CZECHOSOLVAK LEGION PHOTO SLIDE COLLECTION

Collection of approximately 70 glass photo negative slides prepared by the Riley Optical Instrument Company of New York. Photos depict combat scenes, entrenchment, battle formations, bayonet drill, inspections, and more as well as named leaders of the Czechoslovak Legion during World War I. Photos of the commanding officer General Janin, Dr. Ivan Markovic, Vladimir Hurban, Captain Ferdinand Pisecky, and more. The Czechoslovak Legion (Ceskoslovenské legie in Czech and Ceskoslovenské légie in Slovak) were volunteer armed forces composed predominantly of Czechs with a small number of Slovaks (approximately 8 percent)[1] fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I. Their goal was to win the support of the Allied Powers for the independence of Bohemia and Moravia from the Austrian Empire and of Slovak territories from the Kingdom of Hungary, which were then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the help of émigré intellectuals and politicians such as the Czech Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and the Slovak Milan Rastislav Štefánik, they grew into a force of over 100,000 strong. In Russia, they took part in several victorious battles of the war, including the Zborov and Bakhmach against the Central Powers, and were heavily involved in the Russian Civil War fighting Bolsheviks, at times controlling the entire Trans-Siberian railway and several major cities in Siberia. After three years of existence as a small unit in the Imperial Russian Army, the Legion in Russia was established in 1917, with other troops fighting in France since the beginning of the war as the "Nazdar" company, and similar units later emerging in Italy and Serbia. Originally an all-volunteer force, these formations were later strengthened by Czech and Slovak prisoners of war or deserters from the Austro-Hungarian Army. The majority of the legionaries were Czechs, with Slovaks making up 7% of the force in Russia, 3% in Italy and 16% in France. The slides have black photo paper edges and come in a wooden slide keeper box which is in poor condition, but has done its job protecting this rare and historically significant archive of photos of a little-known fighting unit of the first world war. Excellent