ABSTRACT
Contribution: Benes helped undermine AustroHungarian rule in the Czech and Slovak region during World War I and became foreign minister of the new republic there in 1918. A brilliant statesman, he negotiated numerous agreements, but as president he was unable to prevent the dismemberment of his country at Munich. During World War II, he headed the Czechoslovakian government in exile and after 1945 endeavored unsuccessfully to maintain Czechoslovakia's political freedom in the face of mounting Communist pressures.
