Treaty of Kiev (Our Place in the Sun)

The Treaty of Kiev, more commonly known as the Kiev Accords, was a peace treaty signed on 2 February 1919 between the Second Russian Republic, the German Empire, the United Kingdom, and the many states that had nominally supported the republic during the Russian Civil War, but had also officially declared their independence from Russia. The treaty ended the civil war and forced the republic to acknowledge the independence of most of the Russian breakaway states. This breakup of Russia later came to be known as the “partition of Russia” and was a key accomplishment of German diplomacy in the interwar period. Notably absent from the signatories of the treaty was the government of Siberia, which saw itself as the rightful government of Russia (it had formed the Provisional All-Russian Government).

Russian Civil War
Following the October Revolution of 1917, Russia had become engulfed in a chaotic civil war between the Bolshevik Red Army and a loosely connected alliance of anti-Bolshevik forces known as the White Army. The forces of the White Army nominally supported the republican government of Alexander Kerensky as a temporary measure to fight the Bolshevik government, but throughout the war, many Russian regions or groups declared their independence from both the governments. When the October 1918 German intervention in the Russian Civil War ended in a swift victory for the Whites, the recently restored and reorganized Second Russian Republic had to deal with vast areas of the Russian nation which were in open revolt.

With the threat of the resumption of civil war becoming more and more serious throughout the weeks following the fall of the Bolsheviks, the Germans, seeking both to prevent the revival of the Russian state as a possible threat and to pursue closer relations with the Kerensky government, proposed a diplomatic solution in the form of a peace conference in Kiev, which was now neutral territory. The British were invited, as they had also been actively supporting the victorious White Army, so despite the animosity between the two nations, the Germans decided they should be invited as well. The Germans were also wary of what would become of the oil-rich Caucasus region following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the wake of World War I.

Negotiations & Provisions of the Treaty
Rather than sending diplomats, the various newly declared republics involved in the treaty directly sent their heads of state to negotiate, although the Germans and British both sent typical delegations. Among the various negotiators were: The negotiations were tense and lasted several weeks, but eventually an agreement was reached that was deemed more-or-less satisfactory for all parties involved. The Second Russian Republic would recognize the independence of the following countries: the Don Republic, the Kuban People’s Republic, the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, the Republic of Armenia, and the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (federal union of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia), and the Republic of Transcathay. The Second Russian Republic would retain official control over the Alash Autonomy and Turkistan, though they would have a great deal of sovereignty. The German Empire and United Kingdom both guaranteed the independence of all of the newly independent nations. In exchange, Russia would receive economic reconstructive aid from the Germans and British for 10 years. Many in Russia felt that the treaty was far too harsh, but realistically no resistance could be mounted as much of the Russian military had deserted to the various independence movements and German troops were still in Petrograd.
 * Pyotr Krasnov (Don Republic)
 * Alexander Filimonov (Kuban People’s Republic)
 * Tapa Tchermoeff (Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus)
 * Hovhannes Kajaznuni (Republic of Armenia)
 * Noe Zhordania (Republic of Georgia)
 * Fatali Khan Khoyski (Republic of Azerbaijan)
 * Alikhan Bukeikhanov (Alash Autonomy)
 * Mohammed Alim Khan (Turkistan)
 * Yuri Hlushko-Mova (Republic of Transcathay)

Aftermath
After the treaty was signed, Russia settled into a period of relative peace. None of the new states went to war with each other, though they did experience extreme internal strife for several years. The absence of the PA-RG from the negotiations led to the reopening of hostilities between Siberia and Russia in the Siberian War of 1919, but this conflict soon ended as well with the 7 June 1919 coup against Alexander Kolchak led by Pyotr Vologodsky and Anatoly Pepelyaev, which was followed by the mutual recognition between Russia and Siberia. The ensuing period of peace lasted less than 20 years before the rise of Joseph Stalin, and the nationalist pan-Russian revanchism that led to World War II.