At a time when the Soviet Union is disintegrating, Richard Debo provides an intriguing and detailed examination of the new political realities that slowly and painfully emerged in eastern Europe out of the chaos left in the wake of the First World War. Revealing the reasons for the victory of Lenin's Bolshevik government in the Russian civil war, Debo demonstrates that Bolshevik political and diplomatic skills were far superior to those of either their indigenous opponents or their many foreign enemies. For much of 1919, enemies of the Soviet government were more interested in fighting each other than the Bolsheviks, and, although foreign powers sought to influence competing anti-Bolshevik generals, they actually contributed little to the defeat of the Red Army. Meanwhile, the Bolsheviks established realistic priorities, formulated flexible policies, and made political sacrifices unimagined by their enemies. As a result they were able to find allies and divide opponents.