Soviet Advisers Research Articles

The First Kuominchun Army

This document is made up of Russian reports on the First Kuominchun written between March 21 and April 15, 1926. Shortly before that time a similar set of reports on the National Revolutionary Army had been prepared by Soviet advisers in the South. The English translation of this document was made in Peking and given the title, "The Kuominchun (The First-Second-Third Kuominchun Armies) Translated from Soviet Reports Prepared September 1926." This date is not explained. The seventy-nine-page document was forwarded by the American military attaché's office in Peking as "No. 41" and was logged into the War Department on November 30, 1927.

Preface

This essay is published as a tribute to the late Ms. Julie Lien-ying How (Mrs. William Hwa). She wrote it as a chapter in the revision of our volume, Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918-1927—Papers Seized in the 1927 Peking Raid (Columbia University Press, 1956). We began this revision almost twenty years ago because a great deal of historical material on the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party was being published in Taiwan, a few surviving participants in the Soviet military mission in China during the 1920s had begun to publish their memoirs, and Russian scholars were beginning to publish books and articles on the subject based upon Russian archives. As our work progressed, I discovered in the archives of the British Foreign Office and of American military intelligence many documents seized in the Peking raid that had been translated from Russian and forwarded by the British and American military attachés in Peking. Most had never been published, and some were of extraordinary historical interest. As a result, our joint manuscript became virtually a new book, long and complex, and enriched by the wealth of materials that had not been available in the 1950s. This chapter on Soviet involvement with the Kuominchun, Feng Yü-hsiang's military coalition, was one that Ms. How had completed, and we publish it separately with permission from her husband.

Letter to Karakhan on the Matter of Supplying Arms to the Kuominchun

This unsigned letter, dated May 18, 1925 and marked "very secret," is addressed to Nikolayev, that is, to Ambassador Karakhan in Peking, and concerns the supplying of arms to Feng Yü-hsiang. It follows by a week Karakhan's letter to Jen Te-chiang—General V. K. Putna, the head of the Kalgan mission of Soviet advisers. We presume, therefore, that Document C is from Putna. It is found in SLYM, III, "KMC," p. 88.

Letter from Karakhan to Putna on Funds to Aid the Kuominchun in the Establishment of a Cavalry School

Abstract This is our translation of a Chinese translation of a letter from Ambassador Karakhan, using the pseudonym "Nikolayev," to General V. K. Putna, who used the pseudonym "Jen Te-chiang. " General Putna was the first head of the Kalgan mission of Soviet advisers. Dated May 11, 1925, the letter, marked "very secret," must have been sent soon after the mission was established. It is in SLYM, 111, "KMC," pp. 70-71.

Muslims, high technology, and the Soviet military

Yossef Bodansky, Muslims, high technology, and the Soviet military. The demographical trends in the Soviet population are bound to have a substantial effect on the composition of the Soviet Armed Forces. If the current composition of the elite and professional combat arms is maintained, Muslims will comprise some 75% of the personnel of the Ground Forces in the year 2000. The Soviets already have major, though manageable, problems with their Muslim troops. These are very similar to problems already faced by the Soviet advisers in the Middle East. There, they have come with relatively successful working solutions. The Soviets, however, have committed themselves to the use of the Armed Forces as a Russifying "melting pot" of the various nationalities, including Muslims. The proven working solutions and the Marxist-Leninist "melting pot" goal contradict each other. The Soviets will have to chose between a pragmatic approach and a ideologically motivated direct confrontation with their Islamic population.

The Somali Coup of 1969: the Case for Soviet Complicity

The potential for superpower confrontation on the Horn of Africa in 1977 and 1978 focused world attention on Somalia. For a few brief months, the popular press published regular accounts of President Siad Barre's military campaign in the Ogaden desert against neighbouring Ethiopia. The U.S. Department of State heralded the rôle of Soviet and Cuban advisers in the conflict. When Somalia ousted the Russian forces and abrogated the Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation with the U.S.S.R., the move was interpreted as a major diplomatic setback for Moscow. Now, as quickly as it erupted, the news flow about the Horn has halted.

Afghanistan

WHEN US AMBASSADOR DUBS was killed recently during an Afghan assault on the Ambassador's kidnappers, Americans were shocked by the hand-in-glove role played by Soviet security advisors on the scene and in positions of responsibility, advising and cooperating with Afghan security officials who authorized the final fatal rush. They need not have been, because the nature of the Soviet role in the new, pro-Soviet Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was clearly signalled last autumn by President Brezhnev during the visit to Moscow of Afghan President Taraki. Toasting Taraki on the occasion of the signing of a new Soviet-Afghan friendship treaty, Brezhnev remarked that: traditional good relations between our two countries have taken on a qualitatively different character. (Emphasis added.) We can assume that President Brezhnev knew whereof he spoke. After all, the conclusion of the treaty and the flood of Soviet advisors into Afghanistan so soon after the bloody takeover in Kabul by the minuscule People's Party, aided by Soviet-trained Afghan Army officers, and coupled with the replacement of the traditional red, black, and green flag with a solid red one-all this could not be without special significance. Indeed, the new leaders in Kabul frankly acknowledged that their revolution was a continuation of the 1917 Russian Revolution. The lesson for the rest of us is that history (especially along the Soviet borders) does move in certain orderly ways and according to some very compelling, if not inexorable, laws of strategy which, like the laws of physics, can be ignored only at great peril.

Recent Russian Material on Soviet Advisers in China: 1923–1927

China in the 1920s, in spite of the significant and painstaking study that has been devoted to it, remains very imperfectly researched and analysed. In large part this is to be attributed to the great number and complexity of forces involved—warlord, nationalist, imperialist and communist; operating alone or in rapidly fluctuating alliances.

Blücher's “Grand Plan” Of 1926

The role played by the Soviet Union in the early days of the Chinese communist movement has always been shrouded in mystery. Recently some of this mystery has been dispelled as the Soviet Union has begun to publish a number of books and articles about the experiences of Soviet advisers in China.

Chiang Kai-shek's March Twentieth Coup d'Etat of 1926

In his review of Mr. Chiang Yung-ching'sBo-lot'ing yü Wu-Han cheng-ch'üan[Borodin and the Wu-Han Regime], Professor C. Martin Wilbur has said that “theChung-shunGunboat Incident of March 20, 1926, is treated hastily and categorically, simply as a plot of the Communists involving Wang Ching-wei. This is, of course, a delicate subject.” Because of the highly controversial nature of the event, as it involved Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists, no serious and scholarly study on the subject has ever been undertaken in either Mainland China or Taiwan. Historians in the West are generally interested in the event because it was pivotal to Chiang's ascendancy, and Chiang's career is a part of modern Chinese history. Except for the study of the Soviet advisers' view on the Incident, a thorough investigation of the various aspects of the event and all the parties concerned is still wanting.

Communist Strategies and Asian Societies

Malcolm Kennedy, A History of Communism in East Asia, New York, Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., I957, 556 pp. $6.50. John H. Kautsky, Moscow and the Communist Party of India, Cambridge, Mass., and New York, Technology Press of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Inc., i956, 220 pp. $6.oo. C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, eds., Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918-1927, New York, Columbia University Press, I956, 6I7 pp. $8.75.

Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918-27. C. Martin Wilber , Julie Lien-ying How

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviews of BooksDocuments on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918-27. C. Martin Wilber , Julie Lien-ying How Owen LattimoreOwen Lattimore Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 30, Number 2Jun., 1958 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/238214 Views: 1Total views on this site Copyright 1958 University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

: Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China 1918-1927: Papers Seized in the 1927 Peking Raid . C. Martin Wilbur, Julie Lien-ying How.

: Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China 1918-1927: Papers Seized in the 1927 Peking Raid . C. Martin Wilbur, Julie Lien-ying How.

Review: Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China 1918-1927: Papers Seized in the 1927 Peking Raid, by C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How

Review: <i>Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China 1918-1927: Papers Seized in the 1927 Peking Raid</i>, by C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How

Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918–1927: Papers Seized in the 1927 Peking Raid. Edited by C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How. (New York: Columbia University Press. 1956. Pp. xviii, 617. $8.75.) - Communist China Today: Domestic and Foreign Policies. By Peter S. H. Tang. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger. 1957. Pp. xvi, 536. $10.00.)

Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918–1927: Papers Seized in the 1927 Peking Raid. Edited by C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How. (New York: Columbia University Press. 1956. Pp. xviii, 617. 10.00.) - Volume 51 Issue 4

Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918- 1927.

Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918- 1927.

Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918–1927. (Papers Seized in the 1927 Peking Raid.) Edited, with Introductory Essays, by C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How. New York: Columbia University Press, 1956. xviii, 617. $8.75. - China and Soviet Russia. By Henry Wei. Princeton, N. J.: Van Nostrand, 1956. xvi, 379. $7.75. - Chinese Communism and the

Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918–1927. (Papers Seized in the 1927 Peking Raid.) Edited, with Introductory Essays, by C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How. New York: Columbia University Press, 1956. xviii, 617. 7.75. - Chinese Communism and the Proletarian-Socialist Revolution. By Theodore Hsi-en Chen. Los Angeles: University of Southern California Press, 1955. ii, 36. - Volume 17 Issue 1

Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China 1918–1927: Papers seized in the 1927 Peking Raid

Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China 1918–1927: Papers seized in the 1927 Peking Raid

Documents on Communism, Nationalism and Soviet Advisers in China 1918-1827.

Documents on Communism, Nationalism and Soviet Advisers in China 1918-1827.

Book Reviews: Interpreting the Constitution, The Transformation of the Board of Trade, 1830–1855, Report of H.R.H, Cities in Flood, The Parliament of Sweden, Modern Italy, Constitutional Laws of the Commonwealth, Constitutional Problems in Pakistan, the Approach to Self-Government, the U.S.S.R and Eastern Europe, Documents on Communism, Nationalism and Soviet Advisers in China, Progress in the Age of Reason, Taste and

Book Reviews: Interpreting the Constitution, The Transformation of the Board of Trade, 1830–1855, Report of H.R.H, Cities in Flood, The Parliament of Sweden, Modern Italy, Constitutional Laws of the Commonwealth, Constitutional Problems in Pakistan, the Approach to Self-Government, the U.S.S.R and Eastern Europe, Documents on Communism, Nationalism and Soviet Advisers in China, Progress in the Age of Reason, Taste and