Woodrow Wilson Book Report

Richard makes his point of view very clear throughout the book. He has a rather negative view of the entire intervention and of President Wilson’s behavior and decisions during this exploit. He basically says it was doomed to failure from the start. He thinks it is obvious that the Russians would not go along with Wilson’s grand plan to use this intervention to return a non-Bolshevik government to Russia, because this government was backed by the Japanese who were their bitter rivals and who they had recently lost the Russo-Japanese War to. Richard believes that Wilson should have listened to his advisors and never sent soldiers to Siberia. As mentioned above, Richard believes that all the intervention ended up accomplishing was the spread …show more content…
McMaster’s article, “Woodrow Wilson and the American Expeditionary Force to Siberia, 1918-1920.” McMaster’s view of the intervention does not seem to be as negative as Richard’s. As discussed above, Richard believes that the expedition did not accomplish its goals and that soldiers should never have been sent to Siberia. However, McMaster feels that, in fact, this is not the case. He thinks that President Wilson did the best he could under the circumstances. He says that the main goal was to help the counter-revolutionaries while officially maintaining neutrality. For example, they were to protect the railroads, which were only of help to the Whites, albeit without saying this was the reason why they chose to do that. And, McMaster says, Graves and his men did an admirable job fulfilling their duty. He says that if not for their caution and prudence, the costs of the expedition would have been much higher. Yet, they were able to protect the railroads while more or less sticking to their neutral position. Richard also praised Graves for not taking sides in the Civil War, which he says caused many to dislike him but prevented many American casualties. However, unlike Richard, who has nothing but criticism for President Wilson, McMaster credits Wilson for remaining cautious, thus minimizing loss of life and political embarrassment, while still supporting who he thought was right. Richard believes that the …show more content…
Richard obviously put much effort into this well-written book, and it is therefore both an enjoyable book to read as well a valuable tool to aid in understanding the animosity Russians felt toward America during the Cold War period, much of which was triggered by this episode. Nearly any reader can gain a new understanding of history by reading this book. The book is very important in understanding the history of US-Soviet relations, since it shows exactly why the Soviets disliked and distrusted the Americans so much. There is much in the book showing how the Americans continued backing the White Russian government (even if they did say directly that that was what they were doing), even though they knew, saw, and were told about how the Czarist leaders and army were abusing and maltreating the Russian people (let alone what they were doing to the Americans). Richard’s insinuation is that the Russians surely resented the Americans for this, and that the United States is therefore to blame for the souring of relations between the country. For this reason, one who truly wants to understand the Cold War period should start by reading this book, which gives much necessary background, while being an interesting read as