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This story is based on the actual experiences of Czech writer Jaroslav Hasek during World War I and the Russian Revolution that followed. They later also served as the basis for The Adventures Of The Brave Soldier Svejk, his most well known work. The story starts with Hasek as a soldier in the Austian-Hungarian Army assigned to serve Archduke Ferdinand. When the Archduke is assassinated, World War I breaks out in Europe. When Hasek later finds himself in Moscow in the middle of the Revolution, he is reunited with a girl he had met earlier, and he goes through a series of humorous encounters despite the grim backgrounds of the battles that surround him. He returns to Prague to a hopeful future as an author who witnessed, first hand, some of the most turbulent military and political changes of the early 20th century.