63 – Episode 63 Negotiations to end the war (2)
On July 10, 1915, the delegations of the two countries sat across from each other at the Brest-Litovsk Fortress and signed a peace treaty.
Of course, the process leading to negotiations was difficult.
Because Germany’s demands were so cruel, the Bolsheviks attempted to compromise terms.
“Couldn’t we still change some conditions? “If you have to pay more compensation, I will pay more, so please adjust only the territory part.”
Marshal Leopold responded to the Bolsheviks with the following words:
“Is it war? Is it peace? “That’s all you can choose.”
“No, that is.”
“I’ll give you two days.”
With 48 hours as the deadline, the Bolsheviks had no choice.
In 48 hours, the German army could have pushed into Petrograd. There was little chance that the Russian army, which was already a shell, could block the attack.
“I can’t help it. “I can only believe that this is the best.”
The Bolsheviks decided to accept reality. But there was one minor problem. Who will sign that humiliating treaty?
The Bolsheviks had no choice but to play a game of guessing.
“My signature is absolutely not allowed.”
“I can’t sign either. “If you want to leave an excuse to break this treaty someday, my signature must not be included.”
Both Lenin and Trotsky were extremely reluctant to have their signatures included, so Adolf Abramovich Joppe, a veteran Bolshevik, had to sign on their behalf.
Yoffe picked up his pen, realizing that his political career was ruined.
The contents were as follows.
The Soviet Russian Republic recognizes the independence of the Grand Duchy of Finland, the Grand Duchy of Belarus, the Baltic Grand Duchy, the Grand Duchy of Novgorod, the Regency of Poland, and the Kingdom of Ukraine.
The independence of the new country was indeed harsh, but this was not all.
As an appendix, Germany requested additional territorial cession.
Soviet Russia had to cede the Kola Peninsula and Karelia to Finland, Oranienbaum on the Baltic Sea to Novgorod, and the Crimea Peninsula and Donbas to Ukraine. They also had to give half of South Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire.
The value of the territory ceded by Russia was equivalent to 80% of Russia’s entire economic power and half of its population. At the point when all of its most developed territory was cut off, Russia was virtually ruined.
Nevertheless, the Soviet regime had to accept Germany’s demands. The only fault the Soviets had was that they did not have the negotiating power to sit down with Germany and discuss terms.
Lenin attended the Soviet Assembly with a peace agreement and requested ratification.
“Is that the best comrade?”
They say that all of them were Bolsheviks or representative members of the soldiers’ soviets under their control, but even to those people, the negotiation plan was too humiliating.
“We must be prepared to take a step back for the revolution. If you reject this deal now, the German army will rush to Petrograd right away. “Who is going to stop that?”
“Nonsense! Even if Russia is destroyed, I cannot accept such a treaty!”
Some members of the soldiers’ Soviet delegation refused to ratify the treaty.
However, ‘opposition’ had no meaning to the Bolsheviks, who drove out the opposition and took power. All we had to do was count the votes, excluding those who opposed it.
“I hereby declare that the treaty has been ratified.”
The Bolsheviks declared ratification of the treaty with their trademark snatch.
With this, peace between Russia and Germany was restored after one year.
The Russian military’s reaction to this treaty was one of fury.
“Have these crazy communists decided to sell out the country?”
“How much blood did we shed for such a treaty?”
“We can’t leave them alone. “Let’s suppress it.”
The Russian Northwest Front, which was confronting the German army in Luga, immediately turned its guns on them and attempted to suppress them.
However.
“General. When you say something nice, put down the gun. “Did you think we would obey your orders just because you were wearing a general rank badge?”
That damn ‘Soldier Soviet’ was the problem.
The soldiers’ soviet spread like an epidemic and completely destroyed the authority of the officer corps.
“Stop the war! Peace negotiations!”
“I want bread instead of bullets!”
“Give me farming tools instead of guns!”
The soldiers shouted Bolshevik slogans and ignored the generals’ orders.
Nikolai Russky, commander of the Northwest Front, despaired of this situation and pulled a pistol to his head.
“I’ve lived too long to see something I’ve never seen before.”
The powerful field army that could threaten Petrograd completely collapsed upon Russky’s death.
No, it wasn’t at that level. The Russian military organization itself disappeared. The word extinction was most appropriate.
“The war is over, so why are you in the military? Let’s go home.”
“Let’s go.”
The soldiers casually threw away their guns and began to disperse.
“Now, just a moment, comrades, soldiers. “We have not yet completed the revolution.”
“What are you saying?”
The scattered field army could not even be absorbed by the Bolsheviks.
The four field armies subordinate to the Northwest Front Army were scattered into the air.
It was a dangerous situation in which, if Germany violated the treaty, Petrograd could fall within a day.
“Try to persuade each soldier soviet. “I will improve your treatment.”
Trotsky personally took the initiative and persuaded the soldiers’ soviets, but the results were weak. The entire force, except for the two divisions stationed in Petrograd, evaporated as if melting into water.
“You said the war is over? “We are going home.”
Further south were the Western and Southwestern Fronts, but their troops were following orders from Moscow.
Of course, both fronts also suffered from dwindling troops. Refusal of war, strikes, and desertion were the organs of the soldier soviets.
“I’m going crazy. “At this rate, let alone Germany, even if reactionaries from the southern half attack us, wouldn’t we be doomed?”
To the embarrassment of the Bolsheviks, Germany also halted its offensive against the Provisional Government in Moscow.
From the Bolshevik perspective, they wanted Germany to wipe out everything, but it was impossible.
Meanwhile, various people stood up from all over with their heads raised.
Tsar Kirill, who fled from Petrograd, was a representative example.
“I declare the re-establishment of a free Russian Empire! “I have absolutely no intention of acknowledging the irrational and immoral acts of communists.”
Kirill raised the flag in Omsk in the Urals and declared the revival of the ‘Russian Empire.’ Although the people who followed him were poor, he could not be lightly ignored as long as the person who occupied the position of tsar raised his voice.
And one more person.
“Russia is a great country that should not be left in the hands of incompetent nobles and half-baked revolutionaries. Everyone unite as one. Don’t be fooled by old lies like ideology and unite. “That is the only way to save ourselves.”
Pyotr Wrangel, who was released immediately after the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, stood up in Kursk calling for the suppression of communists.
In addition, many people rose up fueled by the humiliation of the treaty and their anger against the communists who took responsibility for the humiliation.
Even in places like Ukraine and Belarus, which were transferred to German occupation, people with their own ideas rose up with their own flags.
Britain poured oil here.
“We chose war because of you, but are you betraying us? “Dirty communist bastards.”
“Let’s show them what is right.”
Major General John Hanbury Williams, commander of the British Expeditionary Force dispatched to Russia, led the detachment and occupied the Arkhangelsk port, which was used as a delivery port for supplies.
“The British Empire supports the provisional government that is the legitimate representative of Russia.”
Britain sent 8,000 intervention troops to this area.
The purpose of Britain’s intervention was to rebuild the ‘Eastern Front’ by strengthening the Russian Provisional Government.
Japan also did not sit still.
“The Empire of Japan has an obligation to prevent communists from stealing Siberia.”
Japan immediately landed 20,000 intervention troops in Vladivostok.
As the Entente countries set foot on Russian soil one after another, the new countries created by Germany were embroiled in civil war as soon as they were born.
“Stand straight in line. Are you going to cooperate with Germany? Are you going to create a free nation-state?”
From Noble mtl dot com
“I will become a member of the great Soviet Union!”
“That’s crazy! “We are part of the Great Russian Empire.”
A 4-way match, or even a 5-way match, was all the rage here and there.
It was the Allies who took the initiative, but that did not mean the Allies were completely at ease.
“Ah, I was planning to withdraw some troops, but it will only be resolved by increasing the number of garrison troops.”
Unfortunately, the Allies had no choice but to leave much of the troops they had intended to divert to the west in the east.
“This is the only way we can truly gain dominance in the West.”
More than a million troops were deployed to maintain security in the occupied territories and support the new nation.
For Germany, this was an absolutely terrible number.
Even this was a number excluding the troops of Austria-Hungary and Romania, which divided up Ukraine and other areas.
The total number of troops maintained by the Allied Forces on the Eastern Front was close to 2 million.
“Isn’t this the reason for establishing a puppet state?”
Nevertheless, the Allies were unable to reduce the large army stationed on the Eastern Front.
As the maritime blockade began immediately, the only places where food could be obtained were the fertile territories of Ukraine and western Russia.
“If we don’t want to chew on turnips, we have to maintain security in the occupied territories.”
The Kaiser vaguely believed that if he set up a puppet state in Russia and got out, he could focus all his efforts on the West, but that was a miscalculation. The situation where 2 million troops were tied up in the east completely destroyed the Kaiser’s calculations. The number of troops the Allies had to maintain was far greater than the number of troops that could be reinforced throughout the West.
“If only these troops could have been saved.”
Falkenhayn got hungry every time he saw the troops that would be left in the east.
Ironically, the dead Russia was hanging on to Germany’s ankles. It was a disaster brought on by Germany’s greed to gain too much at once.