Civil War in Siberia: The Anti-Bolshevik Government of Admiral Kolchak, 1918-1920

by Jonathan D. Smele

Overview

The Russian Civil War of 1917SH1921 was a pivotal event in modern history. It was the Bolshevik victory in this bloody struggle, not the fighting in the streets of Petrograd and Moscow in October 1917, that secured the victory of Soviet Communism. This book traces the clash between the "Reds" and the "Whites", the counter-revolutionary governments established around the periphery of Russia and aided by the Allies. In particular, it details the epic history of the White movement in Siberia, and the fortunes of its leader, Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak, using a wide range of contemporary sources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521029070
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2006
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	788
Product dimensions:	6.22(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.69(d)

Table of Contents

List of maps; Preface; Glossary and abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The triumphal march of reaction; 2. The establishment of the Kolchak government; 3. 'What Kolchak wants!': military versus polity in White Siberia; 4. Inside Kolchakia: from 'a land of milk and honey' to 'the dictatorship of the whip'; 5. White débâcle; 6. White agony; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This large study deserves a place in major academic libraries." F.J. Breit, Choice

"...this examination of the Kolchak episode in counterrevolutionary history easily surpasses in documentation and sensible analysis earlier studies of the White movement in Siberia." John M. Thompson, Slavic Review

"As the definitive treatment of one of the most important episodes in Russia's turbulent history, this book does much to clarify our understanding of the forces and events that brought the Soviet Union into being. Smele paints a canvas of great breadth and fascinating perspective. Exhaustive and far-ranging research makes this book all but certain to become a classic is its field, and all historians of the Russian Civil War and Siberia must stand greatly in its author's debt for that reason." W. Bruce Lincoln, American Historical Review

"This is the fullest account to date of the rise of the White movement in Siberia." Vladimir Brovkin, The Historian

From the Publisher