He was a member of parliament in the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the Habsburg House and later the leader of the anti-Austrian uprising, he was also the Chairman of the Czechoslovak National Council in Paris, which formed the Czechoslovak Legion during World War I, and he was also President of the Czechoslovak Bourgeois Republic, where he pursued a pro-Western foreign policy until World War II. He was the founding father of Czechoslovakia, Thomas Garrig Masaryk.
Thomas Garrig Masaryk
Early life experience
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850-1937) was born on 7 March 1850 in Hodonin, Moravia, Czechoslovakia. His father was a poor groom who had been a serf, and his mother, of German descent, was well educated, and had a great influence on Masaryk's childhood.
Masaryk did not attend a formal primary school, but only spent a few years in a modest and difficult primary school in his hometown. At the age of 14, he left school to work as an apprentice in Vienna and became a locksmith. At the age of 15, he moved to Brno and studied at a German language school as a tutor.
Soon after, he was kicked out of school for opposing the Catholic Church. It was from this time that Masaryk began to explore many questions about the country and life. At that time, the Czech and Slovak nations were still under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Czech and Slovak nations were still in a position of being ruled and suppressed.
Austro-Hungarian Empire
The young Masaryk was strongly dissatisfied with the humiliating national status of Czechoslovakia and the destruction of national culture by the Catholic Church. He was worried about the future of the nation and began to strive to seek the truth of saving the country and the nation. He often inspired himself with the words of Jan Hus, the great reformer of the Czechoslovak nation: "Seek the truth, listen to the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, propagate the truth, master the truth, defend the truth unto death." "
Jan Huss
After dropping out of school from Brno, Masaryk returned to Vienna. He was admitted to the University of Vienna with honors. In 1876 he received his degree as a doctor of philosophy. In 1879 Masaryk became a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Vienna and embraced Platonism. In 1881 he published his first sociological work, On Suicide, in German.
In 1882, the University of Prague was divided into two parts, the German Academy and the Czech Academy, with Masaryk as Professor of Philosophy at Charles University. In 1885 he published another important work, Foundations of Logic. He also founded publications such as Athens Literature and Art and Time to criticize the autocracy and national oppression of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Masaryk
By the time of the First World War, Masaryk was already a well-known liberal philosopher and historian. In addition to his writings, in the 80s and 90s he was engaged in a wide range of social activities: he gave speeches at various clubs and assemblies in Prague, and was concerned with women's education. He advocated the autonomy of the Czech state within the empire, supported the demands of an eight-hour working day and universal suffrage, but was negative about the workers' movement.
In 1883 Masaryk founded a monthly critical magazine, followed by the monthly magazine Our Time in 1893, thus beginning the "realistic revolutionary movement" in the Czech Republic. The "Realistic Revolutionary Movement" was mainly a revival of national culture in politics, literature, and philosophy, and this movement had a tremendous impact in both the political and academic fields.
In 1898 he completed his important work, The Social Question. In this work, Masaryk already saw a deep conflict within capitalism, but he advocated a solution to this conflict by reformist means rather than through social revolution. And with his prestige in society, he was also elected to the Austrian Imperial Parliament several times.
Political life
At the end of the 19th century, Masaryk worked hard to study the history of the Czech Republic, Austria, and the advanced countries of Western Europe, compared and compared them with each other, and was determined to fight for the rejuvenation of the motherland and the nation. He traveled to Europe, America and the Balkans to promote the culture and history of the Czech nation, hoping to keep the long-lost Czechoslovak nation from being forgotten by the world.
Masaryk
In 1889 Masaryk changed a journal called Die Zeit into a political weekly magazine to promote national consciousness among the Czech and Slovak people and to the development of national science and culture in Czechoslovakia. From then on, Masaryk officially began his political career.
By this time the old conservatives of the Czech bourgeois national party had failed, and the Young Zhuang, who were more attentive to the peasants, workers and intellectuals, had formed the Young Czechs Party, on which Masaryk's ideas had a great influence. In 1891 Masaryk was elected to the Austrian Reichstag as a candidate supported by the Young Czechs Party, but soon resigned to devote himself to the Czech national renaissance.
In 1900, Masaryk and his colleagues founded the Czech People's Party, which in 1905 was renamed the Czech Progressive Party, which sought Czech autonomy within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and which had a high reputation among intellectuals. In 1907 he was re-elected to parliament, and during his tenure he repeatedly criticized the government's political and economic policies, proceeding from bourgeois reformism and advocating a solution to the Czech question within the framework of a federal Austria, i.e., Czech autonomy under Austria-Hungary.
By the time of the First World War, Masaryk had been a major figure in Czech political life, and although he was often described as a "non-conformist" and "a harsh critic of traditional ideas, existing institutions, conventions, and habits in Bohemia and throughout Austria-Hungary", his core ideas remained bourgeois reformism rather than an outright revolutionary.
Masaryk
In the summer of 1914, World War I broke out, and it became clear to Masaryk that Austria would inevitably be drawn into this war and would be devastated. It was then that he decided to lead the people of Czechoslovakia to free themselves from Austria-Hungary.
At that time, most of the bourgeois politicians in the Czech Republic still believed that Austria-Hungary would win, so they supported the government; while the Young Czechs openly sided with Tsarist Russia; and the other part of the Czech bourgeoisie, represented by Masaryk, saw the weakness of Tsarist Russia and adopted a policy of relying on Britain, France, Italy, the United States, and other Western countries, in an effort to destroy the rule of the Habsburg dynasty and strive for national independence through this war.
Masaryk
In December 1914, Masaryk was forced into exile due to the wartime situation, leading the Czechs and Slovaks in the struggle against Austria-Hungary, hoping to fight for national rights with the support of the Entente. It also organized the Czechoslovak Corps in Russia, France, Italy and other countries to support the Entente.
Masaryk took an active part in the Czech Restoration Movement abroad, campaigning among the countries of Western Europe to promote his ideas. In January 1915 he came to Switzerland, where the Czech diaspora was strong, and founded the Czech National Council. In September 1915 he traveled to London to work as a professor at the University of London and to raise donations.
On July 4, 1915, Masaryk publicly declared his opposition to Austria for the first time. In November he organized the Czechoslovak Foreign Committee, which in January 1916 was reorganized into the Czechoslovak National Assembly. The provisional government of the Czech nation was based in Paris, and Masaryk became the provisional president, which laid the organizational foundation for the future new republic.
In February 1916, Masaryk met with French Prime Minister Briand in Paris, where he offered to send the Czech Legion in Russia to France to fight against the Allies, and discussed the issue of dispersing German and Austrian forces. Masaryk believed that the independence of Czechoslovakia depended on the support of the West, and that the independence of Czechoslovakia would effectively prevent the expansion of Germany and Austria and weaken the strength of Germany and Austria, which would be beneficial to the West, especially France.
French Prime Minister Briand
In May 1917, Masaryk left England for Petrograd. He was warmly welcomed by the Czech soldiers who were fighting against Austria in Russia and expressed their support for the Czech National Conference in Paris. In July, Masaryk asked the Russian Provisional Government to allow the Czech Legion to march to the French front.
After the October Revolution in Russia, the First World War was coming to an end. When Russia signed the Peace of Brest with Germany in March 1918, it was imperative that the Czech legions, which were part of the Entente forces, withdraw from Russia. In March 1918, Masaryk traveled via Siberia to Japan and the United States to persuade the U.S. government to provide material and military assistance. The Czech Legion then marched eastward, preparing to return from the sea route.
With the defeat of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I assured, the Czech National Council assumed the functions of the supreme organ of the resistance movement from July 1918. On 18 October, the Czech National Assembly in Paris issued a declaration of independence. Immediately after a direct agreement with the Vienna Government, the Council of Nationalities took over power in the name of the new State.
Masaryk
In Slovakia, the bourgeoisie organized a national conference in Martin on 30 October 1918 and announced its union with the Czech Republic to form a unified state. On 14 November, the Czechoslovak Republic was proclaimed, and Masaryk was elected as its first president. From then on, the Czechoslovak nation was freed from 300 years of Austro-Hungarian rule and began a new stage of historical development!
Post-war experience
In October 1918, Masaryk issued the Declaration of Independence in Washington, D.C., proclaiming the Czechoslovak Republic, and was elected as its first president.
Edward Benes
Milan Restislav Štfanik
Masaryk was re-elected as president three times in 1920, 1927 and 1934 until December 1935, when Masaryk resigned from the presidency due to serious illness and died in Rani on September 14, 1937. He pursued a pro-Western foreign policy, advocating regional and European stability to ensure the security and independence of Czechoslovakia, and at home to preserve bourgeois democracy.
Arriving in London on November 29, 1918, Masaryk immediately engaged extensively with the diplomatic community in an effort to garner maximum support for the Czechoslovak Republic at the Paris Peace Conference. In early December, he went to Paris again, met with French President Raymond Poincaré, and at the same time contacted Romania and Yugoslavia to propose the formation of a Triple Alliance.
French President Raymond Poincaré
From August 1920 to June 1921, the Czech Republic, Yugoslavia, and Romania established the "Little Entente" system through three bilateral alliance treaties. Although the Triple Alliance relied on Western imperialism, it was itself a small and medium-sized country that had just broken free from the enslavement of Austria-Hungary, and their alliance often had a certain defensive nature to maintain national independence, unite and protect itself.
Little Entente
In the twenties and thirties of the twentieth century, the Little Entente became a decisive force in international relations in Central and Southeastern Europe. In 1924, the Masaryk government concluded a treaty of alliance with France. In 1935, a mutual assistance treaty was signed with the Soviet Union. These diplomatic activities strengthened Czechoslovakia's international position.
In February 1920, a new constitution of Czechoslovakia was promulgated. The idea of democratic nation-building and the construction of a new Europe, as set forth by Masaryk in his New Europe, guided the formulation of this constitution. After the founding of the country, Masaryk proposed an agrarian reform bill to ease class contradictions in the countryside.
In 1920, the new government also established an army of 160,000 to 180,000 men and a reserve army of 1 million men through international law, including infantry, cavalry, artillery, mechanized troops, aviation units, tank convoys, etc., with thousands of aircraft, making it a very powerful army in Central Europe.
Masaryk also founded the famous Ceska Zbrojovka (CZ) arsenal, from which the famous ZB-26 light machine gun (also known as "Czech-made") was produced in World War II, and the decade between 1920 and 1939 was also the most glorious period of the Czech light weapons industry.
At the same time, Masaryk also signed military agreements with Romania and Yugoslavia, further developing the political cooperation between the small Entente countries into military cooperation. In conclusion, Masaryk made great efforts and contributions to the achievement of a certain international status in Czechoslovakia.
In addition to his political achievements, Masaryk also made many achievements in international education: in 1915 Masaryk funded the establishment of the Slavic Institute of Eastern European Studies (SSEES) in London, England, which merged with University College London (UCL) in 1999 to become the Slavic Institute of Eastern European Studies at University College London.
Slavic Institute of Eastern Europe
The original purpose of the Slavic Institute of Eastern Europe was to promote economic and cultural exchanges between Czechoslovakia and Central and Eastern Europe and Great Britain. Through visits and exchanges in educational activities and personnel training, the exchanges between Central and Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom have been strengthened, economic development cooperation has been promoted, and cultural exchanges and understanding between regions have been deepened. Leaders of Central and Eastern European countries visited the Slavic Institute of Eastern European Studies in London, UK, and promoted political exchanges through academic activities.
In the more than 100 years since its establishment, the college has made a large number of academic studies on the economic, political, cultural and historical comparisons of Central and Eastern European countries with other countries, providing a theoretical basis for the economic policies and cultural exchange policies of many European countries, and making substantial contributions to the development of economic and cultural exchanges.
Before the outbreak of World War II, President Masaryk, along with his follower Edward Benes, relied on Western powers such as France, Britain, and the United States to pursue their foreign policy. But he wavered about fascism, and it was only after the Nazi attack that he was forced to conclude a mutual assistance treaty with the Soviet Union in 1935.
In November 1935, due to old age and illness, Masaryk recommended Edward Benes to succeed him as president, and he resigned from the presidency in order to support Benes' candidacy. On September 14, 1937, Masaryk passed away, and his son Jan Masaryk had been the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia for a long time.
Although Masaryk, the founding father of Czechoslovakia, worked hard to improve the country's overall strength after the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia was still unable to stand alone in the storm of World War II......