Treaty of Brest- Litovsk- Unit 3

Question 1

When was the treaty?

Answer 1

1918.

Question 2

What was the difference between Lenin and Trotsky?

Answer 2

• Both wanted ending to war, but could not decide how.
• Lenin wanted immediate peace.
• Trotsky wanted to delay, hoped German armies would collapse so a rev. could follow in Germany.

Question 3

When was it signed?

Answer 3

3rd March 1918.

Question 4

What are the terms of the treaty?

Answer 4

Peace Decree:
- 1/3 of European Russian territory, Baltic-Black Sea (including Ukraine, Russia’s largest grain source) given to Germany or its allies.
- Land lost population of 45 million.
- Russia had to pay 3 billion roubles in war reparations.

Question 5

What was Lenin’s justification for the signing?

Answer 5

• Only realistic policy.
• Russians willing to continue fighting are ‘romanticists’.
• Russia would eventually be at a point it could regain the power.
• Issue debated heavily in Central Committee, only gained majority by one.

Question 6

What was the response of the Left Communists?

Answer 6

• Condemned signing.

Question 7

Why did the treaty eventually become meaningless?

Answer 7

• Collapse of Germany’s Western Front, August 1918.
• Germany’s total withdrawal of troops from Russia.