164: Grim Earnest, to the Death

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first President of Czechoslovakia.

The Great War offered Czech and Slovak nationalists like Edvard Beneš, Milan Rastislav Štefánik, and especially Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk the opportunity to pursue not only autonomy, but full independence from Austria-Hungary.

In order to achieve this, they would have to win the support of Allied governments. This was a challenge. In the Western Allied nations, few people could even name the minority ethnic groups in Austria-Hungary, let alone understand their national aspirations.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Hey, Slavs”
Traditional. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

“Lightning over the Tatras” (the national anthem of Slovakia)
Traditional. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme 



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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