World War One - End of Empire
During the course of World War I, the Czechs became unified in their
opposition to Austrian rule. Most especially, Austria-Hungary's alignment with Germany and the
restriction of democratic rights in the Czech lands led to growing
opposition to the monarchy here. An organised resistance began to
develop, both at home and abroad.
The Czech university professor, philosopher and politician,
Tomas Garrigue Masaryk (the same one who doubted the authenticity of
the faked manuscripts and the one who was later to become
Czechoslovakia's first president) had been an advocate of more
independence for the Czech lands long before the war had even
started.
In December of 1914, he went abroad, where he continued to fight
for Czechoslovak independence throughout the war. He worked closely
with Czech lawyer Edvard Benes and Slovak astronomer Milan
Rastislav Stefanik, who were also in exile in the United States
throughout the conflict. It was in the United States at this time
that Masaryk met his wife, American Charlotte Garrigue.
It was there too, that Masaryk, Benes, and Stefanik founded the
Czech National Council in 1916. Over time, this organisation was
renamed the Czechoslovak National Council and
was recognized as the valid voice of Czechoslovakia by Allied
leaders.
Their position as the leaders of "free Czechoslovakia" was further
strengthened with the formation of Czechoslovak military units known
as the Czechoslovak Legions, which fought alongside the Allies.
The Czechoslovak Legions earned particular distinction on the
Italian, French, and Russian fronts - and on the last of these, they
actually became involved in the
Russian Revolution, fighting against the Bolsheviks and, for a time
during that revolution, controlled about half of the territory of
Tsarist Russia.
Resistance at home grew only gradually. At first, it was limited to
small
spy groups who had contact with Masaryk (who was considered an enemy
of Austria on account of his subversive activities). Active
resistance to the monarchy was severely punished, and as a result
many prominent Czech
cultural and political personalities spent most of the war behind
bars, convicted of treason. While the sentence for treason at that
time was actually death, the Austrians were too busy to
carry out the sentences. Thus, the
executions were never carried out, and these Czech leaders simply
languished in jail for the duration.
By 1917, when things were quite apparently not in Austria-Hungary's
favour, Czech opposition to the war became much more active. People
began
organizing strikes, demonstrations, and even violent protests -
which had to be put down by the army. Anybody who is particularly
interested in this period of Czech history should definitely read
"The Good Soldier Svejk" by Jaroslav Hasek. It not only offers a
great deal of insight into the kind of passive resistance the Czechs
favour, but also offers many more insights into the Czech psyche.
In May 1918, the representatives of the resistance movement abroad
had signed the Pittsburgh Convention, which approved the formation
of a joint state composed of Slovakia and the Czech lands. Later -
much later (very recently in fact) - Slovak politicians seeking
autonomy for Slovakia would refer to a provision in this agreement
mentioning Slovakia's own "administration, parliament and courts of
law."
While the resistance leaders abroad were planning a new state, the
various and sundry political forces in the Czech lands still could
not agree on whether they wanted to radically reconstruct or
completely abolish the political structure of Austria-Hungary. In
July 1918, the Czech National Committee, a grouping of the leaders
of the chief political parties (which wasn't much cooperating with
Masaryk's efforts in exile), was reorganized and began preparing to
assume power once the Central Powers were defeated.
In October 1918, Masaryk, Benes and Stefanik obtained recognition of
the Czechoslovak National Council as the interim government of the
Czechoslovak Republic from the Allied Powers. But while they were in
Switzerland with delegates from the Prague National Committee
discussing details of setting up this new state, a hastily-organised
third grouping, the National Committee (headed by Antonin Svehla,
Alois Rasin, Jiri Stribrny, Frantisek Soukup and Vavro Srobar)
proclaimed Czechoslovakia an independent Republic on October 28,
1918 and began to assume the transfer of power from Austrian
officials.
Adding to this disparity and completely independent of events in
Prague, Slovak political representatives issued the Martin
Declaration in favor of a joint Czechoslovak state on October 30,
1918.
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