Count de Lubersac: Mission in Russia, 1916–1919

The author examines the activities of Count Jean de Lubersac, a member of the French military mission in Russia, and demonstrates how the main stages of his activities in that position vividly illustrate the evolution of French policy towards Russia in the critical years of Franco-Russian relations. Published in August 1918, “A Letter to American Workingmen” by Vladimir Lenin mentions his meeting with two French officers in February of the same year. One of them, Jacques Sadoul, is fairly well known, while the personality and area of activity of the other has not yet attracted the same degree of research interest. Meanwhile, his name, Jean de Lubersac, is mentioned in the memoirs of many French and Russian military and political figures when describing the events of 1916–1919 in Russia. Arriving in Russia as a mere second lieutenant on an air mission, this highly enterprising man quickly took up a position in the Russian Fifth Army, then in the French military mission and finally in the ranks of the interventionists in northern Russia. It was a most unusual feat for a junior officer, especially one from abroad. The primary sources for the study include the memoirs of those French and Russian nationals who knew de Lubersac personally, as well as documents from French and Russian archives. Although these sources contain only sketchy accounts, together they provide a fairly complete picture of what Jean de Lubersac was doing in Russia, not only in 1916–1919, but also later, in 1922.

Keywords

Russia, France, Entente, Allies, World War I, external intervention, Franco-Russian relations, military missions, intelligence

Received

19.12.2022

Publication date

30.04.2023

Number of characters

40080

Cite

GOST	Pavlov A. Count de Lubersac: Mission in Russia, 1916–1919 // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2023. – Issue 2 C. 73-85 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640019197-4-1 (circulation date: 16.05.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640019198-5
MLA	Pavlov, Andrey "Count de Lubersac: Mission in Russia, 1916–1919." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 2 (2023):73-85. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640019198-5
APA	Pavlov A. (2023). Count de Lubersac: Mission in Russia, 1916–1919. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (2), pp.73-85 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640019198-5

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 1, views: 134

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Bespalova K.A. Ambicioznyj agitator i propagandist Zhak Sadul' [Ambitious agitator and propagandist Jacques Sadoul] // Voprosy istoricheskoj nauki. Materialy V Mezhdunarodnoj nauchnoj konferencii [Questions of historical science. Materials of the V International Scientific Conference]. Kazan', 2017. S. 1–4. (In Russ.)

2. Bespalova K.A. Igra na dva fronta: missiya kapitana Sadulya v Rossii (1917–1924 gg.) [Game on two fronts: captain Sadoul’s mission in Russia (1917–1924)] // Elektronnyj nauchno-obrazovatel'nyj zhurnal “Istoriya” [Journal of Education and Science “History”]. 2020. Vol. 11. Iss. 4 (90). (In Russ.)

3. Feskova E.P. Francuzskie voennye missii v Rossii i vosstanie Chekhoslovackogo korpusa [French military missions in Russia and the revolt of the Czechoslovak Corp] // Vestnik Nizhegorodskogo universiteta im. N.I. Lobachevskogo [Review of the Lobachevsky University of Nizhny Novgorod]. 2019. № 6. S. 71–80. (In Russ.)

4. Gagkuev R.G. “Admiral stanovitsya dlya nas opasnym podopechnym”. Ocenka francuzskim generalom M. Zhanenom situacii na belom vostochnom fronte v dekabre 1918 g. [“The Admiral is becoming a dangerous ward for us”. French General M. Janen’s assessment of situation on the White Eastern front in December 1918] // Omskij nauchnyj vestnik. Seriya: Obshchestvo, istoriya, sovremennost' [Omsk scientific review. Series: Society, history, modernity]. 2022. T. 7. № 2. S. 10–16. (In Russ.)

5. Galkina Ju.M. “Bolsheviki – te zhe nemtsy”: deyatelnost’ predstaviteley frantsuzskoy voyennoy na Juge Rossii v 1918–1919 gg. [“The Bolsheviks are the same as the Germans”: the activities of the French military missions in the South of Russia. 1918–1919] // Voenno-istoricheskie aspekty zhizni Yuga Rossii XVII–XXI vv.: voprosy izucheniya i muzeefikacii. Materialy III Mezhdunarodnoj nauchno-prakticheskoj konferencii [Military-historical aspects of the life of the South of Russia 17–21 c.: questions of study and museumification. Materials of the III International conference]. Volgograd, 2021. S. 309–313. (In Russ.)

6. Galkina Ju.M. Frantsuzskaya voennaya missiya v Rossii v gody Pervoj mirovoj vojny: dis. … kand. ist. nauk [French military mission in Russia during the First World War: diss. PhD]. Ekaterinburg, 2018. (In Russ.)

7. Galkina Ju.M. Frantsuzskiye rezidentury I ih razvedyvatelnaya dejatelnost’ na severo-zapade Rossii vo vremya Grazhdanskoy voyny [French intelligence networks and its activities on the north-west of Russia during the Civi War] // Novy istorichesky vestnik [New historical review]. 2021. №1 (67). S. 24–38. (In Russ.)

8. Galkina Ju.M., Bespalova K.A. “Delo Sadulya”: novyi istochnik o revolutsii 1917 goda [“The case of Sadul”: a new source for the study of the 1917 revolution] // Frantsuzsky ezhegodnik [Annual of French Studies]. Moskva, 2017. S. 354–369. (In Russ.)

9. Goldin V.I. Sever Rossii v ogne Grazhdanskoy voyny. Inostrannaya interventsiya i yeyo posledstviya. Avgust–decabr’ 1918 g. [Russian North in the fire of the Civil War. Foreign intervention and its consequences. August–December 1918]. Arhangelsk, 2021. (In Russ.)

10. Ignat'ev V.I. Nekotorye fakty i itogi 4 let Grazhdanskoi voiny (lichnye vospominaniia) [Some facts and results of the 4 years of the Civil War (personal memoirs)]. Ch. 1. (Oktyabr’ 1917 g. – avgust 1919 g.). Petrograd, Vologda, Arhangelsk. Moskva, 1922. (In Russ.)

11. Iz dnevnika gen. V.G. Boldyreva [From the diary of gen. V.G. Boldyrev] // Krasny Arkhiv [Red Archive]. 1927. T. 4 (32). S. 250–273. (In Russ.)

12. Lenin V.I. Polnoe sobranie sochineniy [Collected works]. T. 50. Moskva, 1970. (In Russ.)

13. Maryshevsky V.V. God na Severe. Zapiski komaduyushego vojskami Severnoy oblasty [A year on the North. Memoires of the commander of the Northern district army]. Moskva, 2019. (In Russ.)

14. Pavlov A.Yu., Guelton F. V cabinetah I okopah: frantsuzskiye voennuye missii v Rossii v gody Pervoy mirovoy vojny [In cabinets and trenches: the French military missions in Russia during the First World War]. Sankt-Peterburg, 2019. (In Russ.)

15. Tsvetkov V.Zh. Beloye delo v Rossii: 1920–1922 gg. [White Movement in Russia: 1920–1922]. Moskva, 2019. (In Russ.)

16. Vilkitsky B.A. Kogda, komu i kak ya slizhil pod bolshevikami. Vospominaniya belogvardejskogo admirala [When, for whom and how did I serve under the Bolshevik power. Memoires of the white guard’s admiral]. Moskva; Berlin. 2016. (In Russ.)

17. Vrag, protivnik, soyuznik? Rossiya vo vneshney politike Frantsii v 1917–1924 gg. [Enemy, adversary, ally? Russia in the French foreign policy in 1917–1924] / otv. red. A.Ju. Pavlov. T. 1–2. Sankt-Peterburg, 2021. (In Russ.)

18. Delmas J. L’État-major français et le Front Oriental apres la revolution bolchevique (novembre 1917 – 1 novembre 1918): thèse de doctort. Paris, 1965.

19. Hogenhuis-Seliverstof A. Les relations franco-soviétiques, 1917–1924. Paris, 1995.

20. Niessel H.A. Le triomphe des Bolsheviks et la paix de Brest-Litovsk. Souvenirs 1917–1918. Paris, 1940.

21. Noulens J. Mon Ambassade en Russie Sovietique, 1917–1919. Vol. 2. Paris, 1933.

22. Olivari H. Mission d’un cryptologue francais en Russie (1916). Paris, 2008.

23. Pascal P. Mon journal de Russie, 1916–1918. Lausanne, 1975.

24. Sinanoglou I. Journal de Russie d’Albert Thomas // Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. 1973. Dossier 14. № 1–2. P. 86–204.

25. Sumner I. The French Air Force in the First World War. Havertown, 2018.