Vaclav Havel, the hero of Czechoslovakia's "Velvet Revolution" against communism, has died. He was 75.

Havel helped to lead his people to freedom without a single shot being fired.

The Prague native was widely seen as the intellectual conscience of the revolution against the Soviets in Eastern Europe.

He went from prisoner to president in 1989. That same year, the Berlin Wall fell and communism crumbled across the region.

Today people around the world are paying tribute to Havel.

"A great fighter for the freedom of nations and for democracy has died," said Lech Walesa, his fellow anti-communist activist who founded neighboring Poland's Solidarity movement.

"His outstanding voice of wisdom will be missed," he said.