Independent Bohemia Part 6

4. The behaviour of Czechs in Austria: _(a)_ Demonstrations of Czech national spirit in Prague; _(b)_ Czech school-books; _(c)_ Czech officials; _(d)_ The activities of the "Sokols"; _(e)_ What happened at Litomerice and elsewhere; _(f)_ The Czech att.i.tude towards war loans; _(g)_ The Zivnostenska Banka and the war loans; _(h)_ The financial policy of the Zivnostenska Banka; _(i)_ The Czechs and war emergency affairs; _(k)_ The Czechs and the question of food supplies.

5. The anti-Austrian att.i.tude of Czechs abroad: _(a)_ In France; _(b)_ In England; _(c)_ In Russia; _(d)_ In America; _(e)_ In Switzerland; _(f)_ The campaign of Professor Masaryk; _(g)_ The Czech secret intelligence service.

6. The conduct of Czech soldiers on the battlefield.

7. Military consequences.

8. Some recent doc.u.ments.

According to the _Neue Freie Presse_ of June 6, 1918, the Austrian Minister for Home Defence made the following important admissions in reply to the part of this interpellation concerning the Czech contribution to the defeats of Austria:

"The 36th Regiment, according to unanimous reports of the high command, failed to do its duty in May, 1915, on the Russian front, and thereby caused a heavy defeat of other detachments. This regiment was dissolved by the imperial decree of July 16, 1915.

"The unsuccessful fighting and heavy losses of the 19th Division in the battle north of Tarnopol between September 9 and 11, 1915, were caused by the weak resistance of the 35th Regiment.... During the battles of June 29 to July 2, 1917, near Zloczow the resistance offered by this regiment was weak.

"As regards Regiment No. 28 of Prague, according to the statement of regimental commanders, it appears that the whole detachment, without firing a single shot, was taken prisoner by a single enemy battalion, or rather was brought by that battalion from its position."

And in this policy Czech soldiers continue by surrendering voluntarily to the Entente troops whenever they have the opportunity.

VI

THE MILITARY AND POLITICAL ACTION OF THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS ABROAD

When war broke out, the Czecho-Slovaks all over the world felt it their duty to prove by deeds that their place was on the side of the Entente. The Czecho-Slovaks in Great Britain, France and Russia volunteered to fight for the Allies, while in the United States of America, where there are some one and a half million Czecho-Slovaks, they have counteracted German propaganda and revealed German plots intended to weaken the American a.s.sistance to the Allies.

1. In France 471 Czechs, _i.e._ over 60 per cent., entered the Foreign Legion and greatly distinguished themselves by their bravery. The majority of them have been mentioned in dispatches and received the Military Cross.

They have also won five crosses and twenty medals of the Russian Order of St. George. Their losses amount to more than 70 per cent.

Further, many Czechs living in Great Britain at the outbreak of the war joined the French Foreign Legion in France, and after His Majesty's Government allowed Czechs to volunteer for service in the British army in the autumn of 1916, practically all Czechs of military age resident in Great Britain enrolled so far as they were not engaged on munitions. In Canada, too, the Czechs joined the army in order to fight for the British Empire.

The most important part was taken, however, by the Czecho-Slovak colonies in Russia and America. In Russia, where there are large Czecho-Slovak settlements, numbering several thousand, a Czecho-Slovak legion was formed at the outbreak of the war which has rendered valuable services, especially in scouting and reconnoitring. This legion grew gradually larger, especially when Czech prisoners began to be allowed to join it, and finally, under the direction of the Czecho-Slovak National Council, it was formed into a regular army. In September, 1917, it had already two divisions, and in 1918 fresh prisoners joined it, so that it counted some 100,000.

In order to be able fully to appreciate this achievement, we must remember that this was an army of volunteers, organised by the Czecho-Slovak Council without the powers of a real government. At the beginning of the war the Czecho-Slovaks not only had no government of their own, but not even any united organisation. And if we realise that to-day, after three and a half years of strenuous effort, the National Council are recognised by the Allies as the Provisional Government of Bohemia with the right of exercising all powers appertaining to a real government, including the control of an army as large as Great Britain had at the outbreak of the war, it must be admitted that the action of the Czecho-Slovaks abroad was crowned with wonderful success.

In Russia the difficulties with which the National Council had to cope were especially grave, and mainly for two reasons. In the first place, the Czecho-Slovak prisoners who voluntarily surrendered were scattered all over Russia. It was extremely difficult even to get into touch with them. In addition there was a lack of good-will on the part of the old Russian Government. Thus very often these prisoners, who regarded Russia as Bohemia's elder brother and liberator, were sadly disillusioned when they were left under the supervision of some German officers, and thousands of them died from starvation. Nevertheless they never despaired. Eager to fight for the Allies, many of them entered the Yugoslav Division which fought so gallantly in the Dobrudja. Nearly all the Czech officers in this division were decorated with the highest Russian, Serbian and Rumanian orders. Half of them committed suicide, however, during the retreat rather than fall into the hands of the enemy.

It was not until after the Russian Revolution, and especially after the arrival of Professor Masaryk in Russia in May, 1917, that the Czecho-Slovak army in Russia became a reality.

The Czecho-Slovaks have been mentioned in Russian official _communiques_ of February 2, 1916, and March 29, 1917. The most glorious part was taken by the Czecho-Slovak Brigade during the last Russian offensive in July, 1917, in which the Czechs showed manifestly the indomitable spirit that animates them. Since every Czech fighting on the side of the Entente is shot, if he is captured by the Austrians, the Czechs everywhere fight to the bitter end, and rather commit suicide than be captured by their enemies. For this reason they are justly feared by the Germans. As in the Hussite wars, the sight of their caps and the sound of their songs struck terror in the hearts of the Germans and Magyars. At the battle of Zborov on July 2, 1917, the Czechs gave the whole world proof of their bravery. Determined to win or fall, they launched an attack almost without ammunition, with bayonets and hand-grenades--and they gained a victory over an enemy vastly superior in numbers.

According to the official Russian _communique_:

"On July 2, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, after a severe and stubborn battle, the gallant troops of the Czecho-Slovak Brigade occupied the strongly fortified enemy position on the heights to the west and south-west of the village of Zborov and the fortified village of Koroszylow. Three lines of enemy trenches were penetrated. The enemy has retired across the Little Strypa. The Czecho-Slovak Brigade captured sixty-two officers and 3150 soldiers, fifteen guns and many machine guns. Many of the captured guns were turned against the enemy."

Finally, however, when the Russians refused to fight, the Czechs had to retire as well. General Brussiloff declared:

"The Czecho-Slovaks, perfidiously abandoned at Tarnopol by our infantry, fought in such a way that the world ought to fall on its knees before them."

2. The spontaneous and unanimous political action of the Czecho-Slovaks abroad became co-ordinated when Professor Masaryk escaped from Austria and placed himself at the head of the movement.

_Professor Masaryk_, the distinguished Czech leader and scholar, whose name we have already mentioned in the preceding chapters, went to Italy in December, 1914, and although he desired once more to return to Austria before leaving finally for France, he found it too dangerous, as the reign of terror had already been established in Bohemia. He accordingly went to Switzerland and afterwards on to France and England. In October, 1915, he was appointed lecturer at the newly founded School of Slavonic Studies at King's College, University of London. Mr. Asquith, then Prime Minister, who was prevented through indisposition from presiding at Professor Masaryk's inaugural lecture on October 19, 1915, sent the following message to the meeting:

"I congratulate King's College on Professor Masaryk's appointment, and I can a.s.sure him that we welcome his advent to London both as a teacher--the influence of whose power and learning is felt throughout the Slav world--and as a man to whose personal qualities of candour, courage and strength we are all glad to pay a tribute. We believe that his presence here will be a link to strengthen the sympathy which unites the people of Russia and Great Britain."

"First and foremost the Allies are fighting for the liberties of small nations, to the end that they may be left in future free from the tyranny of their more powerful neighbours to develop their own national life and inst.i.tutions. Above all, to-day our thoughts and our sympathies are moved towards Serbia, whose undaunted courage wins day by day our unbounded sympathy and admiration."

During the lecture on the Problem of Small Nations in the European Crisis, Professor Masaryk outlined his political programme which he has ever since insisted the Allies should adopt, to destroy the German plans of Mitteleuropa. He declared:

"Great Britain came into this war to protect little Belgium, and now with her Allies she is faced by the task of protecting Serbia. This evolution of the war is almost logical, for Germany's aim is and was Berlin--Bagdad, the employment of the nations of Austria-Hungary as helpless instruments, and the subjection of the smaller nations which form that peculiar zone between the west and east of Europe. _Poland, Bohemia, Serbo-Croatia (the South Slavs) are the natural adversaries of Germany_, of her _Drang nach Osten_; to liberate and strengthen these smaller nations is the only real check upon Prussia. Free Poland, Bohemia and Serbo-Croatia would be so-called buffer states, their organisation would facilitate and promote the formation of a Magyar state, of Greater Rumania, of Bulgaria, Greece and the rest of the smaller nations. If this horrible war, with its countless victims, has any meaning, it can only be found in the liberation of the small nations who are menaced by Germany's eagerness for conquest and her thirst for the dominion of Asia. The Oriental question is to be solved on the Rhine, Moldau and Vistula, not only on the Danube, Vardar and Maritza."

Soon afterwards Professor Masaryk issued a proclamation signed by representatives of all Czecho-Slovaks abroad, the full text of which reads as follows:

"We come before the political public at a moment when the retreat of the victorious Russian army is exploited against Russia and her Allies.

We take the side of the struggling Slav nations and their Allies without regard to which party will be victorious, simply because the Allies' cause is just. The decision as to which party in this fatal struggle is defending the right, is a question of principle and political morality which to-day cannot be evaded by any honest and clear-thinking politician nor by any self-conscious nation. But we are prompted to step forward also by our vivid sense of Slav solidarity: we express our ardent sympathies to our brother Serbs and Russians, as well as to our brother Poles, so heavily struck by the war. We believe in the ultimate victory of the Slavs and their Allies, and we are convinced that this victory will contribute towards the welfare of the whole of Europe and humanity. The spiteful anti-Slav att.i.tude of Ferdinand the Koburg and his government cannot r.e.t.a.r.d the victory of a just cause.

"The Czech nation made an alliance with Hungary and the Austrian Germans by a free election of a Habsburg to the throne of the kingdom of Bohemia in 1526; but the dynasty created through a systematic centralisation and germanisation a unitary absolutist state, thus violating their treaty guaranteeing the independence of the Bohemian State within and without. The Czech nation, exhausted by the European and Habsburg anti-reformation, has only since the Czech regeneration at the end of the eighteenth century been able to resist this violence. It was especially the revolution of 1848 which challenged it.

"The revolution was crushed, and the secured rights of nations, especially of the Czechs, were again sacrificed to absolutism which, however, was shattered by the war of 1859, and replaced by an incomplete const.i.tutionalism. Then Vienna gave way to the Magyars. But the Czechs had to content themselves with solemn promises that were never kept. The Czech nation started a struggle of pa.s.sive opposition.

Later on it also took an active part in the new parliament, but whether in parliament or in the diets, it always claimed its historic right of independence and struggled against the German-Magyar dualism. The attempts made to come to an understanding were frustrated by the obstinate spirit of domination of the Germans and Magyars.

"The present war has only accentuated the Czecho-Slovak opposition to Austria-Hungary. War was declared without the parliament being consulted: all other states presented the declaration of war to their parliaments for ratification, only the Viennese Government was afraid to consult its peoples, because the majority of them would have declared against the war. The representatives of the Czech nation would have certainly protested with the greatest emphasis. That is why the government did not consult a single Czech deputy or politician with regard to taking so momentous a step.

"The Czech nation has always in modern times defended a thoroughly Slav programme. Also during this war, which has found our nation unprepared like all other peaceful nations, the Czechs have since the very beginning expressed their sympathies for Russia, Serbia and their Allies, notwithstanding the unprecedented Austrian terrorism, suppressing every manifestation of the real feelings of the people. The pro-Austrian declarations are enforced by the government. To-day the leading Czech politicians are in prison, the gallows have become the favourite support of the incapable administration, and Czech regiments have been decimated for acting spontaneously up to our national Czech programme. The rights of the Czech language have been ruthlessly violated during the war, and the absolutist military rule has reigned throughout Bohemia and other non-German and non-Magyar parts of the monarchy as in enemy countries. Every declaration in the Czech journals is suppressed, while our national adversaries are not only allowed to make propaganda against the Czech nation, but even the pan-German orgies in the spirit of Lagarde, von Hartmann, Mommsen, and Treitschke are supported by Vienna and Budapest.

"Under these circ.u.mstances the Czech nation cannot continue to keep silence. That is why the Czech and Slovak emigrants abroad deem it their duty to inform foreign opinion about the true situation of Bohemia, to interpret the aspirations of the Czecho-Slovak nation to the Allied statesmen, politicians and journalists, and to defend the Czecho-Slovak programme.

"The Czech parties have hitherto striven for the independence of their nation inside Austria-Hungary. _The course which this fratricidal war has taken and the ruthless violence of Vienna make it necessary for all of us to strive for independence without regard to Austria-Hungary. We are struggling for an absolutely independent Czecho-Slovak State_.

"The Czech nation has come to the conclusion that it must take its destiny into its own hands. Austria was defeated not only by Russia, but also by the small and despised Serbia, and became a dependency of Germany. To-day it has recovered a little under the direction of Berlin, but that desperate strain of forces does not deceive us: it is only a proof of the abdication of Austria-Hungary. We have lost all confidence in the vitality of Austria-Hungary, and we no more recognise its right to existence. Through its incapability and dependence it has proved to the whole world that the a.s.sumption of the necessity of Austria has pa.s.sed, and has through this war been proved to be wrong.

Those who have defended the possibility and necessity of Austria-Hungary--and at one time it was Palack himself--demanded a confederated state of equal nations and lands. But the dualist Austria-Hungary became the oppressor of non-German and non-Magyar nationalities. It is the obstacle to peace in Europe and it has degenerated into a mere tool for Germany's expansion to the East, without a positive mission of its own, unable to create a state organisation of equal nations, free and progressive in civilisation.

The dynasty, living in its absolutist traditions, maintains itself a phantom of its former world empire, a.s.sisted in government by its undemocratic partners, the barren aristocracy, the anti-national bureaucracy, and the anti-national military staff.

"To-day there is no doubt that Austria-Hungary wrongly used the a.s.sa.s.sination at Sarajevo as a pretext against Serbia. Vienna and Budapest did not hesitate to use forged doc.u.ments manufactured by their own emba.s.sy against the Yugoslavs, and in this policy of deceit Vienna and Budapest have persisted during this war. To this deceit they have now added revengeful spitefulness and cruelty truly barbarian against the non-Germans and non-Magyars.

"Germany shares the guilt with Austria-Hungary; it was in Germany's power and it was her duty towards civilisation and humanity to prevent the war and not to take advantage of the imperialist l.u.s.t of Vienna and Budapest.

"Austria-Hungary and Germany are fighting with their Turkish and Bulgarian Allies for a cause which is unjust and doomed."

Later on, when _Dr. Edward Benes_, lecturer at the Czech University of Prague and author of several well-known studies in sociology, also escaped abroad, the Czecho-Slovak National Council was formed, of which Professor Masaryk became the president, _Dr. Stefanik_, a distinguished airman and scientist, Hungarian Slovak by birth, the vice-president, and Dr. E. Benes the general secretary. A French review was started in Paris (_La Nation Tcheque_) in May, 1915, which became the official organ of the Czecho-Slovak movement. Up to May, 1917, it was published under the editorship of Professor Denis, and since then its editor has been Dr.

Benes. A Central Czech organ is also published in Paris called _Samostatnost_ ("Independence"), edited by Dr. Sychrava, an eminent Czech journalist.

The undisputed authority enjoyed by Professor Masaryk among all the Czecho-Slovaks is undoubtedly the secret of the great strength and unity of the movement. It is also the reason for the great diplomatic successes achieved by the Czechs. The chief lieutenants of Professor Masaryk were Dr.

Benes, an untiring worker with rare political instinct and perspicacity, and Dr. Milan Stefanik, who entered the French army as a private at the beginning of the war, was gradually promoted, and in May, 1918, rose to the rank of brigadier-general. He rendered valuable service to France as an astronomist before the war, and as an airman during the war. He has rendered still greater service to the Czecho-Slovak cause as a diplomat.

These three men, unanimously recognised by the two million Czecho-Slovaks in the Allied countries as their leaders, were finally, in the summer of 1918, recognised also by the Allies as the _de facto_ provisional government of the Czecho-Slovak State, with all rights and powers of a real government. The central seat of the Czecho-Slovak Government is in Paris, and official Czecho-Slovak representatives and legations are in all the Allied capitals.

3. The first political success of the National Council was the Allies' Note to President Wilson of January 10, 1917. The Czechs are especially grateful to France for this first recognition of their claims.

In this Note, in which the Allies for the first time stated publicly and explicitly their war aims, the Allies declared that these include:

"The reorganisation of Europe guaranteed by a stable settlement, based upon the principle of nationality, upon the right which all peoples, whether small or great, have to the enjoyment of full security and free economic development, and also upon territorial agreements and international arrangements so framed as to guarantee land and sea frontiers against unjust attacks; the rest.i.tution of provinces or territories formerly torn from the Allies by force or contrary to the wishes of their inhabitants; _the liberation of Italians, Slavs, Rumanians and Czecho-Slovaks from foreign domination_; the liberation of the peoples who now lie beneath the murderous tyranny of the Turks, and the expulsion from Europe of the Ottoman Empire, which has proved itself so radically alien to Western civilisation."