Considering the difficult military and political situation in which Ukraine is now, due to the full-scale military invasion of the Russian Federation, which, in addition to the occupation of the parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions and the annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 2014, temporarily occupied a part of the Ukrainian territories in 2022. At the same time, one of the challenges facing Ukraine in 2023 is the military neo-imperial policy of the Russian authorities, which actualizes the need to study the history of military aggressions of this state. The historical experience of the occupation of the territories of Galicia and Bukovyna during the First World War proves that in religious, educational and cultural spheres, the Russian authorities of that time adhered to the imperial, chauvinistic principles of aggression, which are used even now during the full-scale war of the Russian Federation with Ukraine in the territories occupied by Russian troops in the south and east.
The scientific novelty of the dissertation study is due to the absence of special generalizing works on a specific topic in the specified chronological framework in Ukrainian and foreign historiography. The dissertation analyses in detail the existing historiographical work of Ukrainian and foreign scientists on the topic of research and puts into scientific use little-known documentary sources from the archives and scientific libraries of Ukraine, Poland and Russia, which were not used before or were studied in a fragmentary manner.
The principles of formation and organization of the religious policy of the Russian occupation authorities in Galicia and Bukovyna during the First World War were analysed and the general trends of the spread of Orthodoxy in the occupied territories were characterized. The measures taken by the Russian occupation administration to «convert» Greek Catholics to the Orthodox faith were one of the elements of the Russification program. The religious issue was considered a cornerstone, since according to the plans of the Russian top leadership, in the event of a military victory over Austria-Hungary, the territory of Galicia and Bukovyna was to be «reunited» with the Russian state in order to achieve «historical justice».
It was shown in detail that the issue of education was used by the Russian authorities to fight against the Ukrainian national movement. The Russian Empire tried to solve educational problems at the same time as religious and language issues in order to achieve its political goals. It was determined that the presence of a Ukrainian school in the Austro-Hungarian Empire complicated the fight against «Ukrainian separatism» in the Russian Empire. It was found that the use of the issue of education to strengthen the Russian occupation power in Galicia and Bukovyna during 1914–1917 mostly led to the opposite of the expected results. The actions of the Russian occupation administration in the field of education actually caused the destruction of all levels of the extensive network of educational institutions that functioned in Galicia and Bukovyna in the pre-war period.
It was found that the policy carried out by the Russian authorities in the occupied territories did not have clearly defined plans for the organization of management, which related to the issue of religion and education, as well as the sphere of culture. This is confirmed by the fact that in the first months of the war in the Republic of Moldova, issues related to national, cultural or religious problems were not raised at all. Plans to resolve these issues were drawn up already in the course of military operations, as evidenced by radically different management approaches at different stages of the war, due to which the policy of the Russian autocracy can be considered impulsive, irrational and not fully thought out in terms of prospects and consequences of war.
In general, the cultural and educational activities of the Russian occupation administration in Galicia and Bukovyna became evidence of a striking difference between the officially declared «liberation» slogans and the real policy, which had a distinctly imperial, chauvinistic and invading character.
Key words: the First World War, Galicia, Bukovyna, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russian Empire, Russian occupation, religion, education, culture, Russification.
