The political career of Edvard Beneš, key figure of the first czechoslovak resistance movement and interwar Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia, covers almost entirely the first half of the 20th century and can be undoubtedly described as an international one. It was however in France, during the First World War, that Beneš´ career took off. Based on his war diaries and correspondence, this paper attempts to analyse his relationship with France and to explain the lesser-known circumstances of his ascendance to the high levels of European diplomacy. The article also examines the destiny of Beneš’ wife, Hana, who he met in Paris before the war and with whom he shared a very sentimental and intellectual connection to Paris and France in general during his entire life. After peace was signed, the Beneš couple adopted a lifestyle they considered to be a ‘French’ one, combining modernity, progress as well as traditional elegance. The authors therefore reveal the more private nature of Beneš’ Paris ‘adventure’ that formed the basis of his long-lasting fascination with French culture which considerably influenced his foreign interwar politics.