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Stillborn Crusade - The Tragic Failure of Western Intervention in the Russian Civil War 1918-1920 (Paperback)
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Stillborn Crusade - The Tragic Failure of Western Intervention in the Russian Civil War 1918-1920 (Paperback)
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The triumph of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War was the
first great crack in the system of international relations
established by the victorious Allies. The presence of a powerful
anti-Western Soviet regime not only undermined the liberal values
binding the signatories and member states of the Versailles Treaty
and the League of Nations, but also helped to stimulate the rise of
aggressive fascist dictatorships in Germany and Italy.
Consequently, the failure of the Allies to intervene effectively
against the Bolsheviks helped pave the way for both World War II
and the human catastrophe of Soviet totalitarianism. Stillborn
Crusade is a reinterpretation of the causes and consequences of
that failure. In sharp contrast with previous researchers, Ilya
Somin argues that the West's failure resulted not from constraints
limiting the options of policymakers, but from ideological
misconceptions, particularly those flowing from the "liberal" and
"realist" theories of international politics. The liberal view,
based on the right of national self-determination, was espoused by
Woodrow Wilson, and David Lloyd George. While unsympathetic to
Bolshevism, they remained wedded to preconceived ideas on
revolution, intervention, and the efficacy of force. The realists
thought that the opposing Whites might constitute a greater threat
to Western interests; they discounted the role of ideology in
Soviet foreign policy. Against these views, Somin sets the position
of Winston Churchill, who repeatedly and unsuccessfully urged
decisive action when the Soviet regime was militarily vulnerable.
As a consequence of British and American policy failures, the
entire course of European and world history was radically altered
for the worse. Stillborn Crusade also considers why earlier
scholars, most notably George F. Kennan and William Appleman
Williams, have ignored the issues raised here, even though they and
others have not hesitated to criticize Western leaders for similar
errors in other instances, especially in the case of Nazi Germany.
Somin links the errors of 1918-20 to broader issues relating to the
morality, feasibility, and desirability of Western, especially
American, intervention in foreign civil conflicts. As a volume with
important lessons for our own time, Stillborn Crusade will be of
interest to historians, political scientists, and foreign policy
analysts.
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