Benes became a journalist to earn a living and wrote numerous articles for a paper in Prague. As WWI started, he began an effort to gain autonomy-if not independence-for the Czechs. Meanwhile, Tomas Masaryk suggested union with the Slovaks as a solution to the Czechs' dilemma of being surrounded by the Germans.
In 1915, Benes, Masaryk, and Stefanik, the leading Slovak autonomist, formed an underground movement and began revolutionary undertakings. Together, they founded the Czecho-Slovak National Council. This was the executive body of Massaryk's Nationalist Movement, ostensibly to funnel Entente support into their cause as a matter of wartime expediency. It was formed in Paris in the autumn 1915 and Benes was appointed secretary. He became Masaryk's right-hand man in the work of extensive nationalist propaganda. There followed a series of plots and counter-plots, secret messages, forged passports, travel about the country under various disguises and aliases. The oppressive situation in Bohemia under Governor Max Coudenhove did not permit open discussion among nationalists at this time.
In 1917, Benes obtained a decree signed by French President Poincare authorising the formation of the Czech Legion on the Western Front. This force was recruited primarily from Prisoners of War but also from emigres. Similar legions were being formed in Russia and Italy from Czech and Slovak prisoners. Russia did not trust its Czech prisoners, as there were many loyal Czech brigades still in the Austrian army, and it was believed that if the Russians armed their Czech prisoners, either they would turn on the Russians or defect and return to the enemy. The same concern was found in Italy This was not an issue in France, but the French and Italians awaited a positive Russian response to the idea of the Legion.
By mid-October 1918, the fortunes of war had swung definitively against the Austrians. Karl Kramar, the leading Czech representative in the Austrian parliament and recently released from prison on Kaiser Karl's amnesty of 1917, had declared the right of self-determination for the Czech people. On 28 October 1918, the Czecho-Slovak Republic declared its independence. After the election of Masaryk as president, with Kramar as Prime Minister, Benes was appointed Foreign Minister. He was dispatched to Paris to be the chief representative of the Czecho-Slovak Delegation at the Peace Conference 1919-1920 and he was their signatory on the Peace Treaties.
Benes compelled France to give his country military and political aid, and so under French guidance, Benes founded the "Little Entente" whose purpose was to unify the spoilers of Hungary (Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Jugoslavia) against the Magyars. Throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s, Benes exerted great influence in Central European affairs. From 1923 to 1927, he sat on the Council of the League of Nations and served several terms as its President.
In 1935, Benes was elected President of the Assembly of the League. Back in Prague, Benes held the post of Foreign Minister until 1935, when he resigned this responsibility to replace Masaryk as President of Czechoslovakia.
The rise of Nazi Germany threatened Czechoslovakia and the Little Entente. In March 1938, Austria was occupied and Benes missed his opportunity to stand strong. He should have known that Czechoslovakia was Hitler's next target. In spite of his stronger stance in August and September, including mobilising the Czech Army in the face of German threats, the Entente pushed through the Munich agreement on 29 September 1938. Then on October 5, 1938, faced with no prospect of French or British support because both were signatories of the Munich agreement, Benes resigned as President of Czechoslovakia as a "political necessity" and went into exile. He was succeeded by Dr. Emil Hacha, whose abilities were no match for the enormous threats to Czech independence.
On 15 March 1939, Hacha was bullied into signing an act calling for German protection. The Wehrmacht entered Prague, and Bohemia-Moravia became a German protectorate with little political control. Slovakia proclaimed its independence and became a free state under German military occupation. Ruthenia was independent for one day until taken by the Hungarians.
WWII offered new hope to the Czechs in exile. On 11 December 1940, the Czecho-Slovak State Council was formed in London, with Benes as President. In 1941, the British acknowledged this council as the Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia.
After the victory of the Allies in World War II, the Red Army entered Slovakia, and the Republic was reborn on 17 May 1945 following the evacuation of the Germans and the return of the Government-in-exile. Benes continued as its President.
Victory at last came to his country, but much was to be done. After general elections held on 26 May 1946, Benes was elected President of the Republic by Parliament, generally called the Second Republic. Pressure from the Soviets, who aided the communists led by Klemen Gottwald, however, became untenable, and this second republic collapsed in 1947. Benes surrendered to the Soviet-backed putsch that put the communists in power, and then withdrew from politics in early 1948.
Benes is the author of twelve volumes on political and sociological subjects, almost universally recognized as authorities.
Eduard Benes died in February 1948.
GWS, 1/01 [rev. 8/05]
