According to Silviu Brucan, the two main conspirators from the Communist Party's side were Emil Bodnăraș and Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, who contacted King Michael to prepare a coup d'état against Ion Antonescu.

Apart from the two communist conspirators, participants in the meeting were Gen. Gheorghe Mihail, Gen. Constantin Sănătescu and Col. Dumitru Dămăceanu, while King Michael was represented by Baron Ioan Mocsony-Stârcea [ro] (marshal of the palace), Mircea Ionnițiu (private secretary) and Grigore Niculescu-Buzești (diplomatic adviser).

The king offered a non-confrontational retreat to Killinger, but the Germans considered the coup "reversible" and tried to turn the situation around by military attacks.

Later that night, at 10 pm, the King announced over the radio that Antonescu had been deposed and an armistice with the Allied Powers and the Soviet Union would be accepted.

With an entire German Army in their midst, they turned around within twenty-four hours and proclaimed their alliance with the Soviet Union, Britain and the United States.

Within one month, Bulgaria and Finland also changed sides, the Slovak National Uprising began, and a failed coup was attempted in Croatia on 18 September.

Economically, Albert Speer regarded Romania's defection as decisive, because it not only deprived the Axis of Romanian oil but also definitively cut off access to vital supplies of Turkish chrome.

"[8][page needed] Formal Allied recognition of the de facto change of orientation of Romania in the war came on 12 September 1944.

The Annex to Article 18, specified that "The Romanian Government and their organs shall fulfill all instructions of the Allied Control Commission arising out of the Armistice Agreement."

This phrasing conveyed the possibility of a revision of the Treaty of Trianon border, and it was meant to tempt Hungary to also cease fighting alongside Germany.

On 9 March 1945, three days after the formation of the Petru Groza cabinet, Stalin approved the return of all of Northern Transylvania to Romanian administration.

[12] In October 1944, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, proposed an agreement with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin on how to divide Eastern Europe into spheres of influence after the war.

[citation needed] He was also awarded the highest degree (Chief Commander) of the Legion of Merit by President Harry S. Truman a year later.