Operation Faustschlag

Background

The peace talks between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers that began in December 1917 at Brest-Litovsk reached an impasse by late January 1918. The Soviet chief delegate, Leon Trotsky, sought to drag out negotiations until revolution broke out in Germany, and on 10 February he famously declared 'neither war nor peace' (ни войны, ни мира) and walked out. General Max Hoffmann, chief of staff on the Eastern Front, took this as the cue for military action. Germany had already signed a separate peace with the Ukrainian Central Rada on 9 February, and on 17 February it notified Soviet Russia of the end of the ceasefire.

The Soviet military situation was catastrophic. Commander-in-Chief Nikolai Krylenko had ordered full demobilization on 29 January, and the old imperial army had effectively ceased to exist. Only small Red Guard detachments and Latvian Riflemen units remained at the front.

The Offensive

The offensive unfolded along three axes: north (Pskov→Narva), centre (Minsk→Smolensk), and south (Kiev). The northern force captured the key Daugavpils junction on the first day; the centre took Minsk on 21 February; the south secured Kiev on 2 March. German forces advanced 240 km in a week and reached within 160 km of Petrograd.

General Hoffmann described the operation in his diary as a 'Railway War' (Eisenbahnfeldzug): 'We put a handful of infantrymen with machine guns and one gun onto a train and rush them off to the next station; they take it, make prisoners of the Bolsheviks, pick up a few more troops, and so on.' German losses were negligible: twenty killed and eighty-nine wounded.

Political Aftermath

Faced with the unstoppable German advance, Lenin pushed the Central Committee to accept even harsher German terms, overcoming fierce opposition. On 23 February the Central Committee voted 7–6 in favour (Trotsky switched his vote at the last moment), and on 3 March the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed. Soviet Russia surrendered the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland, exiting the war entirely. On 12 March the Soviet government moved its capital from Petrograd to Moscow. Germany's plan to turn the occupied territories into satellite states collapsed when the German Empire itself was defeated in November 1918.