Treaty of Brest-Litovsk — peace treaty (9 Feb. 1918) between the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Central Powers
The first treaty of the Brest-Litovsk negotiations, it granted Central Powers recognition of Ukrainian sovereignty in exchange for grain supplies during WWI.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- 9 February 1918
- Signatories
- Ukrainian People's Republic and Central Powers
- Central Powers involved
- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria
- Soviet Russia treaty date
- 3 March 1918 (separate treaty followed)
- UPR territory outcome
- Split between USSR and Poland by Treaty of Riga (1921)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Austria-Hungary faced a severe famine threatening its military and civilian population, making access to Ukrainian grain supplies urgent. The armistice on the Eastern Front in December 1917 opened diplomatic channels at Brest-Litovsk, where the Central Rada's delegation sought international recognition for the Ukrainian People's Republic amid competing claims from Soviet Russia and internal Bolshevik pressure.
On 9 February 1918, the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Central Powers signed a separate peace treaty at Brest-Litovsk. The agreement ended Ukraine's participation in World War I, secured Central Powers recognition of UPR sovereignty, fixed the Austro-Hungarian border along the 1914 line, and established a grain-for-military-assistance arrangement. Soviet Russia's delegation refused to recognise the UPR negotiators, derailing a broader general peace.
Austro-German forces intervened in Ukraine and expelled the Red Army by April 1918, though their presence undermined the Rada and led to its replacement by Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi's Ukrainian State. Austria-Hungary's use of national self-determination as justification accelerated nationalist separatism within its own borders, contributing to its dissolution within nine months. Germany's recognition of the UPR was later cancelled by the Treaty of Rapallo in 1922.
Political Outcome
The Ukrainian People's Republic gained Central Powers recognition of its sovereignty; Central Powers received Ukrainian grain and goods; Austro-German military intervention followed, ultimately undermining UPR independence.
Ukraine embroiled in WWI without formal international recognition; Bolshevik forces contesting UPR authority internally
UPR recognized as sovereign by Central Powers; Austro-German troops drove out Red Army but subsequently installed Hetman Skoropadskyi, replacing the Rada