Romania
Ion I. C. Brătianu
1864–1927 Prime Minister of Romania, 1914–1918
The eldest son of the statesman and National Liberal leader Ion Brătianu, he studied engineering in Paris, worked for the Romanian Railways and in 1909 became head of the National Liberal Party. Prime minister from 1914, he delayed entering the war until secret talks with the Entente promised Austro-Hungarian lands with a Romanian majority; Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary in August 1916. The Central Powers then overran Wallachia and occupied Bucharest, and the government withdrew to Iași. Brătianu left office in early 1918 rather than accept the Central Powers' peace terms. He led the Romanian delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, was prime minister again from 1922 to 1926 and in 1927, and died in Bucharest on 24 November 1927.