Czechoslovakia
The republic to 1945
Struggle for independence
World War I increased the estrangement between the Germans and the Czechs within the Czech Lands. The Germans lent full support to the war effort of the Central Powers, but among the Czechs the war was unpopular. Opposition to the war, however, was uncoordinated, because Czech political leaders were unable to agree on a program. In December 1914 Masaryk, a representative in the Vienna parliament, left Prague to organize activities that could not be developed at home because of political persecution and the suspension of civil rights. After staying some months in neutral countries, Masaryk moved to London. In 1915 he had been joined in Switzerland by a former student, Edvard Beneš, and by Josef Dürich, a member of the conservative Czech Agrarian Party. Masaryk at first had rather vague notions of the tasks ahead of him, but he eventually opted for a program of political union of the Czechs and Slovaks. A young Slovak astronomer, Milan Rastislav Štefánik, offered his support. Masaryk established contacts with the Czechs and Slovaks living in Allied and neutral countries, especially the United States. In 1916 a Czechoslovak National Council was created under Masaryk's chairmanship. Its members were eager to maintain contacts with the leaders at home in order to avoid disharmony, and an underground organization called the Maffia served as a liaison between them. At home the influence of the military increased. The press was heavily censored, public meetings were forbidden, and those suspected of disloyalty were imprisoned. Among those arrested were the pro-Russian Young Czech leader Karel Kramár and the economist Alois Rašín. Dissatisfaction among the Czech soldiers on the Eastern Front became more articulate in 1915, and whole units often went over to the Russian side. Francis Joseph died in November 1916 and was succeeded by Charles I. The new emperor called the parliament to session in Vienna and granted amnesty to political prisoners. Charles's reforms, although in many respects gratifying, called for more intensive activities abroad in order to convince the Allied leaders that partial concessions to the Czechs were inadequate to the problems of postwar reconstruction. The position of the Slovaks was not improving, and the Hungarian government showed no inclination to reorganize the kingdom in accordance with the principle of nationality.