From Siberia To Freedom: The Odyssey Of The Czechoslovak Legion
From Siberia To Freedom: The Odyssey Of The Czechoslovak Legion
How an army without a nation fought its way across Russia and on to independence.
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The Czech and Slovak volunteers (pictured on a patrol on the Eastern Front) saw themselves as freedom fighters against an oppressive regime. But the Austro-Hungarian authorities considered them traitors to the empire...
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...and if caught, they faced execution. This Czech fighter was hanged after his capture by Austrians in 1918.
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Czechs and Slovaks charge into the fray against Austrians during the battle of Zborov on the Eastern Front. The battle won the fighters a reputation for grit and ability.
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But after Russia’s 1917 revolution ended with Bolsheviks seizing power, their situation inside what had been the Russian Empire became increasingly precarious.