TimelineMapsSearch QuotationsSearch Images

Follow us through the World War I centennial and beyond at Follow wwitoday on Twitter


German and Russian soldiers fraternizing during the 1917 Armistice. Handwritten notes on the back include 'Deutsche Russische Verbrüderung' — 'Rus — Waffenstillstand 1917' — 'German Russian brotherhood' and 'Russian Armistice 1917.'

German and Russian soldiers fraternizing during the 1917 Armistice. Handwritten notes on the back include 'Deutsche Russische Verbrüderung' — 'Rus — Waffenstillstand 1917' — 'German Russian brotherhood' and 'Russian Armistice 1917.'

Image text

Handwritten notes on the back include 'Deutsche Russische Verbrüderung' — 'Rus — Waffenstillstand 1917' — 'German Russian brotherhood' and 'Russian Armistice 1917.'

Other views: Larger, Larger

Wednesday, January 30, 1918

"There is no doubt that the revolutionary happenings in Austria and in Germany have enormously raised the hopes of the Petersburgers for a general convulsion, and it seems to me altogether out of the question now to come to any peace terms with the Russians. It is evident among the Russians themselves that they positively expect the outbreak of a world-revolution within the next few weeks, and their tactics now are simply to gain time and wait for this to happen. The conference was not marked by any particular event, only pin-pricks between Kühlmann and Trotzky."

Quotation Context

Excerpt from the entry for January 30, 1918 by Count Ottokar Czernin in his In the World War. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, Czernin headed the Austro-Hungarian delegation to the Brest-Litovsk peace conference between Russia and the Central Powers. Hundreds of thousands of workers in Austria-Hungary and then Germany went on strike in January, 1918 as hunger and war-weariness bit. Hopes for an end to the war that arose from the December, 1917 armistice were dashed on January 12 when German military representative General Max Hoffman made it clear Germany would not evacuate occupied territory on the Eastern Front. Anticipating revolutionary activity across war-weary Europe, Russian representative Leon Trotsky played for time. Richard von Kühlmann was Germany's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and civilian head of a German delegation that was controlled by the military. He seems to have enjoyed sparring with Trotsky, to the dismay of Czernin, who recognized his country was on the verge of collapse. Petersburg is the Russian capital of Petrograd.

Source

In the World War by Count Ottokar Czernin, page 273, copyright © 1920, by Harper & Brothers, publisher: Harper and Brothers, publication date: 1920

Tags

1918-01-30, 1918, January, Brest-Litovsk, Trotsky, Leon Trotsky, Kühlmann, German-Russian fraternization, German-Russian fraternization tall Russian