View source for Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

{{Short description|1918 treaty between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers}}
{{For|the contemporaneous treaty involving Ukraine and the Central Powers|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Ukraine–Central Powers)}}
{{Infobox Treaty
|long_name =
|name = Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
|image = Traktat brzeski 1918.jpg
|image_width = 300px
|caption = The first page of the treaty in (from left to right) [[German language|German]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]] and [[Russian language|Russian]]
|type =
|date_drafted =
|date_signed = {{start date and age|1918|03|3|df=yes}}
|location_signed = {{nowrap|[[Brest, Belarus|Brest-Litovsk]]}}
|date_sealed =
|date_effective =
|condition_effective = [[Ratification]]
|date_expiration =
|signatories = 
|parties ={{plainlist|
*{{flag|German Empire|name=Germany}}
*{{flag|Austria-Hungary}}
*{{flag|Kingdom of Bulgaria|name=Bulgaria}}
*{{flag|Ottoman Empire}}}}
----
{{flag|Soviet Russia|1918}}
| depositor =
|languages = {{flatlist|
*[[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]
*[[German language|German]]
*[[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]
*[[Russian language|Russian]]
*[[Ottoman Turkish]]}}
|website =
|wikisource = Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
}}
The '''Treaty of Brest-Litovsk''' was a [[separate peace]] treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between [[Russian SFSR|Soviet Russia]] and the [[Central Powers]] ([[German Empire|Germany]], [[Austria-Hungary]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], and [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]]), by which Russia withdrew from [[World War I]]. The treaty, which followed months of negotiations after the [[Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers|armistice on the Eastern Front]] in December 1917, was signed at Brest-Litovsk (now [[Brest, Belarus]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Philpott |first=William James |title=The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the First World War |date=2004 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan Ltd |isbn=978-0-230-50480-6 |location=Basingstoke}}</ref>

The Soviet delegation was initially headed by [[Adolph Joffe]], and key figures from the Central Powers included [[Max Hoffmann]] and [[Richard von Kühlmann]] of Germany, [[Ottokar Czernin]] of Austria-Hungary, and [[Talaat Pasha]] of the Ottoman Empire. In January 1918, the Central Powers demanded secession of all occupied territories of the former [[Russian Empire]]. The Soviets sent a new peace delegation led by [[Leon Trotsky]], which aimed to stall the negotiations while awaiting revolutions in Central Europe. [[Operation Faustschlag|A renewed Central Powers offensive]] launched on February 18 captured large territories in the Baltic region, Belarus, and Ukraine and forced the Soviet side to sue for peace.

Under the terms of the treaty, Russia lost control of Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and its [[Caucasus|Caucasian]] province of [[Kars oblast|Kars]] and [[Batum oblast|Batum]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chernev |first=Borislav |date=2011-09-07 |title=The Brest-Litovsk Moment: Self-Determination Discourse in Eastern Europe before Wilsonianism |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09592296.2011.599635 |journal=Diplomacy & Statecraft |language=en |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=369–387 |doi=10.1080/09592296.2011.599635 |issn=0959-2296|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The lands comprised 34% of the former empire's population, 54% of its industrial land, 89% of its coalfields, and 26% of its railways. The Soviet government also confirmed the [[independence of Finland]], which it had recognized in January 1918, and pledged to end [[Ukrainian–Soviet War|its war]] with the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]], which the Central Powers had recognized under the prior [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Ukraine–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] (9 February 1918). A supplementary protocol signed in August 1918 required Russia to pay Germany [[war reparations]] of six billion marks. The treaty was controversial in Russia, giving a unifying cause to the [[White movement]] and opening a rift between the [[Bolsheviks]] and the [[Left Socialist-Revolutionaries]], whose representatives withdrew from the [[Council of People's Commissars]] after its signing and later rebelled in the [[Left SR uprising|Left SR Uprising]].

The treaty was annulled by the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fry |first1=Michael Graham |last2=Goldstein |first2=Erik |last3=Langhorne |first3=Richard |title=Guide to International Relations and Diplomacy |date=2002 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0826452507 |page=188 }}</ref> in which Germany surrendered to the western [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]]. Subsequent attempts by the Soviets to restore power in the lost territories during the [[Russian Civil War]] (1917–1922) had mixed results, with the [[Red Army]] being defeated in the independence wars of the three Baltic countries and in the [[Polish–Soviet War]], but successfully [[Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919|conquering Belarus]] early on,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=Norman |title=White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919–20 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]], Inc. |year=2003 |isbn=0-7126-0694-7 |edition=First |location=New York |author-link=Norman Davies |orig-date=1972}}</ref> later achieving victory in its [[Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan|invasions of Azerbaijan]], [[Red Army invasion of Armenia|Armenia]], [[Red Army invasion of Georgia|Georgia]] and in [[Ukrainian War of Independence|Ukraine]]. The border with Turkey established by the treaty was largely affirmed by the [[Treaty of Kars]] (1921). Under the [[Treaty of Rapallo (1922)|Treaty of Rapallo]] (1922), Russia and Germany renounced all territorial and financial claims against each other.

The Russian borders established by the treaty are almost exactly the same as the post-1991 borders established after the [[fall of the Soviet Union]].{{sfn|Chernev|2017|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?&id=mc3hDgAAQBAJ&pg=PP221 Conclusion: Brest – Litovsk and Europe's Twentieth Century]|pp=221–224}}

==Background==
{{main|Eastern Front (World War I)|Russian Revolution}}
[[Image:Lev Kamenev arrives at Brest-Litovsk.jpg|thumb|[[Lev Kamenev]] arriving at Brest-Litovsk|left]]
By 1917, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia were stuck in a stalemate on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front of World War I]] and the Russian economy had nearly collapsed under the strain of the war effort. The large numbers of war casualties and persistent food shortages in the major urban centers brought about civil unrest, known as the [[February Revolution]], that forced Tsar [[Nicholas II]] to abdicate. The [[Russian Provisional Government]] that replaced the Tsar in early 1917 continued the war. Foreign Minister [[Pavel Milyukov]] sent the Entente Powers a telegram,  known as the [[Milyukov note]], affirming to them that the Provisional Government would continue the war with the same war aims that the former Russian Empire had. The pro-war Provisional Government was opposed by the self-proclaimed [[Petrograd Soviet|Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies]], dominated by leftist parties. Its [[Order No. 1]] called for an overriding mandate to soldier committees rather than army officers. The Soviet started to form its own [[paramilitary]] power, the [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guards]], in March 1917.{{sfn|Chernev|2017|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?&id=mc3hDgAAQBAJ&pg=PP12 1. Ostpolitik Meets World Revolution]|pp=12–40}}{{sfn|Chernev|2017|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?&id=mc3hDgAAQBAJ&pg=PP3 Introduction: A Forgotten Peace]|pp=3–11}}

The continuing war led the German Government to agree to a suggestion that they should favour the opposition Communist Party ([[Bolsheviks]]), who were proponents of Russia's withdrawal from the war. Therefore, in April 1917, Germany transported Bolshevik leader [[Vladimir Lenin]] and 31 supporters in a [[sealed train]] from exile in Switzerland to Finland Station, Petrograd.{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1963|loc=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499045/page/n53 II. Kerensky, Lenin, and Peace]|pp=36–41}} Upon his arrival in Petrograd, Lenin proclaimed his [[April Theses]], which included a call for turning all political power over to [[soviet (council)|workers' and soldiers' soviets (councils)]] and an immediate withdrawal of Russia from the war. At around the same time, the United States entered the war, potentially shifting the balance of the war against the Central Powers. Throughout 1917, Bolsheviks called for the overthrow of the Provisional Government and an end to the war. Following the disastrous failure of the [[Kerensky offensive]], discipline in the Russian army deteriorated completely. Soldiers would disobey orders, often under the influence of Bolshevik agitation, and set up soldiers' committees to take control of their units after deposing the officers.

The defeat and ongoing hardships of war led to anti-government riots in Petrograd, the "[[July Days]]" of 1917. Several months later, on {{OldStyleDateNY| 7 November|25 October}}, Red Guards seized the [[Winter Palace]] and arrested the Provisional Government in what is known as the [[October Revolution]].

A top priority of the newly established Soviet government was to end the war. On 8 November [O.S.&nbsp;26&nbsp;October] Lenin signed the [[Decree on Peace]], which was approved by the Second Congress of the Soviet of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Deputies. The Decree called "upon all the belligerent nations and their governments to start immediate negotiations for peace" and proposed an immediate withdrawal of Russia from {{awrap|World War I}}. [[Leon Trotsky]] was appointed Commissar of Foreign Affairs in the new Bolshevik government. In preparation for peace talks with the representatives of the German government and the representatives of the other Central Powers, Trotsky appointed his good friend [[Adolph Joffe]] to represent the Bolsheviks at the peace conference.

==Peace negotiations==
[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R92623, Brest-Litowsk, Waffenstillstandsabkommen.jpg|thumb|left|Signing of the armistice between Russia and Germany on 15 December 1917. [[Prince Leopold of Bavaria]] signing the treaty]]
On 15 December 1917, an [[Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers|armistice between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers]] was concluded. On {{awrap|22 December}}, peace negotiations began in Brest-Litovsk.

Arrangements for the conference were the responsibility of General [[Max Hoffmann]], the chief of staff of the Central Powers' forces on the Eastern Front ({{langx|de|Oberkommando-Ostfront}}, {{lang|de|[[Ober Ost]]}}). The delegations that had negotiated the armistice were made stronger. Prominent additions on the Central Powers' side were the foreign ministers of Germany, [[Richard von Kühlmann]], and Austria-Hungary, Count [[Ottokar Czernin]], both the Ottoman grand vizier [[Talaat Pasha]] and Foreign Minister Nassimy Bey. The Bulgarians were headed by Minister of Justice Popoff, who was later joined by Prime Minister [[Vasil Radoslavov]].{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1963|loc=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499045/page/n137 IV. "Peace Without Indemnities or Annexations"]|pp=111–112}}{{Sfn|Lincoln|1986|pages=489–491}}

The Soviet delegation was led by Joffe, who had already led their armistice negotiators, but his group was made more cohesive by eliminating most of the representatives of social groups, like peasants and sailors, and the addition of tsarist general Aleksandr Samoilo and the noted Marxist historian [[Mikhail Pokrovsky]]. It still included [[Anastasia Bitsenko]], a former assassin, representing the [[Left Socialist-Revolutionaries]] who were at odds with the Bolsheviks. Again, the negotiators met in the fortress in Brest-Litovsk, and the delegates were housed in temporary wooden structures in its courtyards because the city had been burnt to the ground in 1915 by the retreating Russian army. They were cordially welcomed by the German commander of the Eastern Front, [[Prince Leopold of Bavaria]], who sat with Joffe on the head table at the opening banquet with one hundred guests.<ref>{{cite book |title=In The World War |publisher=Cassell and Company, Ltd. |publication-place=London |via=[[Archive.org]] |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.39651 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.39651/page/n241 |chapter=10. Brest-Litovsk |first=Ottokar |last=Czernin |year=1919 }}</ref> As they had during the armistice negotiations, both sides continued to eat dinner and supper together amicably intermingled in the officers' mess.

When the conference convened Kühlmann asked Joffe to present the Russian conditions for peace. He made six points, all variations of the Bolshevik slogan of peace with "no annexations or indemnities". The Central Powers accepted the principles "but only in case all belligerents [including the nations of the Entente] without exception pledge themselves to do the same".<ref>{{harvnb|Lincoln|1986|p=490}}.</ref> They did not intend to annex territories occupied by force. Joffe telegraphed the marvelous news to Petrograd. Thanks to informal chatting in the mess, one of Hoffmann's aides, Colonel Friedrich Brinckmann, realized that the Russians had optimistically misinterpreted the Central Powers' meaning.{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1963|loc=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499045/page/n151 IV. "Peace Without Indemnities or Annexations"]|p=124}} It fell to Hoffmann to set matters straight at dinner on 27 December: Poland, Lithuania and [[Courland]], already occupied by the Central Powers, were determined to separate from Russia on the principle of self-determination that the Bolsheviks themselves espoused. Joffe "looked as if he had received a blow on the head".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hoffmann|first1=Major General Max|title=War Diaries and other papers|date=1929|publisher=Martin Secker|location=London|volume =1|page=209}}</ref> Pokrovsky wept as he asked how they could speak of "peace without annexations when Germany was tearing eighteen provinces away from the Russian state".<ref>{{harvnb|Lincoln|1986|p=401}}</ref> The Germans and the Austro-Hungarians planned to annex slices of Polish territory and to set up a rump Polish state with what remained. The [[Baltic governorates]] were to become client states ruled by German [[prince]]s. Czernin was beside himself that this hitch that was slowing the negotiations; self-determination was anathema to his government and they urgently needed grain from the east because Vienna was on the verge of starvation. He proposed to make a separate peace.<ref>{{harvnb|Lincoln|1986|p=491}}</ref> Kühlmann warned that if they negotiated separately, Germany would immediately withdraw all its divisions from the Austrian front; Czernin dropped that threat. The food crisis in Vienna was eventually eased by "forced drafts of grain from Hungary, Poland, and Romania and by a last moment contribution from Germany of 450 truck-loads of flour".{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1963|loc=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499045/page/n201 V. The Stalemate]|p=170}} At Russian request, they agreed to recess the talks for 12 days.
[[Image:LübA - Sonderdepesche.jpg|thumb|left|Special edition of the {{lang|de|Lübeckischen Anzeigen}}, with the headline as: "Peace with Ukraine"]]

The Soviets' only hopes were that time would make their allies agree to join the negotiations or that the western European proletariat would revolt and so their best strategy was to prolong the negotiations. As Trotsky wrote, "To delay negotiations, there must be someone to do the delaying".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Trotsky|first1=Leon|title=My Life|url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/mylife/1930-lif.pdf|website=Marxists|publisher=Charles Schribner's Sons|page=286|date=1930}}</ref> Therefore, Trotsky replaced Joffe as the leader.

On the other side were significant political realignments. On New Year's Day in Berlin, Kaiser [[Wilhelm II]] insisted that Hoffmann reveal his views on the future German–Polish border. He advocated taking a small slice of Poland; [[Paul von Hindenburg]] and [[Erich Ludendorff]] wanted much more. They were furious with Hoffmann for breaching the chain of command and wanted him to be dismissed and sent to command a division. The Kaiser refused, but Ludendorff no longer spoke with Hoffmann on the telephone since the communication was now through an intermediary.{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1963|loc=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499045/page/n163 IV. "Peace Without Indemnities or Annexations"]|pp=130–136}}

The German Supreme Commanders were also furious at ruling out of annexations, contending that the peace "must increase Germany's material power".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ludendorff|first1= General|title=The General Staff and its problems The history of the relations between the high command and the German Imperial Government as revealed in official documents|date=1920|publisher= Hutchinson|location=London|volume =2|page=209}}</ref> They denigrated Kühlmann and pressed for additional territorial acquisitions. When Hindenburg was asked why they needed the Baltic provinces he replied, "To secure my left flank for when the next war happens."<ref name="Stevenson2009">{{cite book|first=David |last=Stevenson|title=Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy|date=2009|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-7867-3885-4|page=315}}</ref> However, the most profound transformation was that a delegation from the [[Central Rada|Ukrainian Rada]], which had declared independence from Russia, had arrived at Brest-Litovsk. They would make peace if they were given the Polish city of [[Chełm|Cholm]] and its surroundings, and they would provide desperately needed grain. Czernin no longer was desperate for a prompt settlement with the Russians.

[[Image:Trotzki Deutsche Brest-Litowsk1917.jpg|thumb|Trotsky being greeted by [[German Empire|German]] officers]]
When they reconvened, Trotsky declined the invitation to meet Prince Leopold and terminated shared meals and other sociable interactions with the representatives of the Central Powers. Day after day, Trotsky "engaged Kühlmann in debate, rising to subtle discussion of first principles that ranged far beyond the concrete territorial issues that divided them".<ref>{{harvnb|Lincoln|1986|p=494}}</ref> The Central Powers signed a [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Ukraine–Central Powers)|peace treaty with Ukraine]] during the night of 8–9 February even though the Russians had retaken [[Kiev]]. German and Austro-Hungarian troops entered Ukraine to prop up the Rada. Finally, Hoffmann broke the impasse with the Russians by focusing the discussion on maps of the future boundaries. Trotsky summarised their situation "Germany and Austria-Hungary are cutting off from the domains of the former Russian Empire territories more than 150,000 square kilometers in size".<ref>{{harvnb|Lincoln|1986|p=496}}</ref> He was granted a nine-day recess for the Russians to decide whether to sign.

[[File:German soldiers and Soviet troops gathering together (February 1918).jpg|thumb|German and Soviet troops gathering together, February 1918]]
In Petrograd, Trotsky argued passionately against signing and proposed that instead, "they should announce the termination of the war and demobilization without signing any peace."{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1963|loc=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499045/page/n217 V. The Stalemate]|pp=185–186}} Privately, in correspondence with [[Count Otto von Czernin]], Trotsky had expressed his willingness to relent to peace terms upon the resumption of a German offensive although with moral dissent.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deutscher |first1=Isaac |title=The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky |date=6 January 2015 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78168-560-0 |page=389 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yN-QEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> Lenin was for signing rather than having an even more ruinous treaty forced on them after a few more weeks of military humiliation. The "[[Left Bolsheviks|Left Communists]]", led by [[Nikolai Bukharin]] and [[Karl Radek]], were sure that Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria were all on the verge of revolution. They wanted to continue the war with a newly raised revolutionary force while awaiting these upheavals.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fischer |first1=Ruth |author-link=Ruth Fischer |title=Stalin and German Communism: A Study on the Origins of the State Party |date=1982 |orig-year=1948 |publisher=Transition Books |location=New Brunswick NJ |page=39 |isbn=0878558802}}</ref> Consequently, Lenin agreed to Trotsky's formula – a position summed up as "no war – no peace" – which was announced when the negotiators reconvened on 10 February 1918. The Soviets thought that their stalling was succeeding until 16 February when Hoffmann notified them that the war would resume in two days, when 53 divisions [[Operation Faustschlag|advanced]] against the near-empty Soviet trenches. On the night of 18 February, the Central Committee supported Lenin's resolution that they sign the treaty by a margin of seven to five. Hoffmann kept advancing until 23 February when he presented new terms that included the withdrawal of all Soviet troops from Ukraine and Finland. The Soviets were given 48 hours to open negotiations with the Germans, and another 72 to conclude them.<ref>{{cite web |title=Treaties of Brest-Litovsk |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/treaties-of-Brest-Litovsk |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=3 March 2021}}</ref> Lenin told the Central Committee that "you must sign this shameful peace in order to save the world revolution".{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1963|loc=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499045/page/n297/mode/2up VII. "The Tilsit Peace"]|p=260}} If they did not agree, he would resign. He was supported by six Central Committee members, opposed by three, with Trotsky and three others abstaining.<ref>Fischer, 1982, pp. 32–36.</ref> Debate in the [[All-Russian Central Executive Committee]] was intense, with Left SRs jeering Lenin as a traitor. Lenin explained that they must "concede space...in order to win time."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kirasirova |first=Masha |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=7388439 |title=The Eastern International: Arabs, Central Asians, and Jews in the Soviet Union's Anticolonial Empire}}</ref> The measure passed 116 to 85.<ref name="Kotkin 2014">{{cite book | last=Kotkin | first=Stephen | title=Stalin | publisher=Penguin Press | publication-place=New York | year=2014 | isbn=978-1594203794 | oclc=893721553 | page=}}</ref>

Trotsky resigned as foreign minister and was replaced by [[Georgy Chicherin]].

When Sokolnikov arrived at Brest-Litovsk, he declared "we are going to sign immediately the treaty presented to us as an ultimatum but at the same time refuse to enter into any discussion of its terms".{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1963|loc=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499045/page/n305 VII. "The Tilsit Peace"]|pp=268–269}} The treaty was signed at 17:50 on 3 March 1918.

Kühlmann, invited [[Emil Orlík]], a [[Viennese Secession]]ist and artist, to attend the conference. He composed portraits of all the participants along with a series of smaller caricatures. These were gathered together into a book, copies of which were distributed to each participant at the end of the negotiations.<ref>Jewish Museum in Prague (2013–2015). [http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/en/program-and-education/exhibits/archive-exhibits/348/ Emil Orlik (1870–1932) – Portraits of Friends and Contemporaries] [description of exhibition in 2004]. Retrieved 2015-04-03.</ref>

==Terms==
===Signing===
[[File:Map Treaty Brest-Litovsk.jpg|thumb|Borders drawn up in the treaty]]
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed on 3 March 1918. The signatories were Soviet Russia signed by [[Grigori Sokolnikov]] on the one side and Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire on the other.

The treaty marked Russia's final withdrawal from [[World War I]] as an enemy of her co-signatories, on severe terms. In all, the treaty took away territory that included a quarter of the population and the industry of the former [[Russian Empire]]<ref>John Keegan, ''The First World War'' (New York: Vintage Books, 2000), p. 342.</ref> and nine tenths of its operational [[coal mining|coal mines]].<ref>Shirer, ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', 1960, p. 57</ref>

===Territorial cessions in eastern Europe===
{{more citations needed section|date=February 2021}}
{{Further|1918 Central Powers occupation of Ukraine}}
Russia renounced all territorial claims in [[Finland]] (whose [[Finnish Declaration of Independence|independence]] it had already recognized), [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], most of [[Belarus]], and [[Ukraine]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Service |first=Robert |url=http://archive.org/details/historyofmodernr00robe |title=A history of modern Russia from Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0674018013 |pages=75–80}}</ref> The territory of the [[Kingdom of Poland (1916–18)|Kingdom of Poland]] was not mentioned in the treaty, as the Germans refused to recognize the existence of any Polish representatives, which in turn led to Polish protests. The treaty stated that "Germany and Austria-Hungary intend to determine the future fate of these territories in agreement with their populations." Most of the territories were in effect ceded to Germany, which intended to have them become economic and political dependencies, where the local German-speaking minority would be the ruling elite. New monarchies were to be created in Lithuania and the proposed "[[United Baltic Duchy]]" (which was planned to comprise Latvia and Estonia). Later in 1918, German aristocrats [[Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach]] (for Lithuania), and [[Adolf Friedrich, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin]] (for the planned United Baltic Duchy), were nominally appointed, but in reality never became, rulers of these envisaged new pro-German countries.

This plan was detailed by Ludendorff, who wrote, "German prestige demands that we should hold a strong protecting hand, not only over German citizens, but over all Germans."<ref>{{cite book|last=Ludendorff|first=Erich von|title=The General Staff and its Problems|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.24787|year=1920|location=London|pages=562}}</ref>

[[File:Three bones–a bountiful tip (Bushnell caricature, 1918).JPG|thumb|"Three bones—a bountiful tip", a political cartoon from 1918 by American cartoonist [[E. A. Bushnell]] ]]
[[File:Map Treaty of Brest-Litovsk-en.jpg|thumb|Territorial claims ceded by Soviet Russia to the Central Powers under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]
The occupation of the western part of the former Russian Empire ultimately proved a costly blunder for Berlin, as over one million German troops lay sprawled out from Poland nearly to the [[Caspian Sea]], all idle and depriving Germany of badly needed manpower in France. The hopes of using Ukraine's grain and coal proved abortive; in addition, the local population became increasingly hostile to the occupation. Revolts and guerrilla warfare began breaking out all over the occupied territory, many of them inspired by Bolshevik agents. German troops also had to intervene in the [[Finnish Civil War]], and Ludendorff became increasingly concerned that his troops were being affected by propaganda emanating from Moscow, which was one of the reasons he was reluctant to transfer divisions to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]. The attempt at establishing an independent Ukrainian state under German guidance was unsuccessful as well. However, Ludendorff completely ruled out the idea of marching on Moscow and Petrograd to remove the Bolshevik government from power.

Germany transferred hundreds of thousands of veteran troops to the Western Front for the 1918 [[German spring offensive|Spring Offensive]], which shocked the Allied Powers but ultimately failed. Some Germans later blamed the occupation for significantly weakening the Spring Offensive. The Germans began slowly but steadily withdrawing personnel from the occupied territories from east to west as the troop transfers to the Western Front continued throughout 1918. Local independence movements, particularly those based in what is now Belarus and Ukraine, moved in to fill the void the Germans left behind and established themselves in the newly freed territories.

[[Belarusian People's Republic|Belarus]] and [[Ukrainian People's Republic|Ukraine]] became independent, while [[Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)|Poland]], Estonia, [[Governorate of Livonia|Livonia]], and [[Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1918)|Courland]] become protectorates of the German Empire.<ref name=":0" /> Later, [[Moldavian Democratic Republic|Bessarabia]] united with Romania.

Russia lost 34% of its population, 54% of its industrial land, 89% of its coalfields, and 26% of its railways. Russia was also fined 6 billion marks.{{Sfn|Liulevicius|2009}}

===Territorial cessions in the Caucasus===
At the insistence of Talaat Pasha, the treaty declared that the Ottoman Empire surrendered to Russia in the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)]], specifically [[Ardahan]], [[Kars]], and [[Batumi]], were to be returned. At the time of the treaty, this territory was under the effective control of Armenian and Georgian forces.

Paragraph 3 of Article IV of the treaty stated that:
{{blockquote|The districts of Ardahan, Kars, and Batum will likewise and without delay be cleared of Russian troops. Russia will not interfere in the reorganization of the national and international relations of these districts, but leave it to the population of these districts to carry out this reorganization in agreement with the neighbouring states, especially with the Ottoman Empire.}}

[[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]] and [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] rejected the treaty{{Citaiton needed|date=June 2025}} and instead declared independence. They formed the short-lived [[Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic]].

===Soviet-German financial agreement of August 1918===
{{Main|Treaty of Berlin (August 27, 1918)}}
In the wake of Soviet repudiation of Tsarist bonds, the nationalisation of foreign-owned property and confiscation of foreign assets, and Entente forces [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|landing on Russian territory]], the Soviets and Germany signed an additional agreement on 27 August 1918. The Soviets agreed to pay six billion [[German papiermark|marks]] in compensation for German losses.

{{blockquote|ARTICLE 2

Russia shall pay Germany six billion marks as compensation for losses sustained by Germans through Russian measures; at the same time corresponding claims on Russia's part are taken into account, and the value of supplies confiscated in Russia by German military forces after the conclusion of peace is taken into account.<ref>Russian-German Financial Agreement, August 27, 1918. (''Izvestia'', September 4, 1918.)</ref>}}

The amount was equal to 300 million rubles.<ref>[https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/greatwar/g5/cs1/background.htm#4 ''UK National Archives, "The Great War" background'']</ref> The Soviets additionally agreed to sell Germany 25% of the output of the [[Baku oil fields]].
Three secret clauses provided for German military action against Entente forces on Russian soil, as well as the expulsion of British troops from Baku.<ref name="Kotkin 2014"/>

==Lasting effects==
[[Image:Poland & The New Baltic States.jpg|thumb|left|"Poland & The New Baltic States": a map from a 1920 British [[atlas]], showing borders left undefined between the treaties of Brest-Litovsk, [[Treaty of Versailles|Versailles]] and [[Peace of Riga|Riga]]]]
The treaty freed up a million German soldiers for the Western Front<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Chapter 5. The United States and the peace of Versailles |title=The History of American Foreign Policy from 1895 |page=97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MGamBgAAQBAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |edition=4th |isbn=978-1317456414 |first=Jerald A. |last=Combs |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MGamBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA97 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2012 |publication-place=New York }}</ref> and allowed Germany to use "much of Russia's food supply, industrial base, fuel supplies, and communications with Western Europe".<ref>{{cite book|author=Todd Chretien |title=Eyewitnesses to the Russian Revolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oG4kDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT129 |year=2017|page=129|publisher=Haymarket Books |isbn=978-1608468805 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Michael Senior|title=Victory on the Western Front: The Development of the British Army 1914–1918 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YE-uDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 |year=2016|page=176|publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1526709578 }}</ref> According to historian Spencer Tucker, the Allied Powers felt that<blockquote>The treaty was the ultimate betrayal of the Allied cause and sowed the seeds for the Cold War. With Brest-Litovsk, the spectre of German domination in Eastern Europe threatened to become reality, and the Allies now began to think seriously about military intervention [in Russia].<ref>{{cite book |title=The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia |editor1-first=Spencer C. |editor1-last=Tucker |editor1-link=Spencer C. Tucker |orig-year=1996 |year=2014 |edition=4th |publisher=[[Routledge]] |publication-place=New York |editor2-first=Laura Matysek |editor2-last=Wood |editor3-first=Justin D. |editor3-last=Murphy |via=[[Google Books]] |chapter=Russia, Allied Intervention in |page=608 |first=John W. |last=Bohon |isbn=978-1135506940 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkFdAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA608 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkFdAgAAQBAJ }}</ref></blockquote>For the Western Allied Powers, the terms that Germany had imposed on Russia were interpreted as a warning of what to expect if the Central Powers won the war. Between Brest-Litovsk and the point when the situation in the Western Front became dire, some officials in the German government and the high command began to favour offering more lenient terms to the Allied Powers in exchange for their recognition of German gains in the east.<ref>{{Citation
| last = Milton Cooper Jr
| first = John 
| contribution = 
| date = 2013
| title = Wilson, Woodrow
| editor-last = Lynch
| editor-first = Timothy J. 
| encyclopedia = The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| isbn= 978-0199759262 }}</ref>

The treaty marked a significant contraction of the territory controlled by the Bolsheviks or that they could lay claim to as effective successors of the Russian Empire. While the independence of Poland was already accepted by them in principle, and Lenin had signed a document accepting the Finnish independence, the loss of Ukraine and the Baltics created, from the Bolshevik perspective, dangerous bases of anti-Bolshevik military activity in the subsequent [[Russian Civil War]] (1917–1923). However, Bolshevik control of Ukraine and Transcaucasia was, at the time, fragile or non-existent.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The First World War|last=Keegan|first=John|publisher=Pimlico|year=1999|isbn=0712666451|location=London|pages=410|orig-year=1998}}</ref>

Many Russian nationalists and some revolutionaries were furious at the Bolsheviks' acceptance of the treaty and joined forces to fight them. Non-Russians who inhabited the lands lost by Bolshevik Russia in the treaty saw the changes as an opportunity to set up independent states.

Immediately after the signing of the treaty, Lenin moved the Soviet government from Petrograd to Moscow to prevent Germany from capturing the Russian capital in the event of an invasion.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lennie's migration a queer scene: Premier in Moscow, Capitalism's stronghold, serene amid his tattered baggage |first=Arthur |last=Ransome |date=16 March 1918 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |publication-place=New York|location=[[Moscow]], Russia |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/16/98260776.pdf |issn=0362-4331 |oclc=1645522 |editor-first=Adolph |editor-last=Ochs |editor-link=Adolph Ochs }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Trotsky blamed the peace treaty on the bourgeoisie, the social revolutionaries,<ref>[http://www.marxistsfr.org/archive/trotsky/1918/military/ch07.htm The Military Writings of Leon Trotsky Volume 1, 1918 Two Roads] "We have not forgotten, in the first place, that the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk meant the noose that was flung about our neck by the bourgeoisie and the SRs who were responsible for the offensive of June 18."</ref> Tsarist diplomats, Tsarist bureaucrats, "the Kerenskys, Tseretelis and Chernovs",<ref>[http://www.marxistsfr.org/archive/trotsky/1918/military/ch06.htm The Military Writings of Leon Trotsky, Volume 1, 1918 The Internal and External Tasks of the Soviet Power] "Those who bear the guilt of the Brest-Litovsk peace are the Tsarist bureaucrats and diplomats who involved us in the dreadful war, squandering what the people had accumulated, robbing the people – they who kept the working masses in ignorance and slavery. On the other hand, no less guilt rests with the compromisers, the Kerenskys, Tseretelis and Chernovs"</ref> the Tsarist regime, and the "petty-bourgeois compromisers".<ref>[http://www.marxistsfr.org/archive/trotsky/1918/military/ch03.htm The Military Writings of Leon Trotsky Volume 1, 1918 We Need an Army] "the entire burden of recent events, above all, the Brest peace, has fallen tragically upon us only through the previous management of affairs by the Tsarist regime and, following it, by the regime of the petty-bourgeois compromisers".</ref>

The treaty opened a permanent rift between the Bolsheviks and Left SRs. In July 1918 the Left SRs assassinated German Ambassador [[Wilhelm von Mirbach]] in the hopes that it would induce Germany to annul the treaty, leading to the [[Left SR Uprising]].<ref name = "PIPES">'' [[Richard Pipes]] ''. Bolsheviks in the struggle for power.</ref>
[[File:Europe in 1923.jpg|thumb|400px|A map of Europe in 1923 after the [[Russian Civil War]], among other [[Revolutions of 1917-1923|revolutions]].]]
Relations between Russia and the Central Powers did not go smoothly. The Ottoman Empire broke the treaty by invading the newly created [[First Republic of Armenia]] in May 1918. Joffe became the Russian ambassador to Germany. His priority was distributing propaganda to trigger the German revolution. On 4 November 1918, "the Soviet courier's packing-case had 'come to pieces{{'"}} in a Berlin railway station;<ref>Wheeller-Bennett, 1938, p. 359.</ref> it was filled with insurrectionary documents. Joffe and his staff were ejected from Germany in a sealed train on 5 November 1918. In the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]] that ended World War I, one clause abrogated the Brest-Litovsk treaty.<ref>[https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/armistice11-11-1918.pdf Article 15]</ref> Next, the Bolshevik legislature ([[VTsIK]]) annulled the treaty on 13 November 1918, and the text of the VTsIK Decision was printed in the newspaper ''[[Pravda]]'' the next day.

In the year after the armistice following a timetable set by the victors, the German Army withdrew its occupying forces from the lands gained in Brest-Litovsk. However, relations between Russia and the Allied Powers were also bad due to the Allied Powers' intervention in the Russian Civil War against the Soviet government of Russia and its allies. The fate of the region, and the location of the eventual western border of the [[Soviet Union]], was settled in violent and chaotic struggles over the course of the next three and a half years. The [[Polish–Soviet War]] was particularly bitter; it ended with the [[Treaty of Riga]] in 1921. Although most of Ukraine and Belarus fell under Bolshevik control and eventually became two of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, Poland and the Baltic states re-emerged as independent nations. In the [[Treaty of Rapallo, 1922|Treaty of Rapallo]], concluded in April 1922, Germany accepted the Treaty's nullification, and the two powers agreed to abandon all war-related territorial and financial claims against each other.

This state of affairs lasted until 1939, when after signing the secret protocol to the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|Nazi-Soviet pact]], the Soviet Union was able to advance its borders westward by [[Soviet invasion of Poland|invading Poland]] in September 1939, by conquering parts of eastern Finland in the 1939–1940 [[Winter War]], and by [[Occupation of the Baltic states|invading and occupying Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania]], and [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina|parts of Romania (Bessarabia and northern Bukovina)]] in 1940. During [[World War II]] the Soviet leadership was thus able to overturn the majority of the territorial losses incurred at Brest-Litovsk, except for the larger part of Finland and western [[Congress Poland]].

==See also==
* [[1918 Russia–Ukraine negotiations]]
* [[Armistice of Focșani]]
* [[Berlin Conference (December 6–7, 1917)]]
* [[History of Belarus]]
* [[Mitteleuropa]]
* [[Septemberprogramm]]
* [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Ukraine–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (9 February 1918)]], signed by Ukraine
* [[Spa Conferences (First World War)]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |first=Borislav |last=Chernev |publication-place=[[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada |title=Twilight of Empire: The Brest-Litovsk Conference and the Remaking of East-Central Europe, 1917—1918 |year=2017 |isbn=978-1487501495 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mc3hDgAAQBAJ |via=[[Google Books]] }}
* {{cite book |title=Passage through Armageddon: The Russians in war and revolution, 1914–1918 |edition=2nd |last=Lincoln |first=W. Bruce |lccn=86003696 |isbn=978-0671557096 |oclc=21283621 |url=https://archive.org/details/passagethroughar00wbru |via=[[Archive.org]] |publication-place=[[New York City]] |publisher=Touchston ([[Simon & Schuster]]) |year=1986 }}
*{{cite book |last=Liulevicius |first=Vejas Gabriel |date=2009 |title=War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity, and German Occupation in World War I |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/war-land-on-the-eastern-front/37A70F73D85026B41A641BA0DF68E9B0 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |page=206 | isbn=978-0-5216-6157-7|series=Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare |location=Cambridge |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511497186}}
* {{cite book |title=Brest-Litovsk: The Forgotten Peace, March 1918 |first=John W. |last=Wheeler-Bennett |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499045 |via=[[Archive.org]] |orig-year=1938 |year=1963 |edition=4th |publication-place=[[London]], England, United Kingdom |publisher=[[Macmillan and Co.]] ([[St. Martin's Press]]) }}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* Bailey, Sydney D. "Brest-Litovsk: A Study in Soviet Diplomacy" ''History Today'' 6#8 1956 pp.&nbsp;511–521.
*{{cite journal |last1=Dornik |first1=Wolfram |first2=Peter |last2=Lieb |author-link2=Peter Lieb |title=Misconceived realpolitik in a failing state: the political and economical fiasco of the Central Powers in the Ukraine, 1918 |journal=First World War Studies |volume=4 |issue=1 |year=2013 |pages=111–124 |doi=10.1080/19475020.2012.761393 |s2cid=155031381 }}
*{{cite book |last=Freund |first=Gerald |title=Unholy Alliance: Russian-German Relations from the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk to the Treaty of Berlin |location=New York |publisher=Harcourt |year=1957 |oclc=1337934 }}
*{{cite book |last=Kennan |first=George |author-link=George F. Kennan |title=Soviet Foreign Policy 1917–1941 |publisher=Van Nostrand |year=1960 |oclc=405941 }}
*{{cite book |last=Kettle |first=Michael |title=Allies and the Russian Collapse |location=London |publisher=Deutsch |year=1981 |isbn=0233970789 }}
*{{cite book |last=Magnes |first=Judah Leon |title=Russia and Germany at Brest-Litovsk: a Documentary History of the Peace |publisher=Nabu Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1171688266 |postscript=none }}, primary sources.
* UK National Archives, [https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ ''online'']

==External links==
* [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/bl34.asp#treatytext Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Yale University Avalon Project)], including links to appendices.
* [https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/foreign-relations/1918/March/15.htm Resolution of the Fourth All-Russian (Extraordinary) Soviet Congress Ratifying the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]
* [https://omniatlas.com/maps/europe/19180320/ Map of Europe] after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, at omniatlas.com.
* Susanne Schattenberg: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/brest-litovsk_treaty_of/ Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of], in: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/home.html/ 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War].
* ''The Times History of the War'', Volume XIV, London: Printing House Square, 1918, [https://archive.org/details/cu31924091745756/page/n7/mode/2up?q=Litovsk pp. 1–37]
* [[David R. Stone]], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9idVbVOJCGI "The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk," lecture presented at National World War I Museum, 2018]

{{First World War treaties}}
{{World War I}}
{{Treaties of Hungary}}
{{Ottoman treaties}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of}}
[[Category:Treaty of Brest-Litovsk| ]]
[[Category:World War I treaties]]
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