British Army of the Rhine Soviet Russia Vladimir Lenin Communist Party White forces Russian Civil War cordon sanitaire British Army
Churchill was responsible for demobilising the British Army, although he convinced Lloyd George to keep a million men conscripted for the British Army of the Rhine. Churchill was one of the few government figures who opposed harsh measures against the defeated Germany, and he cautioned against demobilising the German Army, warning that they might be needed as a bulwark against threats from the newly established Soviet Russia. He was an outspoken opponent of Vladimir Lenin's new Communist Party government in Russia. He initially supported the use of British troops to assist the anti-Communist White forces in the Russian Civil War, but soon recognised the desire of the British people to bring them home. After the Soviets won the civil war, Churchill proposed a cordon sanitaire around the country.
