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In March 1918, after what some historians would describe as turmoil back home, the Russian government signed the treaty of breast lits with the central powers. This made official Russia's exit from the First World War and came at the small cost of all of this land, which consisted of a third of Russia's pre-war population, most of its industrial heartlands, as well as its most productive agricultural zones. This massively weakened Russia internationally, and was a gargantuan humiliation, which raises an obvious question. Why did the Russians agree to this? Why did they give up so much? And did they try to do anything to prevent it? So, as you'll know, Russia's time during World War I wasn't exactly a fun
one. Very early on, things went well, but after that, not so much. This meant that the Russian people weren't happy and just wanted the war to be over. This led to civil unrest, the February Revolution, the SARS abdication, and the creation of the Russian Provisional Government. And this new government, under pressure from Russia's allies, continued the war, and suddenly Lenin, as you'll know, there soon came the October Revolution. And after the Bolsheviks and their political allies took control, they began to negotiate with the central powers, by which I mean the Germans. In December 1917, the new government negotiated a ceasefire which automatically renewed until one power gave notice that they wanted to fight
again. So Lenin had publicly proclaimed his desire for peace without annexations or indemnities, which the Germans said they would be open to, providing that literally everyone else in the onant also agree. And in case you're wondering, this is diplomatic speak for no. Leontrosky, Russia's foreign minister, wanted to delay negotiations, hoping that whilst they did that, the proletariat in Germany would rise up and overthrow their government. But fun fact, no. After it became clear that this wasn't going to happen, the Russian government was divided on what to do. The first option championed by the left socialist revolutionaries was continue the war no matter the cost. The problem
with this was that the army was largely falling apart or had actively sided against Lenin's government and so couldn't continue to put up any real resistance. The second option was to make peace no matter the cost. Lenin was overwhelmingly concerned with not dying and so fighting the central powers whilst also fighting a civil war meant that the revolutionary government would almost certainly lose. As such, it was better to live with the humiliating peace, defeat their internal opponents, and then, when strong enough, take back what they'd lost. There was, however, secret option number three. This was championed by Trosky, who wanted to walk away from the negotiations, and declare
that Russia would refuse to fight the war. His plan was that in the face of peaceful non-resistance, any German advance would make them look like aggressors and colonizers to the German workers, who would then inevitably rise up and overthrow their government. Trosky somehow managed to convince Lenin to go along with this plan, to which the German response was just to advance and take the land anyway. And guess what? Not most German workers were just fine with this stunning victory. Shocker. Realizing that he had just done a stupid, Lenin panicked and one moved the Russian capital to Moscow and two pushed for the government to accept all of
Germany's terms, which since their successful offensive they had updated to include Russia giving up Ukraine and Finland. But given that Moscow had accepted Finland's independence and also barely had a foothold in Ukraine, they weren't too upset about this. And accepting these terms largely comes down to the fact that Lenin's position at this point was quite a fragile one. Trosky resigned in protest and the left socialist revolutionaries broke off from the government to peacefully protest. By which I mean the assassinated the German ambassador to Russia in order to spark another war and also attempted an armed
uprising. The Germans didn't respond to this because they'd already won their war in the east and now wanted to focus on the west which was now receiving some help from overseas. And with that, the treaty of breasts stayed in effect until Germany's defeat later that year. And it won't surprise you to learn that it wasn't long until the Bolsheviks were back in those regions. I hope you enjoyed this episode with a special thanks to my patrons James Bizernet, Sky Chappelle, Katoka, Anthony Beckett, Wyan Hockey, Udwan Wang, Alex Schwin, AF Firefly, The Flying Deutseland, Captain Sydog, Robert C. Perkins, Spencer Lightfoot, Shuenin, Michael Halbert, Castle Bravo, The McWer, Gustaf Swan,
Marvin Cassau, Spinning Three Plates, Andy McGee, Rod D. Martin, Arthur Hosy Jr., Commune Yun, Copper Tone, Ma Armad, the Jim Stannon, Winston Kwood, respectable level of chaos, Starry Knights, Kitro, Bonnie Bounds, Remco, Hoistman, Jim Sternberg, Lord Beak, Charles the Betabot,
