Leon Trotzky asked the American military mission for ten American
officers to aid as inspectors in organizing and training a new volunteer
army, and requested the aid of American railway engineers and
transportation experts in the reorganization of the railways, March 20.
The same day he addressed the Moscow Soviet, calling for a new army of
from 300,000 to 750,000, commanded by trained officers.
Japanese and British marines were landed at Vladivostok on April 5,
following the invasion of a Japanese office by five armed Russians, who
killed one Japanese and wounded two others. The Siberian Council of
Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates protested to the Consular Corps, but
the Japanese representatives at Vologda explained that the landing was
only a local incident and that Admiral Kato had acted on his own
initiative.
The Trans-Caucasian Constituent Assembly, in session at Tiflis on March
21, refused to ratify the peace treaty with Germany, and urged immediate
war. On March 29 the Caucasus Diet approved the basis of a separate
peace agreement with Turkey, including autonomy for Armenia and the
restoration of old frontiers.
The Armenians and Georgians refused to recognize the cession of
territory made under the Brest-Litovsk treaty, and on April 3 fierce
fighting broke out in the districts of Batum, Kars, and Ardahan, as the
Turks began military occupation. The Georgians seized most of the
Russian warships in the Harbor of Batum and took them into the Black
Sea. On April 4 the Armenians recaptured Erzerum from the Turks, and on
April 7 the Turks took Ardahan from the Armenian forces.
Alexander Marghiloman, leader of the Conservatives, was appointed
Premier of Rumania March 20. On the same day Germany announced the
extension of the armistice until March 22.
On March 21 Germany increased her demands on Rumania, calling for the
surrender of all war munitions. Austria demanded the surrender of all
territory west of a line extending from a point east of Red Tower Pass
to a point on the Danube near Ghilramar, and also a strip of country
eighty miles long and ten miles wide in the region of Predeal. On March
23 Germany again extended the armistice because of a delay in the
formation of the Rumanian Cabinet. On March 29 Germany demanded that the
Rumanian oil wells be turned over to a German-controlled corporation.
German forces continued their advance in Ukraine, taking Kherson on
March 21 and burning Poltava on March 31. The Ukrainian Rada protested
against the German demand for 85 per cent. of the country's grain supply
and practically all of the sugar supply, March 27. On April 5 the
Bolshevist Government protested against the invasion by German and
Ukrainian troops of Kursk Province.
Finland protested to the German Government, March 29, against the arrest
of Major Henry Crosby Emery, representative of the Guaranty Trust
Company of New York, and his detention on the Aland Islands.
British and French troops were reported on March 31 to be co-operating
with the Bolshevist troops in the defense of the Kola and Mourmansk
troops against the Finnish White Guards. German troops were landed in
Finland April 3, and on the same day the Finnish White Guards captured
Tammerfors. The Russian fleet escaped from Helsingfors on April 7. On
April 8 Germany sent an ultimatum demanding the removal or disarmament
of all Russian warships in Finnish waters by April 12, and on April 11 a
German squadron, with several transports, arrived at Lovisa.
On April 14 German troops took Hyving and Finnish White Guards took
Bjoerneborg. Helsingfors was occupied by the Germans on April 15.
Abo was evacuated by the Red Guards on April 16.