A Nasty Little War

The Western Intervention into the Russian Civil War

By: Anna Reid

Narrated by: Anna Reid

The first comprehensive history of the failed Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War, a decisive turning point in the relationship between Russia and the West

Overlapping with and overshadowed by the First World War, the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War was one of the most ambitious military ventures of the twentieth century. Launched in the summer of 1918, it drew in 180,000 troops from fifteen different countries in theaters ranging from the Caspian Sea to the Arctic, and from Poland to the Pacific. Though little remembered today, its consequences stoked global political turmoil for decades to come.

In A Nasty Little War, top Russia historian Anna Reid offers a sweeping and deeply researched account of the conflict. Initially launched to prevent Germany from exploiting the power vacuum in Eastern Europe left by the Russian Revolution, the Intervention morphed into a bid to destroy the Bolsheviks on the battlefield. But Allied armaments, supplies, and loans could not prevent Russia’s anti-Bolshevik armies from collapsing, and the Allies were forced to retreat in defeat. The humiliation sapped British imperial swagger, chastened American idealism, and stoked militarism and nationalism in France and Germany. Combining immersive storytelling with deep research, A Nasty Little War reveals how the Allied Intervention reshaped the West’s relationship with Russia.

©2024 Anna Reid (P)2024 Basic Books

Critic reviews

“Brilliantly depicts the disastrous failure of our intervention in the ‘Russian’ civil war. The atmosphere, the characters, the absurdity are all there.”—Antony Beevor, New York Times-bestselling author of Stalingrad

“In witty, elegant prose, Reid uncovers the true story of the West’s failed and forgotten attempt to reverse the Bolshevik revolution. Excellent.”—Anne Applebaum, New York Times-bestselling author of Twilight of Democracy

“A compelling and meticulously researched account. Through its pages strut arrogant warlords, tsarist generals, Bolshevik revolutionaries and British and American military commanders; at stake, the future fate of Russia. With Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine—and the West’s determination to see him defeated—A Nasty Little War is chillingly topical.”—Giles Milton, author of Checkmate in Berlin

A nasty war indeed

"A Nasty Little War: The Western Intervention into the Russian Civil War" explores the chaotic and unsuccessful efforts by Western powers—mainly Britain, France, and the United States—to intervene in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1920. In my opinion, the book relies too much on verbatim readings of diaries and letters, but Reid's analysis exposes the West's conflicting motives, initially focused on preventing Germany from gaining power in the region, then turning into a full-fledged attempt to crush the Bolsheviks. It failed miserably, and Reid suggests that this intervention laid the groundwork for future geopolitical tensions, including those involving today's Russia and its neighbors.

Untold history

An engaging and informative telling of a forgotten part of Russian history - when the west plus Japan sided with the White Russians against the Bolsheviks. Thought I knew the story, didn’t.