How Important Are The Terms of The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 1918 In Explaining The Start of The Civil War in Russia?
... to meet a similar fate if Germany had won. The terms put Russia into temporary disarray, as they came through much harsher than many had expected them to, and the British and Allies, mounting an immediate propaganda mission in the big cities. The treaties were strongly opposed by many; especially the Social Revolutionaries and generals, many of these joined the side of the whites at the beginning of the civil war. The treaty of Brest Litovsk therefore divided the nation, creating two sides immediately and adding to the chance of civil war. The whites themselves or a large part of them got involved for many reasons, the treaty being one of them. Many of the whites, the Tsarist supporters felt that many of the war reparations were going to fall heavily onto themselves, the rich land lords. Therefore overturning the terms was a key aim of many of these, and one of the main reasons that the Tsarist whites got involved. But the Whites were not just Tsarist supporters; there were the Social Revolutionaries, who had been the leading party in the previous government that the Bolsheviks had closed down as they had lost the elections. There was then the Czech legions, holding the Trans-Siberian railway, who had been angered by the way that Trotsky had demanded them to disarm, after a scuffle, and these combined forces more in an umbrella movement with very different aims at heart, shown by their division when fighting the reds, and their eventual demise, despite superior forces. Civil war broke out for a number of reasons, the main trigger supposedly being the Czech legions seizing the Trans Siberian railway. But really the division caused in the country and the turn in support for the whites through the Tsarist supporters, and all of the other opposition supporters. This was then backed up by the allied support, along with Japan and Poland, in trying to topple the regime. The Bolsheviks blunt refusal to take any further part in WWI infuriated the allied powers; with American troops playing a particularly big role. But being a civil war, it was never declared began or won, another important point of this being that there was a gradual increase in support for either side, with opposition groups joining all the time. The allies were angry at the war being stopped rather than the terms of the treaty, therefore foreign intervention armies and the civil war were likely to come about anyway. Though the treaty may have been responsible for much of the troubles, there is a strong possibility that there would have been worse if they had not. This being strongly linked to the fact that at the point of signing, the Germans were not far from St Petersburg, and had made huge territorial gains following the period since the last talks had broken down. If the Russians had not signed they would not have lasted much longer, and there is a strong possibility that Germany would have conquered, and then used Russians in their own army, and be able to properly equip them. It could have changed the outlook of the war, whether the Russian people accepted the German rule or not. But the treaty may have been one of the main reasons the Germans and central powers were treated so harshly in the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans had shown how they were likely to have punished the allies had they been victorious. So Brest Litovsk not only sparked the civil war, but may have been in part responsible for WWII, by setting the standard at Versailles, which in turn to the years of uncertainty in Germany and eventually the Second World War. The Treaty of Brest Litovsk is one of the main motivating factors behind the civil war at the time, but if it had not been signed, would there have been a civil war anyway? Opposition to the Tsar had been growing for some time and particularly from 1905 on, and this opposition grew as the war dragged on, feeding off defeat and growing. With the coming of the provisional government, and then the Bolsheviks there were still powerful bases existing for each of the big groups, the Tsarists, the Social Revolutionaries and various other political groups. This set the country divided, and some were particularly angered by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and were encouraged by another key event, the Czech...