There have been plenty of movies made about America-Russia conflicts, the Cold War, the Berlin Wall. “Red Dawn” came out when I was a teenager and featured a Russian invasion of America.
However, it seems lost to history that Americans actually fought Russians in Russia during the Russian Revolution.
In 1918, America, France, Canada, and the United Kingdom, along with other Allied countries sent troops to fight alongside the White Russians as they attempted to defeat the Bolsheviks and prevent a communist takeover.
As World War I raged, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky established a communist government and made peace with Germany. This allowed the Germans to shift more troops to face the Allies and put the outcome in jeopardy. The feeling was that if the Whites could defeat the Reds, Russia might rejoin the war and reopen the eastern front.
The U.S. also had lots of supplies and weapons it had shipped to the Russian theater than stood at risk of capture.
American troops landed in Northern Russia at Archangel
Around 13,000 American soldiers served in the conflict and hundreds died, many from accidents and disease, but also from combat. War objectives were unclear and it was, to use military slang, FUBAR from the beginning. The Red Army grew in numbers and became a formidable opponent.
The Allies withdrew in 1920, war-weary and realizing that with no clear mission and no public support for the war, their efforts were futile.
Sources:
History.com
Smithsonian Magazine
Radio Free Europe
Amazing… will definitely be adding this as a supplement for teaching our involvement on the world’s stage with WWI and the Bolsheviks. Had no idea.
Awesome. Maybe I can come visit dressed as a grizzled veteran.
Grizzly bear might be a better look for you Mike.
Haha!
I did not know that. Not surprising since I have never quite understood the sides in the revolution nor the time frame. It’s a bit jumbled up in my head with WWI. Thanks for the history lesson.
Thanks – maybe that’s a topic for another story.
You’re welcome anytime!