During most of World War II (until 1944), Romanian forces supported the Axis powers, fighting against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front.

[8] The current Romanian Land Forces were formed in 1860, immediately after the unification of Wallachia with Moldavia, and were commanded by Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Domnitor of Romania until his abdication in 1866.

[12][13] The Romanian Army entered the Second Balkan War against Bulgaria, allowing Romania to annex Southern Dobruja (also known as the Cadrilater).

The Central Powers drove deep into Romania and conquered the southern part of the country (Wallachia, including Bucharest) by the end of 1916.

The Romanian forces, led by Marshal Constantin Prezan, retreated into the north-east part of Romania (Moldavia).

In the summer of 1917 however, Prezan, aided by Ion Antonescu, successfully defended the remaining unoccupied territories against German and Austro-Hungarian forces led by Field Marshal August von Mackensen.

[19][20] As a result of the Russian Revolution, Romania was left isolated and unable to continue the war, and was forced to sign the Treaty of Bucharest with the Central Powers.

[22] After World War I, in December 1918, the Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia proclaimed a union with the Kingdom of Romania.

[23] Under the command of generals Gheorghe Mărdărescu and Traian Moșoiu, the Romanian Army defeated the Hungarians and occupied Budapest in August 1919.

The Romanian armies saw their first major battles at Odessa and Sevastopol, and in 1942 advanced with other Axis forces deeper into Soviet territory during operation Case Blue.

In early November, Romanian mountain troops under the command of Brigadier General Ioan Dumitrache took Nalchik, the farthest point of Axis advance into the Caucasus.

The worst defeat for the Romanian expeditionary force on the Eastern Front occurred at Stalingrad, where, during the Soviet counter-offensive of November 1942, the thinly spread forces of the Third Army (under the command of General Petre Dumitrescu, deployed north of Stalingrad) and of the Fourth Army (under the command of Lieutenant General Constantin Constantinescu-Claps, deployed south of Stalingrad) were attacked by vastly superior Soviet forces and suffered combined losses of some 158,000 personnel.

During April–May 1944 the Romanian forces led by General Mihai Racoviță, together with elements of the German Eighth Army were responsible for defending Northern Romania during the Soviet First Jassy-Kishinev Offensive, and took part in the Battles of Târgu Frumos.

On 23 August 1944, a coup led by King Michael I of Romania deposed Marshal Antonescu and set up a pro-Soviet government.

The Soviet occupation of Romania led to a complete reorganisation of the Romanian Land Forces under the supervision of the Red Army.

[27] After the Romanian Communist Party seized political power, the sovietization of the army commenced, under the supervision of the new Minister of Defence, Emil Bodnăraș.

[33] In wartime the land forces in each military region would become an army corps with their headquarters in Cluj-Napoca, Iași, and Bucharest.

[37] According to the 165-year 'History of Modern Romanian Artillery,' in 1989 each of the four armies were organized into a headquarters and reporting formations under them, which were organized as follows:[38] The mechanized divisions were organized along the Soviet model with a division HQ, three mechanized infantry regiments, one tank regiment, combat and service support units, and a full complement of 10,700 infantry soldiers, having 130 main battle tanks, 216 wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs), 30 wheeled armoured reconnaissance vehicles, 18 light SPGs SU-76, 54 towed 120mm.

Compared to similar Soviet, Hungarian, or Bulgarian divisions, the Romanian ones were more poorly equipped, both in terms of number and quality of heavy weapons.

The vânători de munte specialised troops, reactivated in 1961, were formed up into an independent branch of the RLF with 4 separate mountain brigades in 1989.

In the mid-1990s, the situation of the land forces was critical: the military budget was one third that of 1989 (636 million dollars), 50% of the equipment was older than 30 years, and 60% of the armoured vehicles and 85% of the missile units were non-operational.

Due to lack of fuel and training, the level of combat readiness and military capability was extremely low (only about 30% of the entire land forces were operational).

The stages aim at modernising the structure of the armed forces, reducing the number of personnel, as well as acquiring newer and improved technology that is compatible with NATO standards.

[47] The TR-85M1 "Bizon" main battle tank and the MLI-84M "Jder" infantry fighting vehicle are the most modern, domestically produced equipment of the Romanian Land Forces.

[48] The Land Forces ordered about 100 United States Army Humvees; the first eight were delivered to the Military Police in December 2006.

The first batch of 36 vehicles, produced at GDELS-Mowag's facilities in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, entered service with the 26th Infantry Battalion "Neagoe Basarab", also known as the Red Scorpions, in Craiova in October 2020.

It is a military special unit, formed of highly skilled individuals, a very large percentage of its members being champions in martial arts, athletic disciplines and so on.

Currently, the military schools and training units of the Romanian Land Forces are directly subordinated to the central headquarters.

Most of these exercises took place at Babadag, which is one of the largest and most modern training firing ranges and military facilities in Europe, with a total surface area of 270 square kilometres.

It was announced on 6 December 2006 that 1,500 U.S. troops stationed at Mihail Kogălniceanu, which in time will form Joint Task Force East, will be using Babadag as a training base.