New Past Access: DYK with Pete Colman. Czechoslovakia was not independent during WWI. Czechoslovak forces went to fight for Austria, Western Allies, and Russia. When the war was over, Russia was in the middle of the Red Revolution, Czechoslovakia was independent–but tens of thousands of Czechoslovaks were on the wrong side (East) of the Russian Revolution and couldn’t get home the directest way.
And so they highjacked armored trains, ruled the Trans-Siberian Railroad as they headed East to the Pacific, and from there any way they could back home. Including all the way around the globe and through the United States.
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