Revolutions: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk - David Stone 

Great background which helps explain the current Russian/Ukrainian War.

Had him as a professor while earning my PhD in History from K-State. Loved him, a wonderfully kind and intelligent instructor.

Wow what a great channel. .I've listened to like 10 of these today. Very good stuff and very well done.

This guy best speaker on this channel .....easy

This man is so intelligent, well dressed well mannered, he is an exemplary example of what a professor of history should be!!!

Very proud that a Wabash graduate like Dr. David Stone has accomplished so much and teaches future naval officers. WWI has always been a favorite subject of mine and took me a couple minutes to realize who he was...he has barely aged! 😄

I had professor Stone for a few classes at K-State in 2005-2006. Easily my favorite professor. I always looked forward to attending his lectures on Russian history. Great speaker. Very engaging.

Bravo David Stone! Thank you for the amazing lecture.

Clear, organized, likable speaker.

Interesting that the Russian borders today in the West are pretty much exactly where they were after Brest-Litovsk.

one thing is incorrect, Lenin was in Russia when Bolsheviks took over in October/November, he was not there when the Tsar resigned and the temporary government was in charge.

The Spring Offensives were not as close to success as claimed here, they had already essentially failed by the second Battle of the Marne in July 1918. The only chance they had of success is if Ludendorf had recognised the chances to take the vital Railway hubs of Reims and Amiens, but he did not, not in time. By April 1918 there was essentially no chance of a breakthrough. While tactically brilliant the Offensives had no over arching Strategic Goal, and they suffered from exactly the same problems as Entante Offensives prior. At some point the infantry outruns its artillery and logistical support, and the infantry grinds to a halt. It takes far longer to move guns, supplies and fresh troops forward during an offensive than it took for either side to move fresh troops into a threatened sector due to the huge mass of lateral railways (which was why Reims and Amiens were so important). Essentially the Spring Offensives actually made the German Armies situation worse. It had lost in the region of a million men, the lions share of those casualties being taken by the Stormtrooper Divisions which represented the best troops Germany had available, thus were irreplaceable. The new Front Line was around 100 miles longer, with fewer troops to defend it, all the land taken meant the new lines were great salients which were essentially impossible to defend due to lack of resources and infrastructure. Much of the land taken was the shell smashed landscape of previous battles, like the Somme for example, which exacerbated the supply problems. While not the start of the 100 Days Offensive, the Second Battle of the Marne signalled the death knell of the German Army in Western Europe, Amiens a few weeks later simply confirmed it.

It's interesting seeing the antagonism between Churchill and the early Soviet Union. It must have made things rather uncomfortable when he was forced into allying with Stalin years later.

I only have one quibble with Dr Stone’s otherwise excellent lecture - the French High Command’s response to the 1917 mutiny was the opposite of draconian: they condemned 250 ring leaders to death yes but only carried out 49 actual executions. 49 out of an army of 2 million active servicemen who had engaged in what were euphemistically called “acts of collective indiscipline.” Statistically almost meaningless. What the French government did instead was to appoint General Pétain to the post of inspector general with the very public mission of improving the lot of the average Poilus at the front: better food, more frequent leave and promotion etc.

great presentation

Great presentation. Thank you for sharing. 🌹

Great presentation!!!

"Putin fears this is what the West could do", exept the result of Brest-Litovsk is basically the same as what Russia is in now.

When Germany lost the war, did Germany get to keep the territory it took in the treaty or did it go back to pre war lines and all the new nation states?

good work

4:27 Remember the Alamo? Also, if "independent Ukraine" is so bad for Russia, why didn't the USSR reincorporate "the area known as Ukraine" back into Russia?

A fine presintation

That was a great presentation! I see in the comments that it might contain certain factual inconsistencies, but those are minute compared to the insight it gives. The ripple effects that the Treaty ostensibly had on future events are mind boggling. One that goes unmentioned here, but makes sense to me as such in light of this, is the Holodomor in Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s. I always wondered why would the central Soviet government sacrifice its own population like that on the basis of nationality when they were all supposed to be equal citizens within the communist empire. While I believe that the covert Russian nationalism played a role in that, the fact that Stalin was a Georgian doesn't quite fit in that theory. But seeing how the Russians perceived the Ukrainians as proverbial traitors, and Stalin had personal reasons to do so as well, it paints a fuller the picture of the motivation behind that crime against humanity.

32:35 So, if the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is so evil, should Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine belong to Russia? Clearly, some people appear to have problems in understanding the concept of self-determination. While territorial changes are always problematic, there is a difference depending on who inhabits a territory, which language they speak, what culture they have, and to which country they want to belong to.

Brest Litovsk Documantery :Victory of Central Powers (Hohenzollern-Habsburg-Ottoman-Bulgaria)

Fascinating take on Putin's view of Ukraine and the west stemming in part from this treaty.

I learned about this treaty in high school. I had no idea it will be so relevant in the 21st century. And Stalin was in Siberia during the early stage of the revolutions he was nobody at the moment. And he forgot about Cehia too as an independent state after the war.

32:38 As other commenters have noted: The treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Versailles must not be compared directly, as they came about under much different circumstances. This is not to say anything about their respective merits or deficiencies, it is just calling out bad historiography. [timestamp added]

Fascinating. Learned a lot from this. Thanks.

What is astonishing is how Lenin was able to be put in the position to even negotiate. The German’ put him there!

Great lecture i do disagree with the throw away line about irish recruitment but still great lecture

Fun fact: at the time of this class it had just come out that Lenin did promise to get Russia out of the war... promise Berlin, that is. Who bankrolled his little campaign into Russia.

It would have been good to actually go over the particulars of the negotiations to explain *why* Germany ended up making that peace, instead of the far less draconian initial proposals.

The Brest-Litovsk Treaty was also important in the 1930's because the Allied Powers had developed a guilty conscience in that the Treaty of Versailles had been unfair to the Central Powers. Hitler's actions, therefore, in attempting to unite all German speaking peoples under the German Reich was an attempt to right this historical wrong. It was believed that once this had been achieved Germany would make to further territorial demands. What was forgotten at the time by people who should have known better was that the B-L Treaty was far, far more severe than the Versailles treaty. If the Allied Powers had used the B-LT as the model for the Versailles and had the will to back it up militarily, then Germany have been finished as a major industrial power. Also, what Dr Stone's otherwise excellent presentation omitted, was that in addition to the territorial grab the Germans demanded that the Russians 300 million gold marks as part of the reparation.

Enjoyable and interesting, but In ww1 the draft did not apply in Ireland. The 200 ,000 who fought in the British Army were all volunteers

I'd like to see a lecture on the displaced political class after the bokshevics took over Russia. I'm sure a bunch fled but what about the ones that stayed behind?

You’re a German soldier and you’ve somehow survived fighting through the entire war, seen both fronts, you’ve killed so many people at this point you are feeling very guilty about not knowing how many. You’ve believed for months that Germany would lose. You worry about your family and what will happen after. Then Russia signs Brest Litovsk, and you are transferred to the Western front. For the first time in a very long time, everyone has hope. With so many men, the war could very likely be over and the Germans emerge victorious. It’s all playing out perfectly in your mind; just as you receive word that an attack will begin shortly. You feel some of the air of 1914 fill your lungs. The whistle blows. Over the top, and across that deadly space you’ve crossed many times. But this time you remember how it was the first time and you remember not being so hungry. Oh, to feel that once again! Into the enemy trench, and the unknown body count climbs by three. You clear the trench. You see a few of your comrades duck into an enemy dugout. You start to head in. You hear the sounds of battle continuing as your eyes adjust to the dim interior. Like a vision, you see it. A table from another time, not holding a few scraps that men argue intensely over; but abounding with food. Fresh cooked sausages, bread, eggs, butter.. and what you can only hope is an unopened bottle of wine. A very brief thought tells you the war is not won yet, but like the food quickly vanishing from the table in front of you, that thought disappears. You hurry to the table and scarf down anything you can reach. It strikes you that you thought it would taste better, but then you realize your eating so many different foods and so fast that you couldn’t possibly distinguish between each taste… and then blackness. For some time you feel yourself completely devoid of senses. You first think that a hidden enemy must have picked you to be the one German he kills from his hiding spot under the table. So this is what it feels like, huh? Not so bad after all. But suddenly you see images flashing across your eyes. Images of a future. It is unclear at first what the images mean, but soon enough you start to realize that Germany must have lost the Great War. Then there appears images of another war, much larger and deadlier. Germany loses that war also. Occupation, tyranny, starvation, a police state, upheaval.. and then a magical square with a moving picture of a man speaking. You are confused at first, because he seems to be speaking about the Great War. He’s speaking of the peace that Russia signed. He says the reason their signing was so important is that it changed the rest of the war, allowing German troops; meaning you in fact, could be transferred to the west to help win the war. He says Germany was so close, so very very close.. and then he says the phrase that brings you back to the table of food… “German troops would actually stopped their attack to eat the food they found in the enemy trenches… if that had not happened Germany would very likely have won the war.”

Worse than Versailles? Russia did not lose any Russian territories, lost control of FOREIGN peoples, that is a HUGE difference. Plus. They got to keep an army and navy. They were not saddled with reparations. So Russia did not lose anything Russian, compare that to Germany... or to Austria-Hungary!

No comment. No apologies.

How does Trotsky abstaining give Lenin a majority unless somebody else abstained.

I hope some Western European politiocans listens to this man...

The problem with the intervention was that the US troops were under operational control of the Brits. The Brits gave us tea instead of coffee, therefor, Stalin came to power because Americans couldnt get coffee

"That Ukraine was created as an independent state as a tool of the West to harm Russia." As a Ukrainian, not only can I agree with this observation, I endorse it!

I don't think Germany could have won WW1 under any circumstances. The spring offensives were a last gasp. The British blockade, the downright deadly tactics being developed by the British, (the Australians and Canadians had been the first storm troopers, in 1917); coupled with the fighting spirit of the French, flagging though it was, they were nowhere near defeated; the imminent arrival of the US in force, plus the technological advantage that tanks, and other new weapons were beginning to demonstrate on the battlefields, not to mention the huge economic advantages in the Allies favour would have won out in the end... the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk merely prolonged the inevitable defeat looming over the Central Powers

Brest Litovsk was not as bad as Versailles. It was actually in the interests of the west. These new states were set free from Leninism and the horrors Bolshevism would bring, they had a bit more autonomy than they had under the Russian empire, AND Germany needed resources and food for the war effort. Also Baltic Germans had made up large parts of the ruling class for centuries in some of these lands. Brest Litovsk has a justification for being greedy, it was NEEDED! Also what’s so bad about essentially changing 1 imperial master for another? These lands went from Russia domination to Germany domination, it was simply a change of hands, and one which gave them more autonomy than before. Arguably a preferable alternative to communism too. There was also no war guilt clause, no ridiculous reparations, and very little separation of a unified people group unlike at Versailles. Versailles was vindictive, emotional, drew up ridiculous boarder arrangements and made conditions in Germany unbearable. The ‘stab in the back’ also isn’t entirely a myth. Germany agreed to an armistice on Wilson’s 14 points. Instead what they got as an INTENSIFIED starvation blockade and a completely dishonourable peace treaty. So yes this was a political stab in the back. They were duped into disarming when they still occupied enemy land. Of course it’s likely they would have collapsed anyway, but they gave up the fight on a false pretence…..

American Frank Martin DiMeglio has surpassed Newton and Einstein.

Anyone else watching this as Ukraine gets invaded by Russia?

The Ukrainians relish rubbing all that in the Russians’ noses, by using the symbols of the Hetmanate, all the more since February 2022. They use white crosses on their tanks, sometimes even the Balkenkreuz, they have a ‘Jaeger’ brigade with the Edelweiss badge. Their naval ensign is based on the German imperial ensign and war flag, the national flag and trident symbol are from the Hetmanate, etc etc.

is he insane? Fortress of Brest "falling down"? It looks so because of all the damage sustained during the WW2.

I have always found it sort of amusing, in a morbid way, that the Germans complained so much about the Versailles treaty after they inflicted Brest-Litovsk on the Soviets. The latter treaty was far more draconian.

Kühlmann lol

Why is the treaty of Brest-Litovsk seen as so negative? Couldn’t it be argued that is was freedom for the people and nations invaded and cruelly ruled by the Russians. Self-determination. Or is the lecturer arguing Finland, Poland etc. rightfully belong to Russia? Also, there were no reparations, no payments, no war guilt paragraph and no land grab by Germany or Austria-Hungary at all. How is this even remotely comparable to Versailles? I really don‘t get it, can anybody explain?

Trotsky would have ruined Soviet Russia,and was replaced as negotiator.

You really over exaggerated how close germany were to winning the war. Sure it made the British and French shit themselves. And eventually had one person in ferdinand foch in charge. But the Germans were running low on everything, the Austrians were crumbling and so Bulgaria and the ottomans. Having the American meant meant it was too much for Germany to deal with

Interesting watching this in June 2023 right after Prigozhin Wagner Group mutiny. Nightmare for Putin.

The world would be a better place if Germany was allowed to keep these territories.

VlaDEEmer Lenin. I thought it was Vlad uh MEER....

So Austria is getting Hungry and wants to end the war but Tortsky is Stalin.

Lazy "point in history" case. When speaking about contemporary events he forgets to mention the famines both Lenins War Communism & Stalins Holodomor mass murdered through genocidal summary executions & forced labor in Ukraine primarily but also in areas around the Fergana Valley, Crimea, & the Caucuses were done then to centralize Totalitarian power & is used today to justify Russian chauvanism. Super weak emphasis on the consequences of Treaty of Brest-Livtosk. The legacy of this treaty allowing independence to people under the thumb of reactionary regimes for hundreds of years is a better subject to cover.