Russian Non-Bolshevik Diplomacy and the Issue of International Recognition of the White Movement in 1918-1920
https://doi.org/10.24833/RJWPLN-2023-4-4-35
Abstract
Gaining international recognition for the White Movement was the most important foreign policy task of Russian non-Bolshevik diplomacy. This article traces the evolving discourse of career diplomats, considering this issue at different stages of the Russian Civil War. It shows their deep patriotism, professionalism, and persistency in carrying out the task. However, when the Allies did not share the slogans of the White Movement, the possibility of finding common ground were very limited. At the first stage (summer–autumn 1918), diplomats were cautious about the claims for recognition of numerous Russian non-Bolshevik governments. During the second stage (1918–1919), the issue of recognition played a unique role – the participation of Russian representatives in the peace conference, and therefore in determining the configuration of the post-war world, depended on its success. The resolve of the diplomats to defend Russia’s national interests did not suit foreign powers, who did not share the White Movement’s slogan about restoring a united and indivisible Russia, its power, and its position in the world. At the third stage (spring–summer 1920), diplomats, losing hope that the White Movement would emerge victorious in the Civil War, withdrew from direct involvement in seeking international recognition for the White Movement. However, they provided all possible technical support to the Head of the Department of External Relations of the Wrangel Government, Peter B. Struve, who assumed this mission. France’s recognition of the Sevastopol authorities in the summer of 1920 was limited, did not involve active military assistance, and caused justified scepticism in diplomatic circles.
About the Author
E. M. Mironova
Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Elena M. Mironova – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Senior Researcher, Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
32-A, Leninsky Prospekt, Moscow, 119334
References
1. Abrikosov D. I. 2008. Sud'ba russkogo diplomata [The Fate of the Russian Diplomat]. Moscow: Terra. 576 p. (In Russian).
2. Chemakin A. A. 2020. Deyatel'nost' P.B. Struve kak ministra inostrannyh del pravitel'stva Yuga Rossii (1920) [Activities of P.B. Struve as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the South of Russia (1920)]. Nauchnyy dialog. No. 12. P. 362–377. (In Russian). DOI: 10.24224/2227-1295-2020-12-362-377
3. Churchill W. 1932. Mirovoy krizis [The Global Crisis]. Moscow: State Military Publishing House. 328 p. (In Russian).
4. Cvetkov V. Z. 2009. Beloe delo v Rossii. 1919 formirovanie i evolyuciya politicheskih struktur Belogo dvizheniya v Rossii. [White Business in Russia 1919 the Formation and Evolution of the Political Structures of the White Movement in Russia]. Mosocw: Posev. 635 p. (In Russian).
5. Emtsov G. N. 2002. Mezhdunarodnoe priznanie pravitel'stva A.V. Kolchaka (1918–1920 gg.): istoriko-pravovoi analiz [International Recognition of the Government of A.V. Kolchak (1918–1920): Historical and Legal Analysis]. Aktual'nye problemy teorii i istorii gosudarstva i prava. Krasnoyarsk. P. 63–75. (In Russian).
6. Ermakov V. P., Grishanin P. I. 2002. God 1920 v Krymu: «beloe delo» generala P.N. Vrangelya i pozicii pravitel’stva SSHA [1920 in Crimea: “White Matter” of General P.N. Wrangel and the Position of the US Government]. Aktual’nye problemy rossiiskoj i mirovoi istorii. Uchyonye zapiski. Vypusk I. Pyatigorsk. P. 99–107. (In Russian).
7. Grishanin P. I., Ermakov V. P. 2006. P. N. Vrangel’ i Pol’sha: slozhnosti i protivorechiya vzaimootnoshenij [P.N. Wrangel and Poland: Complexities and contradictions of relations]. Krym, Vrangel’. 1920. Moscow: Sotsial'no-politicheskaya mysl'. P. 116–124. (In Russian).
8. Karley M. D. 2017. Antibol’shevizm vo vneshnej politike Frantsii: pol’skiy krizis 1920 g. [Anti-Bolshevism in French Foreign Policy: The Polish Crisis of 1920]. Zhurnal rossijskih i vostochnoevropejskih istoricheskih issledovaniy. 3(10). P. 52–73. (In Russian).
9. Listikov S. V. 2009. Mir bez Rossii: predstavitel'stvo Belogo dvizheniya na Parizhskoi konferentsii [World Without Russia: Representation of the White Movement at the Paris Conference]. MGIMO Review of International Relations. 1(4). P. 15–29. (In Russian). DOI: 10.24833/2071-8160-2009-1-4-15-29
10. Listikov S. V. 2011. «Vil’sonovskie 14 punktov» i russkie nebol'shevistskie sily na parizhskoy mirnoy konferentsii [“Wilson's 14 Points” and Russian Non-Bolshevik Forces at the Paris Peace Conference]. Zabytaya vojna i predannye geroi. Moscow: Veche. P. 129–158. (In Russian).
11. Mel'gunov S. P. 2004. Tragediya admirala Kolchaka [The Tragedy of Admiral Kolchak]. Vol. 1. Moscow. 592 p. (In Russian).
12. Mikhailovsky G. N. 1992. Zapiski. Iz istorii rossijskogo vneshnepoliticheskogo vedomstva. 1914–1920 [Notes From the History of the Russian Foreign Ministry. 1914–1920]. Books 1–2. Moscow. (In Russian).
13. Mironova E. M. 2013. Ot Pevcheskogo mosta do ulicy Grenel' 1917–1918 gg. [From Pevchesky Bridge to Grenelle Street 1917–1918]. Moscow: IVI RAN. 235 p. (In Russian).
14. Sergeev E. Y. 2019. Bol'sheviki i anglichane. Sovetsko-britanskie otnosheniya, 1918–1924 gg: ot intervencii k priznaniyu. [Bolsheviks and British. Soviet–British Relations, 1918–1924: From Intervention to Recognition]. Moscow: Nauka. 831 p. (In Russian).
15. Shmelev A. V. 2017. Vneshnyaya politika pravitel'stva admirala Kolchaka. 1918–1919 [Foreign Policy of the Government of Admiral Kolchak. 1918–1919]. Saint-Petersburg: Izdatel'stvo Yevropeyskogo universiteta v Sankt-Peterburge. 266 p. (In Russian).
16. Shtein B. E. 1949. "Russkiy vopros" na Parizhskoy mirnoy konferentsii (1919–1920 gg.) [“The Russian Question: At the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)]. Moscow: Gospolitizdat. 463 p. (In Russian).
17. Smolin A. V. 2017. U zakrytyh dverey versal'skogo dvortsa. Parizhskaya mirnaya konferentsiya i russkaya diplomatiya v 1919 g. [At the Closed Doors of the Palace of Versailles. Paris Peace Conference and Russian Diplomacy in 1919]. Saint-Petersburg: Nauka. 417 p. (In Russian).
18. Thompson J. M. 1966. Russia, Bolshevism and the Versailles Peace. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 429 p.
19. Tongour N. N. 1979. Diplomacy in Exile: Russian Emigres in Paris, 1918–1925. PhD Dissertation. Stanford University.
20. Ullman R. H. 1968. Anglo-Soviet Relations, 1917-1921: in 3 vols. Princeton, Jersey: Princeton Univ. Press. Vol. 2: Britain and the Russian Civil War. 396 р.
21. Wrangel P. N. 1992. Vospominaniya generala barona Vrangelya [Memoirs of General Baron Wrangel]. Part 2. Moscow: Terra. (In Russian).
22. Zhanen M. 1930. Otryvki iz moego sibirskogo dnevnika. Kolchakovshchina. Iz belyh memuarov [Excerpts from my Siberian Diary. Kolchakovshina. From the White Memoirs]. N. A. Kornatovsky, ed. Leningrad: Krasnaya Gazeta. 240 p. (In Russian).
Review
For citations:
Mironova E.M. Russian Non-Bolshevik Diplomacy and the Issue of International Recognition of the White Movement in 1918-1920. Russian Journal of World Politics and Law of Nations. 2023;2(4):4-35. https://doi.org/10.24833/RJWPLN-2023-4-4-35
Views:
112
Email this article 