The Czech Legion 1914-20 [Paperback]

Many people think the term "Czech Legion," or more correctly as the author states inside the book - "Czechoslovak Legion," pertains only to the units that fought in Russia. However, the "Legions" in France, Italy and Russia together became the basis of the army of the new Czech Republic. "Legionnaires" came from these three fronts (and also from a few other minor side shows mentioned in the book). The author has correctly balanced these fronts in the text and plates according to their proportional numbers and contribution to the overall war effort. The introduction gives a quick but necessary insight into early Czech and Slovak history.

Surprisingly, after so many years, this is the first and only book in the West on these uniforms. The plates are balanced well, the first three covering the three main fronts in World War One and the last five depicting the colorful and unique uniforms of the Russian Civil War period. Dr. Bullock, with the assistance of Czech uniform specialists in Prague, has even compiled a chart of shoulder shield patches.

The photos are also excellent and I have not seen them before in the few history books available in the West. Perhaps the best of the recent Men at Arms series books.

The legend of the Czech Legion, fighting its way across Siberia during the Russian Revolution, is one of those unusual, heroic against-the-odds stories that tends to grab the reader's attention, but which has merited very little historiography in English. Thus, David Bullock's The Czech Legion 1914-20 offers what Osprey does best - provide a quick, informative look at heretofore neglected topics in military history. Overall, this volume is one of the better recent Men-at-Arms titles, but it does suffer from certain distractions. Readers will find that this volume does not solely focus on the Czech Legion in Russia, but also looks at volunteer units in France and Italy, which tends to water down the space devoted to the main topic. Given the 48-page constraint of the MAA series, this is a serious diversion. However, the B/W photos and color plates are both excellent and well worth the cost of the volume. Note that the cover displayed on Amazon is not the cover actually used, nor does that artwork appear in the volume.

The author begins with a 3-page section that discusses the rise of Czech nationalism and how this contributed to the creation of Czech volunteer units in the First World War. Again, this is wasted space for a volume that is supposed to focus on strictly military details, but appropriate for the author's earlier Essential History volume on the Russian Revolution. The author then spends 8 pages discussing Czech volunteer units on the Russian, Italian and Western Fronts, although he later opines that they had little effect on the outcome of the war. He does not actually begin discussing the Czech Legion in Russia until one-third through the volume and then provides only 17 pages of text on their operations in 1918-20. I was disappointed that there was little information provided on what the Legion was doing between the fall of the Tsar in March 1917 and the rebellion against the Bolsheviks in May 1918 - it seemed like a whole critical year slipped by in a sentence or two.

The author's coverage of the Legion's composition and activities in 1918-1919 is much better and insightful. He provides one small of the major rail lines in Siberia but readers should be able to follow the Legion's progress eastward. There are eight excellent color plates in the volume, although only five cover the Russian Civil War. Overall, this is a nice little volume and provides a nice introduction to a well-known but rarely-studied military formation.

As obscure history goes, this book reviews a particularly little known set of uniforms in a particullarly little known army, representing a country that did not exist until after that army had served and won for itself a free nation, not to mention having single handedly starting the Russian Civil War, stealing $300,000,000 in gold from the Bolsheviks, and also fighting on two other fronts of the Great War.

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