Encyclopedia of Russian History

In World War I (1914-1918), the United States and Russia were intimately involved and eventually on the same side. As one of the initial participants, Russia suffered a series of defeats. With the cutting off of regular trade routes through the Black and Baltic Seas and overland across Europe, Russia faced severe economic shortages and a breakdown of transportation. Its relations with the United States also intensified as Washington agreed under terms of the Geneva Convention to supervise German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman prisoners of war in Russia, resulting in a considerable number of additional Americans traveling through the country to inspect the Russian camps. Russia also depended upon supplies of munitions and transportation equipment, unfortunately delayed by America’s own needs and a higher priority for the Western Front.

The February 1917 Revolution that brought an end to the Russian autocracy facilitated American entry into the war “to make the world safe for democracy.” Large American loans delivered vital goods to the Russian ports of Vladivostok, Archangel, and Murmansk. Unfortunately, the steadily deteriorating state of rail transport left most of the deliveries piled up at the ports. American delegations came to advise and bolster Russia’s continuation of the war. One delegation, led by elder statesman Elihu Root, sought to strengthen the Provisional

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Government, first headed by Paul Milyukov and then by Alexander Kerensky, with a symbolic show of American support. Railroad, American Red Cross, and other missions followed, but little could be done while the Allies placed higher priority on the Western Front. The radical left wing of the revolution seized power in October, thus dashing American expectations that Russia was headed down the path toward representative democracy.

After considering aid to the new Bolshevik-dominated Soviet government, a policy urged by American Red Cross mission director Raymond Robins, the American embassy essentially broke off direct relations by moving to Vologda at the end of February 1918, when the Soviet government moved to Moscow. When the Soviets departed from the war by signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March, the Allies, hardened by a sense of Russian betrayal, opted for armed intervention to prevent the vast arsenal of supplies at ports from falling into German hands and to assist a considerable anti-Bolshevik resistance in Russia. Reluctant to participate in intervention, but mindful of Communist-inspired disruptions (the “Red Scare” of 1919), the United States created a massive relief program (1921-1923) but stipulated that the aid be administered directly by the American Relief Administration.

The American offer and Soviet acceptance were grounded in humanitarian concerns, but both Russian and American interests were disappointed that it did not result in full diplomatic relations. The United States withheld recognition during the 1920s because of the general American isolationism after the war (and disillusionment with the peace), concerns about violations of religious rights, Bolshevik renunciation of imperial debt, and, more vaguely, a belief that the Soviet Union did not deserve recognition because of its abuse of human rights and the Soviet-sponsored Communist International’s support of the American Communist Party. However, some Americans argued that Communism could be tempered by contacts, that much good business could be done, and that new international developments of the 1930s (the rise of an aggressive Japan and Germany) required accommodations. This led to formal diplomatic recognition (1933) and eventually to the “grand alliance” of World War II. The success of the Big Three (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) and their countries in forging victory in Europe and the Pacific was a major accomplishment of the twentieth century.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY

UNITED STATES, RELATIONS WITH