Editing Tomáš Masaryk (section)

==<span class="anchor" id="Creation of Czechoslovak Legion"></span>Czechoslovak Legion and US visit==
[[File:Hustopece 20210903 143544 TGM.jpg|thumb|[[Hustopeče]]: Grave of parents of Masaryk]]
[[File:Masaryk Štefánik Beneš.jpeg|thumb|right|[[Triumvirate#Czechoslovakia|Triumvirate]] of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, [[Milan Rastislav Štefánik]], and [[Edvard Beneš]].]]

On 5 August 1914, the Russian High Command authorized the formation of a battalion recruited from Czechs and Slovaks in Russia. The unit went to the front in October 1914 and was attached to the Russian Third Army.

From its start, Masaryk wanted to develop the legion from a battalion to a formidable military formation. To do so, however, he realized that he would need to recruit Czech and Slovak prisoners of war (POWs) in Russian camps. In late 1914, Russian military authorities permitted the legion to enlist Czech and Slovak POWs from the Austro-Hungarian army; the order was rescinded in a few weeks, however, because of opposition from other areas of the Russian government. Despite continuing efforts to persuade the Russian authorities to change their minds, the Czechs and Slovaks were officially barred from recruiting POWs until the summer of 1917.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} Under these conditions, the Czechoslovak armed unit in Russia grew slowly from 1914 to 1917. Masaryk preferred to concentrate on elites rather than public opinion.{{sfn|Orzoff|2009|p=44}} On 19 October 1915, Masaryk gave the inaugural address at the newly opened School of Slavonic Studies at [[King's College London]] on "The Problem of Small Nations in the European Crisis", arguing that on both moral and practical grounds that the United Kingdom should support the independence efforts of "small" nations such as the Czechs.{{sfn|Orzoff|2009|p=44}} Shortly afterwards, Masaryk crossed the English Channel to go to Paris, where he delivered a speech in French at the ''Institut d'études slaves'' of the Sorbonne on "Les Slaves parmi les nations" ("The Slavs Among the Nations"), receiving what was described as a "vigorous applause".{{sfn|Orzoff|2009|p=44}}

During the war, Masaryk's intelligence network of Czech revolutionaries provided critical intelligence to the allies. His European network worked with an American counterespionage network of nearly 80 members, headed by [[Emanuel Viktor Voska]] (including [[George Washington Williams (naval officer)|G. W. Williams]]). Voska and his network, who (as [[Habsburg]] subjects) were presumed to be German supporters, spied on German and Austrian diplomats. Among other achievements, the intelligence from these networks was critical in uncovering the [[Hindu–German Conspiracy]] in [[San Francisco]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=237}}</ref><ref name=Masaryk50>{{Harvnb|Masaryk|1970|pp=50, 221, 242}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Voska|Irwin|1940|pp=98, 108, 120, 122–23}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Bose|1971|p=233}}</ref> Masaryk began teaching at London University in October 1915. He published "Racial Problems in Hungary", with ideas about Czechoslovak independence. In 1916, Masaryk went to [[France]] to convince the French government of the necessity of dismantling Austria-Hungary. He consulted with his friend professor [[Pavel Miliukov]], a leading Russian historian and one of the leaders of the Kadet Party, to introduce him to various members of Russian high society.{{sfn|Orzoff|2009|p=44}}

In early 1916, the Czechs and Slovaks in Russian service were reorganized as the First Czecho-Slovak Rifle Regiment.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} In a rare attempt to influence public opinion, Masaryk opened up an office on Piccadilly Circus in London whose exterior was covered with pro-Czechoslovak slogans and maps with the intention of attracting the interest of those walking by.{{sfn|Orzoff|2009|p=44}} One of Masaryk's most important British friends was the journalist [[Wickham Steed]] who wrote articles in the newspapers urging British support for Czechoslovakia.{{sfn|Orzoff|2009|p=41}} Another important British contract for Masaryk was the historian [[Robert Seton-Watson]], who also wrote widely in the British press urging British support for the "submerged" nations of the Austrian empire.{{sfn|Orzoff|2009|p=43}} After the 1917 [[February Revolution]] he proceeded to Russia to help organize the [[Czechoslovak Legion]], a group dedicated to Slavic resistance to the Austrians. Miliukov became the new Russian foreign minister in the Provisional government, and proved very sympathetic towards the idea of creating Czechoslovakia. After the Czechoslovak troops' performance in July 1917 at the [[Battle of Zborov (1917)|Battle of Zborov]] (when they overran Austrian trenches), the Russian provisional government granted Masaryk and the Czechoslovak National Council permission to recruit and mobilize Czech and Slovak volunteers from the POW camps. Later that summer a fourth regiment was added to the brigade, which was renamed the First Division of the Czechoslovak Corps in Russia (Československý sbor na Rusi, also known as the Czechoslovak Legion – Československá legie). A second division of four regiments was added to the legion in October 1917, raising its strength to about 40,000 by 1918.

Masaryk formed a good connection with Russian supreme commanders, [[Mikhail Alekseyev]], [[Aleksei Brusilov]], [[Nikolay Dukhonin]] and [[Mikhail Diterikhs]], in [[Mogilev]], from May 1917.

Masaryk travelled to the United States in 1918, where he convinced President [[Woodrow Wilson]] of the righteousness of his cause. On 5&nbsp;May 1918, over 150,000 [[Chicago]]ans filled the streets to welcome him; Chicago was the centre of Czechoslovak immigration to the United States, and the city's reception echoed his earlier visits to the city and his visiting professorship at the [[University of Chicago]] in 1902 (Masaryk had lectured at the university in 1902 and 1907). He also had strong links to the United States, with his marriage to an American citizen and his friendship with Chicago industrialist [[Charles R. Crane]], who had Masaryk invited to the University of Chicago and introduced to the highest political circles (including Wilson). Except for president Wilson and the secretary of the state [[Robert Lansing]] this was [[Ray Stannard Baker]], W. Phillips, Polk, Long, Lane, D. F. Houston, [[Sir William Wiseman, 10th Baronet|William Wiseman]], [[Harry Pratt Judson]] and the French ambassador [[Jean Jules Jusserand]]. And [[Bernard Baruch]], Vance McCormick, [[Edward N. Hurley]], Samuel M. Vauclain, [[Colonel House]] too. At the Chicago meeting on 8 October 1918, Chicago industrialist [[Samuel Insull]] introduced him as the president of the future Czechoslovak Republic de facto and mentioned his legions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Preclík|first=Vratislav|title=Masaryk a legie|pages=87–89, 124–128, 140–148, 184–190|publisher=Paris Karviná in association with the Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague|year=2019|language=cs|isbn=978-80-87173-47-3}}</ref> On 18 October 1918 he submitted to president Thomas Woodrow Wilson "Washington Declaration" ([[Czechoslovak declaration of independence]]) created with the help of Masaryk American friends ([[Louis Brandeis]], Ira Bennett, [[Gutzon Borglum]], [[Franklin K. Lane]], Edward House, [[Herbert Adolphus Miller]], [[Charles W. Nichols]], [[Robert M. Calfee]], [[Frank E. J. Warrick]], [[George W. Stearn]] and Czech [[Jaroslav Císař]]) as the basic document for the foundation of a new independent Czechoslovak state. Speaking on 26 October 1918 as head of the [[Mid-European Union]] in Philadelphia, Masaryk called for the independence of Czechoslovaks and the other oppressed peoples of central Europe.

Masaryk's book ''{{ill|Světová revoluce|cs}}'' was paradigmatic of central European thought as he identified the Western powers as the "bearers of higher humanitarian principles and democracy" without regard to non-European peoples enduring colonialism or [[segregation in the United States]]. Czech historian {{ill|Pavel Barša|cs}} writes that "he implicitly identified humanity with the peoples of European stock".<ref>[https://cjir.iir.cz/index.php/cjir/article/view/1717/1568 Book Forum on Hans Kundnani's Eurowhiteness: Culture, Empire and Race in the European Project]</ref>

Masaryk believed that [[Jews controlled the press]] and helped the nascent state of [[Czechoslovakia]] during its struggle for independence. Czech historian [[Jan Láníček]] comments that "The great philosopher and humanist Masaryk was still using the same anti-Semitic trope found at the bottom of all anti-Jewish accusations."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Láníček |first1=Jan|author-link=Jan Lanicek |title=Czechs, Slovaks and the Jews, 1938–48: Beyond Idealisation and Condemnation |date=2013 |publisher=[[Springer (publisher)|Springer]] |location=New York |isbn=978-1-137-31747-6 |language=en|title-link=Czechs, Slovaks and the Jews, 1938–48: Beyond Idealisation and Condemnation |pages=4, 10|quote=Later on, Masaryk repeated the same story, only instead of using ‘partly managed’ he used the phrase ‘a great influence on newspapers in all the Allied countries'. The great philosopher and humanist Masaryk was still using the same anti-Semitic trope found at the bottom of all anti-Jewish accusations.}}</ref>