Treaty of Königsberg (Our Place in the Sun)

The Treaty of Königsberg was the first of the three major peace treaties that followed the end of World War I. The treaty was signed between the victorious Central Powers and the Russian SFSR following the overthrow of the Russian Republic and the start of the Russian Civil War. Russia was the last nation to surrender to the Central Powers, and did so only because of the internal chaos that erupted from the Russian Revolution. The treaty saw harsh terms imposed on the Bolshevik government, as part of the German “suffocation policy” with regards to communism in Europe. The provisions of the treaty forced Russia to cede most of its industrialized lands, a significant portion of its farmland, over a quarter of its population, and all of its Black Sea access. The harsh terms of this treaty along with those of the Treaty of Brühl were part of the now harshly criticized German policy of Weltpolitik and total neutralization of potential enemies throughout the early 20th century, and are considered one of the main factors in causing World War II.

The negotiations took place at Königsberg Castle in the German city of Königsberg beginning on 22 December 1917, and the treaty was eventually signed on 3 March 1918.

Russian Collapse & the end of World War I
Throughout late 1916 and 1917, Germany and the Russian Empire had entered a stalemate on the eastern front. However, the underdeveloped Russian economy was unable to keep up with the economic output needed to cope with a lengthy, expensive war with a major power, and widespread shortages and famines began to take shape across the country, leading to widespread unrest and the overthrow of the Russian Empire in the February Revolution of 1917. The new Russian Republic opted to continue the war, however, with disastrous results in terms of economy and loss of life. When the French war effort collapsed following the Summer Offensive of 1917, many Russians had hoped the government would end the war. When the government again decided to continue the war effort, the public was outraged and further radicalized toward communism and other forms of radical leftism which promised to end costly imperialist wars.

Vladimir Lenin had arrived in Russia from Switzerland via German transport in mid-1917 and began calling for the overthrow of the Russian Republic. The public eventually acted on his calls and the republic was overthrown in the October Revolution, leading to the arrest of republican leaders and communist seizure of control. A top priority of the new government was bringing an end to the horrific war with Germany and focusing on rebuilding the Russian economy and improving the lives of the Russian people, so on 15 December 1917, they agreed to an armistice with the Central Powers.

Brest-Litovsk Conference
Initially, the treaty was to be negotiated and signed at the ruins of Brest-Litovsk in German controlled Russian territory, and this was initially what happened. However, a major misunderstanding during the negotiations, in which the Russians came to believe that the Central Powers wanted no territorial concessions, led to Russia’s temporary withdrawal from the conference to discuss possible options with the Bolshevik leadership. The Russian negotiators were visibly distraught when they realized the misunderstanding and were made aware of the German intent to annex vast areas of Russian land stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. During the interim, which lasted from 27 December to 6 January, the Germans decided to move the site of the negotiations to Königsberg, so as to not humiliate the Russians further by forcing them to negotiate in the ruins of one of their own cities.

Königsberg Conference
On 6 January, the delegations met once again, this time in Königsberg Castle. During the break in negotiations, the Germans had intervened in the Ukrainian Civil War, supporting the nationalists against the communist forces and seeing great successes. This was a centerpiece of the negotiations and was used as leverage by the Germans. Additionally, while the negotiations had been halted, the official armistice between Germany and the rest of the Entente Powers had been signed on 1 January 1918, which meant that all hopes of a miraculous collapse of Germany had been dashed. This left the Russians in a weaker position to negotiate than the one they had been in originally, so this time the demands of the Germans were even steeper.

Added onto the original demands were the surrendering of the entire caucasus to the Ottoman Empire, as well as what remained of the Black Sea coastline. In January, Leon Trotsky became the chief negotiator for the Russian delegation, and made every effort to prolong the negotiations in hopes of a proletarian uprising in Germany. It was becoming painfully clear that this would not be the case, and Russian forces were being defeated in Ukraine with the help of German training, equipment, and manpower, so the government began truly considering signing for the first time in late February. However, their tactic of stalling had failed miserably again, as, unbeknownst to the Russian negotiators, Germany had relocated hundreds of thousands of troops to the Russian front lines and now threatened to invade again should the Russians fail to sign the treaty within seven days. They presented a third treaty, this time demanding Finland as well. Overall, the negotiations were a disaster for the Russians, who eventually, on Lenin’s advice, reluctantly signed the treaty on 3 March 1918.

Provisions
The provisions of the treaty were purely territorial. The Germans did not deem it necessary to restrict the Russian military as they predicted communism would collapse imminently and a German-friendly government would come to power in short order. This lack of foresight was one of Germany’s key diplomatic mistakes that led to World War II, and many today argue that the war could have been avoided entirely had the Soviet military been crippled by the terms of the treaty, ending the need for German intervention in the civil war. The territorial provisions of the treaty included the following:
 * Germany:
 * Parts of Lithuania and Kurland were directly annexed by the German Empire and the rest of the Baltic region was turned into a German puppet state, the Kingdom of Livland, with Wilhelm’s son Wilhelm III placed on the throne.
 * Finland was granted independence from Russia and was nominally independent from Germany as well, but was heavily influenced by and dependent on Germany.
 * Belarus became a puppet state of Germany while Bessarabia was given to Romania. Ukraine was to be consolidated into the Ukrainian State and have a German-friendly government installed following the end of the Ukrainian Civil War. The Russians were to withdraw their military from Ukraine and allow the Germans to move in.
 * Poland-Lithuania was granted independence and became a puppet kingdom under heavy German influence.
 * Ottoman Empire:
 * The Ottomans directly annexed the west coast of the Caucasus region, though they would hold this area for less than a month before the collapse of the empire.