| Edvard Beneš | |
|---|---|
| |
| 2nd President of Czechoslovakia | |
| In office 2 April 1945 – 3 September 1948 | |
| Prime Minister | Václav Majer |
| Preceded by | Himself as president in exile |
| Succeeded by | Jan Masaryk |
| In office 18 December 1935 – 5 November 1938 | |
| Prime Minister | Jan Syrový |
| Preceded by | Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk |
| Succeeded by | Himself as president in exile |
| President-in-exile of Czechoslovakia | |
| In office 5 November 1938 – 2 April 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Jan Syrový |
| 4th Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia | |
| In office 26 September 1921 – 7 October 1922 | |
| President | Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk |
| Preceded by | Jan Černý |
| Succeeded by | Antonín Švehla |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia | |
| In office 14 November 1918 – 18 December 1935 | |
| Prime Minister | Karel Kramář Vlastimil Tusar Jan Černý Himself Antonín Švehla František Udržal Jan Malypetr Milan Hodža |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Milan Hodža |
| Personal details | |
| Born |  Kožlany, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
|
| Died | 3 September 1948 (aged 64) Sezimovo Ústí, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia
|
| Resting place | Sezimovo Ústí |
| Citizenship | Czechoslovakia |
| Nationality | Czech |
| Political party | Independent (1935–1948) Czechoslovak National Social Party (1923–1935) Independent (1918–1923) Czech Realist Party (1906–1918) |
| Spouse(s) | Hana Benešová (m. 1909) |
| Relations | Vojta Beneš (brother) |
| Alma mater | Charles University in Prague University of Paris Paris Institute of Political Studies |
| Occupation | Diplomat and politician |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Signature | 
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Edvard Beneš (28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech and Czechoslovak politician, diplomat and statesman who served as the second president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1948. He was de facto leader of the Czechoslovak National Social Party and known as a skilled diplomat. Alongside Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Beneš was one of the leaders of the first Czechoslovak resistance during World War I and the founders of the first Czechoslovak Republic. He served as foreign minister from 1918 to 1935 and briefly as prime minister 1921 from 1922.
As president, Beneš faced two major crises. In 1938, the Sudeten crisis and the subsequent German invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia brought him and the Czechoslovak government into exile in France and later the United Kingdom. During World War II, Beneš led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile as president, and was a vigorous advocate of the Czechoslovak cause in the diplomatic sphere.
After the war, he returned to Czechoslovakia, initially governing by decree (known as the Beneš decrees in the absence of the Czechoslovak parliament, which, among other things, led to the expropriation of the property of citizens of German and Hungarian ethnicity and the expulsion of about three million Germans and Hungarians. Beneš is also remembered as one of the main architects of Czechoslovakia's foreign policy of "active neutrality" after the Second World War; a doctrine that came to be known as the Beneš–Masaryk line, under which Czechoslovakia retained its independence while maintaining good relations with the West and the Soviet Union. During the 1948 February crisis, in which the Communist Party attempted to trigger a political crisis and assume undisputed control over the government through a coup d'état, Beneš dismissed the five Communist cabinet ministers and declared a state of emergency and martial law, crushing the coup d'état attempt. He signed the new federal constitution of 9 May 1948 before dying four months later.
Beneš remains a controversial figure today. On one hand, he commands respect and authority for his roles as one of the architects of the modern Czechoslovak state; as a hard-working and skilled foreign minister; his role in crushing the Communist coup d'état attempt; outlining Czechoslovakia's neutral foreign policy during the Cold War; and as the wartime leader who played an important role in defending Czechoslovakia's liberal democracy against the spread of fascism. Conversely, he has been criticized for issuing decrees that led to the expulsion of 2.5 million ethnic Germans, and for tying Czechoslovakia too closely to the Soviet Union. The Edvard Beneš Institute for International Relations (Ústav mezinárodních studií Edvarda Beneše), founded in 1953, sought to nurture Beneš' political legacy, especially during the Cold War, by promoting fact-based foreign policy thinking in Czechoslovakia and making Czechoslovakia's policy of neutrality internationally known.
See also[]
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