Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, peace treaty signed in Brest-Litovsk, Russia (now Brest, Belarus) on March 3, 1918, by which Russia agreed to stop fighting the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria) in World War I (1914-1918). After the Russian government of Aleksandr Kerensky fell on October 24 and 25 (November 6 and 7, New Style), 1917, the new Bolshevik government resolved to make peace with the Central Powers. An armistice with them was signed at Brest-Litovsk on December 2 (December 15, New Style), 1917, a week later a formal peace conference was opened. Early in January 1918 the conference reached an impasse because of the severity of the demands of the Central Powers. Leon Trotsky of the Bolshevik government delayed discussions, hoping for time to strengthen the Russian Revolution and provoke a German revolution. He walked out of negotiations, declaring that his government could not conclude peace but would not renew warfare. The Central Powers reopened hostilities and revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, fearing the destruction of the new Bolshevik state, acceded to even more drastic terms. Russia ceded Finland, Poland, Estonia, Livonia, Kurland, Lithuania, the Ukraine, and Bessarabia, all of which, although not annexed to the Central Powers, were dominated and economically exploited by them. Russia also ceded Ardahan, Kars, and Bat’umi to the Ottoman Empire. Under the terms of the armistice between Germany and the Allied powers on November 11, 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was annulled.