Edvard Beneš
“Czechoslovakia will be again a free and independent state, in a new, and free Europe”
In the village of Kožlany in Austro-Hungarian Bohemia, Edvard Beneš was born on May 28, 1884, to a peasant family. After studying in Prague, Beneš would marry in 1909, and with some study abroad in France he would begin teaching law at Charles University in Prauge starting in 1912. He traveled internationally during the period before the Great War, writing articles for a Social Democrat newspaper in Prauge where he spoke of his disgust with the German and British Empires, but his love for Paris. This would be the beginning of the Francophile nature that would definite his future political career.
Beneš addresses Czechoslovak volunteers in the French Army in 1918, along with French President Raymond Poincare
When the First World War began in 1914 Beneš was involved with efforts to secure an independent Czechoslovakia from the beginning, organizing anti-Austrian movements until his fleeing to France in late 1915, where he became active in a provisional government. In the latter stages of the war he was also involvevd with the creation of Czechoslovak Legions to fight alongside the Entente in France, Italy and Russia. It was these efforts that secured British and French recognition of the provisional government in regards to the future of the Czechoslovak state after the end of the war in 1918, and the concurrent collapse of the Hapsburg Empire.
Foreign Minister Beneš in Berlin for meetings with the Czechoslovak embassador in 1928 (German Federal Archives)
With the creation of an independent, sovereign Czechoslovakia in 1918 Beneš became the new republic’s Foreign Minister, with one of his first duties being to represent his country at the Conference of Versailles, where the infamous treaty was drawn up. He would spend subsequent years holding various positions in addition to that of Foreign Minister, as a member of the Czechoslovakia National Socialist Party (this had no affiliation or ideological similarity to the German Nazis, and actually was a vocal proponent of aiding Jewish refugees from Germany after the Nazis took power there). He would even serve briefly as Prime Minister from 1921 to 1922.
President Beneš inspecting a police station in Prague
President Tomáš Masaryk, who had served in his post since independence, had long fostered a relationship with Beneš, openly favoring him as a successor. With his retirement in 1935 this came to pass, with Beneš being inaugurated as the second President of Czechoslovakia, taking office just as the situation in Germany was becoming particularly dangerous to her neighbors. He would, to this end, soon see to the conclusion of a military assistance pact with the Soviet Union, adding a stronger bulwark to his country’s existing agreements to that end with France. With the nature of the Prague government at this point, by 1938 Beneš was able to act almost unilaterally as his country faced their greatest crisis: a German demand for annexation of the Sudetenland.
Beneš is conspicuously excluded from the Munich Conference that decided the fate of his country
Czechoslovakia would not be an easy target for German military ambitions. The mountainous border region had been heavily fortified, and the country had ended up in possession of some of the Hapsburgs main arsenals, resulting in the country being one of the greatest arms producers of the interwar period. Beneš was fully prepared for war to defend his nation, provided that at least one of the great powers was willing to come to his aid.
This would not be forthcoming, but he would allow a British mediator to attempt to solve the crisis. This too failed, and a short revolt by the pro-Nazi faction in the Sudetenland was quickly put down, but the Germans continued o edge toward invasion. Fearing that the continent was about to plunge into the abyss, the Western Allies moved to avert war, calling a conference with the Germans in Munich. Neither Beneš nor any Czechoslovak representative was invited to the meeting, and the result was the Germans were given the blessing of the British and French to annex the Sudetenland, and Beneš was cautioned that if he resisted he would forfeit any aid in a conflict with Hitler’s armies. Thus the nation’s strong defenses were abandoned, and Beneš was forced to resign by the Germans by October.
Beneš with soldiers of the Czechoslovakian Army in Exile when they returned to Britain from the Middle East
Beneš within a month was forced to flee to Britain as the Germans quietly usurped the government in Prague, which would culminate in early 1939 with the general collapse of the Czechoslovak state and its annexation as a German protectorate, leaving Slovakia as a puppet state. During his exile in London he began to cultivate a relationship with Winston Churchill, at that time only a Member of Parliament, who had been vehemently opposed to the Munich Agreement.
On September 1, 1939 the Germans invaded Poland. This had started in a similar manner to the crisis in the Sudetenland a year prior, but this time the West had had enough of Hitler’s promisies and posturing. An ultimatum was dispatched to withdraw all German forces from Poland, and when Berlin did not comply Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3. Beneš responded to these events by forming a Czechoslovak Government in Exile in London, but due to clashes with Prime Minister Chamberlain on the status of the Sudetenland and the validity of the Munich Agreement it was not recognized until mid 1940.
His earlier relationship with Churchill had paid off, as he became Prime Minister in May of 1940, and the arrival of Czechoslovak pilots and troops in Britain helped also as France collapsed. These pilots flew in the Battle of Britain, and Beneš had a network of agents loyal to him in the now German-controlled Czechoslovakia, allowing him to funnel vital intelligence to Britain.
The wreck of Rheinhard Heydrich’s staff car
Beneš would also be directly involved in the planning of Operation Anthropoid, a mission of Czech soldiers to infiltrate their homeland and assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, Acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia (the German name for the occupied Czech territories) as well as director of the Reich Security Service, or SD. One of the most evil characters in the Nazi government, Heydrich was a major architect of the Holocaust as well as a butcherous administrator responsible for brutal repression in the Czech territories.
On the morning of May 27, 1942 two Czechoslovakian soldiers waited at a sharp curve in the road taken daily by Heydrich to his headquarters in Prague. When the car slowed for the corner one man threw off his coat and tried to open fire with a submachine gun, but the weapon jammed. Heydrich ordered his driver to stop as he drew his sidearm, allowing the other assassin to throw a grenade into the open top car. After a short exchange of fire the assassins fled, leaving the wounded Heydrich and his driver in the road. Heydrich would die from his injuries, and as a result the Nazis would arrest 13,000 Czechs, many being send to concentration camps. The towns of Lidice and Ležáky were razed by the SS, with the inhabitants killed or deported to concentration camps.
President Beneš looks from a train window as he arrives back in Prague, 1945 (Wikimedia)
Despite the terrible cost of the assassination, the events persuaded the British to nullify the Munich agreement, allowing Czechoslovakia to retake the Sudetenland after the war. Beneš remained in Britain for some time, working to achieve full recognition of his government by all the Allied powers, and returned to Czechoslovakia in April 1945, as the Nazi government was collapsing and the Soviet Red Army had entered Slovakia. He formed a new coalition government with the communists, leveraging his good relationship with Stalin.
As the Czech Resistance attempted to retake Prague from the Germans in May of 1945 the local resistance leaders persuaded the pro-German Russian Liberation Army troops in the city to defect and aid in the defense of the capitol from the SS in exchange for asylum, but Beneš rejected this plan, intending to repatriate them to the Soviet Union, where they faced execution. Following this, Beneš returned to Prague.
President Beneš greets the crowds after his return to Prague
In mid 1946 Beneš was elected to a new term as President of Czechoslovakia, still leading a coalition government. This continued in relative stability until the Soviets forced the Czechoslovak government to reject aid from the US Marshall Plan, causing a rift with the communists in the government. During this period, Beneš had advocated for the expulsion of Germans and Hungarians from the country, although the Soviets blocked moves against communist dominiated Hungary, forcing Beneš to concentrate on the Germans.
The political situation deteriorated further over the next year after the initial rift began, and in 1948 the communists staged an armed coup against the Beneš government. Beleiving that Germany was likely to rise again, and therefore friendly relations with the Soviet Union were essential to Czechoslovakia’s survival, Beneš acquiesced to the communists. He resigned in June of 1948, refusing to sign the new communist constitution, and was replaced with his communist Prime Minister Klement Gottwald.
The communists subsequently moved to vilify the well-respected Beneš by spreading a lie that he had rejected Soviet help in 1938 due to support for the Munich Agreement. Broken by the collapse of his nation and the destruction of his legacy, he died just three months after his resignation.
He remains a controversial figure. His legacy in forging the Czechoslovakian state, and his diplomatic acumen are well respected, as is his wartime leadership and subsequent leadership after his return. He is, however, also remembered for the Munich debacle, his ruthless expulsion of Sudeten Germans after the war, and his stepping aside for the communists. Regardless, his place in history, for good or ill, was cemented by his long and tumultuous political career.
