Ep 175 - The Most Amazing Revolution

About this episode

This episode discusses the US government's loans to Russia in 1917 and the subsequent Bolshevik repudiation of those debts.

The Most Amazing Revolution In spring 1917, the United States government lent money to the new Provisional Government in Russia, which had promised both domestic reform and to maintain the fight against Germany. Within a few short months, the Bolsheviks took over and repudiated all prior international debt. Still unpaid, the loans have now been in default nearly 150 times longer than they were current. We have talked about these loans before, but not about the repeated attempts (in the 1930s and 1990s) to reach a settlement. Some of the loan proceeds went to efforts to keep the Bolsheviks from power? Did the succeeding governments have to repay those debts? Producer: Leanna Doty

People in this episode

Hosts: Mitu Gulati, Mark Weidemaier

Topics covered

• international debt
• Bolshevik takeover
• US loans to Russia
• historical settlements
• defaulted loans

Keywords

• Bolsheviks
• international debt
• US loans
• Russia
• historical settlements
• default
• 1917

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: United States government

Places: Russia

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