Czech lands field army led by
Jan Žižka; Jena Codex, 15th century The military history of the
Czech people dates back to the
Middle Ages and the creation of the
Duchy of Bohemia and the
Kingdom of Bohemia. The
battle on the Marchfeld was one of the largest medieval cavalry battles in
Central Europe, in which the Iron and Golden King
Ottokar II of Bohemia was killed. During the
Hussite Wars,
Jan Žižka became a military leader of such skill and eminence that the Hussite legacy became an important and lasting part of the Czech military traditions. Notable military figures of
Czech nobility in the
Habsburg monarchy include
Albrecht von Wallenstein and
Joseph Radetzky von Radetz. When the
World War I broke out, the
Czech Crown lands were part of the
Austria-Hungary and the colonised Czech population had to serve in its army. From 1914, on the background of
attempts to attain independence, various units composed of Czech nationals (with up to 10% of
Slovak nationals), mainly POWs, were established, fighting as part of the French, Italian and Russian forces against the
Entente powers. Beginning in 1916, these
Czechoslovak Legions gained increasingly independent status. Following the 1918
Czechoslovak declaration of independence, the newly established Czechoslovak Army derived its legacy primarily from these legions rather than from the Austrian Habsburg Imperial Army. Official military names since 1918: • 1918–1950 - Czechoslovak Armed Forces (this official name was given to the Czechoslovak Army on March 19, 1920, on the basis of the Armed Forces Act) • 1950–1954 - Czechoslovak Army • 1954–1989 - Czechoslovak People's Army • 1990–1992 - Czechoslovak Army • since 1993 - Army of the Czech Republic (ACR)
Czechoslovakia The
Czechoslovak Armed Forces were originally formed on 30 June 1918 when 6,000 members of the
Czechoslovak Legion in France, which had been established in 1914, took oath and received a battle banner in
Darney,
France, thus preceding the official
declaration of Czechoslovak independence by four months. There were also 50 000 legion soldiers in Russia at that time. The military achievements of the Czechoslovak legions on the
French,
Italian and especially
Russian front became one of the main arguments that the Czechoslovak pro-independence leaders, especially for
T. G. Masaryk in America, could use to gain the support for the country's independence by the
Allies of World War I. In 1938,
servicemen of the Czechoslovak Army and the
State Defense Guard fought in an undeclared border war against the German-backed
Sudetendeutsches Freikorps as well as
Polish and
Hungarian paramilitary forces. As a result of the
Munich Agreement, areas heavily populated by ethnic
German speaking people were incorporated into the
Third Reich and military-aged men living there were subject to being drafted into the
Wehrmacht. In 1939, after the
Slovak State proclaimed its independence and the remainder of
Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied and annexed by
Hungary, the
German occupation of the Czech Lands followed and the
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed after the negotiations with
Emil Hácha. The Protectorate's government possessed its own armed force, the
Government Army (6,500 men), tasked with public security and
rearguard duties. On the other side of the conflict, a number of Czechoslovak units and formations served with the
Polish Army (
Czechoslovak Legion), the
French Army, the
Royal Air Force, the
British Army (the
1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade), and the
Red Army (
I Corps). Four Czech and Slovak-manned RAF squadrons were transferred to Czechoslovak control in late 1945. soldier discusses patrol routes with a
Czech Army soldier (left) From 1954 until 1989, the Army was known as the
Czechoslovak People's Army (ČSLA). Although the ČSLA, as formed in 1945, included both Soviet- and British-equipped/trained expatriate troops, the "Western" soldiers had been purged from the ČSLA after 1948 when the
communists took power. The ČSLA offered no resistance to the invasion mounted by the Soviets in 1968 in reaction to the "
Prague Spring", and was extensively reorganized by the Soviets following the re-imposition of communist rule in Prague. Of the approximately 201,000 personnel on active duty in the ČSLA in 1987, about 145,000, or about 72 percent, served in the ground forces (commonly referred to as the
army). About 100,000 of these were conscripts. There were two military districts,
Western and
Eastern. A 1989 listing of forces shows two Czechoslovak armies in the west, the
1st Army at
Příbram with one tank division and three motor rifle divisions, the
4th Army at
Písek with two tank divisions and two motor rifle divisions. In the Eastern Military District, there were two tank divisions, the
13th and
14th, with a supervisory headquarters at
Trenčín in the Slovak part of the country. During the
Cold War, the ČSLA was equipped primarily with Soviet arms, although certain arms like the
OT-64 SKOT armored personnel carrier, the
L-29 Delfín and
L-39 Albatros aircraft, the
P-27 Pancéřovka antitank rocket launcher, the
vz. 58 assault rifle or the
Uk vz. 59 machine gun were of Czechoslovak design. After the fall of communism during the
Velvet Revolution in 1989, the
Czechoslovak People's Army was renamed back to the
Czechoslovak Army and was completely transformed as well.
After 1992 (dissolution of Czechoslovakia) firing in Afghanistan in Hohenfels, Germany The Army of the Czech Republic was formed after the Czechoslovak Armed Forces split after the 31 December 1992 peaceful dissolution of
Czechoslovakia. Czech forces stood at 90,000 in 1993. They were reduced to around 65,000 in 11 combat brigades and the Air Force in 1997, to 63,601 in 1999, and to 35,000 in 2005. At the same time, the forces were modernized and reoriented towards a defensive posture. In 2004, the army transformed itself into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished. The Army maintains an active reserve. The
Czech Republic is a member of the
United Nations and the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. In March 1999, the Czech Republic joined
NATO. Since 1990, the ACR and the Czech Armed Forces have contributed to numerous peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, including
IFOR,
SFOR, and
EUFOR Althea in
Bosnia,
Desert Shield/
Desert Storm,
Afghanistan,
Kosovo,
Albania,
Turkey,
Pakistan and with the Coalition forces in
Iraq. Current deployments (2019): •
Lithuania: NATO Operation (
NATO Enhanced Forward Presence) - 230 soldiers •
Latvia: NATO Operation (
NATO Enhanced Forward Presence) - 60 soldiers •
Afghanistan: NATO Operation (
Resolute Support Mission) - 390 soldiers •
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: NATO Operation (
Baltic Air Policing) - 95 soldiers, 5x
Jas 39 Gripen •
Kosovo: NATO Operation (
KFOR) - 9 soldiers •
Mali: EU military training mission (
EUTM Mali) - 120 soldiers •
Mali: UN peacekeeping mission (
MINUSMA) - 5 soldiers •
Somalia: EU Operation Atalanta (
NAVFOR) - 3 soldiers •
Sinai: International peacekeeping force (
MFO) - 18 soldiers •
Iraq: Military intervention against the
Islamic State (
OIR) - 31 soldiers (air advisory team), 12 soldiers (chemical unit) •
Mediterranean Sea: EU military operation (
EU Navfor Med) - 5 soldiers •
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Military deployment to oversee the military implementation of the
Dayton Agreement (
European Union Force Althea) - 2 soldiers •
Golan Heights: UN peacekeeping mission (
UNDOF) - 3 soldiers •
DR Congo: UN peacekeeping mission (
MONUC) - 2 military observers •
Mali: UN peacekeeping mission (
MINUSMA) - 2 military observers •
Kosovo: UN peacekeeping mission (
UNMIK) - 2 military observers •
Central African Republic: UN peacekeeping mission (
MINUSCA) - 3 military observers == Organization ==