What could the Western Allies have most plausibly done to help Provisional Government survive?

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
With a PoD only after the February 1917 revolution?

What could the Western Allies have most plausibly done to help the Provisional Government survive, consistent with their own core national interests and within their capabilities at the time?

What was the peak number of Allied troops in Russia before the armistice in the west? could the deployment of an equivalent number of Allied troops th Russia during the Provisional Govts lifetime have aided its survival in any way?

Could the Allies, if they chose, gotten some troops into Russia during the Provisional Government months, and gotten to the frontline with the Germans? Would this be helpful for Russian morale, or dissipate it more quickly?
 

CaliGuy

Banned
What could the Western Allies have most plausibly done to help the Provisional Government survive, consistent with their own core national interests and within their capabilities at the time?
Advise the Russian Government to arrest the Bolsheviks and keep them in jail as well as to aggressively crack down on the emerging lack of discipline in the army. Also, tell the Russian Government not to launch any offensives until after large numbers of U.S. troops reach Western Europe.
 

BigBlueBox

Banned
Advise the Russian Government to arrest the Bolsheviks and keep them in jail as well as to aggressively crack down on the emerging lack of discipline in the army. Also, tell the Russian Government not to launch any offensives until after large numbers of U.S. troops reach Western Europe.
The second one is probably the big part. Too bad the Entente did the exact opposite.
 
While no offensive would have been a good move, figuring out a defensive line that was reasonably short (given Russian geography) without giving away too much Russian territory would be good. In 1917 the Russian populace and the Russian Army are simply unwilling to put up with war much longer. Making it a purely defensive battle on a defensible line might manage to stooge things along until November, 1918. It wasn't just the Bolsheviks who were chanting "Peace, Bread, and Land".

Even a defacto armistice in the east would keep more German troops tied down than were released to go west after Brest-Litovsk. Keeping German troops away from the Western Front, at least until the Americans arrived in large numbers was the key Entente goal. The UK & France had unrealistic expectations of what the Russians could do after the revolution, and rather than settling for half a glass they ended up coming up empty.
 
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