The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between Russia and Germany in March 1918. (a) What territory did Russia lose under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk? [4] (...

(a) Territory lost under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk [4 marks]

Under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed in March 1918, Russia lost vast territories: Poland, Finland, the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), Ukraine, and parts of Belarus. These regions contained approximately one-third of Russia's population and agricultural land. Russia also lost around three-quarters of its iron and coal resources. Additionally, the treaty required Russia to pay reparations to Germany.

(b) Why Lenin accepted such harsh peace terms [6 marks]

• Lenin had promised 'peace' as a central Bolshevik slogan during 1917 and needed to fulfil this pledge to maintain the support of war-weary soldiers and workers.
• The Russian army had effectively disintegrated through mass desertion, and Russia was in no position to continue fighting.
• When Trotsky's 'no war, no peace' negotiating strategy failed, Germany resumed its advance in February 1918, demonstrating Russia's military helplessness.
• Lenin believed that world revolution would soon spread to Germany and other European countries, making the treaty's terms temporary.
• He needed peace to consolidate Bolshevik power domestically, as the regime faced internal enemies and economic chaos.
• Internal opposition from Bukharin's 'Left Communists' and the Left Social Revolutionaries was overridden by Lenin's personal insistence that survival of the revolution required peace at any price.

(c) How far did the Treaty strengthen or weaken the Bolshevik government? [10 marks]

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk had both strengthening and weakening effects on the Bolshevik regime.

On the positive side, it secured peace and allowed the Bolsheviks to focus on consolidating their domestic power and preparing for the emerging Civil War. It fulfilled a key promise to the war-weary population. The treaty's harshest terms proved temporary, as Germany's defeat in November 1918 annulled most of its provisions and allowed Russia to reclaim lost territories.

However, the treaty also created serious problems. It alienated the Left Social Revolutionaries, who had been the Bolsheviks' coalition partners; they assassinated the German ambassador Mirbach in July 1918 and attempted an armed uprising. Patriotic Russians across the political spectrum saw the Bolsheviks as national traitors. The loss of Ukraine's grain-producing regions worsened food shortages during the Civil War. Allied powers (Britain, France, the United States, and Japan) used the separate peace as justification for military intervention against the Bolsheviks from 1918.

Overall, the treaty secured short-term survival for the Bolshevik regime at the cost of triggering significant opposition. It was a calculated gamble by Lenin that the revolution's survival mattered more than territorial losses, and events proved him correct when Germany's defeat reversed the terms.