This letter is in accordance with the published circumstances. Trotzky
apparently endeavored to persuade Lenine that if Russia should declare
the war at an end, while refusing to sign a formal peace, the Germans
would not attack. They, on the contrary, attacked at once, and Trotzky
collapsed. History must determine whether he was honestly mistaken or
was merely seeking a means of "saving his face," while acting in the
German interest.