Emanuel Voska in Czechoslovak independence movement in the First World War: espionage and propaganda

The study deals with the activities of Emanuel Voska, an American Czech, during the First World War from the point of view of the Czechoslovak resistance movement abroad, propaganda, intelligence services and the immigrant associations. After the First World War, an image was created of Voska as the first Czech spy and one of the foremost associates of T. G. Masaryk. The study puts the image into a sharper relief and tries to answer the question how important were Voska's activities during the war in the context of the resistance movement abroad and what was his actual merit in the process of creation of independent Czechoslovak state. Voska left for America when he was 19 years old. He tried to make his name in business as well as in the immigrants associations, in which he presented himself as a freethinker, Sokol and left wing radical. His journey to Europe in 1914 when he contacted Masaryk and Wickam Steed placed him in a good position with regard to communications between the immigrant societies in the USA, the representatives of the Allies and the initial exile centre in Europe. After his return to USA, Voska became a leading representative of an association named "Bohemian National Alliance" which aimed to achieve the break-up of Austria-Hungary as well as an independent state of Czechs and Slovaks...