World War I Country Trends: Czech War Experience (1914-17)


Figure 1.--This CDV portrait was taken in 1916. While CDVs had disappeared in America, we still see them in Europe. It shows a newly recruited youtful soldier into the Austrian-Hungaroian Empire. He has written his name which is Pepei Leicht. This was a German name. A German reader writes, "Leicht is a German name. It means light (not-heavy). That does not mean that the young soldier is German. By living together for centuries in the same area and by intermariages one does not always knows who is who. This was a problem the Germans had in categorizing people. The Christian first name usually tells you more about origins than the family name, although Pepie looks like a nickname to me." As the portrait was taken at Terezin in what would later become known as the Czech Sudetenland, we are guessing he was an ethnic German youth rather than a Czech. (Terezin name would taken on terrible meeaning as a NAZI World War II ghetto/concentration camp.) During World War I it was an Austro-Hungarian Army fortress and adjacent walled garrison town. Notice that on his uniform there is no indication of ethnicity. The Austrians reisted forming units of the various ethnicities within the Empire. The studio was Atelier Spinka at Theresienstadt-Terezin. Another German reder wriy=tew, "The original population of Terezin was German-speaking, The name used to be Theresienstadt in German. The other day I discovered in an atlas my father had as a boy before World War I a very small town in Poland with the name Auschwitz. Now the place has a Polish name when referred to non-Holocaust matters. Since at that time the area belonged to Austria they used the name Auschwitz. I have the atlas in my library, published in 1906. It is possible that the farmers spoke German. Many areas were settled by Germans (Drang nach Osten).

The Czechs and Slovaks when World War I broke out were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They were two of several restive minorities within the Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Army consusted of Bosnians, Croats, Czechs, Italians, Jews, Poles, Ruthenes (Ukranians), Slovaks, Slovenes, and others fought in the army. These groups actually outnimbered the Austrians and Hungarians. The officers were mostly Austrians and Hungarians who commanded multi-ethnic units. Because the Austrians were not sure of their loyalty, there were with few exceptions no separate Czech or Slovak units. The major exception was the Poles. Appealing to nationalistic aspirations, the Austrians formed the Polish Legion, led by Pilsudski. The Poles were encouraged to think of this as the precursor to a Polish national army. This was a calculation based on the fact that most of Poland was annexed by the Russians. Many Czechs and Slovaks as Slavs were not enthusiastic to fight with the Austrians, Germans and Hungarians against fellow Slavs (Russians and Serbs). The Slovaks were less politically conscious than the Czechs, but many Slovaks felt no burning desire to fight in a war with theu did nnot think they had a real stake. Some 1.4 million Czech soldiers fought in World War I, most as part of the Austro-Hungarian Army. About 150,000 Czechs died. We are not sure about the number of Slovaks. We are not going to recount the Eastern Front here as there were engagements involving Czech units. The Czechs and Slovaks in the Austro-Hungarian Army were assigned to multi-ethnic units and thus there is no separate battle record. Readers can obtain details on the Eastern Front by consulting the Austro-Hungarian World War I. Most Czech soldiers fought in the Austro-Hungarian Army. We have the impressiin that they were not very cimmitted, but we have little in hard facts. The story is a little different in the Russuan Army where Czech nationalists convinved the Russians to organize a small number of Czechs libing in Russia into a few rifle companies (the Družina), but decided aginst rescrioting Czech POWs. As a result, the Czech were a minimal force (1914-17). The Družina was reorganized into the 1st Czecho-Slovak Rifle Regiment (early 1916). Two more infantry regiments were added, creating the Czechoslovak Rifle Brigade (Československá střelecká brigáda). ThevCzechs distinguished themselves during the Kerensky Offensive in by breevhing Austrian trenches during the Battle of Zborov (July 1917). The Russian Provisional Government ikmpressed with the Czech perfornnce decided to grant the Czechoslovak National Council permission to mobilize Czech and Slovak volunteers from the POW camps. This was the origin of the Czech Legion.








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Created: 8:55 AM 12/23/2014
Last updated: 8:55 AM 12/23/2014