Over 200,000 Allied Troops Tried and Failed to Crush the Soviet Revolution After World War One

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Allied Intervention into the Russian Civil War remains one of the most ambitious yet least talked about military ventures of the 20th century. Coinciding with the end of the first World War, some 180,000 troops from several countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Italy, Greece, Poland, and Romania, among others, were sent to fight alongside Russian “Whites” against the Red Army.

Despite one victory for the Allied troops – independence for the Latvians and the Estonians – the two-year long attempt at reversing the 1917 Russian Revolution ended in humiliating defeat. To explore this crucial event of the early 20th century is today’s guest, Anna Reid, author of “A Nasty Little War: The Western Intervention into the Russian Civil War.”

What was originally aimed to prevent Germany from exploiting the power vacuum in Eastern Europe left by the Russian Revolution ultimately morphed into the Allies’ gamble to destroy Communist ideology. It was a mixture of good intentions and self-delusion, flag-waving and empty promises, cover-ups, exaggerations, and downright lies from politicians.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Scott here with another episode of The History on Plug Podcast.
0:07.1	The Allied intervention into the Russian Civil War started in 1917 remains one of the most ambitious yet least talked about military ventures of the 20th century.
0:16.5	It coincided with the end of the First World War and some 180,000 troops from several countries,
0:22.2	including the United States, the UK, France, Japan, Italy, Greece, Poland, and Romania, among
0:27.4	others, were sent to fight alongside Russian whites against the Red Army to stop the Communist
0:32.2	Revolution at its very beginning. Despite one victory for the Allied troops, independence
0:36.6	for the Latvians and Estonians, the two-year-long attempt at reversing the 1917 Russian Revolution ended in humiliating defeat. Had it succeeded, the entire trajectory of the 20th century would have been completely altered. So if it seems like the headwinds were at the backs of those supporting the Russian whites, why did it fail? In this rebroadcast episode, I'm speaking to Anna Reid, author of A Nasty Little War,
0:58.0	the Western intervention into the Russian Civil War.
1:00.7	What was originally aimed to prevent Germany from exploiting the power vacuum in Eastern Europe
1:04.5	left by the Russian Revolution, ultimately morphed into the Allies gamble to destroy
1:08.2	communist ideology.
1:09.9	It was a mixture of good intentions
1:11.2	and self-delusion, cover-ups exaggerations, lies from politicians, and a failure of an effective
1:16.1	military alliance to war. Hope you enjoy this discussion. And one more thing before we get
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