Toulky českou minulostí 14 - Válka 1914-1918, osobnost TGM, zrod ČSR – Hora-Hořejš Petr (2016)

The new, already 14th volume of Wandering Through Czech History describes the complex yet surprisingly successful journey of the young Czech community towards the establishment of an independent state for Czechs and Slovaks. In addition to the painful dramas of World War I on the European fronts and in the rear of the disintegrating Habsburg Empire, the Wandering pays deeper attention to the personality and historical role of Tomáš G. Masaryk and his liberating foreign mission. The book also presents substantial portraits of TGM's closest collaborators, E. Beneš and M. R. Štefánek, as well as profiles of some domestic politicians – the 'men of October 28th'. The significance of the establishment of the Czechoslovak legions is emphasized. The narrative does not conclude with the birth of Czechoslovakia in 1918 but briefly summarizes the subsequent stabilizing steps essential for the future existence and prosperity of the state: the pacification of the German Sudetenland, the resolution of national conflicts in Těšín, the little-known bloody struggle for Slovakia, and the difficult process of integrating Subcarpathian Ukraine.