Quick questions on Trotsky, Brest-Litovsk and Foreign Affairs: HSC Modern History Personality

The Second Congress of Soviets, in establishing Sovnarkom on 26 October 1917, appointed Trotsky Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Trotsky took the post reluctantly, telling Lenin he expected the post to consist of "issuing some revolutionary proclamations to the peoples and then closing up shop." His expectation was that the Russian Revolution would shortly be followed by revolutions in Germany, Austria, France, and Britain, and that conventional diplomacy would become irrelevant.

On 8 November 1917 Sovnarkom issued the Decree on Peace, calling on belligerents to open negotiations for a peace "without annexations or indemnities." Only the Central Powers replied. The Allies did not formally respond.

The Soviet armistice with the Central Powers was signed on 5 December 1917. Peace negotiations opened at Brest-Litovsk on the German Eastern Front headquarters on 22 December 1917. The first Soviet delegation was led by Adolph Joffe. The Central Powers were represented by Foreign Minister Richard von Kuhlmann and the chief of staff of the Eastern Front General Max Hoffmann.

Trotsky took personal command of the Soviet delegation in early January 1918. His strategy was delay: he counted on imminent revolution in Germany and Austria, where the January 1918 mass strikes (Berlin, Vienna, Budapest) seemed to confirm the analysis.

On 28 January 1918 (Old Style) the Soviet delegation, having received the final German terms, made Trotsky's famous declaration: "We are withdrawing our army from the war. We refuse to sign an annexationist peace. The state of war between the German Empire and the Russian Soviet Republic is ended." The Soviet delegation then walked out of Brest-Litovsk.

On 18 February 1918 the Germans launched Operation Faustschlag ("Fist Punch"), advancing on Petrograd, Kiev, and the southern Russia oilfields. Russian forces collapsed; in five days the Germans took Pskov and Reval. The Bolshevik Central Committee debated in continuous session. Lenin threatened to resign if the German terms were not accepted.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed at 5:50 PM on 3 March 1918 by Grigori Sokolnikov for the Soviet side. Russia ceded:

The Brest-Litovsk experience destroyed Trotsky's tenure at the Foreign Affairs Commissariat. He resigned shortly after the signature. On 13 March 1918 he was appointed People's Commissar for War. From the new post he built the Red Army that would fight the Civil War.

He refused at first, abstained on the second vote, and ensured Lenin's majority for signature.

It was the most consequential single act of his tenure as Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

Treaty signed 3 March 1918, annulled 13 November 1918.