1917

Few years in modern history were as consequential as 1917. As the First World War entered its most desperate phase, empires began to collapse, revolutions erupted, and the United States abandoned neutrality to become a global military power. In a single tumultuous year, political decisions, battlefield disasters, social upheavals, and diplomatic gambles reshaped the course of the war and laid the foundations of the modern world.

1917: The Year the World Changed offers a sweeping account of these interconnected events. It follows the fall of Tsarist Russia, Lenin's return from exile, and the Bolshevik seizure of power, while also examining Germany's unrestricted U-boat campaign, the Zimmermann Telegram, and President Woodrow Wilson's decision to lead America into the conflict. Major battles at Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Caporetto, and the Chemin des Dames reveal the immense human cost of a war that seemed to have no end.

The story extends far beyond the trenches of Europe. The Balfour Declaration and the capture of Jerusalem transformed the politics of the Middle East, while China's declaration of war reflected the increasingly global nature of the struggle. The catastrophic Halifax Explosion, the rise of modern intelligence services, and the first signs of a devastating influenza pandemic demonstrate how the consequences of 1917 reached civilians and societies far removed from the principal battlefields.

The year also brought profound changes within the United States. Wartime mobilization expanded federal power, the Espionage Act placed new limits on dissent, women intensified their campaign for the vote, and the Great Migration accelerated as African Americans sought opportunity in the industrial North. These developments exposed the tensions between democracy, patriotism, civil liberties, and social change that would continue long after the fighting ended.

Engaging, detailed, and global in scope, this book reveals how twelve extraordinary months shattered an old political order and set the stage for communism, American internationalism, new national movements, future conflicts, and many of the defining struggles of the twentieth century. It is the story of a world at its breaking point-and of the new world that emerged from the upheaval.