was assassinated by the Ottomans. Bukovina at first was a closed military district from 1775 until 1786, and then was incorporated as the largest district, the Bukovina District, of the Austrian constituent Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. So far, the Moldavian nobility had traditionally formed the ruling class in that territory. The Habsburg emperor Joseph II wished to affiliate the region with the provinces of the Austrian monarchy (though not with the Holy Roman Empire); he had the devastated lands colonised by Danube Swabians, later known as Bukovina Germans. In the mid 19th century the town of Sadhora became the centre of the Hasidic Sadigura dynasty. The immigration process promoted the further economic development of the multi-ethnic country, though it remained a remote eastern outpost of the Danube Monarchy. In 1804, the region became part of the newly established Austrian Empire. After the political turmoil of the 1848 revolutions, the estates urged the Vienna government to elevate the Bukovina to a separate Austrian Kronland (crown land). With effect of 4 March 1849, the former Kreis was declared the Herzogtum Bukowina, a nominal duchy as part of the official full style of the Austrian emperor. It was governed by a k.k. Statthalter (stadtholder) appointed by the emperor, with his official residence at Czernowitz from 1850. In 1860 the Bukovina was again amalgamated with Galicia, but reinstated as a separate province once again according to the 1861 February Patent issued by Emperor Franz Joseph I. The reinstated crown land received its own Landtag diet including a Landesausschuss executive authority, a status that would last until 1918. In 1867, with the re-organisation of the Austrian Empire as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it became part of the Cisleithanian ("Austrian") territories. Upon the promulgation of the December Constitution, the Imperial Council, on the initiative of the Cisleithanian Citizens' Ministry led by Karl von Auersperg, decided to confer the title Landespräsident on the former stadtholder, heading a Landesregierung (state government). Nine (from 1907 elections: 14) delegates represented the Bukovina in the Austrian House of Deputies. First World War The main military force in the region during peacetime was the 22nd Infantry Regiment at Czernowitz, at that time the only k.k. Landwehr regiment with a Romanian majority (54%). As soon as hostilities began, however, new units were formed from the locally recruited population. The 22nd, 23rd and 41st Landwehr Regiments, along with the 4th Dragoons regiment all had