Constantin Sănătescu

Constantin Sănătescu (January 14, 1885, Craiova – November 8, 1947, Bucharest) was a Romanian statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Romania after the August 23, 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 (1913), 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. He 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 December 2 of the same year. He died of cancer in 1947, and was buried with full military honors.