Czechoslovak Legion commander who led the anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia and handed over Kolchak; prime minister in the Munich crisis
Born in Třebíč, Moravia, he was a building technician in Warsaw when the First World War began and volunteered for the Czech Druzhina of the Russian army, losing his right eye at Zborov in 1917. As a general he commanded the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia and all anti-Bolshevik forces on the Trans-Siberian Railway through the Siberian anabasis. In January 1920 he and Janin decided to hand Kolchak to the Political Centre in Irkutsk, hastening his execution, and Kappel challenged him to a duel over it. Back home he became chief of the general staff, and in September 1938 prime minister of the government that accepted the Munich Agreement; convicted of collaboration in 1947 and sentenced to twenty years, he was amnestied in 1960.
Also known as: Jan Syrovy · Jan Bohumír Syrový
Activities and affiliations
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1918–1939
Czechoslovakia state institutionsMain
Military command -
1938
Czechoslovakia state institutions
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1914–1917Joined the Czech Druzhina of the Russian army; lost an eye at Zborov
- 1918–1920Commander of the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia and the anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia
- 1920Shared in the decision to hand Kolchak to the Irkutsk Political Centre; returned home in June
- 1926–1933Chief of Staff of the Czechoslovak Army
- 1933–1938Inspector general of the Czechoslovak Army
- 1938Prime minister and defence minister; accepted the Munich Agreement
- 1938–1939Minister of national defence
- 1947–1960Imprisoned on a collaboration verdict of twenty years; released by amnesty