Could the US have done much more to reinforce Russia and the Eastern Front during WWI?

Discussions on alternate history, including events up to 20 years before today. Hosted by Terry Duncan.
Locked
Futurist
Member
Posts: 3642
Joined: 24 Dec 2015, 01:02
Location: SoCal

Could the US have done much more to reinforce Russia and the Eastern Front during WWI?

#1

Post by Futurist » 20 May 2021, 03:01

Could the US have done much more to reinforce Russia and the Eastern Front during World War I? This question came to me when I was thinking about how the US significantly helped the Soviet Union during World War II by sending it a lot of food, such as Spam, and also by the US's capacity (though never actually utilized) to send US troops to the Eastern Front during World War II had the Soviet Union actually requested this. This made me wonder if the US could have put much more effort into helping Russia in 1917--specifically by sending a lot of food to Russia and also possibly by sending some US troops to Russia or at least promising to do so. I seem to recall previously reading that the US sent a lot of food aid to Russia during the famine there in 1921-1922, so I'm wondering if the US was capable of sending a lot of food to Russia and especially to Russian cities several years earlier and thus possibly helping reduce food shortages in Russian cities in 1917.

At the same time, though, I also wonder just how good Russia's refrigeration system actually was during this time; after all, American food would be useless if it will spoil and go rotten before it reaches its desired Russian consumers. I also wonder just how much US troops would have actually helped Russia in 1917; after all, AFAIK, the US didn't have very many troops to spare until 1918 and any US troops who would have reached Russia in 1917 could have simply been exposed to defeatist Bolshevik propaganda--though they might obviously be less inclined to accept the arguments in this propaganda than Russian troops were simply due to them (as in, American troops) not being exhausted from years of warfare like Russian troops were. Ultimately, though, I'm just trying to speculate about what exactly the best way for the US to help Russia during World War I would have been. Specifically a way that would have actually been enough to prevent Russia from experiencing the Bolshevik Revolution in late 1917.

Any thoughts on all of this?

David Thompson
Forum Staff
Posts: 23722
Joined: 20 Jul 2002, 20:52
Location: USA

Re: Could the US have done much more to reinforce Russia and the Eastern Front during WWI?

#2

Post by David Thompson » 20 May 2021, 05:09

Locked for failure to comply with the "What if?" section guidelines.


Locked

Return to “What if”