A legion commander who carried battlefield success into White politics
After capturing Yekaterinburg, Gajda set up his headquarters in the very Ipatiev House where the Romanovs had been murdered by the Bolsheviks less than a week earlier.
Radola Gajda was a Czechoslovak Legion commander who rose to prominence in the First World War and the Russian Civil War, later becoming a general and politician in interwar Czechoslovakia. In 1918 he led the Legion's eastern group, seizing the railway from Novonikolaevsk to Irkutsk and pressing the argument for armed struggle over neutrality. He joined Kolchak's White forces, lost his command, and returned home to serve as acting chief of the general staff before leading the National Fascist Community. His military anti-Bolshevism became fascist politics in Czechoslovakia, while during the Nazi occupation he aided resistance networks.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1910–1911Served in the Austro-Hungarian Army
- 1915–1916Officer in the Montenegrin Army
- 1917Company and regimental commander, Czechoslovak Legion
- 1918Commander, Legion eastern group, directing the capture of Irkutsk and Yekaterinburg
- 1918–1919Commander of Kolchak's Siberian Army
- 1922–1926Divisional commander and acting chief of the Czechoslovak General Staff
- 1927–1939Leader of the National Fascist Community and parliamentarian
Related historical events
The Czechoslovak Legion in Siberia and Kolchak
When fighting broke out between the Czechoslovak Legion and Bolshevik forces during the Legion’s evacuation across Siberia in May 1918, Gajda commanded its eastern units in the area from Novonikolaevsk to Irkutsk. He fought the Bolsheviks with aggressive tactics, at times against his superiors’ orders, and helped link the Legion’s units. This course brought him into conflict with Tomáš Masaryk, who sought to keep the Legion neutral in the Russian Civil War. After the Legion captured Yekaterinburg in July 1918, Gajda established his headquarters there; in December he commanded the capture of Perm. He later accepted Aleksandr Kolchak’s invitation to serve as a commander in the White army, but was dismissed on 5 July 1919 as the Red Army regained the initiative and Kolchak’s forces weakened. After taking part in an unsuccessful Socialist Revolutionary mutiny against Kolchak that November, Gajda left Siberia for Europe. This career shows how choices over the Legion’s evacuation and its involvement in the Russian Civil War brought Gajda into White politics, while his command in Kolchak’s army proved brief.