Romania After WWI: Borders Changed, Name Stayed the Same

Romania did not change its official name after World War I. The country remained the Kingdom of Romania (later the Romanian People's Republic, then Socialist Republic of Romania, and today simply Romania).

What did change dramatically were its borders and territorial extent. The 1918 union with Transylvania (from Austria-Hungary), Bessarabia (from Russia), and Bukovina (from Austria) nearly doubled Romania's territory and population. This "Great Union" is celebrated annually on December 1 as Great Union Day.

So while the name endured, the map of Romania was redrawn—fulfilling a long-held nationalist aspiration for a unified Romanian state.