FERDINAND I. (1865-1927), KING OF RUMANIA, was born Aug. 24, 1865 at Sigmaringen, Prussia, the second son of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. As Charles I. had no son it was decided that the succession should be continued in the family of Prince Leopold, and Prince Ferdinand, Charles's nephew, became Crown Prince of Rumania and heir presumptive to the Rumanian throne in March, 1889. Prince Ferdinand took a great interest in military questions and organized the Rumanian Army on modern lines. He was commander-in-chief of the Rumanian armies during the Bulgarian campaign of 1913. On Jan. 10, 1893 he married Princess Marie, eldest daughter of the duke of Edin burgh, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Six children were born of the marriage.
When Ferdinand ascended the throne on Oct. i t, 1914, he realized that an armed intervention in the cause of Rumania's national unity was unavoidable. A Hohenzollern by birth, he in due course declared war on his native country. As a con sequence he was disowned by the Hohenzollern family. When Bucharest was occupied by General Mackensen, King Ferdinand and the Royal family withdrew with the Government and the army into Moldavia. There he endured with the rest of the population a most appalling period of anxiety, sickness and want. The Bolshevist revolution and the collapse of the Russian armies came as a crowning misery. But the Rumanian Army, headed by King Ferdinand, repulsed the German attack at Maratesti, thus saving the rest of the country from invasion. In 1918 the prov inces of Bessarabia, Bucowina, Transylvania and the Banat had become united with Rumania, and on Oct. 15, 1922 King Ferdi nand was crowned, at Alba Julia, king of all Rumanians.
Two most important reforms, the agrarian reform and the inauguration of universal suffrage, were enacted under Ferdi nand's reign. The expropriation of large estates and their con version into small holdings did much to guarantee the peaceful development of an agricultural country such as Rumania. King Ferdinand was the first landlord to hand over his estates to his peasant-soldiers. It was also due to his initiative that the thorny Jewish question was solved by the grant of full civil and military rights to the Rumanian-born Jews. In Dec. 1925 Ferdi nand's eldest son, Charles, renounced his claims to the throne, and Charles's son, Michael, became heir apparent. Ferdinand died on July 20, 1927 (see also RUMANIA).