National Liberal Party-Brătianu

The clash between Gheorghe I. Brătianu and the main party occurred in 1930, as, in the period following the death of Ion I. C. Brătianu and at the start of Vintilă Brătianu's leadership, the party had lost power to the most important opposition group—the National Peasants' Party (PNŢ)—being crushed in the elections of 1928 (when it obtained only 6.5% of the vote).[12] The PNL had become factionalized over issues related to policy, with the most radical of the new currents being Jean Th. Florescu's Free Man Grouping (after openly attacking Vintilă Brătianu, the latter split in 1931 to create the Liberal Democratic Party).[12]

In Gheorghe I. Brătianu's case, the cause for conflict was his uncle Vintilă's decision to stand by his commitment to the rule of King Mihai I and the Regency (formed around Prince Nicholas of Romania), at the moment when the PNȚ Premier Gheorghe Mironescu had ensured the unexpected return of Carol II (who replaced his son on the throne during the month of June); Gheorghe I. Brătianu, who was head of the Iași County section of the PNL, voiced his full support for the new monarch, and, despite his energetic protests, was soon after excluded from the party.[13] Nevertheless, Vintilă Brătianu and Carol normalized their relations in July, just a six months before the former's unexpected death.[14] The main PNL was subsequently led by Ion G. Duca, who was assisted by the future leader of the so-called "young liberals" (supporting both free trade and an authoritarian rule over the country around the king's person), Gheorghe Tătărescu.[15]

In 1933, as Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, Gheorghe I. Brătianu publicly declared his admiration for him—this partial assimilation of fascism was a discourse also present with several other intellectuals (the historian Nicolae Iorga and the poet Octavian Goga).[16] Duca's premiership, begun in November of the same year, saw an exodus of Georgists back to the PNL, after a failed attempt to have the party itself reunite with the latter.[3] At around the same time, PNL-Brătianu began moving away from supporting the king, as its leader refused to compromise with the camarilla forming around Carol.[14] Gheorghe I. Brătianu turned down multiple offers to become premier, at a time when Carol sought new solutions to combat the rise in popularity of the fascist Iron Guard.[17]

After 1934, Brătianu visited Berlin several times, and began talks with Nazi authorities over the guidelines of Romanian external policies, which he wanted to divert from their focus on a Franco-British alliance (and its Eastern European reflections—the Little Entente and the Polish–Romanian Alliance).[18] He was also suspicious of the planned appeasement between Romania and the Soviet Union, and claimed that the Foreign Minister Nicolae Titulescu was campaigning in favour of a pact with Joseph Stalin, which potentially threatened the territorial gains (Greater Romania) by failing to guarantee for Bessarabia and Bukovina.[19] Although he was initially received with interest, Brătianu's plans were ultimately rejected by the Germans, who chose to maintain a closer relationship with Hungary, Romania's rival.[18]

When Duca was assassinated by the Iron Guard on December 30, 1933, Tătărescu's succession to the premiership effectively led to a change in political programs, as the new executive was open to collaboration with Carol. In the new context, Brătianu became an opponent of the monarch, and, in front of Carol's attempts to have the 1923 Constitution amended by authoritarian legislation, was a supporter of legal traditions;[20] the Georgists also expressed reserve towards the outlawing of the Iron Guard, viewing it as a dangerous precedent.[21] The PNL-Brătianu found itself in a bitter rivalry with the "young liberals", whose presence in the forefront blocked all negotiations between the two.[22]

Present in all but one electoral district by 1933, Brătianu's group won only 6.5% of the vote in the 1932 elections (when it chose not to form any electoral alliance).[23] With just 14 to 16 representatives to the Chamber of Deputies throughout its existence, the Georgists still ranked consistently as the fourth or sixth most successful party in the country.[24] In 1934, together with Alexandru Averescu's People's Party, it created the Constitutional Front, which soon (but briefly) included Mihai Stelescu's Crusade of Romanianism (emerged as an offshoot of the Iron Guard, it disappeared a short while after its leader was assassinated) and Grigore Forțu's minor Citizen Bloc.[25] It disbanded it 1936.

In elections of November 1937, the Georgists joined with the National Peasants' Party and the Iron Guard in the electoral pact that was meant to protect the opposition from all possible interference of the Tătărescu government in the results of the voting.[26] The uniquely indecisive results of the voting allowed Carol to form a loyal executive around the far right National Christian Party and its leaders, Octavian Goga and A. C. Cuza; the Georgists remained in opposition to the new government, and began talks for a reconciliation with the PNL, after the defeated Tătărescu lost ground to the "old liberal" leadership around Dinu Brătianu (the second brother of Ion I. C. and the uncle of Gheorghe). The reunion occurred exactly a month before Carol dismissed the Goga government and, nominally outlawing all parties to create the National Renaissance Front, established his own dictatorship.[27] When Tătărescu chose to back the regime and was expelled, Gheorghe I. Brătianu became replaced his rival as the second most important figure of the semi-clandestine party, and agreed to join the National Peasants' Party in voicing criticism of Carol's authoritarian policies.[28]