Editing Trans-Siberian Railway (section)

===War and revolution===
[[File:War. Russian National Dance.jpg|thumb|Trans-Siberian Railway, c. 1904]]
In the [[Russo-Japanese War]] (1904–1905), the strategic importance and limitations of the Trans-Siberian Railway contributed to Russia's defeat in the war. As the line was single track, transit was slower as trains had to wait in crossing sidings for opposing trains to cross. This limited the capacity of the line and increased transit times. A troop train or a train carrying injured personnel traveling from east to west would delay the arrival of troops or supplies and ammunition in a train traveling from west to east. The supply difficulties meant the Russian forces had limited troops and supplies while Japanese forces with shorter lines of communication were able to attack and advance.

After the [[Russian Revolution]] of 1917, the railway served as the vital line of communication for the [[Czechoslovak Legions|Czechoslovak Legion]] and the allied armies that landed troops at Vladivostok during the [[Siberian Intervention]] of the [[Russian Civil War]]. These forces supported the [[White movement|White Russian]] government of Admiral [[Alexander Kolchak]], based in [[Omsk]], and White Russian soldiers fighting the Bolsheviks on the [[Ural Mountains|Ural]] front. The intervention was weakened, and ultimately defeated, by partisan fighters who blew up bridges and sections of track, particularly in the volatile region between [[Krasnoyarsk]] and [[Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai|Chita]].<ref name="Isitt">{{Cite journal |last=Isitt |first=Benjamin |year=2006 |title=Mutiny from Victoria to Vladivostok, December 1918 |url=http://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/CHR/87.2.223 |journal=Canadian Historical Review |volume=87 |issue=2 |pages=223–64 |doi=10.3138/chr/87.2.223 |access-date=3 October 2016}}</ref>

The leader of legions politician [[Milan Rastislav Štefánik|Milan Rastislav Stefanik]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kšiňan |first=Michal |title=Milan Rastislav Štefánik – Muž, ktorý sa rozprával s hviezdami |publisher=Slovart |year=2021 |isbn=9788055639048}}</ref> traveled from Moscow to Vladivostok in March to August 1918, on his journey to Japan and the United States of America.<ref>Preclík, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 str., vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karviná) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019, {{ISBN|978-80-87173-47-3}}, pp. 38–50, 52–102, 104–22, 124–28, 140–48, 184–90</ref>
The Trans-Siberian Railway also played a very direct role during parts of Russia's history, with the [[Czechoslovak Legions|Czechoslovak Legion]] using heavily armed and [[armored train]]s to control large amounts of the railway (and of Russia itself) during the [[Russian Civil War]] at the end of World War I.<ref name="WILLMOTT251">{{Cite book |last=Willmott |first=H.P. |title=First World War |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |year=2003 |page=251}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> As one of the few fighting forces left in the aftermath of the imperial collapse, and before the [[Red Army]] took control, the [[Czechs]] and [[Slovaks]] were able to use their organization and the resources of the railway to establish a temporary zone of control before eventually continuing onwards towards Vladivostok, from where they emigrated back to [[Czechoslovakia]].