Originally published on February 19, 2024 (Episode 348)
Introduction
In the summer of 1918, thousands of Allied troops landed in Russia’s far north, east, and south in the hopes of re-engaging the Russians in World War I. By the time the operation wound down, 180,000 troops from fifteen countries had taken part in a war that lasted for as long as the First World War, led to economic devastation, mass emigrations, and the death of somewhere between seven and ten million people. It was certainly nasty, but in point of act the Russian Civil War was by no measure little.
The Allied intervention was supposed to either to pull Russia back into the war or to strangle the Bolsheviks in their cradle. It was, with the exception of the intervention in the Baltic Republics, a failure—and quickly forgotten in the nations that took part. But in the Soviet Union it was remembered bitterly, shaping global turmoil for decades, and it still echoes in Vladimir Putin’s narrative of Russian history.
About the Guest
Anna Reid was the Kyiv correspondent for The Economist and The Daily Telegraph from 1993 to 1995. She has written widely on Ukraine and Russia for Foreign Affairs, The Observer, and The Times Literary Supplement. Her books have focused on the history and culture of Ukraine and Russia; her latest is A Nasty Little War: The Western Intervention into the Russian Civil War (Basic Books, 2024), which is the subject of today’s conversation.
For Further Investigation
Anna Reid, A Nasty Little War: The Western Intervention into the Russian Civil War (Basic Books, 2024)
—, Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine (Basic Books, 2023)
—, Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II (Bloomsbury, 2012)
—, The Shaman’s Coat: A Native History of Siberia (Walker Books, 2002)
Related Episodes
“The First Year of the Russian Revolution”
💬 Listen & Discuss
Why do some wars vanish from national memory while lingering for decades in others? Should the Allied intervention in Russia be remembered as folly, foresight, or something in between? Share your thoughts in the comments—and pass this episode along to anyone who thinks the Cold War started in 1945.
