Myths and Realities of the So-Called “Ambassadors’ Complot” against Soviet Russia in August 1918

Abstract

Based on previously unacceptable or less studied sources, the paper casts a fresh outlook on the motives, driving forces and consequences of the so-called “Ambassadors’ Complot”, the organizers of which were planning a coup d’état in Soviet Russia in the summer of 1918. The author emphasizes the role of British diplomats and agents of special services in the preparation of a coup d'état, which was supposed to lead to the overthrow of the Bolshevik government and the transfer of power to the members of the specially established Directory with the support of the Entente representatives in Russia. Under these circumstances, as shown in the article, the position of Latvian riflemen — the backbone of the Soviet regime in Moscow and Petrograd — was of particular importance, cause a large part of them expressed willingness to take the side of anti-Bolshevik forces in the summer of 1918.