Czechoslovak Legion The Czechoslovak Legion ( " Československé legie " in Czech , " Československé légie " in Slovak ) were volunteer armed forces composed predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting together with the Entente powers during World War I who ended up in Russia after the Bolshevik revolution . Their goal was to win the Allies ' support for the independence of Bohemia and Moravia from the Austrian Empire and of Slovak territories of the Kingdom of Hungary ( the new country was later named Czechoslovakia ) , which were then part of the Austro - Hungarian Empire . The Legions originated with small armed units organized from 1914 onwards by volunteer Czechs and Slovaks . Later , many Czechs and Slovaks captured during the war joined these units ; with help of émigré intellectuals and politicians ( Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , Milan Rastislav Štefánik and others ) the Legions grew into a force of tens of thousands . The independence of Czechoslovakia was finally obtained in 1918 . After three years of existence as a small brigade in the Imperial Russian Army , the Legion in Russia were created in 1917 . Other units had been fighting in France since the war ' s beginning ( including volunteers from the US ) , and later in Italy and Serbia . Their membership consisted of Czech and Slovak prisoners of war in Russia , Serbia and Italy , and Czech and Slovak emigrants in France and Russia who had already created the " Czech company " in Russia and a unit named " Nazdar " in France in 1914 . The Legions were actively involved in many battles of World War I , including Zborov or Bakhmach . They were also heavily involved in the Russian Civil War fighting Bolsheviks , at times controlling most of the Trans - Siberian railway , all major cities in Siberia and being indirectly involved in the execution of the Tsar and his family . The term " Legions " was not widely used during the war but was adopted shortly afterward . It is primarily based on their French connection – they reported to France and were , in a general way , thought of as related to the French Foreign Legion . In Russia . Initial formation . As World War I broke out , ethnic Czechs living in the Russian Empire petitioned Emperor Nicholas II to let them set up a national force to fight against Austria - Hungary , and he ultimately gave his assent . A " Czech Centuria " ( " Česká setnina " ) or " Czech Company " ( " Česká družina " ) was established in 1914 and attached to the Russian Army . From May 1915 , the force included many prisoners and deserters from the army of Austria - Hungary who came from Bohemia , Moravia , Austrian Silesia and Upper Hungary ( now Slovakia ) . In February 1916 , the unit was reorganized as the regimental - sized Czechoslovak Rifle Corps ( " Československý střelecký sbor " ) and , in May 1916 , into the Czechoslovak Rifle Brigade ( " Československá střelecká brigáda " ) which was 7 , 300 strong . The future President Thomas Garrigue Masaryk and General Milan Rastislav Štefánik came to Russia during spring and summer of 1917 to negotiate expansion of the units , to bring them under the control of the Czechoslovak National Council and to turn them into an independent Czechoslovak army . They succeeded on all counts . The brigade consisted of three regiments : In September 1917 , the brigade was reorganized as the First Hussite Rifle Division , which consisted of four regiments : the three above and a newly created In October 1917 , it was merged with the Second Rifle Division ( created in July 1917 ) , forming the " Czechoslovak Corps in Russia " ( " Československý sbor na Rusi " ) that numbered some 38 , 500 men . This strength of this considerable Czechoslovak Army peaked at around 61 , 000 men . ( Some sources allege 65 , 000 – 70 , 000 soldiers . ) A total of 4 , 112 Czech and Slovak Legion members lost their lives in Russia in World War I . Battles in Ukraine . The victorious Battle of Zborov ( 1917 ) was the first significant action of the Legions , they had advanced deep into enemy territory and broke through the entire Austria - Hungary trench line . In March 1918 the Czechoslovak Legions won the Battle of Bakhmach against German Empire army . Transit through Siberia . Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 , the Bolshevik government concluded the separate Treaty of Brest - Litovsk . The Bolsheviks and the corps agreed to evacuate the Legion to France to join the Czechoslovak corps and continue fighting there . Because Russia ' s European ports were not safe , the corps was to be evacuated by a long detour via Siberia , the Pacific port of Vladivostok , and the USA . Although there was a need to increase their fighting power and mobilization was officially announced , no Czech or Slovak prisoner of war was forced to serve in the Legion . Thus , many Czechs and Slovaks chose to return home instead . Fifty thousand Mosin - Nagant rifles were sent via Vladivostok to equip the Legions in Siberia to aid in their attempt to secure passage to France . Masaryk advised the Legion to stay out of Russian affairs , but as it turned out , this was not possible . The slow evacuation on the Trans - Siberian railway was exacerbated by transportation shortages – as agreed in the Brest - Litovsk treaty , the Bolsheviks were at the same time repatriating German , Austrian and Hungarian POW s from Siberia . Around this same time Leon Trotsky , then People ' s Commissar of War , under intense pressure from the Germans , ordered the disarming and arrest of the Legion , thus betraying his promise of safe passage . Various governmental authorities along the way requested that the Czechoslovaks give up increasing numbers of their guns . In May 1918 , tensions with the Bolsheviks provoked what is generally referred to as the Revolt of the Legions . Conflict already existed between trains of Legionnaires going east to fight on the Allied side and German and Austro - Hungarian prisoners ( including some Czechs and Slovaks ) going west to fight for " the other " side . The various parts of the Legion found themselves strung out and separated along the railway . These scattered forces fought a complicated series of battles with the primary objective of re - connecting the various groups and then getting to Vladivostok for their exit to the Western front . As it became clear that this was the only organized fighting force in Russia ( the Red Army under Trotsky was still small and disorganized ) , the Allied governments broadly agreed that the Czechoslovaks might be useful in re - opening an Eastern Front . Elements within the Allied governments ( notably Winston Churchill ) , concerned about the Bolsheviks , made use of this pretext to support an Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War . The Allies sent troops to Russia to prevent the Germans or the Bolsheviks taking over allied - provided weapons , munitions and other supplies , previously shipped as aid to the pre - revolutionary government . US President Woodrow Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovaks along the Trans - Siberian Railway , and to hold the key port cities of Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok . The legions conqered all major cities of Siberia and took over a considerable area around the railway from just east of the Volga River all the way to Vladivostok . In the process , they captured a large amount of military and civilian equipment and material , controlling their temporary territory through the use of heavily armed and armored trains . Their existence played a role in the rise of other anti - Bolshevik groups and Siberia - based independence movements . The Czechoslovaks pushed back westward up the line reaching Yekaterinburg . The presence of the Czechoslovak Legion just a day away appears to have been one of the motivating forces for the execution of the Tsar and his family by Bolsheviks ( 17 July 1918 ) . Meanwhile , Masaryk and others were working to achieve Allied recognition . This was achieved , capped by the Pittsburgh Agreement ( 31 May 1918 ) and the Oppressed Nations Treaty . Meanwhile , with Russian involvement in World War I now over , the remaining Entente Allies began their Siberian Intervention , with troops from the U . S . , Canada , France , Great Britain , and Japan landing in Vladivostok , which the Czechoslovaks had controlled for some time . In Vladivostok , however , the Allied rescue of the Czechoslovak Legion got sidetracked . The Japanese forces arrived in April 1918 with 500 marines , followed by 50 British soldiers in May , 500 Americans in June , and 600 more British and some French in late June 1918 . They arrived to find a changed situation , with open warfare going on between the Bolsheviks on one side and the Czechoslovak Legions and White Russians on the other . Moreover , World War I hostilities ended in November 1918 , making the whole mission to bring the Czechs and Slovaks to France and fight on the Western front pointless . An already confused situation deteriorated , and the Japanese got directly involved in the fighting on the side of the Czechoslovak Legion and of White Russians when their government saw this as a territorial opportunity . By September 1918 there were 70 , 000 Japanese , 829 British , 1 , 400 Italian , 5 , 002 American and 107 Annamese ( Vietnamese ) troops under French command in and around Vladivostok . A contingent of 4 , 000 Canadian troops had arrived by January 1919 , to lead the British Empire ' s intervention in Siberian and the Russian Far East . Departure from Vladivostok . Exhausted by their trek across Siberia and eager to return to their new nation , the Czechoslovaks cut a deal with the Bolsheviks in 1920 . They handed over their gold bullion , along with the leader of the anti - Bolshevik army , Admiral Kolchak . This was done only after the bulk of Czechoslovak forces were established in heavy defensive lines against the Bolsheviks . Eventually , with the help of the American Red Cross ( 12 American and 9 English boats ) and their own funds , most of the Legion – totaling 67 , 739 soldiers ( actually 53 , 455 soldiers , 3 , 004 officers , 6 , 714 civilians , 1 , 716 wives , 717 children , 1 , 935 foreigners , 198 others ) was evacuated via Vladivostok and returned to become the core of the army of the First Czechoslovak Republic . A small number of Czech and Slovak communists stayed behind . ( One early Legionnaire to join the Bolsheviks was Jaroslav Hašek , later the author of " The Good Soldier Švejk " ) . A few others stayed with the White Russian forces for a while , including General Radola Gajda , who later became a leader of the Czech fascist movement and also provided significant arms to the Korean independence movement . These arms helped the Koreans win the Battle of Chingshanli in 1920 . The retreat through Siberia became an element of the heroic military legend surrounding the legions , compared to the " Anabasis " of Greek mercenaries across Persia . After the war . Members of the Legions formed a significant part of the new Czechoslovak Army . Many of them fought in 1919 in the Polish – Czechoslovak War over Zaolzie and in war with Hungary over Slovakia . In literature . The 2005 novel The People ' s Act of Love , by the British writer James Meek , describes the occupation of a small Siberian town by a company of the Czechoslovak Legion in 1919 . The original inhabitants of the town are members of the Christian sect of Skoptsy , or castrates . Further reading . Note : There were quite a few books on the Legion written in Czech that were published in the 1920s , but most were hard to find following Soviet victory in World War II .