Nicolae Titulescu was a prominent Romanian politician and diplomat in the early 20th century. He held several high-level positions including Professor of Law, member of Parliament, Minister of Finance, Ambassador to London, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and President of the General Assembly of the League of Nations. Titulescu dedicated his career to promoting peace between nations through diplomacy and international cooperation. However, his vision of maintaining peace in Europe was not realized during his lifetime as World War II broke out after his death.

1. NICOLAE TITULESCU 1882 - 1941

2. Nicolae Titulescu has occupied, for almost four decades, a leading part in the public life of Romania, and became, between the Two World Wars, one of the remarkable personalities of the international life. Titulescu was born on March 1882 in Craiova, where he attended primary and high school, receiving the prize of honour in 1900 at the Graduation Exam. In the following years he studied law in Paris distinguishing himself as a brilliant student. After returning to the country, he was appointed Professor of civil law at the Iasi University (he was 22 years old), then, in 1909 he was Professor at the University of Bucharest.

3. His political activity began in 1912, the year of his election as member of the Parliament. After five years he got his first mandate at the Ministry for Finance. In early 1918 he went to Paris where he participated as a member of the Romanian delegation to the Peace Conference. In 1922 he was named Ambassador of Romania in London. In 1927 he became Minister for Foreign Affairs but, a year later he returned to London where from he continued to monitor the Europeans events and to participate in all the major international negotiations as the Romanian representative in the League of Nations (Geneva). In autumn 1930 he was elected President of the General Assembly of the League of Nations, as a sign of recognition of his high reputation on the international ground.

4. In 1931, contrary to the usual practice (not to renew the mandate of the same person), he was re-elected President of the General Assembly of the League of Nations, thanks to his sustained activity in this post. In 1932 he returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 1936. His qualities were utterly exceptional: passionate and convincing orator who excelled in logic, precision, elegance; versatile diplomat, constantly defending not only the Romanian interests but also the interests of the international peace. In a period which gave a lot of political personalities (Herriot, Barthou, Paul Boncour), Titulescu had won the fame of one of the most imposing orators of his time. A French writer considered him as the greatest public-speaker in the Voltaire’s language.

5. Titulescu was called “Ambassador of peace” , ”Minister of Europe” ,“Tribune of peace”. A. Frangulis, President of the International Diplomatic Academy, described him as “a legendary figure of the international congresses and meetings”. Moreover, he counted among the founding members of International Diplomatic Academy in Paris and in 1934 he was elected President of this Academy. From this position, he presented, at the annual sessions, important speeches about problems of minorities, collective security, united Europe, indivisibility of peace, principles of non-aggression. He fought for the respect of the sovereignty and equality of all nations in the international community, for the preservation of stable borders through the maintenance of peace, for good relations between both large and small neighbouring states.

6. In 1942, shortly after his death, W. Steed, professor at King’s College in London, stated that Nicolae Titulescu, “man of an extreme intelligence and infallible charm”, had two dominant features: devotion to Romania and devotion to the general cause of “the European peace”. According to his views about the progress of the international relationships and about the part played by the International Law in the nations’ life, Nicolae Titulescu considered that peace represented the central element of reference, the premise and purpose of the harmonious development of all states, the motivation and dynamic agent which lie at the basis at the general progress. “Peace”, wrote N. Titulescu in his famous speech in the Reichstag in 1929 ( Dynamics of Peace) , “is a phenomenon in permanent movement. It’s something alive that accomplishes itself step by step. Peace means neither rest nor neglect. Peace means goal and direction.”

7. Peace-loving, he stated that the rights of a country have to be validated by goodwill and not by sword. He was a pitiless critic and an inflexible opponent of any adventurous politics that could rob what belonged to others. Titulescu identified, without any doubt, the enemies of his country and of himself: not certain countries or people, but the irredentism, the revisionism, the violation of the sovereignty gained by peace treaties, the attempts of not taking into account the nations’ aspirations for understanding and co-operation. He endeavoured to find and to put into practice the efficient solutions in order to counteract the conspiracy of the aggression partisans. He understood, unlike not many in that period, that, to consolidate the friendship relations and good-neighbour policy, represents the most solid guarantee of peace. He encouraged the efforts to establish, to maintain and to put on a solid basis the Little Entente and the understanding among the Balkan countries.

8. Unfortunately, the ideal to which Titulescu devoted his whole life (keeping the peace among nations) was not able to be accomplished during his life. He died far from his beloved country (he died in Cannes, France in 1941) in the period of the most terrible world conflagration that Titulescu, as man and as diplomat had tried to prevent(World War II). From the time perspective, one can state that Nicolae Titulescu promoted a consistent foreign policy which is placed on the line of continuity of the Romanian people ideas concerning the involvement in the great family of nations.

9. Raymond Cartier, a great publicist of those times, wrote: “Ti-tu-les-cu! The four syllables of his name filled the diplomatic history after the War. He was one of the great men of Romania, one of the great men of Little Entente, one of the great men of Europe.” These words synthesize the enormous prestige Titulescu enjoyed during his life and the exceptional part he played in the very complicated times of the European and World history.

11. THIS MATERIAL WAS DEVELOPED BY PROFESOR CRISTINA STANECI

12. PRESENTATION FROM TEACHER DOINA VILCU