Protest, Revolution, and War’s End, 1917–1918

By 1917, the situation was becoming desperate for everyone—politicians, the military, and civilians. Discontent on the home front started shaping the course of the war. Neither patriotic slogans before the war nor propaganda during it had prepared people for wartime devastation. Civilians rebelled in cities across Europe. While soldiers in some armies mutinied, nationalist struggles continued to plague Britain and Austria-Hungary. Soon full-fledged revolution was sweeping Europe, toppling the Russian dynasty, and threatening not just war but civil war as well.