The First World War as a form of European containment of Russia: a view from Arkhangelsk

The article considers the factors of successful development of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20 th century and favorable forecasts on the prospects of increasing its capacity on the Eurasian continent. The successful development in a peaceful environment did not satisfy geopolitical opponents of Russia, especially the United Kingdom, which sought the variants of weakening the Russian empire by pulling it in military conflicts. Using the logic of the previous historical events and the current geopolitical situation, the authors hypothesize the First World War as a form of European containment of the development of Russia. There was expressed a version about the help of the Allies, coming mainly through Arkhangelsk. “It cannot be so, - the authors write, - that the invaders did not have the information about inability of arranging the delivery of goods because of the poor condition of transport infrastructure in the region during that time”. Was it or not a conscious formation of the reason for the subsequent operation for its preservation and using as a staging ground and as a way of bribery of the local population and the authorities? To a certain extent this is confirmed by the message, which was sent by the chief of the British mission in the supply of Russia, General Poole, to London in January 1918, which is given in the article.