The conclusion of the Brest peace took place on March 3, 1918. The parties to the agreement were: Russia - the first side, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey - the second. The effect of this peace treaty was short-lived. it lasted a little over nine months.
It all started with the first negotiations in Brest, where Kamenev L.B. and Ioffe A.A., as well as Mstislavsky S.D., Karakhan L.M. acted as representatives of the Russian Bolsheviks. At the last minute before leaving for this border town, it was decided that the participation of representatives of the people was necessary. These were a soldier, a worker, a sailor and a peasant who was lured by large business trips. Of course, the opinion of this group was not taken into account during the negotiations and was simply not heard.
During the negotiations, the fact was revealed that the German side, in addition to signing the peace, wants to conclude it without indemnities and annexations, and also longs to achieve from Russia the right of nations to self-determination, thus planning to get Ukraine and the Russian Baltic states under its own control. It became obvious that Russia could lose Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, as well as the territory of Transcaucasia.
The signing of the Brest Peace was only a temporary truce in the hostilities. Lenin, Sverdlov and Trotsky were worried that if the conditions of the German side were met, they would be overthrown for treason, since the bulk of the Bolsheviks did not agree with the policies of Vladimir Ulyanov.
In January 1918, the second stage of negotiations took place in Brest. The delegation was headed by Trotsky without the presence of representatives of the people. The main role in the course of this round belonged to the Ukrainian delegation, whose main demand was the secession of the lands of Bukovina and Galicia from Austria-Hungary. At the same time, the Ukrainian side did not want to know the Russian delegation. Thus, Russia has lost an ally in the person of Ukraine. For Germany, the latter was beneficial by placing on its territory a significant number of warehouses with weapons and military uniforms. The Brest peace, due to the impossibility of reaching common points of contact, ended in nothing and was not signed.
The third stage of negotiations began, during which the representative of the Russian delegation Trotsky L.D. refused to recognize representatives from Ukraine.
On March 3, 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed. The result of this agreement was the rejection of Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Crimea, Ukraine and Transcaucasia from Russia. Among other things, the fleet was disarmed and issued to Germany, an indemnity of six billion marks in gold was imposed, as well as one billion marks to compensate for the damage to German citizens that they suffered during the revolution. Austria-Hungary and Germany received warehouses with weapons and ammunition. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk also imposed on Russia an obligation to withdraw troops from the said territories. Their place was taken by the armed forces of Germany. to the peace treaty stipulated the economic position of Germany in Russia. Thus, German citizens were endowed with the right to engage in entrepreneurial activities in Russia, despite the process of nationalization taking place in it.
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk restored customs tariffs with Germany established in 1904. Due to the non-recognition by the Bolsheviks of the royal, according to this agreement, she was forced to confirm them to such countries as Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey and Germany and begin to make payments on these debts.
The countries that were part of the Entente bloc did not approve of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and in mid-March 1918 announced their non-recognition.
In November 1918, Germany abandoned the terms of the peace agreement. Two days later, it was annulled by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. A little later, German troops began to leave the former
October 26, 1917 II All-Russian Congress of Soviets at the suggestion of V.I. adopted the famous "Decree on Peace", which outlined the program for Russia's withdrawal from the First World War. In particular, this document contained a proposal to all the governments of the belligerent countries to immediately stop hostilities on all fronts and begin negotiations on the conclusion of a general democratic peace without annexations and indemnities and on conditions of complete self-determination of the peoples regarding their future fate.
See also:
In Soviet historiography (A. Chubaryan, K. Gusev, G. Nikolnikov, N. Yakupov, A. Bovin), the “Decree on Peace” was traditionally considered as the first and important stage in the formation and development of the “Leninist peace-loving foreign policy of the Soviet state”, based on the cornerstone principle of the peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems. In reality, Lenin's "Decree on Peace" could in no way lay the foundations for a new foreign policy doctrine of Soviet Russia, because:
He pursued a purely pragmatic goal - the withdrawal of dilapidated and exhausted Russia from the state of war;
The Bolsheviks considered the revolution in Russia not as an end in itself, but as the first and inevitable stage in the beginning of the world proletarian (socialist) revolution.
November 8 People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs L.D. Trotsky sent the text of the "Decree on Peace" to the ambassadors of all the allied powers, inviting the leaders of these states to immediately stop hostilities at the front and sit down at the negotiating table, but this call was completely ignored by the Entente countries. November 9, 1917 to the commander-in-chief N.N. Dukhonin was instructed to immediately turn to the command of the Fourth Bloc countries with a proposal to end hostilities and start peace negotiations with them. General N.N. Dukhonin refused to comply with this order, for which he was immediately declared an "enemy of the people" and removed from his post, which was taken by Ensign N.V. Krylenko. A little later, upon the arrival of N.V. Krylenko to Mogilev, General N.N. Dukhonin was first arrested and then killed at the staff car by drunken sailors, and the new Commander-in-Chief immediately followed the instructions of the Central Committee on this issue.
On November 14, 1917, representatives of the German and Austro-Hungarian military leadership informed the Soviet side of their agreement to stop hostilities on the Eastern Front and begin the process of peace negotiations. On November 20, 1917, the first round of negotiations between Russia and the countries of the Quadruple Bloc began in Brest-Litovsk, at which the leadership of the Soviet delegation represented by A.A. Ioffe (chairman of the mission), L.B. Kameneva, G.Ya. Sokolnikov and L.M. Karakhan immediately announced a declaration of principles, in which they again proposed to conclude a democratic peace treaty without annexations and indemnities. Having received no response to their proposal, the Soviet side refused to conclude a formal truce and took a week-long time-out.
On November 27, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR approved the "Outline of the peace talks program", compiled by V.I. Lenin, I.V. Stalin and L.B. Kamenev, in which the idea of concluding a general democratic peace was reaffirmed, and three days later the negotiation process resumed in Brest-Litovsk. The result of new negotiations was the signing on December 2, 1917 of an armistice agreement for a period of one month, until January 1, 1918.
On December 9, 1917, a new round of negotiations began, in which the head of the Soviet delegation, A.A. Ioffe announced the declaration "On the principles of universal democratic peace", consisting of six main points. In this declaration, based on the main provisions of the Peace Decree and the Outline of the Peace Negotiation Program, the main components of a democratic peace were once again concretized: "refusal of annexations and indemnities" and "complete self-determination of peoples".
On December 12, 1917, the Austrian Foreign Minister O. Chernin announced a response note to the Soviet side, which stated that the countries of the Quadruple Bloc agreed to immediately conclude a peace treaty with all Entente countries without annexations and indemnities. But for the Soviet delegation, this turn of events was so unexpected that its head, A.A. Ioffe suggested a ten-day break. The opposing side rejected this proposal, and three days later the head of the German delegation, Richard von Kuhlmann, who, by the way, while holding the post of State Secretary (Minister) of Foreign Affairs, was personally involved in the financial support of the Bolshevik Pravda, directly laid claim to the possession of all of Poland, Lithuania , Courland, part of Estonia and Livonia, whose peoples "they themselves expressed a desire to come under the protection of Germany." Naturally, the Soviet delegation categorically refused to discuss this proposal, and a break was announced in the work of the peace conference.
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs L.D. Trotsky once again tried to give the peace talks a general character and addressed with a repeated note to the governments of the Entente countries to sit down at the negotiating table, but he did not receive an answer to his message. In this situation, fearing that the negotiations in Brest would take on an openly separate character, at the suggestion of V.I. Lenin, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR decided to move the peace talks to the capital of neutral Sweden, the city of Stockholm. The Austro-German side rejected this trick of the Soviet government, and Brest-Litovsk remained the place to continue negotiations. At the same time, representatives of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, referring to the fact that the Entente countries remained deaf to the proposal to conclude a "general democratic peace", abandoned their own declaration on December 12, which seriously aggravated the negotiation process itself.
On December 27, 1917, the second round of the peace conference in Brest-Litovsk began, at which the Soviet delegation was already headed by People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs L.D. Trotsky. A new round of negotiations, at the suggestion of the oracle of the revolution, began with an empty theoretical dispute about the state and the right of nations to self-determination. This political chatter, which had become rather annoying for the opposing side, was soon stopped, and on January 5, 1918, the delegation of the countries of the Quadruple Union in an ultimatum presented the Soviet side with new conditions for a separate peace - the rejection from Russia not only of the entire Baltic region and Poland, but also of a significant part of Belarus.
On the same day, at the suggestion of the head of the Soviet delegation, a break was announced in the negotiations. L.D. Trotsky, having received a letter from V.I. Lenin and I.V. Stalin, was forced to urgently leave for Petrograd, where he had to give his explanations about his new position regarding the further conduct of negotiations, which he outlined in a letter addressed to V.I. Lenin on January 2, 1918. The essence of the new position of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs was extremely simple: “We stop the war, we demobilize the army, but we don’t sign peace.” In Soviet historical science, the position of L.D. Trotsky has always been interpreted in derogatory tones and expressions as the position of a "political prostitute" and a traitor to the interests of the working class and the working peasantry. In reality, this position, which was initially supported by V.I. Lenin, was absolutely logical and extremely pragmatic:
1) Since the Russian army cannot, and most importantly, does not want to fight, it is necessary to completely disband the old imperial army, and stop fighting at the front.
2) Since the opposing side is categorically in favor of a separate peace treaty, which threatens the Bolsheviks with a loss of reputation in the eyes of the world proletariat, a separate treaty with the enemy should by no means be concluded.
3) It is necessary to drag out the negotiating process as long as possible, in the hope that in Germany and other European powers the fire of the world proletarian revolution will flare up in the near future, which will put everything in its place.
4) Refusal to sign a separate treaty with the countries of the Quadruple Alliance will not formally give the Entente countries a reason to launch military intervention against Soviet Russia, which has violated its allied duty.
5) Finally, the refusal to sign a peace treaty will significantly smooth out the contradictions that have already arisen both within the ruling Bolshevik party and in relations between the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs.
By mid-January 1918, the latter circumstance began to acquire paramount importance. At this time, the “left communists” headed by N.I. Bukharin, F.E. Dzerzhinsky, M.S. Uritsky, K.B. Radek and A.M. Kollontai. This rather noisy and influential faction of the Bolsheviks, which was supported by a number of leaders of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party (B.D. Kamkov, P.P. Proshyan), categorically opposed any agreements with the enemy and declared that only a “revolutionary war” with the German imperialism will save the Bolsheviks from the universal disgrace of the accomplices of world capital and create the necessary conditions for kindling the fire of the world proletarian revolution. Moreover, at this time B.D. Kamkov and P.P. Proshyan turned to K.B. Radek, N.I. Bukharin and G.L. Pyatakov with a proposal to arrest the entire Council of People's Commissars headed by V.I. Lenin and form a new government consisting of Left Social Revolutionaries and Left Communists, which could be headed by Georgy Leonidovich Pyatakov, but this proposal was rejected by them.
In the meantime, another principled approach to solving this problem was outlined in the party leadership, which was expressed by V.I. Lenin. The essence of his new position, which he reached at the end of December 1917, was also extremely simple: to conclude a separate peace with Germany and its allies at any cost.
In historical science, the question of the motives that prompted the leader of the revolution to such a political conclusion, which ran counter to all the postulates of orthodox Marxism, has long been discussed.
Soviet historians (A. Chubaryan, K. Gusev, A. Bovin) claimed that V.I. Lenin came to this conviction under the pressure of harsh objective circumstances, namely the complete disintegration of the old Russian army and the uncertainty about the timing of the proletarian revolution in Europe, primarily in Germany itself.
Their opponents, mainly from the liberal camp (D. Volkogonov, Yu. Felshtinsky, O. Budnitsky), are sure that, while advocating extremely harshly for the conclusion of a separate peace with Germany, V.I. Lenin only fulfilled his obligations to his German sponsors, who generously forked out for the October Revolution.
On January 8, 1918, after discussing the new Leninist theses at an enlarged meeting of the Central Committee, an open vote was held, which clearly showed the alignment of forces in the top party leadership: the position of N.I. Bukharin was supported by 32 participants in this meeting, for L.D. Trotsky was voted by 16 participants, and the position of V.I. Lenin was supported by only 15 members of the Central Committee. On January 11, 1918, the discussion of this issue was submitted to the Plenum of the Central Committee, where the position of L.D. was supported by a small majority. Trotsky. This situation forced V.I. Lenin to make partial adjustments to his previous position: no longer insisting on the immediate conclusion of peace, he proposed to delay the process of negotiations with the Germans in every possible way. The next day, the Trotskyist slogan "no war, no peace" was approved by a majority vote at a joint meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) and the PLSR, which was immediately formalized as a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR. Thus, all supporters of peace in both ruling parties, in particular members of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) V.I. Lenin, G.E. Zinoviev, I.V. Stalin, Ya.M. Sverdlov, G.Ya. Sokolnikov, I.T. Smilga, A.F. Sergeev, M.K. Muranov and E.D. Stasov, and members of the Central Committee of the PLSR M.A. Spiridonova, A.L. Kolegaev, V.E. Trutovsky, B.F. Malkin and A.A. Bidenko again remained in the minority. On January 14, 1918, the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets approved a resolution reflecting the position of L.D. Trotsky, and on the same day the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs left for Brest-Litovsk, where on January 17 the third round of peace negotiations began.
Meanwhile, in Brest itself, negotiations were in full swing between the Austro-German representatives and the leadership of the Ukrainian People's Rada (N.A. Lyublinsky), whose government the Bolsheviks recognized back in December 1917. On January 27, 1918, immediately after the signing of a separate treaty with the government of the Ukrainian People's We are glad that the delegation of the Quadruple Alliance in an ultimatum demanded that the Soviet side immediately respond to its terms of the peace treaty.
The next day, L.D. Trotsky, on behalf of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, announced a declaration in which:
1) it was announced the termination of the state of war between Russia and the countries of the Quadruple Bloc - Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria, as well as the complete demobilization of the old Russian army;
In Soviet historiography (A. Chubaryan, K. Gusev), this ultimatum of the head of the Soviet delegation was always regarded as another act of vile betrayal on the part of the “Jewish Trotsky”, who violated the oral agreement with V.I. Lenin that after the new "German ultimatum we sign a peace treaty."
Modern Russian historians, including outspoken apologists L.D. Trotsky (A. Pantsov), they say that the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs acted in strict accordance with the decision of the Central Committee of both ruling parties and the resolution of the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets, and their oral agreement with V.I. Lenin clearly contradicted them.
February 14, 1918 declaration by L.D. Trotsky received official support at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and its chairman Ya.M. Sverdlov, and a day later the German command in the person of Leopold of Bavaria and Max Hoffmann announced the end of the truce and the resumption of hostilities along the entire front from noon on February 18. In this situation, on the evening of February 17, 1918, an emergency meeting of the Central Committee was convened, at which six of the eleven members of the highest party Areopagus, namely L.D. Trotsky, N.I. Bukharin, M.S. Uritsky, G.I. Lomov, N.N. Krestinsky, A.A. Ioffe, spoke out against the resumption of the negotiation process in Brest.
The Germans launched an offensive at the front and by the end of February 19 occupied Polotsk and Dvinsk. In this critical situation, at a new meeting of the Central Committee, with seven votes in favor, it was decided to immediately resume the peace process. In this situation, L.D. Trotsky announced his resignation from the post of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, and the leader of the left communists N.I. Bukharin - about his withdrawal from the Central Committee and the editorial board of Pravda.
On February 23, 1918, the Soviet government was presented with new conditions for a separate peace treaty and a very strict framework for signing and ratifying it. In particular, the German side demanded that all of Poland, Lithuania, Courland, Estonia and part of Belarus be torn away from Russia, as well as the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from the territory of Finland and Ukraine, and the signing of a similar peace treaty with the government of the Central Rada.
On the same day, a new meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) was convened, at which the votes on the German ultimatum were distributed as follows: seven members of the Central Committee voted “for” its adoption - V.I. Lenin, I.V. Stalin, G.E. Zinoviev, Ya.M. Sverdlov, G.Ya. Sokolnikov, I.T. Smilga and E.D. Stasova, "against" - four members of the highest party Areopagus - N.I. Bukharin, A.S. Bubnov, G.I. Lomov and M.S. Uritsky, and "abstained" - also four members of the Central Committee - L.D. Trotsky, F.E. Dzerzhinsky, A.A. Ioffe and N.N. Krestinsky. Thus, at the most critical moment, when the issue of retaining one's own power was being decided, the majority of the members of the Central Committee "trembled" and voted for the conclusion of an "obscene" peace with the Germans.
On February 24, at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, after an extremely tense discussion, the Bolshevik resolution on the adoption of new terms of the peace treaty was approved by a small majority. And late in the evening of the same day, a new Soviet delegation consisting of G.Ya. left for Brest-Litovsk to sign a peace treaty with the countries of the Quadruple Bloc. Sokolnikova, L.M. Karakhan, G.V. Chicherin and G.I. Petrovsky.
On March 3, 1918, the leaders of both delegations signed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, under the terms of which:
A vast territory of more than 1 million square meters was torn away from Soviet Russia. kilometers, on which more than 56 million people lived - the entire territory of Poland, the Baltic states, Ukraine, part of Belarus and Turkish Armenia;
Soviet Russia had to pay the countries of the Quadruple Alliance a huge military indemnity in the amount of six billion gold marks and agree to the complete transfer of all industrial enterprises and mines, where before the war 90% of all coal was mined and more than 70% of iron and steel were smelted.
According to V.I. Lenin, in such humiliating and "obscene" conditions of the Brest peace treaty, which the Soviet government was forced to sign, were to blame, first of all, "our unfortunate leftists Bukharin, Lomov, Uritsky and Co." Moreover, a number of Soviet and Russian historians (Yu. Emelyanov) argue that not a single theoretical or political mistake of N.I. Bukharin did not have such catastrophic consequences for our country and tens of millions of its citizens.
On March 8, 1918, at the emergency VII Congress of the RCP (b), the terms of the Brest Peace Treaty after a sharp controversy between V.I. Lenin and N.I. Bukharin were passed by a significant majority, since the majority of his delegates agreed with Lenin's argument that the international world revolution was for the time being just a beautiful fairy tale and nothing more. On March 15, 1918, after no less heated and heated discussion at the IV Extraordinary Congress of Soviets, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was ratified by roll call and entered into force.
In historical science, there are still diametrically opposed assessments of the Brest peace treaty, which largely depend on the political and ideological views of their authors. In particular, V.I. Lenin, who did not have any sympathy for the patriarchal thousand-year-old Russia, directly called the Brest Treaty "Tilsit" and "obscene" peace, but vital to the salvation of the power of the Bolsheviks. The same assessments were shared by Soviet historians (A. Chubaryan, A. Bovin, Yu. Emelyanov), who were forced to talk about the brilliant insight and political wisdom of the leader, who foresaw the imminent military defeat of Germany and the annulment of this treaty. In addition, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was traditionally regarded as the first victory of the young Soviet diplomacy, which laid the foundations for the peace-loving foreign policy of the USSR.
In modern science, the assessments of the Brest Treaty have changed significantly.
Historians of the liberal persuasion (A. Pantsov, Yu. Felshtinsky) believe that this agreement was not a victory, but the first major defeat of the Bolshevik course to prepare for the world proletarian revolution. At the same time, this peace became a kind of maneuver in the field of tactics and a short-term retreat of the Bolsheviks on the tortuous and difficult path of struggle for the victory of the world socialist revolution.
Historians of a patriotic persuasion (N. Narochnitskaya) are convinced that for V. Lenin and other leaders of Bolshevism, the Russian proletarian revolution was a kind of “bunch of brushwood” capable of igniting the fire of the world proletarian revolution. Therefore, the Brest Treaty was a direct betrayal of the national interests of Russia, which marked the beginning of its collapse and the most difficult Civil War.
2. "Left SR rebellion" and its political consequences
After the ratification of the Brest peace treaty, the "left communists" did not give up hope for its denunciation. In particular, in May 1918, at the Moscow Conference of the RCP(b), N.I. Bukharin, N.V. Osinsky and D.B. Ryazanov (Goldenbach) again called for the denunciation of the Brest Treaty, but the majority of the delegates of this party forum did not support their proposal.
Another attempt to denounce the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was the "Left SR rebellion", which took place in Moscow on July 6-7, 1918. The events associated with this rebellion were as follows: The Cheka, under a plausible pretext, entered the German embassy and, having killed the German ambassador, Count V. Mirbach, hid in the headquarters of the Cheka troops, which was headed by their fellow party member Dmitry Popov.
After the accomplishment of this terrorist act, V.I. Lenin and Ya.M. Sverdlov went to the German embassy, and the chairman of the Cheka, F.E. Dzerzhinsky went to the headquarters of the Cheka troops to arrest Ya. G. Blyumkin and N.A. Andreeva. Upon arrival at the place of F.E. Dzerzhinsky was taken under arrest, and the headquarters of the Cheka troops, on the orders of D.I. Popov was turned into an impregnable fortress, where more than 600 well-armed Chekists dug in.
Upon learning of the arrest of F.E. Dzerzhinsky, V.I. Lenin instructed to arrest the entire faction of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries who took part in the work of the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets, and to take their leader Maria Spiridonova as a hostage in exchange for saving the life of F.E. Dzerzhinsky. At the same time, the commander of the division of the Latvian riflemen I.I. Vatsetis was ordered to storm the mansion of the Cheka troops and suppress the "Left SR rebellion". On the night of July 7, 1918, a division of Latvian riflemen, with the support of field artillery, launched an assault on the headquarters of the Cheka troops, which ended in the complete defeat of the rebels and the release of F.E. Dzerzhinsky.
The trial of the rebels was quick and just: several hundred people, including Ya.G. Blyumkin and N.A. Andreev, were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, and the immediate inspirer and leader of this rebellion, Deputy Chairman of the Cheka V.A. Aleksandrovich was shot. The same result ended with the new “Left SR rebellion”, raised in Simbirsk by the commander of the Eastern Front, the Left SR M.A. Muravyov, who was shot dead on July 10, 1918 upon arrival for negotiations in the building of the provincial executive committee.
In Soviet and Russian historical science (K. Gusev, A. Velidov, A. Kiselev), it was traditionally asserted that the July events in Moscow and Simbirsk were deliberately organized by the leadership of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party (M.A. Spiridonova, P.P. Proshyan), who not only wanted to denounce the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, but also, having provoked a government crisis, to remove from power the Bolshevik Party, which, planting kombeds, began to pursue a disastrous economic course in the countryside.
In foreign historiography (Yu. Felshtinsky), there is a rather exotic version, which says that the so-called “Left SR rebellion” was organized by “left communists”, in particular, the head of the Cheka, F.E. Dzerzhinsky, who also sought to denounce the "obscene" Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and kindle the fire of the world proletarian revolution.
In our opinion, there are much more white spots and unsolved mysteries in the history of this rebellion than it seems at first glance, since researchers have not been able to properly answer even two completely obvious questions:
1) why exactly the chairman of the Cheka F.E. Dzerzhinsky personally went to the headquarters of the Cheka troops to arrest the killers of the German ambassador;
2) if the decision to kill the German ambassador was sanctioned by the Central Committee of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party, then why is its entire faction, including M.A. Spiridonov, calmly waited for her isolation and arrest on the sidelines of the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
Speaking essentially, it should be recognized that the July events in Moscow and Simbirsk drew a line under the period of development of Soviet statehood on a two-party basis and became the starting point for the formation of a one-party Bolshevik system in the country. During this period, the activities of all Socialist-Revolutionary, Menshevik and anarchist groups and parties, the existence of which still created the illusion of proletarian-peasant democracy in the country, were banned.
The Brest Treaty itself was denounced by the Soviet government on November 13, 1918, that is, exactly one day after the surrender of Germany and its military allies to the Entente countries, which put a long-awaited end to the First World War.
The direct result of the Brest Peace and the suppression of the "Left SR rebellion" was the adoption of the first Constitution of the RSFSR. According to most authors (O. Chistyakov, S. Leonov, I. Isaev), for the first time the issue of creating the first Soviet Constitution was discussed at a meeting of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on March 30, 1918. On April 1, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee formed a constitutional commission, in which included representatives of his three party factions (Bolsheviks, Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, Maximalist Socialist-Revolutionaries) and representatives of the six leading people's commissariats - for military and naval affairs, for nationalities, internal affairs, justice, finance and the Supreme Economic Council. Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Ya.M. Sverdlov.
During the work on the draft Constitution, which lasted more than three months, a number of fundamental disagreements arose on the following issues:
1) the federal structure of the state;
2) the system of local Soviet authorities;
3) the social and economic foundations of Soviet power, etc.
In particular, representatives of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (V.A. Algasov, A.A. Schreider) and Maximalist Socialist-Revolutionaries (A.I. Berdnikov) very persistently suggested:
1) to base the Soviet federation on the administrative-territorial principle of state structure with the provision of the broadest possible rights to all subjects of the federation to manage their own territories;
2) liquidate the lower levels of the Soviet state system and replace them with traditional rural assemblies, which, having lost their political functions, turned into municipal authorities;
3) carry out total socialization of property and tighten the principles of universal labor service, etc.
During a heated and lengthy debate, in which many prominent Bolsheviks took part, including V.I. Lenin, Ya.M. Sverdlov, I.V. Stalin, N.I. Bukharin, L.M. Reisner, M.F. Latsis and M.N. Pokrovsky, these proposals were rejected. The final draft of the Soviet Constitution was approved by a special commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), headed by V.I. Lenin.
On July 4, 1918, this project was submitted for consideration by the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets, and already on July 10, the congress delegates approved the first Constitution of the RSFSR and elected a new composition of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, consisting entirely of Bolsheviks.
The main provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic were enshrined in six separate sections:
2) general provisions of the Constitution of the RSFSR;
3) the construction of Soviet power;
4) active and passive suffrage;
5) budget law;
6) about the emblem and flag of the RSFSR.
The Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, which was fully included in the Constitution of the RSFSR, determined the political and social basis of the new Soviet statehood - the power of the Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies and "the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the poorest peasantry in order to completely suppress the bourgeoisie, abolish the exploitation of man by man and establish socialism in the country."
The state structure of the RSFSR was based on the principles of a national federation, the subjects of which were declared national republics, as well as various regional unions, consisting of several national regions. The All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', Peasants' and Cossacks' Deputies became the supreme body of state power in the country, the exclusive competence of which included all issues of state building: approval and amendment of the Constitution of the RSFSR; declaration of war and conclusion of peace; ratification of peace treaties, general management of foreign and domestic policy of the state; establishment of national taxes, duties and fees; the basics of the organization of the armed forces, law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and legal proceedings; federal law, etc.
For everyday and operational work, the congress elected from among its members the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK RSFSR), which formed the Council of People's Commissars (SNK RSFSR), which consisted of people's commissars who headed the sectoral people's commissariats (People's Commissariats). And the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, and the Council of People's Commissars equally had the right to issue legislative acts, which was a direct consequence of the complete denial by the Bolsheviks of the well-known bourgeois principle of separation of powers. Regional, provincial, district and volost congresses of Soviets, as well as city and rural Soviets, which formed their own executive committees (executive committees), became local government bodies.
It should be emphasized that the well-known principle of “democratic centralism” was put at the basis of the organization of Soviet power at all levels, according to which the lower bodies of Soviet power were strictly subordinated to the higher ones, which were charged with the obligation to implement all decisions of the higher Soviets that did not violate their competence.
The Constitution of the RSFSR legislated not only a new type of Soviet statehood, but also a new type of Soviet democracy, since it openly proclaimed the class principle of democratic rights and freedoms. In particular, all "socially alien class elements" were deprived of the right to vote, and the representation from the social groups of working people who were endowed with the right to vote was far from equal. For example, in elections to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, city Soviets had a fivefold advantage over provincial Congresses of Soviets, etc.
In addition, the Soviet electoral system retained the principle of indirect elections that existed in Tsarist Russia. Only elections to grassroots city and rural Soviets were direct, and deputies of all subsequent levels were elected at volost, district, provincial and regional congresses of Soviets.
After the transfer of power into the hands of the Bolsheviks on October 25, 1917, a truce was established in the Russian-German fleet. By January 1918, not a single soldier remained in some sectors of the front. The truce was officially signed only on December 2. Leaving the front, many soldiers took away their weapons or sold them to the enemy.
Negotiations began on December 9, 1917 in Brest-Litovsk, which was the headquarters of the German command. But, Germany made demands that contradicted the previously proclaimed slogan "A world without annexations and indemnities." Trotsky, who led the Russian delegation, was able to find a way out of the situation. His speech at the talks came down to the following formula: "Don't sign peace, don't wage war, disband the army." This shocked German diplomats. But it did not deter the enemy troops from decisive action. The offensive of the Austro-Hungarian troops along the entire front continued on February 18. And the only thing that hindered the advance of the troops was the bad Russian roads.
The new Russian government agreed to accept the conditions of the Brest Peace on February 19. The conclusion of the Brest peace was entrusted to G. Skolnikov. However, now the terms of the peace treaty turned out to be more difficult. In addition to the loss of vast territories, Russia was also obliged to pay an indemnity. The signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk took place on March 3 without discussion of terms. Russia lost: Ukraine, the Baltic States, Poland, part of Belarus and 90 tons of gold. The Soviet government moved from Petrograd to Moscow on March 11, fearing the capture of the city by the Germans, despite the peace treaty already concluded.
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was valid until November, after the revolution in Germany it was annulled by the Russian side. But, the consequences of the Brest peace had time to affect. This peace treaty became one of the important factors in the beginning of the civil war in Russia. Later, in 1922, relations between Russia and Germany were settled by the Rapallo Treaty, according to which the parties renounced their territorial claims.
Civil War and intervention (briefly)
The civil war began in October 1917 and ended with the defeat of the White Army in the Far East in the autumn of 1922. During this time, various social classes and groups on the territory of Russia resolved the contradictions that arose between them by armed methods.
The main reasons for the start of the civil war include: the discrepancy between the goals of transforming society and the methods for achieving them, the refusal to create a coalition government, the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, the nationalization of land and industry, the elimination of commodity-money relations, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the creation of a one-party system, the danger of the spread of revolution on other countries, the economic losses of the Western powers during the regime change in Russia.
In the spring of 1918 British, American and French troops landed in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. The Japanese invaded the Far East, the British and Americans landed in Vladivostok - intervention began.
On May 25, there was an uprising of the 45,000th Czechoslovak corps, which was transferred to Vladivostok for further shipment to France. A well-armed and well-equipped corps stretched from the Volga to the Urals. In the conditions of the decayed Russian army, he became the only real force at that time. Supported by the Social Revolutionaries and the White Guards, the corps put forward demands for the overthrow of the Bolsheviks and the convening of the Constituent Assembly.
In the South, the Volunteer Army of General A.I. Denikin was formed, which defeated the Soviets in the North Caucasus. The troops of P.N. Krasnov approached Tsaritsyn, in the Urals, the Cossacks of General A.A. Dutov captured Orenburg. In November-December 1918, an English landing landed in Batumi and Novorossiysk, the French occupied Odessa. In these critical conditions, the Bolsheviks managed to create a combat-ready army by mobilizing people and resources and attracting military specialists from the tsarist army.
By the autumn of 1918, the Red Army had liberated the cities of Samara, Simbirsk, Kazan, and Tsaritsyn.
The revolution in Germany had a significant impact on the course of the civil war. Recognizing its defeat in the First World War, Germany agreed to annul the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and withdrew its troops from the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states.
The Entente began to withdraw its troops, providing only material assistance to the Whites.
By April 1919, the Red Army managed to stop the troops of General A.V. Kolchak. Driven into the depths of Siberia, they were defeated by the beginning of 1920.
In the summer of 1919, General Denikin, having captured Ukraine, moved towards Moscow and approached Tula. The troops of the first cavalry army under the command of M.V. Frunze and the Latvian riflemen concentrated on the Southern Front. In the spring of 1920, near Novorossiysk, the "Reds" defeated the Whites.
In the north of the country, the troops of General N.N. Yudenich fought against the Soviets. In the spring and autumn of 1919 they made two unsuccessful attempts to capture Petrograd.
In April 1920, the conflict between Soviet Russia and Poland began. In May 1920, the Poles captured Kyiv. The troops of the Western and Southwestern fronts launched an offensive, but failed to achieve a final victory.
Realizing the impossibility of continuing the war, in March 1921 the parties signed a peace treaty.
The war ended with the defeat of General P.N. Wrangel, who led the remnants of Denikin's troops in the Crimea. In 1920, the Far Eastern Republic was formed, by 1922 it was finally liberated from the Japanese.
Reasons for victory Bolsheviks: support for the national outskirts and Russian peasants deceived by the Bolshevik slogan "Land to the peasants", the creation of a combat-ready army, the absence of a common command among the whites, support for Soviet Russia from the labor movements and communist parties of other countries.
Since Russia on the one hand and Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey on the other agreed to end the state of war and end the peace negotiations as soon as possible, they were appointed plenipotentiaries:
For the Russian Federative Soviet Republic:
Grigory Yakovlevich Sokolnikov, member of the Center. Performed Committee Owls. Worker, Soldier and Peasants. deputies,
Lev Mikhailovich Karakhan, member of the Center. Performed Committee of Soviets Workers., Sold. 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 Office of Foreign Affairs, Imperial Actual 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 House and Foreign Affairs, His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty Privy Councilor Ottokar Count Czernin von i zu-Khudenitz, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty Privy Councilor Mr. Caietan Merey von Kapos Mere, General of the Infantry His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty Privy Councilor Maximilian Cicerich 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 Commissioner to His Majesty the German Emperor and Aide-de-camp to His Majesty the King of Bolgars, Petr Ganchev, Royal Bulgarian First Secretary of the Mission, Dr. Teodor Anastasov,
From the Imperial Ottoman Government:
His Highness Ibrahim Hakki Pasha, Former Grand Vizier, Member of the Ottoman Senate, Plenipotentiary Ambassador of His Majesty the Sultan in Berlin, His Excellency General of Cavalry, Adjutant General of His Majesty the Sultan and Military Commissioner of His Majesty the Sultan to His Majesty the German Emperor, Zeki Pasha.
The plenipotentiaries met at Brest-Litovsk for peace talks, and after presenting their credentials, found to be in correct and proper form, came to an agreement on the following decrees.
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 continue to live among themselves in peace and friendship.
Article IIThe contracting parties will refrain from any agitation or propaganda against the government or state and military establishments of the other side. Since this obligation concerns Russia, it also extends to the areas occupied by the powers of the quadruple alliance.
Article III.The regions lying to the west of the line established by the contracting parties and formerly belonging to Russia will no longer be under her supreme authority; the established line is indicated on the attached map (Annex I), which is an essential part of this peace treaty. The exact definition of this line will be worked out by the Russian-German commission.
For the aforementioned regions, their former belonging to Russia will not entail any obligations in relation to 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 by demolition with their population.
Article IVGermany is ready, as soon as a general peace is concluded and a completely Russian demobilization is carried out, to clear the territory lying to the east of that indicated in paragraph 1 of Art. III line, insofar as Article VI does not provide otherwise. Russia will do everything in its power to ensure the speedy clearance of the Eastern Anatolia provinces and their orderly return to Turkey.
The districts of Ardagan, 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 warships to Russian ports and leave there until the conclusion of a general peace, or immediately disarm. The military courts of states that are still at war with the powers of the quadruple alliance, since these ships are in the sphere of Russian power, are equated with Russian military courts.
The restricted zone in the Arctic Ocean remains in force until the conclusion of a universal peace. In the Baltic Sea and in the parts of the Black Sea subject to Russia, the removal of minefields must begin immediately. Merchant shipping in these maritime regions is free and immediately resumed. In order to work out more precise regulations, in particular for the publication to the public of safe routes for merchant ships, mixed commissions will be created. Navigation routes must be kept clear of floating mines at all times.
Article VIRussia undertakes to immediately conclude 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 the Russian Red Guard. Russia ceases all agitation or propaganda against the government or public institutions of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
Estonia and Livonia are also immediately cleared of Russian troops and the Russian Red Guard. The eastern border of Estonia runs generally along the Narva River. The eastern border of Livonia generally runs through Lake Peipus and Lake Pskov to its southwestern corner, then through Lake Luban in the direction of Livenhof on the Western Dvina. Estland and Livonia will be occupied by the German police authorities until public security is ensured there by the country's own institutions and until state order is established there. Russia will immediately release all arrested or taken away inhabitants of Estonia and Livonia and ensure the safe return of all taken away Estonians and Livonians.
Finland and the Åland Islands will also be immediately cleared of Russian troops and the Russian Red Guard, and Finnish ports of the Russian fleet and Russian naval forces. As long as the ice makes it impossible to transfer warships to Russian ports, only insignificant crews should be left on them. Russia stops all agitation or propaganda against the Finnish government or public institutions.
The fortifications erected on the Åland Islands must be demolished as soon as possible. With regard to the prohibition to continue to erect fortifications on these islands, as well as their general provisions regarding military and navigation technology, a special agreement should be concluded regarding them between Germany, Finland, Russia and Sweden; The parties agree that, at the request of Germany, other states adjacent to the Baltic Sea may also be involved in this agreement.
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.The prisoners of war of 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 renounce the reimbursement of their military expenses, i.e., state expenses for the conduct of the war, as well as compensation for military losses, i.e., those losses that were inflicted on 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 XIEconomic relations between Russia and the powers of the quadruple alliance are determined by the decrees contained in appendices 2-5, with the 2nd appendix defining relations between Russia and Germany, the 3rd appendix - between Russia and Austria-Hungary, the 4th appendix - 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 question of amnesty, as well as the question of the attitude towards merchant ships that have fallen into the power of the enemy, are the subject of separate agreements with Russia, which form an essential part of this peace treaty, and, as far as possible, take effect simultaneously with it.
Article XIII.When interpreting this agreement, 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.The present peace treaty will be ratified. The exchange of instruments of ratification should take place as soon as possible in Berlin. The Russian government assumes the obligation to exchange instruments of ratification at the request of one of the powers of the quadruple alliance within a two-week period.
A peace treaty enters into force from the moment of its ratification, unless otherwise follows from its articles, annexes to it or supplementary treaties.
In witness thereof, the Commissioners have personally signed this treaty.
Authentic in five copies.
(Signatures).
Armistice negotiations with Germany began in Brest-Litovsk on November 20 (December 3), 1917. On the same day, N.V. The delegation set out its terms:
the truce is concluded for 6 months;
hostilities are suspended on all fronts;
German troops are being withdrawn from Riga and the Moonsund Islands;
any transfer of German troops to the Western Front is prohibited.
As a result of the negotiations, an interim agreement was reached:
troops remain in their positions;
all transfers of troops are stopped, except for those that have already begun.
On December 2 (15), 1917, a new stage of negotiations ended with the conclusion of a truce for 28 days, while, in the event of a break, the parties were obliged to warn the enemy 7 days in advance; an agreement was also reached that new transfers of troops to the Western Front would not be allowed.
First stage
Peace talks began on December 9 (22), 1917. The delegations of the states of the Quadruple Alliance were headed by: from Germany, State Secretary of the Foreign Office R. von Kühlmann; from Austria-Hungary - Minister of Foreign Affairs Count O. Chernin; from Bulgaria - Popov; from Turkey - Talaat-bey.
The Soviet delegation proposed to adopt the following program as the basis for negotiations:
1) No forced annexation of territories captured during the war is allowed; the troops occupying these territories are withdrawn as soon as possible.
2) The full political independence of the peoples who were deprived of this independence during the war is being restored.
3) National groups that did not have political independence before the war are guaranteed the opportunity to freely decide the question of belonging to any state or their state independence through a free referendum.
4) Cultural-national and, under certain conditions, administrative autonomy of national minorities is ensured.
5) Refusal of contributions.
6) Solution of colonial issues on the basis of the above principles.
7) Prevention of indirect restrictions on the freedom of weaker nations by stronger nations.
After a three-day discussion by the countries of the German bloc of Soviet proposals on the evening of December 12 (25), 1917, R. von Kuhlmann made a statement that Germany and its allies accept these proposals. At the same time, a reservation was made that nullified Germany's consent to peace without annexations and indemnities: “It is necessary, however, to indicate with complete clarity that the proposals of the Russian delegation could be implemented only if all the powers involved in the war , without exception and without reservation, within a certain period of time, pledged to strictly observe the conditions common to all peoples.
Noting that the German bloc had joined the Soviet formula of peace "without annexations and indemnities," the Soviet delegation proposed a ten-day break, during which one could try to bring the Entente countries to the negotiating table.
During a break in the work of the conference, the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs again appealed to the Entente governments with an invitation to take part in peace negotiations and again received no answer.
Second phase
At the second stage of the negotiations, the Soviet side was represented by L. D. Trotsky, A. A. Ioffe, L. M. Karakhan, K. B. Radek, M. N. Pokrovsky, A. A. Bitsenko, V. A. Karelin, E G. Medvedev, V. M. Shakhrai, St. Bobinsky, V. Mitskevich-Kapsukas, V. Terian, V. M. Altfater, A. A. Samoilo, V. V. Lipsky.
Opening the conference, R. von Kühlmann stated that since during the break in the peace negotiations no application was received from any of the main participants in the war to join them, the delegations of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance renounce their previously expressed intention to join the Soviet peace formula " without annexations and indemnities. Both von Kuhlmann and the head of the Austro-Hungarian delegation, Czernin, spoke out against moving the talks to Stockholm. In addition, since Russia's allies did not respond to the proposal to take part in the negotiations, now, in the opinion of the German bloc, it will not be about a general peace, but about a separate peace between Russia and the powers of the Quadruple Alliance.
On December 28, 1917 (January 10, 1918), von Kühlmann addressed Leon Trotsky, who led the Soviet delegation at the second stage of negotiations, with the question of whether the Ukrainian delegation should be considered part of the Russian delegation or whether it represented an independent state. Trotsky actually went along with the German bloc, recognizing the Ukrainian delegation as independent, which made it possible for Germany and Austria-Hungary to continue contacts with Ukraine, while negotiations with Russia were marking time.
On January 30, 1918, negotiations in Brest resumed. When Trotsky, the head of the delegation, left for Brest, there was a personal agreement between him and Lenin: to drag out negotiations until Germany presented an ultimatum, and then immediately sign peace. The atmosphere during the negotiations was very difficult. On February 9-10, the German side negotiated in an ultimatum tone. However, no official ultimatum was issued. On the evening of February 10, Trotsky, on behalf of the Soviet delegation, announced a declaration on withdrawing from the war and refusing to sign the annexation treaty. The lull at the front was short-lived. February 16 Germany announced the start of hostilities. On February 19, the Germans occupied Dvinsk and Polotsk and moved in the direction of Petrograd. A few detachments of the young Red Army fought heroically, but retreated under the onslaught of the 500,000-strong German army. Pskov and Narva were abandoned. The enemy came close to Petrograd, advancing on Minsk and Kyiv. On February 23, a new German ultimatum was delivered to Petrograd, containing even more stringent territorial, economic and military-political conditions, on which the Germans agreed to sign a peace treaty. Not only Poland, Lithuania, Courland and part of Belarus were torn away from Russia, but also Estonia and Livonia. Russia had to immediately withdraw its troops from the territory of Ukraine and Finland. In total, the country of the Soviets lost about 1 million square meters. km (including Ukraine). 48 hours were given to accept the ultimatum.
On February 3, a meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b) was held. Lenin demanded the immediate signing of the German peace terms, stating that otherwise he would resign. As a result, Lenin's proposal was accepted (7 in favor, 4 against, 4 abstained). On February 24, the German peace conditions were accepted by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Council of People's Commissars. On March 3, 1918, a peace treaty was signed.
Terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Consisted of 14 articles, various applications, 2 final protocols and 4 according to the terms of the Brest Peace:
The Vistula provinces, Ukraine, provinces with a predominantly Belarusian population, Estland, Courland and Livonia provinces, the Grand Duchy of Finland were torn away from Russia. In the Caucasus: Kars region and Batumi region
The Soviet government ended the war with the Ukrainian Central Council (Rada) of the Ukrainian People's Republic and made peace with it.
The army and navy were demobilized.
The Baltic Fleet was withdrawn from its bases in Finland and the Baltic.
The Black Sea Fleet with all the infrastructure was transferred to the Central Powers. Additional agreements (between Russia and each of the states of the Quadruple Union).
Russia paid 6 billion marks in reparations, plus the payment of losses incurred by Germany during the Russian revolution - 500 million gold rubles.
The Soviet government pledged to stop revolutionary propaganda in the Central Powers and allied states formed on the territory of the Russian Empire.
The victory of the Entente in World War I and the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne on November 11, 1918, according to which all agreements previously concluded with Germany were declared invalid, allowed Soviet Russia to annul the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on November 13, 1918 and return most of the territories. German troops left the territory of Ukraine, the Baltic States, Belarus.
Effects
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, as a result of which huge territories were torn away from Russia, which consolidated the loss of a significant part of the country's agricultural and industrial base, aroused opposition to the Bolsheviks from almost all political forces, both from the right and from the left. The treaty for the betrayal of the national interests of Russia almost immediately received the name "obscene peace." The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who were in alliance with the Bolsheviks and were part of the "Red" government, as well as the faction of "Left Communists" within the RCP (b) that had formed, spoke of the "betrayal of the world revolution", since the conclusion of peace on the Eastern Front objectively strengthened the conservative Kaiser regime in Germany .
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk not only allowed the Central Powers, who were on the verge of defeat in 1917, to continue the war, but also gave them a chance to win, allowing them to concentrate all their forces against the Entente troops in France and Italy, and the liquidation of the Caucasian Front unleashed Turkey’s hands to act against the British on the Middle East and Mesopotamia.
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk served as a catalyst for the formation of a “democratic counter-revolution”, expressed in the proclamation of the Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik governments in Siberia and the Volga region, and the uprising of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries in July 1918 in Moscow. The suppression of these protests, in turn, led to the formation of a one-party Bolshevik dictatorship and a full-scale civil war.
