F. Willoughby Smith and the development of American policy toward the Bolshevik Revolution, 7 November - 12 December, 1917
Abstract
Felix Octavius Willoughby Smith served as the American consul at Batum, and later Tiflis, Russia, from April, 1914 to April, 1919. The United States' entry into the war in April of 1917 catapulted Consul Smith into a position of immense responsibility, for he was well-aware of the military, political, economic, and strategic importance of the Transcaucasus region of South Russia to the Allies. The Bolshevik Revolution of 7 November 1917 overthrew a regime in Russia that was friendly to the United States and threatened to drive a wedge between the Transcaucasus and the Allies to whom the region had pledged allegiance.
The son of the American consul at Odessa during the Lincoln and Grant administrations, Smith was born and raised in South Russia during the reign of Aleksandr II. Perhaps because of his upbringing he was adamantly opposed to the Bolsheviks and everything for which they stood. His consular dispatches to the Department of State advocated taking a strong stance toward the Bolsheviks while, at the same time, financially supporting a group of Cossacks in South Russia who had pledged to remain in the war and to end Bolshevik rule in Petrograd.
The administration of President Woodrow Wilson ultimately acted upon Smith's recommendations to finance the Cossacks in South Russia. Many diplomatic historians have argued that this was the first of many anti-Bolshevik actions by American officials and that the Cold War between Russia and America began at this time. The first objective of this thesis is to ascertain the influence that F. Wllloughby Smith exerted on the development of American policy toward the Bolshevik Revolution. The second objective is to determine the motivations behind Consul Smith's recommendations. The final objective is to evaluate the significance of the decision made by the Wilson administration on 12 December 1917 to finance the Cossacks in South Russia.
Description
Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to digital@library.tamu.edu, referencing the URI of the item.Bibliography: leaves 133-140.
Subject
history.Major history.
Soviet Union - History - Participation, Foreign. - Revolution 1917-1921
Soviet Union, Southern - History - Revolution 1917-1921
United States - Foreign relations - Soviet Union
Soviet Union - Foreign relations - United States
Collections
Citation
Hammond, Terry Wayne (1986). F. Willoughby Smith and the development of American policy toward the Bolshevik Revolution, 7 November - 12 December, 1917. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1986 -THESIS -H227.