 Bukarester Tagblatt announcing the conclusion of the preliminary peace treaty | |
| Signed | 5 March [O.S. 20 February] 1918 |
|---|---|
| Location | Buftea,Kingdom of Romania(underCentral Powers' occupation since December 1916) |
| Effective | 5 March 1918 |
| Signatories | |
| Parties | |
TheTreaty of Buftea was a preliminarypeace treaty between theKingdom of Romania on one side and theCentral Powers on the other.
Following the stalemate on the Romanian front after thecampaign of 1917, theOctober Revolution and Russia's subsequent unilateral exit fromWorld War I (see theArmistice between Russia and the Central Powers), Romania had little choice but to conclude a truce with the Central Powers (see theArmistice of Focșani).
On 27 February [O.S. 14 February] 1918, during themeeting [ro] betweenFerdinand I of Romania andOttokar Czernin, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, at theRăcăciuni railway station, the Central Powers issued an ultimatum to Romania, threatening to denounce the armistice and resume the hostilities in 48 hours. Therefore, King Ferdinand summoned aCrown Council [ro] on 2 March [O.S. 17 February] 1918 inIași, the Romanian capital-in-exile. After long and difficult discussions, which lasted 3 days, and despite the strong opposition of QueenMarie and GeneralConstantin Prezan, the Crown Council decided to accept the ultimatum and send envoys toBuftea to negotiate a preliminary peace treaty.
The Treaty of Buftea was concluded on 5 March [O.S. 20 February] 1918.[1][2]
The preamble of the treaty stated the wish of the signatory parties to end the hostilities and to extend the truce for 14 days, starting with 5 March 1918, during which the provisions of the final treaty could be agreed upon.[1][2]
The preliminary treaty of Buftea was followed by the negotiation and signing of thefinal peace treaty between Kingdom of Romania and the Central Powers, concluded on 7 May 1918 in Bucharest.
