The diplomat Milan Rastislav Štefánik
The diplomat Milan Rastislav Štefánik

Author(s): Miroslav Musil
Subject(s): Politics, Diplomatic history, Recent History (1900 till today), International relations/trade, 19th Century
Published by: Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA)
Keywords: Štefánik; Czecho-Slovakia; Army; France;
Summary/Abstract: Milan Rastislav Štefánik has become a “classic” for many. It seems that there has been so much written and said about him that it is hard to add anything new. Nevertheless, many authors and academics have fallen to the bias of their predecessors and inadequately attributed the successes of the founding of Czecho–Slovakia to the other two leading figures at the expense of Štefánik. Too often they have used phrases such as “He opened the doors to the world leading politicians at the time for Masaryk and Beneš,” or even worse “What Masaryk thought of, Beneš said and Štefánik did” – creating an image depicting Štefánik as a good and obedient soldier. Where was then Štefánik’s brilliant ability to conceive ideas, improvise, lead and persuade skeptics lost?

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