• Romania

By late May 1917, the reorganization of the Romanian army was complete. There were 5 army corps and two large armies : the 1st and the 2nd Romanian armies. On the Romanian front also fought two Russian armies : the 4th and the 6th.

As the spring of 1917 was drawing to a close, both sides reconsidered their options for the coming battles. The Romanian high command was eager to comit its new divisions to offensive operations, so they set about planning a new offensive. As it was felt that the Austro-Hungarian troops were somewhat weaker opponents, the "brain" of Romania's HQ, major Ion Antonescu chose to strike the Austro-Hungarians, aiming to encircle most of their 1st Army. The main blow was to be struck at the junction between the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army and the German 9th Army. Should the operation succeed, the Romanian troops would take the initiative all over the lines and retake the ground lost during the 1916 campaign.

• The Central Powers

For the Germans, 1917 was in many ways a decisive year. Hindenburg and Luddendorf  knew that Germany couldn't fight much more on two fronts. Therefore, they were determined to end the war on the east front in 1917 at all costs.

To achieve this, the German high command envisioned a gigantic pincer movement, with simultaneous offensives launched in Moldova and further north in Galitzia. These two thrusts were to meet well inside the Ukraine, thus knocking the Russians out of the war. But before this, the German 9th Army had to break through the Romanian front. Its commander, general Von Mackensen had gotten the knickname "front breacker" for his achievements in previous offensives. He confidently predicted that his troops will overran the rest of Romania by the end of July 1917, following the blow he planned to deliver in the Namoloasa area. Indeed, a breakthrough in that sector would have allowed the Germans to advance on Romania's  temporary capital of Iasi. Had the city fallen in the hands of the Germans, Romania would have lost its last remaining industrial capabilities and communications with the outside world would be all but cut off. In such case, there is no doubt that the only thing left for Romanian to do was unconditional surrender.