3rd March 1918: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed between Russia and the Central Powers

By the winter of 1917 the Russian economy was in tatters as a result of the strain of maintaining the war effort. Tsar Nicholas II had abdicated in February, and the subsequent Provisional Government was overthrown in the Bolshevik Revolution later that year after they continued to fight alongside the Entente Powers. The new Russian Bolshevik government vehemently opposed the war and received some support from Germany in their efforts to seize power. For example they allowed passage for Vladimir Lenin to return from exile in Switzerland to lead the revolution against the Provisional Government. After coming to power Lenin appointed Leon Trotsky as Commissar of Foreign Affairs, but peace negotiations with the Central Powers were fraught with difficulties. The situation became so bad that, in mid-February, Trotsky declared that he would agree to ‘neither war nor peace’. This meant that Russia would stop fighting, but not sign a peace treaty. The announcement incensed the Germans who responded by r