Czechoslovak Legion
volunteer armed force fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I (1914-1920)
The Czechoslovak Legion (Czech: Československé legie; Slovak: Československé légie) were volunteer armed forces consisting predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I and the White Army during the Russian Civil War until November 1919. Their goal was to win the support of the Allied Powers for the independence of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown from the Austrian Empire, and of Upper Hungary from the Kingdom of Hungary, which were then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the help of émigré intellectuals and politicians such as the Czech Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and the Slovak Milan Rastislav Štefánik, they grew into a force of over 100,000 troops.
In Russia, they took part in several victorious battles during the Russian Civil war, including the battles of Zborov and Bakhmach against the Central Powers, and were heavily involved in the Russian Civil War fighting Bolsheviks, at times controlling the entire Trans-Siberian railway and several major cities in Siberia.
After three years of existence as a small unit in the Imperial Russian Army, the Legion in Russia was established in 1917, with other troops fighting in France since the beginning of the war as the "Nazdar" company, and similar units later emerging in Italy and Serbia. Originally an all-volunteer force, these formations were later strengthened by Czech and Slovak prisoners of war or deserters from the Austro-Hungarian Army. The majority of the legionaries were Czechs, with Slovaks making up 7% of the force in Russia, 3% in Italy and 16% in France.
The name Czechoslovak Legion preceded and anticipated the creation of
Czechoslovakia.
Involvement in World War I
In Russia
In the first months of World War I, the response of the Czech soldiers and civilians to the war and mobilization efforts were highly enthusiastic; however, it turned into apathy later. As World War I broke out, national societies representing ethnic Czechs and Slovaks residing in the Russian Empire petitioned the Russian government to support the independence of their homelands.
The public source identifies “Czechoslovak Legion” as volunteer armed force fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I (1914-1920). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Czechoslovak, Legion and volunteer.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q605324. VIAF identifies the subject as 123639353. The Library of Congress control number is n80153718. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1919 and 1917.
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This entry incorporates text from “Czechoslovak Legion” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.