Russian Civil War: Foreign Intervention (1918-22)

Figure 1.--This photograph was found in a photo album from an American World War I sailor. An incription on the back reads "Some more of the gang USS Albany and a check (Czech) child." The "Albany" was a U.S. Navy cruiser that did convoy duty protecting troop transports to France during 1917-18. After the War, "Albany" was involved in operations in Vladisvistok supporting American troops in Siberia (1919-20). The Czrch boy here was presumably involved somehowvwith the Czech Legion. Part of the reason for the American intervention was to safeguard the departure through Vladisvostok of the Czech legion.

Foreign governments intervened in Russia, hopeing that it was still possible to assist the Russians in reopening a front in the East. The British landed a small British force was landed at port of Murmansk with the consent of the local soviet (March 1918). Stockpiles of supplies existed there had been deliverec to the Russians. The Japanese landed forces landed at Vladivostok without securing any approval (April 5). The Bolsheviks engaged the British at Murmansk who landed additional forces at Arkhangelsk (August 1918). The Japanese proceeded to heavily reinforce their forces at Vladivostok. These forces were on the perifery of Russia. The Armistice in the West (November 1918) changed the complexion of these interventions. Reopening an Eastern Front was no longer necessary. The Allies now had to decided if they wanted to intervene in the Civil War. The French after the Ottoman armistice opened the Black Sea began landing forces in the Ukraine (December 1918). I am not entirely sure what the purpose of this force was. It may have been more aimed at the Germans than the Bolsheviks. This requires more research. This was just before a Red Army offensive moved into the Ukraine (early 1919). This was an area in which a determined Allied intervention could have made a major difference. The Allies were after the Armistice with Germany unsure as to how to proceed in Russia. After the terrible losses on the Western Front, there was no great appetite for another exhausting war, despite their abhorance of the the Bolsheviks. The Allied Government had to decide on a Russian policy. The initial intervention had been justified on the basis of possibly reviving an Eastern Front. but this was no longer necessary. Russian who has escaped to the West pleaded with the Allies to intervene. They pointed out with some accuracy the great sacrifices that Russia had made to the Allied victory. The Tsarist offensive in 1914 almost certainly saved France in the first month of the War. And after the Tsar abdicated, the Provision Government had loyally continued the War. It was the Bolsheviks that had made a separate peace with the Germans. This moral obligation was combined with the revolutionary threat that a Bolshevik Government posed to Europe. Initially the French and Italians were the most favorably disposed toward assisting the Whites. That interest was primarily to support the Whites with arms and supplies rather than an actual military force. The British and Americans were somewhat less willing to make a major commitment. The Americans rather naively hoped that the waring parties could be brought together. The Allies as a result of a largely American initiative suggested a peace conference for the warring Russian parties (January 1919). Armistice talks were to be held on Prinkipo Island in the Sea of Marmara. The Bolsheviks actually accepted, but the Whites adamently refused the offer out of hand as a result of their experies during 1917-18. U.S. diplomat William C. Bullitt wtraveled to Moscow and was presented with peace proposals from the Bolsheviks (March 1919). The terms, however, proved unacceptable to the Allies. Communists, which were not accepted by the Allies. This was the last Allied effort to reach an understanding with the Bolsheviks. The Allies subsequently expanded military support for the Whites, primarily Kolchak and Denikin. Actual direct military support for the Whites was very limited. About 0.2 million men were transported to Russia, This was arelatively small force to begin with given the size of Russia, a few were actually committed to combat. The French were potentially the most important, but by the time they were in place the Whites were in control of the Ukraine. And the French were understandably confused with the various factions--Russian Bolsheviks, Ukranian Bolsheviks, Russian Whites, and Ukrainian nationalists. The French as a result withdrew their forces (March and April 1919). They had not engaged the Bolsheviks. The British in the far north (Arkhangelsk and Murmansk) did engage the Bolsheviks, but these were periferable ports and it was in the battlefields of central Russiand the Ukraine that the Civil War was decided. The British withdrew (fall 1919). The Japanese were the only foreign force that seemed determined to resist the Bolsheviks.

Chronology

The British landed troops in the north around Murmamnsk (March 1918). Their orders were to protect supplies that has been deivered to help keep Russia in the War. Various Allied countries sent military contingents to several Russian ports. There was still hope to keep Russia in the War. Fighting broke our with the Bolshevils. The British then landed more troops at Ark Angel (August 1918). The Japanese landed troops at Vlasisvoctock (April 1918). Thedy were also to protect war supplies delivered to the Russians. The Japanese heavily reinforced their iniitial landings. The Allied Government had to decide on a Russian policy. The initial intervention had been justified on the basis of possibly reviving an Eastern Front. but this was no longer necessary. Russian who has escaped to the West pleaded with the Allies to intervene. They pointed out with some accuracy the great sacrifices that Russia had made to the Allied victory. The Tsarist offensive in 1914 almost certainly saved France in the first month of the War. And after the Tsar abdicated, the Provision Government had loyally continued the War. It was the Bolsheviks that had made a separate peace with the Germans. This moral obligation was combined with the revolutionary threat that a Bolshevik Government posed to Europe. Initially the French and Italians were the most favorably disposed toward assisting the Whites. That interest was primarily to support the Whites with arms and supplies rather than an actual military force. The British and Americans were somewhat less willing to make a major commitment. The Americans rather naively hoped that the waring parties could be brought together. The Allies as a result of a largely American initiative suggested a peace conference for the warring Russian parties (January 1919). Armistice talks were to be held on Prinkipo Island in the Sea of Marmara. The Bolsheviks actually accepted, but the Whites adamently refused the offer out of hand as a result of their experies during 1917-18. U.S. diplomat William C. Bullitt wtraveled to Moscow and was presented with peace proposals from the Bolsheviks (March 1919). The terms, however, proved unacceptable to the Allies. Communists, which were not accepted by the Allies. This was the last Allied effort to reach an understanding with the Bolsheviks. The Allies subsequently expanded military support for the Whites, primarily Kolchak and Denikin. Actual direct military support for the Whites was very limited. About 0.2 million men were transported to Russia, This was arelatively small force to begin with given the size of Russia, a few were actually committed to combat. The French were potentially the most important, but by the time they were in place the Whites were in control of the Ukraine.

Country Trends

The Allies after the terrible bloodletting in World War I were in no mood for heacvy involvement in Russia to participate in the Civil War. The Goverments involved to various fegrees saw the danger, but the public in the democratic cpintries would not contience it. Yjry wanted peace, not another war. Only Japan with less democratic structures was more committed tom take omn the Bolshevicks and in heir case acquire territory. There were some half heartedv attempts sucvh as the French adventure in the Ukraine. And therec were efforts to supportv fledgling independence movements in the Baltics. And the Alloes also wanted tonkeep war supploes delivered to the Russian governmnent out of Bolshecik hands.

Britain: Murmsmsk and Arkangel (1918-19)

Foreign governments intervened in Russia, hopeing that it was still possible to assist the Russians in reopening a front in the East. The British landed a small British force was landed at port of Murmansk with the consent of the local soviet (March 1918). Stockpiles of supplies existed there had been deliverec to the Russians. The Bolsheviks engaged the British at Murmansk who landed additional forces at Arkhangelsk (August 1918). The British in the far north (Arkhangel and Murmansk) did engage the Bolsheviks, but these were periferable ports and it was in the battlefields of central Russiand the Ukraine that the Civil War was decided. The British withdrew (fall 1919).

Japan: Vladisvostok (1918-22)

Japan is a densly populated island nation with a defecit of natural resources. No industrial nation began its development with such a limited resource base. But just across the sea of Japan lay resource rich areas, korea and Manchuria. Japan surprised the world by launcjing a war with Tsarist Russia to secure access to these resources and even more so by actually winning the Russo-Japanese War (1905-06). The immediate territries of Russiawere Kamchatka and Sakalin, but the resources of the Russian Far East then as now were incalcuable: iron, coal, gold, platinum, and other minreals as well as timber and furs. There was also oil, but at he time undeveloped. The Japanese were unhappy with the peace American President Theodore Roosevlt helped negotiate (1906). They had to rturn some conquerd territoris and there were no reparation. The Japanese Empire at the time was in an early state of devlopment. They had just won the First Sino Jpanese War (1894-95) and were bout to seize Korea (1909). Both China and the Rusian Far East brimming with needed resources were their ultimate goal. And Word War I presented an opportunity for further advances, especilly as the Tsarist Government and armies collapsed (1917). Lomg before the Octobr Rvolution we see a map published in Japan which marked the Russian Pacific coast streaching from Kamchatka marked as 'Lands which must belong to Greater Japan'. Rhe Sea of Okhotsk is marked as 'A sea which must be won by main force'. And poinently for the coming intervention, Vladivostok is marked, 'What you have won is yours, but this does not prevent you from winning something else'. Japan declared war on Germany after the outbreak of Wold War I (1914). This provided the opportunity to seize some of the German possessions in the Far East. Japanese ambitions, however, were much greater. The Tsarist collapse and ensuing Civil War providedto opportunity forfar greater agrandizemnt. The Jpanese began preparung for intervention. The Jpanese dispatched agents n the guise of workers to Vladisvistok and they strngthened grrisons in northern Korea. The Japanese Consul in Vladisvostok hoped to create an 'incudent'. The Bolshevik Revolution in Rusia only increased the ferventky anti-Communist Imperial Government's motivation to intervene. Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan was a major port, with a massive stockpile of military stores landed by the Americans to support the Russian war effort. The Japanese Government learned that the British, despite a formal alliance with Japan, had approached the United States to intervene a Vladisvistok to keep war supplies out of Bolshevik hands (December 1917). The Japanese Imperial Japanese Army General Staff and the Army Ministry formed a Siberia Planning Committee (February 1918). Their assignment was to consider the possibilities created by the Tsarist collapse, including te creation of an independent buffer state. [Humphreys, pp. 25-26] This would open up Siberian resources to the Japanese. The Army proposed a major offesive. The Japanese civilian Government led by Prime Minister Hara Takashi while dusturbd by theposible Anerican intervantion, rejected the Army's plan of a massive invasion undertaking. Events then overtook planning. A mob ransacked a Japanese owned warehouse in Vladisvostok. The Japanese landed a small force of marines. President Wilson attempted to orgnize an internatiinal force. Instead the Jpanese landed a major force at Vladivostok without securing any arrangemnt with their allies approval (April 5). The Japanese proceeded to heavily reinforce their forces at Vladivostok. Evebtully the Japanese force would reach 70,000 men, much larger than the american force which would eventully labd. The Japanese were the only foreign force that seemed determined to resist the Bolsheviks. The Americans were primarily concerned with the war supplies. The americans departed (1920). The Japanese after extrenely acrimonious diplomatic wrangling and increasing pressure from the new Red Army until 2 years later (October 1922).

France: Ukraine (1918-19)

The Armistice in the West (November 1918) changed the complexion of these interventions. Reopening an Eastern Front was no longer necessary. The Allies now had to decided if they wanted to intervene in the Civil War. The French after the Ottoman armistice opened the Black Sea began landing forces in the Ukraine (December 1918). I am not entirely sure what the purpose of this force was. It may have been more aimed at the Germans than the Bolsheviks. This requires more research. This was just before a Red Army offensive moved into the Ukraine (early 1919). This was an area in which a determined Allied intervention could have made a major difference. The Allies were after the Armistice with Germany unsure as to how to proceed in Russia. After the terrible losses on the Western Front, there was no great appetite for another exhausting war, despite their abhorance of the the Bolsheviks.And the French were understandably confused with the various factions--Russian Bolsheviks, Ukranian Bolsheviks, Russian Whites, and Ukrainian nationalists. The French as a result withdrew their forces (March and April 1919). They had not engaged the Bolsheviks.

United States: Arkangel

President Wilson also sent an American Expeditionary Force to safeguard supplied landed for the the Russin Government while it was still fighting the Russians. The Arkangel force totaled about 5,000 men. This was a part of the Polar Bear Expedition was an Allied intervention which ebgaged the Red Army in far north (September 1918-July 1919.)

United States: Vladisvostok (1918-20)

President Wilson ordered an American Expeditionary Force (AEF-Siberia) to land at Vladisvostok (August 1918). The purpose of the landings is not all together clear, but appear to be as much diplomatic as military. There were supplies that had been landed there to support the Russian war effort against Germany. Concern about Japanese intentions may have been even more important. Another concern was the Czech Legion, about 40,000 Czech and Slovak men that were loyal to a planned ibdependent Czechoslovakia which meant the Allies. They were originlly conscripted by Austria-Hungary and taken as POWs taken by the Tsarist Army, but who after the Russian Revolution had seized arms and were trying to get home. The United States was not only sympathetic to nationalist aspirations (in part because of the immigrant population), but also because there was a possibility of redeploying them on the Western Front. The direct path west was blocked by the Bolsheciks. So they decided to transit the Trans-Siberian Railway and return hime via Vladisvostick. The Czechs had to fight both the Reds ad Whites to get to Vladisvostok. Wilson was also interested in protecting the substantial quantities of military supplies and railroad rolling stock that the United States had delivered to Vladisvodtok to support the Russian war effort before the Bolsheciks has taken Russia out of the War. Bolshevik forces at the time did not yet control Siberia, although they held small pockets. Wilson wanted to keep the supplies out of their hands as make sure that neither Cossack or the Japanese seized the supplies or the Trand-Siberian Railway. The AEF-Siberia was commanded by Major General William S. Graves. AEF Siberia would eventually total 7,950 men. It was made up of the U.S. Army's 27th and 31st Infantry Regiments, plus volunteers from the 13th Infantry Regiment. Also involved was the 62nd Infantry Regiments along with a snall contingent from the 12th Infantry Regiment. The AEF-Siberia was armed with the standard issue M1903 Springfield rifle, M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles (BAR), and M1911 .45 caliber pistols. They did not have heavy weapons. The first 3,000 American troops landed in Vladivostok (August 15-21). They took up positions along the Trans-Siberian Railway between Vladivostok and Nikolsk-Ussuriski in the north. General Graves arrived 2 weeks later (September 4). General Graves was focused on protecting American-supplied property and to assist the Czechoslovak Legion get out of Russia. He did not order any offensive actions against the Blosheviks, although there were a number of small-scale actions. The Allies (Britain and France) and the Japanese, who also landed forces, wanted a more aggressive stance toward the Bolsheviks. The U.S. troops guarded the Trans-Siberian Railway from Baikal to Vladivostok. Navy ships and shore parties defended the port. The American forces did not enter the battles between the Whites and Reds, but did return fire if attacked. Conditions for the solders was nothing shot of horendous. Moving upplies to the troops was difficult. American horses could not withstand thed Siberian winter. Some weapons also did not function in the cold. The American death toll was 189 men, many from sickness rather than military action. The last troops of the AEF-Siberia departed Vladivostok (April 1920).

Sources

Humphreys, Leonard A. The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920s (Stanford University Press: 1996).

Created: 4:59 AM 10/18/2009
Last updated: 3:52 AM 6/2/2016