Publishers Weekly
12/04/2023
In this meticulous and searing account of British, French, and American involvement in the Russian Civil War, journalist Reid (Borderland) lambasts the West for poorly coordinated military operations and a dismal understanding of the conflict at large. Noting that a “roller-coaster of events” led to the 1918 intervention during WWI—including British refusal to grant Czar Nicholas II and his family asylum just before the Bolsheviks executed them—Reid explains that initially, the Allies feared that Germany would take advantage of Russian infighting to get control of northern ports. After the armistice, the goal of the intervention became stopping the revolutionary Bolsheviks, or Red Army, and supporting the czarists, or White Army. The U.S. limited its involvement to ferrying aid and refugees, and France exited in spring 1919 after its navy, out of sympathy for the revolution, refused to fire on advancing Bolsheviks in Crimea. The British, however, continued until 1920, when the White Army finally collapsed. Throughout, Reid accuses the British government of “willed blindness” toward war crimes committed by White Army leaders (though she notes the Red Army also committed atrocities). By comparing diary entries with official reports, she reveals how British commanders hid or shifted blame for their failures, and how the government’s anti-Bolshevism would disrupt relations for decades. The result is a vivid critical assessment of Western meddling in foreign affairs. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
A bracing account…[Reid] is a skillful narrator with an eye for the telling anecdote.”—Wall Street Journal
“A vivid and sparkling account, full of colour and dark drama.”—Guardian
“One of the most complicated and oft-forgot foreign-policy failures of the 20th century, captivatingly retold in technicolor detail…excellent.”—Foreign Policy
“A thoroughly researched, stylish and entertaining account.”—Financial Times
“A lively narrative.”—Foreign Affairs
“A rich, engaging narrative."—New Criterion
“Superbly researched…Reid’s prose is vivid and colourful…this hugely impressive but emotionally grueling book is essential reading.”—Irish Independent
“Reid cogently unspools the narrative of the intervention…with a heap of creative imagery.”—The Bulwark
“Well-written and accessible.”—The Past
“Readers of A Nasty Little War will love the page-by-page experience…thanks to the clarity of Reid’s account, [readers will] feel the failure of the Intervention coming almost from the first page.”—Open Letters Review
“An excellent history…well-written narrative and mastery of complex material.”—The Article
“A stellar account of a long-ago, still resonant slice of 20th century history…Reid demonstrates her superior archival research by masterfully painting a picture of the domestic political realities facing the Western powers at the time.”—Washington Independent Review of Books
“A well-researched deep dive into military and political actions set against post–Russian Revolution.”—Library Journal
“An elucidating work of research that resonates amid another ongoing intervention involving Russia.”—Kirkus
“A vivid critical assessment of Western meddling in foreign affairs.”—Publishers Weekly
“Brilliantly depicts the disastrous failure of our intervention in the ‘Russian’ civil war. The atmosphere, the characters, the absurdity are all there.”—Antony Beevor, New York Times–bestselling author of Stalingrad
“In witty, elegant prose, Reid uncovers the true story of the West’s failed and forgotten attempt to reverse the Bolshevik revolution. Excellent.”—Anne Applebaum, New York Times–bestselling author of Twilight of Democracy
“A compelling and meticulously researched account. Through its pages strut arrogant warlords, tsarist generals, Bolshevik revolutionaries and British and American military commanders; at stake, the future fate of Russia. With Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine—and the West’s determination to see him defeated—A Nasty Little War is chillingly topical.”—Giles Milton, author of Checkmate in Berlin
“Combining exemplary research, arresting anecdotes and elegant prose, Anna Reid’s history of the Allied attempt to strangle the Bolshevik revolution in its cradle is that rare beast—an academically impeccable history book that is a pleasure to read.”—Roger Moorhouse, author of Poland 1939
“A vivid and remarkably timely account of a Western intervention that we have largely forgotten, but the Kremlin has brooded on for more than a century.”—Martin Sixsmith, New York Times–bestselling author of Philomena
Library Journal
02/23/2024
The 1917 Russian Revolution redefined that country's politics and had a broader impact on the world. Multiple Western governments sent troops to each border. However, this was an intervention to keep Bolshevism from leaking outside the borders and infecting neighboring countries. All the major world powers were involved, including the United States, Britain, and France. These actions failed to engender substantial change, other than assisting Latvia and Estonia to emerge as independent countries. Otherwise, she argues that it was an exercise against autonomy and self-determination. Journalist and trustee of the Ukrainian Institute Reid (Borderland) unweaves a complex historical era. Her personal views become significant in her narrative that maps a clear path from the intervention to the beginning of World War II and to the political tensions of today. VERDICT A well-researched deep dive into military and political actions set against post-Russian Revolution.—Jessica A. Bushore
MARCH 2024 - AudioFile
It's difficult not to recommend an audiobook this well researched and performed but just as difficult to recommend a history so unrelentingly horrific. Author Anna Reid is a gifted narrator and an equally fine storyteller--brisk, forceful, incisive. Her account of the civil war that followed the 1917 Russian Revolution portrays the international force that was sent to topple the Bolsheviks as a grim farce of ancient rivalries, stereotypes, and sheer incompetence. The rampant violence of the counterrevolution ushered in an era of suffering for the Russian people. Most appalling are the attacks from all sides on Russia's Jews, unbearable to listen to even a century later. Ironically, the civil war also brought from obscurity one of history's bloodiest monsters--Joseph Stalin. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-11-24
A thorough reconsideration of a conveniently forgotten “sideshow” to World War I: an ill-fated two-year attempt by the Allies to reverse the Bolshevik Revolution.
Historian Reid, author of The Shaman’s Coat, revisits a humiliating “little war” that ended with few tangible gains—other than independence for Latvia and Estonia—and did nothing to reverse the Bolshevik takeover of Russia. The fall of the tsarist regime at first came as a relief to the Allies then fighting Germany in WWI, yet when the ascendant revolutionary Reds, among the warring factions battling tsarist Whites, made the “outrageous” treaty with Germany at Brest-Litovsk in late 1917, the Allies grew alarmed. Up to that point, they had taken a “wait and see” attitude toward how the leadership would shake out in Russia—until they decided to secure the ports at Murmansk and Vladivostok. Reluctant U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was persuaded to send troops to help Czechs wipe out pockets of resistance and secure the Trans-Siberian railroad. Reid unearths significant information on the White-sponsored (and British-condoned) antisemitic pogroms across Ukraine and elsewhere that took place in 1919. “Even at the distance of a century, with 1919’s killings long overshadowed by the Holocaust,” writes the author, “the fact that Britain knowingly funded, supplied, trained and sent men to fight alongside the armies that committed them is shocking and shameful.” Reid also knowledgeably chronicles the work of various Allied officers and Russians involved in the war, including their somewhat comic interactions and clashes of culture. The intervention ultimately involved 180,000 Allied troops from 15 countries; by 1920, Britain and America had moved on to domestic crises. The author astutely points out that the intervention contributed to “Europe’s fragmentation between the wars”—and later fed the Nazi demonization of Jews.
An elucidating work of research that resonates amid another ongoing intervention involving Russia.
