Abstract:
Following the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, Austria, encouraged by Russia, annexed
the north of Moldova, known as Bukovina. After annexation, Austria introduces the military
administration in Bukovina. The Austrian occupation in Bukovina knows four stages, after which the
development of education was divided into periods: I - the Military Administration (1774-1786), II –
the Period of Incorporation of Bucovina to Galicia (1786-1850), III – the Orthodox Clerical Period
(1850-1869) and IV – The Period after the issue of the Imperial Law on Primary School (after
1869).Immediately after annexation, Austrians started a process of Germanification of the
population and education. The darkest part of the Habsburg occupation was the union with Galicia
when the process of Germanification and conversion to Catholicism increasingly intensifies, German
becoming the official language. A major role in the preservation of the Romanian language and
culture at that time was played by the travelling teachers and then by the Romanian cultural
societies. After the revolutionary movements of 1848, the Romanian patriots increase their fight for
the rights of Romanians and thus, over time, they acquired the right to have schools in Romanian
and their number in the rural area increased. In 1910, Romanian language became the official
language in Bukovina alongside the German, Ukrainian and Polish. After 1918 the activity of
schools in Bukovina will be organized and conducted by specialized bodies of the Romanian state.