Chapter 268： Russia withdraws from World War 1

After Bushehrvik’s August Revolution overthrew the Provisional Government, the Allied Powers at the time were full of fear for the new red party.

At that time, the British special report on the revolution. In the report, The Times said pessimistically that the seizure of Russian power by the red party is a threat to all European countries, and it also called on all countries to be vigilant about the development of the Communist Party in various countries to avoid falling into the Russian tragedy.

As the most influential newspaper in Europe, it has always advertised its objective reports. But the August Revolution led by Bushehrvik did not show its hostility to the red regime. Compared with the ethics of being a big-picture newspaper, you can't show your views too much. Other newspapers are not so implicit.

At that time, when most newspapers reported on Bushehrvik’s August Revolution, they repeatedly said that the Communist Party was persecuting the Russian people in St. Petersburg. There are also many newspapers that have uncovered the various problems of the Paris Revolution, and told their readers after exaggerating them. Some newspapers even called on the two major groups that were at war to stop the war and put an end to the Red Revolution in Russia. All these are the bourgeoisie of various countries, fearing Russia's reaction to the first working-class regime.

But at the time, the Allied Powers government did not adopt a hostile policy towards the newly formed Soviet Russia government, because they still needed Russia to hold back a large number of German and Austrian troops. In the face of the goodwill extended by the Allies, the Soviet Russian government is completely unable to take care of it now, because they are busy dealing with the terrible domestic situation.

At present, the poor food supply in St. Petersburg has become the top priority of the new Soviet Russian government. After all, most of Bushehrvik's military forces are here at this time. Moreover, it is also the political and economic center of Russia, a sacred place for revolution in the new Soviet Russia, and a place that Bushrwick cannot afford to lose.

The overthrow of the provisional government only left the new Russian government with the Soviet power. Now there are still many members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the Cadets, and the Mensheviks within the Soviet power. The reason for this result is that the revolutionary slogans led by Bushehrvik are opposed to the interim government. On the other hand, it is also the reason why Bushehrvik cannot be too explicit. That is, other left-wing parties have not had any number of views on Bushehrvik. Many disadvantages.

This is because Bushervik was too radical in the Russian left-wing party before, which has a lot to do with it. Bushervik, led by Lenin in the Tsarist period, was the political group it focused on. Because Bushehrvik's slogan is about to overthrow the Tsarist Russian government, Bushehrvik, whose long-term leaders have been abroad, is far less attractive to the progressive youth of Russia. Even after the January Revolution, Bushehrvik desperately developed and expanded the organization while other left-wing political parties were stunned, but they still did not allow it to occupy an absolute advantage.

In addition, the new Soviet Russia still showed a desire to fight for the Allies. This can only mean that the Russians are now completely tied to the Allied chariots by Britain and France, even if Russia has collapsed for this reason. Now, as long as Britain and France are willing to continue fighting, even Bushehrvik is willing to continue to cooperate.

Bristol, the British ambassador at this time, also expressed to the Soviet Russian government that the Allied Powers are concerned about the current situation in Russia, but the main thing is the Soviet Russian government's attitude towards whether the war will continue. We must know that when Bushehrvik was in the field, he shouted the truce slogan so loudly. In fact, there are discussions within Bushehrvik about negotiating with the Germans.

As the main leaders of Bushehrvik, he clearly remembers what he relied on to get to power. The most powerful anti-war group is the armed soldiers. If these soldiers are dissatisfied, it is not difficult to change a political party to govern. Therefore, after initially alleviating the material supply tensions in St. Petersburg, Bushehrvik was discussing matters concerning an armistice with Germany.

So when the British and French ambassadors asked the Soviet Union about the war against the Allied Powers, they were ashamed. For this reason, the British and French ambassadors reported to the country, suggesting to expand support for other parties in Russia.

This also gave other Russian parties a sigh of relief. In their view, this was Bushervik's own death. Without the support of Britain and France, Russia could collapse its finances by simply repaying its foreign debts. Faced with this situation, of course they would not kindly remind Lenin and others that they plan to defeat Bushervik in the next election and regain Soviet power. It's just that they don't know that Bushehrvik is not abiding by the rules like them. Among them, Lenin as its leader is farther than they thought.

Five days after the August Revolution, the newly-born Soviet Russian government submitted its wish for peace talks to Germany. This greatly encouraged Germany, so a German peace talks condition was sent to the Soviet Russian government. The conditions in Germany gave these Bushervik senior officials, who are still new to the regime, a head start.

Germany proposed to cede all parts of Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and Belarus to Germany and Austria, and pay 3 billion rubles in compensation. Moreover, the compensation must be paid to the Allies in five installments within a year, otherwise the Allies have the right to raise funds on their own.

Faced with the negotiation conditions in Germany, the Bushehrvik party became enthusiastic and demanded to stop negotiations with the Allies. Among these, Bushervik’s opinions are divided into three categories. The first is that the “left-wing communists” represented by Bukharin opposed the signing of the peace treaty and advocated continuing to fight against Germany. His reason is that German conditions are too harsh, which will put the newly born Bushelvik at a disadvantage in future elections. And as long as the battle continues, it is very likely that in the future, it will ignite revolutionary sentiments among the workers in Germany and Austria. In fact, it was because of the harsh conditions in Germany that he was unwilling to fight. Central committee members Bubnov, Uritsky, and Lomov supported Bukharin.

The second category is represented by Trotsky; he advocated a truce and demobilization of the army, but he did not sign a contract with Germany. In fact, Trotsky was also opposed to accepting the conditions of Germany, because he knew the state of the Russian army, and continued fighting would do too much harm to the new regime. Central members Krestinsky, Dzerzhinsky, and Yuefei supported Trotsky.

Then it was Lenin's proposal to accept the German terms and sign a peace treaty. Because Lenin knew that the most important problem of the Soviet Russian regime was to solve the domestic problems that were about to break out. Because there are too many thorny problems accumulated in Russia now, these are all carefully sorted out by the new Soviet Russian regime. Lenin's proposal was supported by six members of the Central Committee including Zivinov, Sokolnikov, Stalin, Artyom, Stasova, and Sverdlov.

Now the three parties are in dispute over the German plan. On September, the Soviet Russian government convened a meeting of central and local leaders. At the meeting attended by 0 people, 32 people were in favor of Bukharin's proposition, those who favored Trotsky's proposition, and only 5 were in favor of Lenin's proposition. In the end, Lenin's proposal failed to pass due to being in a minority.

The attitude of the Soviet Russian government greatly dissatisfied the Germans. Among them, Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who wanted to take this opportunity to solve the Eastern Front, were also disappointed. Regarding Soviet Russia's attitude, the two actually made two-handed preparations. Ludendorff, who presided over the work of the General Staff, mobilized four more divisions from the Western Front during this period, and transported most of the ammunition to the Eastern Front in recent months. As for the Western Front, he gave up many unexpected locations to save money. troops.

After the Soviet-Russian rejection of peace talks, more than two million German and Austrian troops rushed into the Russian hinterland along the Great Plains of Eastern Europe. And the Russian army guarding these places did not become brave and good at fighting because of Bushehrvik's blessing, it was still collapsed, and a large number of soldiers disappeared into the wilderness with weapons. At least 100,000 soldiers on the Russian front line disappeared and escaped in just ten days of attack, and nearly 200,000 soldiers entered the German and Austrian prison camps.

Faced with a very critical situation, the Soviet Union once again held a central meeting on September 25 to re-vote on the issue of signing the contract. Trotsky's proposal was passed by a majority of 9 to 7, and Lenin's proposal was still not accepted by the majority.

So the negotiations resumed in Brest. As the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and the head of the negotiating delegation, Trotsky agreed with Lenin before leaving that if Germany gave an ultimatum, he would give in and sign the contract. Because both knew that dragging on like this was not a solution, Russia might have seen the victory of the Allied Powers, but the Bushrwick regime would definitely not see this result.

As a result, Germany really gave an ultimatum to Soviet Russia. Trotsky sent a telegram to Lenin asking about countermeasures, and Lenin immediately replied to accept the German conditions and immediately sign the contract. But at this time Trotsky was guilty of cherishing feathers, because he knew that if he signed this treaty, he would always be under Lenin. So instead of accepting Lenin's suggestion, he issued a statement refusing to sign the contract and led a delegation to leave Brest.

As a result, Germany again began a major offensive against Soviet Russia. By the time Germany had attacked Pskov, which was less than 300 kilometers away from St. Petersburg, on October 9, the situation was extremely urgent. The army was already grieving and was about to be suppressed, and voices questioning the Soviet Russian regime were constantly fluctuating. . At this time an emergency meeting of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union was held. At the meeting, Lenin's proposal was rejected by a vote of 7. ..

After that, the Central Committee met again overnight. After a heated argument, Trotsky turned to support Lenin. The result of the meeting passed Lenin's proposal with 7 votes in favor, 5 votes against, and abstentions. The Soviet Russian government notified the German side overnight and agreed to sign the contract.

However, Germany did not stop the offensive after being notified, and put forward more stringent conditions on 0.2. The Central Committee of the Soviet Russia Party convened an emergency meeting with the participation of 5 members. At the meeting, most of the members expressed disapproval of Lenin's proposition.

Faced with his painstaking efforts to get no support from party members, Lenin had to say that if this kind of empty talk continued, he would resign and withdraw from the government and the Central Committee. Bukharin didn't care about this. Trotsky disagreed with Lenin's opinion, but in order to prevent Lenin's resignation and Bushrwick's split, his attitude changed. Under his influence, there were 4 abstentions. As a result, Lenin's proposal was passed with 7 votes in favor, 4 abstentions, and 4 votes against.

So on October 4, the Soviet Russian government finally re-sent a negotiating delegation to negotiate with Germany.

On October 2, the peace treaty between Soviet Russia and the Allies was officially signed in Brest. According to the contract agreement, Russia gave up all the territories of Finland, the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. Soviet Russia also needs to cede Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Courland, Russian Poland and other places to Germany At the same time, the Turkish generals, who were defeated by Tsarist Russia ten times in a row, brought them back to Adalkhan and Kars without a **** attack. And Batumi and other regions.

This means that Russia will lose 20,000 square kilometers of land. This land occupies one tenth of the total territory of Russia, and it is all in Europe, so the population on it is very dense, accounting for 44% of the country's population. Russia's resource superiority, which was originally arrogant, will also be greatly weakened. Coal and iron ore lose 75% and 73% respectively, accompanied by 54% of industry and 33% of agriculture.

In addition to these, the Soviet Union also needs to pay 7 billion marks in war reparations like Germany, and it can only be divided into five installments, and the final installment must be delivered within one year of the signing of the treaty.

The treaty will give the new Soviets a rest, but this is obviously not acceptable to all Russians. For the loss of so much population and industry, the entire national treasury must be compensated within one year. In addition, in the election of the Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks blatantly overthrew the election organized by themselves because they received fewer votes than the Socialist Revolutionary Party, and sent troops to disperse the Constituent Assembly in 1998. So the left-wing political party organized workers to launch a demonstration on the same day to protest the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. The Bolsheviks sent troops to suppress it, causing the "January 5th murder" that shocked the world. In Gorky's words: "The rifle dispelled the dreams of the best Russians in the past century."

A large number of Russian nationalists turned to organizations that opposed Bushervik, and hard-core patriots like Kolchak were even more outraged. In their eyes, the Soviets became a traitor, a more disgusting existence than the Germans, and they were prepared to eradicate them at all costs. So the Russian Civil War broke out.