Uncovering Czech Legacies in the First World War

Shots heard round the world

On July 28, 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, very few people foresaw that this would mark the start of a four-year bloodbath on a global scale. This imperial empire chose to respond to the murder of Franz Ferdinand d’Este on June 28, 1914. He and his wife, Žofia Chotkova, were shot in Sarajevo by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. This event set off a chain reaction. Due to a complex network of alliances, countries on both sides of Europe became drawn into the conflict. World War I, then called The Great War, soon impacted not just the whole of Europe, but also its colonies in Africa, Asia, and eventually America.

Two blocks and a barrel of gunpowder

The roots of the First World War went deeper than just the Sarajevo incident. At the close of the 19th century and the start of the 20th, the European map was rapidly evolving. New nations like a unified Germany and Italy were emerging, disrupting the existing balance of power. This new era was marked by ambitions for power, rising tensions, and arms races. Despite Germany’s strong economy and modern military, it lacked colonies, causing friction, especially with France and Great Britain.
Europe was divided, fraught with tension, and merely waiting for a reason to explode.
In the summer of 1914, it took just a spark—the assassination of the heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand—for the chain of alliances to start crumbling. Two massive power blocs formed: The Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and The Tripartite Agreement (France, Britain, Russia). War erupted on July 28, 1914.

Queues that didn’t stop at the border

What started as a European conflict eventually escalated into a worldwide catastrophe. The Western Front became a never-ending trench warfare zone—stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland—where soldiers struggled to advance through barbed wire while under heavy fire from machine guns. In the east, Russia sent troops to confront German and Austro-Hungarian forces over a vast area from Halych to the Carpathians. Fighting also occurred in Africa, the Pacific, and at sea, fueled in part by German submarines.
Technology played a crucial role: the First World War introduced chemical warfare, tanks, aircraft, and massive artillery. German poison gas, British tanks, and airships targeting London became symbols of this new era of industrial warfare. These technological advancements significantly escalated the conflict to unimaginable levels of destruction. It’s these very advances that allowed the war to stretch over four years, resulting in over ten million fallen soldiers.

Czech footprint in the Great War

Many Czechs fought primarily in the uniform of Austro-Hungary. Even as they fought for the Kaiser and the monarchy, numerous soldiers yearned for a different future. Their opposition to the war, seen as a conflict against Slavic Serbia and Russia, gave rise to the Czechoslovak Resistance. Many volunteers rallied to join foreign legions that supported the Allies in France, Italy, and Russia.
The Czechoslovak Legion made its mark in the Battle of Zborov (July 1-2, 1917), which was their first significant battle on the Eastern Front. There were also underground movements at home, such as the secret Maffie organization led by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, Karel Kramář, and others.

Myths and legends that have endured

Many myths persist about the First World War. A well-known one suggests that Czechoslovak legionnaires stole a treasure of tsarist gold during their travels across Siberia. In reality, they were simply guarding the treasure, and the Russian side confirmed its condition several times. While traveling along the Trans-Siberian Highway from Kazan to Vladivostok, some of the treasure did go missing, but even a century later, the whereabouts of these lost riches remain unknown. Nonetheless, this myth continues to circulate in Russian propaganda, claiming that the legionnaires ended up with the gold and supposedly used it to help create the Czechoslovak Legiobank.
Another legend states that Zborov featured a confrontation between two future presidents: Klement Gottwald in an Austrian uniform and Ludvík Svoboda in the ranks of the legion as a Russian fighter. However, Gottwald was actually recovering from injuries in a hospital at the time and did not partake in the battle. And what’s the story behind The Fate of the Good Soldier Svejk during the Great War? Jaroslav Hašek’s famous novel might be filled with absurd military scenarios, but historians emphasize that Hašek intended it as a literary parody, not as a historical account. He successfully portrayed much of the era’s realities and chaotic atmosphere, but it remains a satire rather than an actual representation of the Austro-Hungarian army.

The bloodiest battlefields and most famous films

Some of the most iconic sites of World War I include Verdun, which symbolizes French resilience, and is known as one of the longest and deadliest battlegrounds in history. The Battle of the Somme is noted for the large-scale offensive by British and French forces, along with its staggering casualty numbers. The Alps and the Battle of the Piave were also sites where many of our ancestors fought, and the Gallipoli Peninsula was where Allied forces unsuccessfully tried for almost eleven months to conquer Turkish strongholds—this had especially tragic outcomes for Australian and New Zealand troops.
Several outstanding films portray events from the First World War. The best-known adaptation is the war drama Calm on the Western Front, based on a book by Erich Maria Remarque, both in its initial 1930 version (which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director) and the more recent adaptation from 2022. Sam Mendes’ 1917 is a unique World War I epic known for its special visual style, and Gallipoli featuring Mel Gibson, tells the story from the Australian perspective at the front lines. This film earned several awards within the Australian film industry.

The end of empires and the beginning of the republic

The war came to an end on November 11, 1918. This date is observed as War Veterans Day. In Western Europe, the USA, and Commonwealth nations, this day is commemorated as Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, or Veterans Day.
The First World War caused the collapse of four powerful empires: Austro-Hungarian, German, Russian, and Ottoman. In their place, a new map of Europe emerged, which on October 28, 1918, gave rise to an independent Czechoslovakia. Its establishment was the result of negotiations led on an international level by Masaryk, Beneš, and Štefánik, but it was also thanks to the legionnaires who fought valiantly on both fronts.
By the summer of 1918, Germany was in a state of collapse. The populace deposed Emperor Wilhelm II., and on November 11 at 11 a.m., a truce was signed in Compiègne, France. Although the war officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, it plunged a defeated Germany into a severe economic and political crisis. Excessive reparations, loss of land, and military limitations created dissatisfaction that eventually allowed for the rise of Nazism and the onset of World War II.
After more than four years of intense conflict across Europe, Africa, and Asia—on land, in the air, and at sea—the reality hit hard. During World War I, over 60 million soldiers served, with nearly ten million losing their lives. Additionally, millions of civilians died due to the warfare, as well as through massacres, pogroms, and genocides, or as a result of starvation, exhaustion, and diseases like the Spanish flu pandemic.

Shadows and Traces of the Great War

World War I was more than just a battle—it transformed the world at its core. It altered everything from political structures to the everyday lives of people. It highlighted how deeply the destinies of small nations are intertwined with major political events. Today, memorials, graves of unknown soldiers, and stories of heroes along with lost generations are reminders of that era. This is why it’s important to remember: not only as a harsh lesson from history but also as a pivotal moment in the rise of Czech statehood.
Even though the First World War did not directly affect what we now know as the Czech Republic, its impact is still visible. In towns and villages, numerous memorials commemorate the fallen, often listing the names of local men who never returned from battle. One of the largest of these is the monument for First World War victims near Bochov, erected in 1924 to honor local residents who perished in the war.
The most significant memorials were built after Czechoslovakia’s establishment, serving as reminders of the bravery of the Legionnaires. One of the key sites is the National Memorial in Prague at Vítkov, which was constructed to honor Czechoslovak Legions and the Czech state’s independence. Initially dedicated to the participants of the First World War, it was later misused by the Nazis and Communists for their own ideological agendas.
There are various memorials of the Battle of Zborov, paying tribute to the renowned actions of the Czechoslovak legions in 1917. The Army Museum Žižkov—Military Historical Institute Prague offers exhibits focused on the Second World War.