Routledge The Republic of the Ushakovka: Admiral Kolchak and the Allied Intervention in Siberia 1918-1920: 1 (Routledge Library Editions: The Russian Civil War)

This volume, originally published in 1990 and now with an updated Preface, gives an account of the Allies' last concerted attempt to destroy Russia's nascent Bolshevik regime. At the start, it looked like a threat that should be taken seriously, as the Reds' enemies both native and foreign combined with trained mercenaries under the leadership of a Tsarist admiral. But it finished with a firing squad on the ice, and a grisly end for the ill-fated Admiral Kolchak. With him died the last hope for the old order in Russia, and the future of the new Soviet state was secure. The skill of the author's narrative lies in his mastery both of the detail and of the wider implications of these epic events. Review 'The strength of Connaughton's book lies in its study of the foreign powers and personalities who became involved in the Kolchakovshchina: The American and Major-General Graves; the British and Major-General \knox; the Czechs and General Gajda.' Association for Language Learning 'A very readable and well researched account...' British Army Review 'Richard Connaughton has an engaging narrative style and he captures the individuals who took decisions and the atmosphere in which they are taken, vividly. In his enjoyable book the often enigmatic factors that provoke interventions by foreign powers are unravelled skilfully.' Brian Holden Reid