In drawing conclusions from the foregoing studies of Masaryk one must be fully conscious of the immensity of the task and approach it with appropriate humility. For at least one hundred years this great personality in Czech history has been the subject of countless efforts at re-appraisal and of conflicting judgements, some entirely negative, others largely positive, if not eulogistic, and still others more balanced. In the period on which this study has focused, prior to 1914, he was a controversial figure among his contemporaries and often condemned as well as praised. After his triumphant return in 1918 and his election as President, he became the subject of a kind of personality cult but remained the target of continuing criticism by political and scholarly opponents. During the Nazi period he was expunged from history and only revived in some measure in the three years of freedom after 1945. Under the communists, his place in history was judged very differently in successive periods. For a year or two he was treated with respect for his prewar activities, and for his role in liberation; then during the fifties he was made the victim of a vicious and orchestrated campaign; during the sixties, and especially in 1968, he was at least partially restored to his earlier greatness. The negative campaign was resumed after 1968 and continued unabated down to the liberation of 1989 when he was once again treated in positive terms. But below the surface, independent writers had continued to study and critically reassess him.¹