Milan Rastislav Stefanik
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Milan Rastislav Štefánik (born July 21, 1880 in Košariská - died May 4, 1919 in Ivánka pri Dunaji) was a Slovak politician, diplomat, and astronomer. French citizen 1912 (-1918). During World War I, he was General of the French army, at the same time the Czechoslovak Minister of War, one of the leading members of the Czecho-Slovak National Council (i.e. resistance government), and he contributed decisively to the cause of Czecho-Slovak sovereignty. (The status of Czech- and Slovak-populated territories, among others, was in question till shortly before the disintegration of Austria-Hungary in 1918.)
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Studies
He was born in Košariská (near Myjava in Slovakia, at that time part of Austria-Hungary) on July 21, 1880. He had 12 brothers and sisters (2 of which died later). His father was a local Lutheran priest. As a strong Slovak patriot, he had troubles at Hungarian schools (Slovak ones were prohibited) and had to change the high school several times (Bratislava, Šoporňa, Šarvaš).
In 1898, he started to study construction engineering in Prague. In 1900 he switched to the Charles University were he was going to lectures of astronomy, physics, optics, mathematics and philosophy. He was also in Zürich for a short time within his studies. The Prague years had a great impact on Štefánik, because he met many important personalities there: the lectures of philosophy were taught by Tomáš Masaryk (the future first president of Czechoslovakia), who inspired Štefánik with the idea of cooperation of the Czechs and the Slovaks. Furthermore, Štefánik very actively participated in the work of the Slovak student association Detvan (and within Detvan of the so-called Hlasists group). His studies were largely financed by the Czech associations Českoslovanská jednota (Czechoslovak Unity), Radhošť etc. - he himself could not afford them. In Prague, he wrote political and artistic texts, in which he tried to inform the Czechs on the disastrous situation of the Slovaks at that time. He graduated in 1904 with a doctor’s degree in philosophy and with thorough knowledge of astronomy (he finished his studies with a thesis in astronomy).
France, Tahiti and other countries
In 1904, he went to Paris to find a job in astronomy. Initially, he had no money and no command of French, but then he got a job at the famous Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, whose director, Pierre Janssen (one of the co-founders of astrophysics), saw Štefánik’s talent. His astronomical observation very quickly yielded several scientific treatises. Some of them were read at the Académie Française. Between 1906 and 1908 he was co-director of Mont Blanc observatories Plc (joint-stock company).
At the end of 1907, however, Pierre Janssen died and Štefánik had to change his job. Since 1908, he has been charged by French authorities with astronomic and meteorological observations (mainly observations of sun eclipses) and political tasks in various countries all over the world (Algeria, Turkestan, Russia, USA, Panama, South America, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Tahiti and others). In Tahiti, he also built an observatory and a meteorological stations network. Between these voyages he regularly returned home to Košariská (last time in 1913 for his father’s funeral). When he was in South America (especially in Ecuador), he got an opportunity to show his diplomatic skills for the first time.
Štefánik dealt with astrophysics, solar physics and became well-known for his spectral analysis of the sun corolla. He was involved in perfecting spectrography and has been considered a predecessor of Bernard Lyot. He also attempted to construct a machine for color photography and cinematography and had his design patented in 1911.
His studies and the results of his observations were published in reports to the Académie Française and he received several awards for them.
In addition to his scientific missions overseas, he also performed diplomatic tasks. He established contacts and friendship with leading scientific, artistic, political, diplomatic and business personalities. He participated in the establishment of business enterprises in France and other countries.
In 1912, he received French citizenship, recognition and access to the French elite. In 1914, he was made knight of the Legion of Honour. At the same time, however, he had some personal problems and a serious stomach illness (which did not get better even after a medical operation). Moreover, the World War I started in Europe.
World War I and struggle for independence
Štefánik understood that a defeat of Austria-Hungary (and Germany) in this war meant a chance for the Slovaks and Czechs to gain independence from Austria-Hungary. Therefore, he insisted on participating in the war as an aviator (of the French army). After a short training, he was sent as a pilot to Serbia in May 1915. He flew 30 missions to enemy territories in sum. His excessive effort almost caused his death. Finally he survived, but could not fight anymore, so that he returned to Paris at the end of 1915.
Back in Paris, he became acquainted with Edvard Benes and got into contact with his former professor Tomáš Masaryk. In 1916, these three men founded the Czecho-Slovak National Council (the supreme body – government - of Czecho-Slovak resistance abroad leading to the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918). Since 1917, he was the vice-president of the council. Thanks to his diplomatic skills, Štefánik helped Masaryk and Beneš to meet and obtain the support of some of the most important personalities of the Entente. He for example organized Masaryk’s meeting with the French prime minister Aristide Briand.
In 1916, Štefánik and the Czecho-Slovak resistance started to create Czechoslovak troops (legions) that would fight against Austria-Hungary and Germany. For this purpose, Štefánik (as the Czechoslovak Minister of War and as a French General) went to Russia and then (in February 1917) to the USA. He also organized legions in France and Italy. It was largely due to his personal diplomatic skills and contacts that the Allies (Entente) recognized the Czechoslovak National Council as a government-de-facto and the Czechoslovak troops as allied forces in the summer and autumn 1918. In May 1918, Štefánik went to Siberia in Russia, where he was supposed to make the Czechoslovak legions there renew the second, i. e. Eastern, front (because Russia had switched the sides and signed peace with Germany and Austria-Hungary in March 1918, and Czechoslovak legions very successfully rebelled against a subsequent Russian order to disarm, thus showing their abilities to the Allies). But in Russia, Štefánik saw that this was not possible anymore.
In January 1919, when the war ended, Štefánik went from Russia to France and Italy, where he organized the retreat of Czechoslovak troops from Siberia in March in Paris. In addition, his diplomatic skills were needed in order to solve quarrels between the French and Italian missions in Czechoslovakia. In April, he went from Paris to Rome to negotiate at the Italian Ministry of War, where he also met his fiancée Juliana Benzoni for the last time. Then he went to the main Italian military base in Padua, where he agreed with General Armando Diaz on the dissolution of the Italian military mission in Czechoslovakia. At the same time, severe quarrels arose between Štefánik and Beneš (but also Masaryk), mainly around the position of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia. In April, for example, Beneš wrote to a county president in Slovakia: „I had a conflict with Štefánik. . . Everything is over between us. I mean absolutely (over). But keep it totally secret...“
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Death
Finally, Štefánik wanted to return home to see his family. He decided to fly from Italy and to use an Italian military plane. On May 4 1919 around 11 AM, his plane tried to land in Bratislava (which was threatened by Hungarian troops of Béla Kun at that time), but crashed near Ivánka pri Dunaji. Štefánik died along with two Italian officers. The reason for the plane crash is disputed till today. The official explanation at that time was that the plane was shot down „by mistake“, because its Italian tricolor was mistaken for the Hungarian tricolor. Štefánik’s sudden death in combination with his preceding quarrels with Beneš contributed to Slovak suspicion towards the Czechs during the First Republic of Czechoslovakia.
Štefánik’s personal motto was: To Believe, To Love and To Work.