Bukovina

Bukovina is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided between Romania and Ukraine. It is inhabited mainly by Romanians (in southern regions) and Ukrainians (in northern regions).

Settled throughout history by various cultures and peoples, it became part of the Kievan Rus' in the 10th century, but the region was also affected by Pechenegs and Cumans. Consequently, the culture of the Kievan Rus' spread in the region, that belonged to the Principality of Halych. During the time of the Golden Horde, namely in the 14th century, Bukovina became part of the Principality of Moldavia, that was under the suzerainty of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. In that region, the capital of Moldavia, Suceava, was founded.

According to the Moldo-Russian Chronicle, the Hungarian king Vladislav (Ladislaus) asked the Old Romans (i.e. Byzantines) and the New Romans (i.e. Vlachs) to fight the Tatars. During the same event, it writes that Dragoș was one of the New Romans. Eventually, Dragoș dismounted Moldavia named from a river (Moldova River) flowing in Bukovina. During a Vlach revolt in Bukovina against Balc, Dragoș's grandson, Bogdan the Founder joined the revolt and deposed Balc, securing independence from the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1497 a battle took place at the Cosmin Forest (the hilly forests separating Chernivtsi and Siret valleys), at which Stephen III of Moldavia (Stephen the Great), managed to defeat the much-stronger but demoralized army of King John I Albert of Poland. The battle is known in Polish popular culture as "the battle when the Knights have perished".

After the Russo-Ottoman Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (21 July 1774), the Habsburg Monarchy captured the region in October 1774. Under the Austro-Ottoman Convention of Pera (7 May 1775), the region that came to be known as Bukovina was officially ceded to the Habsburgs. From 1775 to 1786 it was organized as a distinctive Bukovina District, that was included into the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (1786–1849) and later became the Duchy of Bukovina (1849–1918).

The first census that recorded ethnicity was made in 1851 and shows a population of 184,718 or 48.5% Romanians, 144,982 or 38.1% Ukrainians and 51,126 or 13.4% others, with a total population of 380,826 people. By 1910, Romanians and Ukrainians were almost in equal numbers with the Romanians concentrated mainly in the south and the Ukrainians mainly in the north. By 1930, following the Kingdom of Romania's acquisition of Bukovina, the region had a total population of 839,500. The region's ethnic composition was approximately 368,500 or 43% Romanian, 235,800 or 28% Ukrainian, 91,100 or 11% Jewish, 75,000 or 9% German, 30,500 or 3.6% Polish, 12,400 or 1.5% Hutsul, and 11,800 or 1.4% Hungarian, with the remainder consisting of Russians, Romani, and other ethnic groups.

In the summer of 1940, the northern half of Bukovina was annexed by the Soviet Union in violation of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. On 13 November 1940, Vyacheslav Molotov asked Adolf Hitler to endorse the Soviet annexation of South Bukovina as well. However, by that time, Romania was under a territorial guarantee from the Axis following the Second Vienna Award, so Germany refused. As the Final Report of the Wiesel Commission put it: "Only Hitler's refusal saved the rest of Bukovina from being swallowed up, Russified, and lost to Romania forever.". Northern Bukovina was temporarily recovered by Romania as an ally of Nazi Germany after the latter invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, but retaken by the Soviet army in 1944. Bukovina's population was historically ethnically diverse. Today, Bukovina's northern half is the Chernivtsi Oblast of Ukraine, while the southern part is Suceava County of Romania. Bukovina is sometimes known as the 'Switzerland of the East', given its diverse ethnic mosaic and deep forested mountainous landscapes.