The end of the First World War changed the face of Europe completely and reshaped geopolitics in the continent for decades to come. However, the continent was far from complete peace, even in the immediate aftermath of the Versailles Treaty. Most noticeably of all, Russia, a former member of the Entente, was in the middle of a raging civil war since 1917, the same year the country left the war as it found its inhabitants pitted in battles against each other. Primarily against the Reds and the Whites, there had been as well smaller factions vying for control in the region… And other factions more whose goal was to leave the country as soon as possible. The Czechoslovak legion was exactly aiming to do the latter. However, their journey to Czechoslovakian lands was barred to the west by a combination of opponents, chief among them the Austro-Hungarian and German armies (the enemy that the Czechoslovak legion was formed to fight against) that had taken over large swathes of Central and Eastern Europe after Russia’s retreat; the only choice was for them to escape in the opposite direction, not stopping until they boarded ships at Vladivostok to then make their way home through numerous land and sea routes. Here I will give a brief introduction to who the Legion were, their formation, and their escape throughout all of Siberia and navigating the planet in order to return back to their home towns.
The formation of the Legions
At the outbreak of the conflict, the Austro-Hungarian Empire mobilised its troops. The Austro-Hungarian army, due to the Empire’s rule over many non-Austrian and non-Hungarian lands, was comprised of many members of minor ethnic groups that had no wide representation in the halls of power; nonetheless, in the time of need, they remained obligated to carry out their duty, no matter how “suspicious” their loyalties to their Austro-Hungarian officers and Emperor may have seen. Banking on the mixed feelings of the minorities towards their leaders, the Entente leaned on the nationalisms present of the multi-ethnic Imperial army with the goal of weakening it from within. Such an act was undertaken by convincing Imperial POWs to join the Allies in the fight against their previous overlords; an action that turned out to be widely successful. Soon enough, there were armies composed of Central Powers Prisoners of War on almost every front in Europe: in Italy, France and, most noticeably for this article, on the Eastern Front.
The Czechoslovaks fought hard, knowing that, if they were to be captured by their former overlords, they were more than likely to be court-martialled for desertion and treason for joining the enemy side; a possibility unthinkable for a people whose country’s possible future independence hinged on the Entente’s victory in the war. Despite the Central Powers’ being surrounded by members of the allies, Russia, one of the foremost members of the Entente, was about to reach its breaking point in the conflict, with a revolution which changed the course of Global History irrevocably.
The Eastern front collapses, the Russian Revolution begins
By 1917, the massive Russian Empire was in shambles. Around 12 million total losses and continuous military setbacks by Austro-Hungary and Germany, as well as increasing popular discontent lead in primis by Lenin’s revolutionaries, had brought the country to the brink. As the Imperial government collapsed and the Bolshevik revolutionaries overthrew the provisional Russian government (that had decided to continue Russian commitment in the war), peace with the Central Powers was signed in Brest-Litovsk, in modern day Belarus, thus ending World War One on the Eastern Front of Europe. However, the region would be far from being at peace. Although the Bolsheviks were consolidating their power bit by bit, there remained many in the former Empire that opposed their rule. Soon enough, political and minority groups started to form either to overthrow Lenin’s Soviets or gain their independence from Russia altogether regardless of who ruled the country.
In between this situation and the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, lay many stranded POWs of both sides of the War, chief among them the Czechoslovak legionaries. Many of these soldiers, thanks to their training and their experience, would be an extremely valuable asset for an independent Czechoslovakia that could easily demonstrate itself to be a regional power if the conflict ended with their nation becoming independent. However, their experience made them coveted by both the whites and the reds in the civil conflict, as both sides were needy of experienced soldiers to carry out their orders. Although allying with both when necessary (such as allying with the reds during the battle of Bakhmach), pressure from the Central Powers on the Bolsheviks to hand over the Czechoslovaks as deserters soon increased the Legions’ hostilities towards the reds and an increasing alliance of convenience with the anti-Bolshevik forces.
Evacuating Russia
Realising that any attempt to head West was futile, as the road was still blocked by the Austro-Hungarians and Germans, the Czechoslovaks soon realised that there was truly only one way out of the increasing chaos of the Russian Civil War: to head onto the Trans-Siberian railway and make their journey all the way to the East, to the city of Vladivostok, where there would be ships scheduled to bring them out of the embattled land and bring them back to Europe.
To say that this would be an easy task would be a massive understatement. Not only would the heavily armed (therefore considered a threat by any side of the Russian Civil War) convoys of Czechoslovaks have to march through hostile territory, but they would have to also face the might of the Russian winter in the process.
The march eastwards was slow. Continuous blocks set up by warring factions, complicated negotiations and skirmishes pervaded the entire journey. Nonetheless, the Czechoslovaks scored multiple victories and successes that oftentimes dwarfed those of any other faction in the conflict. As a matter of fact, the Czechoslovak Legionnaires’ abilities managed to get them extremely close to the prison keeping the Russian Imperial family, and even managed to capture the Russian golden reserves themselves! In fact, some sources write that it was the Czechoslovak’s advance towards the city of Yekaterinburg that may have been the reason the Red Army proceeded to execute the Romanovs, the Imperial dynasty of Russia, thinking that the Legions would have likely proceeded to liberate them. As they proceeded east, by then they had become a noteworthy force to be reckoned with by all involved sides, and one White faction general was not going to let them pass through his territory without some help for his own personal goals in turn…
Through the Sleeping Land
In order to reach Vladivostok, the Czechoslovaks found themselves faced with the prospect of journeying through the vastness of cold Siberia. As they got deeper into Siberia, they allied themselves temporarily to the Siberian government, an anti-Bolshevik faction that permitted the Legion to pass through their territory, on the basis that they would help… reinforce their authority. Kolchak, the eccentric leader of the Siberian regime, heavily relied on the Czechoslovaks’ experiences to expand his rule and to fight back any attempts by the Bolsheviks in taking Siberia. The Czechoslovaks, more interested in leaving Russia than getting embroiled in the conflict even further, begrudgingly obliged, resting solely on the promise of a free passage to Vladivostok. However, Kolchak’s erratic behaviour and repeated defeats by the Reds grew so much in intensity that the hostilities between the Siberian government and their Czechoslovak troops, that had not wished to be involved in local matters anymore, reached a breaking point. Long story short (as it is indeed a long story worthy of its own article) Kolchak was handed over by the Czechoslovaks and Entente authorities to the Bolsheviks, who promptly executed one of the most infamous perpetrators of the White Terror in early February 1920. The Czechoslovaks continued their evacuation journey eastwards, essentially ending their involvement in the Civil War by then.
Arrival in Vladivostok
At long last, the Czechoslovaks reached the ocean. Beating the Entente’s landings in the region by arriving much earlier and bringing the city of Vladivostok under their control, the world became impressed with the Legion’s abilities to fight their way through a land torn apart by conflict. This proved to be a valuable demonstration of the nascent country’s capability and left a positive mark for its martial future. Albeit impressed, the Entente was not yet ready to let the Legions embark on their long journey back to Europe. Until early autumn 1920, the Czechoslovaks were ordered, supported by various Entente expeditionary forces, back and forth on the Trans-Siberian railway neutralising any potential opposition to the Entente’s goals to keep Russia from exiting the Great War (and therefore aiming to re-open the brutal Eastern Front) by primarily aiding the anti-Bolshevik actors. Although at first agreeing to this, as we have seen, the enthusiasm did not last. After handing over Kolchak to the Reds, the Czechoslovaks had enough of the Russian Civil War. All this eventually saw the Czechoslovak legionaries slowly but surely board multiple ships heading out of Russia, for good. By September 1920, the last legionary had left the country, two years after the beginning of their revolt and after losing 4,112 of their brothers (and sisters) in arms during the journey. The number of missing or deserted remains unknown.
Going home
The journey through Russia was over. But for the tens of thousands that left, the road to go home was still a long one, physically and mentally: they now travelled around the globe, to return to a Europe much more different to the one they had initially left; the war was over, and many of the legionaries joined the regular army, but tensions in the Continent continued. Eighteen years to the month of their final withdrawal, Czechoslovakia found itself torn apart by the Munich Agreement, demonstrating that the bitter hatred that existed between European nations that had permeated the Great War had not subsided; in fact, it mutated into a terrifying new nightmare that soon brought on the most heinous destruction by human hands that Central Europe had not seen in all of recorded History. And, without a shot being fired, those who had survived the harshness of the Russian civil war and the cold of Siberia to desperately get back to their beloved homes were forced to see them being destroyed in front of their very eyes as the world plunged into a second global conflict. That is another nightmare, that ought to be told in its very own article.
The legacy of this journey the soldiers’ experience cannot be underestimated. It proved the world that the people of the nascent country of Czechoslovakia could be capable of defying all odds in the face of a much larger enemy force, and brought much foreign interest in strengthening ties as interests in military alliances came to Prague from all over, from Belgrade, Paris and Bucharest. Members of the Legion include famous individuals such as Jan Syrový (later prime minister of the country), Radola Gajda (later a politician) Jaroslav Hašek (renown author who wrote the Good Soldier Švejk, who however left the Legion to remain in Russia) and František Langer (writer and physician), among thousands of others who undertook a journey often compared to Xenophon’s march of the ten thousand in ancient times. A veritable trip around the globe, their story continues to be narrated in literature, filmography and the performative arts to this very day. Thank you for reading. Let me know what you think of this long journey by the Czechoslovaks (and many others!) as well, including the tumultuous period that it took part in. Thank you again, and have a lovely day!
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