Revolutionary Crossroads: Trotsky's Impact on Brest-Litovsk Negotiations

Elias Carls

Leon Trotsky spent his political life in support of socialist ideology and shaping the major parties of Soviet Communism even during exile. Upon return from exile, he joined Bolshevik forces and upon creation of the Soviet Union, Trotsky was appointed Commissar of Foreign Affairs. As Commissar, he led a second Soviet peace delegation in Brest-Litovsk to withdraw Russia from World War One. In chapter 31 of My Life, Trotsky describes the purpose of the Soviet delegation as simply to prolong the peace talks long enough that their allies would join, or the proletariat uprising would spread to Western Europe. In his writings he extensively recorded the Russian strategy that led to the embarrassing treaty of Brest-Litovsk and provides insight into his "neo-diplomacy" policy. This poster will aim to explore the peace talks of Brest-Litovsk using the writings of Leon Trotsky to reveal the way Trotsky provoked the Central Powers to enforce harsher terms on Russia in a treaty that completely redrew the map of Europe and had lasting political impacts. 

• Elias Carls is a second year double major in public history and political science with an emphasis in public administration, plus a minor in religion. Elias is the vice president of History Club, a Presidential Ambassador, a member of the Honors College, and a member of the Phi Alpha Theta honors society. He presented this poster at the annual meeting of the South Carolina Historical Association on March 30th of this year.