Author: Georg Schild
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Book Description
In this concise interpretation of Wilson's Russian policy, Schild challenges the belief that Wilson's response to the 1917 October Revolution was exclusively ideological. Contrary to the belief that when Wilson sent American troops to intervene in 1918, his goal was to establish a democratic order in Russia, this book shows that his actions were more pragmatic. Wilson's belief in the superiority of liberalism over totalitarianism was so strong that he expected democratic forces in Russia to take power without outside aid. At the Paris Peace Conference, he rejected suggestions for an anti-Soviet crusade. His July 1918 decision to intervene was not a part of Wilson's ideology. It was based on an effort to maintain unity with Britain and France during the final phase of World War I. Wilson did, indeed, have a liberal anti-Bolshevik agenda. However, his belief in the superiority of liberalism over totalitarianism was so strong that he expected democratic forces in Russia to take power without any outside aid. At the Paris Peace Conference, he rejected all suggestions for a Western anti-Soviet crusade or for a division of Russia. His 1918 decision to intervene was not part of Wilson's ideological confrontation with the Bolsheviks. It was based on an effort to maintain unity with the British and French governments during the final phase of World War I. Wilson's Russian policy, the author concludes, was determined both by his ideological anti-Bolshevism and pragmatic demands for alliance cohesion.
Between Ideology and Realpolitik
Author: Georg Schild
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Book Description
In this concise interpretation of Wilson's Russian policy, Schild challenges the belief that Wilson's response to the 1917 October Revolution was exclusively ideological. Contrary to the belief that when Wilson sent American troops to intervene in 1918, his goal was to establish a democratic order in Russia, this book shows that his actions were more pragmatic. Wilson's belief in the superiority of liberalism over totalitarianism was so strong that he expected democratic forces in Russia to take power without outside aid. At the Paris Peace Conference, he rejected suggestions for an anti-Soviet crusade. His July 1918 decision to intervene was not a part of Wilson's ideology. It was based on an effort to maintain unity with Britain and France during the final phase of World War I. Wilson did, indeed, have a liberal anti-Bolshevik agenda. However, his belief in the superiority of liberalism over totalitarianism was so strong that he expected democratic forces in Russia to take power without any outside aid. At the Paris Peace Conference, he rejected all suggestions for a Western anti-Soviet crusade or for a division of Russia. His 1918 decision to intervene was not part of Wilson's ideological confrontation with the Bolsheviks. It was based on an effort to maintain unity with the British and French governments during the final phase of World War I. Wilson's Russian policy, the author concludes, was determined both by his ideological anti-Bolshevism and pragmatic demands for alliance cohesion.
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Book Description
In this concise interpretation of Wilson's Russian policy, Schild challenges the belief that Wilson's response to the 1917 October Revolution was exclusively ideological. Contrary to the belief that when Wilson sent American troops to intervene in 1918, his goal was to establish a democratic order in Russia, this book shows that his actions were more pragmatic. Wilson's belief in the superiority of liberalism over totalitarianism was so strong that he expected democratic forces in Russia to take power without outside aid. At the Paris Peace Conference, he rejected suggestions for an anti-Soviet crusade. His July 1918 decision to intervene was not a part of Wilson's ideology. It was based on an effort to maintain unity with Britain and France during the final phase of World War I. Wilson did, indeed, have a liberal anti-Bolshevik agenda. However, his belief in the superiority of liberalism over totalitarianism was so strong that he expected democratic forces in Russia to take power without any outside aid. At the Paris Peace Conference, he rejected all suggestions for a Western anti-Soviet crusade or for a division of Russia. His 1918 decision to intervene was not part of Wilson's ideological confrontation with the Bolsheviks. It was based on an effort to maintain unity with the British and French governments during the final phase of World War I. Wilson's Russian policy, the author concludes, was determined both by his ideological anti-Bolshevism and pragmatic demands for alliance cohesion.
An American Diplomat in Bolshevik Russia
Author: DeWitt Clinton Poole
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Pres
ISBN: 0299302245
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 357
Book Description
Almost one hundred years after World War I and the Russian Revolution, U.S. diplomat DeWitt Clinton Poole's (1885-1952) perspective on his experiences negotiating with Bolshevik authorities and monitoring anti-Bolshevik movements throughout the Soviet Union is now fully accessible. Through Poole's perspective, a key figure in U.S.-Soviet relations, this book sheds new light on the Russian Revolution and World War I.
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Pres
ISBN: 0299302245
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 357
Book Description
Almost one hundred years after World War I and the Russian Revolution, U.S. diplomat DeWitt Clinton Poole's (1885-1952) perspective on his experiences negotiating with Bolshevik authorities and monitoring anti-Bolshevik movements throughout the Soviet Union is now fully accessible. Through Poole's perspective, a key figure in U.S.-Soviet relations, this book sheds new light on the Russian Revolution and World War I.
The Lockhart Plot
Author: Jonathan Schneer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198852983
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 365
Book Description
This is the extraordinary story of the British plot in the summer of 1918 to overthrow the Bolshevik government in Russia, murder the Bolshevik leaders, and install a new government in Moscow that would re-open the war against the Germans on the Eastern Front. Conceived by the British envoy to the Bolsheviks, Robert Bruce Lockhart, a dashing, cynical, urbane 30-year-old Scot, and involving French, American, and Russian accomplices, the planultimately failed - which is why it has until now remained shrouded in mystery. It was a plot in which the fate of the Revolution and the future shape of world history were upfor grabs, and the story behind it is a thrilling one involving a game of cat and mouse with the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka, as well as murder, attempted murder, and a passionate love affair between Lockhart and one of his Russian accomplices, the beautiful Russian aristocrat Moura von Benckendorff.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198852983
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 365
Book Description
This is the extraordinary story of the British plot in the summer of 1918 to overthrow the Bolshevik government in Russia, murder the Bolshevik leaders, and install a new government in Moscow that would re-open the war against the Germans on the Eastern Front. Conceived by the British envoy to the Bolsheviks, Robert Bruce Lockhart, a dashing, cynical, urbane 30-year-old Scot, and involving French, American, and Russian accomplices, the planultimately failed - which is why it has until now remained shrouded in mystery. It was a plot in which the fate of the Revolution and the future shape of world history were upfor grabs, and the story behind it is a thrilling one involving a game of cat and mouse with the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka, as well as murder, attempted murder, and a passionate love affair between Lockhart and one of his Russian accomplices, the beautiful Russian aristocrat Moura von Benckendorff.
American–Soviet Relations
Author: Peter G. Boyle
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000805220
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
American-Soviet Relations (1993) is a study of American policy towards the Soviet Union from 1917 to the fall of Communism. It attempts to understand what precisely were the roots of the Cold War and an analysis of the later relationship in the light of the Soviet Union’s evolution since the Revolution. It argues that American policy was shaped not only by the external threat from the USSR but also by internal forces within American society, domestic politics, economic interests, emotional and psychological attitudes and images of the Soviet Union.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000805220
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
American-Soviet Relations (1993) is a study of American policy towards the Soviet Union from 1917 to the fall of Communism. It attempts to understand what precisely were the roots of the Cold War and an analysis of the later relationship in the light of the Soviet Union’s evolution since the Revolution. It argues that American policy was shaped not only by the external threat from the USSR but also by internal forces within American society, domestic politics, economic interests, emotional and psychological attitudes and images of the Soviet Union.
Russian Supply Efforts in America During the First World War
Author: Dale C. Rielage
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786413379
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 176
Book Description
When Russia entered World War I, its government was unprepared for the strains that modern warfare would impose on its industrial resources. Russia turned to foreign suppliers, most significantly the United States, and made extensive purchases largely financed by loans from the British. The Imperial Russian government's efforts to procure much-needed military supplies in the American market before and after America's entry into World War I are the focus of this work. It reveals the disorder that characterized the first Russian purchasing efforts in America in 1914 when the full demand had not yet been felt, and how these efforts were transformed by the shell crisis of 1915 and the involvement of representatives of the zemstvos and industry in the formal overseas purchasing process. This book also looks at Russia's dependence on the British for funding, the mature phase of purchasing in mid-1916, a single order placed by the zemstvo movement with the American Locomotive Company, the Russian Supply Commission's struggle to deal with America's entry into the war, and the collapse of Russia's Imperial and Provisional governments.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786413379
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 176
Book Description
When Russia entered World War I, its government was unprepared for the strains that modern warfare would impose on its industrial resources. Russia turned to foreign suppliers, most significantly the United States, and made extensive purchases largely financed by loans from the British. The Imperial Russian government's efforts to procure much-needed military supplies in the American market before and after America's entry into World War I are the focus of this work. It reveals the disorder that characterized the first Russian purchasing efforts in America in 1914 when the full demand had not yet been felt, and how these efforts were transformed by the shell crisis of 1915 and the involvement of representatives of the zemstvos and industry in the formal overseas purchasing process. This book also looks at Russia's dependence on the British for funding, the mature phase of purchasing in mid-1916, a single order placed by the zemstvo movement with the American Locomotive Company, the Russian Supply Commission's struggle to deal with America's entry into the war, and the collapse of Russia's Imperial and Provisional governments.
The Lenin Plot
Author: Barnes Carr
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1643133993
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 350
Book Description
It remains the most audacious spy plot in American history—a bold and extremely dangerous operation to invade Russia, defeat the Red Army, and mount a coup in Moscow against Soviet dictator Vladimir Ilich Lenin. After that, leaders in Washington, Paris, and London aimed to install their own Allied-friendly dictator in Moscow as a means to get Russia back into the war effort against Germany. The Lenin Plot had the “entire approval” of President Woodrow Wilson. As he ordered a military invasion of Russia, he gave the American ambassador, the U.S. Consul General in Moscow, and other State Department operatives a free hand to pursue their covert action against Lenin. The result was thousands of deaths, both military and civilian, on both sides. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the true beginning of the Cold War, The Lenin Plot tells the shocking story of this untold episode in American history in fascinating and striking detail.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1643133993
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 350
Book Description
It remains the most audacious spy plot in American history—a bold and extremely dangerous operation to invade Russia, defeat the Red Army, and mount a coup in Moscow against Soviet dictator Vladimir Ilich Lenin. After that, leaders in Washington, Paris, and London aimed to install their own Allied-friendly dictator in Moscow as a means to get Russia back into the war effort against Germany. The Lenin Plot had the “entire approval” of President Woodrow Wilson. As he ordered a military invasion of Russia, he gave the American ambassador, the U.S. Consul General in Moscow, and other State Department operatives a free hand to pursue their covert action against Lenin. The result was thousands of deaths, both military and civilian, on both sides. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the true beginning of the Cold War, The Lenin Plot tells the shocking story of this untold episode in American history in fascinating and striking detail.
Historical Dictionary of U.S. Diplomacy from the Civil War to World War I
Author: Kenneth J. Blume
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 144227333X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 597
Book Description
The period encompassed by this volume—with the start of the Civil War and World War I as bookends—has gone by a number of colorful names: The Imperial Years, The New American Empire, America’s Rise to World Power, Imperial Democracy, The Awkward Years, or Prelude to World Power, for example. A different organizing theme would describe the period as one in which a transformation took place in American foreign relations. But whatever developments or events historians have emphasized, there is general agreement that the period was one in which something changed in the American approach to the world. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of U.S. Diplomacy from the Civil War to World War I contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,000 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about diplomacy during this period.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 144227333X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 597
Book Description
The period encompassed by this volume—with the start of the Civil War and World War I as bookends—has gone by a number of colorful names: The Imperial Years, The New American Empire, America’s Rise to World Power, Imperial Democracy, The Awkward Years, or Prelude to World Power, for example. A different organizing theme would describe the period as one in which a transformation took place in American foreign relations. But whatever developments or events historians have emphasized, there is general agreement that the period was one in which something changed in the American approach to the world. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of U.S. Diplomacy from the Civil War to World War I contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,000 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about diplomacy during this period.
The Russian Bureau
Author: Linda Killen
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813183391
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Book Description
The American position on Russia during the First World War was defined by the same idealism that guided our relations with other countries. Woodrow Wilson and American leaders had hailed the Revolution of March 1917 as an expression of the true spirit of Russia, a harbinger of democracy. The Bolshevik revolt and the civil war that followed were, in their eyes, only temporary disturbances. Still, the growth of the new democracy would only prosper if the Russians could restore order to their beleaguered land. In this book Linda Killen examines a hitherto neglected instrument of American policy in Russia-the Russian Bureau of the War Trade Board. With support from the administration, the bureau was established by Congress in October 1918 as a public corporation with a fund of $5 million to facilitate trade between Russia and America, for government and business leaders thought that the Russians could be helped to resolve their problems with the income from trade. The bureau was also to assist in two areas essential to trade, stabilizing the currency and restoring the transportation system. With the signing of the peace treaty, however, the bureau as a wartime agency was dissolved in June 1919 and its work assigned to the State Department. As one of the first American attempts at foreign aid, the bureau's program was necessarily tentative, but Linda Killen shows that, as a specific case, the bureau offers an instructive example. It reveals a widespread ignorance of Russian affairs both in government and in business circles. More importantly, it demonstrates the fatal weakness of an idealistic policy that was blind to political realities. Perhaps, the bureau's most tangible "accomplishment" came when its $5 million were finally transferred to the Trans-Siberian Railroad to purchase new equipment. Yet, ironically, it was the hated Bolsheviks who benefitted from this aid when they seized Siberia and used the new equipment to restore the rail line to efficient operation. This detailed study of the Russian Bureau sheds new light on a turbulent and tragic area of American diplomacy. Unfortunately, the democratic Russia that Wilson sought to help may never have existed except in his mind and never came to be.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813183391
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Book Description
The American position on Russia during the First World War was defined by the same idealism that guided our relations with other countries. Woodrow Wilson and American leaders had hailed the Revolution of March 1917 as an expression of the true spirit of Russia, a harbinger of democracy. The Bolshevik revolt and the civil war that followed were, in their eyes, only temporary disturbances. Still, the growth of the new democracy would only prosper if the Russians could restore order to their beleaguered land. In this book Linda Killen examines a hitherto neglected instrument of American policy in Russia-the Russian Bureau of the War Trade Board. With support from the administration, the bureau was established by Congress in October 1918 as a public corporation with a fund of $5 million to facilitate trade between Russia and America, for government and business leaders thought that the Russians could be helped to resolve their problems with the income from trade. The bureau was also to assist in two areas essential to trade, stabilizing the currency and restoring the transportation system. With the signing of the peace treaty, however, the bureau as a wartime agency was dissolved in June 1919 and its work assigned to the State Department. As one of the first American attempts at foreign aid, the bureau's program was necessarily tentative, but Linda Killen shows that, as a specific case, the bureau offers an instructive example. It reveals a widespread ignorance of Russian affairs both in government and in business circles. More importantly, it demonstrates the fatal weakness of an idealistic policy that was blind to political realities. Perhaps, the bureau's most tangible "accomplishment" came when its $5 million were finally transferred to the Trans-Siberian Railroad to purchase new equipment. Yet, ironically, it was the hated Bolsheviks who benefitted from this aid when they seized Siberia and used the new equipment to restore the rail line to efficient operation. This detailed study of the Russian Bureau sheds new light on a turbulent and tragic area of American diplomacy. Unfortunately, the democratic Russia that Wilson sought to help may never have existed except in his mind and never came to be.
When the United States Invaded Russia
Author: Carl J Richard
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442219904
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234
Book Description
“An intriguing and carefully argued entry into a small and often overlooked discussion of American political maneuvering at the end of World War I.” —Library Journal In a little-known episode at the height of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson dispatched thousands of American soldiers to Siberia. Carl J. Richard convincingly shows that Wilson’s original intent was to enable Czechs and anti-Bolshevik Russians to rebuild the Eastern Front against the Central Powers. But Wilson continued the intervention for a year and a half after the armistice in order to overthrow the Bolsheviks and to prevent the Japanese from absorbing eastern Siberia. As Wilson and the Allies failed to formulate a successful Russian policy at the Paris Peace Conference, American doughboys suffered great hardships on the bleak plains of Siberia. Richard argues that Wilson’s Siberian intervention ironically strengthened the Bolshevik regime it was intended to topple. Its tragic legacy can be found in the seeds of World War II—which began with an alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union, the two nations most aggrieved by Allied treatment after World War I—and in the Cold War, a forty-five year period in which the world held its collective breath over the possibility of nuclear annihilation. One of the earliest U.S. counterinsurgency campaigns outside the Western Hemisphere, the Siberian intervention was a harbinger of policies to come. Richard notes that it teaches invaluable lessons about the extreme difficulties inherent in interventions and about the absolute need to secure widespread support on the ground if such campaigns are to achieve success, knowledge that U.S. policymakers tragically ignored in Vietnam and have later struggled to implement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442219904
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234
Book Description
“An intriguing and carefully argued entry into a small and often overlooked discussion of American political maneuvering at the end of World War I.” —Library Journal In a little-known episode at the height of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson dispatched thousands of American soldiers to Siberia. Carl J. Richard convincingly shows that Wilson’s original intent was to enable Czechs and anti-Bolshevik Russians to rebuild the Eastern Front against the Central Powers. But Wilson continued the intervention for a year and a half after the armistice in order to overthrow the Bolsheviks and to prevent the Japanese from absorbing eastern Siberia. As Wilson and the Allies failed to formulate a successful Russian policy at the Paris Peace Conference, American doughboys suffered great hardships on the bleak plains of Siberia. Richard argues that Wilson’s Siberian intervention ironically strengthened the Bolshevik regime it was intended to topple. Its tragic legacy can be found in the seeds of World War II—which began with an alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union, the two nations most aggrieved by Allied treatment after World War I—and in the Cold War, a forty-five year period in which the world held its collective breath over the possibility of nuclear annihilation. One of the earliest U.S. counterinsurgency campaigns outside the Western Hemisphere, the Siberian intervention was a harbinger of policies to come. Richard notes that it teaches invaluable lessons about the extreme difficulties inherent in interventions and about the absolute need to secure widespread support on the ground if such campaigns are to achieve success, knowledge that U.S. policymakers tragically ignored in Vietnam and have later struggled to implement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A William Appleman Williams Reader
Author: Henry W. Berger
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
ISBN: 1461703565
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 424
Book Description
William Appleman Williams, who died in 1990, was arguably the most influential and controversial historian of his generation. His revisionist writings, especially in American diplomatic history, forced historians and others to abandon old clichés and confront disturbing questions about America's behavior in the world. Williams defined America's social, moral, constitutional, and economic development in uncompromising, iconoclastic, and original terms. He saw history as "a way of learning;" and applied the principle brilliantly in books and essays which have altered our vision of the American past and present. In this rich collection, Henry Berger has drawn from Williams's most important writings—including "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy," "The Contours of American History," and "The Roots of the Modern American Empire" to present his key arguments. There are twenty-one selections in all, from books, essays, and articles, including two never before published. Mr. Berger has added notes to the selections and an enlightening introduction which explores Williams's career and ideas. This is an exceptionally valuable book.
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
ISBN: 1461703565
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 424
Book Description
William Appleman Williams, who died in 1990, was arguably the most influential and controversial historian of his generation. His revisionist writings, especially in American diplomatic history, forced historians and others to abandon old clichés and confront disturbing questions about America's behavior in the world. Williams defined America's social, moral, constitutional, and economic development in uncompromising, iconoclastic, and original terms. He saw history as "a way of learning;" and applied the principle brilliantly in books and essays which have altered our vision of the American past and present. In this rich collection, Henry Berger has drawn from Williams's most important writings—including "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy," "The Contours of American History," and "The Roots of the Modern American Empire" to present his key arguments. There are twenty-one selections in all, from books, essays, and articles, including two never before published. Mr. Berger has added notes to the selections and an enlightening introduction which explores Williams's career and ideas. This is an exceptionally valuable book.