The White Russian Army in Exile 1920-1941 by Paul s> Robinson (review)

Abstract

362 SEER, 8I, 2, 2003 replete with platitudes. (The FirstWorld War, we learn, is 'one of the more curious events in the history of mankind. Oceans of ink have been used to debate its causes', p. II.) Secondly, unsupportableand rambling generalizations on life, culture and national characteristicsmar virtuallyevery page of the text. Russians,apparently,are 'suspicious'of foreigners,but 'extraordinarily generous' and 'warm and wonderful to the individual stranger'. On the other hand, 'cruelty will surface in a Russian', but 'only under the sudden stresswhen he is threatened. Then he will sometimeslash out with animal-like fury, only to become gentle again when the threat has passed' (p. 9). Finally, the author'sprejudices,while entertaining,add nothing to our understanding of the past. Soldiers on leave in Paris, for instance, came into contact with 'hostile and bitter' expatriates, 'malcontents', 'members of questionable organizations' who, having 'plied' them with drink 'planted the seeds of discontent against their sojourn in France and against their officers'(p. 79). Thus corrupted, many later became 'Russian Leftistsof some sort who were prostitutingthemselvesfor German gold, as Lenin did' (p. 240). This could have been a competent study of a mildly interestingepisode of the GreatWar.But it is not. Department ofSlavonic Studies CHRIS WARD University ofCambridge Robinson, Paul. The WhiteRussianArmyin Exile I920-I94 I. Oxford Historical Monographs. Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 2002. x + 257 pp. Notes. Glossary.Bibliography.Index. ?45.??. MOST accounts of the Russian emigration, as Paul Robinson points out in his preface, have tended to concentrate on the political and culturalelements of the exiled community. Most historiesof the White Russian armyend with its defeat in the Civil War. This book follows the fortunes of the White Russian militarymovement in the twentyyears following its evacuation of the Crimea in November 1920. The author'sthesis is that despite their defeat, exile, and the eventual dispersalof troopsacrossEurope, the armymanaged to maintain a cohesive structure and a common set of ideals throughout the inter-war period. This unity and sense of purpose had positive effectsboth on the life of the emigration as a whole and on the experiences of individual soldiers in exile. The author has made extensive use of the correspondence of key figuresin the militaryemigration, the archivesof emigre militaryorganizations,and his treatment of the subject is very thorough. There is a great deal of detailed narrative in the book, but this seems necessary given that there is no establishedliteratureon the subject. The early chaptersset the scene, recounting events up until the evacuation of the Crimea, and placing the armyin the context of the Russian emigration as a whole. In chapter three the author addresses the popular myth of the 'Gallipolimiracle';the belief that thefirstarmycorps,duringtheirinternment in Gallipoli, underwent a moral and spiritual regeneration under the strict discipline of General Kutepov, and emerged numerically weaker but united REVIEWS 363 around their leaders with a renewed commitment to their cause. The army was then graduallydisbanded, and soldierswere obliged to find civilianjobs, often in mines or on road building projects, in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, and later France and Belgium (this process is described in detail in chapters five and six). However, the army's high command went to considerable lengths to ensure that troops from each regiment were placed together and that command structureswere maintained. The author identifiesa number of motives for this. Initially, it seems likely that General Wrangel and his colleagues hoped for some kind of renewal of the militarystruggleagainst Soviet Russia. They also hoped to keep alive the values they associatedwith the army dutyand honour and to preservea 'moral 6lite', to fill the moral vacuum they believed would exist following the anticipated collapse of the Soviet regime. The preservation of the military structure also had a valuable dimension when it came to the distributionof aid to those in need. In order to consolidate all these functions, an umbrella organization, the RusskiiObshcheVoinskii Soiuz(ROVS Russian General MilitaryUnion) was founded in I924. Much of the second halfof the book concentrateson the activitiesof ROVS. These included the sponsorshipof undergroundoperations within the Soviet Union operationswhich were closely monitored, and more often than not controlled, by the Soviet authorities. The later chapters outline the scandals andparanoiawhich weakenedthe organizationin...