1918 ca, Praha, : The Czechoslovak politician, sociologist and philosopher Tomö Garrigue MASARYK (1850 - 1937). Was an eager advocate of Czechoslovak independence during World War I became the founder and first President of Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1935. He originally wished to reform the Austro-Hungarian monarchy into a democratic federal state, but during the First World War he began to favour the abolition of the monarchy and, with the help of the Allied Powers, eventually succeeded.