Why Did Russia Win The First World War

Several treaties were signed during World War One including the infamous Treaty of Versailles, the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the Treaty of Trianon, Treaty of Sèvres and the Treaty Brest Litovsk. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, between the Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia and the Central Powers in Brest-Litovsk in Brest Litovsk. This treaty officially brought Russia’s participation in the World war to an end. Russia had no other option other than to sign the treaty due to their weakened state. The Treaty was terminated on November 11 1919 when Germany surrendered to the allies ending the World War. The treaty only lasted for 8 and a half months when the Germans broke diplomatic relations with
the Soviet Union. The terms to which they agreed to are deemed ridiculous and extremely unfair. The reasons that the terms of the treaty and the proceedings which occurred at Brest-Litovsk were unjust and unfair were because they were forced to sign in it by the German army, the terms caused separation between the leaders, and they had to give up many colonies and also pay a large fine.
The first meeting of Brest-Litovsk took place on December 22 1917. Russia had demobilized their armies and they put their faith in the Germans hands . Due to interruptions the Russians had not signed the treaty or agreed to any of the terms by February 10 and the Central powers simply ended the armistice and resumed their invasion, sweeping what was left of the Russian army aside, while a German fleet started menacingly up the Baltic towards Petrograd . The Russians could not take an attack by the Germans because they no longer had their army and they were a tired nation that could no longer fight. Germany was taking advantage of Russia and their weakened state and continued to advance toward Petrograd. On February 18 1918 the Russians sent a radiogram to the Germans offering their surrender and that they would agree to the terms that they had been given . The Germans took their time to respond and continued their advance on Petrograd . Finally on February 28 the German army recived orders to halt their advance into Russia . The Russians agreed to insane terms put down by the Central Powers. Lenin was quoted as saying “he forced us to sign an incredibly oppressive and humiliating peace” . The Germans forced the Russians to quit by using violence. Germany’s idea was to either disarm Russia or scare them out of the war which they successfully did. Even though Russia had surrendered as a country it was not a choice which was agreed on by everyone.
The terms to which the Russians agreed to were extremely embarrassing for them.
Vladimir Lenin who the leader of the Bolshevik Central Committee believed the peace with Germany was the best option. He believed if they were out of the war then there would be a communist revolution which would be better for all. As the leader he had the final choice. The German terms angered both Bolsheviks and the Left SR. On February 18 the Bolshevik party had decided that Russia would agree to the terms put down by the Germans. It was Lenin’s idea to agree to the terms because he wanted to have peace with Germany, only 15 people from the Bolshevik Central committee agreed with his idea . Lenin was more interested putting down internal opposition rather than fighting the Germans. Nikolai Bukharin was a Bolshevik revolutionary politician who had the idea that the Russians should fight a revolutionary guerrilla war against the Germans and he had 32 people side with him and agree with his idea . Leon Trotsky was another Bolshevik, Marxist revolutionist who was the founder of the red army and a politician who had he idea to exit the war but not to agree with any of the Germans terms . He was quoted as saying “Neither war nor peace” which means that he did not want Russia to fight in the war but would not agree with any peace terms put down by Russia. On February 20 a group of Moscow Bolsheviks protested the action of the Bolshevik Central Committee and resigned but it was not made public and
their resignations were not accepted. The terms that Germany chose were harsh enough that it made people who had the same ideology have different thoughts and could not come together to have a mutual solution to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The main part of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk were the things that Russia would lose or give away which extremely angered Russia.
The terms given by the Germans on the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk including the colonies which Russia would either lose to the Central Powers or they would have to recognize their freedom.
In the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk the colonies which were brought up were Poland, the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia which were given to Germany and Austria-Hungary . The territories of Kars, Ardahan and Batum were given to the Ottoman Empire. Russia also had to recognize the freedom of Ukraine, Georgia and Finland . When Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and gave away the territories they lost sixty million people and two million square kilometres of land. They lost territories that produced a third of Russia’s crops. Germany also put a six billion mark fine on the Russians . Three hundred years of triumphs by the Russian arms and diplomacy was dissolved in a single moment . Russia fine was supposed to be directly paid to German investors whose industries were nationalized. Russia lost a large amount of territories which they acquired with a lot of effort and it was gone with just a Treaty. The terms caused Russia to lose some of their citizens and natural
resources.