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He was born in Košariská (near Myjava in Slovakia, at that time part of Austria-Hungary) on July 21 1880. He had many brothers and sisters and his father was the local Lutheran priest. As a strong Slovak patriot, he had troubles at Hungarian schools (Slovak ones were prohibited) and had to change the high school several times (Bratislava, Šoporňa, Šarvaš).
In 1898, he started to study construction engineeringin Prague . In 1900 he switched to the Charles University were he was going to lectures of astronomy, physics, optics, mathematics and philosophy. He was also in Zürich for a short time within his studies. The Prague years had a great impact on Stefanik, because he met many important personalities there: The lectures of philosophy were taught by Tomáš Masaryk (the future first president of Czecho-Slovakia), who inspired Stefanik with the idea of cooperation of the Czechs and the Slovaks. Furthermore, Stefanik very actively participated in the work of the Slovak student association Detvan (and within Detvan of the so-called Hlasists group). His studies were largely financed by the Czech associations Českoslovanská jednota (Czechoslovak Unity), Radhošť etc. - he himself could not afford them. In Prague, he wrote political and artistic texts, in which he tried to inform the Czechs on the disastrous situation of the Slovaks at that time. He graduated in 1904 with a doctor’s degree in philosophy and with thorough knowledge of astronomy (he finished his studies with a thesis in astronomy).
In 1904, he went to Paris to find a job in astronomy. Initially, he had no money and no command of French, but then he got a job at the famous Astronomical Observatory of Meudon, whose director, Mr. J. Janssen, saw Stefanik’s talent. His astronomical observation very quickly yielded several scientific treatises. Some of them were read at the Académie Française.
At the end of 1907, however, his supporter Mr. Janssen died and Stefanik had to change his job. Since 1908, Stefanik was charged by French authorities with astronomic and meteorological observations and political tasks in various countries all over the world (Algeria, Turkestan, Russia, USA, Panama, Southern America, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Tahiti and many others). Between these voyages he regularly returned home to Košariská (last time in 1913 at his father’s funeral). When he was in Southern America (especially in Ecuador), he got an opportunity to show his diplomatic skills for the first time.
In 1912, he received French citizenship, recognition and access to the French élite. In 1914, he was made knight of the Legion of Honour. At the same time, however, he had some personal problems and a serious stomach illness (which did not get better even after a medical operation), and the World War I started in Europe. Stefanik understood that a defeat of Austria-Hungary (and Germany) in this war meant a chance for the Slovaks and Czechs to gain independence from Austria-Hungary. Therefore, he insisted on participating in the war as an aviator (of the French army). After a short training, he was sent as a pilot to Serbia in May 1915. His excessive effort almost caused his death. Finally he survived, but could not fight anymore, so that he returned to Paris at the end of 1915.
Back in Paris, he got to learn Eduard Benes and got into contact with his former professor Tomas Masaryk. In 1916, these three men founded the Czecho-Slovak National Council (the supreme body – government - of Czecho-Slovak resistance abroad leading to the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918). Since 1917, he was the vice-president of the council. Stefanik also organized Masaryk’s meeting with the French prime minister A. Briand.
In 1916, Stefanik and the Czecho-Slovak resistance started to create Czechoslovak troops (legions) that would fight against Austria-Hungary and Germany. For this purpose, Stefanik (as the Czecho-Slovak Minister of War and as a French General) went to Russia and then (in February 1917) to the USA. He also organized legions in France and Italy. It was largely due to his personal diplomatic skills and contacts that the Allies recognized the Czechoslovak National Council as a government-de-facto and the Czechoslovak troops as allied forces in the summer and autumn 1918. In May 1918, Stefanik went to Siberia in Russia, where he was supposed to make the Czechoslovak legions there renew the second, i. e. Eastern, front (because Russia had switched the sides and signed peace with Germany and Austria-Hungary in March 1918, and Czechoslovak legions very successfully rebelled against a subsequent Russian order to disarm, thus showing their abilities to the Allies). But in Russia, Stefanik saw that this was not possible anymore.
In January 1919, that is when the war ended, Stefanik went from Russia to France and Italy, where he organized the retreat of Czechoslovak troops from Siberia in March in Paris. In addition, his diplomatic skills were needed in order to solve quarrels between the French and Italian missions in Czecho-Slovakia. In April, he went from Paris to Rome to negotiate at the Italian Ministry of War, where he also met his fiancée Juliana Benzoniová for the last time. Then he went to the main Italian military base in Padua, where he agreed with General Diaz on the dissolution of the Italian military mission in Czecho-Slovakia. At the same time, severe quarrels arose between Stefanik and Benes (but also Masaryk), mainly around the position of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia. In April, for example, Benes wrote to a county president in Slovakia: „I had a conflict with Stefanik. . . Everything is over between us. I mean absolutely (over). But keep it totally secret...“
Finally, Stefanik wanted to return home to see his family. He decided to fly from Italy and to use an Italian military plane. On May 4 1919 around 11 AM, his plane tried to land in Bratislava (which was threatened by Hungarian troops of Béla Kun at that time), but crashed near Ivánka pri Dunaji. Stefanik died along with two Italian officers. The reason for the plane crash is disputed till today. The official explanation at that time was that the plane was shot down „by mistake“, because its Italian tricolor was mistaken for the Hungarian tricolor. Stefanik’s sudden death in combination with his preceding quarrels with Benes contributed to a general suspicion of the Slovaks towards the Czechs during the First Republic of Czechoslovakia.
Stefanik’s personal motto was: To Believe, To Love and To Work.