March 14

Russia Ratifies Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

The Russian Congress of Soviets ratified the humiliating peace treaty with Germany, surrendering Poland, the Baltic States, Finland, and Ukraine — one third of Russia's European territory and half its industrial capacity. Lenin accepted the terms to save the Bolshevik revolution.

Brest-Litovsk freed a million German troops for the Western Front and gave Germany its greatest territorial gains of the war — both reversed when Germany lost in November 1918.