Operation Faustschlag

The Operation Faustschlag or Unternehmen Faustschlag (lit. 'Operation Fist Punch'), also known as the Eleven Days' War, was a Central Powers offensive in World War I. It was the last major offensive on the Eastern Front.

Russian forces were unable to put up any serious resistance due to the turmoil of the Russian Revolution and subsequent Russian Civil War. The armies of the Central Powers therefore captured huge territories in Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, and Ukraine, forcing the Bolshevik government of Russia to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Background

After the February Revolution (March 1917) brought down the Tsarist monarchy of the Russian Empire, the Imperial Russian Army was turned into the Russian Army. While vowing to continue the war, the Russian Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet made efforts to humanise and democratise its command structure from its notoriously corrupt Tsarist hierarchy, to one that based the authority of officers on the support of their troops, and would no longer tolerate abuses of power. In particular, the Petrograd Soviet Order No. 1 suggested more equal treatment between soldiers and officers of all ranks, and electing representatives to the Petrograd Soviet, while still maintaining a hierarchical command structure and military discipline. Although some Tsarist officers had fled during the February Revolution, or suppressed mutinies by their subordinate soldiers, order was generally maintained.

The post-imperial Russian Army conducted the Kerensky Offensive in July 1917, but it resulted in a defeat. This further weakened the military and fuelled distrust in the Alexander Kerensky-led Provisional Government, but the Bolshevik anti-Kerensky July Days protests in Petrograd as well as Polubotkivtsi uprising in Kiev were successfully repressed.