When Czechoslovakia Conquered Siberia

Czechoslovak Legionnaires on Armored Train

The Czechoslovak Legions

Continuing with the historical oddities created by the events surrounding World War I, this tale is slightly related to the earlier blog entry, "When Canada Invaded the Soviet Union", although this is a bit more complicated. Here is the background:

At the beginning of WWI, the Czechs were in the northern Austrian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Slovaks were in the northern Hungarian part. The two peoples had wanted their own independent nation. When the war broke out in 1914, Czechs living in the Russian Empire formed their own small fighting force, with the Russian Government's support. As the war progressed, many Czechs and Slovaks (forced to fight for the A-H Empire) were captured by the Russians, and many of these POWs were granted the right to join the unit. This growing army came to be known as the Czechoslovak Legions.

Then a terrible thing happened: Russia bowed out of the war. The Czechoslovak Legions, now numbering about 70,000 heavily armed troops, had no one to fight. Russia agreed to evacuate them so they could join up with similar units fighting on the Western front in France. Since they could not travel to France via Europe, where the war was still raging, they had to travel through Siberia to the port of Vladivostok, and then on to Europe via the United States. So all the troops boarded trains and headed to the east. Then a terrible thing happened: Russia changed its mind.

The Bolsheviks, who were now engaged in a civil war, were pressured by the Germans and Austrians not to allow the Czechoslovaks to leave Russia, so orders went out to disarm and arrest the fighters. Well, the Czechoslovaks would have none of that and resisted. They resisted by saying "no," and they resisted by seizing most of the TransSiberian railroad, towns along the line, and even took over Vladivostok itself. In fact, they also won the battle of Lake Baikal, the only naval victory in land-locked Czechoslovakia's history. In addition, they seized the train that was carrying all of the Tsar's gold. Since they were the best organized armed fighting force in the country during those chaotic times, they practically controlled all of Siberia. Then a terrible thing happened.

Czechoslovak Legionnaires in Vladivostok

World War I ended in November 1918. Unfortunately, the Czechoslovaks had no reason fight the A-H Empire anymore, and therefore had no reason to evacuate Russia via Vladivostok. All they wanted was to go home and create their new country. All the Bolsheviks wanted was the gold. And they wanted the Czechoslovaks out of Russia as soon as possible. However, as part of the agreement to form the new nation of Czechoslovakia, the victorious allies wanted the Czechoslovak Legions to continue fighting the Bolsheviks for control of Russia. Therefore, the two forces continued to fight for another two years, with neither side gaining any advantage. Finally, a deal was brokered by which the Czechoslovaks would hand over the gold (well, most of it), and the Russians would allow them to return to their new nation, where they would become its national army. In September 1920, the last members of the Czechoslovak Legions departed Russia.

They would have made Xenophon proud (look it up).

Armored Train on the TransSiberian Railroad