Background
Benes was born 28 May 1884 in Kozlany, Bohemia. Son of a farmer, he rose through his own efforts to be an internationally respected intellectual.
Benes was born 28 May 1884 in Kozlany, Bohemia. Son of a farmer, he rose through his own efforts to be an internationally respected intellectual.
He attended a grammar school from 1896 to 1904. He then played association football for Slavia Prague. After studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Charles University in Prague, he left for Paris and continued his studies at the Sorbonne and at the École libre des sciences politiques (Independent School of Political and Social Studies). He completed his first degree in Dijon, where he received his doctorate of law in 1908. He then taught for three years at the Prague Academy of Commerce, and after his 1912 habilitation in philosophy, he became a lecturer in sociology at Charles University. He was also involved in scouting.
On 18 Dec 1935 he succeeded Masaryk as president and began negotiating a vast array of defensive alliances while making Czechoslovakia a nation of considerable industrial and military power. "He was ready to play against Hitler for high stakes." writes A. J. P. Taylor, “but not to fight a war”. Sold out by the Munich Agreement of 30 Sep 1938, Benes resigned five days later. Almost certainly marked for liquidation, he had significant NKVD assistance in leaving the country for England. Benes taught briefly at the Univ of Chicago, then established a national committee in France: on 21 July 1940 he created a provisional government in London. Long a Russophile, Benes had sent Stalin information in 1936 (via the Czech ambassdor in Berlin) that allegedly triggered a devastating purge of the Soviet high command including Marshal Tukhachevsky. But this long-accepted view has recently been called a “fairy talc" by an ex-NKVD official, Pavel Sudoplatov. "Benes enthusiastically supported the purge of Tukhachevsky but in no way played a role in his removal and arrest."
After the Teheran Conference ended on 1 Dec 1943, Benes realized he had to make an accommodation with the Soviets. On 12 Dec 1943 he signed a treaty of friendship and alliance, returning in Mar 45 to Moscow, where he agreed that his coalition government would accept several Soviet-trained Czechs. These men accompanied Soviet liberation forces into Prague on 8 May 1945. To avoid civil war, Benes allowed Klement Gottwald to work his communist takeover in early 1948. He resigned on 6 June 48 and died 3 Sep 1948. It was suspected that the cofounder of Czechoslovakia was murdered, or that he committed suicide.
