The Soviet-British Relations at the Turn of 1917/1918: Key Issues and Untapped Opportunities

This paper examines one of the key issues in relations between the Great Britain and the Bolshevik government during the first months after the October period of the Great Russian Revolution of 1917–1922 – participation of the Soviet Russia in military operations on the side of the Entente in the final stage of the First World War. The author emphasizes that position of the British political elites regarding the seizure of power in Russia by Vladimir Lenin and his supporters was not as straightforward as it was portrayed by the Soviet and Russian historiography: the British politicians faced a dilemma since they did not want to see Russia either as a neutral country or an enemy. On the basis of contemporaries’ memoirs and diaries, previously unstudied official documents as well as a comparative analysis of the Russian and Western historiography, especially the recent publications, the author assesses successes and failures of both the Foreign Office and the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs in the late 1917 and early 1918 – the least studied period in the history of the Soviet-British relations. The paper shows that apart from a continuous fighting on the fronts of the Great War, these successes and failures were attributable to a number of factors, including political struggle in both countries, strategic foreign policy objectives of both the Bolsheviks and the British elites, as well as the interference of the third parties – be it allies or enemies. In this difficult context, practical steps of the foreign ministries of both countries primarily depended on the outcomes of the intense polemics between the British and the Bolshevist politicians, diplomats and opinion leaders. Special focus is on the relations between the Soviet Russia and Great Britain during the Brest peace negotiations and particularly on the mission of R.H. Bruce Lockhart. The author concludes that throughout this period neither side managed to win the diplomatic duel: Great Britain had lost its strategic ally whereas Russia after four years of struggle had to repel the military intervention of its ex-partners in the Entente.

1. Bykov A.V., Panov L.S. 1998. Diplomaticheskaya stolitsa Rossii [Diplomatic capital of Russia]. Vologda, Ardvisura Publ. (In Russ.)

2. Bystrova N.E. 2016. ‘Russkii vopros’ v 1917 – nachale 1920 g.: Sovetskaya Rossiya i velikie derzhavy [‘Russian question’ in 1917 – early 1920: The Soviet Russia and the Great Powers]. St Petersburg, IRI RAN Publ. (In Russ.)

3. Volkov F.D. 1980. Tainy Whitehall i Downing-street [Mysteries of Whitehall and Downing Street]. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ. (In Russ.)

4. Vygodskii S.Yu. 1965. U istokov sovetskoi diplomatii [Origins of the Soviet diplomacy]. Moscow, Gospolitizdat Publ. (In Russ.)

5. Davidson A.B. 2005. Obraz Velikobritanii v Rossii XIX–XX stoletii [The image of Great Britain in Russia in the 19th – 20th centuries]. Novaya i noveishaya istoriya, no. 5, pp. 51–64. (In Russ.)

6. Dumova N.G., Trukhanovskii V.G. 1989. Cherchill’ i Milyukov protiv Sovetskoi Rossii [Churchill and Milyukov against the Soviet Russia]. Moscow, Nauka Publ. (In Russ.)

7. Ivanov A.A. 2012. Russkaya revolyutsiya i konflikt v britanskom razvedyvatel’nom soobshchestve v 1917–1918 gg. [Russian Revolution and conflict within the British intelligence community in 1917–1918]. Voprosy istorii, no. 10, pp. 150–156. (In Russ.)

8. Torkunov A.V. (ed.). 2007. Izvestnye diplomaty Rossii. Ministry inostrannykh del XX veka [Russia’s famous diplomats. Ministers for Foreign Affairs in the 20th century]. Moscow, Moskovskie uchebniki Publ. (In Russ.)

9. Kononova M.M. 2004. Struktura, status i mekhanizm funktsionirovaniya rossiiskikh zagranuchrezhdenii v emigratsii (1917–1925 gg.) [Structure, status, and functioning mechanisms of the Russian foreign missions in emigration in 1917–1925]. Moscow, IVI RAN Publ. (In Russ.)

10. Levidov M.Yu. 1925. K istorii soyuznoi interventsii v Rossiyu [To the history of the Allied intervention in Russia]. Leningrad, Priboi Publ., vol. 1. (In Russ.)

11. Maiskii I.M. 1957. Anglo-sovetskoe torgovoe soglashenie 1921 g. [AngloSoviet Trade Agreement of 1921]. Voprosy istorii, no. 5, pp. 60–77. (In Russ).

12. Makarenko P.V. 2008. Brestskii mir i dualizm sovetskoi vneshnei politiki [The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the duality of Soviet foreign policy]. In Romanov V.V. (ed.) Chicherinskie chteniya. Rossiya i mir posle Pervoi mirovoi voiny: materialy mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii, November 11–12, 2008 [The Chicherin Readings. Russia and the world after the First World War: Proceedings of the international conference, November 11–12, 2008]. Tambov, Tambovskii universitet Publ., pp. 232–244. (In Russ.)

13. Nezhinskii L.N. 2004. V interesakh naroda ili vopreki im? Sovetskaya mezhdunarodnaya politika v 1917–1933 gg. [In the interests of people or against them? Soviet international policy in 1917–1933]. Moscow, Nauka Publ. (In Russ.)

14. Nezhinskii L.N., Rudaya E.N. 2002. NKID RSFSR v pervye gody Sovetskoi vlasti [Peoples’ Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the Russian SFSR in the first years of the Soviet rule]. In Torkunov A.M. (ed.). Ocherki istorii MID Rossii [Essays on the history of the Russian Foreign Ministry]. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ., vol. 2, pp. 33–62. (In Russ.)

15. Solov’ev O.F. 1965. Iz istorii bor’by Sovetskogo pravitel’stva za mirnoe sosushchestvovanie s Angliei [From the history of the Soviet government’s struggle for peaceful coexistence with England]. Voprosy istorii, no. 12, pp. 54–64. (In Russ.)

16. Trofimova L.I. 1972. Pervye shagi sovetskoi diplomatii [The first steps of the Soviet diplomacy]. Novaya i noveishaya istoriya, no. 1, pp. 63–79. (In Russ.)

17. Fel’shtinskii Yu.G. 1992. Krushenie mirovoi revolyutsii: Brestskii mir, October 1917 – November 1918 [Collapse of the world revolution: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, October 1917 – November 1918]. Moscow, Terra Publ. (In Russ.)

18. Fomin A.M. 2012. Voenno-politicheskie tseli Velikobritanii na zavershayushchem etape Pervoi mirovoi voiny [British political and war aims at the final stage of World War I]. Novaya i noveishaya istoriya, no. 3, pp. 72–91. (In Russ.)

19. Chubar’yan A.O. 1963. Brestskii mir [The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]. Moscow, Nauka Publ. (In Russ.)

20. Chubar’yan A.O. 1972. Lenin i formirovanie sovetskoi vneshnei politiki [Lenin and development of the Soviet foreign policy]. Moscow, Nauka Publ. (In Russ.)

21. Sheinis Z.S. 1989. Maksim Maksimovich Litvinov: revolyutsioner, diplomat, chelovek [Maxim Maximovich Litvinov: The revolutionary, the diplomat, the man]. Moscow, Gospolitizdat Publ. (In Russ.)

22. Shishkin V.A. 2002. Stanovlenie vneshnei politiki poslerevolyutsionnoi Rossii (1917–1930 gg.) i kapitalisticheskii mir [Foreign policy of the post-revolutionary Russia in 1917–1930 and the capitalist world]. St Petersburg, D. Bulavin Publ. (In Russ.)

23. Shtein B.E. 1949. ‘Russkii vopros’ na Parizhskoi mirnoi konferentsii [The ‘Russian question’ at the Paris peace conference]. Moscow, Gospolitizdat Publ. (In Russ.)

24. Ward A., Gooch G. (eds.). 1923. The Cambridge history of British foreign policy, 1783–1919. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3.

25. Chambers R. 2009. The last Englishman: The double life of Arthur Ransome. London, Faber and Faber.

26. Coates W., Coates Z. 1935. Armed intervention in Russia 1918–1922. London, V. Gollancz.

27. Costello J. 1988. Mask of treachery. London, Collins.

28. Debo R. 1975. Litvinov and Kamenev – ambassadors extraordinary: The problem of Soviet representation abroad. Slavic Review, vol. XXXIV, no. 3, pp. 463–482.

29. Debo R. 1979. Revolution and survival: The foreign policy of Soviet Russia 1917–1918. Liverpool, Liverpool University Press.

30. Dennis A. 1924. The foreign policy of Soviet Russia. New York, J.M. Dent and Sons.

31. Dugdale B. 1936. Arthur James Balfour. London, Hutchinson.

32. Fischer L. 1951. The Soviets in world affairs. A history of the relations between the Soviet Union and the rest of the world. 1917–1929. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, vol. 1.

33. Foglesong D. 1995. America’s secret war against bolshevism: U.S. intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1917–1920. Chapel Hill, London, University of North Carolina Press.

34. French D. 1995. The strategy of the Lloyd George coalition, 1916–1918. Oxford, Clarendon Press.

35. Girault R., Frank R. 1988. Turbulente Europe et nouveaux mondes. Histoire des relations internationales contemporaines. Paris, etc., Masson, vol. 2.

36. Haslam J. 1996. Litvinov, Stalin and the road not taken. In Holloway D., Naimark N. (eds.). Reexamining the Soviet experience. Essays in honor of Alexander Dallin. Boulder, Ca., Westview Press, pp. 55–62.

37. Henderson A., Dovgalevsky V. 1929. Anglo-Soviet relations, 1918–1929. Bulletin of International News, vol. VI, no. 7, pp. 3–12.

38. Keeble C. 1990. Britain and the Soviet Union, 1917–1989. London, Macmillan.

39. Kennan G. 1961. Russia and the West under Lenin and Stalin. Boston, Little, Brown and Co.

40. Kennan G. 1967. Soviet-American relations, 1917–1920. New York, Athenaeum, vol. 1.

41. Kettle M. 1981. Russia and the Allies. 1917–1920. London, A. Deutsch, vol. 1.

42. Lowe C., Dockrill M. 1972. The mirage of power: British foreign policy, 1902–1922. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, vol. 2.

43. Maccrae M. 2015. Recasting the victory strategy: Russia’s exit from the war and its impact on Allied war plans. In Pavlov A.Yu. (ed.). Pervaya mirovaya voina, Versal’skaya sistema i sovremennost’ [World War I, Versailles system and modernity]. St Petersburg, RKHGA Publ., ins. 3, pp. 289–296.

44. Macdonald D., Dronfield J. 2016. A very dangerous woman. The lives, loves and lies of Russia’s most seductive spy. London, Oneworld.

45. Northedge F., Wells A. 1982. Britain and Soviet communism: The impact of a revolution. London, Macmillan.

46. Occleshaw M. 2006. Dances in deep shadows: The clandestine war in Russia, 1914–20. New York, Carrol and Graf Publishers.

47. Page Arnot R. 1967. The impact of the Russian Revolution in Britain. London, Lawrence and Wishart.

48. Scheffer P. 1931. Maxim Litvinov: An intimate study. Current History, vol. XXXIV, no. 4, pp. 670–677.

49. Schuman F. 1957. Russia since 1917. Four decades of Soviet Politics. New York, A. Knopf.

50. Sharp A. 1988. Some relevant historians – the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office, 1918–1920. Australian Journal of Politics and History, vol. XXXIV, no. 3, pp. 359–388.

51. Swain G. 1996. The origins of the Russian Civil War. London, New York, Longman.

52. Ulam A. 1968. Expansion and coexistence. The history of Soviet foreign policy, 1917–67. New York, Washington, F. Praeger.

53. Ullman R. 1961. Anglo-Soviet relations, 1917–1921. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, vol. 1.

54. Warth R. 1954. The Allies and the Russian Revolution. Durham, N.C., Duke University Press.

55. Wheeler-Bennett J. 1939. Brest-Litovsk 1918. The forgotten peace, March 1918. London, Macmillan.

56. White S. 1985. The origins of détente. The Genoa Conference and SovietWestern relations, 1921–1922. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.