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{{Short description|1918–1922 military operation against Soviet Russia}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{more citations needed|date=January 2016}}
{{Lead too short|date=July 2023}}
}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Siberian intervention
| partof            = the [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War]] and [[Eastern Front of the Russian Civil War|Eastern Front]]
| image             = Siberia- Civil War and Western Intervention 1918-1920 Q61674.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = Allied commanders of the Siberian intervention.<br>Front row: [[William S. Graves]] (3rd), [[Otani Kikuzo]] (4th) and [[Yui Mitsue]] (5th).
| date              = August 1918 – July 1920; October 1922 (Japanese withdrawal)
| place             = [[Eastern Siberia]], [[Russian Far East]], [[Western Siberia]], [[Mongolia (1911–24)|Outer Mongolia]]
| casus             = [[Bolshevik Revolution]], [[Czechoslovak Legion|Rescue of the Czech Legion]]
| territory         = * Allied withdrawal
* Soviets regain Siberia
| result            = Soviet victory
| combatant2        = {{tree list}}
*{{flagdeco|Russia}} [[Russian state|Russian State]]
** {{flagicon image|Flag of Green Ukraine.svg}} [[Green Ukraine|Zelenyi Klyn]]
'''[[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]]''':
<br>{{flagcountry|Empire of Japan}}<br>{{flagdeco|First Czechoslovak Republic}} [[Czechoslovak Legion|Czechoslovakia]]<br>{{flagcountry|Second Polish Republic|1919}}<br>{{flag|United States|1912}}<br>{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}<br>{{flagcountry|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}}
** {{flag|Canada|1868}}
{{flagdeco|Republic of China (1912–1949)|1912}} [[Beiyang Government|China]]<br>
{{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}<br>{{flagdeco|Mongolia|1911}} [[Outer Mongolia, 1911–1919|Mongolia]]
{{tree list/end}}
| combatant1        = {{tree list}}
*{{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]]
** {{flag|Far Eastern Republic}} 
{{flagicon image|Flag of the People's Republic of Mongolia (1921-1924).svg}} [[Mongolian People's Party]]
{{tree list/end}}
| commander2        = {{nowrap|{{flagdeco|Russia}} [[Alexander Kolchak]]{{Executed}}}}<br>{{flagdeco|Russia}} [[Grigory Mikhaylovich Semyonov|Grigory Semyonov]]<br>{{flagdeco|Russia}} [[Mikhail Diterikhs]]<br>{{flagdeco|Russia}} [[Ivan Kalmykov]]{{KIA}}<br>{{nowrap|{{flagdeco|Russia}} [[Roman von Ungern-Sternberg|R. von Ungern-Sternberg]]{{Executed}}}}<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of Green Ukraine.svg}} [[Yurii Hlushko|Mova Hlushko]]<br>{{flagdeco|Empire of Japan}} [[Otani Kikuzo]]<br>{{flagdeco|Empire of Japan}} [[Yui Mitsue]]<br>{{flagdeco|Empire of Japan}} [[Nobutaka Shiōden|Shiōden Nobutaka]]<br>{{flagdeco|United States|1912}} [[William S. Graves]]<br>{{nowrap|{{flagdeco|United States|1912}} [[Robert L. Eichelberger]]}}<br>{{flagdeco|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}} [[Alfred Knox]]<br>{{flagdeco|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}} [[John Ward (trade unionist)|John Ward]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]]<br>{{flagdeco|Canada|1868}} [[James H. Elmsley]]<br>{{flagdeco|Mongolia|1911}} [[Bogd Khan]]
| commander1        = {{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Leon Trotsky]]<br>{{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Jukums Vācietis]]<br>{{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Sergey Kamenev]]<br>{{nowrap|{{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]]}}<br>{{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Mikhail Frunze]]<br>{{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Vasily Blyukher]]<br>{{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Yakov Tryapitsyn]]{{Executed}}<br>{{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Aleksandr Samoilov]]<br>{{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Sergey Lazo]]{{Executed}}<br>{{flagdeco|Far Eastern Republic}} [[Alexander Krasnoshchyokov|A. Krasnoshchyokov]]<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of the People's Republic of Mongolia (1921-1924).svg}} [[Damdin Sükhbaatar]]
| strength2         = 70,000&nbsp;Japanese<br>50,000 Czechoslovaks<br>15,000&nbsp;Poles<br>8,763&nbsp;Americans<br>2,400&nbsp;Italians<br>2,364&nbsp;British<br>4,192&nbsp;Canadian<ref>''[[Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force]].''</ref><br>2,300&nbsp;Chinese<br>1,400&nbsp;French<br>
'''Total:'''<br>~ More than 150,000
| strength1         = 600,000
| casualties2       = {{flagdeco|Russia}} Unknown<br>{{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|1900}} 5,000 dead from combat and disease<br>{{flagdeco|United States|1912}} 48 killed<br>{{flagdeco|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}} 33 killed<ref name="Wright, pp. 490-492">Wright, pp. 490-492</ref><br>{{flagdeco|Canada|1868}} 19 killed<ref name="Wright, pp. 490-492">Wright, pp. 490-492</ref>
| casualties1       = {{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} '''7,791'''<BR>698 killed/missing<br>2,189 died of disease<br>1,421 wounded<br>3,482 evacuated sick/frostbitten<br>(Jan-June 1922 only)<ref>{{Cite web|author=General-Lieutenant G.F.KRIVOSHEYEV|year=1993|title=SOVIET ARMED FORCES LOSSES IN WARS, COMBAT OPERATIONS MILITARY CONFLICTS|publisher=MOSCOW MILITARY PUBLISHING HOUSE|pages=46|access-date=2015-06-21|url=http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/SovietLosses.pdf}}</ref>
| notes             = |
}}
{{Siberian Intervention}}
{{Campaignbox Russian Civil War}}{{Campaignbox Russo-French Wars}}
The '''Siberian intervention''' or '''Siberian expedition''' of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of troops of the [[Allies of World War I|Entente powers]] to the Russian [[Primorsky Krai|Maritime Provinces]] as part of a [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|larger effort by the western powers, Japan, and China]] to support [[White movement|White Russian]] forces and the [[Czechoslovak Legion]] against [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] and its allies during the [[Russian Civil War]]. The [[Imperial Japanese Army]] continued to occupy Siberia even after other Allied forces withdrew in 1920.

==Background==
{{Main|Russian Civil War|Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War}}

Following the Russian [[October Revolution]] of November 1917, the new [[Bolshevik]] government in Russia signed a [[separate peace]] [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk|treaty]] with the [[Central Powers]] in March 1918. The Russian collapse on the [[Eastern Front of World War I]] in 1917 presented a tremendous problem to the [[Triple Entente|Entente]] powers, since it allowed [[German Empire|Germany]] to boost numbers of troops and war ''[[Materiel|matériel]]'' on the [[Western Front of World War I|Western Front]]. Meanwhile, the 50,000-strong [[Czechoslovak Legion]] in Russia, fighting on the side of the [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]], became stranded in non-Allied territory within Soviet Russia, and in 1918 started attempting to fight its way out to [[Vladivostok]] in the Russian Far East, moving along the Bolshevik-held [[Trans-Siberian Railway]]. At times the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia controlled the entire Trans-Siberian railway and several major cities in [[Siberia]].

Faced with this situation, the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] and [[French Third Republic|France]] decided to intervene in the Russian Civil War on the anti-Bolshevik side. The Western European powers had three objectives in intervening:{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} 
# to prevent the Allied ''[[Materiel|matériel]]'' stockpiles in Russia from falling into German or Bolshevik hands
# to help the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia and return it to the fighting
# to resurrect the Eastern Front by installing a [[White movement|White Russian]]-backed government

The British and French asked the [[United States]] to furnish troops for both the [[North Russia Campaign]] and the Siberian Campaign. In July 1918, against the advice of the [[United States Department of War]], [[Woodrow Wilson|President Wilson]] agreed to send 5,000 US troops as the American North Russia Expeditionary Force (a.k.a. the [[Polar Bear Expedition]] to [[Arkhangelsk Governorate|Arkhangelsk]]) and 10,000 US troops as the [[American Expeditionary Force Siberia]]. Originally reluctant himself, Wilson agreed to send troops to Siberia on 6 July 1918 solely with the aim of helping the Czech Legion.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=55}} In the same month, the [[Beiyang government]] of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] responded to an appeal by Chinese people in Russia and sent 2,000 troops by August.<ref>{{cite book |publisher= Central European University Press |editor-first= Pál |editor-last= Nyíri |editor2-first= Joana |editor2-last= Breidenbach |year= 2005 |isbn= 963-7326-14-6 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=icZJJN0wYPcC&pg=PA90 |access-date= 18 March 2012 |first= Joana |last= Breidenbach |title= China Inside Out: Contemporary Chinese Nationalism and Transnationalism |edition= Illustrated |page= 90 }}</ref> The Chinese later [[Occupation of Mongolia|occupied Outer Mongolia]] and [[Tuva]] and sent a battalion to the North Russian Campaign as part of their anti-Bolshevik efforts.

Wilson appealed to [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] for a joint intervention to help the Czechs and suggested that they send no more than 7,000 men to Siberia, although Tokyo eventually sent ten times as many troops as this.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=55}} Britain decided{{when|date=December 2020}} to assist and first sent a battalion to Siberia commanded by [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] [[Member of Parliament|MP]] and [[trade-union]] leader [[John Ward (trade unionist)|Lieutenant Colonel John Ward]].{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=56}} This unit, the first Entente land force to reach Vladivostok, landed on 3 August 1918. A 500-strong French colonial regiment was sent to Vladivostok from [[French Indochina|Indochina]] in August 1918.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=56}}

==Participants==

===British Empire===
The [[British Army]] deployed 1,800 troops to Siberia in two battalions.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=63,297}} The troops came from the 1/9th ([[Bicycle infantry|Cyclist]]) Battalion, [[Hampshire Regiment]]<ref>{{harvnb|James|1978|p=62}}</ref> (deployed from India) and the 25th Battalion, [[Middlesex Regiment]] (deployed from Iraq).<ref>{{harvnb|James|1978|p=78}}</ref> The Middlesex battalion was the first Allied force to land in Vladivostok on 3 August 1918{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=56}} The battalion was commanded by the trade unionist and Liberal Member of Parliament John Ward.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=56}}

The British also sent a military mission of 500 men to Siberia,{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=304}} made up of 250 officers and 250 [[non-commissioned officer]]s, who took part in the training and equipping of the White forces.<ref>Wright, pp. 328-329</ref> The military mission was commanded by General [[Alfred Knox]].<ref name="Wright, p. 328">Wright, p. 328</ref> At least 64 [[Royal Marines]] were also involved of the manning of guns at the front in Siberia.<ref>Wright, pp. 305-306</ref>

====Canada====
{{Main|Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force}}

The Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force, authorised in August 1918 and commanded by Major General [[James H. Elmsley]], was sent to Vladivostok to bolster the Allied presence there. Composed of 4,192 soldiers, the force arrived in Vladivostok on 26 October 1918{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=63}} but returned to Canada between April and June 1919. During this time, the Canadians saw little fighting, with fewer than 100 troops proceeding "up country" to [[Omsk]], to serve as administrative staff for 1,800 British troops aiding the White Russian government of Admiral [[Alexander Kolchak]]. Most Canadians remained in Vladivostok, undertaking routine drill and policing duties in the volatile port city.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Benjamin |last=Isitt |title=Mutiny from Victoria to Vladivostok, December 1918 |journal=[[Canadian Historical Review]] |volume=87 |issue=2 |year=2006 |pages=223–264 |doi=10.3138/CHR/87.2.223 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.SiberianExpedition.ca Canada's Siberian Expedition website]</ref>

===China===
At the request of Chinese merchants, 2,300 Chinese troops were sent to Vladivostok to protect Chinese interests there. The Chinese army fought against both Bolsheviks and Cossacks.<ref>Joana Breidenbach (2005). Pál Nyíri, Joana Breidenbach, ed. China inside out: contemporary Chinese nationalism and transnationalism (illustrated ed.). Central European University Press. p. 90. {{ISBN|963-7326-14-6}}. Retrieved 18 March 2012. "At the end of the year 1918, after the Russian Revolution, the Chinese merchants in the Russian Far East demanded the Chinese government to send troops for their protection, and Chinese troops were sent to Vladivostok to protect the Chinese community: about 1600 soldiers and 700 support personnel."</ref>

===Italy===
{{Main|Italian Legione Redenta}}

The "Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Estremo Oriente" was made of [[Alpini]] troops, supported by 2,500 Italian ex-POWs who had fought in the Austro-Hungarian Army and enrolled in the [[Legione Redenta]].

The Italians played a small but important role during the intervention, fighting together with the [[Czechoslovak Legions|Czechoslovak Legion]] and other allied forces using heavily armed and [[armoured train]]s to control large sections of the Siberian railway.<ref name="WILLMOTT251">''First World War'' - Willmott, H.P.; [[Dorling Kindersley]], 2003, Page 251</ref>

The main areas of operation were the [[Irkutsk]], [[Harbin]] and [[Vladivostok]] regions.<ref>''A History of Russia'', 7th Edition, Nicholas V. Riasanovsky & Mark D. Steinberg, Oxford University Press, 2005</ref>

===France===
The French sent a small, token, 500-strong force to Vladivostok in August 1918. This was a colonial regiment from Indo-China.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=56}} This composite force was known as the [[:fr:Bataillon colonial sibérien|Bataillon colonial sibérien]].

===Japan===
{{Main|Japanese intervention in Siberia}}
[[File:The Illustration of The Siberian War, No. 16. The Japanese Army Occupied Vragaeschensk (Blagoveshchensk).jpg|thumb|Japanese lithograph depicting the capture of [[Blagoveshchensk]]]]

The Japanese were initially asked in 1917 by the French to intervene in Russia but declined the request.{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=25}} However, the army general staff later came to view the Tsarist collapse as an opportunity to free Japan from any future threat from Russia by detaching Siberia and forming an independent buffer state.{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=25}} The Japanese government at first refused to undertake such an expedition and it was not until the following year that events were set in motion that led to a change in this policy.{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=25}}

In July 1918, President Wilson asked the Japanese government to supply 7,000 troops as part of an international coalition of 25,000 troops, including an [[American Expeditionary Force Siberia|American expeditionary force]], planned to support the rescue of the Czechoslovak Legions and securing the Allied war ''[[Materiel|matériel]]'' stockpiles. After heated debate in the [[Diet of Japan|Diet]], the administration of [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]] [[Terauchi Masatake]] agreed to send 12,000 troops, but under solely Japanese command, independent of the international coalition.

Once the political decision had been reached, the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] took over full control under Chief of Staff [[Yui Mitsue]] and extensive planning for the expedition was conducted.{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=26}} The Japanese first started landing troops in Vladivostok on a large scale on 8 August 1918, and by the end of the month 18,000 Japanese troops had arrived at the port with a further 6,000 moved up through [[Manchuria]] to [[Manzhouli]].{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=56-57}} On 18 August the Japanese General [[Otani Kikuzo]] assumed command of all the Allied forces.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=57}}

===United States===
{{Main|American Expeditionary Force, Siberia}}

The American Expeditionary Force, Siberia was commanded by Major General [[William S. Graves]] and eventually totalled 8,763 officers and enlisted men. The AEF Siberia included the US Army's [[27th Infantry Regiment (United States)|27th]] and [[31st Infantry Regiment (United States)|31st Infantry Regiments]], plus large numbers of volunteers from the [[13th Infantry Regiment (United States)|13th]] and [[62nd Infantry Regiment (United States)|62nd Infantry Regiments]] along with a few from the [[12th Infantry Regiment (United States)|12th Infantry Regiment]].{{sfn|Willett Jr.|2005|pp=166–167, 170}} Set up to operate the [[Trans-Siberian railroad]], the [[Russian Railway Service Corps]] was formed of US personnel.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/russianrailways00housgoog <!-- quote=Russia Railway Service Corps. --> Congressional hearings]</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Carolyn B. |last=Grubbs |title=American Railroaders in Siberia, 1917–1920 |journal=Railroad History |volume=150 |issue=Spring |year=1984 |pages=107–114 |jstor=43521010}}</ref>

Although General Graves did not arrive in Siberia until September 4, 1918, the first 3,000 American troops disembarked in Vladivostok between August 15 and August 21, 1918. They were quickly assigned guard duty along segments of the railway between Vladivostok and [[Nikolsk-Ussuriski]] in the north.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/winter/us-army-in-russia-1.html Guarding the Railroad, Taming the Cossacks The U.S. Army in Russia, 1918–1920], Smith, Gibson Bell</ref>

Unlike his Allied counterparts, General Graves considered his mission in Siberia to be to provide protection for American-supplied property and to help the Czechoslovak Legions evacuate Russia, and that it did not include fighting against the Bolsheviks. Repeatedly calling for restraint, Graves was often at odds with commanders of [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]], [[French Third Republic|French]] and [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] forces who wanted the Americans to take a more active part in the military intervention in Siberia.

===Others===
Small detachments of [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Serbs]], and [[Romanians]] were also sent to Vladivostok between August–September 1918.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=57}}

==Allied intervention (1918–1919)==
[[File:Czech Troops.jpg|thumb|[[Czechoslovak Legion]] soldiers in Vladivostok, 1918]]

The joint Allied intervention began in August 1918.{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=26}} The first landing was by British troops in Vladivostok on 3 August. The Japanese entered through Vladivostok and points along the Manchurian border with more than 70,000 Japanese troops eventually being involved by the beginning of November.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=57}} The deployment of such a large force for a rescue expedition made the Allies wary of Japanese intentions.{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=26}} The Americans landed their forces from 16 August-early September, eventually landing a total of 8,763 men{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=57}} The British, Italian, and French contingents joined the Czechs and Slovaks in an effort to re-establish the Eastern Front west of the [[Ural Mountains]]; as a result, the European allies trekked westwards.{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=26}} It was agreed that 543 infantrymen and machine-gunners from Ward's British unit and the other Allied units would be sent Westwards to 'be used defensively and in reserve' until the Japanese arrived in strength.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=58}} The Japanese, with their own objectives in mind, refused to proceed west of Lake Baikal and stayed behind. The Americans, suspicious of Japanese intentions, also stayed behind to keep an eye on the Japanese. By November, the Japanese occupied all ports and major towns in the Russian [[Primorsky Krai|Maritime Provinces]] and in [[Siberia]] east of the city of [[Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai|Chita]].{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=26}}

In the summer of 1918, the Japanese Army lent its support to White Russian elements; the [[5th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|5th Infantry Division]] and the Japanese-backed Special Manchurian Detachment of Grigory Semyonov took control over [[Transbaikalia]] and founded a short-lived [[White movement in Transbaikal|White Transbaikalia]] government.{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=26}}

The Allied forces helped hold the line against the Bolsheviks in the far-east in the [[Ussuri River]] district, 70 miles north of Vladivostok.<ref name="Wright, p. 303">Wright, p. 303</ref> The British unit helped the Whites defend the line at Kraevesk. Outnumbered and outgunned, the small Allied forces were forced to withdraw. Two British armoured trains with two 12-pounder naval guns and two machine guns each were sent from Vladivostok as reinforcements.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=58}}

The British armoured trains were in action on the Ussuri front between 14 and 24 August 1918.<ref name="Wright, p. 304">Wright, p. 304</ref> Operating under a Japanese commander, the small British unit and other Allied forces played a small but important part in the battle of Dukhovskaya between 23 and 25 August. Five Bolshevik armed trains were attacked, supported by the British forces' own two armoured trains, and there were 600 fatal Japanese casualties. This limited but decisive action eliminated organised Bolshevik resistance on the [[Ussuri]] front.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=59}}

The various Allied forces did not function well together, because of the underlying chaos and suspicion.{{sfn|Smith|1959|p=872}} In a letter to Canadian [[Minister of Militia and Defence]] [[Sydney Chilton Mewburn|Sydney Mewburn]], [[James H. Elmsley]], commander of the British and Canadian forces, gave a description of the situation,

{{blockquote|The general situation here is an extraordinary one{{em dash}}at first glance one assumes that everyone distrusts everyone else{{em dash}}the Japs being distrusted ''more'' than anyone else. Americans and Japs don't hit it off. The French keep a very close eye on the British, and the Russians as a whole appear to be indifferent of their country's needs, so long as they can keep their women, have their vodka, and play cards all night until daylight. The Czechs appear to be the only honest and conscientious party among the Allies.{{sfn|Beattie|1957|p=119}}}}

In one incident an American unit, the [[27th Infantry Regiment (United States)|27th Infantry Regiment (Wolfhounds)]], was part of the [[Evgenevka incident]], a face-off between the Wolfhounds and the Japanese military.

For their part, the Czechs were having difficulty fighting their way to Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian railway. Although many had linked up with the forces at [[Chelyabinsk]] by early July 1918, the area surrounding [[Lake Baikal]] was an obstacle that needed to be overcome before the Legion could get to Vladivostok. In the area between the towns of [[Baikal]] and [[Kultuk, Slyudyansky District, Irkutsk Oblast|Kultuk]] on the southern point of the lake the Trans-Siberian railway ran through various tunnels, the final one of which was blown up by the Bolsheviks.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=60}} The Czechs ambushed the Bolshevik forces on the east side of the tunnel and defeated them by 31 August,{{sfn|Moffat|2015|p=132}} after which they continued along the railway towards Vladivostok.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=60}}

It was decided that the American forces would not in any way fight the Bolsheviks and would simply stay behind and guard the section of the [[Trans-Siberian railway]] south of Khabarovsk and protect the military stores in Vladivostok. The Americans and Japanese had become rivals in Siberia over trade, with the Japanese interests in Siberia being less concerned with supporting the White drive westwards than in commercially dominating the Russian and Chinese territory nearest to their own home islands.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=62}}

On 26 October, a Canadian force of about brigade size landed in Vladivostok. The Canadians believed that there would be trade benefits from establishing a friendly Russian regime. By this time, the British force had finished its journey West from Vladivostok all the way to the front lines near [[Omsk]]. The unit stayed in the city for the next six months over the cold Siberian winter.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=63}} It may have played a role in the coup in the city in November 1918 which brought Admiral Kolchack to power as 'Supreme Leader' of Russia.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=69}} The force went forward with the advancing Czechs and Russians and continued to provide artillery support along the railway from Omsk to [[Ufa]] in October and November.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=211}} A Bolshevik offensive in December drove the White troops back, and the British armoured trains that had moved beyond Omsk to the front were forced to flee back east.<ref name="Wright, p. 305">Wright, p. 305</ref> In April, many of the British forces were sent back to Vladivostok, but the 12,000-mile journey was not completed until 6 May.<ref name="Wright, p. 305"/>

A small British Royal Marine force would later form an important part of the '[[Kama River]] Flotilla', a White boat unit that attacked the Bolshevik forces along the course of the river. Two vessels were found for the British to use, one a tug and the other a river barge, and four 12-pounder naval guns and one 6-inch naval gun were mounted to the boats.<ref name="Wright, p. 306">Wright, p. 306</ref> 35 British men were chosen to make up the small British unit, and the men and the naval guns were transported on trains from Vladivostok to the Kama river during April 1919.<ref name="Wright, p. 306"/> Between May–July,<ref name="Wright, p. 304"/> the British unit bombarded Red troop concentrations, protected bridges and provided direct fire support and attacked Bolshevik boats on the river. In one action, the flotilla sank the Bolshevik flagship on the river and destroyed one other boat. They were later driven back by the Bolshevik advance on [[Perm, Russia|Perm]].{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=298}}

On 28 October 1918 an independent Czech state had been declared, and this led the Czech Legion to lose any desire for fighting, since the troops now merely wanted to return to their country as free citizens. The Canadians also refused to play any part in fighting and signalled their desire to withdraw from Russia in April 1919.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=208-209}} The last Canadian forces left Siberia on 5 June 1919.

==Aftermath==

===Allied withdrawal (1919–1920)===
In the summer of 1919, the White regime in Siberia collapsed.{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=27}} By August 1919, plans were made to withdraw the British forces and by 1 November the last of their troops had been withdrawn,{{sfn|Moffat|2015|p=256}}{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=297}} with only the military mission remaining.<ref name="Wright, p. 328"/> During November, the Whites were being routed and the remaining Allies quickly scrambled to get out.{{sfn|Moffat|2015|p=256}}{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=297}} On 12 January 1920, 12 members of the British military mission and two members of the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force were captured when their train was captured near [[Krasnoyarsk]] as they were fleeing the Bolshevik advance.<ref>Wright, pp. 329-330</ref> The last members of the British military mission had left Siberia by February 1920.<ref name="Wright, p. 303"/>

On 7 February 1920, White leader [[Alexander Kolchak|Admiral Kolchak]] was executed,{{sfn|Moffat|2015|p=260}} and in the next few months the Americans and the remaining Allied coalition partners withdrew from [[Vladivostok]]. The evacuation of the Czechoslovak Legion was also carried out in the same year. However, the Japanese decided to stay, primarily due to fears of the spread of [[communism]] so close to Japan, and the Japanese controlled [[Korea]] and [[Manchuria]]. The Japanese were forced to sign the [[Gongota Agreement of 1920]] in order to evacuate their troops peacefully from Transbaikal. It meant an unavoidable end to [[Grigory Mikhaylovich Semyonov|Grigory Semyonov]]'s regime in October 1920.

The Japanese army provided military support to the Japanese-backed [[Provisional Priamur Government]] based in Vladivostok against the [[Moscow]]-backed [[Far Eastern Republic]]. The continued Japanese presence concerned the United States, which suspected that Japan had territorial designs on Siberia and the Russian Far East. Subjected to intense diplomatic pressure by the United States and the United Kingdom, and facing increasing domestic opposition due to the economic and human cost, the administration of Prime Minister [[Kato Tomosaburo]] withdrew the Japanese forces in October 1922.

===Legacy===

====Effects on Japanese politics====
[[File:Provisional Priamurskoe government.jpg|thumb|Foreign Minister N. D. Merkulov, Admiral G. K. Stark, Chairman S. D. Merkulov of the [[Provisional Priamurye Government]], surviving behind a [[Cordon sanitaire (international relations)|cordon sanitaire]] of Japanese troops involved in the Siberian Intervention.]]

Japan's motives in the Siberian intervention were complex and poorly articulated. Ostensibly, Japan, as with the United States and the other international coalition forces, was in Siberia to safeguard stockpiled military supplies and to "rescue" the [[Czechoslovak Legions|Czechoslovak Legion]]. However, the Japanese government's intense hostility to communism, a determination to recoup its past losses to Russia, and the perceived opportunity to settle the "northern problem" in Japan's security by either creating a buffer state,{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=25}} or by outright territorial acquisition, were also factors. However, patronage of various White movement leaders left Japan in a poor diplomatic position vis-à-vis the government of the [[Soviet Union]], after the Red Army eventually emerged victorious from the Russian Civil War. The intervention tore Japan's wartime unity to shreds, leading to the army and government being involved in bitter controversy, as well as renewed factional strife in the army itself.{{sfn|Humphreys|1996|p=25}}

Japanese casualties from the Siberian Expedition included some 5,000 dead from combat or illness, and the expenses incurred were in excess of 900 million yen.

==See also==
{{Portal|Siberia}}
* [[North Russia intervention]]
* [[Southern Russia intervention]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
* {{cite thesis |last= Beattie|first= Steuart|date= 1957|title= Canadian Intervention in Russia, 1918-1919|type= MA|publisher= [[McGill University]]|url= http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1512127244520~302}}
* {{cite book |last=Graves |first=William S. |date=1931 |title=America's Siberian Adventure 1918-1920 |url=http://www.e-reading.co.uk/book.php?book=133957 |location=New York |publisher=Peter Smith }}
* {{cite book | last = Humphreys | first = Leonard A. | year = 1996 | title = The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920s | publisher = Stanford University Press | isbn = 0-8047-2375-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vlA3wijPak4C }}
* {{cite book|last=James|first=Brigadier E. A.|year=1978|title=British Regiments 1914–18|publisher=Samson Books Limited|location=London|isbn=0-906304-03-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ky-BAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book | last = Kinvig | first = Clifford | year = 2006 | title = Churchill's Crusade: The British Invasion of Russia, 1918–1920 | publisher = Continuum International Publishing Group | isbn = 1-85285-477-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKGspZ8XmNYC }}
* {{cite book |last=Moffat |first=Ian C.D. |year=2015 |title=The Allied Intervention in Russia, 1918–1920: The Diplomacy of Chaos |publisher=Springer |location=New York |isbn=978-1-137-43573-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5eu_CQAAQBA }}
* {{cite journal |last1= Smith|first1= Gaddis|date= 1959|title= Canada and the Siberian Intervention, 1918–1919|jstor= 1905120|journal= [[The American Historical Review]]|volume= 64|issue= 4|pages= 866–877|doi= 10.2307/1905120}}
* {{cite book |last=White |first=John Albert |title=The Siberian Intervention |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=1950 |isbn=9780837119762 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CHAjAQAAIAAJ }}
* {{cite book |last=Willett Jr. |first=Robert L. | title=Russian Sideshow: America's Undeclared War, 1918–1920 | publisher=Potomac Books | year=2005 | isbn=1-57488-706-8}}
* {{cite book  |last=Wright  |first=Damien  |date=2017  |title=Churchill's Secret War with Lenin: British and Commonwealth Military Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1918-20  |url=https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/churchills-secret-war-with-lenin-british-and-commonwealth-military-intervention-in-the-russian-civil-war-1918-20.php  |location=Solihull  |publisher=Helion  |isbn=978-1-911512-10-3}}

==External links==
* [http://www.siberianexpedition.ca Canada's Siberian Expedition] website, by Benjamin Isitt
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070625054247/http://nortvoods.net/rrs/siberia/jonessibdiary-2.htm WWI Siberian Diary, by W. C. Jones, 2nd Lt. US Army Russian Railway Service]
* [http://www.czechlegion.com The Czech Legion]

{{Soviet Union–United States relations|state=collapsed}}
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