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Štefánik understood that a defeat of Austria-Hungary (and Germany) in this war meant a chance for the Slovaks and Czechs to gain independence from Austria-Hungary. Therefore, he insisted on participating in the war as an aviator (of the French army). After a short training, he was sent as a pilot to [[Serbia]] in May [[1915]]. His excessive effort almost caused his death. Finally he survived, but could not fight anymore, so that he returned to Paris at the end of 1915.
Back in Paris, he got to learn [[Eduard Benes]] and got into contact with his former professor Tomáš Masaryk. In 1916, these three men founded the [[Czecho-Slovak National Council]] (the supreme body – government - of Czecho-Slovak resistance abroad leading to the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918). Since 1917, he was the vice-president of the council. Štefánik also organized Masaryk’s meeting with the French prime minister [[A. Briand]].
In [[1916]], Štefánik and the Czecho-Slovak resistance started to create Czechoslovak troops (legions) that would fight against Austria-Hungary and Germany. For this purpose, Štefánik (as the Czechoslovak Minister of War and as a French General) went to Russia and then (in February [[1917]]) to the USA. He also organized legions in France and Italy. It was largely due to his personal diplomatic skills and contacts that the Allies recognized the Czechoslovak National Council as a government-de-facto and the Czechoslovak troops as allied forces in the summer and autumn [[1918]]. In May 1918, Štefánik went to [[Siberia]] in Russia, where he was supposed to make the Czechoslovak legions there renew the second, i. e. Eastern, front (because Russia had switched the sides and signed peace with Germany and Austria-Hungary in March 1918, and Czechoslovak legions very successfully rebelled against a subsequent Russian order to disarm, thus showing their abilities to the Allies). But in Russia, Štefánik saw that this was not possible anymore.
In January [[1919]], when the war ended, Štefánik went from Russia to France and Italy, where he organized the retreat of Czechoslovak troops from Siberia in March in Paris. In addition, his diplomatic skills were needed in order to solve quarrels between the French and Italian missions in [[Czecho-Slovakia]]. In April, he went from Paris to Rome to negotiate at the Italian Ministry of War, where he also met his fiancée Juliana Benzoni for the last time. Then he went to the main Italian military base in [[Padua]], where he agreed with General [[Diaz]] on the dissolution of the Italian military mission in Czecho-Slovakia. At the same time, severe quarrels arose between Štefánik and Beneš (but also Masaryk), mainly around the position of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia. In April, for example, Beneš wrote to a county president in Slovakia: ''„I had a conflict with Štefánik. . . Everything is over between us. I mean absolutely (over). But keep it totally secret...“''
== Death ==
Finally, Štefánik wanted to return home to see his family. He decided to fly from Italy and to use an Italian military plane. On [[May 4]] [[1919]] around 11 AM, his plane tried to land in [[Bratislava]] (which was threatened by Hungarian troops of [[Béla Kun]] at that time), but crashed near [[Ivánka pri Dunaji]]. Štefánik died along with two Italian officers. The reason for the plane crash is disputed till today. The official explanation at that time was that the plane was shot down „by mistake“, because its Italian tricolor was mistaken for the Hungarian tricolor. Štefánik’s sudden death in combination with his preceding quarrels with
Štefánik’s personal motto was: ''To Believe, To Love and To Work''.
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