Carol I

In the bottom two rows I think there is a long service decoration, the Peleş Medal, the WWI Victory Medal and Carol I's Centennial Medal. But the photo is too poor to see something else. Do you have an image with a higher resolution?

Another image of a Michael the Brave fouragerre. Apparently the main colour of this fourragere was blue.

The homepage of the museum: museu.marinha.pt (apparently in Portuguese only).

He probably should... The name of the Bulgarian town is sometimes spelt "Ruse", so he probably was not that far off on this one.

I did a little research on Wikipedia and it appears that the badge is the CoA of the Bulgarian town of Rousse with the addition of the bridge in the back. Maybe is an older version of the town's CoA? The bridge also appears in the CoA of the Romanian town of Giurgiu.

Hi Kevin! Cernavoda is NOT on the Romanian-Bulgarian border. The badge might however refer to the Giurgiu-Rousse Friendship Bridge that is on the Romanian-Bulgarian border.

I did not look at the prices. The latter books are rather specialised works that could probably be found in a university library.

You're welcome. Unfortunately there are few Engligh language books dealing with the history of Romania, but I think that two of Keith Hitchins' works are worth mentioning: "Rumania 1866-1947" and "The Romanians, 1774-1866". Doing a search on Amazon I have discovered some others that might be of interest for the history of the Transylvanian Romanians: "The Rumanian National Movement in Transylvania, 1780-1849", "A nation affirmed: The Romanian national movement in Transylvania, 1860-1914", "The Rumanians of Transylvania and the Ausgleich, 1865-1869", "Orthodoxy and Nationality: Andreiu Saguna and the Rumanians of Transylvaina, 1846-1873".

Up to WWI, there were many Romanian living in the Austro-Hungarian empire. In fact they were the majority of population in Transylvania (a province that briefly became part of Hungary following the Austro-Hungarian agreement of 1867). Thus there is no surprise that many Romanians were conscripted into the army as were the Croats, Czechs or Serbs. Some of the officers even won the MMThO like Major Urs (1859 & 1860), Colonel and later General Boeriu (1918) or Major Popovici (1921). There are many reasons for this. First of all, most of them were ethnic Romanian. Furthermore, following the union of Transylvania with the Old Romanian Kingdom, they all became Romanian citizens (even the non-Romanians). It is true though that most of the officers who joined the Romanian army following the war were Romanians. As a side note, some joined the Romanian army even before WWI, like General Dragalina. For these officers there was no problem with the allegiance to the Romanian state. In fact during WWI their allegiance to the empire was questioned since the tough Hungarisation policy of the end of the 19th century did make them feel second category citizens. Romania's entry into WWI offered them another opportunity to fight for their rights with more concrete results. Indeed, many ethnic Romanians from the AH Army who fell prisoners to the Russians early during the war eagerly joined the Romanian Army in 1917. Even active officers risked their lives to cross the lines to the Romanian side, some of them being unfortunately caught and executed, as Lt. Emil Rebreanu, brother of the Romanian writer Liviu Rebreanu (the latter was a graduate of the Military Academy in Budapest who resigned the AH army and settled in Romania in 1909, but without joining the Romanian army). In spite of some difficulties for the former AH officers (mainly related to age issues), some of them even became chiefs of the general staff or ministers of defence in the inter-war period (as General Ilcuşu or General Iacobici). In fact many Transylvanians became prominent personalities in post-WWI Romania (politicians like Iuliu Maniu and Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, religious leaders like Patriarch Miron Cristea or Bishop Iuliu Hossu and many others).

And finally, a colourful and rather old enamelled cross (from 1808/1815)

Order for Aeronautical Merit, white cross (2nd class star: 1945-1975)

Order for Military Merit, white cross (1st class cross: 1940-1975)

Order for Military Merit, white cross (1st class cross: 1936-1975)

Order for Military Merit, white cross (1st class cross: 1875-1931)

Order for Military Merit, white cross (1st class cross: 1875-1931)

Order for Military Merit, white cross (3rd class star)

Order for Military Merit, white cross (3rd class star: 1940-1975)

Order for Military Merit, white cross (3rd class star: 1940-1975)

Order for Military Merit, white cross for retired people (2nd class star: 1939-1975)

Order for Military Merit, white cross (2nd class star)

Order for Military Merit, white cross (2nd class star: 1940-1975)

Order for Military Merit, white cross (Grand Cross star - 1895)

Order for Military Merit, white cross (Grand Cross sash badge - 1895)

Order for Military Merit, red cross for retired people (1st class cross: 1875-1931)

Order for Military Merit, red cross for retired people (1st class cross: 1875-1931)