Czechoslovak National Council

In early 1915 a Czech living in Russia, Svatopluk Koníček, made the first attempt to bring these various groups together under a single umbrella organization.

[4] Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, a Moravian professor (on Charles University in Prague, from 1882) [5] and politician who went into exile in Switzerland in December 1914, gradually secured the support of the Czech and Slovak groups in Western Europe during the following months.

Shortly after his arrival in that country, however, he began to support the tsarist government’s plans for a new émigré organization with the goal of rendering the Czech and Slovak homelands dependent or closely aligned with the Russian Empire after the war.

Masaryk emerged as the victor from this rivalry after the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in March 1917 deprived Dürich and his group of the tsarist government’s support.

During the summer of 1918, the Czechoslovak National Council made significant headway in its campaign to gain recognition from Allied governments.

After Nazi Germany completed its annexation of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939, Beneš formed a new Czechoslovak National Council in exile, this time based out of London.