The military operations that covered in May 1918 a large territory of the Urals, Volga, Siberia and the Far East, many historians see as the beginning of a full-blown Civil War, which then spread to most parts of Russia. The impetus was the rebellion of the Czechoslovak Corps, formed during the First World War from captured Czechs and Slovaks, who expressed a voluntary desire to fight against Germany and Austria-Hungary. This episode of Russian history to this day causes a lot of controversy in the scientific community and gives rise to the most controversial statements.
The creation of the Czech squad
Before moving on to talking about the revolt of the Czechoslovak corps, let us briefly dwell on the premises of the formation of this military formation on the territory of the Russian Empire. The fact is that in the period preceding the First World War, the lands that originally belonged to Czechs and Slovaks were under the rule of Austria-Hungary, and, taking advantage of the start of large-scale military operations in Europe, they launched a broad national liberation struggle.
In particular, patriotic emigrants living in Russia repeatedly appealed to Nicholas I with a request for assistance in the liberation of their homeland from the invaders. At the end of 1914, meeting such wishes, the emperor decided to create a special “Czech squad” from among them. It was she who became the forerunner of the Czechoslovak Corps formed in 1917, whose rebellion played the role of a spark in the powder keg of post-revolutionary Russia.
In 1915, the Czech squad, transformed into a regiment named after Jan Hus, numbered 2,200 people and valiantly fought in Eastern Galicia. Its composition was actively replenished at the expense of defectors, as well as captured soldiers and officers of the Austro-Hungarian army. A year later, the regiment grew to the scale of a brigade with a total of 3,500 troops.
Allied Countries Initiative
In the same period, a political organization was created from among the liberal-minded emigrants in Paris, called the Czechoslovak National Council (ChSNS). This happened on the initiative of Russia’s allies in the First World War, fearing its ever-increasing role in the formation of the Czechoslovak state.
The head of the council was the famous emigrant activist - Tomas Masaryk, who was subsequently elected the first president of Czechoslovakia. In addition to him, the leadership included such prominent political figures as General of the French Army Milan Stefanik (Czech by nationality), astronomer Joseph Dürich, Edward Benes (who later became president) and a number of other persons known at that time.
The council headed by them has an important role to play in the fate of the Czechoslovak corps, but this will be discussed below. Now we note that, striving to create an independent Czechoslovak state, its members from the first days began to seek permission from the governments of the Entente countries to form their own army and to include national armed forces in its composition, regardless of which side they fought on.
In a difficult situation
After the February Revolution of 1917, servicemen of the Czechoslovak Corps, stationed in Russia, expressed loyalty to the Provisional Government, which called for continuing the war until victory, which was in their interests. However, after the October armed coup, they found themselves in a difficult situation - the Bolsheviks, as you know, sought to conclude peace with their former enemies. This led to a conflict that spilled over several months into an open revolt of the Czechoslovak corps.
Statement by the President of France
In the very first days after the seizure of power, the Bolshevik government received assurances from the Czechoslovak military of neutrality and non-interference in the political events that swept the country. Nevertheless, part of their soldiers stationed in Kiev supported the junkers during street battles with detachments of workers, which served as a reason for distrust of the entire corps and the growing conflict. With a certain degree of conventionality, these events are called the 1st rebellion of the Czechoslovak corps, although only a small number of military personnel then took up arms.
Members of the Czechoslovak National Council (ČSNS), the very émigré organization discussed above, added fuel to the fire. At their request, French President Poincare recognized the corps, formed from their compatriots and then in the South of Russia, as a foreign legion of the French army and issued a statement demanding its immediate transfer to Europe.
Background of the Czechoslovak rebellion of 1918
The demands of the French authorities could serve as a peaceful solution to the conflict, but events began to unfold in a different direction. The main difficulty was that for their execution it was necessary to move about 40 thousand legionnaires categorically refusing to disarm across Russia, and this was fraught with the most unpredictable consequences.
At the same time, the situation that preceded the outbreak of the Civil War contributed to the desire of the opposing forces to attract such a large military contingent and prevent it from leaving Russia. Both the Bolsheviks, who created the Red Army in those days, and the White Guards, who flocked to the Don in a hurry, tried to persuade the Czechs and Slovaks to participate in the upcoming battles on their side. The governments of the Entente countries hindered their evacuation, understanding that, once in Europe, the legionnaires would inevitably oppose them.
In a pre-storm environment
The foreign servicemen themselves did their utmost to leave Russia, but without fail with arms in hand to continue the national liberation struggle that they had begun. On their way, they met opposition from various political forces, compounded by hostility from the local population. Such a situation served to escalate tensions in their ranks and, as a result, provoked the Czechoslovak rebellion in May 1918.
The beginning of the uprising
The detonator of the subsequent events was a seemingly insignificant case - a conflict on household soil between the legionaries stationed in Chelyabinsk and the captive Hungarians who were there. Arising from a trifle, it ended in bloodshed and led to the fact that several of its participants were arrested by the city authorities. Considering this an attempt to prevent their departure, the legionnaires decided to break with the new government and forcefully break into their homeland. The Bolsheviks continued to insist on their complete disarmament.
At that time, the Red Army was just being created; there was no one to seriously counter the rebels. The very first attempt to disarm them, undertaken on May 18, 1918, was followed by active resistance and blood was shed, which marked the beginning of the Czechoslovak rebellion and the Civil War, the fire of which began to spread with unprecedented speed.
Rebel military success
For a short period of time, such large cities as Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk and Zlatoust were in the hands of rebels and opponents of the Soviet regime that joined them. A little later they seized Petropavlovsk, Omsk, Kurgan and Tomsk. As a result of the battles that broke out near Samara, the path through the Volga was opened. In addition, government troops suffered heavy losses in the territories adjacent to the Trans-Siberian Railway. Bolshevik authorities were abolished along this railway, and interim self-government committees took their place.
Legionnaires who have become marauders
However, their military success was short-lived. Very soon, having suffered a series of crushing defeats from parts of the Red Army, which had by then completed the main stage of their formation, the participants in the Czechoslovak rebellion were forced to abandon their previously won positions, which they, however, did not try to hold.
By this time, their actions, which had previously been political in nature, had become clearly criminal in color. The echelons in which the legionnaires tried to go further to the rear were filled with good stolen from the civilian population, and with their atrocities in the occupied territories they surpassed even the Kolchak executioners. According to historical data, the rebels took with them at least 300 trains of various values.
Way east
It is known that, given the situation prevailing at that time on the fronts of the Civil War, the legionnaires had only two ways to leave Russia. The first - through Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, but he was fraught with the risk of becoming a target for German submarines and appear on the seabed with all the trophies. Participants of the Czechoslovak rebellion abandoned it and preferred the second - through the Far East. This route, with all the inconvenience associated with its length, was less dangerous.
Along the railway, along which echelons of legionnaires moved east, Kolchak’s troops, broken up by units of the Red Army, also retreated in the same direction — it was an endless stream of people who were exhausted from hunger and a long transition. Their attempts to capture the cars inevitably ended in fierce skirmishes.
It is interesting to note that, moving towards the harbors of the Far East, the legionnaires captured eight echelons that were at Kolchak's personal disposal, leaving him only one wagon. It is assumed that at that time a gold reserve was also in their hands, about the fate of which a variety of assumptions were subsequently built. They kept the Supreme Ruler for some time hostage, and in 1920 they extradited to the Soviet authorities in exchange for the sea vessels provided for their sending.
Departure lasting for a year
The departure of the legionnaires from the ports of the Far East extended for almost a year due to their abundance. At the beginning of the Czechoslovak rebellion, the number of its participants was approximately 76.5 thousand people. And even taking into account the fact that about 4 thousand of them, according to statistics, died in battle or died from illnesses, the sailors had to take out a huge number of people.