ABSTRACT
The Legion “Archangel Michael” in Romania (Legiunea “Arhanghelul Mihail”) emerged in late the 1920s and the 1930s as one of the strongest and most original fascist movements in interwar Europe. As in the case of other contemporary fascist movements, the origins of this organization can be understood only against the fate of prewar and postwar processes of nation- and state-building. The Kingdom of Romania entered the First World War in August 1916 in order to fulfill its ideal of national unification. After an initially successful offensive in Transylvania, its army suffered heavy casualties, and large parts of its territory fell under long periods of military occupation by the Central Powers. Following the victory of the Entente, Romania then managed to fulfill its maximum national desiderata, doubling its size and population. Yet the incorporation of Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina, and Bessarabia proved difficult. The new provinces were shaped by distinct imperial legacies and, in addition to a numerically dominant Romanian population, were inhabited by large ethnic minorities, as well, amounting to almost 30 percent of the country’s population. Although there was a large political consensus among Romanians over the need to consolidate the Romanian nation-state, there were nevertheless major societal debates over the means to this end.
