ABSTRACT
In 1917 news of the March Revolution in Petrograd and the abdication of the Czar astounded the Allied capitals. For the Allies, Brest-Litovsk provided a double reason for intervention in Russia. German intervention reduced Finland to the status of a military and economic vassal of Germany; a German prince -Friedrich Karl of Hesse was elected king but the general armistice forced German withdrawal before he could rule. The appointment of a mere ensign as Commander-in-Chief, the murder of Dukhonin, and the German truce, marked the end of the old Russian Army. In December 1918, with their power secure in northern and central Russia, the Soviet leaders determined to crush the theatres of resistance both in the Don and the Ukraine. Though the external war was over for the present, Russia was soon to reel under the horrors of a struggle much more terrible–civil war.
