The exceedingly harsh terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The treaty had caused even more economic hardship for the people of Russia, compounding the dire economic situation resulting from involvement in WWI and the backwards economic state of Russia even before the war. Evidence to support the harshness of the terms is that Russia were required to pay 3 billion roubles in war reparations to Germany, as well as giving up large swathes of territory, including Finland, Latvia, and - perhaps most significantly - the Ukraine, the 'bread basket' of Eastern Europe which had some of the most fertile land for growing crops. Since a large proportion of the population were peasants yet only a quarter of Russian land was good quality farmland, the loss of the Ukraine ensured more economic harship.