The USA, Soviet Russia and the Baltic states: from recognition to the Cold War
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: JAV; Sovietinė Rusija; Baltijos valstybės; Baltijos valstybių pripažinimas; USA; Soviet Russia; Baltic States; Recognition of the Baltic States in 1922.
ENThere have been numerous studies detailing the US attitude towards the events in Russia in 1917, US responses to the Bolshevik coup and US–Russian relations from 1917 to 1920. As to those studies, there is little value in revisiting the version of Soviet propaganda dating from the Cold War. This stipulated that the capitalist USA nursed a particular hatred for the young socialist Soviet Russia and sought to destroy the first proletarian state, to seize Russia’s riches and to subjugate its people. Most Russian historians today have dismissed this approach. Arno Mayer maintained that before and during the First World War, Russia was neither a friend nor an enemy to the Allies. Until the spring of 1917, Russia remained a region of little importance for US foreign policy and diplomacy. The pre-war and war-time US ambassadors George Marye and David Francis were senior functionaries of the Democratic Party rather than experts on Russia. Yet it would be unfair to say that US President Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points, which included the Russian issue (Point 6) in January 1918, were merely a reaction to the arrival in power of the Bolsheviks and their propagandist promises to follow the principle of national self-determination. Wilson did not call for the overthrow of the Bolsheviks, much less the partitioning of Russia, even though he was also pressurised in this direction. Wilson demanded the immediate liberation of Russia from occupation by the Central Powers. He even praised Lenin for having made an important step towards peace. The US President also opposed the pressure from the other Entente states immediately to send an expeditionary corps to Siberia to reopen the Eastern front. [Extract, p. 21]
