Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion

Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion
Part of the Eastern Front of the Russian Civil War and WWI

An armored train with Czechoslovak Legion soldiers on the Trans-Siberian Railway, July 1918
Date14 May 1918 – October 1918; September 1920 (Legion withdrawal)
Location
Result See aftermath
Belligerents
Russian SFSR
Central Powers:
German Empire Germany
 Austria-Hungary
Czechoslovak Legion
Belgium Expeditionary Corps
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Expeditionary Force
Supported by:
White Movement
Commanders and leaders
Leon Trotsky
Jukums Vācietis
Sergey Kamenev
Mikhail Muravyov 
Alexander Samoylo
Vasily Blyukher
Mikhail Frunze
Mikhail Tukhachevsky
Reingold Berzin
Filipp Goloshchyokin
Radola Gajda
Stanislav Čeček
Sergei Wojciechowski
Jan Syrový
Vladimir Kappel
Mikhail Diterikhs
Strength
600,000 men (Peak; in 1920) 42,000 men (1918)
Casualties and losses
5,000 killed
3,800 prisoners
4,000 killed and missing

The revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion comprised the armed actions of the Czechoslovak Legion in the Russian Civil War against Bolshevik authorities, beginning in May 1918 and persisting through evacuation of the Legion from Siberia to Europe in 1920.[1][2] The revolt, occurring in Volga, Ural, and Siberia regions along the Trans-Siberian Railway, was a reaction to a threat initiated by the Bolsheviks partly as a consequence of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. One major secondary consequence of victories by the Legion over the Bolsheviks was to catalyze anti-Bolshevik activity in Siberia, particularly of the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly, and to provide a major boost for the anti-Bolshevik or White forces, likely protracting the Russian Civil War.[3][4]

  1. ^ Kennan, George F. (1 October 1957). "The Czechoslovak Legion". The Russian Review. 16 (4). Wiley-Blackwell/Contact Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies (University of Kansas): 3–16. doi:10.2307/125745. ISSN 0036-0341. JSTOR 125745. LCCN 43016148. OCLC 473067959.
  2. ^ Kennan, George F. (1989) [1958]. "Chapter VI. The Czechoslovak Legion". Soviet-American Relations, 1917-1920. Volume II: The Decision to Intervene. Vol. II. Princeton, New Jersey, United States: Princeton University Press. pp. 136–165. doi:10.1515/9781400879816-009. ISBN 9781400879816.
  3. ^ Fixler, Nicholas William (23 October 2019). Dillenburg, Elizabeth; Giustino, Cathleen M. (eds.). "An inconceivable odyssey: The Czechoslovak Legion in Russia, 1914-1918" (PDF). Central Europe Yearbook. 1. Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States: The Center for Austrian Studies/University of Minnesota: 73–85. ISSN 2689-5978.
  4. ^ Bradley, J.F.N. (1 September 1996). "The Czechoslovak Legion in Russia, 1914-1920". Studies in East European Thought. 48 (2). Springer: 311–312. ISSN 0925-9392.