WI: Romania and Bulgaria united?

[qazse]

A Bulgarian-Romanian union is not actually a new idea. It was proposed several times in the 19th and 20th centuries, but it was never put into practice due to the two nations' differences and the disapproval of the Great Powers. After Romania achieved its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1878, relations between it and Bulgaria were good and there were several Romanian candidates for the Bulgarian throne, and several attempts were made to establish a personal union, but Russian meddling thwarted this.

So what if a united Romanian and Bulgarian state was successfully established?

 

[ahmedali]

We will get Hohenzollern Bulgaria and the union will continue until the death of Ferdinand I of Romania or Carol I of Romania


(Ferdinand II's son Nicholas Caesar of the Bulgarians and his brother Carol II may become King of Romania or a brother
Ferdinand Wilhelm becomes King Wilhelm I of Bulgaria, and in both cases the Hohenzollern dynasty rules Bulgaria)


Without the presence of Ferdinand I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Kohari


(The bisexual so obsessed with Byzantium that he put its symbols in his bedroom, and who gave arms to the French just because Kaiser Wilhelm II slapped his ass)


With a Bulgarian tsar, who is more formal and less involved in politics, Stefan Stambolov will live, which means Bulgaria tends to modernity and is also much more hostile to the Russians


(Bulgaria OTL was already hostile to the Russians)


In reality, Russia would be so much more hostile towards the union that Alexander III would convince Abdul Hamid II and Franz Joseph to invade the two states, restore Ottoman rule in Bulgaria, and divide Romania between the Russians and the Austrians.


Carol I would be expelled into exile in his native Germany, and the Romanians and Bulgarians would be much more bitter and hostile to the Russians (the Austrians might return Bosnia to the Ottomans in exchange for Wallachia and Moldavia).

 

[pls don't ban me]

that seems... unlikely.
russia would never favor the ottomans after being at war with them for the last 200 years.
Romania-Bulgaria would face some issues initially: 2 language, one in latin and the other the OG Cyrillic. while both are orthodox the romanians still followed the julian calendar so that would also be a problem. finally they would have to decide if the cuntries have some sort of internal indipendence or are united fully. if the latter happens i can see Stambolov become prime minister as he was kinda known in Romania.
the great power won't like it so Romangaria would need a protector, AH most likely since Romania was already CP affiliated. this scenario is more likely after 1885 when Serbia went toward Russia.
the balkans wr will be heavily different. Romangaria won't need help to kick the ottomans. they have basically twice the population of Serbia and Greece combined, a strong german style army ( the pRussia of the balkans, both manpower and equipment available).
in OTL Bulgaria was able to field in the second balkan war 500k soldiers and reached a peak of 1 mln in the WW1. Romangaria might be able to go for 750k soldier without suffering economically if Stambolov was there. 750k that would easily smash the turks, claim MAcedonia and the agean coast. the only reason they would join the balkan alliance is under Russia relation improvement ( economic gifts and stuff) and there won't be a second balkan war unless it escalates to ww1.

one thing i think might happens is romangaria staying pro-cp in ww1, join them but then switch sides like romania in ww2 just to avoid losses and gain transylvania if AH explodes.
Basically, in 1920 there would be a 30/35 mln people country that will care only for it self since they would have achieved everything. ( great romania + great Bulgaria). the only missing thing would be Costantinople which won't be gained unless Turkey/OE ( depends on butterflies) goes fascist. the country might as well change name to third Bulgarian-walacchian empire since it would have almost the same borders it had Bulgaria with Simeon the Great excluding Serbia and northern greece plus part of hungary
depending on the living standard there might be this guy parents not emigrating to the US so guess the results...

 

[fraa Jad]

Nitpick - - Romania had just finished the switch from Cyrillic to Latin by the end of the 19th century.

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

If it somehow manages to happen, get ready to see Thrace, Macedonia and Aegean coast under their control in a Balkan War of sorts, they're most likely aligned with AH to avoid interference from Russia as well as to both better squeeze Serbia together, given Romania and Bulgaria have some of the highest population of the Balkan nations, they would really be able to throw their weight around and help out their AH allies. Whether an alt WWI happens is anyone guess given how different the region is but the tensions can come from elsewhere.