Iron Guard

The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given in English to an ultra-nationalist, anti-Semitic, fascist movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II.

A bloody struggle for power

In 1937 the Legion came third in the Romanian parliamentary elections, behind the Liberal and the Peasant Parties, with 15.5 percent of the vote. King Carol II was strongly opposed to the Legion (not least because of his beloved Jewish mistress Elena Wolff, also known as Magda Lupescu) and successfully kept them out of government until he himself was forced to abdicate in 1940. During this period, the Legion was generally on the losing end of persecution. On February 10, 1938 the king dissolved the government, taking on the role of a royal dictator.

Related Topics:
1937 - Carol II - Magda Lupescu - 1940 - February 10 - 1938

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Codreanu was arrested and imprisoned in April 1938, and ultimately killed along with several other legionnaires on the night of November 29-30, 1938, purportedly during an attempt to escape from prison. It is generally agreed that there was no such escape attempt, and that Codreanu and the others were killed on the king's orders, probably in reaction to the November 24, 1938 murder by legionnaires of a relative (some sources say a "friend") of Armand C?linescu, then Minister of the Interior in the king's cabinet.

Related Topics:
1938 - November 29 - November 24 - Armand C?linescu

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The royal dictatorship was brief. On March 7, 1939 a new government was formed with C?linescu as prime minister; on September 21, 1939 he, in turn was assassinated by legionnaires avenging Codreanu. Further rounds of mutual carnage ensued.

Related Topics:
March 7 - 1939 - September 21

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