In the summer of 1917, an American delegation visited Petrograd.

It was led by the now 72-year-old Elihu Root, former Secretary of War, Secretary of State,

Senator, and recipient of the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in promoting arbitration in the settling of international

disputes. Root and his delegation had been sent by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to open

talks with the Russian provisional government and to offer Russia a $450 million line of credit.

The provisional government needed the loan badly, but it came with one condition, as Root would

bluntly explain. A later U.S. diplomatic official would summarize the Root Commission's message

as, No Fight, No Loan.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Thank you. The

Oh, Episode 139. No fight, no loan.

The February Revolution in Petrograd had taken place swiftly and with relatively little bloodshed.

169 Russians died in the fighting, and about 1,200 more were injured.

Every death is a tragedy, of course, but still, these are remarkably light casualty figures

when you consider that we're talking about the overthrow of one of the most heavy-handed

governments in the world,

a regime that has ruled for centuries, and at its greatest extent, over one-sixth of the planet's land area.

The first foreign government to recognize the new Russian provisional government was that of the United States.

This had a lot to do with the U.S.

ambassador in Petrograd, who was bullish on the revolution and urged the Wilson administration

to support it at once. Recognition also came through quickly from Russia's major allies in the war,

Britain, France, and Italy. From a propaganda point of view, the Russian Revolution was a boon to her allies.

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