Russia signs a separate peace. Revolutionary Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers, seceding from its Allies and granting independence to Polish and Baltic territories, Ukraine, and Finland. Russia’s disastrous participation in World War I had contributed to the success of the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917. The following December, Germany agreed to an armistice and began peace talks with Russia. Lenin sent Trotsky to the negotiating table in Brest-Litovsk, Belarus. The talks failed when Germany demanded independence for Russia’s territories in Eastern Europe, and in February 1918, fighting on the Eastern Front resumed. As the Germans advanced toward St. Petersburg, Lenin authorized the conclusion of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918. The Germans thus hoped to gain dominion over Russian territories, but in November 1918 an armistice ended World War I, condemning Germany to demilitarization and Allied domination. In 1919, during the Russian Civil War, the Soviets retook Ukraine, in 1939 they occupied part of Poland, and in 1940 the Baltic countries, after signing a non-belligerence pact with the Germans.
