The end of the Great War did not bring peace to Russia. A civil war developed between the Bolsheviks and the 'White Russians' who represented the old Czarist order. A 'coalition' of 16 nations including Britain, America and France became involved on numerous fronts in support of the White Russians. The result was defeat and failure for the coalition forces. This little known and ill-fated enterprise was surprisingly costly in political and military terms. Indeed the intervention lead to precisely the opposite result to that intended, yet its lessons have gone untaught.