As the saying goes, in the international game, there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests. In the early 20th century, this famous saying was confirmed again and again. In the world of the 20th century, various forces have risen one after another, and many camps have opposed each other. Among them, the development of the Western capitalist camp is particularly eye-catching. In the course of historical evolution, Western countries often use a variety of means to support pro-Western regimes, and then encircle and suppress the Soviet Union and other countries. The Czechoslovak bourgeois regime in the early 20th century was such a Western "pawn".
Both the Czech Republic and Slovakia are located in Central Europe, and the two peoples are of the same lineage, both branches of the West Slavs. In medieval times, the Czech Republic was a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany, while Slovakia was ruled by Hungary. After the Thirty Years' War, the Czech Republic was controlled by the Austrian Habsburgs. After 1867, the whole of Czechoslovakia became an integral part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a result of the long period of Austro-Hungarian rule, the contradictions between the Czechs and the Germans grew, and the friction between the Slovaks and the Hungarians increased unabated. This has allowed Western countries to see opportunities to support proxy forces.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, with the spread of nationalist ideas, the Czechs' desire for independence became stronger and stronger, which was secretly supported by the Entente countries such as Britain and France. At the beginning of the 20th century, the British and American governments had frequent contacts with the Czech bourgeoisie living abroad, and under the guise of "helping the Czech Republic achieve national independence", they co-opted the Czech upper echelons. During world war I from 1914 to 1918, the Western Allies had to deal with the German-Austrian Allies on the one hand, and on the other hand, they had to guard against the emerging Soviet power, so they further increased their support for the Czechs and let the Czechs act as "cannon fodder".
First, the Western Entente supported the Czech Legion rebellion in Soviet Russia. After the outbreak of World War I, a large number of Czechs were recruited into the Austro-Hungarian army. However, they had long sought independence, and they were not willing to fight for Austria-Hungary, so they turned to the establishment and joined the Allies. At that time, there were Czech prisoners of war in France, Italy and Russia, especially in Tsarist Russia. With the support of the Czechoslovak National Council, these Czech prisoners of war formed the "Czech Legion" and engaged the German and Austrian armies. The Czech legion of Tsarist Russia had more than 50,000 troops and contributed a lot to the Allied states.
After the October Revolution, Soviet Russia was determined to withdraw from the war and at the same time intended to disband this force. The disarmament plan had gone well, and most Czech soldiers had expressed their willingness to return home. However, the Western Allies were not willing to stop there, and they colluded with the upper echelons of the Czech bourgeoisie to instigate a rebellion of the Czech legions. As a result of the use of the West, the Czech Legion counterattacked the Soviet Revolution, causing heavy losses to the Soviet regime and bringing deep disasters to the Siberian region. It was not until the fall of the Kolchak regime in 1920 that the Czech Legion was able to escape the fate of cannon fodder and return to its homeland.
Second, the Western Allies agitated the Czechs to attack the Hungarian Soviets. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, Hungary was ostracized and suppressed by the Western Allies because it was once an important part of the Austro-Hungarian dual empire. At that time, the Allies supported the independence of minorities in Hungary under the pretext of "national self-determination". In 1919, the Soviet Revolution broke out in Hungary, which aroused the envy of the Allies. In this case, the Entente instigated the new nation-states, including Czechoslovakia and Romania, to intervene militarily in the Soviet Revolution in Hungary.
With the support of the West, the Czech army invaded Hungary, but was unexpectedly resisted by the Hungarian Red Army. Not only were they defeated in successive battles, but they were even counterattacked by the Hungarian Red Army to the mainland, losing the Slovak region. Seeing the failure of armed intervention, Western countries have played a trick of conspiracy and negotiation. After that, the Red Army withdrew its troops back to China, shrunk its defenses, and relaxed its combat readiness, and the West took the opportunity to instigate the Czech and Romanian armies to launch a general offensive against the Red Army. Eventually, under the joint strangulation of the Czech army and other Allied forces, the Hungarian Soviet power was overthrown.
But as the old saying goes, between countries, interests come first. In the 1930s, with the rise of Nazi Germany, Czechoslovakia's national security was seriously threatened. At this time, however, Britain, France and other Western countries were pursuing a policy of appeasement and did not want to offend Germany because of the Czech question. In 1938, Britain and France acquiesced to the convening of the Munich Conference, and the Czech republic was brutally slaughtered by Germany. The following year, all of the Czech Republic came under German control. The Czechoslovak bourgeois regime, which was willing to be the "pawn" of the West 20 years ago, is still betrayed by the West 20 years later, which is the embodiment of the change of interests between countries.
References: The Complete History of World War I, Czech History