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Nasty Little War Reverse Revolution
Published: March 5, 2026
Video Description
In 1918, the United States and several Allies invaded Soviet Russia, occupying more territory than the Bolsheviks themselves. But for everyone involved in this oft-forgotten Allied intervention into the Russian Civil War, including the key decision makers, they were all clueless about what they were doing and why. I wrote my capstone essay in undergrad about that decision, called “A Study in Confusion,” which is what this episode is.
29.27 said WWII but meant WWI ( thx @ThatHumanBeingAlex )
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*Selective Bibliography*
War Cabinet Meeting Minutes, British National Archives
Donald Davis and Eugene Trany, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in US-Soviet Relations (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002). https://amzn.to/2OpXxwg
E.M. Halliday, The Ignorant Armies (New York: Bantam, 1958). https://amzn.to/2OzcWuD
George F. Kennan, The Decision to Intervene: Soviet American Relations, 1917-1920, Volume II (Princeton, N.Jer.: Princeton University Press, 1956). https://amzn.to/2vGXzZO
Anna Reid, A Nasty Little War: The Western Intervention into the Russian Civil War (New York: Basic Books, 2023). https://amzn.to/4hYDpjZ
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Connected videos
My autobiography https://youtu.be/q-xUz6POwGA
Explaining my dissertation https://youtu.be/Y04yvH1FBzs
American small wars https://youtu.be/1oGJ784mf_M
Wars you've never heard of playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjnwpaclU4wXTU5VsYlRm0F2KIQW-_nsv
WILSOOON https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjnwpaclU4wXmCcEx0vfIim_jFMkgtLmS
George F Kennan https://youtu.be/umyl07IRS-8
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Wiki: The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions that began in 1918. The initial impetus behind the interventions was to secure munitions and supply depots from falling into the German Empire's hands, particularly after the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and to rescue the Allied forces that had become trapped within Russia after the 1917 October Revolution.[17] After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the Allied plan changed to helping the White forces in the Russian Civil War. After the Whites collapsed, the Allies withdrew their forces from Russia by 1925