UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY In the National Interest - Borden and the Siberian Intervention, 1918-19 by Lucas Stephen Thomas Ker A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY CALGARY, ALBERTA JULY 2011 © Lucas Stephen Thomas Ker Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON MAOISM Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre riterence ISBN: 978-0-494-81402-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-81402-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada II ABSTRACT In August of 1918, the Canadian government authorized the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force to proceed to Vladivostok as part of a larger Allied mission. While the majority of literature the expedition has inspired views it as a failure, the military objectives of the mission - victory in World War One - had been achieved before the main body ever arrived. The real story of the intervention in Siberia, however, is not a military one. Created and maintained almost exclusively through the effort of Prime Minister Robert Borden in an atmosphere of rising social unrest, the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force was sent to further Canadian national interests. Although it was accompanied by an economic commission in an attempt to further the Canadian export economy, the principal reason for Borden's sending a 4,192 Canadians to a new military Front was to demonstrate growing national autonomy and Canada's emergence as a nation in the international arena.1 The definition of autonomy as independence from Britain was not how the term was understood by the vast majority of Canadians, including Borden, in 1918. Instead, autonomy was seen as Canadian equality within the British Empire, complete with self-government and a voice in foreign affairs. This is how the term is used throughout this paper. Ill TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract II Table of Contents Ill List of Abbreviations IV Introduction 1 Chapter One 9 Chapter Two 38 Chapter Three 66 Conclusion 94 Bibliography 99 IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CSEF - Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force LAC - Library and Archives Canada MP - Member of Parliament NAUK - National Archives United Kingdom POW-Prisoner of War TLC - Trades and Labour Congress 1 INTRODUCTION In the summer of 1990, Captain Thomas Charles Heath, Commander of the Second Canadian Destroyer Squadron and Task Group Commander, entered the Soviet port of Vladivostok. With three Canadian destroyers and the HMCS Provider, an oiler and replenishment ship, Heath and the 1200 Canadian men and women under his command where the first foreign nationals to visit the area, outside of some North Koreans, since it had been designated as a closed military city. The visit was a festive affair. Official lunches and dinners were a regular occurrence among the officers, the Canadian band preformed daily, and Heath was even interviewed for Soviet Television on multiple occasions. Nearly 10,000 civilians had lined the pier to take in the arrival of the ships and showered the foreign visitors with questions on their lifestyle, clothing, and entertainment, even inviting them into their homes. According to Heath they were treated like celebrities. The trip was not solely made up of pleasantries, however. Vladivostok had been closed to foreign visitors for well over half a century, and as the Soviet Union's principal naval base on the Pacific Ocean, there was a great deal of valuable intelligence to be gathered. The United States Navy, which would be visiting the city in September, was also very much interested in Canada's mission, and to complement his detailed daily reports based on his own observations and regular crew debriefings, Heath and his staff provided as much film to those with cameras as they could shoot. In the end, approximately 400 rolls of 35 mm Polaroid slide film were shot by his crew in their jaunts through the town, with 2 Thomas Heath, Interviewed by Lucas Ker, April 12, 2011. 2 the pictures eventually ending up in the hands of Canadian and American intelligence agencies. Among the Canadian photographers was the squadron's padre. After developing a strong relationship with the local populace by giving out as many bibles as he could requisition, this man, whose name Heath could not remember, was led to a small, poorly kept cemetery on a wooded hill on the Churkin Peninsula. Here, amid the brambles, lay 14 Canadian graves, their wooden markers askew or knocked over, obscured with graffiti, and suffering under the rot and wear of 71 years." These graves, which had lain forgotten since 1919, belonged to soldiers of the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force (hereafter CSEF), Canada's brief and ill-fated contribution to a larger Allied interventionist force which occupied Vladivostok and the surrounding area at the end of World War One. Championed by the French and British leaders, Georges Clemenceau and David Lloyd George, who were desperate to relieve some of the pressure on their exhausted armies, the force was originally designed to enter Eastern Russia and help to reconstruct the Eastern Front. As an international contingent made up of representatives from Canada, Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Japan, however, the expedition was almost immediately embroiled in political conflict with the major sides attempting to pursue their own agendas. For his part, Prime Minister Robert Laird Borden had committed troops alongside those of the British with a set agenda of his own. Yet Borden's agenda had its roots before the War. On entering WWI, Borden and his government had three key goals for their nation: to demonstrate their loyalty to the British Empire, to encourage Canadian economic 3 Benjamin Isitt, "Evacuation." Canada's Siberian Expedition. htlp://www.siberianexpedition.ca/index.php (accessed May 5, 2011). 3 growth, and to advance Canadian autonomy, not in the sense of a separate nation, but as equals within the British Empire with a voice in foreign affairs. To these three goals would be added a fourth as well, the necessity for a closer relationship with their geographic neighbour to the south, and along with this, political harmony between the United States and the British Empire as a whole. By the closing stages of the war, Canada had achieved considerable success towards its goals, yet was still considered a junior ally by the major powers, and with an uncertain post-war economic situation looming, Borden desired further advancement. The national gains had come with a price, however. In the four years since 1914, the Canadian people had grown war weary. Rising prices had surpassed wage increases and a growth of labour tension and social awareness among the workers, especially in Western Canada, had spurred class conflict. On top of this, Borden's policies on conscription and his cancellation of exemptions had isolated Quebec and caused a great deal of unrest among the French- speaking majority as well as further outraging the English-Canadian working class. The advent of the intervention in Siberia provided Borden with the perfect opportunity to further his nation's newfound autonomy, and in spite of the growing unrest within Canada, he took it. In the Siberian arena, Borden's four national goals were present and more closely interwoven - and at times more contradictory - than any other instance brought about by the war. By committing troops at Britain's request he was demonstrating Canada's continued loyalty, yet by securing independant Canadian leadership and the administration of the CSEF from Ottawa, it was more importantly a demonstration of national equality and autonomy within the Empire. With the United States involved, too, 4 George Gaddis Smith, "Nation and Empire: Canadian Diplomacy During the First World War," (PhD diss, Yale University, 1960), iii. 4 the Siberian intervention also provided Canada another opportunity to further its international relationship with its neighbour. Lastly, the material needs and immense economic possibilities of Siberia could, if cultivated correctly, provide Canada with a valuable trading partner for years to come, and in the short term, help to neutralize the expected post-war economic downturn. When Borden agreed to play a role in Siberia, he did so with the best interests of his nation in mind and continued to work for his nation's benefit at every turn.