The Iron Maze: Western Intelligence vs the Bolsheviks Book

The Russian revolution of 1917 was one of the defining events of the 20th century. When the Bolsheviks finally swept aside the old imperial order it was no great surprise--it was generally accepted that Russia, with a tsar incapable of placating a mistreated and miserable populace, had long been ripe for change--but it still sent shockwaves around the world, bringing hope for peace and a better life to some and instilling fear of the overturning of the established order to others. The noted historian Eric Hobsbawm has written: "The Russian revolution was the first political event since the outbreak of the war [in 1914] to echo in the letters even of peasants' and workers' wives." Little more than a year later, with the end of the First World War, the thrones of four more dynasties had followed the Romanovs to the wall. Over the coming decades the firmament of both European and world politics was shaken time and again. In Iron Maze, Gordon Brooke-Shepherd (a former military intelligence officer during the Second World War and author of many previous works of history) presents a fascinating insight into events on the ground in a period of chaos following the revolution which is perhaps unmatched in Russian history, even today. The fruits of extensive, though not exhaustive, research (the chequered and destructive passage of the records and memoirs he has only recently been able to access makes a fascinating subplot), the book explores the murky world of the Allies' secret service operations, revealing how the Western powers worked together, first to persuade the Bolsheviks to stay in the war on their side (they didn't) and then to attempt their overthrow. The shenanigans and manoeuvrings make for a fascinating story, populated by a cast of larger-than-life gentlemen spies, renegades and mandarins, where nothing is quite what it seems and no-one says (or perhaps knows--information sources were disparate and diffuse) quite what they mean. This book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the history of the intelligence services, but with its pacey narrative, remarkable twist in the tail and rigorous standards of historical research, it will also appeal to any reader with an interest in the history of this troubled time --Alisdair BowlesRead More