ARCHANGEL 1918-1919

The Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917 threw her western allies into a panic: was the eastern giant about to be overwhelmed by anarchic chaos and drop out of the First World War – leaving the west to fight a resurgent Germany? Or, still worse, had Russia fallen into the hands of ruthless revolutionaries who would export their revolution to a war weary Europe? Such fears led to the despatches of allied military expeditoions to several points on the coasts of north and south RUssia. One such was the Archangel expedition led by the huge general Sir Edmund ‘Tiny’ Ironside, later chief of the Imperial General Staff. This is Ironside’s account of his mission to the snowy northern wastes of Russia, his co-operation with somewhat unreliable White Russian allies; his clashes with the Bolsheviks and his eventual withdrawal.