Joseph Noulens (29 March 1864 – 9 September 1944) was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

politician and diplomat. Noulens became a member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon Res ...

in 1903 and served as Minister of War from 1913 to 1914 and then as

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

from 1914 to 1915. In 1920 he became a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Involvement in Russia

In June 1917 he was appointed French ambassador to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. Following the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

, he worked with White Guards to undermine the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

regime. In 1918 he proposed a two-tier operation to stabilise the economy of regime set up by General

Yevgeny Miller Eugen Ludwig Müller (russian: Евге́ний-Лю́двиг Ка́рлович Ми́ллер, tr. ; 25 September 1867 – 11 May 1939), better known as Yevgeny Miller, was a Russian general of Baltic German origin and one of the leaders of t ...

in North Russia. The scheme involved a loan of 15 million rubles, set against a lien of 20 million rubles worth of sawn wood. The second phase involved issuing 200 million rubles in back notes backed by the allies at a rate of 10 - 1 to the dollar. (i.e. 20 million dollars). However, as the security against this was to be $25million worth of concessions from the Russian forestry industry, concern about the instability of the regime led to an alternative plan involving the creation of a

currency board In public finance, a currency board is a monetary authority which is required to maintain a fixed exchange rate with a foreign currency. This policy objective requires the conventional objectives of a central bank to be subordinated to the exch ...

being adopted. this had been devised by

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...

. He was depicted with two other French members of a delegation in a poster issued by the

Russian Telegraph Agency Russian Telegraph Agency (russian: Российское телеграфное агентство, ''Rossiyskoye telegrafnoye agentstvo''), abbr. ROSTA, was the state news agency in Soviet Russia (1918-35). After the creation of Telegraph Agenc ...

(Glavpolitprosvet). They were shown laughing and planning to bring the return of the monarchy. After the failure of Bruce Lockhart—

Sidney Reilly Sidney George Reilly (; – 5 November 1925)—known as "Ace of Spies"—was a Russian-born adventurer and secret agent employed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and later by the Foreign Section of the British Secret Service Bureau, the pre ...

conspiracy to assassinate

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

, Noulens left Russia.The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979)
/ref> In 1919 he became President of an international association of creditors of Russia, which agitated against diplomatic recognition of the Bolshevik regime but they did not accept responsibility for the old debts made by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

He later became leader of the Society of French Interests in Russia. At a meeting in Paris in February 1922 they demanded a veto on negotiations with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

unless the latter acknowledged the old debts. This view was promoted at the Genoa Conference held from 10 April to 19 May 1922.

Books

*''My Mission in Soviet Russia'' (1933)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noulens, Joseph 1864 births 1939 deaths Politicians from Bordeaux Radical Party (France) politicians French Ministers of War French Ministers of Finance French Ministers of Agriculture Members of the 8th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 9th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 10th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 11th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French Senators of the Third Republic Ambassadors of France to the Russian Empire French people of World War I