Forgotten war: America's invasion of Russia, 1918

C

Cypress

Well-known member
Reserved this at the library, and am anticipating with sweaty palms. I have generally always found that almost no Americans are even remotely aware of this American invasion of Russia.

Fighting at Murmansk in the dead of Arctic winter must have been brutal. Presumably this is why we sent a regiment of Michigan troops, rather than sending soldiers from Florida.

The Polar Bear Expedition : the heroes of America's forgotten invasion of Russia, 1918-1919

"The extraordinary true story of America's forgotten invasion of Russia: one-thousand miles north of Moscow, five-thousand brave U.S. troops from Michigan fought the Red Army during the winter of 1918-1919 in brutal arctic conditions. We have forgotten. Russia has not." --Provided by publisher.

James Carl Nelson narrates a largely forgotten chapter of WWI, when 5,000 American doughboys of the 339th Infantry Regiment were dispatched to northern Russia in 1918. The expedition’s mission was to support opponents of the Russian Revolution and recreate the eastern front against Germany, which had vanished after the Bolshevik government pulled out of the war. But the result was a weak American invasion some 1,000 miles north of Moscow that inexplicably extended past the armistice and “sowed the seeds for recriminations and distrust that would plague U.S.-Russian relations throughout the 20th century—and beyond.”

https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06-285277-9
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I think a lot of historians think the White Russian political movement would have prevailed against the Reds, if not for the Anglo-American intervention, which purportedly was to ensure the installation of a "proper" Russian government.

This allied invasion discredited the Whites, the moderate socialists, and other anti-communists.... and gave fuel and credibility to the Bolsheviks claim that imperialists were out to subdue and control Russia.

Simply put, this Anglo-American invasion probably had the opposite effect from what was intended - and acted to poison Russian-American relations for decades to come.
 
The attempt wound-up being weak, because the establishment recognized there was no public appetite to intervene immediately in another war.
 
Howard the Duck said:
The attempt wound-up being weak, because the establishment recognized there was no public appetite to intervene immediately in another war.
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Too right you are.

As an effort at intervention, it was the worst of all possible worlds.

Too small to have any effect.
Boosted the credibility of the Reds, and discredited the Whites in the civil war.
Poisoned American-Russian relations for decades to come.

I seriously doubt American doughboys even had the slightest understanding of why they were being sent to fight Russians in the arctic tundra of Murmansk, or the Russian far east @ Vladivostock.

All downside, and no upside to this ill-fated attempt at intervention in Russia.
 
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