Sunday, February 09, 2014
The American occupation of Russia. Huh????????????
Did you know that the US Army occupied part of Russia at the same time as the Russian Revolution? I didn't!
We were working with Jap and Czech forces, and we built or improved 3000 miles of telegraph lines, starting from Vladivostok. That's the same distance as New York to San Francisco!
What in the hell was this about? Presumably we were all working together against the Krauts, but it's such an odd combination! Makes me wonder if any of that American equipment is still running, given that the Russian Telegraph Company is still running.
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A bit later, noticed something even odder: using the name "Czecho-Slovak forces" in September 1918. During the war, Bohemia and Moravia and Slovakia were still provinces of Austria-Hungary, still part of the Axis. According to this Wiki, the provinces united to form the new nation of Czechoslovakia a few days after the Armistice in October 1918, and took another year to fully crystallize as a nation. It sounds like those soldiers had been working on the Allied side for a while, so the concept of an independent Czechoslovakia, or perhaps a 'shadow government', must have existed for a while. Similar to the Free French army and navy in WW2, who played a major part in the Allied victory without getting any credit from history. (The next time you're tempted to use "France" and "surrender" in the same sentence, READ THIS.)
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Later: Finally found a larger picture of what was happening, thanks to a phrase in a book on Russian auto production. The Russians call this campaign the War Of Intervention. Here's a concise article. It did in fact include the Allies, plus Japan, plus the not-yet-formed Czechoslovakia. A poorly-planned effort to intervene on the side of the Mensheviks, and possibly to shore up an Eastern Front against Germany which turned out to be unnecessary. The Americans pulled out soon after Armistice, but the others, esp Japs, stayed until 1922, boosting Russian paranoia toward foreigners and accomplishing nothing. Good old Nation-Building. We've been doing it for at least 120 years now. Never succeeds, always creates unnecessary enemies. We keep doing it. We're fucking EXCEPTIONAL.
¶ 3:34 PM 
We were working with Jap and Czech forces, and we built or improved 3000 miles of telegraph lines, starting from Vladivostok. That's the same distance as New York to San Francisco!
What in the hell was this about? Presumably we were all working together against the Krauts, but it's such an odd combination! Makes me wonder if any of that American equipment is still running, given that the Russian Telegraph Company is still running.
= = = = =
A bit later, noticed something even odder: using the name "Czecho-Slovak forces" in September 1918. During the war, Bohemia and Moravia and Slovakia were still provinces of Austria-Hungary, still part of the Axis. According to this Wiki, the provinces united to form the new nation of Czechoslovakia a few days after the Armistice in October 1918, and took another year to fully crystallize as a nation. It sounds like those soldiers had been working on the Allied side for a while, so the concept of an independent Czechoslovakia, or perhaps a 'shadow government', must have existed for a while. Similar to the Free French army and navy in WW2, who played a major part in the Allied victory without getting any credit from history. (The next time you're tempted to use "France" and "surrender" in the same sentence, READ THIS.)
= = = = =
Later: Finally found a larger picture of what was happening, thanks to a phrase in a book on Russian auto production. The Russians call this campaign the War Of Intervention. Here's a concise article. It did in fact include the Allies, plus Japan, plus the not-yet-formed Czechoslovakia. A poorly-planned effort to intervene on the side of the Mensheviks, and possibly to shore up an Eastern Front against Germany which turned out to be unnecessary. The Americans pulled out soon after Armistice, but the others, esp Japs, stayed until 1922, boosting Russian paranoia toward foreigners and accomplishing nothing. Good old Nation-Building. We've been doing it for at least 120 years now. Never succeeds, always creates unnecessary enemies. We keep doing it. We're fucking EXCEPTIONAL.
¶ 3:34 PM
