Dances in Deep Shadows : Britain's Clandestine War in Russia, 1917-20 / Michael Occleshaw

New York: Carroll & Graf, 2006. First Edition. Hardcover. In this startling new investigation, Michael Occleshaw has lifted the veil on the extraordinary labyrinth of covert operations implemented by the British government in Russia between 1917 and 1920. A wealth of new research reveals an elaborate underground network of secret agents and their accomplices, subverting the infant Bolshevik state and provoking renegade groups into maintaining an active arena of war in the East. Offering new insights into a hidden diplomatic underworld, Occleshaw demonstrates in chilling detail how, beneath the facade of accountable government, an illicit Allied agenda was promoted by Whitehall officials. For the first time the full truth emerges about the British military presence in Russia, exposing the insubstantial pretext for intervention and revealing the full extent of covert activity. The world Occleshaw describes is shrouded in shadow; a world of clandestine meetings, unscrupulous business transactions and sabotaged military operations, played out against a backdrop of subterfuge, political intrigue and double-dealing spies. These were the years in which the foundations of the Cold War were set in stone. As counter-revolutionary groups were infiltrated, fostered and in many cases funded by the Allies, this covert conflict came to be about more than protecting the Eastern Front. It became a battle of ideologies that would rage for remainder of the twentieth century. An exceptional copy; fine in an equally fine dw. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Literally as new; 8vo 8"" - 9"" tall; 360 pages; Description: xxiii, 360 p. , [8] p. Of plates : ill. , maps ; 24 cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 341-346) and index. Subjects: Espionage, British --Soviet Union --History --20th century --Allied intervention, 1918-1920. Foreign relations --Great Britain