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Svoboda, Ludvík
Svoboda, Ludvík (b. 15 Nov. 1895, d. 20 Sept. 1979). President of Czechoslovakia 1968–75 Born in Hroznatín (Moravia), he served in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I, and remained in the new Czechoslovak army in 1919. A Communist since the 1930s, in 1939 he escaped German occupation by going to the Soviet Union, where he took over command of the Czech Army Group which in 1945 liberated Prague. He became Minister of Defence in the new government, but fell victim to the Stalinist purges of 1950, when he was dismissed, expelled from the party, and imprisoned. After Stalin's death he was released, and soon became commander of a military academy. He retired in 1959, but was later appointed by Dubček to succeed Novotny as President. Initially opposed to the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968, he quickly adapted himself to Husák's new hardline regime.
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JAN PALMOWSKI. "Svoboda, Ludvík." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAN PALMOWSKI. "Svoboda, Ludvík." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-SvobodaLudvk.html JAN PALMOWSKI. "Svoboda, Ludvík." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-SvobodaLudvk.html |
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Ludvík Svoboda
Ludvík Svoboda , 1895–1979, Czechoslovak general and political leader. Svoboda served in the Czech Legion in World War I and became an officer (1922) in the army of the newly founded Czechoslovak republic. He was forced to flee (1939) to the USSR when the Germans entered Prague. In World War II he organized and led a Czech army unit that fought (1941–45) under the Soviet high command. After the war Svoboda was (1949–50) Czechoslovak minister of defense. Regarded as a national hero, he emerged from retirement in 1968 to serve as president of Czechoslovakia after the resignation of Antonín Novotný . He continued in this largely ceremonial post after the liberal regime was suppressed by the USSR (Aug., 1968); he retired in 1975. |
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"Ludvík Svoboda." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Ludvík Svoboda." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Svoboda.html "Ludvík Svoboda." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Svoboda.html |
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Svoboda, General Ludvik
Svoboda, General Ludvik (1895–1979),Slovak Army officer who, after the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, escaped to Poland and raised a Czech Legion which fought the Germans during the Polish campaign that autumn. The Legion then escaped to the USSR and in February 1942 Svoboda formed the 1st Czech Independent Infantry Battalion which fought on the Eastern Front during the German–Soviet war. In December 1943 he was promoted general and made C-in-C of the Czech Army by the Czech president, Edvard Beneš. By 1944 Svoboda's command had become a corps which took part in the fighting in Slovakia. He was president of Czechoslovakia and C-in-C from 1968 to 1975.
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I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Svoboda, General Ludvik." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Svoboda, General Ludvik." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-SvobodaGeneralLudvik.html I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Svoboda, General Ludvik." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-SvobodaGeneralLudvik.html |
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