The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America's Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919 by James Carl Nelson

Abstract

Book Reviews 145 disparity. But the more evidence the author provides detailing racial tensions as a cause of workplace violence in Detroit, the harder it becomes for the reader to view that violence as predominantly classbased . Furthermore, in light of the increasingly frequent and deadly mass shootings currently plaguing the United States, it is hard to be satisfied with Malloy’s analysis that the violence at Dodge Main was a precursor of spreading workplace violence in the 1990s. It seems there is something broader going on in the US that is not happening in Canada which Blood, Sweat, and Fear taps into but doesn’t fully engage. Jeffrey S. Rothstein Grand Valley State University James Carl Nelson. The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America’s Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919. New York: HarperCollins, 2018, Pp. 308. Bibliography. Index. Notes. Paper: $28.99. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the long-forgotten US intervention in the Russian Civil War. Overshadowed by the scale and devastation caused by the First World War, this domestic strife between the “whites” (anti-Bolsheviks) and “reds” (Bolsheviks) caused the early departure of Russia from the Great War and influenced the global leftist and workers movements of the remaining century. James Carl Nelson’s The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America’s Forgotten Invasion of Russia attempts to shed light on this neglected topic by offering interesting narratives based on soldiers’ letters, diaries, and memories. Divided into thirty-one brief chapters, Nelson traces the experiences of the US soldiers during their time in Siberia. Within the first few chapters, Nelson makes it very clear that the intervention of the western Allies in the domestic conflict in Russia was poorly planned—lacking proper training and supplies as well as unrealistic objectives—and resulted in numerous casualties. The US Army sent over 5,000 soldiers—the majority of whom were from Michigan (allegedly because of their hardened experience living in the frigid climate of the Great Lakes)—to Siberia to safeguard American military equipment (e.g. weapons and medical supplies) delivered to aid Russia’s fight against Germany. With Russia’s withdrawal from the Great War, the US government was afraid that the weapons would fall into the hands of the new Bolshevik government. However, the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force, North Russia knew little about 146 The Michigan Historical Review what awaited them. Most expected to be sent to the western front; however, after they arrived in England, they quickly realized that this would not be the case. Their objective was to travel to Siberia to guard US supplies from being pillaged by the locals as well as maintain the Trans-Siberian Railway. Upon reaching their destinations (Archangel and other cities along the Dvina River), they discovered that most of the supplies had been stolen. Skirmishes with isolated groups of Bolsheviks quickly broke out, however, and the mission of simply safeguarding US supplies quickly turned into a campaign of numerous battles that would last until mid-1919. The purpose of the mission remained, nevertheless, obscure to most of the US soldiers involved, especially after the armistice ending World War I. Allied soldiers (not only Americans, but also British, Canadian, and French) fought to survive the dangers of warfare, which was complicated by the difficulty to differentiate between enemy and local inhabitants who often would switch sides. Moreover, soldiers struggled with the harsh environment, the deadly Spanish flu, as well as inadequate equipment and medical supplies. Adding an additional level of complexity was the fact that British officers were in charge of all Allied troops. Americans (and others alike) often resented their treatment by the British officers, who sent them to do most of the fighting and work. Although Nelson’s book brings additional light to this forgotten US intervention, a few things remain wanting in his account. First, maps would be helpful to better understand where the battles were fought, as most of the cities and villages (even the general region) will likely be unfamiliar to readers. Including maps will also allow readers, for example, to see the spatiality of the ever-changing front and the great distances they had to travel. In...