Question #892c9
1 Answer
Russia had two Revolutions in 1917, the October Revolution allowed a Russian exit from the War, but the United States was already involved by that time.
Explanation:
During the First World War, the Russians descended into acute war weariness, especially after the failure of the massive Brusilov Offensive in the summer of 1916. The February Revolution of 1917 brought down the Czar and ushered in an experiment in liberal democratic government. The Russians remained in the war, but fought defensively at this time.
The United States entered the war in April, 1917, and started to mobilize a huge military out of its tiny peacetime forces. Within a few months some Americans entered combat in the Western Front but the US would not field its own complete Army-sized formation until August 1918.
In the meantime, the Germans smuggled Lenin out of Switzerland and railed him through Germany so that he could re-enter Russia in the Summer of 1917 and destabilize the country. This was achieved with the October Revolution.
Germany then pressured the new Soviet Union for a seperate peace -- which was signed at Brest Litovsk in January 1918. The treaty granted German significant new resources, territorial rights in the Ukraine, and freed up some 600,000 soldiers for service on the Western Front.
These new advantages translated to massive new offensives by the Germans on the Western Front. In the Ypres Sector and the Somme, almost all of the Allied gains made at such cost in 1916-17 were rolled back, and for a while it looked as if Germany might win the war. However, the Allies managed to stabilize the front, and realized that the Germans were spending their manpower advantage recklessly. The power of these attacks dimished, and the last German offensive petered out in July 1918.
On August 8th, at Amiens, spear-headed by the Australians and Canadians, a surprise offensive shattered a German Army. On August 15th, 1st US Army unrolled its offensive. In the coming weeks, Germany realized its troops were outnumbered, and being outfought. As their armies caved in, the Germans sued for peace.
