Map 6: Russia Collapses

[Hauksbee 103]

      Russia capitulates in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

 

Following the collapse of the Czarist regime in the February 1917 Revolution, a provisional government led by Aleksander Kerensky came to power in Russia. Kerensky's government was unable to impose discipline on the unraveling Russian military or conduct effective military operations. German authorities allowed Vladimir Lenin, then in exile in Switzerland, to travel via special train through German-occupied territory into Russia where he and his Bolshevik allies took political leadership of the anti-war cause. After seizing power in the October Revolution, the new Bolshevik government was forced to negotiate peace with the Germans from a position of extreme weakness. At the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, Russia abandoned its previous rule over Finland, most of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, and Belorussia. German plans called for this territory to be reorganized as a series of German-dominated satellite states but the failure of the Spring Offensive in the West and the subsequent German surrender rendered the new order in the East irrelevant.

 

 

[+Gepard 11,244]

 

 German authorities allowed Vladimir Lenin, then in exile in Switzerland, to travel via special train through German-occupied territory into Russia ...

 

 

This is wrong. Correct the sentence must be: "German authorities allowed Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin and some comrades to travel, in a special locked one wagon train, from Switzerland ,where he was in exile, through Germany to Sweden, which he arrived via ferry. In Sweden larger amounts of money was passed to him by German diplomats. From Sweden he traveled via Finland to Petrograd to start a new socialist revolution."

[Hauksbee 103]

This is wrong.

Quite right. It was Germany to-Sweden-to-Russia. And it seems that the "sealed train" was only one car long. I had always wondered (when I thought of it at all) how it was done. That it must have been a great trick of espionage to smuggle Lenin eastward from Germany into Russia. And a long journey to boot. Like most magician's tricks, when you see how it was done, it's obvious.

[+Gepard 11,244]

And it seems that the "sealed train" was only one car long. I had always wondered (when I thought of it at all) how it was done.

 

They put Lenin and comrades into a simple cattle wagon. There was only a little bit straw in it and a small coal oven, some food and a small bin for p***. When the passengers were in it, the doors were locked with padlocks. The padlocks were released when the train arrives the ferry port of Sassnitz at the island of Rügen. The travel was 2 or 3 days, iirc and there were some 30 people aboard.

[Hauksbee 103]

My Gad! I had always assumed it was (at the very least) a third-class Pullman-style coach. And while I knew that 'sealed' meant nobody got on or off, padlocking the door seems really harsh. It's like slapping Lenin in the face, then dispatching him to save Germany's butt.