The history of Czechoslovakia begins first with its parent state, the Austro-Hungarian empire. Bohemia, since 1802, had been a region of the Austrian Empire. The Slovaks never had a state for themselves, with the closest being Great Moravia, which had ceased to be a state before the year 1.000. The Czechs did see some representation, but the Slovaks, dominated by the Hungarians, saw none, in the empire. Following the outbreak of the Great War, a volunteer army comprised mostly of Czechs and Slovaks formed, called the Czechoslovak Legion, with the support of the Tsarist Russian government. This legion started small, with only a few hundred men, but grew to be over 100.000 soldiers in total during the war. The Czechoslovak legion fought all across Europe, from France, to Russia, to Italy. One of the most famous battles and victories of the Legion was the Battle of Zborov, taking place in Zborov, Austria-Hungary (now the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic). The resulting victory for the Czechoslovak Legion surprised the Russian army, due to not only them having less soldiers but having inferior training and equipment. The offensive on the Eastern Front for the Entente in general was largely unsuccessful for the Entene, and thus the victory proved to be a massive morale boost for the Legion, even if it did not turn the tide of the war in the east. The victory of this battle brought attention to the Czechoslovaks, who were fighting for their independence. On October 28, 1918, Czechoslovakia had officially formed.
.
.
