The Lockhart Plot
Love, Betrayal, Assassination and Counter-Revolution in Lenin's Russia
Published on 26. January 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
368 pages
978-0-19-885299-5 (ISBN)
Description
During the spring and summer of 1918, with World War I still undecided, British, French and American agents in Russia developed a breathtakingly audacious plan. Led by Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart, a dashing, cynical, urbane 30-year-old Scot, they conspired to overthrow Lenin's newly established Bolshevik regime, and to install one that would continue the war against Germany on the Eastern Front. Lockhart's confidante and chief support, with whom he engaged in a passionate love affair, was the mysterious, alluring Moura von Benkendorff, wife of a former aide-de-camp to the Tsar.
The plotters' chief opponent was 'Iron Felix' Dzerzhinsky. He led the Cheka, 'Sword and Shield' of the Russian Revolution and forerunner of the KGB. Dzerzhinsky loved humanity - in the abstract. He believed socialism represented humanity's best hope. To preserve and protect it he would unleash unbounded terror.
Revolutionary Russia provided the setting for the ensuing contest. In the back streets of Petrograd and Moscow, in rough gypsy cabarets, in glittering nightclubs, in cells beneath the Cheka's Lubianka prison, the protagonists engaged in a deadly game of wits for the highest possible stakes - not merely life and death, but the outcome of a world war and the nature of Russia's post-war regime.
Confident of success, the conspirators set the date for an uprising, September 8, 1918, but the Cheka had penetrated their organization and pounced just beforehand. The Lockhart Plot could have been a turning point in world history. Instead, its failure has left us with one of the great 'what ifs?' of twentieth century history, which is why it has until now remained shrouded in mystery. But it was a plot on whose outcome rested both the fate of the Revolution and the future shape of world history - and the story behind it is a thrilling one that continues to resonate in the early 21st century.
The plotters' chief opponent was 'Iron Felix' Dzerzhinsky. He led the Cheka, 'Sword and Shield' of the Russian Revolution and forerunner of the KGB. Dzerzhinsky loved humanity - in the abstract. He believed socialism represented humanity's best hope. To preserve and protect it he would unleash unbounded terror.
Revolutionary Russia provided the setting for the ensuing contest. In the back streets of Petrograd and Moscow, in rough gypsy cabarets, in glittering nightclubs, in cells beneath the Cheka's Lubianka prison, the protagonists engaged in a deadly game of wits for the highest possible stakes - not merely life and death, but the outcome of a world war and the nature of Russia's post-war regime.
Confident of success, the conspirators set the date for an uprising, September 8, 1918, but the Cheka had penetrated their organization and pounced just beforehand. The Lockhart Plot could have been a turning point in world history. Instead, its failure has left us with one of the great 'what ifs?' of twentieth century history, which is why it has until now remained shrouded in mystery. But it was a plot on whose outcome rested both the fate of the Revolution and the future shape of world history - and the story behind it is a thrilling one that continues to resonate in the early 21st century.
Reviews / Votes
It would make a cracking Hollywood thriller ... The Lockhart Plot is terrifically entertaining. Schneer does an excellent job of evoking the paranoid atmosphere of Russia in 1918, and his book teems with colourful characters. * Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times * A rollicking and thriller-like narrative that captures the chaos and turbulence of post-revolutionary Petrograd and Moscow. * Jonathan Steele, The Guardian * Schneer has made not one but several gripping narratives out of what he has been able to discover. * Neal Ascherson, London Review of Books * A well-researched and well-written reminder of the pitfalls and bear-traps that governments can encounter when attempting, clandestinely, to interfere in other countries. * Roderick Bailey, Times Literary Supplement * The Lockhart Plot is suspenseful and moody. It takes readers back in time and place to meet and follow in the steps of the plotters, provides insight on Bolshevism and its believers and critics, and deftly presents conflicting views and perspectives. On top of that, it reads like a top-level spy novel. Outstanding. * K.M. Sandrick, Historical Novel Society * Schneer's portraits of the central characters are lifelike as he examines motivations that include money and opportunity as well as duty and idealism. It's a page turner. * David Luhrrsen, Shepherd Express * Schneer does an excellent job of untangling the thick mass of contradictory testimony, false leads, dubious sources, fake identities, double-dealing, and skullduggery to present the most complete and reliable history of Allied plotting in the first year of Soviet power. * Douglas Smith, Los Angeles Review of Books * Excellent ... [This pacey] book is worth reading for its character portraits alone. * Alexander Watson, Literary Review * A cracking book. * Mark Rowe, Professional Security Magazine * Bruce Lockhart, debonair British secret agent, and Felix Dzerzhinsky, ruthless mastermind of the Soviet security service, face off in a deadly duel of smoke and mirrors. At stake: the fate of the Russian Revolution itself. It's an incredible story and Jonathan Schneer tells it with wit, panache and a razor-sharp historical sensibility. A brilliant examination that finally uncovers the mysteries of the Lockhart Plot. * Marc Mulholland, Professor of Modern History at Oxford University and author of The Murderer of Warren Street * This is a well-written book: informative, fun to read, paced like a thriller, and very deeply researched in available sources. * Daniel Orlovsky, Journal of Modern History *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
26 Black and white illustrations and maps
Dimensions
Height: 206 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 46 mm
Weight
386 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-885299-5 (9780198852995)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jonathan Schneer was born in New York City. He earned his doctorate from Columbia University and has taught at Yale University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. The recipient of numerous academic fellowships and awards, he has written seven previous books, one of which, The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of Arab-Israeli Conflict, (2010), won a National Jewish Book Award. His books and articles have been translated into German, French, Turkish and Chinese. Now an emeritus professor, he divides his time between Atlanta, Georgia and Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.
Content
Introduction
I: Lockhart before the Fall
1: The Making of Bruce Lockhart
2: The Education of Bruce Lockhart
3: The Temptations of Bruce Lockhart
II: Defenders of the Faith
4: Iron Felix Dzerzhinsky
5: Tender Jacov Peters
6: The Cheka
III: Towards the Fall
7: The 'Ace of Spies'
8: First Steps Towards the Counter-Revolution
9: The Question of Moura
10: Why Lockhart turned to the Latvians 10
11: Dzerzhinsky Counters
12: Intrigue and Romance in Revolutionary Russia
13: The Lockhart Plot Takes Shape
IV: The Fall
14: The Lockhart Plot
15: The Defeat of the Lockhart Plot
16: Denouement
17: Epilogue
18: Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Index
I: Lockhart before the Fall
1: The Making of Bruce Lockhart
2: The Education of Bruce Lockhart
3: The Temptations of Bruce Lockhart
II: Defenders of the Faith
4: Iron Felix Dzerzhinsky
5: Tender Jacov Peters
6: The Cheka
III: Towards the Fall
7: The 'Ace of Spies'
8: First Steps Towards the Counter-Revolution
9: The Question of Moura
10: Why Lockhart turned to the Latvians 10
11: Dzerzhinsky Counters
12: Intrigue and Romance in Revolutionary Russia
13: The Lockhart Plot Takes Shape
IV: The Fall
14: The Lockhart Plot
15: The Defeat of the Lockhart Plot
16: Denouement
17: Epilogue
18: Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Index