LEGISLATIVE MEASURES TAKEN DURING THE RULE OF ALEXANDRU IOAN I REGARDING THE ORGANISATION OF THE ROMANIAN MILITARY SYSTEM – CASE STUDY: PERMANENT ARMY AND TERRITORIAL ARMY –

In: Romanian military thinking, Volume 2021, Issue 2, p. 204-215

Abstract

In the current, highly unpredictable context, in which the great powers want to preserve their economic, political, cultural and military influences, and the regional powers seek to receive an as comfortable as possible place at the table of the powerful ones, there is still a dilemma for which military strategies do not have a definitive answer: territorial troops versus professional forces. The two concepts are found, in specific forms, in the Romanian military terminology, as well as in the legislation approved in order to modernise the Romanian military body ever since the time of Prince Alexandru Ioan I (Alexandru Ioan Cuza). In the first years of the establishment of the modern Romanian Army, the political factors, but especially the military ones, with decision-making power, enacted the organisation of the Romanian armed power, introducing modern doctrinal concepts, starting, however, from the traditional military doctrine, according to which the national territory of the country is defended by the entire people. Thus, during the reign of Alexandru Ioan I, the main components of the Romanian Army were the permanent army, with its reserve forces, the territorial army, as well as the militias, which included, without being paid special importance, the city guard and the crowds.