[1] Born and schooled in Plzeň, he studied history in Prague starting in 1894, then from 1896 to 1899 in Vienna.

Beginning in 1911, he was a professor of Austrian (and later, Czech) history at Charles University, following the Jaroslav Goll school of thought.

In his research, he focused on the late medieval and early Czech history, especially that of the peasantry as well as the church.

Krofta was a key foreign policy advisor to Edvard Beneš who headed the Ministry until he became President of Czechoslovakia in 1935.

[4] Krofta became an active participant in the resistance during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II through the National Revolution Preparatory Assembly (Přípravný národní Revoluční výbor).