czechoslovak legions

The Czecho-Slovak Legions, also called Czechoslovak Legions were Czech and Slovak volunteer armed forces fighting together with the Entente powers during World War I. They were organized since 1915 by Czech and Slovak emmigrant intellectuals and politicians (Tomas Masaryk, Milan Rastislav Stefanik and others). The purpose of their existence was to help the Entente and thus to enable the creation of an independent country of Czechoslovakia from the country Austria-Hungary (which finally happened in October 1918). Czecho-Slovak legions in Russia were created in 1917 (see below), in France in December 1917 (including volunteers from America), and in Italy in April 1918. The basis for the troops was formed by Czech and Slovak war prisoners in Russia, Serbia and Italy, and Czech and Slovak emmigrants in France and Russia who had already created the "Czech company" in Russia and the "Nazdar" troop in France in 1914. The legions were actively involved in many battles of World War I. (Vouziers, Arras, Zborov, Doss Alto, Bachmach etc. )

Czechoslovak legions in Russia

They played a prominent role in the Russian Civil War. As World War I broke out, ethnic Czechs and Slovaks living in the Russian Empire petitioned Emperor Nicholas II of Russia to let them set up a national force to fight against Austria-Hungary. The Tsar finally gave his assent. A "Czech company" arose in 1915, which was attached to the Russian army. From May 1915, the force was composed of many prisoners and deserters from the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which were from the territories of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia. In February 1915 it was turned into the Czecho-Slovak Riflemen Regiment and in May 1916 into the Czecho-Slovak Riflemen Brigade (7300 persons). Leaders of the Czech and Slovak movements for independence Tomas Masaryk and Milan Rastislav tefnik came to Russua to help to expand the troops and to turn them into an independent Czechoslovak army (spring and summer 1917). They succeeded in that. In September 1917 the brigade was turned into the Fist Hussite Riflemen Division and in October 1917 it was merged with Second Riflemen Division (created in July 1917) into the "Czecho-Slovak Corps in Russia", counting some 40000 men, which was already a genuine Czechoslovak army. The corps peaked to around 65,000 men.

The Siberian incident

After the Russian revolution the Bolshevik government concluded the separate Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and it was agreed between the Bolsheviks and the corps to evacuate the Czechs and Slovaks to France to join the Czechoslovak corps and continue fighting there. Because the European front was blocked by German and Austrian armies, the evacuation was to be done by a detour via Siberia, the Pacific port of Vladivostok and the USA. The slow evacuation by the Trans-Siberian railway was exacerbated by transportation shortages – as agreed to by the Brest-Litovsk treaty, the Bolsheviks were at the same time returning German, Austrian and Hungarian POWs from Siberia back home. In May 1918 the Czechs and Slovaks stopped a Hungarian train at Chelyabinsk and shot a soldier who had apparently thrown something at their train. The local Bolshevik government arrested the Czech and Slovak culprits and to free them their comrades had to storm the railway station and subsequently occupied the whole city. Some time later Leon Trotsky, the then People's Commissar of War, ordered the disarming of the Legion. As a result, the Legion took over a considerable area around the railway just east of Volga River, in the process capturing eight train cars of gold bullion from the Imperial reserve in Kazan. After that, the Bolsheviks had to negotiate a new deal – gold for the free passage home (1920). Eventually, most of the Legion was evacuated via Vladivostok, but some part joined the anti-Bolshevik army of Admiral Kolchak.

Miscellaneous

Only seven train cars of the Imperial gold were turned over to Moscow. The Legion kept the eighth to buy or lease ships in Vladivostok and what was left was used to set up the Legion Bank in Prague. Its headquarters on Prague's Na Pořči street is a masterpiece of Czech Cubist architecture and its faade features scenes of the Legion's retreat through Siberia. The Legion Bridge in Prague is named after the Czechoslovak Legions. The last Legioner died in 2001.