The reaction of the representatives of the Allied Powers in Russia on the revolutionary events of 1917
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu06.2018.202Abstract
The article put forward a comparative analysis of the reaction of the British and French diplomats and military representatives on the revolutionary events in Russia in February-October 1917. The author defines the range of the most informed foreign observers and tries to appreciate the degree of their impact on the policy of London and Paris concerning Russia. He accentuates on how far these responses and estimates were determined by the position and the nature of activities of the representatives of the Allied Powers, as well as by their political preferences and prejudices. The author avoids to restrict himself by a mere digest of comments of foreign contemporaries of the Russian Revolution. He tends to put these responses into a broader context of efforts of the French and the British governments to keep their Eastern ally in the war. Above all else, the article addresses the issue of common and distinct in the “Russian policy” of the two countries, the degree of conformity and rivalry of the Western Powers in their attempts to influence the march of events in Russia. Estimates of the foreign representatives are traced in dynamics. They naturally evolved following the processes in Russia on the course “from bad to worse”: from anxiety in March-April caused by decline of the morale of the Russian Army to skepticism in June-July in anticipating of the planned offensive on the Eastern front and, finally, to disappointment and blow of all hopes regarding assistance from the part of Russian till the end of the campaign of 1917. The author also stresses surprising similarity of British diagnoses and flexibility of the “Russian policy” of France.
Keywords:
Russian Revolution of 1917, First World War, Triple Entente, diplomats, military representatives, perception
Downloads
References
Уорт Р. Антанта и русская революция, 1917–1918 / пер. с англ. М.: Центрполиграф, 2006. 276 с.
Neilson K. Strategy and Supply: The Anglo-Russian Alliance, 1914–17. Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1984. 338 p.
Neilson K. The Breakup of the Anglo-Russian Alliance: The Question of Supply in 1917 // The International History Review. 1981. Vol. 3, N 1. P. 62–75.
Neilson K. “Joy Rides”? British Intelligence and Propaganda in Russia, 1914–1917 // The Historical Journal. 1981. Vol. 24, N 4. P. 885–906.
Hogenhuis-Seliverstoff A. Les relations franco-soviétiques 1917–1924. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1981. 316 p.
Павлов А.Ю. Скованные одной цепью. Стратегическое взаимодействие России и ее союзников в годы Первой мировой войны (1914–1917 гг.). СПб.: Изд-во СПбГУ, 2008. 198 с.
Павлов А.Ю. Надежды и тревоги: реакция французского правительства на Февральскую революцию в России // В поисках исторической истины: сб. статей. М.: Старая Басманная, 2017. C. 301–311.
Магадеев И.Э. Восточный фронт в 1917 г. и перспективы российской армии в оценках французских военных экспертов // Новая и новейшая история. 2017. № 6. С. 29–46.
Бабинцев В.А., Галкина Ю.М. «Декрет о мире» и его последствия в восприятии сотрудников французской военной миссии в России // 1917 год в России: социалистическая идея, революционная мифология и практика. Екатеринбург: Изд-во УРФУ, 2016. C. 352–358.
Вершинин А.А. Революция 1917 года в России глазами французских политиков // Новая и новейшая история. 2017. № 1. С. 126–148.
Thomas A. Journal de Russie d’Albert Thomas, 22 avril — 19 juin 1917 // Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique. 1973. Vol. 14, N 1/2. P. 86–204.
Дэвис Д., Трани Ю. Первая холодная война. Наследие Вудро Вильсона в советско-американских отношениях / пер. с англ. М.: Олма-Пресс, 2002. 479 с.
Darcy P. Au Servive de la France en Russie // La Revue de Paris. 1927. T.V, 15 Septembre. P. 364–378; 1 Octobre. P. 631–653.
Hoare S. The Fourth Seal. London: William Heinemann, 1930. 432 p.
Morris L.P. The Russians, the Allies and the War, February-July 1917 // The Slavonic and East European Review. 1972. Vol. 50, N 118. P. 29–48.
Быков A.B. Фрэнсис Линдли: британский дипломат и русская революция // Новый исторический вестник. 2011. С. 63–76.
Knox A. With the Russian Army. New York: Hutchinson, 1921. Vol. 2. 420 p.
Buchanan G. My mission to Russia and other diplomatic memories. London: Cassell and Co, 1923. Vol.II. 280 p.
Lloyd George D. War memoirs. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1934. Vol.III: 1916–1917. 597 p.
Service historique de la Défense, Département de l’armée de Terre (SHD/DAT, бывший S.H.A.T.). 17 N 1547, Huitième rapport de mission du lieutenant-colonel Langlois (Russie et Roumanie), 19 mars 1917.
Shlapentokh D. The French and Russian Revolutions as observed by foreign witnesses of the Russian Revolution // Revue des études slaves. 1993. T. 65, fasc. 3. P. 493–498.
Gerbod P. Image de la Russie en France de 1890 à 1917 // L’Information historique. 1979. Vol. 41, N 3. P. 115–122.
Локкарт Р. Агония Российской империи. Воспоминания офицера британской разведки / пер. с англ. М.: Эксмо, 2016. 368 с.
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/10/89. Telegram of Robertson April 14, 1917 (Secret).
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/9/87. Bury G.The Russian Revolution (Memorandum to War Cabinet), 5 April 1917 (Secret). Fol. 411–412.
Hunter T. Sir George Bury and the Russian Revolution // The Canadian Historical Association: Report of the Annual Meeting. 1965. Vol. 44 (1). P. 58–70.
Janin M., général. En mission dans la Russie en guerre (1916–1917). Le journal inédit du général Janin. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2015. 283 p.
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/14/90. Thornhill C., major. Effects of Russian Revolution, 4 May 1917 (Secret). Fol. 381.
Foch F. Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de la guerre 1914–1918. Paris: Plon, 1931. T. 2. 337 p.
Paléologue M. La Russie des tsars pendant la Grande Guerre. Paris: Plon, 1922. Vol. 3: 19 août 1916 — 17 mai 1917. 356 p.
Соловьев О.Ф. Революция глазами Второго бюро // Свободная мысль. 1997. № 9. С. 102–110.
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/4/2. Henderson A.British Mission to Russia, June and July, 1917 (Memorandum to War Cabinet, 16 July 1917).
Ribot A. Lettres à un ami: Souvenirs de ma vie politique. Paris: Bossard, 1924. 354 p.
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/21/31. Allied Conference at Paris. Suggestions for Support to be given to Russia in order to prevent a possible Defection, 26 July 1917 (Secret).
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/22/19. Report of general Knox, July 22, 1917. Fol. 78–79.
Noulens J. Mon embassade en Russie soviétique. Vol.I.Paris: Plon, 1933. 259 p.
Niessel A., général. Le triomphe des bolchévics et la paix de Brest-Litovsk: Souvenirs, 1917–1918. Paris: Plon, 1940. 380 p.
Borden R.L. Robert Laird Borden: His Memoirs. Toronto: Macmillan, 1938. Vol.II. 622 p.
Grandhomme J.-N. Le Général Berthelot et l’action de la France en Roumanie et en Russie méridionale (1916–1918). Paris: L’Harmattan, 1999. 1120 p.
Sinanoglou I. La Russie dans la Première Guerre mondiale: Le témoignage de Pierre Pascal // Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique. 1976. Vol. 17, N 4. Р. 485–493.
Legras J. Mémoires de Russie. Paris: Payot, 1921. 450 p.
Jackson P. Beyond the Balance of Power: France and the politics of national security in the era of the First World War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. 577 p.
Sinanoglou I. La mission d’Eugène Petit en Russie. Le parti socialiste français face à la révolution de Février // Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique. 1976. Vol. 17, N 2/3. P. 133–170.
Sadoul J. Notes sur la revolution bolchevique (octobre 1917 — janvier 1919). Paris: Clarté, 1919. 465 p.
Набоков К.Д. Испытания дипломата. Стокгольм: Северные огни, 1921. 282 c.
References
Warth R. Antanta i russkaia revoliutsiia, 1917–1918 [The Allies and the Russian Revolution, 1917–1918], transl. from english. Moscow, Tsentrpoligraf, 2006. 276 p. (In Russian)
Neilson K. Strategy and Supply: The Anglo-Russian Alliance, 1914–17. Boston, Allen & Unwin, 1984. 338 p.
Neilson K. The Breakup of the Anglo-Russian Alliance: The Question of Supply in 1917. The International History Review, 1981, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 62–75.
Neilson K. “Joy Rides”? British Intelligence and Propaganda in Russia, 1914–1917. The Historical Journal, 1981, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 885–906.
Hogenhuis-Seliverstoff A. Les relations franco-soviétiques 1917–1924 [Franco-Soviet Relations, 1917–1924]. Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 1981. 316 p. (In French)
Pavlov A.Iu. Skovannye odnoi tsep’iu. Strategicheskoe vzaimodeistvie Rossii i ee soiuznikov v gody Pervoi mirovoi voiny (1914–1917 gg.) [Forged by one chain. Strategic cooperation between Russia and her Allies during the First World War (1914–1917 gg.)]. St. Petersburg, Izd-vo SPbGU, 2008. 198 p. (In Russian)
Pavlov A.Iu. Nadezhdy i trevogi: reaktsiia frantsuzskogo pravitel’stva na Fevral’skuiu revoliutsiiu v Rossii [Expectations and Anxiety: the French Government’s reaction on the February Revolution in Russia]. V poiskakh istoricheskoi istiny: sb. statei [In search of historical truth: Digest of articles]. Moscow, Staraia Basmannaia, 2017, pp. 301–311. (In Russian)
Magadeev I.E. Vostochnyi front v 1917 g. i perspektivy rossiiskoi armii v otsenkakh frantsuzskikh voennykh ekspertov [The Eastern Front in 1917 and prospects of the Russian Army in estimations of the French military experts]. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia, 2017, no. 6, pp. 29–46. (In Russian)
Babintsev V.A., Galkina Iu. M. «Dekret o mire» i ego posledstviia v vospriiatii sotrudnikov frantsuzskoi voennoi missii v Rossii [Decree on Peace and its consequences in perception of the members of the French military mission in Russia]. 1917 god v Rossii: sotsialisticheskaia ideia, revoliutsionnaia mifologiia i praktika [1917 in Russia: socialist idea, revolutionary mythology and practice]. Ekaterinburg, Izd-vo URFU, 2016, pp. 352–358. (In Russian)
Vershinin A.A. Revoliutsiia 1917 goda v Rossii glazami frantsuzskikh politikov [Russian Revolution of 1917 as viewed by the French politicians]. Novaya i novejshaya istoriya, 2017, no. 1, pp. 126–148. (In Russian)
Thomas A. Journal de Russie d’Albert Thomas, 22 avril — 19 juin 1917 [Russian Diary of Albert Thomas, 22 April — 19 June, 1917]. Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique, 1973, vol. 14, no. 1/2, pp. 86–204. (In French)
Davis D., Trani Eu. Pervaia kholodnaia voina. Nasledie Vudro Vil’sona v sovetsko-amerikanskikh otnosheniiakh [The First Cold War. The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U. S.-Soviet Relations], transl. from English. Moscow, Olma-Press, 2002. 479 p. (In Russian)
Darcy P. Au Servive de la France en Russie [In Service of France in Russia]. La Revue de Paris, 1927, t.V, 15 Septembre, pp. 364–378; 1 Octobre, pp. 631–653. (In French)
Hoare S. The Fourth Seal. London, William Heinemann, 1930. 432 p.
Morris L.P. The Russians, the Allies and the War, February-July 1917. The Slavonic and East European Review, 1972, vol. 50, no. 118, pp. 29–48.
Bykov A.B. Frensis Lindli: britanskii diplomat i russkaia revoliutsiia [Francis Lindley: the British diplomat and the Russian Revolution]. Novyi istoricheskii vestnik, 2011, pp. 63–76. (In Russian)
Knox A. With the Russian Army. Vol. 2. New York, Hutchinson, 1921. 420 p.
Buchanan G. My mission to Russia and other diplomatic memories. Vol.II. London, Cassell and Co, 1923. 280 p.
Lloyd George D. War memoirs. Vol.III: 1916–1917. Boston, Little, Brown, and Co, 1934. 597 p.
Service historique de la Défense, Département de l’armée de Terre [Historical Service of Ministry of Defence]. 17 N 1547, Huitième rapport de mission du lieutenant-colonel Langlois (Russie et Roumanie), 19 mars 1917. (In French)
Shlapentokh D. The French and Russian Revolutions as observed by foreign witnesses of the Russian Revolution. Revue des études slaves, 1993, T. 65, fasc. 3, pp. 493–498.
Gerbod P. Image de la Russie en France de 1890 à 1917 [Russia’s Image in France from 1890 to 1917]. L’Information historique, 1979, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 115–122. (In French)
Lokkart R. Agoniia Rossiiskoi imperii. Vospominaniia ofitsera britanskoi razvedki [The Agony of the Russian Empire. Reminiscences of the officer of British Intelligence Service], transl. from english. Moscow, Eksmo Publ., 2016. 368 p. (In Russian)
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/10/89. Telegram of Robertson April 14, 1917 (Secret).
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/9/87. Bury G. The Russian Revolution (Memorandum to War Cabinet), 5 April 1917 (Secret). Fol. 411–412.
Hunter T. Sir George Bury and the Russian Revolution. The Canadian Historical Association: Report of the Annual Meeting, 1965, vol. 44 (1), pp. 58–70.
Janin M., général. En mission dans la Russie en guerre (1916–1917). Le journal inédit du général Janin [With mission in Russia in time of the War, 1916–1917: Unedited Diary of General Janin]. Paris, L’Harmattan, 2015. 283 p. (In French)
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/14/90. Thornhill C., major. Effects of Russian Revolution, 4 May 1917 (Secret). Fol. 381.
Foch F. Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de la guerre 1914–1918 [The memoirs of Marshal Foch]. T. 2. Paris, Plon, 1931. 337 p. (In French)
Paléologue M. La Russie des tsars pendant la Grande Guerre [Russia of Tsars in Time of the Great War]. Vol. 3: 19 août 1916–17 mai 1917. Paris, Plon, 1922. 356 p. (In French)
Solov’ev O.F. Revoliutsiia glazami Vtorogo biuro [Revolution as viewed by the Second bureau]. Svobodnaia mysl’, 1997, no. 9, pp. 102–110. (In Russian)
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/4/2. Henderson A. British Mission to Russia, June and July, 1917 (Memorandum to War Cabinet, July 16, 1917).
Ribot A. Lettres à un ami: Souvenirs de ma vie politique [Letters for a friend: Recollections of my political life]. Paris, Bossard, 1924. 354 p. (In French)
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/21/31. Allied Conference at Paris. Suggestions for Support to be given to Russia in order to prevent a possible Defection, 26 July 1917 (Secret).
The National Archives (UK). The Cabinet Papers. CAB 24/22/19. Report of general Knox, July 22, 1917. Fol. 78–79.
Noulens J. Mon embassade en Russie soviétique [My Mission in Soviet Russia]. Vol.I. Paris, Plon, 1933. 259 p. (In French)
Niessel A., général. Le triomphe des bolchévics et la paix de Brest-Litovsk: Souvenirs, 1917–1918 [The Triumph of Bolsheviks and the Peace of Brest-Litovsk: Recollections, 1917–1918]. Paris, Plon, 1940. 380 p. (In French)
Borden R.L. Robert Laird Borden: His Memoirs. Vol.II. Toronto, Macmillan, 1938. 622 p.
Grandhomme J.-N. Le Général Berthelot et l’action de la France en Roumanie et en Russie méridionale (1916–1918) [General Berthelot and actions of France in Romania and Southern Russia (1916–1918)]. Paris, L’Harmattan, 1999. 1120 p. (In French)
Sinanoglou I. La Russie dans la Première Guerre mondiale: Le témoignage de Pierre Pascal [Russia in the First World War: Pierre Pascal’s evidences]. Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique, 1976, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 485–493. (In French)
Legras J. Mémoires de Russie [Recollections of Russia]. Paris, Payot, 1921. 450 p. (In French)
Jackson P. Beyond the Balance of Power: France and the politics of national security in the era of the First World War. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013. 577 p.
Sinanoglou I. La mission d’Eugène Petit en Russie. Le parti socialiste français face à la révolution de Février [The Eugène Petit mission in Russia. The French Socialist Party faces the February Revolution]. Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique, 1976, vol. 17, no. 2/3, pp. 133–170. (In French)
Sadoul J. Notes sur la revolution bolchevique (octobre 1917 — janvier 1919) [Notes on the Bolshevik Revolution]. Paris, Clarté, 1919. 465 p. (In French)
Nabokov K.D. Ispytaniia diplomata [Endurances of a diplomat]. Stokgol’m, Severnye ogni, 1921. 282 p. (In Russian)
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. International relations" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.
