At any time, Russia seems to have never given up the opportunity to expand its territory, and every time it is a lion's mouth. For example, in the late Qing Dynasty, more than 6,543.8+100,000 square kilometers of fertile land was snatched from China, which is also the most suitable land for human habitation in Russia. For us in China, it seems very cold here, but for the Russians, it is an excellent geomantic treasure-house near the Arctic Circle.
However, although Russia is particularly greedy for land, it actually suffered losses in its territory. It signed the Brest Peace Treaty with Germany, in which Russia actually promised to cede more than 6,543,800 square kilometers of land, that is, many sovereign areas including Poland and Lithuania at that time, which Russia gave up.
There is no doubt that this is an unprecedented shame for Russia. Then why did Russia sign such an unequal treaty? In fact, we didn't know its wisdom until later.
One,
Things can be traced back to the First World War. 19 17 years, the first world war has entered its third year. At that time, the war between Germany and Russia had entered a white-hot stage. Although the territory of Russia is unprecedented, it is only superficial because of the backward domestic system. In fact, it has no hard power to compete with Germany, so the important industrial areas in Russia were quickly occupied by the Germans.
At this time, the tsar was unwilling to be subordinate to others, adding fuel to the fire. In order to fight against Germany, he increased the oppression of the domestic democratic party, forced the people to perform military service, and went to the front to fight against Germany. Due to the severe state oppression, many peasant uprisings and riots broke out in Russia. At that time, Russia spent a lot of military and material resources to suppress these riots.
Therefore, Russia at that time was a situation of internal troubles and foreign invasion, which was no different from that of the Ming Dynasty before its demise.
Second,
Later, Russian riots rose from the grassroots peasant class to the top of society. 19 17 February, February Revolution broke out in Russia, the Lomanov dynasty was overthrown, and the tsar was forced to step down. However, after the February Revolution, the ethnic contradictions within the Soviet Union and Russia have not been completely resolved, the class struggle is still very strong, and the situation of internal and external troubles has not been greatly alleviated.
In June 5438+10, German Lenin led the people to launch the October Revolution again. After the success of the October Revolution, the first socialist country, the Soviet Union, was established. However, the establishment of the Soviet regime did not end the Russian-German war, but made the contradictions within the country more serious.
Since there is no truce between Russia and Germany, the new government will naturally continue the war with Germany, which will inevitably continue to consume a lot of materials, and it will not reduce the pressure on farmers. Moreover, at that time, various domestic forces opposed to the Soviet regime launched rebel movements everywhere, and there were voices of independence or division everywhere. But it was very difficult for the newly established Soviet government to stabilize the whole country.
In order to stabilize the country, we must first stop the foreign war, so Lenin, then the leader of Soviet Russia, proposed a truce with Germany and adjusted his forces to devote himself to the civil war within Soviet Russia. After the Soviet Union and Russia proposed an armistice, Germany really gave up its attack and started armistice negotiations with the Soviet Union and Russia.
Third,
In fact, although Germany had always dominated the war against Russia at that time, it was difficult for Germany to continue to support the long-term war because of its small land area, so Germany agreed to the armistice agreement proposed by the Soviet Union and Russia.
However, although Germany was not ideal, the situation in Soviet Russia was even worse than that in Germany at that time, so Germany also wanted to take the opportunity to ask for a batch of reparations from Soviet Russia to make up for its war losses. After the negotiations between the two sides, Germany proposed that Russia cede some territories such as Belarus, Poland and Lithuania, covering an area of more than 1 10,000 square kilometers, and Germany also demanded compensation of 3 billion rubles.
Such a high asking price in Germany is obviously a lion's mouth. Russia has always been a militant nation, also known as the polar bear in battle, so the generals at that time even planned to directly refuse peace talks after hearing such unequal terms. However, Lenin, the leader of Soviet Russia at that time, was very appreciative of the results of such negotiations and demanded the signing of such a treaty.
However, although Lenin strongly advocated agreeing to such a condition, the treaty was not successfully signed because of many opponents, and the first negotiation between the Soviet Union and Germany fell through.
After the talks broke down, the Soviet Union and Germany went to war again, but it was obvious that Russia, which had experienced internal and external troubles, was no match for Germany at all, and Germany easily reached Petrograd, the then Soviet capital.
Fourth,
On the occasion of Enemy at the Gates, Germany, the negotiations between the Soviet Union and Germany began again.
Because this time Germany has more advantages than before, during the negotiation, Germany put forward higher bargaining chips and compensated more land, and the compensation changed from 3 billion to 6 billion. Although Germany's demands were even more excessive this time, the leaders of the former Soviet Union did not raise too many objections in this negotiation.
Because according to the situation at that time, the Soviet Union was no match for Germany at all, and if it continued for a long time, the new regime would only go to extinction.
At that time, after pretending to insist, most of the top leaders of the Soviet Union agreed to such a treaty, which clearly stipulated in the contract the land ceded by the Soviet Union to Germany, including Finland, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and other elite areas that had been implemented for hundreds of years. This 6,543,800 square kilometers is not a big piece of land for Russia, but it is the most developed industrial zone and the most prosperous economic zone in Russia's early years. Moreover, this place is also the most densely populated place in Russia, where 90% of Russia's coal, 70% of its iron ore and more than half of its industries are gathered, which is equivalent to the developed coastal areas of China, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.
Therefore, although only 1 10,000 square kilometers were removed, it was equivalent to weakening the strength of Russia at that time, which is why Russia has never agreed.
However, because Lenin's voice in Russia was too high at that time, most people had an unprecedented admiration for Lenin, so they finally chose to believe Lenin, but despite this, many people in China still thought that he was an out-and-out traitor.
Five,
However, with the passage of time, Lenin's genius was revealed.
Because not long after signing the contract, about eight months later, World War I ended. The day after Germany declared defeat, Lenin also declared the treaty signed with Germany illegal, denied all the contents of the treaty, and immediately declared war on Germany and recovered the areas occupied by Germany. In other words, although such an unequal treaty was signed, Russia did not bring much loss from beginning to end.
Some people think it was just an accident, but why don't we look back? This may be Lenin's strategy of delaying the war, and Lenin's strategy of exchanging space for time. Lenin's excellent political sense told him that he was not an opponent of Germany for the time being and needed enough time to develop and consolidate his political power. Germany was actually a spent force at that time and could not last long. All he has to do is. Consumption? Just stall Germany. Sure enough, he succeeded. He not only succeeded in getting rid of the traitor's hat, but even reached the peak of his reputation and became a god in the eyes of Russians.