Chapter eight - Foreign relations and the attitudes of foreign powers

Question 1

What were the reasons for foreign intervention?

Answer 1

Keep Russia fighting in the First World War to prevent mass transfer of German forces to the West
Protect vast dumps of armaments and war materials that had been shipped to Russia by the allies
Support of anti-Bolshevik forces

Question 2

What were the main areas of intervention?

Answer 2

British navy patrolling Baltic sea from November 1918
11,000 US and 2000 Chinese troops at Vladivostok
French and British naval forces in Southern Russia
Sections of the Trans-Siberian Railway controlled by the Czech Legion

Question 3

What was Lenin’s peace offer to the US?

Answer 3

March 1919, President Wilson sent Bullitt on a secret mission to discuss peace. Lenin offered big concessions due to the Allied blockade of trade. He was prepared to tolerate the continuation of temporary governments in parts of Russia, but Britain and France were hostile to this deal and the war continued

Question 4

What was the impact of foreign intervention?

Answer 4

They were too small scale and uncoordinated to have an effect.
November 1920 - the British cabinet negotiated a trade agreement of Bolshevik Russia

Question 5

What were the battle deaths in the Civil War?

Answer 5

Russia - 500,000
Britain - 345
US - 275
France - 48
Japan - 1550

Question 6

When was the First Comintern Congress?

Answer 6

March 1919 and there were more than 50 delegates from Europe, the US, Australia and Japan. There was great optimism about the spread of revolution

Question 7

When was the Second Comintern Congress?

Answer 7

July to August 1920. Dominated by debates over Lenin’s 21 conditions defining the relationships between communist parties and socialist parties. Some European delegations broke away as a result.

Question 8

When was the Third Comintern Congress?

Answer 8

Summer 1921 - there was a realisation that world revolution was not as close as they hoped. Communist uprisings had all been crushed and the Comintern became totally Russia dominated

Question 9

What was the Miracle on the Vistula?

Answer 9

August 1920, after the rapid advance of the Red Army under Tukhachevsky, it seemed that the Polish Army would be defeated. A last counter-offensive won a decisive victory for Poland

Question 10

What was the peace treaty with Poland?

Answer 10

Treaty of Riga in March 1921

Question 11

What was the background behind the Russo-Polish war?

Answer 11

Poland was lost during the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The Bolsheviks saw Poland as a bridge to the West and they wanted to supress independence movements in the Baltic States.

Question 12

What was Russia’s relationship with the League of Nations?

Answer 12

Excluded along with Germany in 1919. Mutual suspicion remained strong and world revolution had been indefinitely postponed

Question 13

How did Russia develop trade contacts?

Answer 13

1920 - British government authorised making trade agreements. Chicherin became deputy minister for foreign affairs.
1921 - discussions between Chicherin and Germany
April 1922 - Treaty of Rapallo

Question 14

What were the articles of the Treaty of Rapallo?

Answer 14

Articles 1 and 2 agreed to waive claims for compensation arising from the First World War
Article 3 concerned the reopening of formal diplomatic relations
Articles 4 and 5 dealt with ‘mutual goodwill’ in commercial and economic relations

Question 15

What was the additional agreement with Germany?

Answer 15

July 1922 - Authorised the German army to carry out training and military exercises inside the USSR

Question 16

What was Zinoviev’s letter?

Answer 16

A forgery from Sidney Reilly, a British intelligence agent of right-wing views to influence public opinion against the labour party. Some of the ideas were consistent with what Zinoviev believed.
The labour vote was not undermined but diplomatic relations between Britain and the USSR broke down.

Question 17

When did US troops pull out of Russia?

Answer 17

They pulled out of North Russia in June 1919 but US troops remained in Vladivostok until 1920

Question 18

What were the British divisions over intervention in Russia?

Answer 18

Britain deployed naval forces in the Baltic and in the Black Sea but only very small detachments of troops. A vocal ‘hands off Russia’ movement influenced opinion in 1919 and 1920. The British government settled on a futile contradictory policy of no interference in Russia but aiding White armies when possible

Question 19

When was the naval blockade?

Answer 19

Start of naval blockade of trade and shipping after the Treaty of Brest Litovsk in March 1918

Question 20

When did US troops land in Vladivostok?

Answer 20

9000 in August 1918

Question 21

When did allied forces land in the Black Sea?

Answer 21

November 1918

Question 22

When did the allied forces call off the blockade?

Answer 22

January 1920

Question 23

When was the British naval assault on the Soviet battle fleet in Petrograd?

Answer 23

August 1919

Question 24

When were the defeated White Armies evacuated?

Answer 24

By British warships in March 1920