After the Armistice, many sailors faced an uncertain transition from wartime service to civilian life, including anxiety about work and transferable skills. British operations in the Baltic were also connected to the continuing Russian Civil War. The government's public promise to use only volunteers became the central source of later friction. Once that promise existed, orders sending men to the Baltic could look like a breach of the stated terms even when naval commanders considered the operation legitimate. The promise and the pressures of demobilization shaped the individual incidents that followed.
Chapter · 6:59-8:47
Demobilization and the promise of Baltic volunteers
Postwar uncertainty over demobilization met a government pledge that only volunteers would serve in the Baltic intervention.