Original Item: Only One Available. This is a rare World War One Kingdom of Romania officer kepi. It closely resembles kepi's from the French Army, in fact, due to the similarity and internal maker markings we believe this kepi may actually have been manufactured in France. This kepi is constructed of blue wool, with gilt bullion wire piping and caduceus, a rosette featuring the colors of the Romanian flag - Blue, Yellow, Red and a brass insignia of the Romanian King Ferdinand I who ruled from 1914-1927. The inside is missing the sweatband but is nicely lined in black satin like material and is stamped in white U.G.I 2. The leather visor shows minor crazing. The kepi is approximatley size US 7 1/4 (58cm) and is offered in overall very good condition.

Ferdinand I, (born Aug. 24, 1865, Sigmaringen, Prussia [now in Germany]—died July 20, 1927, Bucharest, Rom.), king of Romania from 1914 to 1927, who, though a Hohenzollern and a believer in German strength, joined the Allies in World War I.

The son of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Ferdinand was adopted as crown prince of Romania in 1889 by his uncle, King Carol I, whose only child had died. In 1893 he married Lady Marie, daughter of the Duke of Edinburgh and granddaughter of Queen Victoria and of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Though retiring in nature and occasionally vacillating, Ferdinand showed considerable interest in Romanian military affairs and commanded the army during the Second Balkan War (1913). When his uncle died he succeeded to the Romanian throne in October 1914. Early in World War I he waited on events before finally casting his lot with the Allied powers (August 1916). With the occupation of Bucharest by the Germans late in 1916, he moved his beleaguered government to Iași. In April 1917 he averted a potentially revolutionary situation when he promised land reform and the right to vote to an assemblage of Romanian peasant troops, but he failed to arrive at definitive solutions for either the agrarian problem or the shortcomings of democracy in the postwar years.

In March 1918 Romania was forced to surrender to the Central powers but rejoined the Allies in November 1918 and later incorporated Transylvania, Bukovina, part of the Banat, and Bessarabia into a Greater Romanian state. Ferdinand thus found his postwar kingdom doubled in size, and in October 1922 he was solemnly crowned king of all Romanians at Alba Iulia. In 1920 he engineered the installation of General Alexandru Averescu as premier; it was Averescu’s government that in 1921 finally enacted a measure of the king’s long-promised land reform. In 1925 Ferdinand forced his son, the playboy crown prince Carol, to renounce his rights to the throne and, later, in his will secured the succession of his young grandson, Prince Michael.


The Kingdom of Romania was neutral for the first two years of World War I, entering on the side of the Allied powers from 27 August 1916 until Central Power occupation led to the Treaty of Bucharest in May 1918, before reentering the war on 10 November 1918. It had the most significant oil fields in Europe, and Germany eagerly bought its petroleum, as well as food exports.

From the point of view of its belligerent status, Romania was a neutral country between 28 July 1914 - 27 August 1916, a belligerent country on the part of the Entente between 27 August 1916 - 9 December 1917, in a state of armistice with the Central Powers between 10 December 1917 - 7 May 1918, a non-combatant country between 7 May 1918 - 10 November 1918, and finally a belligerent country in the Entente between 10 November 1918 - 11 November 1918.

At the start of World War I, King Carol favored Germany while the nation's political elite favored the Entente. As such, the crown council took the decision to remain neutral. But after King Carol's death in 1914, his successor King Ferdinand favored the Entente. For Romania, the highest priority was taking Transylvania from Hungary, with around 2,800,000 Romanians out of around 5,000,000 people. The Allies wanted Romania to join their side in order to cut rail communications between Germany and Turkey, and to cut off Germany's oil supplies. Britain made loans, France sent a military training mission, and Russia promised modern munitions. The Allies promised at least 200,000 soldiers to defend Romania against Bulgaria to the south, and help it invade Austria.

At the outbreak of hostilities, the Austro-Hungarian Empire invoked a casus foederis on Romania and Italy linked to the secret treaty of alliance since 1883. However, both Italy and Romania refused to honor the treaty on the grounds that it was not a case of casus foederis because the attacks on Austria were not "unprovoked", as stipulated in the treaty of alliance. In August 1916, Romania received an ultimatum to decide whether to join the Entente "now or never". Under the pressure of the ultimatum, the Romanian government agreed to enter the war on the side of the Entente, although the situation on the battle fronts was not favorable.

The Romanian campaign was part of the Eastern Front of World War I, with Romania and Russia allied with Britain and France against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria. Fighting took place from August 1916 to December 1917 across most of present-day Romania, including Transylvania, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time, as well as in Southern Dobruja, which is currently part of Bulgaria.

The Romanian Campaign Plan (The "Z" Hypothesis) consisted in attacking Austria-Hungary in Transylvania, while defending Southern Dobruja and Giurgiu from Bulgaria in the south. Despite initial successes in Transylvania, after German divisions started aiding Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, the Romanian forces (aided by Russia) suffered massive setbacks, and by the end of 1916 out of the territory of the Romanian Old Kingdom only Western Moldavia remained under the control of the Romanian and Russian armies.

After several defensive victories in 1917 at Mărăști, Mărășești and Oituz, with Russia's withdrawal from the war following the October Revolution, Romania, almost completely surrounded by the Central Powers, was also forced to drop out of the war, it signed the Treaty of Bucharest with the Central Powers in May 1918. The parliament signed the treaty, however King Ferdinand refused to sign it, hoping for an Allied victory on the western front. On 10 November 1918, just one day before the German armistice and after all the other Central Powers had already capitulated, Romania re-entered the war after the successful Allied advances on the Macedonian front.