I am sure that it has been presented as wester aggression in some circles... but it is not really a great example if look at the whole story:
This was (very) late in WW1 and the Russian Revolution turned a solid ally of Czarist Russia into a mess of waring groups more-or-less causing the Russian front of that war to more-or-less collapse. The Whites looked more like they would be in favor of continuing the war, while the Reds explicitly made a pease that did not include the west (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk).
And the U.S. had been supplying Russia with arms, with many of them still sitting in warehouses in Murmansk. There was legitimate fear that German forces (who had just invaded Finland) would take this large stockpile of arms, and combined with the lack of an eastern front, that would turn the tide of war. From the Western perspective they needed to do something.
Please remember that Russia was in Civil War at this point, and pretending it was clear who was (or rightfully should be) in charge of things is not realistic. The West chose a side (the one more likely to favor it), and it turns out that was not the winning side. If the other side had won history would be very different (that is a safe statement, anyone who gives you more is just guessing), but that invasion probably would have been welcomed if it had turned out different.
With 20/20 hindsight it was wrong to do more than grab the arms shipments and leave: the Russian Civil War should have been an internal matter.
But pretending that the West was just being aggressive, or trying to take over Russia is a bit disingenuous.
you are right that there was serious conflict.. please note that I did not "pretend" anything.. as a serious place for discussion and learning, let's agree here at YNews to apply information tools and good reasoning on this important topic.
I am not taking sides. Historical documents show that the Germans in WW II bombed the city with ferocity and an intent to destroy it completely. Of course that was a different political era, yet it is relevent today.
Russian civil war was not an internal matter from the very beginning considering that multiple foreign forces conspired to make it happen. Also as we have learned it should have not been an internal matter considering the vast humanitarian losses caused by the communist terror that followed.
So perhaps you meant to say that Russian civil war should have been an international matter?
Btw. this is a common Russian propaganda talking point how Russia (a largest remaining imperial and colonist power) has never been aggressive and has only been "defending" itself.
A larger problem is that for some reason American conservatives have been starting to pick up many those Russian propaganda talking points, designed to undermine the American morale.
This was (very) late in WW1 and the Russian Revolution turned a solid ally of Czarist Russia into a mess of waring groups more-or-less causing the Russian front of that war to more-or-less collapse. The Whites looked more like they would be in favor of continuing the war, while the Reds explicitly made a pease that did not include the west (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk).
And the U.S. had been supplying Russia with arms, with many of them still sitting in warehouses in Murmansk. There was legitimate fear that German forces (who had just invaded Finland) would take this large stockpile of arms, and combined with the lack of an eastern front, that would turn the tide of war. From the Western perspective they needed to do something.
Please remember that Russia was in Civil War at this point, and pretending it was clear who was (or rightfully should be) in charge of things is not realistic. The West chose a side (the one more likely to favor it), and it turns out that was not the winning side. If the other side had won history would be very different (that is a safe statement, anyone who gives you more is just guessing), but that invasion probably would have been welcomed if it had turned out different.
With 20/20 hindsight it was wrong to do more than grab the arms shipments and leave: the Russian Civil War should have been an internal matter. But pretending that the West was just being aggressive, or trying to take over Russia is a bit disingenuous.