Also Within this year in history

Across the globe, 1917 brought upheaval. Russians overthrew Czar Nicholas II, then staged a second revolution, putting Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks in power and sparking a civil war. The U.S. and China both declared war on Germany, entering World War I in its fourth year. Puerto Ricans gained U.S. citizenship. And as America’s first-ever female congresswoman took office, the push for women’s suffrage intensified, with increased picketing and the arrest of many activists, followed by jailhouse hunger strikes, force feedings and mistreatment.

Mar

08

European History

February Revolution begins, leading to the end of czarist rule in Russia

In Russia, the February Revolution (known as such because of Russia’s use of the Julian calendar) begins on March 8, 1917 when riots and strikes over the scarcity of food erupt in Petrograd. One week later, centuries of czarist rule in Russia ended with the abdication of Nicholas II, and Russia took a dramatic step closer toward communist revolution.

Wars and Conflicts - The Russian Revolution -

23/02/1917: On this day in 1917, the February Revolution in Russia begins Bolshevik demonstration in the streets of Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) during the days when the Kornilov uprising threatened the Provisional Government and Kerensky, its leader, was away on the Galician Front visiting the troops. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)

PA Images via Getty Images

Apr

06

World War I

The United States officially enters World War I

April 6, 1917: Two days after the U.S. Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war against Germany, the U.S. House of Representatives endorses the declaration by a vote of 373 to 50. As a result, America formally enters World War I.

WASHINGTON D.C. - APRIL 2: President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to send U.S. troops into battle against Germany in World War I, in his address to Congress in Washington D.C. on April 2, 1917.

WASHINGTON D.C. – APRIL 2: President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to send U.S. troops into battle against Germany in World War I, in his address to Congress in Washington D.C. on April 2, 1917.

The Stanley Weston Archive/Getty Images

Oct

15

European History

Dancer and spy Mata Hari is executed

Dancer, courtesan and alleged spy Mata Hari is executed for espionage by a French firing squad at Vincennes outside of Paris.

Mata Hari Posed in Youthful Glory

(Original Caption) Photo shows Mata Hari as she looked in the days of her glory, before the war. (Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images)

Corbis via Getty Images

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