Leon Trotsky meeting with German soldiers
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a treaty signed between the German Empire and Russian SFSR on 3 March 1918, ending Russia's role in World War I. The treaty led to the former Russian Empire ceding the Baltics to Germany as principalities, while Kars Oblast was ceded to the Ottoman Empire (it is still located in Turkey) and Ukraine became an independent nation. Between 1918 and 1919, the withdrawal of Imperial German Army and other Central Powers troops from occupied Russia after the end of WWI led to a power vacuum being created, and the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin and the White Army under Nikolai Yudenich would fight for control of the Brest-Litovsk cessions. By 1940, only Finland remained an independent state, with Russia retaking all of the lands ceded to the Central Powers in the treaty.