Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: How Russia's Exit Nearly Won Germany WWI

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed on March 5, 1918, ended Russia's involvement in World War I, freeing hundreds of thousands of German troops for the Western Front. The treaty was a consequence of the Russian Revolution, which overthrew Tsar Nicholas II in February 1917 and brought the Bolsheviks to power in October 1917. Led by Vladimir Lenin, the Bolsheviks sought peace to consolidate their control amid the Russian Civil War. Germany imposed harsh terms, forcing Russia to cede vast territories including Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, and parts of Belarus and Ukraine, amounting to one million square miles and one-third of its population. This land transfer enabled Germany's Spring Offensive in March 1918, which nearly succeeded but was ultimately repelled with the help of American forces. The treaty's aftermath led to the Soviet-Polish War and the eventual Soviet annexation of the Baltic states in 1940. The precedent of trading land for peace was later rejected by nations, influencing the response to the Russo-Ukrainian War. The treaty also strained relations between the Soviet Union and the Allies, who intervened in the Russian Civil War, and the United States did not recognize the Soviet government until 1933.