106 years ago today, on March 3, 1918, the Soviets** and the Central Powers led by the German Empire signed the Peace of Brest.
The peace treaty was unimaginably harsh on Russia, which lost millions of square kilometers of land and 50 million people, 90% of the country's coal production and 74% of its iron ore, 54% of its industrial areas and 33% of its railways, and in addition to paying 6 billion marks in war reparations.
The scene of the signing of the Brest Peace Treaty.
After the victory of the revolution in October 1917, the Entente suffered isolation from the side of the Entente, and the other members of the Entente rejected the peace plan of Soviet Russia, which had no choice but to make peace with Germany alone.
Due to its absolute superiority on the battlefield, the German side put forward the condition that all of Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and part of Latvia, Belarus and Ukraine be ceded to Germany and that an indemnity of 3 billion marks be paid. This caused disagreements within the Soviet Union, Lenin advocated acceptance, Stalin and Zinoviev and other six people supported him, Bukharin and other four people opposed the acceptance conditions, Trotsky and other four people advocated no war and no peace, on January 28, 1818, Lenin's proposal was not adopted by the Council of People's Commissars, but on this day passed a decree on the establishment of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
Lenin. Thus, at the negotiations held in Brest on January 30, the Russian representative Trotsky rejected the German conditions, and Germany put forward an ultimatum. Originally, Trotsky promised Lenin to sign the ultimatum as soon as Germany had given it, but when the ultimatum was officially received, Trotsky still did not agree to sign it.
The Germans then launched a large-scale attack on Soviet Russia, and the Russian army, which had no regular troops, was routed for thousands of miles, and the German army was like no one. On 18 February, an emergency meeting of the Committee of Soviet Russia was held, Lenin's proposal was again rejected, and after debate, Trotsky chose to support Lenin, and at the emergency meeting that was resumed that night, Lenin's proposal was adopted 7:5.
Although the notice of acceptance of the other party's conditions was sent to the German side overnight, the German army did not stop the offensive, and on February 23, the German army, which had achieved great results on the battlefield, demanded more harsher conditions, and the Soviet Union had to give up more territory and double the war reparations of 6 billion marks.
Lenin believed that the other party's conditions must be accepted as soon as possible, otherwise Germany would put forward more harsher conditions, Bukharin was still against it, and Trotsky was also against it at first, but after Lenin offered to resign, he changed his mind and abstained from voting, and finally Lenin's proposition was adopted by 7 votes in favor, 4 votes against and 4 abstentions in an emergency meeting of the Soviet Russian ** Committee. On February 24, Soviet Russia again sent a delegation to the peace talks.
On March 3, the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty was signed, and Soviet Russia finally succeeded in withdrawing from World War I and gaining a respite from consolidating its power.
The lands ceded by Soviet Russia.
After that, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army developed rapidly, and February 23 was regarded as the Red Army's Army Day, and by the end of April 1918 alone, the Red Army had expanded to 1960,000 men, political commissar was introduced in July, strengthening the leadership of the Bolsheviks over the army, and by the end of October, the Red Army had expanded to 800,000 men. On November 11, World War I ended, Germany was defeated, and the Peace of Brest became a piece of paper, and the Red Army fought in the east and west, and in the south and north, destroying Kolchak in the east, driving out Denikin and Wrangel in the south, defeating Yudenich in the north and quelling the Kronstadt rebellion, and drawing with the nascent Poland in the east and destroying Petliura's army. By 1920 the Civil War was ended and Soviet power was fully consolidated.
Lenin actually foresaw the end of the First World War, and he believed that in order to consolidate the nascent Soviet power, the most important thing was to get out of foreign wars, so no matter how harsh the conditions were, we had to accept them in order to buy time, and as for the future, after the end of the First World War, Germany was defeated, and no matter how harsh the treaties were, they were all waste paper, and history proved Lenin's foresight.
In 1922, Soviet Russia** and the post-war republic** established in Weimar, Germany** signed the Treaty of Raballo, and together announced the abrogation of the "Peace of Brest".