Kühlmann had entangled his opposite numbers in a web. But it was woven as much of Bolshevik self-deception as of German deceit. In taking the first dangerous steps towards a separate peace, it suited Lenin and Trotsky only too well to present the negotiations as an unexpected triumph. But the jubilation on the Soviet side following the apparently generous Christmas Day agreement was such that the leadership of the German delegation began to worry that, once the Bolsheviks were forced to confront the true nature of the agreement, the shock would derail the entire peace process.
