Porumbăcean, Claudiu (szerk.): Satu Mare. Studii şi comunicări. Seria istorie-etnografie-artă 35/2. Volum aniversar 1969-2019 (2019)
Istorie
TURNEUL GENERALULUI BERTHELOT ÎN COMITATELE DIN VESTUL ROMÂNIEI Augustin ŢĂRĂU Abstract: The study describes the political situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the autumn of 1918, after the Balkan front collapses and after Hungary, Count Károlyi Mihályi, signs the Belgrade armistice agreement. In this context, the new power in Budapest proclaims the republic and tries to establish a democratic regime between the borders of the old Hungary. But although the new government accepts the principles of US President Woodrow Wilson, including that on the right of self-determination of peoples, the Hungarian prime minister tries to apply this principle in Hungarian style, ie to keep the political hegemony of the Hungarian people at the expense of the other congregational peoples. This is the reason why the Transylvanian Romanians decide to leave Hungary permanently and to unite with the Kingdom of Romania. Until December 1, 1918, when their union decision will be confirmed at the Great Assembly in Alba Iulia, the Romanian and Hungarian national councils and guards worked together in Transylvania towns and villages. Immediately after the Unification was enacted, units of the Hungarian army went into retaliation against the Romanian civilian population. In such an anarchic atmosphere, General Henry Berthelot, the former head of the French Mission in Romania, will conduct his tour in Western Transylvania. The high-ranking officer will cross all the main cities of the region from south to north in order to take a picture of the realities in this territory. In the Banat region he will see with his eyes the abuses committed by the Serbian army of occupation, in the Crişana region will find live the atrocities committed by the Hungarian troops. On the other hand, he will come into contact with the great mass of Romanians living in these territories and will understand their decision to break any connection with the Hungarian state. Keywords: Arad, Berthelot, Bihor, Caraş, Cărei, Lugoj, Oradea, Orşova, Sătmar, Seghedin, Şomcuta, Timişoara Generalul Berthelot soseşte pe pământ românesc pe 3/16 octombrie 1916, ca şef al unei misiuni militare de ajutor, alcătuită din 277 de ofiţeri, 88 de medici, 1150 de soldaţi şi gradaţi, plus o solidă echipă de infirmiere1. El va părăsi Iaşii în seara zilei de 25 februarie/9 martie 1918, la câteva ore după ce plecaseră şi membrii celorlalte misiuni ale puterilor Antantei (englezi, americani, italieni) şi câţiva soldaţi sârbi rămaşi din detaşamentele venite să sprijine apărarea Dobrogei. Armistiţiul semnat cu Puterile Centrale la Focşani, pe 26 noiembrie/9 decembrie 1917, impunea României, printre altele, şi condiţia retragerii de pe teritoriul acesteia a tuturor misiunilor militare ale foştilor aliaţi. ' Ion Mitican, Brişcă lui taica Berthelot, în „Lumina”, din 7 iunie 2008. Satu Mare - Studii şi Comunicări, nr. XXXV/II, 2019, p. 83-96
