Edvard Benes

Although he was born into a peasant family in a small village by Rakovnik in West Bohemia, Edvard Benes spent much of his youth in Vinohrady in Prague, where he attended school from 1896 to 1904. After studying briefly at the Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University, he traveled to Paris and continued his studies at the Sorbonne and at the Independent School of Political and Social Studies. He would complete his first degree in Dijon, where he received his Doctorate of Laws in 1908. He taught for three years at the Prague Academy of Commerce, and after his habilitation in the field of philosophy, he came to lecture sociology at Charles University.

The outbreak of the First World War incited Benes to organize an internal resistance movement called "Maffia". He was responsible for channels of communication between Prague and future Czech President Masaryk, who was exiled in Switzerland at the time. In September, 1915, Benes went abroad and from that point on, his destiny was intricately tied to the personalities of T.G. Masaryk and M. R. Stefanik. Benes then lived in Paris where he also handled individual emigration cases as well as contributed to publicizing the Czechoslovak political agenda. He reorganized the courier service which maintained the covert links between himself and "Maffia" in Prague. Aside from diplomatic efforts to gain prestige in the eyes of foreign resistance movements, he lectured at the Sorbonne on the subject of Slavicism, and wrote a series of articles for French and Czech publications. He was instrumental in establishing the Czechoslovak National Council in 1916, where he was bestowed with the function of General Secretary. Together with M.R. Stefanik, he negotiated with the representatives of prominent European nations in order to establish independent Czechoslovak military units. As a result, the first legions were created in France (December 1917), Russia (February 1918) and Italy (April 1918). The outstanding result of Benes' diplomatic efforts led to the recognition of the Czechoslovak National Council as the representative of the new Czechoslovak State by France (June 1918), Great Britain (August 1918) and Italy (October 1918). This also enabled representatives of the Czechoslovak National Council to be admitted to the collective talks of the Treaty of Versailles.

On the 28th of October, 1918, Benes, acting as the representative of the foreign resistance negotiated with politicians in Geneva on the future of the newly independent Czechoslovak State. Upon reaching an agreement, Benes became the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia. He did not return to Prague for another year, for in November, 1918, he had to go to Paris in order to secure the previously non-existent southern Slovak border from Hungary, as well as the recognition of the historical boundaries of the Czechoslovak State. Hence, Czechoslovakia emerged in a new form, and did so on the basis of Woodrow Wilson's principle of self-determination.

Edvard Benes was present at the inception of the League of Nations, was its chairman in 1920, and a member of the Board from 1923 to 1927. On the Security Council, he supported the principle of collective security. In 1920-22, Benes founded the Little Alliance with Yugoslavia and Romania, and in 1924, he negotiated a joint treaty with France. He was a renowned and influential figure at international conferences, such as Genoa 1922, Locarno 1925, The Hague 1930, and Lausanne in 1932. He had a profound knowledge and understanding of international politics and relations. His primary domain was foreign affairs, but he also played an integral role in internal matters.

From the inception of the State, Edvard Benes was Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in the years 1919 to 1926, and again from 1929 to 1935, he was an elected member of Parliament, including Prime Minister from 1921 to 1922. Following T.G. Masaryk's abdication, Benes became President of the Czechoslovak Republic on December 18, 1935.

As the vice-chairman of the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party, he had a profound influence over its policies. He rejected Marxism, but adhered to socialist philosophies, and in order to firmly anchor the security of the nation, he endeavored to break down the international isolation of the U.S.S.R. and to bring it into the League of Nations. When this was successfully accomplished, he closed an agreement in 1935.

The rise of the Third Reich under Hitler led Germany to pursue an aggressive foreign policy towards Czechoslovakia, under the pretense of repatriating the "persecuted" German minority, which was heavily concentrated in the Sudetenland bordering on Germany. Following the annexation of Austria in 1938, Hitler demanded that the Sudetenland be handed over to Germany, claiming it would "satisfy" German expansion. In face of the threat, Benes proceeded to mobilize the Czechoslovak forces in order to prepare for an armed conflict. Despite pleading with France and Great Britain to back up their promises of defending Czechoslovakia from the German menace, the Sudetenland was conceded to Hitler in September of that year in the hope of avoiding a second major European war. Benes reacted by establishing a government in exile in London. Under the provisional government of Emil Hacha, Hitler would ally himself with the Slovaks, granting them autonomy, and occupy the West of Czechoslovakia, setting up the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

After the disappointment of the Munich agreement, Benes lost faith in the West and declared the U.S.S.R. to be the guarantor of the future of his state. This led him to sign a treaty with them in 1943, despite grave warnings from Great Britain. He appealed to his countrymen to view his trip to Moscow "in the spirit of the past centuries of our collective national history". He did not even prevent changes in domestic policy. His was willing to allow the socialist party and the leftist bourgeoisie into the political system, and began to initiate a number of radical social and economic changes. This was on the agenda of his visit to Moscow in 1943, and was discussed with the foreign leadership of the Czechoslovak communist party. It was also from Moscow that he would make a triumphant return to a liberated Czechoslovakia.

After his arrival in Prague on May 16, 1945, Benes began taking steps to realizing his decrees to "unite the national revolution with the economic revolution". He was reinstated to his political office on October 28, 1945 and reelected president the following year. He did not consider Czechoslovakia to lie between the East and the West, but rather between the Soviet Union and Germany, the latter undergoing a transition in which Benes was not confident. As a sociologist, he was convinced that politics are "practical sociology" and that his policies were based in science. However his faith in the U.S.S.R. and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was overturned with the dramatic events in February, 1948. Shortly thereafter, on June 7, Benes abdicated. He died that September.