Siberian Intervention powers, since it allowed Germany to shift troops and war material from its eastern front to the west. Also, 50,000 man Czechoslovak Legion, fighting on the side of the Allied Powers, was now behind enemy lines, and was attempting to fight its way out through the east to Vladivostok along the Bolshevik-held Trans-Siberian Railway. Faced with these concerns, the United Kingdom and France decided to intervene in the Russian Civil War against the Bolsheviks. They had three objectives: The British and French asked the United States to furnish troops for both the North Russia Campaign and the Siberian Campaign. In
West Siberian taiga Siberian taiga ecoregion, which is colder and more rugged in terrain. The southern edge of the region lies north of the belt of temperate forests and forest-steppe that runs along the Trans-Siberian railway. Because the West Siberian ecoregion is thus outside of the normal agricultural and developed strip of southern Russia, it is sparsely populated, although the city of Yekaterinburg is at the extreme southwest corner of the region. The city of Surgut is the largest city in the interior (with just over 300,000 inhabitants). To the north is the tundra of the Yamal-Gydan tundra ecoregion (covering the Ob River