Negotiating Romania's Destiny During the First World War: An Analysis of Joe Boyle’s Diplomatic Strategies

Authors

  • Crina Bud York University, Toronto & Technical University Cluj Napoca, Northern University Centre, Baia Mare, Romania

Keywords:

Diplomacy, Moral Imagination, Intelligence Service, Romanian Monarchy, Joe Boyle, First World War

Abstract

The Northern Review 44 (2017): 119–138

By investigating formal and particularly informal aspects of Colonel Joe Boyle’s diplomatic work during the First World War, this paper argues that his actions form an integral part of a parallel, silent, people-to-people, humanitarian diplomacy, and that they stand for his moral imagination. The analysis focuses on Boyle’s decisive contribution to Romania’s political configuration through his relationship with the Romanian government, the members of the Romanian royal family, and the representatives of European diplomacy; his numerous negotiations with the Bolshevik government leading to the return of the Romanian national archives and its currency, and to the mediation of the Bucharest Peace Treaty in March 1918; and his role in ensuring the availability of food, medicine, and agricultural equipment and in obtaining a loan from the Canadian state for Romania’s reconstruction. This article is part of a special collection of papers originally presented at a conference on “The North and the First World War,” held May 2016 in Whitehorse, Yukon.

https://doi.org/10.22584/nr44.2017.007

 

Author Biography

Crina Bud, York University, Toronto & Technical University Cluj Napoca, Northern University Centre, Baia Mare, Romania

Lecturer of Romanian language and history

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Published

04/18/2017

Issue

Section

The North and the First World War