In 1775, the
region of
Bukovina, historically part of the
Romanian principality of
Moldavia, officially became part of the Austrian
Habsburg monarchy after having invaded it one year earlier, which would start a strong process of
Ukrainization. Years later, in 1812, Moldavia also lost
Bessarabia to the
Russian Empire. In 1859, Moldavia
united with another Romanian principality,
Wallachia, creating
the first modern Romanian state. During
World War I,
Romania was promised the obtaining of, among other territories, Bukovina as a condition for entering the war. It ended in victory for the country, and Bukovina
declared unification with Romania on 28 November 1918.
The earlier incorporation of another territory, Bessarabia, into Romania, strained relations between the country and the newly-formed
Soviet Union (USSR). Romania tried to defend and secure its new borders during the
interwar period with the help of
France and the
United Kingdom (UK), but at the start of
World War II, Romania was left defenseless and in a 1940
ultimatum, the Soviet Union demanded and
occupied Bessarabia and also
Northern Bukovina as "compensation" for the "great loss brought to the Bessarabian population". Although Bukovina and Bessarabia were already under Romanian control again, it was decided that the regions would not be fully integrated within the country, but that they would rather remain as autonomous regions ruled by a
governor (
governorates). The five Romanian interwar
counties of the region of Bukovina (
Câmpulung,
Cernăuți,
Rădăuți,
Storojineț and
Suceava), as well as the
Hotin County of northern Bessarabia, formed the new Bukovina Governorate, to which the
Dorohoi County (in
Western Moldavia) was posteriorly attached in October 1941. It had three governors: , who died in office;
Corneliu Calotescu and
Corneliu Dragalina. The
capital of the governorate was
Cernăuți (now known as Chernivtsi).
Ion Antonescu, the
Conducător ("Leader") of Romania, had convinced himself that
Nazi Germany would win the war until the
Battle of Stalingrad, which was a defeat for the Axis. He realized after this that German victory would be unviable and began to reinforce the east of the country. In the end,
a 1944 coup ended with Antonescu's overthrow by
King Michael I and Romania changed sides and joined the
Allies, giving up Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia to the Soviets "in exchange" for the recovery of
Northern Transylvania from Hungary and marking the end of the Bukovina Governorate. ==See also==