For much of the First World War, North Russia was the entry point for much needed supplies from Britain and France to their Russian ally. The Revolution in 1917 changed everything, with the threat of Bolshevism looming ever larger in the minds of some as the war with Germany was coming to an end, leading politicians like Winston Churchill to champion military intervention to address the threat. The result was an Allied expedition that in retrospect appears doomed from the outset. Andy Stuart's talk covers the politics, the motivation, the local plans and conditions, and reasons why it was eventually allowed to fade from memory.
Andy has a very varied background that includes serving in the Royal Artillery with tours in Germany, Canada and Northern Ireland, followed by a career in investment banking that took him as far afield as New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo before co-founding a technology development business.
During 'lockdown' Andy began writing, drawn to the world described in his grandfather, Arthur Walton's stories of his service during the First World War and the Russian Civil War, researching the topic and in depth and using it as inspiration for three books.
Main Image: British troops marching through Archangel in 1919 (IWM Q 16041)