Čeští vojáci za první světové války (1914-1918) : několik zamyšlení

The goal of this article is to objectively assess the conduct of Czech soldiers during the First World War. In the past, this issue was, for various ideological reasons, greatly oversimplified. German national propaganda portrayed Czech soldiers fighting in the uniforms of the Austro-Hungarian Army in the years 1914-1918 as a very unreliable element, owing to their Slavic sentiments. However, after 1918 the Czechoslovak Republic also adopted a very critical position toward these soldiers, as it ascribed the main credit for the founding of the independent state to the so-called legionnaires; i.e., to soldiers who fought on the side of the Allied states. In this article the author reflects upon the Czech historiographic production on the First World War from the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries and attempts to present a balanced (non-national) perspective on the subject.