By the winter of 1917 the Russian economy was in tatters as a result of the strain of maintaining the war effort. Tsar Nicholas II had abdicated in February, and the subsequent Provisional Government was overthrown in the Bolshevik Revolution later that year after they continued to fight alongside the Entente Powers.

The new Russian Bolshevik government vehemently opposed the war and received some support from Germany in their efforts to seize power. For example they allowed passage for Vladimir Lenin to return from exile in Switzerland to lead the revolution against the Provisional Government.

After coming to power Lenin appointed Leon Trotsky as Commissar of Foreign Affairs, but peace negotiations with the Central Powers were fraught with difficulties. The situation became so bad that, in mid-February, Trotsky declared that he would agree to ‘neither war nor peace’. This meant that Russia would stop fighting, but not sign a peace treaty. The announcement incensed the Germans who responded by restarting their advance into Russia in Operation Faustschlag. Concerned by the speed of the German attack, Lenin threatened to resign if Russia didn’t accept the new peace terms delivered on 23 February.

The Treaty was a humiliation for Russia. The country lost approximately a third of the entire Russian population alongside around one million square miles of land including fertile farmland, natural resources, and industrial areas. The Treaty was cancelled as part of the Armistice with Germany on 11 November 1918.

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