Klement Gottwald (1896-1953) was one of the founders of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. He masterminded the coup d'état by which the Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948 and served as the country's first Communist president from June 1948 until his death in 1953.

Gottwald was born on November 23, 1896, the son of a small farmer in the village of Dedice in Moravia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At the age of 12 he was sent to Vienna to become an apprentice to a woodworker. Four years later he joined the Social Democratic (Marxist) youth movement. When World War I broke out he was drafted into the imperial army. As an artilleryman he saw action on both the Russian and Italian fronts, was wounded, and rose to the rank of sergeant major. Before the war ended, however, he deserted (as did many Czechs) and organized sabotage activities against the...