Allied Intervention in Russia 1918-1919: And the Part Played by Canada

326 Pages·2017·30.05 MB·English

by  John Swettenham

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ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
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THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR
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ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR
Volume 4
ALLIED INTERVENTION IN RUSSIA
1918–1919

ALLIED INTERVENTION IN RUSSIA
1918–1919
And the Part Played by Canada
JOHN SWETTENHAM
First published in in 1967 by George Allen & Unwin Ltd
This edition fi rst published in 2017
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 1967 George Allen & Unwin Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-138-28327-5 (Set)
ISBN: 978-1-315-20785-8 (Set) (ebk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-63353-7 (Volume 4) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-20727-8 (Volume 4) (ebk)
Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but
points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.
Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome
correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.
ALLIED INTERVENTION
IN RUSSIA 1918–1919
And the Part Played by Canada
by
john swettenham
illustrated
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1967
This book is copyright under the Berne Con-
vention. Apart from any fair dealing for the
purposes of private study, research, criticism
or review, as permitted under the Copyright
Act, 1956, no portion may be reproduced by
any process without written permission.
Enquiries should be addressed to the
publishers.
© George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1967
Published simultaneously in Canada
by The Ryerson Press, Toronto. 1967
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
in 11-point Granjon type by
BILLING & SONS LTD
GUILDFORD
AND LONDON
PREFACE
The origin of this book lies in three parts of a chapter, ‘Outside the
Corps’, which the author drafted for Colonel G. W. L. Nicholson’s
Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914–1919, the Offi cial History of the
Canadian Army in the First World War. These described very
briefl y (as was necessary in a one volume history of more than four
years of war) the operations of Canadian troops in South Russia,
North Russia and Siberia in 1918 and 1919.
It was found, when reviewing the material available, that no
offi cial British or American history of the intervention had as yet
appeared. There were many published works on the Russian Civil
War and on the course of intervention in the individual spheres but
very little had been written on Allied intervention in Russia as a
whole. This book, then, is primarily about the intervention in the
three main theatres. It has been written against the double
background of the issues and events of the Russian Civil War and of
the international intrigues and rivalries of the erstwhile Allies, so
that the moves and counter-moves can be seen in a broad perspective.
The subject matter is both an interesting and an important story.
Undoubtedly one of the momentous events of the century has been
the victory of Bolshevism in Russia and its subsequent spread into
various parts of the world. The Allied intervention, according to
Churchill, came near to reversing the results of the Bolshevik
Revolution and thereby changing the course of modern history. It
did not do so and the reasons for its failure have been described and
analysed.
No apology is made for the detailed treatment of Canadian
operations. Canadian troops were integrated with British troops in
South Russia and with American and British troops in the north; in
Siberia the British Empire force was under Canadian command.
The Canadian story is thus closely linked with that of the other
interventionist powers, and in addition an interesting light is thrown
on Canada’s growing sovereignty at that time.
A large part of the research has been done at the Dominion Public
Archives where the author was given the privilege of examining the
papers of Sir Robert Borden—Prime Minister of Canada during the
intervention period—and other pertinent documents. The Public
Archives Record Centre contained the war diaries; in addition, it
6 Allied Intervention in Russia
housed the papers of General Elmsley who commanded the Empire’s
Siberian Force. The Elmsley Papers were of especial value as
included in them were the Canadian copies of British documents for
this period which are not yet open in London.
A number of persons assisted in the writing of the book and to all
of them the author is profoundly grateful.
First among them is Professor J. S. Moir, late of Carleton University
and now of Scarborough College, who commented in detail on every
chapter. It is largely due to Dr Moir’s encouragement that the
manuscript was completed.
A debt of gratitude is owed to Captain John Hundevad, Editor-in-
Chief of the Canadian Legionary, who served at Murmansk and who
placed his excellent ‘Saga of the North’ at the author’s disposal as
well as other material which he has accumulated for many years.
Special thanks are due to the members of the Army Historical
Section. Lieutenant-Colonel H. F. Wood, Captain D. P. Morton,
and Dr. J. Mackay Hitsman all read parts of the manuscript and
offered useful criticism. Captain F. R. McGuire was good enough to
edit the completed draft and to work unstintedly on the references;
his contribution is particularly acknowledged.
To these names are added those of Mr Henry Logan of the Public
Archives Record Centre who was indefatigable in hunting out
material; Mr Sidney Wallingford for his accurate typing of the
preliminary draft; and Mr Harry Ellwand who drew the maps.
The author alone is responsible for the opinions expressed and for
any errors or omissions that the book may contain.
J. A. S.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Author and Publishers would like to thank the following for
permission to reproduce material quoted in this book.
Edward Arnold Ltd. for permission to quote from The Adventures of
Dunsterforce by Major-General L. C. Dunsterville, London, 1920
Jonathan Cape Ltd. for permission to quote from America’s Siberian
Adventure by William S. Graves, London, 1931
Constable & Co. Ltd. for permission to quote from Archangel, 1918–1919
by Edmund Ironside, London, 1953
Harper & Row Inc. for permission to quote from The Ignorant Armies by
E. M. Halliday, London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1961, and The
Russian Revolution by Alan Moorehead, London, Collins: Hamish
Hamilton, 1958
Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd for permission to quote from The Fate of Admiral
Kolchak by Peter Fleming, London, 1963
Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. for permission to quote from The Murmansk
Venture by Major-General Sir C. Maynard, London, 1928
The Macmillan Company for permission to quote from The Russian
Revolution by W. H. Chamberlin, New York, 1936, and The White
Armies of Russia by George Stewart, New York, 1933
Professor Clarence A. Manning for permission to quote from The
Siberian Fiasco by Clarence A. Manning, New York, Library
Publishers, Inc., 1952
Mrs Rachel Baker Napier for permission to quote from Woodrow Wilson,
Life and Letters by Ray Stannard Baker, New York, Doubleday;
London, Heinemann, 1927–1929
Odhams Books Ltd. and Charles Scribner’s Sons for permission to quote
from The Aftermath by Winston S. Churchill, London, 1929
Princeton University Press for permission to quote from Intervention at
Archangel by Leonid I. Strakhovsky, New York, 1944, and The
Siberian Intervention by John Albert White, New York, 1950
Putnam & Co. Ltd. for permission to quote from Memoirs of a British Agent
by Robert Bruce Lockhart, London, 1961
D. Van Nostrand Co. Inc. for permission to quote from Modern Far
Eastern International Relations by MacNair and Lach, Princeton, N.J.,
1950
Yale University Press for permission to quote from The Rise of Russia in
Asia by David J. Dallin, London, Hollis & Carter, 1950