In the Wake of Empire: Anti-Bolshevik Russia in International Affairs, 1917-1920

In the Wake of Empire: Anti-Bolshevik Russia in International Affairs, 1917-1920

by Anatol Shmelev
In the Wake of Empire: Anti-Bolshevik Russia in International Affairs, 1917-1920

In the Wake of Empire: Anti-Bolshevik Russia in International Affairs, 1917-1920

by Anatol Shmelev

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Overview

Even as a country ceases to be a great power, the concept of it as a great power can continue to influence decision making and policy formulation. This book explores how such a process took place in Russia from 1917 through 1920, when the Bolshevik coup of November 1917 led to the creation of two regimes: the Bolshevik "Reds" and the anti-Bolshevik "Whites." As Reds consolidated their one-party dictatorship and nursed global ambitions, Whites struggled to achieve a different vision for the future of Russia. Anatol Shmelev illuminates the White campaign with fresh purpose and through information from the Hoover Institution Archives, exploring how diverse White factions overcame internal tensions to lobby for recognition on the world stage, only to fail—in part because of the West's desire to leave "the Russian question" to Russians alone. In the Wake of Empire examines the personalities, institutions, political culture, and geostrategic concerns that shaped the foreign policy of the anti-Bolshevik governments and attempts to define the White movement through them. Additionally, Shmelev provides a fascinating psychological study of the factors that ultimately doomed the White effort: an irrational and ill-placed faith in the desire of the Allies to help them, and wishful thinking with regard to their own prospects that obscured the reality around them.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780817924249
Publisher: Hoover Institution Press
Publication date: 01/01/2021
Pages: 572
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Anatol Shmelev is a research fellow and Robert Conquest Curator for Russia and Eurasia at the Hoover Institution. His area of specialization is the Russian Civil War, 1917–22.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Foreword Robert Service xi

Introduction 1

1 Diplomats in Search of a Government: November 1917-September 1918 13

The Russian Revolution and Russian Officials Abroad 13

Diplomatic Activity Abroad, January-May 1918: Intervention and Retention of Russian Rights 43

The Search for a Government, Spring-Summer 1918 49

Foreign Policy Objectives of the Anti-Bolshevik Governments in the East, May-July 1918 65

2 Government in Search of a Policy: October-December 1918 87

The Directory 87

The Directory's Foreign Ministry and Its Program 102

The Primacy of Recognition 109

The Omsk Coup and the Issue of Government Stability 114

Russia and Transcaucasia: Emergence of Newly Independent States 127

Foreign Policy and Military Assistance from Abroad 140

3 Around the Paris Peace Conference 147

The Creation of the Russian Political Conference in Paris 147

The Prinkipo Invitation and Its Consequences 165

Nationality Questions as International Problems 194

Problems of Intervention 205

4 Recognition? March-July 1919 217

Recognition of Finland 217

Behind the Scenes at the Paris Peace Conference: Unofficial Consultations with Russian Representatives 241

The Exchange of Notes and Its Consequences 249

Can an Unrecognized Russia Recognize Finland? 266

Balkan Brothers: Serbia and Bulgaria 276

5 Immobility and Defeat: After Versailles 283

White Resurgence in the Baltic, Autumn 1919 291

Defending Russian Territorial Integrity 322

Relations with Western Neighbors: Romania 329

Relations with Western Neighbors: Poland 339

The End in the East 360

6 General Vrangel': From Recognition to Evacuation 365

Sazonov's Departure 365

The Allies (France and Britain) 372

Near and Far Abroad 385

Poland, Friend or Foe? 402

Evacuation 410

Conclusion 417

Epilogue 425

Acknowledgments 433

Appendix: Select List of Russian Representatives Abroad, 1917-20 435

Notes 443

Bibliography 519

About the Author 533

Index 535

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