THE EASTERN FRONT

THE TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK:  3rd MARCH 1918

THE BEGINNING OF THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR:  OCTOBER 1917

    The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in March, but so stringent and humiliating were its terms, that Trotksy, the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, refused to sign it. However, Lenin insisted that the treaty be accepted after the Germans threatened a full-scale invasion, occupying Narva in northern Estonia to threaten Petrograd, and advancing on Moscow from Poland. And in Russia itself, workers in particular saw the treaty as an act of treason, and a betrayal of their country. As such, it added fuel to the civil war that was emerging between the Bolsheviks (“the Reds”) and those opposed to this Marxist threat (“the Whites”).


     Territorially, (as shown here), Russia was obliged to cede the Baltic Provinces and eastern parts of Poland; recognise the independence of Finland, Georgia and the Ukraine; and lose the districts of Kars, Ardahan and Batum to the Ottoman Empire. This amounted to something like a quarter of their pre-war territory (around 290,000 square miles), and a third of the country’s population.


    Industrially, Russia lost nine-tenths of its coalmines, a third of its railway network, and three quarters of its supply of iron ore.


     The loss of almost a third of rich agricultural land, including the important grain-growing regions of the Ukraine, added to the country’s severe shortage of food.


     In addition, the country’s war debts, including compensation payments, were put at 8,000 million roubles, and, together with reconstruction costs, put the country on the verge of total financial collapse.


     And all this has to be seen against the catastrophic loses suffered by the Russians during the war. It is estimated that somewhere between 900,000 and 2,500,000 were killed, and possibly up to five million more wounded. In addition close on four million were taken as prisoners.


    Lenin himself saw the treaty as “the abyss of defeat, dismemberment, enslavement and humiliation”, but, as promised to the Congress of Soviets the day after the October Revolution, he was committed to the making of peace. Any delays could run the risk of the Germans seizing Petrograd and crushing the Soviet government. Russia was on the “doorstep of a socialist revolution”, and this would ensure that the nation and, given time, other nations, would provide a promising future for the down-trodden masses. He threatened to resign as party leader if the treaty were not signed. He got his way, but the treaty did lead to something of a division within the party. Trotsky, because of his attempt to stall the negotiations, was replaced as the commissar for foreign affairs. He refused to attend the final signing ceremony.


     Incidentally, following the completion of the treaty, Lenin moved the Russian capital back to Moscow, fearing that Petrograd, having become dangerously close to Russia’s western border, and situated on the Gulf of Finland, could not be adequately defended. ……


     …… In February, the Soviet government formally adopted the Gregorian calendar, bringing it in line with the countries of Western Europe. ……


     …… At the 7th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (8th March), the Bolsheviks changed the name of their party to the Russian Communist Party.


THExBEGINNING OF THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR: OCTOBER 1917


    When the Treaty of Brest Litovsk was signed (March 1918), the Russian Civil War was already taking shape, having broken out in October 1917 following the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the establishment of Bolshevism (“The Reds”). The Treaty of Brest Litovsk only served to intensify the determination of those bent on overthrowing this Bolshevik threat, be they powerful Czar royalists or disillusioned peasants within Russia itself; neighbouring countries fearing this new communist menace; or Russia’s former “Allies”, all anxious to keep the Germans tied up on the Eastern Front (“The Whites”). And matters were made worse in that direction when Lenin’s government refused to make any repayments on foreign loans taken out by the Czarist and Provisional governments, or, indeed, give any compensation for taking over (nationalizing) foreign properties within Russia. As we shall see, the overall result was three years of vicious civil war in which the political future of Europe – indeed, the World as it so happened! – was in the balance.


    Fortunately for the Russians, under the November 1918 Armistice that ended the First World War, the draconian Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was annulled, since Russia was one of the victorious allies (though Poland, Finland and the Baltic States did retain their independence). But the increased threat from the civil war did not go away. As we shall see, by this time, Allied troops had arrived in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok, and the rapid escalation of the conflict had led to the brutal murder of the Czar and his family. The battle between the Whites and the Reds had some time to run.

Acknowledgements

Map: academic.tips source fc.gsacrd.ab.ca Cartoon: emmitsburg.net

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