Mihai Țurcanu
în vol. Trasee și convergențe culturale și naționale în România Mare. Provincii, identități, destine, coord. Maria Tătar-Dan, Nicolae Enciu, Corina Teodor, Giordano Altarozzi, Cluj-Napoca, Editura Mega, 2026, ISBN: 978-630-372-121-7, pp. 343-358.

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The British Policy Toward Romania and Soviet Russia – The Circumstances of the Cession of Bessarabia and Bukovina: New Sources

This study focuses on Britain’s debate in June-July 1940, triggered by the Soviet ultimatum in Bessarabia. Convinced that Romania’s drift toward Berlin was becoming irreversible, Minister R. Hoare in Bucharest urged London to tolerate – or even encourage – Soviet pressure on Bessarabia, hoping the shock would sever the Romanian-German link and provoke a Russo-German clash. The plan was weighed inside the Foreign Office and War Cabinet, championed by Hugh Dalton but rejected by Lord Halifax, who feared betraying British guarantees and alienating Turkey. Meanwhile, in Moscow, Ambassador Stafford Cripps argued that recognizing Soviet annexations was the only price that could buy Soviet goodwill, yet the Foreign Office postponed any legal decision until a future peace conference. After France fell, London sought propaganda cooperation with the USSR but consistently refused to legitimize Romania’s territorial losses. Press opinion remained critical, and officials warned that recognition would create a dangerous precedent, encouraging further Soviet claims.

Keywords: British foreign policy; Bessarabia; Soviet annexations; Romania 1940; Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact

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