What is Ludvík Svoboda?
{{copyedit|date=April 2024}} [[File:Ludvík Svoboda (author - Stanislav Tereba).JPG|thumb|200px]] '''Ludvík Svoboda''' (25 November 1895 – 20 September 1979) was a [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] legionnaire during World War I and a [[commander]] of the Czechoslovak army in [[Russia]] during World War II. He was later elected as president of [[Czechoslovakia]] from 1968 to 1975. == Early Life == Ludvík Svoboda was born in Hroznatín, [[Moravia]], [[Austria-Hungary]]. He joined the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire|Austro-Hungarian]] army in 1915 when he was 20. He was sent to the east to fight against [[Russia]], where he was captured. Svoboda then joined the Czecholovak legion in Russia to fight against Austria-Hungary in the battles of Zborov and Bakhmach. When he returned, he was declared a hero and joined the new [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] army in 1921. == World War II == In early 1930, Svoboda taught in a military academy in Prague. After the [[Munich Agreement]] in spring 1939, he joined an underground organization called [[Obrana národa]] (Defence of the Nation). Around the same time, he also started in cooperation with the [[Soviet Union]]. In early June, Svoboda moved to Poland and established a Czechoslovak legion, but when the USSR invaded Poland from east, he was captured and sentenced to death. His allies in [[Moscow]] freed him, and he started to free people from the gulags in order to use them in his legion. He became a commander of the Czechoslovak army in the east in 1943 and fought in the [[battle of Sokolov]] in Ukraine. His position was leader of 1st Czechoslovak corps. He then fought in the battle of Dukla Pass. With trust from [[Klement Gottwald]], Svoboda became a general in 1945 and was named a Hero of East front. == Presidency == After the ending of the [[Antonín Novotný]] regime, in the period known as the [[Prague Spring]], Svoboda was elected [[President of Czechoslovakia]] on 30 March 1968, on the recommendation of [[Alexander Dubček]]. He was an acceptable candidate both for [[Czec