This is the first scientific biography of Milan Rastislav Stefanik (1880-1919) that is focused on analysing the process of how he became the Slovak national hero. Although he is relatively unknown internationally, his contemporaries compared him "to Choderlos de Laclos for the use of military tactics in love affairs, to Lawrence of Arabia for vision, to Bonaparte for ambition ... and to one of apostles for his conviction". He played the key role in founding an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918 through his relentless worldwide travels during the First World War in order to create the Czechoslovak army: he visited Serbia and Romania on the eve of invasion by the Central Powers, Russia before the February revolution, the United States after it declared the war to Germany, Italy dealing with the consequences of the defeat in Caporetto battle, and again Russia plunged into the Civil War. Several historical methods are used to answer this question such as social capital to explain his raise in French society, the charismatic leader to understand how he convinced and won over a relatively large number of people; more traditional political, military and diplomatic history to show his contribution to the founding of Czechoslovakia, and memory studies to analyse his extraordinary popularity in Slovakia. By mapping his intriguing life, the book will be of interest to scholars in a broad range of areas including history of Central Europe, especially Czechoslovakia, international relations, social history, French society at the beginning of the 20th century and biographical research.

Book Information
ISBN 9780367550059
Author Michal Ksinan
Format Hardback
Page Count 328
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 156g