Kornilov was arrested.

On 7 November (or 25 October by the old Russian calendar), the Bolsheviks seized control of the Winter Palace, arrested members of the provisional government and declared Lenin their chairman.

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Lenin addressing the masses, 20 May 1920 (Trotsky, right, stares at the camera)

Lenin and Trotsky now set about their mission to change Russia, freeing the workers and peasants from the chains of capitalism. Lenin proclaimed his Decree on Peace, inviting all belligerent nations to lay down their arms. Only Germany took him up on his offer. The armistice that officially ended the war between Russia and Germany, and her allies was signed on 16 December leading to negotiations at Brest-Litovsk in eastern Poland.

Germany’s demands of Russia were severe – the secession of Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Ukraine to the German empire – almost 30 per cent of its population. Even the Bolsheviks baulked at this and walked out of the talks. The German army prepared to make its point with a renewal of war. Lenin ordered Trotsky to sign. So on 3 March 1918, Trotsky returned to the table and signed the hated agreement, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Germany had at last a war on one front but Ludendorff had to station a million men on the Eastern Front to discourage the Russians from revoking the treaty. Nonetheless, he was still able to transfer the bulk to the Western Front, giving the Germans a numerical superiority over the Allies. It would not last long.

Russia now had a communist government. It may have lost vast swathes of territory and a sizeable bulk of its population but it had freed itself from the war. Instead, it descended into a civil war between the Bolsheviks and the counter-revolutionaries that was to last five long years.

USA

Germany compounded the error of sinking US ships with its U-boats by trying to draw Mexico into an alliance. In January 1917, the German Foreign Secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, sent a telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico with instructions to open negotiations with the Mexicans. He was to offer help to restore territories lost by Mexico to the US in the nineteenth century, namely New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The Zimmermann Telegram however was intercepted by the British. Decoded and published in their newspapers, it enraged US public opinion against Germany. On 6 April 1917, the US declared war on Germany, and their president, Woodrow Wilson, in his declaration, talked of making the ‘world safe for democracy’. The Allies, although delighted by this latest development, knew it would be many months before the US, with its small and poorly equipped army, would be fully prepared and battle-ready.

On 8 January 1918, in a speech to Congress, Wilson delivered his Fourteen Points, a programme for peace based on the principles of democracy and justice and not on punishment and reparations. Wilson hoped it would encourage the Central Powers to seek peace. Georges Clemenceau, the new French prime minister, was scathing – ‘Fourteen? The good Lord had only ten’.

Passchendaele

While Pétain was waiting for tanks and Americans, and determined not to expose his men to any more fruitless offensives, the onus fell on Britain. Unfortunately for the British soldier, Haig was convinced that a breakthrough was still possible and argued for another great offensive. Pétain advised against it. As did Haig’s own staff. Lloyd George too, was utterly opposed. But Haig had got the backing of the Conservatives within Lloyd George’s coalition and so got his way.

It started well in June 1917 at Messines Ridge, near Ypres. The British had spent two years tunnelling underground down to a depth of 100 ft (32 m). The Germans were digging in the opposite direction, slightly higher up. Sometimes, they came so close they could hear each other. Using only handheld tools, it was an amazing feat of engineering. They dug twenty-two mines in a position beneath the German-held ridge, and stuffed them with explosives.