Constantin Sănătescu
Constantin Sănătescu was a Romanian statesman who served as the 44th Prime Minister of Romania after the 23 August 1944 coup, through which Romania left the Axis Powers and joined the Allies.Life and career
The son of general Gheorghe Sănătescu, he graduated from the Military School in Bucharest in 1907. He fought against Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War, and in World War I. In between the wars, he was a military attaché in Paris and then London. A general in 1935, he was named deputy Chief of the General Staff in 1937. Sănătescu led the Romanian legation to Moscow in 1940, after the beginning of World War II. From 1941 to 1943 he commanded the IV Corps; from 1943 to 1944, he commanded the 4th Army.
When the pro-German dictatorship of Marshal Ion Antonescu was overthrown, Sănătescu was charged by King Michael with the forming of a new government. The government was dominated by the National Peasants' Party and the National Liberal Party, though Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu was appointed Minister of Justice, thus becoming the first Romanian Communist Party member to hold high government office.
Sănătescu unsuccessfully tried to strengthen the ties with the United States, in order to save Romania from a Soviet Communist occupation, but the growing suspicion of Joseph Stalin forced him to resign on 2 December of the same year. He died of cancer in November 1947, and was buried with full military honors.
Sănătescu was awarded the Order of the Crown, the Order of the Star of Romania, Order of Michael the Brave, the Order of Saint Sava, and a number of other decorations.
