E. M. Halliday (1913–2003)

Isn't it interesting how "insignificant" can certain historical events be made when it suits the needs of the powers to be. Fights like invasions of Cuba, fights around distant (could as well be on another planet) small island in Atlantic or Banana war and Zulu expedition are marked as heroic deeds and "liberation movements" but adventures like Boer Wars, Boxer Rebellion and atrocities associated with them are pushed to the margin, like they were insignificant adventures while they were anything but.

Into this family of small police actions comes the Allied intervention in Russia at the end of the WW1. Small, tiny operation that spread from Vladivostok in the Far East, through vastness of Russia's Asian parts bordering Afghanistan and India, Black Sea territories and today's Ukraine, European part of Russia all the way to the polar areas of Achangelsk and Murmansk. As I said small police action, spanning just two continents, including armies of France, UK and USA and whatever armies found in the area during the final years of WW1, Polish, Czechs, White Russians, all supported with the latest weapons and technology of the day.

Their goal - nothing too complicated, as I said it was a very simple police action. Just prevention of German forces to obtain control over supplies in these areas (I mean Germany had like very strong presence in Siberia .... not!), then to help allied forces stuck in this vast space (aforementioned Czechs) and finally to help White Russians and former Tzarists to regain power and kick out the Bolsheviks. Yeah, just a small regime change.

Sounds so bloody familiar, even to the year, hundred years after the events, doesn't it.

This book concentrates on the Allied Expedition to Northern Russia in Archangelsk. Unlike Archangel by John Cudahy, memoir written with high emotions to the point of nightmarish visuals of combat in polar winter, this book is written at the peak of the anti-Communism in US (1958) and to the credit of the author he manages to write very objective book about the events in the north and experiences of the US contingent. Author's style is excellent, he weaves stories from the front, from Archangelsk's area deep behind the front and political plays of Western powers to show this tragedy, utter schizophrenic events taking place in the Northern Russia (situation was same everywhere in Russia during the intervention). US trying to play the middle ground and don't get involved in combat, French and UK using US troops to actually get involved into combat operations, Russian socialists and Tsarists/white Russians infighting while everyone else wants them to fight the Bolsheviks, and in all of that actual Russian population used by all interventionists - victims of burned up villages, draftees into the armies that just want to use them as cannon fodder in exchange for bare minimum to survive...... Author manages to show how different were the commanding officers in Archangelsk, from dedicated Poole to grounded Ironside and all types of officers in between (UK officers being the ones running the show and US (and other allied) troops serving under them).

Entire situations reads like today's events that it is just unreal. I just wonder what level of hate are we talking about when the feelings against the Bolshevik's revolution are still strong in the West, to the level of absolute dehumanizing hate that now projects onto modern day Russia. And irony being that today's west becomes more and more Bolshevik with their ruling caste of bureaucracy and corporatism exercising all the bigger control over their population with all the elements of revolution (family control, gender issues, state control - if you do not believe just read Dilemmas of Lenin by Tariq Ali, all of the Bolshevik's social changes, they are now part of the social politics in the West), while Russia is going back to traditional values.

Interesting book, written extremely well and very objective (unlike Republic of Ushakovka by Richard Connaugthon about Tsarists Kolchak, which saw allied intervention as something that should not take place, but since UK was for it, author's stand was that it was definitely required). Author's standing on the Bolsheviks is more than clear (after all book was written in 1950's) but he did not allow this to interfere with historical facts.

For anybody interested in why Russia (and generally East) does not trust West and why they hold the grudge this is a very good book to read.

Highly recommended.… (más)