Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (Fall Grün)
From Alternative History
| Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk | |
| |
| 1st President of Czechoslovakia | |
| Term of Office: | 14 November 1918 – 14 December 1935 |
| Successor: | Edvard Beneš |
| Biography | |
| Date of birth: | March 7, 1850 |
| Place of birth: | Hodonín, Austria-Hungary |
| Date of death: | September 14, 1937 (age 87) |
| Place of death: | Lány, Czechoslovakia |
| Spouse: | Charlotte Garrigue |
| Profession: | Politician, Philosopher, Editor |
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (March 7, 1850 - September 14, 1937) was an Austro-Hungarian and Czechoslovak statesman, sociologist and philosopher, who as the keenest advocate of Czechoslovak independence during World War I became the first President and founder of Czechoslovakia.
As the principal founding father of the republic, Masaryk was regarded similar to the way George Washington is regarded in the United States. Such universal respect enabled Masaryk to overcome seemingly irresolvable political problems. Even to this day, Masaryk is regarded as the symbol of Czechoslovak democracy
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[edit] Education and early career
Masaryk was born to a working-class family in the predominantly Catholic city of Hodonín, Moravia. This was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and is now in the Czech Republic. His father Jozef Masaryk, a carter, was a Slovak from the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary (nowadays Slovakia), and his mother Terezie Masaryková (née Kropáčková) was from Moravia.
As a youth he worked as a blacksmith. He studied in Brno, Vienna (1872-1876 philosophy with Franz Brentano) and Leipzig (with Wilhelm Wundt). In 1882, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy in the Czech part of the University of Prague. The following year he founded Athenaeum, a magazine devoted to Czech culture and science. He challenged the validity of the epic poems Rukopisy královedvorský a zelenohorský, supposedly dating from the early Middle Ages, and providing a false nationalistic basis of Czech chauvinism to which he was continuously opposed. Further enraging Czech sentiment, he fought against the old superstition of Jewish blood libel during the Hilsner Trial of 1899. The topic of his doctoral thesis was the phenomenon of suicide.
[edit] Political career
Photo:Josef Jindřich Šechtl, 1918
Masaryk served in the Reichsrat (Austrian Parliament) from 1891 to 1893 in the Young Czech Party and again from 1907 to 1914 in the Realist Party, but he did not campaign for the independence of Czechs and Slovaks from Austria-Hungary. When the First World War broke out, he had to flee the country to avoid arrest for treason, going to Geneva, to Italy, and then to England, where he started to agitate for Czechoslovak independence. In 1915 he opened the University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, where the Student Society and Junior Common Room are named after him. He became Professor of Slav Research at King's College in London lecturing on "The problem of small nations".
During the war, Masaryk's intelligence network of Czech revolutionaries provided important and critical intelligence to the Allies. Masaryk's European network worked with an American counter-espionage network network of nearly 80 members headed by E.V. Voska who, as Habsburg subjects, were presumed to be German supporters but were involved in spying on German and Austrian diplomats. In 1916, Masaryk went to France to convince the French government of the necessity of disintegrating Austria-Hungary. After the February Revolution in 1917 he proceeded to Russia to help organize Slavic resistance to the Austrians, so-called Czechoslovak Legions. In 1918 he travelled to the United States, where he convinced President Woodrow Wilson of the rightness of his cause. On October 18, 1918, Masaryk, standing on the steps of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, proclaimed Czechoslovakia's independence.
[edit] President of Czechoslovakia
With the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, the Allies recognized Masaryk as head of the Provisional Czechoslovak government, and in 1920 he was elected the first President of Czechoslovakia. To a large extent, Czechoslovak democracy was held together by Masaryk. As the principal founding father of the republic, Masaryk was regarded similar to the way George Washington is regarded in the United States. Such universal respect enabled Masaryk to overcome seemingly irresolvable political problems. Even to this day, Masaryk is regarded as the symbol of Czechoslovak democracy. Because of his popularity among Czechs as well as Slovaks, he won re-election twice subsequently (in 1927 and 1934), and held office until December 14, 1935, when he resigned owing to bad health and Edvard Beneš succeeded him. Masaryk enjoyed almost legendary authority among the Czech and Slovak people.
[edit] Personal life
Masaryk married Charlotte Garrigue, a Protestant American, from whom he took his middle name, who died near Prague in 1923 from an unspecified illness. Charlotte gave birth to five children: the politician Jan Masaryk, Herbert, Alice, Anna and Olga.
Masaryk died from natural causes in 1937 at the age of 87, in Lány, Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic.
[edit] Philosophy and religion
Masaryk's life motto was: "Nebát se a nekrást" (= Not to fear and not to steal). Masaryk as a philosopher was an outspoken rationalist and humanist. He emphasised practical ethics, reflecting the influence of Anglo-Saxon philosophers, French philosophy, and especially the work of 18th Century German philosopher, Johann Gottfried Herder, the so-called founder of nationalism. He was critical of German idealistic philosophy and Marxism. Although born Catholic, he eventually became a non-practicing Protestant, influenced in part by the declaration of Papal Infallibility in 1870 and his wife, Charlotte.
| Predecessor: | Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (Fall Grün) | Successor: |
|---|---|---|
| - | Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk President of Czechoslovakia | Edvard Beneš |
