America's Secret War against Bolshevism
U.S. Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1917-1920
David S. Foglesong
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 02/2014
Pages: 400
Subject: Political Science, History
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9.78E+12
eBook ISBN: 9781469611136
DESCRIPTION
From the Russian revolutions of 1917 to the end of the Civil War in
1920, Woodrow Wilson's administration sought to oppose the
Bolsheviks in a variety of covert ways. Drawing on previously
unavailable American and Russian archival material, David Foglesong
chronicles both sides of this secret war and reveals a new
dimension to the first years of the U.S.-Soviet rivalry. Foglesong
explores the evolution of Wilson's ambivalent attitudes toward
socialism and revolution before 1917 and analyzes the social and
cultural origins of American anti-Bolshevism. Constrained by his
espousal of the principle of self-determination, by idealistic
public sentiment, and by congressional restrictions, Wilson had to
rely on secretive methods to affect the course of the Russian Civil
War. The administration provided covert financial and military aid
to anti-Bolshevik forces, established clandestine spy networks,
concealed the purposes of limited military expeditions to northern
Russia and Siberia, and delivered ostensibly humanitarian
assistance to soldiers fighting to overthrow the Soviet government.
In turn, the Soviets developed and secretly funded a propaganda
campaign in the United States designed to mobilize public
opposition to anti-Bolshevik activity, promote American-Soviet
economic ties, and win diplomatic recognition from Washington.
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