biography
pronunciation:
[svoboda]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1895–1979)
|
| biography:
| Czech soldier, politician, and president of Czechoslovakia (1968–75), born in Hroznatín, S Czech Republic. He fought with the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia in 1917 before becoming a professional soldier. After escaping from Czechoslovakia in 1939, he became commanding general of the Czechoslovak army corps attached to the Red Army in 1943, and helped to liberate Kosiče, Brno, and Prague (1944–5). In 1948 he joined the Communist Party and was minister of defence until 1950. From 1952 to 1963 he lived in obscurity, but was subsequently brought forward as a patriot, and in 1968 succeeded the discredited Antonin Novotný as president. After the hostile Soviet intervention in 1968, he travelled to Moscow to seek relaxation of the repressive measures imposed on the country. |
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