Changes

=== Russia ===

=== Russia ===

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As the United States was entering the war on the side of the Allies, Russia suffered two succesive internal Revolutions which would later caused it to withdraw from the side of the Allies and leave the war altogether. The [[February Revolution]] overthrew the centuries old monarchy of the Tsar; the [[October Revolution]] ended any hopes for democracy within the former Tsarist territories for another two generations.  The lack of success against the German and Austrian Empires, and the hyperinflation caused by unsustainable military spending by the Russian government led to much internal discontent and economic chaos.

As the United States was entering the war on the side of the Allies, Russia suffered two successive internal Revolutions which would later caused it to withdraw from the side of the Allies and leave the war altogether. The [[February Revolution]] overthrew the centuries old monarchy of the Tsar; the [[October Revolution]] ended any hopes for democracy within the former Tsarist territories for another two generations.  The lack of success against the German and Austrian Empires, and the hyperinflation caused by unsustainable military spending by the Russian government led to much internal discontent and economic chaos.

Losses and hardship of the war had weakened Russian [[Czar Nicholas II]].  He abdicated the throne in March 1917 in favor of a provisional government headed by [[Alexander Kerensky]].  Hopes for a democratic revolution still existed at this time.  But in October 1917, [[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin]], and the [[Communist Party]], which was never strong enough to challenge the Czar, overthrew the fledgling provisional government.  The Communists later executed every member of the Czar's family including the children.

Losses and hardship of the war had weakened Russian [[Czar Nicholas II]].  He abdicated the throne in March 1917 in favor of a provisional government headed by [[Alexander Kerensky]].  Hopes for a democratic revolution still existed at this time.  But in October 1917, [[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin]], and the [[Communist Party]], which was never strong enough to challenge the Czar, overthrew the fledgling provisional government.  The Communists later executed every member of the Czar's family including the children.

Lenin became the founder of the Soviet state.  He was both a writer and a revolutionary, a rare combination.  He was the brother of the "bomb thrower" [[Alexander Ulyanov]] who was hanged for his involvement in terrorist activity and an assination attempt on Czar Alexander III in 1887. An atheist, he personally converted in 1889 to [[Marxism]]. He obtained a law degree shortly afterwards, and by 1895 was a subversive who was arrested and sent to the Tsarist gulag along the Lena River in frigid Siberia where he adopted the name Lenin after the place of his internment.  Once he served his time he left for Zurich, where he developed his ideas further and became a leader of the [[Bolsheviks]].  He was returned to Russia by the Germans in the wake of chaos during the Kerensky regime with the hope to led the Bolsheviks to power and negotiate a peace settlement with the Germans.  After the Versailles Treaty failed to recognize the settlement between Germany and the Soviet Unions in the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], he then ruled the Soviet Union and imposed a system of Marxism-Leninism (communism) that remained in force there until the 1990s.

Lenin became the founder of the Soviet state.  He was both a writer and a revolutionary, a rare combination.  He was the brother of the "bomb thrower" [[Alexander Ulyanov]] who was hanged for his involvement in terrorist activity and an assassination attempt on Czar Alexander III in 1887. An atheist, he personally converted in 1889 to [[Marxism]]. He obtained a law degree shortly afterwards, and by 1895 was a subversive who was arrested and sent to the Tsarist gulag along the Lena River in frigid Siberia where he adopted the name Lenin after the place of his internment.  Once he served his time he left for Zurich, where he developed his ideas further and became a leader of the [[Bolsheviks]].  He was returned to Russia by the Germans in the wake of chaos during the Kerensky regime with the hope to led the Bolsheviks to power and negotiate a peace settlement with the Germans.  After the Versailles Treaty failed to recognize the settlement between Germany and the Soviet Unions in the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], he then ruled the Soviet Union and imposed a system of Marxism-Leninism (communism) that remained in force there until the 1990s.

=== The Western Front ===

=== The Western Front ===