Foreign relations and the attitude of foreign powers Flashcards
Areas of foreign relations I need to know?
Foreign intervention in the Civil War
Comintern
Russo-Polish War
Treaty of Rapallo
Zinoviev letter
Motives behind foreign intervention in the Civil War?
(Initial aim) Keep Russia fighting in the war
Who provided the largest intervention in the Civil War?
The US, which provided 11,000 at Vladivostok and 4,500 in North Russia
When and why did the US pull its troops from Russia?
Pulled out of North Russia in June 1919 and pulled out of Vladivostok in 1920
President Wilson did not see the purpose in keeping them there
Who had troops in North Russia?
British, French, Australian, Canadian and Italian forces, as well as 11,000 Estonians
Who had troops in the Far East?
11,000 American troops at Vladivostok, as well as 2,000 Chinese troops, Japanese troops and a small British force
Who had troops in Southern Russia?
French and British naval forces as well as Turkish troops active in the Caucusus
Who had troops in Central Siberia?
Sections of the Trans-Siberian railway were controlled by the Czech Legion
When did British intervention begin?
March 1918, when the first British troops were sent to Murmansk to start a naval blockade
When did American intervention begin?
August 1918, when 9,000 American troops landed in Vladivostok
Why was foreign intervention unsuccessful?
Divisions and muddled thinking within Allied governments - there was no coordination about which White general to support and the lack of normal diplomatic activity meant that they had little accurate information about what was happening in Russia
Examples of American journalists reporting from inside Russia?
John Reed, Louise Bryant and Bessie Beatty
Examples of British ‘spies’ in Russia during the Civil War?
Arthur Ransome (who had left-wing sympathies), Sidney Reilly (a strong anti-Bolshevik) and Robert Bruce Lockhart
Explain the attempt to create peace during the Civil War?
In March 1919, US diplomat William C Bullitt was sent by the President to discuss peace with Lenin. They tried to negotiate a deal, but Britain and France objected to the deal, so the peace plan lapsed
How do battle deaths in the Civil War show the limited scope of foreign intervention?
Britain - 345
US - 275
Russia - 500,000
Shows foreign troops were scarcely involved in the conflict
Only example of major action by foreign troops during the Civil War?
The Japanese mounted serious offensive operations in Siberia, including a major attack of Khabarovsk
When did Britain end hostilities with Russia?
November 1920, by negotiating a trade agreement (accepting de facto recognition of the Soviet state)
What was the Comintern?
Third Communist International, a revival of an old Marxist organisation. It was an association of Communist parties from 50 states with the aim to spread proletarian revolution around the world.
When was the first Founding Congress of the Comintern held?
Held in Moscow in March 1919 - more than 50 delegates from all over Europe, the US, Australia and Japan
Held at a time when the Bolshevik regime was existentially threatened by the Civil War (but there was still great optimism)
What was the aim of the Comintern?
To promote Marxism and spread the ‘proletarian revolution’
Who was the chairman of all the early Comintern Congresses?
Zinoviev, but the dominating influence was always Lenin
What developments in Europe created optimism at the first Comintern Congress?
The establishment of soviet-style republics in Hungary and Bavaria (although the Spartacist uprising in March 1919 had been crushed)
Which prominent Bolshevik activists believed in the inevitability of world revolution?
Lenin, Trotsky and Radek
When did the Second Comintern Congress take place?
July-August 1920, at the height of the Russo-Polish War (when Russia was looking likely to win - optimism)
What happened at the Second Comintern Congress?
It was dominated by debates over Lenin’s ‘21 conditions’ defining the relationships between communist parties as ‘bourgeois-democratic’ socialist parties. Some European delegations broke away from the Comintern as a result
When did the Third Comintern Congress take place?
Summer of 1921, when the hope of the world revolution had been dampened by the fact that communist regimes and uprisings were being crushed in Europe
What were the implications of the Third Comintern Congress?
The Comintern became totally Russian-dominated and many Bolshevik leaders were ready to focus on internal affairs rather than world revolution - revolutionary spirit had faltered
What were the aims of each Comintern Congress?
1st - to set the basis of Soviet domination
2nd - to remove reformists and centrists
3rd - to mark the shift towards more Russian-centric policy
When did the Russo-Polish war take place?
February 1919 - March 1921
Why did the Russo-Polish war take place?
Poland contained land that had once belonged to the Russian Empire. The Polish leader, General Pilsudski dreamed of expansion into Belarus and Western Ukraine, while the Bolsheviks were keen to fight against separatism
What preceded the Russo-Polish war?
In 1918-19, Poland fought a complicated war against Ukrainian nationalists, leading to skirmishes with the Red Army.
In April 1920, Pilsudski made an alliance with the Ukrainian military leader, Petliura, and both launched an eastern offensive towards Kiev (occupied it)
How did Lenin respond to the occupation of Kiev?
Launched a powerful counter-attack, but Pilsudski mounted a desperate defense of Warsaw known as the ‘Miracle of the Vistula’
How did the Russo-Polish war come to an end?
The war settled into a stalemate until peace terms were formalised in the Treaty of Riga in March 1921
In the treaty of Riga, Russia had to pay Poland 30 million gold roubles and established a mutual border in which Poland gained land
Why was Russia diplomatically isolated by 1921?
It had been excluded from the League of Nations
How did Russian foreign policy change in 1921?
Lenin’s regime had to come to terms with the fact that the world revolution was not imminent and the world had to accept that Bolshevism would not disappear - the two had to establish peaceful co-existence
How did Russia begin to negotiate with Germany?
1921 - discussions between Chicherin and Germany
1922 - Chicherin was invited to a major economic conference in Genoa, which paved the way for the Treaty of Rapallo
When and what was the Treaty of Rapallo?
April 1922, which agreed the reopening of formal diplomatic relations, established ‘mutual goodwill’ in commercial and economic relations and agreed to waive claims for compensation arising from WW1
What was the secret additional agreement between Russia and Germany?
Authorised the Germany army to carry out military training inside the USSR
What was the Zinoviev letter?
A forgery, concocted by British spy Sidney Reilly, of a letter from Zinoviev, designed to turn public opinion against the Labour Party
Was the Zinoviev letter impactful?
Far more impact in Britain than Russia, and even in Britain the impact of the letter was small - however, the letter did sour diplomatic relations between Britain and the Soviet Union
Effects of foreign spies in Russia
Reports varied greatly (some were optimistic, some were sympathetic to the Bolsheviks etc…)
This affected foreign intervention in the Civil War as foreign powers were acting upon flawed information
Debate about impact of foreign intervention in the Civil War
Bolsheviks were convinced they had defeated a major capitalist imperialist assault
Some historians argued that the small interventions poisoned relations with the west in the long term
Others argue that relations would have remained the same regardless of
