Masaryk - first president of Czechoslovakia

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, referred to as T. G. M., TGM or President Liberator (March 7, 1850, Hodonín– September 14, 1937, Lány), was a Czechoslovak statesman, philosopher, sociologist and educator, the first President of the Czechoslovak Republic. (from Wikipedia)

Tomáš Masaryk came from a poor family. His father, originally Slovak, was a coachman, and his mother worked as a cook. After studying in Strážnice, Brno, and Vienna, he graduated in 1876 with a philosophical thesis on Plato. While studying in Leipzig, he met his future wife, the American Charlotte Garrigue, in 1877, and married her in New York in 1878.

In 1890, he joined the Young Bohemian Party with his friends and the following year was elected a deputy of the Imperial Council of Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

He first publicly declared his demand for an independent state in Geneva in June 1915 during the WWI. That same year he went to London, where he became a professor at King's College, publishing and persuading tirelessly.

In February 1917, when the great powers recognized the then-formulated Czechoslovak demand, Masaryk went to Russia to gather troops to give greater weight to his program. The Czechoslovak legions gradually numbered up to 50,000 men and operated mainly in Russia, but they were subordinate to the National Council and included as allies in the French army. Masaryk himself directed the organization of the legions.

After the October Revolution and Russia's separate peace with Germany, he set off from Moscow through Siberia to Japan to prepare the transport of legions to France. On March 7, 1918, he set sail for the United States of America, knowing that President Woodrow Wilson would have a very significant say in the post-war world order, and especially in Central Europe.

It is admirable that he was able to do all this difficult travelling though he was already 68 in 1918.

The Czechoslovak, now Czech Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, established in 1990, is an honour awarded to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to humanity, democracy and human rights.

  Masaryk in 1919

Czechs and Slovaks call Masaryk as Founding Father of Czechoslovakia

Thanks for reading

                                     Margaret