USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -On March 3, 1918, in the city of Brest-Litovsk, located in modern-day Belarus near the Polish border, Russia signed a treaty with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria) ending its participation in World War I (1914-18).

Detailed explanation-2: -Lenin believed that Russia must end its participation in the war so that the nation could focus on building a communist state based on the ideas of Karl Marx, a German philosopher who lived in the mid-1800s.

Detailed explanation-3: -Russia’s withdrawal was due to exhausted forces in an already prolonged World War I. Peace talks were already ongoing but stalled due to disagreements in the Brest-Litovsk Peace Talks, resulting in Bolshevist Foreign Minister Leon Trotsky to walk away from peace negotiations. The U.S.S.R.

Detailed explanation-4: -In Russia, the withdrawal led to civil war and forced the Allies to defend the eastern front.

Detailed explanation-5: -On March 3 the Soviet government accepted a treaty by which Russia lost Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic territories, and Finland. (Ukraine was recovered in 1919, during the Russian Civil War.) The treaty was ratified by the Congress of Soviets on March 15.