Czechoslovakia: Inter-Allied Victory Medal 1914-1919, Czechoslovak official type 2 with barrel suspension.
Condition: Good Very Fine
The medal was instituted on 27 July 1920 and the award criteria set out on 13 February 1922, being essentially those who had fought with the Czech Revolutionary Army or Legion in France, Italy, Serbia or Russia, or who had fought in the armed forces of an Allied nation, including the French Foreign Legion or had been accredited to the Allies as a civilian representative of the Czech Provisional Government based in Paris. The position of many citizens of the new Czechoslovakia was anomalous for the new republic had been carved out of Austro-Hungarian and German territory and many of them had been obliged to fight for the Central Powers. The idea of an inter-allied medal to commemorate victory in World War I is credited to the French Field-Marshal Foch. It was agreed that each of the Allies should issue a medal to their nationals featuring a figure representing ‘Victory’ on the front and have a symmetric double rainbow ribbon with red, the colour of courage and sacrifice at the centre, representing the colours of the allies flags and presenting an allegory of calm after storm. The medal was designed by the Czech artist Otakar Španiel, 1881-1955
