As the last guns sounded on the Western Front, 4,200 Canadian
soldiers, some of them conscripts, travelled from Victoria to
Vladivostok to open a new theatre of war in Siberia. Part of the
Allied intervention in Russia’s civil war, the force sought to
defeat Bolshevism, but grim conditions, conflict among the Allies, and
local opposition eventually forced Canada to evacuate the troops. This
groundbreaking book brings to a life a forgotten chapter in the
history of Canada and Russia. Combining military and labour history
with the social history of British Columbia, Québec, and Russia,
Benjamin Isitt examines how the Siberian Expedition exacerbated
tensions within Canadian society at a time when a radicalized working
class, many French-Canadians, and even the soldiers themselves
objected to Canada’s military adventure designed to alter the
outcome of the Russian Revolution. Military historians have tended to
write off the Siberian Expeditionary Force as a mere sideshow, an
embarrassing episode in the larger context of the First World War. By
bringing the story of the expedition to centre stage, Benjamin Isitt
illuminates a forgotten chapter in the history of labour radicalism
and the complex factors that have shaped foreign policy. The result is
a highly readable and provocative work that challenges public memory
of the First World War.
Les mer
Canada’s Siberian Expedition, 1917-19
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780774859479
Publisert
2020
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
University of British Columbia Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter