On July 28, 1914, the First World War began. On the one hand, the states that were part of the Entente participated in it; on the other hand, they were opposed by the Quadruple Alliance led by Germany. The fighting, accompanied by significant destruction, led to the impoverishment of the masses. In many warring countries, a crisis of the political system was brewing. In Russia, this resulted in the October Revolution, which occurred on October 25, 1917 (old style). The Soviet Republic emerged from the war by signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany and its allies Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Peace Decree
The war was the reason that the Russian economy was in a deplorable state. The army, exhausted by trench warfare, gradually degenerated . Thousands of losses did not lift the spirits of the Russian people. Tired of trench life, the soldiers of the Russian army threatened to go to the rear and use their own methods to end the war. Russia needed peace.
The Entente countries, on whose side Russia fought, expressed strong protest against the actions of the Bolsheviks. Vice versa , countries of the Quadruple Alliance, interested in the liquidation of the Eastern Front, quickly responded to the proposal of the Council of People's Commissars. On November 21, 1917, armistice negotiations began in Brest-Litovsk. In accordance with the agreements reached, the parties obliged:
- not to conduct hostilities against each other for 28 days;
- leave military formations in their positions;
- do not transfer troops to other sectors of the front.
Peace negotiations
First stage
On December 22, 1917, delegations from Russia and the countries of the Quadruple Alliance began work on developing the provisions of the future peace treaty. The Russian side was led by A.A., a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Joffe, who immediately proposed a rough plan for the document, based on the provisions of the Decree on Peace. The main points were as follows:
For three days the German side considered the Russian proposals. After this, the head of the German delegation, R. von Kühlmann stated that this plan would be accepted subject to the renunciation of indemnities and annexations by all warring parties. Russian representatives proposed taking a break from work so that countries that had not yet joined the negotiations could familiarize themselves with this project.
Second phase
Negotiations resumed only on January 9, 1918. Now the Bolshevik delegation was headed by L.D. Trotsky, whose main goal was to delay negotiations in every possible way. In his opinion, in the near future Central Europe there must be a revolution that will change the balance of political forces, so the war should be stopped without signing peace. Arriving in Brest-Litovsk, he organizes propaganda activities among the military personnel of the German garrison. Here he is actively helped by K.B. Radek, who organized the publication of the newspaper “Fakel” in German.
When the negotiators met, von Kühlmann announced that Germany did not accept the Russian version of the treaty, since none of the participants in the war expressed a desire to join the negotiations. Having rejected Russian initiatives, the German delegation puts forward its own conditions. Refusing to free the lands, occupied by the armies of the Quadruple Alliance, Germany demanded large territorial concessions from Russia. General Hoffman presented a map with new state borders. According to this map, more than 150 thousand square kilometers were torn away from the territory of the former Russian Empire. Soviet representatives demanded a break to analyze the current situation and consult with the government.
A division is taking place in the ranks of the Bolshevik leadership. A group of “left communists” proposed to wage the war to a victorious end, rejecting German proposals. The “revolutionary war,” as Bukharin believed, should provoke a world revolution, without which Soviet power has no chance of surviving for long. Few people believed that Lenin was right, who considered the treaty a peaceful respite and proposed agreeing to German conditions.
While the issue of signing a peace treaty was being discussed in Moscow, Germany and Austria-Hungary were concluding a separate treaty with the Ukrainian People's Republic. The central states recognized Ukraine as a sovereign state, and she, in turn, pledged to supply food and raw materials so necessary to the countries of the military bloc.
Growing discontent of the masses , famine in the country, strikes at enterprises force Kaiser Wilhelm to demand that the generals begin military action. On February 9, Russia is presented with an ultimatum. The next day, Trotsky makes a statement in which he announces that the Soviet Republic is withdrawing from the war, disbanding the army, and will not sign the treaty. The Bolsheviks demonstratively left the meeting.
Having announced their withdrawal from the truce, German troops began an offensive along the entire eastern front on February 18. Without encountering any resistance, Wehrmacht units quickly advance into the interior of the country. On February 23, when a real threat of capture loomed over Petrograd, Germany presented an even tougher ultimatum, which was given two days to accept. The city constantly hosts meetings of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, whose members cannot come to a consensus. Only Lenin's threat to resign, which could lead to the collapse of the party, forces a decision in favor of signing a peace treaty.
Third stage
On March 1, the work of the negotiating group resumed. The Soviet delegation was led by G. Ya. Sokolnikov, who replaced Trotsky in this position. In fact, no negotiations were held anymore. On March 3, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was concluded without any reservations. On behalf of the Soviet Republic, the document was signed by Sokolnikov . On behalf of Germany signed by Richard von Kühlmann. Foreign Minister Hudenitz signed for Austria-Hungary. The agreement also bears the signatures of the Bulgarian Envoy Extraordinary A. Toshev and the Turkish Ambassador Ibrahim Hakki.
Terms of the peace treaty
14 articles defined the specific terms of the peace treaty.
According to a secret agreement, Russia had to pay 6 billion marks in indemnity and 500 million rubles in gold for damage caused to Germany as a result of the October Revolution . Extremely unfavorable customs tariffs were also restored 1904. Russia lost a territory of 780 thousand square meters. km. The country's population decreased by a third. Under the terms of the Brest Peace Treaty, 27% of cultivated land, almost all coal and steel production, and numerous industrial enterprises were lost. The number of workers decreased by 40%.
Consequences of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
After signing peace with Russia, the German army continued to advance east, leaving behind the demarcation line determined by the treaty. Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson, Rostov-on-Don were occupied, which contributed to the formation of puppet regimes in Crimea and southern Russia . Germany's actions provoked the formation of Socialist Revolutionary and Menshevik governments in the Volga region and the Urals. In response to the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, the Entente states landed troops in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok.
There was no one to resist foreign intervention. In the fall of 1917, even before negotiations began in Brest-Litovsk, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree on the gradual reduction of the army. After the promulgation of the “Decree on Land,” the soldiers, the backbone of the army being peasants, began to leave their units without permission. The widespread desertion and removal of officers from command and control leads to complete demoralization of the Russian army. In March 1918, by resolutions of the Soviet government, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and the position of Supreme Commander-in-Chief were abolished, headquarters at all levels and all military departments were disbanded. The Russian army ceased to exist.
The peace treaty with Germany caused a violent reaction from all political forces in Russia itself. In the Bolshevik camp there is a division into separate groups. “Left communists” consider the agreement a betrayal of the ideas of the international revolutionary movement. leave the Council of People's Commissars. N.V. Krylenko, N.I. Podvoisky and K.I. Shutko, who considered the treaty illegal, left their military posts. Bourgeois experts in the field of international law assessed the work of Bolshevik diplomats as mediocre and barbaric. Patriarch Tikhon sharply condemned the agreement, which placed millions of Orthodox Christians under the yoke of infidels. Consequences of the Brest-Litovsk Peace affected all spheres of life of Russian society.
Significance of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the Brest Peace. Having carried out the October coup, the Bolsheviks found chaos in the ruins of the Russian Empire. To overcome the crisis and stay in power, they needed the support of the population, which could only be secured by ending the war. By signing the treaty, Russia was leaving the war. In fact, it was capitulation. According to the terms of the agreement the country suffered colossal territorial and economic losses.
The Bolsheviks sought the defeat of Russia in the imperialist war, and they achieved it. They also achieved a Civil War, which was the result of a split in society into two hostile camps. According to modern historians, Lenin showed foresight, considering this agreement short-lived. The Entente countries have defeated the Quadruple Alliance, and now Germany must sign capitulation. On November 13, 1918, the resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee annuls the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Since Russia on the one hand and Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey on the other agreed to end the state of war and complete peace negotiations as soon as possible, they were appointed plenipotentiary representatives:
From the Russian Federative Soviet Republic:
Grigory Yakovlevich Sokolnikov, member of the Center. Exec. Committee Sov. Worker, Soldier and Peasants. Deputies,
Lev Mikhailovich Karakhan, member of the Center. Exec. Committee of Soviets Workers, Soldiers and Peasant Deputies,
Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin, Assistant to the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and
Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky, People's Commissar for Internal Affairs.
From the Imperial German Government: State Secretary of the Foreign Office, Imperial Privy Councilor Richard von Kühlmann,
Imperial Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary, Dr. von Rosenberg,
Royal Prussian Major General Hoffmann, Chief of the General Staff of the Supreme Commander on the Eastern Front, and
captain 1st rank Gorn,
From the Imperial and Royal General Austro-Hungarian Government:
Minister of the Imperial and Royal Household and Foreign Affairs, His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty Privy Councilor Ottokar Count Czernin von and Zu-Chudenitz, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty Privy Councilor Cajetan Mere von Kapos Mere, General of Infantry His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty Privy Councilor Maximilian Chicherich von Bachani.
From the Royal Bulgarian Government:
Royal Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Vienna, Andrey Toshev, Colonel of the General Staff, Royal Bulgarian Military Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the German Emperor and Aide-de-Camp to His Majesty the King of the Bulgarians, Petr Ganchev, Royal Bulgarian First Secretary of the Mission, Dr. Theodor Anastasov,
From the Imperial Ottoman Government:
His Highness Ibrahim Hakki Pasha, former Grand Vizier, Member of the Ottoman Senate, Ambassador Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the Sultan in Berlin, His Excellency General of the Cavalry, Adjutant General of His Majesty the Sultan and Military Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the Sultan to His Majesty the German Emperor, Zeki Pasha.
The plenipotentiaries met at Brest-Litovsk for peace negotiations and, after presenting their powers, which were found to be in correct and proper form, came to an agreement regarding the following resolutions.
Article IRussia on the one hand and Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey on the other declare that the state of war between them has ended; They decided to henceforth live among themselves in peace and friendship.
Article II.The contracting parties will refrain from any agitation or propaganda against the government or state and military institutions of the other party. Since this obligation concerns Russia, it also applies to the areas occupied by the powers of the Quadruple Alliance.
Article III.The areas lying to the west of the line established by the contracting parties and previously belonging to Russia will no longer be under its supreme authority; the established line is indicated on the attached map (Appendix I), which is an essential part of this peace treaty. The exact definition of this line will be worked out by a Russian-German commission.
For the designated regions, no obligations towards Russia will arise from their former affiliation with Russia.
Russia refuses any interference in the internal affairs of these regions. Germany and Austria-Hungary intend to determine the future fate of these areas upon demolition of their population.
Article IV.Germany is ready, as soon as general peace is concluded and Russian demobilization is completely carried out, to clear the territory lying east of that indicated in paragraph 1 of Art. III line, since Article VI does not provide otherwise. Russia will do everything in its power to ensure the speedy cleansing of the provinces of Eastern Anatolia and their orderly return to Turkey.
The districts of Ardahan, Kars and Batum are also immediately cleared of Russian troops. Russia will not interfere in the new organization of state-legal and international legal relations of these districts, but will allow the population of these districts to establish a new system in agreement with neighboring states, especially Turkey.
Article VRussia will immediately carry out the complete demobilization of its army, including the military units newly formed by the current government.
In addition, Russia will either transfer its military ships to Russian ports and leave them there until a general peace is concluded, or immediately disarm them. Military courts of states that continue to be at war with the powers of the Quadruple Alliance, since these vessels are within the sphere of Russian power, are equated to Russian military courts.
The exclusion zone in the Arctic Ocean remains in force until global peace is concluded. In the Baltic Sea and in Russian-controlled parts of the Black Sea, the removal of minefields must begin immediately. Merchant shipping in these maritime areas is free and immediately resumed. Mixed commissions will be created to develop more precise regulations, especially for publishing safe routes for merchant ships. Navigation routes must be kept free of floating mines at all times.
Article VI.Russia undertakes to immediately make peace with the Ukrainian People's Republic and recognize the peace treaty between this state and the powers of the Quadruple Alliance. The territory of Ukraine is immediately cleared of Russian troops and Russian Red Guards. Russia ceases all agitation or propaganda against the government or public institutions of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
Estland and Livonia are also immediately cleared of Russian troops and Russian Red Guards. The eastern border of Estonia generally runs along the Narva River. The eastern border of Livonia runs generally through Lake Peipus and Lake Pskov to its southwestern corner, then through Lake Lyubanskoe in the direction of Livenhof on the Western Dvina. Estland and Livonia will be occupied by the German police power until public safety is ensured there by the country's own institutions and until public order is established there. Russia will immediately release all arrested or deported residents of Estonia and Livonia and ensure the safe return of all deported Estonians and Livonia residents.
Finland and the Åland Islands will also be immediately cleared of Russian troops and Russian Red Guards, and Finnish ports of the Russian fleet and Russian naval forces. While ice makes it impossible to transfer military ships to Russian ports, only minor crews should be left on them. Russia ceases all agitation or propaganda against the government or public institutions of Finland.
The fortifications erected on the Åland Islands must be demolished as soon as possible. As for the prohibition to henceforth erect fortifications on these islands, as well as their general position in relation to military and navigation technology, a special agreement must be concluded regarding them between Germany, Finland, Russia and Sweden; The parties agree that other states adjacent to the Baltic Sea can be involved in this agreement at Germany's request.
Article VII.Based on the fact that Persia and Afghanistan are free and independent states, the contracting parties undertake to respect the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of Persia and Afghanistan.
Article VIII.Prisoners of war from both sides will be released to their homeland. The settlement of related issues will be the subject of special agreements provided for in Art. XII.
Article IX.The contracting parties mutually refuse compensation for their military expenses, i.e., government costs of waging war, as well as compensation for military losses, i.e., those losses that were caused to them and their citizens in the war zone by military measures, in including all requisitions made in the enemy country.
Article XDiplomatic and consular relations between the contracting parties will resume immediately after the ratification of the peace treaty. Regarding the admission of consuls, both parties reserve the right to enter into special agreements.
Article XI.Economic relations between Russia and the powers of the Quadruple Alliance are determined by the regulations contained in Appendices 2-5, with Appendix 2 defining the relations between Russia and Germany, Appendix 3 - between Russia and Austria-Hungary, Appendix 4 - between Russia and Bulgaria, Annex 5 - between Russia and Turkey.
Article XII.The restoration of public law and private law relations, the exchange of prisoners of war and civilian prisoners, the issue of amnesty, as well as the issue of treatment of merchant ships that have fallen into the power of the enemy, is the subject of separate agreements with Russia, which form an essential part of this peace treaty, and, so far as possible, come into force simultaneously with it.
Article XIII.When interpreting this treaty, the authentic texts for relations between Russia and Germany are Russian and German, between Russia and Austria-Hungary - Russian, German and Hungarian, between Russia and Bulgaria - Russian and Bulgarian, between Russia and Turkey - Russian and Turkish.
Article XIV.This peace treaty will be ratified. The exchange of instruments of ratification should take place in Berlin as soon as possible. The Russian government undertakes to exchange instruments of ratification at the request of one of the powers of the Quadruple Alliance within two weeks.
A peace treaty comes into force from the moment of its ratification, unless otherwise follows from its articles, appendices or additional treaties.
In witness of this, the authorized persons have personally signed this agreement.
Original in five copies.
(Signatures).
Eve of negotiations in Brest-Litovsk
100 years ago, on March 3, 1918, a peace treaty was signed in Brest-Litovsk, documenting Russia’s loss of territory where a third of its population lived. Since the time of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, Russia has not experienced disasters comparable in scale. Our country managed to overcome the territorial losses dictated by the enemy in Brest only at the end of the 20th century. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was not a surprise: Russia was doomed to disaster by events that preceded Brest exactly a year - the betrayal of the highest military leaders who forced the holy Emperor Nicholas II to abdicate, which at that ill-fated time became a reason for all-class rejoicing. With the fall of autocracy, the process of disintegration of the army inevitably began, and the country lost the ability to defend itself.
With the fall of autocracy, the process of disintegration of the army began
And so, when the anemic Provisional Government fell and power was seized by the Bolsheviks, on October 26 (November 8) the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets issued a “Decree on Peace” with a proposal addressed to all warring states to conclude a truce and begin peace negotiations without annexations and indemnities. On November 8 (21), the Council of People's Commissars sent a telegram to... O. the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, General N.N. Dukhonin, with the order to enter into negotiations with the command of the enemy troops on a truce. The next day, the commander-in-chief had a telephone conversation with V.I. Lenin, I.V. Stalin and member of the Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs N.V. Krylenko on the same topic. Dukhonin refused the demand to immediately begin negotiations, citing the fact that headquarters could not conduct such negotiations, which were within the competence of the central government, after which it was announced to him that he was resigning from his post. O. commander-in-chief and that ensign Krylenko is appointed to the position of commander-in-chief, but he, Dukhonin, must continue to perform his previous duties until the new commander-in-chief arrives at headquarters.
N.V. Krylenko arrived in Mogilev, at headquarters, with his retinue and armed detachment on November 20 (December 3). A day earlier, General Dukhonin ordered the release of generals L.G. Kornilov, A.I. Denikin, A.S. Lukomsky and their fellow prisoners from the Bykhovskaya prison located near the headquarters, who were arrested on the orders of A.F. Kerensky. Krylenko announced to Dukhonin that he would be taken to Petrograd, at the disposal of the government, after which the general was taken to the carriage of the new commander-in-chief. But after the release of the Bykhov prisoners, a rumor spread among the soldiers guarding the headquarters that L. G. Kornilov was already leading a regiment loyal to him to Mogilev in order to capture the headquarters and continue the war. Spurred on by provocative rumors, the brutal soldiers burst into Krylenko's carriage, took his predecessor out of there, while Krylenko himself either tried or did not try to stop them, and carried out brutal reprisals against their yesterday's commander-in-chief: first they shot at him, and then finished him off with his bayonets - the mere suspicion that attempts were being made to keep the army from falling apart and to continue the war infuriated the soldiers. Krylenko reported the massacre of Dukhonin to Trotsky, who found it inappropriate to initiate an investigation into this incident so as not to irritate the revolutionary soldiers and sailors.
11 days before the assassination of General Dukhonin, November 9 (22), V.I. Lenin, catering to the “pacifist” sentiments of the front-line masses, sent a telegram to the troops: “Let the regiments in positions immediately elect representatives to formally enter into negotiations on truce with the enemy." This was an unprecedented case in the history of diplomacy - it was proposed to negotiate peace as a soldier’s initiative. A parallel with this action was the order of another leader of the revolution - L. D. Trotsky - on the publication of secret treaties and secret diplomatic correspondence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the aim of compromising both the Russian and other governments in the eyes of the public - Russian and foreign.
The People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, headed by Trotsky, sent a note to the embassies of neutral countries with a proposal to mediate in peace negotiations. In response, the embassies of Norway, Sweden and Switzerland only reported receipt of the note, and the Spanish ambassador notified the Soviet People's Commissariat of the transfer of the note to Madrid. The proposal to begin peace negotiations was even more so ignored by the governments of the Entente countries allied to Russia, who firmly counted on victory and had previously already divided the skin of the beast that they were going to finish off, apparently anticipating the division of the skin of the bear that had been allied to them yesterday. A positive response to the proposal to begin peace negotiations came, naturally, only from Berlin and from Germany’s allies or satellites. The corresponding telegram arrived in Petrograd on November 14 (27). The governments of the Entente countries - France, Great Britain, Italy, the USA, Japan, China, Belgium, Serbia and Romania - were telegraphed by the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars on the same day about the start of negotiations, offering to join them. Otherwise, the corresponding note said, “we will negotiate with the Germans alone.” There was no response to this note.
First phase of negotiations in Brest
Separate negotiations began on the day of the assassination of General N.N. Dukhonin. A Soviet delegation led by A. A. Ioffe arrived in Brest-Litovsk, where the headquarters of the German command on the Eastern Front was located. It included L. B. Kamenev, the most influential political figure among the participants in the negotiations, as well as G. Ya. Sokolnikov, left Socialist Revolutionaries A. A. Bitsenko and S. D. Maslovsky-Mstislavsky and, as consultants, representatives of the army: Quartermaster General under the Supreme Commander General V. E. Skalon, generals Yu. N. Danilov, A. I. Andogsky, A. A. Samoilo, Rear Admiral V. M. Altfater and 3 more officers, Bolshevik delegation secretary L. M. Karakhan, to whom the translators and technical staff reported. The original feature in the formation of this delegation was that it included representatives of the lower ranks - soldiers and sailors, as well as the peasant R. I. Stashkov and the worker P. A. Obukhov. Delegations of Germany's allies were already in Brest-Litovsk: Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. The German delegation was headed by State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs R. von Kühlmann; Austria-Hungary - Minister of Foreign Affairs Count O. Chernin; Bulgaria - Minister of Justice Popov; Turkey - Grand Vizier Talaat Bey.
At the beginning of the negotiations, the Soviet side proposed concluding a truce for 6 months so that military operations would be suspended on all fronts, German troops would be withdrawn from Riga and the Moonsund Islands, and so that the German command, taking advantage of the truce, would not transfer troops to the Western Front. These proposals were rejected. As a result of the negotiations, we agreed to conclude a truce for a short period, from November 24 (December 7) to December 4 (17), with the possibility of its extension; During this period, the troops of the opposing sides had to remain in their positions, so there was no talk of any abandonment of Riga by the Germans, and as for the ban on the transfer of troops to the Western Front, Germany agreed to stop only those transfers that had not yet begun . Due to the collapse of the Russian army, this transfer had already been carried out, and the Soviet side did not have the means to control the movement of enemy units and formations.
A truce was declared and put into effect. During ongoing negotiations, the parties agreed to extend it by 28 days, starting on December 4 (17). It was previously decided to conduct negotiations on concluding a peace treaty in the capital of a neutral country - Stockholm. But on December 5 (18), Trotsky reported to the commander-in-chief Krylenko: “Lenin defends the following plan: during the first two or three days of negotiations, secure on paper as clearly and sharply as possible the annexationist claims of the German imperialists and break off the negotiations there for a week and resume them either Russian soil in Pskov, or in a barracks in no man's land between the trenches. I join this opinion. There is no need to travel to a neutral country.” Through Commander-in-Chief Krylenko, Trotsky conveyed instructions to the head of the delegation, A. A. Ioffe: “The most convenient thing would be not to transfer the negotiations to Stockholm at all. This would have alienated the delegation from the local base and would have made relations extremely difficult, especially in view of the policies of the Finnish bourgeoisie.” Germany did not object to the continuation of negotiations on the territory of its headquarters in Brest.
The resumption of negotiations was, however, postponed due to the fact that upon the return of the delegation to Brest on November 29 (December 12), during a private meeting of the Russian delegation, the chief military consultant, Major General V. E. Skalon, a descendant of the great mathematician Euler on his mother’s side, committed suicide . According to the description of General M.D. Bonch-Bruevich, the Bolshevik’s brother, who then held the position of manager of the Council of People’s Commissars, “an officer of the Life Guards Semyonovsky Regiment, Skalon, was known at headquarters as an ardent monarchist. But he worked in the intelligence department, was a serious officer with excellent knowledge of military affairs, and from this point of view had an impeccable reputation. In addition... his irreconcilable attitude towards everything that was even slightly to the left of the absolute monarchy should have forced him to treat the negotiations with particular sensitivity... - to inform headquarters in detail and carefully about the progress of the negotiations.”
General Skalon, being an extreme monarchist in his views, continued to serve in the General Staff when it submitted to the Council of People's Commissars. A characteristic and typical detail of that era: generals of a liberal orientation, supporters of a constitutional monarchy or a direct republic, like the Bykhov prisoners, then considered it their duty to remain faithful to the allies who contributed to the overthrow of the tsarist government, therefore the white struggle that they led was oriented towards the help of the Entente, in while consistent monarchists from military circles, who did not want to attach importance to the differences in political concepts of the Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Bolsheviks, subsequently either avoided participation in the Civil War or continued to serve in the army that became Red, in the hope that Lenin and Trotsky , with all their commitment to utopian projects, the hand will be stronger than that of the worthless provisional ministers, and that they will create a regime in which controllability of the armed forces can be restored, or monarchist-minded generals fought with the Reds, relying on the support not of the Entente, but of the occupying Germans authorities, like P.N. Krasnov.
General V.E. Skalon, having agreed to the role of consultant to the Soviet delegation, could not stand this role until the end and shot himself. Various opinions have been expressed about the reasons for his suicide; the most convincing are the words spoken by a member of the German delegation, General Hoffmann, with which he addressed General Samoilo, who replaced Skalon: “Ah! This means that you have been appointed to replace poor Skalon, whom your Bolsheviks were leaving! The poor fellow could not bear the shame of his country! Be strong, too!” This arrogant tirade is not contradicted by the version from the memoirs of General M.D. Bonch-Bruevich, who believed that Skalon committed suicide, amazed by the arrogant demands and impudence of the German generals. General Skalon was buried in the St. Nicholas Garrison Cathedral of Brest. The German command ordered to set up a guard of honor at the burial and fire a salvo befitting a military leader. Prince Leopold of Bavaria, who arrived at the opening of the second phase of negotiations, delivered a funeral speech.
During the resumed negotiations, the Soviet delegation insisted on concluding peace “without annexations and indemnities.” Representatives of Germany and its allies expressed agreement with this formula, but on the condition that made its implementation impossible - if the Entente countries were ready to agree to such a peace, and they precisely fought the war for the sake of annexations and indemnities and at the end of 1917 firmly hoped to win. The Soviet delegation proposed: “In full agreement with ... the statement of both contracting parties about their lack of aggressive plans and their desire to make peace without annexations, Russia withdraws its troops from the parts of Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Persia it occupies, and the powers of the Quadruple Alliance - from Poland, Lithuania, Courland and other regions of Russia." The German side insisted that Russia recognize the independence of not only Poland, Lithuania and Courland occupied by German troops, where puppet governments were created, but also Livonia, part of which had not yet been occupied by the German army, as well as participation in peace negotiations delegation of the separatist Kyiv Central Rada.
At first, demands for the surrender of Russia by the Soviet delegation were rejected
At first, these demands, essentially, for the surrender of Russia by the Soviet delegation were rejected. On December 15 (28) we agreed to extend the truce. At the suggestion of the Soviet delegation, a 10-day break was announced, under the pretext of an attempt to bring the Entente states to the negotiating table, although both sides thereby only demonstrated their love of peace, knowing full well the futility of such hopes.
The Soviet delegation left Brest for Petrograd, and the issue of the progress of peace negotiations was discussed there at a meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b). It was decided to delay the negotiations in anticipation of a revolution in Germany. The delegation was supposed to continue negotiations with a new composition, headed by the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs L. D. Trotsky himself. Showing off, Trotsky subsequently called his participation in the negotiations “visits to a torture chamber.” He was not interested in diplomacy at all. He commented on his very activities as People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs as follows: “What kind of diplomatic work will we have? I’ll issue a few proclamations and close the shop.” This remark of his is quite consistent with the impression he made on the head of the German delegation, Richard von Kühlmann: “Not very large, sharp and piercing eyes behind the sharp glasses looked at his counterpart with a drilling and critical gaze. The expression on his face clearly indicated that he... would have been better off ending the unsympathetic negotiations with a couple of grenades, throwing them across the green table, if this had been somehow consistent with the general political line... sometimes I asked myself whether I had arrived he generally intended to make peace, or he needed a platform from which he could propagate Bolshevik views.”
The Soviet delegation included K. Radek, a native of Austro-Hungarian Galicia; at the negotiations he represented Polish workers, with whom he really had nothing to do. According to Lenin and Trotsky, Radek was supposed to maintain the revolutionary tone of the delegation with his assertive temperament and aggressiveness, balancing the other participants in the negotiations, Kamenev and Joffe, who were too calm and restrained, as it seemed to Lenin and Trotsky.
Under Trotsky, renewed negotiations often took on the character of verbal battles between the head of the Soviet delegation and General Hoffmann, who also did not mince words, demonstrating to the negotiating partners the powerlessness of the country they represent. According to Trotsky, “General Hoffmann... brought a fresh note to the conference. He showed that he was not sympathetic to the behind-the-scenes tricks of diplomacy, and several times he put his soldier's boot on the negotiating table. We immediately realized that the only reality that should really be taken seriously in this useless talk is Hoffmann’s boot.”
On December 28, 1917 (January 10, 1918), at the invitation of the German side, a delegation of the Central Rada headed by V. A. Golubovich arrived from Kiev to Brest, who immediately declared that the power of the Council of People's Commissars of Soviet Russia did not extend to Ukraine. Trotsky agreed to the participation of the Ukrainian delegation in the negotiations, stating that Ukraine was actually in a state of war with Russia, although formally the independence of the UPR was proclaimed later, “universal” on January 9 (22), 1918.
The German side was interested in the speedy completion of negotiations, because, not without reason, it feared the threat of the disintegration of its own army, and even more so of the troops of the allied Austria-Hungary - the “patchwork empire” of the Habsburgs. In addition, in these two countries the food supply of the population sharply deteriorated - both empires were on the verge of famine. The mobilization potential of these powers was exhausted, while the Entente countries at war with them had unlimited capabilities in this regard, due to the large population in their colonies. Anti-war sentiment grew in both empires, strikes were organized, and councils were formed in some cities, modeled on Russian councils; and these councils demanded an early conclusion of peace with Russia, so that the Soviet delegation at the negotiations in Brest had a well-known resource for putting pressure on its partners.
But after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly on January 6 (19), 1918, the German delegation began to act more assertively. The fact is that until then there was still, at least virtually, the possibility that the government formed by the Constituent Assembly would stop peace negotiations and resume allied relations with the Entente countries, severed by the Bolshevik Council of People's Commissars. Therefore, the failure of the Constituent Assembly gave the German side the confidence that in the end the Soviet delegation would agree to conclude peace at any cost.
Presentation of the German ultimatum and reaction to it
Russia's lack of a combat-ready army was, as they say now, a medical fact. It became absolutely impossible to convince the soldiers, who, if they had not already fled from the front, turned into potential deserters, to remain in the trenches. Once upon a time, when overthrowing the Tsar, the conspirators hoped that the soldiers would fight for a democratic and liberal Russia, but their hopes were dashed. The socialist government of A.F. Kerensky called on the soldiers to defend the revolution - the soldiers were not tempted by this propaganda. The Bolsheviks campaigned from the very beginning of the war for an end to the war of peoples, and their leaders understood that soldiers could not be kept at the front by calls to defend the power of the Soviets. On January 18, 1918, the Chief of Staff of the Commander-in-Chief, General M.D. Bonch-Bruevich, sent a note to the Council of People's Commissars with the following content: “Desertion is growing progressively... Entire regiments and artillery are moving to the rear, exposing the front over considerable distances, the Germans are walking in crowds along the abandoned position... Constant visits enemy soldiers of our positions, especially artillery ones, and their destruction of our fortifications in abandoned positions are undoubtedly of an organized nature.”
After a formal ultimatum presented to the Soviet delegation in Brest by General Hoffmann, demanding consent to the German occupation of Ukraine, Poland, half of Belarus and the Baltic states, an internal party struggle broke out at the top of the Bolshevik Party. At a meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b), held on January 11 (24), 1918, a bloc of “left communists” was formed, headed by N.I. Bukharin, who opposed Lenin’s capitulatory position. “Our only salvation,” he said, “is that the masses will learn from experience, in the process of the struggle itself, what a German invasion is, when cows and boots will be taken away from the peasants, when workers will be forced to work for 14 hours, when take them to Germany when an iron ring is inserted into the nostrils, then, believe me, comrades, then we will get a real holy war.” Bukharin's side was taken by other influential members of the Central Committee - F.E. Dzerzhinsky, who attacked Lenin with criticism for his betrayal - not of the interests of Russia, but of the German and Austro-Hungarian proletariat, whom he feared would be kept from the revolution by the peace treaty. Objecting to his opponents, Lenin formulated his position as follows: “A revolutionary war requires an army, but we don’t have an army. Undoubtedly, the peace that we are forced to conclude now is an obscene peace, but if war breaks out, our government will be swept away and peace will be concluded by another government.” In the Central Committee he was supported by Stalin, Zinoviev, Sokolnikov and Sergeev (Artem). A compromise proposal was put forward by Trotsky. It sounded like this: “no peace, no war.” Its essence was that in response to the German ultimatum, the Soviet delegation in Brest would declare that Russia was ending the war, demobilizing the army, but would not sign a shameful, humiliating peace treaty. This proposal received the support of the majority of members of the Central Committee during the voting: 9 votes to 7.
Before the delegation returned to Brest to resume negotiations, its head, Trotsky, received instructions from the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars to delay the negotiations, but if an ultimatum was presented, to sign a peace treaty at any cost. On January 27 (February 9), 1918, representatives of the Central Rada in Brest-Litovsk signed a peace treaty with Germany - its consequence was the occupation of Ukraine by troops of Germany and Austria-Hungary, who, having occupied Kyiv, eliminated the Rada.
On February 27 (February 9), at the negotiations in Brest, the head of the German delegation, R. von Kühlmann, presented an ultimatum demanding the immediate renunciation of any influence on the political life of the territories torn away from the Russian state, including Ukraine, part of Belarus and the Baltic states. The signal to tighten the tone during the negotiations came from the German capital. Emperor Wilhelm II then declared in Berlin: “Today the Bolshevik government addressed my troops directly with an open radio message calling for rebellion and disobedience to their highest commanders. Neither I nor Field Marshal von Hindenburg can tolerate this state of affairs any longer. Trotsky must by tomorrow evening... sign a peace with the return of the Baltic states up to and including the Narva-Pleskau-Dünaburg line... The Supreme Command of the armies of the Eastern Front must withdraw troops to the specified line.”
Trotsky rejected the ultimatum at the negotiations in Brest: “The people are eagerly awaiting the results of the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk. People ask when will this unprecedented self-destruction of humanity, caused by the self-interest and lust for power of the ruling classes of all countries, end? If ever a war was waged for the purposes of self-defense, it has long ceased to be so for both camps. If Great Britain takes possession of the African colonies, Baghdad and Jerusalem, then this is not yet a defensive war; if Germany occupies Serbia, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania and Romania and captures the Moonsund Islands, then this is also not a defensive war. This is a struggle for the division of the world. Now this is clearer than ever... We are leaving the war. We inform all peoples and their governments about this. We give the order for the complete demobilization of our armies... At the same time, we declare that the conditions offered to us by the governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary are fundamentally contrary to the interests of all peoples.” This statement of his was made public, which was regarded as a propaganda action by all parties involved in the hostilities. The German delegation at the negotiations in Brest explained that refusal to sign a peace treaty would mean a breakdown of the truce and would entail a resumption of hostilities. The Soviet delegation left Brest.
Breakdown of the truce and resumption of hostilities
On February 18, German troops resumed fighting along the entire line of their Eastern Front and began to rapidly advance deeper into Russia. Over the course of several days, the enemy advanced approximately 300 kilometers, capturing Revel (Tallinn), Narva, Minsk, Polotsk, Mogilev, Gomel, and Chernigov. Only near Pskov on February 23 was real resistance offered to the enemy. Red Guards who arrived from Petrograd fought together with the officers and soldiers of the not completely disintegrated Russian army. In the battles near the city, the Germans lost several hundred soldiers killed and wounded. February 23 was subsequently celebrated as the birthday of the Red Army, and now as the Day of Defender of the Fatherland. And yet Pskov was taken by the Germans.
There was a real threat of capturing the capital. On February 21, the Committee for the Revolutionary Defense of Petrograd was formed. A state of siege was declared in the city. But it was not possible to organize an effective defense of the capital. Only regiments of Latvian riflemen entered the defense line. Mobilization was carried out among St. Petersburg workers, but its results turned out to be scanty. Of the hundreds of thousands of workers who mostly voted for the Bolsheviks in the elections to the Soviets and the Constituent Assembly, a little more than one percent were ready to shed blood: a little more than 10 thousand people signed up as volunteers. The fact is that they voted for the Bolsheviks because they promised immediate peace. To deploy propaganda in the direction of revolutionary defencism, as the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries did in their time, was a hopeless task. The head of the capital's Bolshevik party organization, G. E. Zinoviev, was already preparing to go underground: he demanded that funds be allocated from the party treasury to support the underground activities of the Bolshevik party committee in Petrograd. Due to the failure of the negotiations in Brest, on February 22, Trotsky resigned from the post of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. A few days later G.V. Chicherin was appointed to this position.
The Central Committee of the RSDLP(b) held continuous meetings these days. Lenin insisted on resuming peace negotiations and accepting the demands of the German ultimatum. The majority of the Central Committee members took a different position, proposing as an alternative a guerrilla war against the occupation regime in the hope of a revolution in Germany and Austria-Hungary. At a meeting of the Central Committee on February 23, 1918, Lenin demanded consent to conclude peace on the terms dictated by the German ultimatum, otherwise threatening resignation. In response to Lenin’s ultimatum, Trotsky stated: “We cannot wage a revolutionary war with a split in the party... Under the current conditions, our party is not able to lead the war... maximum unanimity would be needed; since he is not there, I will not take upon myself the responsibility of voting for the war.” This time Lenin's proposal was supported by 7 members of the Central Committee, four, led by Bukharin, voted against, Trotsky and three more abstained from voting. Bukharin then announced his resignation from the Central Committee. Then the party decision to accept the German ultimatum was carried out through a state body - the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. At a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on February 24, the decision to conclude peace on German terms was adopted by 126 votes against 85 with 26 abstentions. The majority of the Left SRs voted against, although their leader M.A. Spiridonova voted for peace; The Mensheviks, led by Yu. O. Martov, and the Bolsheviks, N. I. Bukharin and D. B. Ryazanov, voted against peace. A number of “left communists,” including F. E. Dzerzhinsky, did not appear at the meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee as a sign of protest against agreeing to the German ultimatum.
Conclusion of a peace treaty and its contents
On March 1, 1918, the Soviet delegation, this time led by G. Ya. Sokolnikov, returned to Brest for negotiations. The negotiating partners, representing the governments of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, categorically refused to discuss the project developed by the German side, insisting on its acceptance in the form in which it was presented. On March 3, the German ultimatum was accepted by the Soviet side, and a peace treaty was signed.
In accordance with this agreement, Russia committed itself to ending the war with the UPR and recognizing the independence of Ukraine, effectively transferring it under the protectorate of Germany and Austria-Hungary - the signing of the agreement was followed by the occupation of Kiev, the overthrow of the UPR government and the establishment of a puppet regime led by Hetman Skoropadsky . Russia recognized the independence of Poland, Finland, Estland, Courland and Livonia. Some of these territories were directly included in Germany, others came under German or joint protectorate with Austria-Hungary. Russia also transferred Kars, Ardahan and Batum with their regions to the Ottoman Empire. The territory torn away from Russia under the Brest-Litovsk Treaty amounted to about a million square kilometers, and up to 60 million people lived on it - a third of the population of the former Russian Empire. The Russian army and navy were subject to radical reduction. The Baltic Fleet was leaving its bases located in Finland and the Baltic region. Russia was charged with an indemnity of 6.5 billion gold rubles. And the annex to the agreement included a provision stating that the property of citizens of Germany and its allies was not subject to Soviet nationalization laws; for those citizens of these states who lost at least part of their property, it had to be returned or compensated. The Soviet government's refusal to pay foreign debts could no longer apply to Germany and its allies, and Russia pledged to immediately resume payments on these debts. Citizens of these states were allowed to engage in entrepreneurial activities on the territory of the Russian Soviet Republic. The Soviet government took upon itself the obligation to prohibit any subversive anti-war propaganda against the states of the Quadruple Alliance.
The peace treaty concluded in Brest was ratified on March 15 by the Extraordinary IV All-Russian Congress of Soviets, despite the fact that a third of the deputies, mainly from the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party, voted against its ratification. On March 26, the treaty was ratified by Emperor Wilhelm II, and then similar acts were adopted in the states allied to Germany.
Consequences of the peace treaty and reactions to it
The cessation of the war on the Eastern Front allowed Germany to transfer about half a million of its soldiers to the Western Front and launch an offensive against the armies of the Entente, which, however, soon fizzled out. To occupy the western territories separated from Russia, mainly Ukraine, it took 43 divisions, against which a guerrilla war unfolded under various political slogans, costing Germany and Austria-Hungary more than 20 thousand lives of soldiers and officers; The troops of Hetman Skoropadsky, who supported the regime of German occupation, lost more than 30 thousand people in this war.
After the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, a full-scale Civil War began in Russia.
In response to Russia's withdrawal from the war, the Entente states took interventionist actions: on March 6, British troops landed in Murmansk. This was followed by the British landing in Arkhangelsk. Japanese units occupied Vladivostok. The dismemberment of Russia under the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty provided the anti-Bolshevik forces of a non-separatist orientation with a wonderful slogan for organizing military actions aimed at overthrowing Soviet power - the slogan of the struggle for a “united and indivisible Russia.” So after the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, a full-scale Civil War began in Russia. The call put forward by Lenin at the beginning of the World War to “turn the war of peoples into a civil war” was carried out, however, at the moment when the Bolsheviks least wanted it, because by that time they had already seized power in the country.
His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon could not remain an indifferent spectator of the tragic events taking place. On March 5 (18), 1918, he addressed the all-Russian flock with a message in which he assessed the peace treaty concluded in Brest: “Blessed is the peace between nations, for all brothers, the Lord calls everyone to work peacefully on earth, for all He has prepared His innumerable benefits . And the Holy Church unceasingly offers prayers for the peace of the whole world... The unfortunate Russian people, involved in a fratricidal bloody war, unbearably thirsted for peace, just as the people of God once thirsted for water in the scorching heat of the desert. But we did not have Moses, who would give his people miraculous water to drink, and the people did not cry to the Lord, their Benefactor, for help - people appeared who renounced the faith, persecutors of the Church of God, and they gave peace to the people. But is this the peace for which the Church prays, for which the people long for? The peace now concluded, according to which entire regions inhabited by Orthodox people are torn away from us and given over to the will of an enemy alien to the faith, and tens of millions of Orthodox people find themselves in conditions of great spiritual temptation for their faith, a world according to which even the traditionally Orthodox Ukraine is separated from fraternal Russia and the capital city of Kiev, the mother of Russian cities, the cradle of our baptism, the repository of shrines, ceases to be a city of the Russian state, a world that puts our people and Russian land into heavy bondage - such a world will not give the people the desired rest and tranquility. It will bring great damage and grief to the Orthodox Church, and incalculable losses to the Fatherland. Meanwhile, the same strife continues among us, destroying our Fatherland... Will the declared peace eliminate these discords crying to heaven? Will it not bring even greater sorrows and misfortunes? Alas, the words of the prophet come true: They say: peace, peace, but there is no peace(Jer. 8, 11). The Holy Orthodox Church, which from time immemorial has helped the Russian people to gather and exalt the Russian state, cannot remain indifferent at the sight of its death and decay... As a successor to the ancient collectors and builders of the Russian land, Peter, Alexy, Jonah, Philip and Hermogenes, We call... ... to raise your voice in these terrible days and loudly declare before the whole world that the Church cannot bless the shameful peace now concluded in the name of Russia. This peace, signed forcibly on behalf of the Russian people, will not lead to fraternal cohabitation of peoples. There are no guarantees of calm and reconciliation; the seeds of anger and misanthropy are sown in it. It contains the germs of new wars and evils for all mankind. Can the Russian people come to terms with their humiliation? Can he forget his brothers separated from him by blood and faith?.. The Orthodox Church... cannot now look at this appearance of peace, which is no better than war, except with deepest sorrow... Not rejoice and triumph over peace We urge you, Orthodox people, to bitterly repent and pray before the Lord... Brothers! The time has come for repentance, the holy days of Great Lent have arrived. Cleanse yourself from your sins, come to your senses, stop looking at each other as enemies and dividing your native land into warring camps. We are all brothers, and we all have one mother - our native Russian land, and we are all children of one Heavenly Father... In the face of the Terrible Judgment of God that is being carried out on us, let us all gather around Christ and His Holy Church. Let us pray to the Lord that He will soften our hearts with brotherly love and strengthen them with courage, that He Himself will grant us men of reason and advice, faithful to the commandments of God, who would correct the evil deeds that have been committed, return those that were rejected and collect those that were squandered. ... Convince everyone to earnestly pray to the Lord, may He turn away His righteous anger, the sin of ours for our sake, driven upon us, may he strengthen our weakened spirit and restore us from grave despondency and extreme fall. And the merciful Lord will take pity on the sinful Russian land...”
Germany could not avoid the fate of the lost Russian Empire
This was the first message of Patriarch Tikhon dedicated to a political topic, while it did not touch upon issues of internal politics, there are no mentions of political parties and political figures, but, true to the tradition of the patriotic service of the Russian High Hierarchs, the holy Patriarch expressed in this message his grief over the experience catastrophe in Russia, called on the flock to repentance and an end to the disastrous fratricidal strife and, in essence, predicted the course of further events in Russia and in the world. Anyone who carefully reads this message can be convinced that, compiled on the occasion of an event a hundred years ago, it has not lost any of its relevance today.
Meanwhile, Germany, which forced Russia to surrender in March 1918, could not avoid the fate of the lost Russian Empire. In April 1918, diplomatic relations were resumed between Russia and Germany. Soviet Ambassador A. A. Ioffe arrived in Berlin, and German Ambassador Count Wilhelm von Mirbach arrived in Moscow, where the seat of government was moved. Count Mirbach was killed in Moscow, and the peace treaty did not prevent A. A. Ioffe and the staff of the Soviet embassy from conducting anti-war propaganda in the heart of Germany itself. Pacifist and revolutionary sentiments spread from Russia to the armies and peoples of its former opponents. And when the imperial thrones of the Habsburgs and Hohenzollerns began to shake, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk turned into a piece of paper that did not oblige anyone to anything. On November 13, 1918, it was officially denounced by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR. But at that time, Russia was already thrown into the abyss of a fratricidal massacre - the Civil War, the signal for which was the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty.
In the First World War, which began in the summer of 1914, Russia took the side of the Entente and its allies - the USA, Belgium, Serbia, Italy, Japan and Romania. This coalition was opposed by the Central Powers - a military-political bloc that included Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Bulgarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
The protracted war depleted the economy of the Russian Empire. At the beginning of 1917, rumors about an impending famine spread throughout the capital, and bread cards appeared. And on February 21, the robberies of bakeries began. Local pogroms quickly grew into anti-war actions under the slogans “Down with war!”, “Down with autocracy!”, “Bread!” By February 25, at least 300 thousand people took part in the rallies.
Society was further destabilized by data on colossal losses: according to various estimates, from 775 thousand to 1 million 300 thousand Russian soldiers died in the First World War.
In those same February days of 1917, a mutiny began among the troops. By the spring, the orders of the officers were not actually carried out, and the May Declaration of the Rights of the Soldier, which equalized the rights of soldiers and civilians, further undermined discipline. The failure of the summer Riga operation, as a result of which Russia lost Riga and 18 thousand people killed and captured, led to the fact that the army completely lost its fighting spirit.
The Bolsheviks also played a role in this, viewing the army as a threat to their power. They skillfully fueled pacifist sentiments in military circles.
And in the rear she became a catalyst for two revolutions - the February and October. The Bolsheviks inherited an already morally broken army that was incapable of fighting.
- Bread line. Petrograd, 1917
- RIA News
Meanwhile, World War I continued, and Germany had a real opportunity to take Petrograd. Then the Bolsheviks decided on a truce.
“The conclusion of the Brest Peace Treaty was an inevitable, forced measure. The Bolsheviks themselves, fearing the suppression of their uprising, disintegrated the tsarist army and understood that it was not capable of fully conducting combat operations,” said Valery Korovin, director of the Center for Geopolitical Expertise, in an interview with RT.
Peace Decree
A month after the October Revolution, on November 8, 1917, the new government adopted the Decree on Peace, the main thesis of which was an immediate truce without annexations and indemnities. However, the proposal to begin negotiations with the powers of a “friendly agreement” was ignored, and the Council of People’s Commissars was forced to act independently.
Lenin sent a telegram to the Russian army units that were at the front at that moment.
“Let the regiments in position immediately elect representatives to formally enter into negotiations on a truce with the enemy,” it said.
On December 22, 1917, Soviet Russia began negotiations with the Central Powers. However, Germany and Austria-Hungary were not satisfied with the formula “without annexations and indemnities.” They invited Russia to “take into account statements expressing the will of the peoples inhabiting Poland, Lithuania, Courland and parts of Estonia and Livonia, about their desire for complete state independence and separation from the Russian Federation.”
Of course, the Soviet side could not fulfill such demands. In Petrograd it was decided that it was necessary to gain time to reorganize the army and prepare for the defense of the capital. For this, Trotsky travels to Brest-Litovsk.
"Tightening" mission
“To delay negotiations, you need a “delay,” as Lenin put it,” Trotsky would later write, calling his participation in the negotiations “visits to a torture chamber.”
At the same time, Trotsky conducted “subversive” propaganda activities among the workers and peasants of Germany and Austria-Hungary with an eye to an early uprising.
The negotiations were extremely difficult. On January 4, 1918, they were joined by a delegation from the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR), which did not recognize Soviet power. In Brest-Litovsk, the UPR acted as a third party, putting forward claims to part of the Polish and Austro-Hungarian territories.
Meanwhile, the wartime economic turmoil reached the Central Powers. In Germany and Austria-Hungary, food cards appeared for the population, and strikes began demanding peace.
On January 18, 1918, the Central Powers presented their armistice terms. According to them, Germany and Austria-Hungary received Poland, Lithuania, some territories of Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, the Moonsund Islands, as well as the Gulf of Riga. The delegation of Soviet Russia, for which the demands of the powers were extremely unfavorable, took a break in the negotiations.
The Russian delegation was also unable to make an informed decision because serious disagreements arose within the country’s leadership.
Thus, Bukharin called for stopping negotiations and declaring “revolutionary war” on the Western imperialists, believing that even Soviet power itself could be sacrificed for the sake of “the interests of the international revolution.” Trotsky adhered to the line of “no war, no peace”: “We are not signing peace, we are stopping the war, and demobilizing the army.”
- Leon Trotsky (center) as part of the Russian delegation arrives for negotiations in Brest-Litovsk, 1918
- globallookpress.com
- Berliner Verlag / Archiv
Lenin, in turn, wanted peace at any cost and insisted that Germany's demands should be agreed to.
“A revolutionary war requires an army, but we don’t have an army... Undoubtedly, the peace that we are forced to conclude now is an obscene peace, but if a war breaks out, our government will be swept away and peace will be concluded by another government,” he said.
As a result, they decided to delay the negotiations even more. Trotsky again went to Brest-Litovsk with instructions from Lenin to sign a peace treaty on Germany’s terms if it presented an ultimatum.
Russian "surrender"
During the days of negotiations, a Bolshevik uprising occurred in Kyiv. Soviet power was proclaimed in Left Bank Ukraine, and Trotsky returned to Brest-Litovsk with representatives of Soviet Ukraine at the end of January 1918. At the same time, the Central Powers declared that they recognized the sovereignty of the UPR. Then Trotsky announced that, in turn, he did not recognize separate agreements between the UPR and “partners.”
Despite this, on February 9, the delegations of Germany and Austria-Hungary, with an eye to the difficult economic situation in their countries, signed a peace treaty with the Ukrainian People's Republic. According to the document, in exchange for military assistance against Soviet Russia, the UPR was supposed to supply the “defenders” with food, as well as hemp, manganese ore and a number of other goods.
Having learned about the agreement with the UPR, German Emperor Wilhelm II ordered the German delegation to present an ultimatum to Soviet Russia demanding that it abandon the Baltic regions to the Narva-Pskov-Dvinsk line. The formal reason for tightening the rhetoric was Trotsky’s allegedly intercepted appeal to German military personnel with a call to “kill the emperor and generals and fraternize with the Soviet troops.”
Contrary to Lenin's decision, Trotsky refused to sign peace on German terms and left the negotiations.
As a result, on February 13, Germany resumed hostilities, rapidly advancing in the northern direction. Minsk, Kyiv, Gomel, Chernigov, Mogilev and Zhitomir were taken.
- Demonstrators burn symbols of the old order on the Champs de Mars, 1918
- RIA News
Lenin, taking into account the low discipline and difficult psychological situation in the Russian army, approved of mass fraternization with the enemy and spontaneous truces.
“Desertion is growing progressively, entire regiments and artillery are moving to the rear, exposing the front over significant distances, the Germans are walking in crowds around the abandoned position. Constant visits by enemy soldiers to our positions, especially artillery ones, and their destruction of our fortifications are undoubtedly of an organized nature,” says a note sent to the Council of People’s Commissars by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich.
As a result, on March 3, 1918, the delegation of Soviet Russia signed a peace treaty. According to the document, Russia made a number of serious territorial concessions. Baltic Fleet bases in Finland and the Baltic states.
Russia lost the Vistula provinces, in which the predominantly Belarusian population lived, the Estland, Courland and Livonia provinces, as well as the Grand Duchy of Finland.
Partially, these regions became protectorates of Germany or were part of it. Russia also lost territories in the Caucasus - Kars and Batumi regions. In addition, Ukraine was rejected: the Soviet government was obliged to recognize the independence of the UPR and end the war with it.
Also, Soviet Russia had to pay reparations in the amount of 6 billion marks. In addition, Germany demanded compensation for 500 million gold rubles for losses it allegedly suffered as a result of the Russian Revolution.
“The fall of Petrograd was, in general, a matter of, if not a few days, then a few weeks. And under these conditions, speculating about whether it was possible or impossible to sign this peace makes no sense. If we had not signed it, we would have received an attack by one of the most powerful armies in Europe on untrained, unarmed workers,” says Vladimir Kornilov, director of the Center for Eurasian Studies.
Bolshevik plan
Historians' assessments of the consequences of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty vary.
“We have ceased to be actors in European politics. However, there were no catastrophic consequences. Subsequently, all the territories lost as a result of the Brest Peace were returned first by Lenin, then by Stalin,” Korovin emphasized.
Kornilov shares a similar point of view. The expert draws attention to the fact that the political forces that considered the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty to be a betrayal subsequently themselves collaborated with the enemy.
“Lenin, who was accused of treason, later proved that he was right by returning the territories. At the same time, the right Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, who shouted the loudest, did not offer resistance, and calmly collaborated with the German occupation forces in southern Russia. And the Bolsheviks organized the return of these territories and returned them in the end,” Kornilov said.
At the same time, some analysts believe that in Brest-Litovsk the Bolsheviks acted solely to serve their own interests.
“They were saving their power and consciously paying for it with territories,” Rostislav Ishchenko, president of the Center for System Analysis and Forecasting, said in an interview with RT.
- Vladimir Lenin, 1918
- globallookpress.com
According to the American historian Richard Pipes, the Brest-Litovsk Treaty helped Lenin gain additional authority.
“By shrewdly accepting a humiliating peace that allowed him to gain the necessary time and then collapsed under the influence of its own gravity, Lenin earned the widespread trust of the Bolsheviks. When they tore up the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on November 13, 1918, following which Germany capitulated to the Western allies, Lenin's authority was elevated to unprecedented heights in the Bolshevik movement. Nothing better served his reputation as a man who made no political mistakes,” writes Pipes in his study “The Bolsheviks in the Struggle for Power.”
“Largely thanks to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, or more precisely, the German occupation, the future northern and eastern borders of Ukraine were formed,” Kornilov clarifies.
In addition, it was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that became one of the reasons for the appearance of “time bombs”—national republics—in the Soviet and then in the Russian Constitution.
“The one-time loss of large territories led to the facilitation and acceleration of the process of self-determination of the population of some of them as sovereign political nations. Subsequently, during the formation of the USSR, this influenced Lenin’s choice of this particular model - a national-administrative division into so-called republics with sovereignty and the right to secede from the USSR already included in their very first constitution,” Korovin noted.
At the same time, the events of 1918 largely influenced the Bolsheviks’ idea of the role of the state.
“The loss of large territories forced the Bolsheviks as a whole to rethink their attitude towards the state. If until some point the state was not a value in the light of the coming world revolution, then the one-time loss of a large space sobered up even the most rabid, forcing them to value the territories that make up the state, with their resources, population and industrial potential,” concluded Korovin .
The issue of concluding a separate peace could, if desired, become an important factor consolidating divergent political forces to create a broad government coalition. This was at least the third such unused opportunity since the October Revolution. The first was associated with the Vikzhel, the second with the Constituent Assembly. The Bolsheviks once again ignored the chances of achieving national harmony.
Lenin, regardless of anything, sought to conclude a peace with Germany that was unfavorable for Russia, although all other parties were against a separate peace. Moreover, things were heading towards Germany’s defeat. According to D. Volkogonov, the enemy of Russia “he himself was already on his knees before the Entente.” It cannot be ruled out that Lenin wanted to fulfill the promise of a speedy peace that he made before seizing power. But the main reason, undoubtedly, was the retention, preservation of power, strengthening of the Soviet regime, even at the cost of losing the country's territory. There is also a version that Lenin, who continued to use financial assistance from Germany even after the October Revolution, acted according to the scenario dictated by Berlin. D. Volkogonov believed: “In essence, the Bolshevik elite was bribed by Germany.”
The states of the German bloc, waging a war on two fronts and interested in ending hostilities against Russia, responded to the Bolsheviks’ proposal to conclude peace. On November 20, 1917, negotiations began in Brest-Litovsk between Soviet Russia, on the one hand, and Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, on the other. A month later, Ukraine, which became independent, also took part in them. The proposal of the Soviet delegation to conclude peace without annexations and indemnities was not taken seriously by Germany, because it occupied a significant part of Russian territory. Having agreed on a separate peace with Ukraine, it demanded that Russia secede Poland, Lithuania, part of Latvia and Estonia. If we assume that Russia could not hold Poland and the Baltic states in any case, then the peace conditions were not too difficult.
Lenin proposed to sign peace immediately. However, not only right-wing, liberal and socialist parties and organizations, but also the majority of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b) opposed the conclusion of a separate peace. Lenin met with the strongest resistance from the so-called. “left communists” led by N.I. Bukharin, who dreamed of waging a revolutionary war against Germany in order to ignite the fire of the world revolution. They believed that the conclusion of peace was beneficial to German imperialism, because peace will help stabilize the situation in Germany. Meanwhile, the socialist revolution was conceived as a world revolution, its first stage being Russia, the second should be Germany with a strong communist opposition. The “Left Communists” proposed starting a revolutionary war with Germany, which would create a revolutionary situation there and lead to the victory of the German revolution. The same position was shared by the Left Social Revolutionaries and the German communists led by K. Liebknecht and R. Luxemburg. If peace is concluded, there may not be a revolution in Germany. And without a revolution in the West, it will fail in Russia too. Victory is possible only as a world revolution.
Trotsky thought the same, but unlike the “left communists,” he saw that Russia had nothing to fight with. Dreaming of the same thing, he put forward another slogan: “no peace, no war, but disband the army.” It meant: without signing peace with German imperialism and declaring the dissolution of the no longer existing Russian army, the Soviet government appeals to the solidarity of the international proletariat, primarily the German one. Consequently, Trotsky’s slogan was a kind of call for world revolution. He also headed the Soviet delegation at the negotiations and on January 28, 1918, declared that Russia was withdrawing from the imperialist war, demobilizing the army and not signing an aggressive peace.
Trotsky's calculation that the Germans would not be able to advance did not come true. The Germans went on the offensive on February 18. The Council of People's Commissars issued a decree “The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger!”, the formation of the Red Army began, but all this had little effect on the course of events. The Germans occupied Minsk, Kyiv, Pskov, Tallinn, Narva and other cities without a fight. There was no manifestation of solidarity between the German proletariat and Soviet Russia. In this situation, when the danger of the existence of Soviet power loomed, Lenin, threatening to resign, forced the majority of the Central Committee to agree to German conditions. Trotsky also joined him. The Bolsheviks' decision was also supported by the Central Committee of the Left Social Revolutionaries. The Soviet government radioed to the Germans about its readiness to sign peace.
Now Germany put forward much more stringent demands: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia were torn away from Russia; Russian recognition of the independence of Ukraine and Finland; transition to Turkey Kars, Ardahan, Batum; Russia had to demobilize the army and navy, which practically did not exist; pay an indemnity of six billion marks. On these terms, the peace treaty was signed on March 3 in Brest by the head of the Soviet delegation G.Ya. Sokolnikov. The indemnity amounted to 245.5 tons of gold, of which Russia managed to pay 95 tons.
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was approved by a majority vote at the VII Bolshevik Congress, held on March 6-8. But the Central Committee of the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party, on the contrary, under pressure from the lower ranks of the party, reconsidered its position and opposed peace. To ratify the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the IV Extraordinary Congress of Soviets was convened on March 15. It took place in Moscow, where the Soviet government moved due to the approach of the Germans to Petrograd and the strikes of Petrograd workers. Supporters of Lenin and Trotsky voted for the treaty, while the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, anarchists, Socialist-Revolutionaries, and Mensheviks voted against it. The “Left Communists” abstained, and their faction soon disintegrated. In April, Trotsky left the post of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, became People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, then - Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic. G.V. Chicherin was appointed People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. The Left Socialist Revolutionaries, protesting against the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, left the Council of People's Commissars, although they continued to collaborate with the Bolsheviks.
German units occupied Ukraine, moved deep into Russian territory and reached the Don. Peace with Russia allowed Germany to transfer its troops to the Western Front and launch an offensive on French territory. However, in the summer of 1918, the French, British, Americans and their allies inflicted decisive defeats on the German army. In November 1918, the countries of the German bloc capitulated, and revolutions took place in Germany and Austria-Hungary. As Lenin foresaw, with the defeat of Germany the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was annulled. Soviet troops occupied Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states. The Bolsheviks considered the moment favorable for the realization of their main dream - revolution in Europe. However, the trip to Europe did not take place due to the outbreak of civil war.
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