National Legionary State

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The National Legionary State (Romanian: Statul Naţional Legionar) was the Romanian government of September 6, 1940—January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, leader of the Romanian Army, who had been named prime minister two days before Carol's September 6 resignation.

The National Legionary State took power upon the abdication of King Carol II. Carol was brought down largely as the result of a series of humiliating losses of territory: on June 27, 1940, the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum that led to a July 1940 withdrawal of Romanian forces from Bessarabia, which was promptly annexed by the Soviets; the Second Vienna Award, August 30, 1940, passed 43,492 km² of Transylvania to Hungary; the Treaty of Craiova, looming at the time of Carol's resignation, was signed September 7, 1940 and gave the southern part of Dobrudja (the Cadrilater) to Bulgaria.

The first Romanian government to be overtly aligned with Nazi Germany and the Axis, the National Legionary State was marked by uneasy relations between the Guard's leader Horia Sima and Antonescu. The regime lasted 131 days in all, and ended with the widespread violence of the unsuccessful Legionary Rebellion (January 21—January 23, 1941), in which the Iron Guard tried to seize unilateral power and were, instead, defeated. The National Legionary State was replaced by Antonescu's own dictatorship (see Romania during World War II).