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.
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After seven years of revolution and civil upheaval, Mexican President Venustiano Carranza proclaims the modern Mexican constitution, which promises the restoration of lands to native peoples, the separation of church and state, and dramatic economic and educational reforms. The progressive political document, approved by an elected constitutional convention, combined revolutionary demands for land reform with advanced social theory.
The Mexican flag flies over the Zocalo, the main square in Mexico City. The Metropolitan Cathedral faces the square, also referred to as Constitution Square.
John Coletti/Getty Images
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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.
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
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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.
The Stanley Weston Archive/Getty Images
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Dancer, courtesan and alleged spy Mata Hari is executed for espionage by a French firing squad at Vincennes outside of Paris.
(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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At 9:05 a.m., in the harbor of Halifax in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, the most devastating manmade explosion in the pre-atomic age occurs when the Mont Blanc, a French munitions ship, explodes 20 minutes after colliding with another vessel. More than 1,800 people died.
Bettmann / Contributor / Getty Images
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