This supplementary treaty resolved unfinished economic and indemnity clauses from Brest-Litovsk and laid groundwork for the 1922 Treaty of Rapallo.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- 27 August 1918
- Parties
- German Empire and Russian SFSR (Bolshevik Russia)
- Supplementary to
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918)
- Provisions in force
- Never de facto came into force
- Legacy treaty
- Treaty of Rapallo, entered into force 1922
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of March 1918 ended hostilities between the Central Powers and Soviet Russia but left unresolved the question of war indemnities owed to Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ukrainian People's Republic, as well as the terms of future economic relations between the parties.
On 27 August 1918, representatives of the German Empire and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic signed the Treaty of Berlin, completing and clarifying the political and economic clauses omitted from the Brest-Litovsk negotiations and establishing a framework for future economic relations between the two states.
The rapid military and political developments of September and October 1918 prevented the treaty's provisions from ever taking practical effect. Nevertheless, the agreement established precedents and diplomatic channels that contributed to the eventual conclusion of the Treaty of Rapallo between Germany and Soviet Russia in 1922.
Political Outcome
Supplementary agreement clarifying Brest-Litovsk clauses on indemnities and economic relations; provisions never came into force due to the collapse of the Central Powers in late 1918.
Unresolved war indemnity and economic terms between Germany and Bolshevik Russia following Brest-Litovsk
Framework established for German-Russian economic relations, later superseded by Treaty of Rapallo (1922)