Czechoslovak Army

The Czechoslovak Army, later called the Czechoslovak People's Army, was the armed forces of Czechoslovakia. It was established in 1918 after Czechoslovakia declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In the first week the army of the new First Czechoslovak Republic consisted mainly of Czech and Slovak units of the Austro-Hungarian Army, and it later took in members of the Czechoslovak Legion that had fought alongside the Entente in the First World War. It was modeled on the Austro-Hungarian Army under the influence of a French military mission, and its first chief of the army staff was the French general Maurice Pellé. The army was disbanded after the German takeover of 1939 and recreated in exile during the Second World War. After the war it was Sovietised and renamed the Czechoslovak People's Army in 1954, and it returned to its former name in 1990 after the Velvet Revolution.