The first stage of U.S. participation in the intervention of entente powers in Russia (august 1918–january 1919)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2026.162.10
Keywords:
United States, Russia, Woodrow Wilson administration, Bolsheviks, intervention, diplomacy, international relations, World War IAbstract
Background. In July 1918, the W. Wilson administration agreed to the participation of the United States in the intervention of the Entente powers in Russia, which it had been trying to prevent for a long time. The purpose of the article is to highlight the initial stage of the United States' participation in the intervention in Russia from the announcement by the State Department of the goals of participation (August 1918) to the beginning of the work of the Paris Peace Conference (January 1919).
Methods. The methods of critical analysis of historical sources, content analysis, comparative analysis, historical-genetic method and periodization were applied.
Results. The aim of the U. S. intervention was declared to assist the Czechoslovak Legion in the evacuation from Siberia and the protection of military depots in Russia. The U. S. opposed the intervention of Japan, Great Britain and France in political life in the Russian territories occupied by their troops and supported local self-government. The United States also opposed plans to increase the contingents of Japanese and American troops in the Far East and Siberia. Thus they sought to prevent further expansion by Japan or any other states. One of the key contradictions was control over the railways in the Far East. Finally, in January 1919, the United States managed to reach a compromise agreement on this issue, which created the Inter-Allied Commission.
In the fall of 1918, Bolshevik Russia tried to start negotiations to end the intervention of the Allied powers. These attempts intensified after the end of the Great War and culminated in unofficial negotiations between the Soviet plenipotentiary M. Litvinov and the American representative. However, the United States did not enter into direct negotiations with the Bolsheviks and postponed the discussion of the Soviet proposals to the Paris Peace Conference.
Conclusions. The disagreements between the United States and the Entente powers regarding the aims of intervention and policy towards Russia persisted until the Paris Peace Conference. President W. Wilson opposed the Allies’ intervention in Russia's internal affairs and did not want to involve the United States in the Russian Civil War. With the end of the Great War, the most important issue for the United States became the issue of relations with the Bolshevik and White local governments in Russia. Containment of further Japanese expansion and condemnation of Bolshevik policies in Russia were the leitmotifs of American Russian policy in the fall of 1918.
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