1917

 US enters the war on the Entente side  Battle of Vimy Ridge  Battle of Passchendaele  Treaty of Brest-Litovsk – Russia leaves the war  The Halifax Explosion

 German U-Boats were attacking their convoys  The sinking of the Lusitania  Zimmerman Telegraph

 Growing discontent with the Russian government led to the abdication of Tsar Nicolas II  The provisional government was soon overthrown by the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin  The Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest- Litovsk with Germany in 1918, officially pulling Russia out of the war

 Whites (anti-bolshevik) vs. Reds (pro- bolshevik)  Led to the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the world’s first communist country  A majority of Russians were in favour of the Bolsheviks, because they had overthrown the oppressive Tsarist regime and pulled them out of the war

 The US, under President Wilson, intervened in the Russian Civil War  US troops reported that they witnessed more brutality on the part of the Whites, the group they were supposed to be defending!  The Russian campaign was considered one of the most ill-conceived interventions up to that time

 In December, 1917, two ships collided in the Halifax Harbour  Since one of the ships was loaded with explosives, it soon exploded  It is estimated that 2000 people were killed and 9000 people were injured  This was the largest man-made explosion in history to that point, and it brought the horrors of war home to Canada