Foreign Intervention

Question 1

Who produced this art card and what does it show?

Answer 1

The Bolsheviks produced it

Denikin, Kolchak and Iudenich are dogs, being controlled by America, France and imperial Japan

Question 2

Why did Britain and France want Russia to stay in the First World War?

Answer 2

If Russia left, Germany could divert her resources from the Eastern Front to the Western Front

Question 3

When was the armistice signed on the Eastern Front in WWI?

Answer 3

December 1917

Question 4

How did the Allies respond at first to the Bolsheviks?

Answer 4

Offered them the same support that they offered to the Provisional Government

Question 5

How did the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk change the attitudes and strategy of Britain and France?

Answer 5

Ended all hopes of Russia renewing the war against Germany - all help now went to anti-Bolshevik forces

Question 6

Why were Britain and France prepared to launch a full offensive against the Bolsheviks by 1919? (Three reasons)

Answer 6

1) To recover the Allies’ war supplies and prevent them from falling into German hands

2) WWI was over on the Western Front - could divert attention

3) Fear of communism - formation of Comintern to organise worldwide revolution (March 1918), plus the Spartacist uprising in Germany (January 1919) and a Marxist government in Hungary

Question 7

Where did the following foreign countries impose themselves in Russia:

• Britain
• France
• Japan

And why was this a problem?

Answer 7

• Britain entered southern Russia, central Asia and the Baltic Sea
• France entered the Black Sea and Odessa
• Japan occupied Vladivostok and Siberia

No united effort - foreign intervention was DISPERSED

Question 8

How did ordinary Russians respond to the French in Odessa?

Answer 8

They saw the French as invaders, not liberators

Question 9

How did the French respond to the Volunteer Army in Odessa?

Answer 9

They were horrified by the lack of discipline

Question 10

Which city was captured by a Bolshevik army of 12,000 (led by a local warlord) against around 1,000 foreign and Volunteer soldiers on 9 March 1919?

Answer 10

Kherson

Question 11

How many men did the Allies have in Odessa in March 1919? How many did the Bolsheviks have?

Answer 11

Allies: 25,000

Bolsheviks: 30-40,000

Question 12

What did the French do in Odessa on 20 March 1919?

Answer 12

Start to evacuate - without telling the Volunteer Army

Question 13

What was the significance of the failure of the Odessa operation?

Answer 13

Led to a change in Allied policy - from direct intervention to indirect aid

Question 14

How committed were the Allied soldiers to the foreign intervention?

Answer 14

Not at all - war-weary and refused to obey orders and mutinies

Question 15

In which part of Russia did foreign intervention actually succeed, and how?

Answer 15

The Baltic states (British troops obliged the Bolsheviks to recognise the independence of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia)

Question 16

How did the Bolsheviks use foreign intervention to their advantage?

Answer 16

As PROPAGANDA - Bolsheviks presented themselves as the saviour of the nation from foreign conquest and imperialist intervention - Whites presented as agents of foreign powers

Question 17

What were the Bolsheviks motivated to do after the end of foreign intervention? How successful was this?

Answer 17

Invade Poland

Disastrous - the peace treaty signed in March 1921 moved Poland’s border with Russia 200km to the east

Question 18

What did the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 prove to Lenin?

Answer 18

The time was not right for world revolution - the capitalist nations were too strong - Russia had to avoid conflict rather than seek it