s violence and the banning of the Movement. However, let us not forget that this was not the first time that the Legionary Movement was outlawed. This was the third time this had happened, and his political organization was no longer able to participate in ordinary political actions, including the most important act of democracy: parliamentary elections. Now, for the first time, the Movement’s ban has been implemented very seriously, with violence.

Why would the king accept that the duke be assassinated?

Before he was shot, I.G. The duke had a meeting with King Charles II at Sinaia.
Yes, Duca and the king had a discussion in Sinaia, in Peles. The three legionaries, the Nicaraguans, were able to stay in the city, they were not arrested or blocked by the police, who knew of their arrival in Sinaia. IG The duke, on an almost dark platform, enjoyed no protection from the police, protection appropriate to his condition. The legionaries were able to approach him. Nicolae Constantinescu, one of Nicadori, shot in I.G. Duca. Also, Ion Caranica says he managed to escape the crime scene. This situation is inexplicable. The only plausible explanation would be King Charles II’s implicit intention to let things happen in such a procedure, to lose an opponent of the authoritarian model he would establish, to get rid of a personal adversary. , although he was the first counselor. Even if all three legionaries were convicted, let’s not forget that the moral perpetrators of the act were acquitted. Corneliu Zelea Codreanu was hidden for a time, according to some information, including from one of the relatives of Elena Lupescu, Carol II’s girlfriend, without being arrested. He was involved at the end of the trial and was acquitted. Nae Ionescu, Nichifor Crainic and the legionaries who were then active in the Movement, in the direction of punishing Duca, suffered practically nothing, except for a brief period of detention.

Source: Diplomatic Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

What reactions did the murder of I.G. Leading in the press of the time and among politicians?
The murder was condemned by the press. Newspapers “Word” and “Calendar” were banned. The entire press, be it right, center-left or left, mourned the Prime Minister’s death. His role in World War I was revealed, his collaboration with I.C. Bratianu. He insisted on his full loyalty and fairness, that I.G. The duke was not involved in corruption scandals, because he never planned the idea that he would illegally benefit from the state’s money. He did not make a fortune. He was a model not only for the liberals, but also for the political class of the time. Even Chancellor Adolf Hitler sent a telegram of condolences (photo above), who thus sought to absolve the Reich of any charge of complicity in the murder of a politician known for his sympathy for France, the historical opponent of Nazi Germany.