Bolshevism threatened to impose by force of arms its domination on those populations that had revolted against it and that were organized at our request.

If we, as soon as they had served our purpose, and as soon as they had taken all the risks, had said,

Thank you, we are exceedingly obliged to you.

You have served your purpose.

We need you no longer.

Now let the Bolsheviks cut your throats.

We should have been mean.

We should have been thoroughly unworthy.

David Lloyd George, addressing the House of Commons in April 1919.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Thank you. Episode 184 Episode 184,

1919, Russia, Part 2.

This is our ninth episode in our 1919 world tour, and the second in our series on

Russia.

Last week, I described how the armed anti-communist resistance in Russia gathered its strength

during 1918. Today, I want to finish bringing us into sync with the world tour.

I'll just remind you briefly that one of the major events in Russia in 1919 is that Red Army advance westward,

an effort to take back the territories Germany claimed in the now defunct Treaty of Brestlatovsk.

We talked about this Red Army advance in episodes 179, 180, and 182, so I won't go over it all again.

As you know, ultimately, Poland and the Baltic states,

with support from the Allies, were able to resist the Red Army enough to force Soviet Russia to agree to their independence. But just keep in mind for the sake of context that the events

we discussed today are happening at the same time as that

...