Battles and Warfare

Many women served as nurses on the frontline Women in the War Many women served as nurses on the frontline Women also went to work the essential jobs the men had left behind This led to broader rights for women and helped with the passing of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote

Women in Russia In Russia, women were still not allowed to join in combat That didn’t stop many women from doing so anyway They would disguise themselves and volunteer One of the best known was Maria Bochkarëva By getting special permission from Tsar Nicholas II she was able to fight in the front lines

Women’s Battalion of Death After Tsar Nicholas abdicated, Women were allowed to join the war in special units Maria Bochkarëva was put in charge of organizing what became known as the 1st Russian Women’s Battalion of Death They trained fiercely and fought on the frontline Bochkarëva was eventually forced to escape to America when the Bolsheviks tried to execute her

War Casualties Country Men mobilized Killed Wounded POW’s + missing Total casualties casualties in % of men mobilized Russia 12 million 1.7mill 4.9mill 2.5mill 9.15mill 76.3 France 8.4 mill 1.3mill 4.2mill 537,000 6.1mill 73.3 GB + Empire 8.9mill 908,000 2mill 191,000 3.1mill 35.8 Italy 5.5mill 650,000 947,000 600,000 2.1mill 39 USA 4.3mill 126,000 234,000 4,500 350,000 8

Bolshevik Uprising Russia was exhausted by 1917 The Tsar was very unpopular thanks in large part to Rasputin In March of 1917 the Tsar abdicated and in July he and his family were killed The Bolsheviks uprising or October Revolution happened in November of 1917 Russia, under the rule of Vladimir Lenin, signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March of 1918 formally leaving the war

Vladimir Lenin

Up until this point, Germany had been fighting a war on two fronts Now that they didn’t have Russia on their back, they were able to push most of their forces to the Western Front This began the Hundred Days Offensive where Germany almost took France and ended the war

Appointed the General of the American forces Military experience John J Pershing Appointed the General of the American forces Military experience West Point graduate He refused for a while to let American soldiers fight in non- American regiments Eventually gave in and sent Americans to fight with the French and British

John J. Pershing

Influenza In case war wasn’t enough for the world, there was a devastating Influenza outbreak from 1918 to 1919 The Spanish Influenza Pandemic has been the deadliest in known history It killed more people than the war – between 20 and 40 million More people died of the Spanish flu than in all the years of the Black Death

Influenza in America About 675,000 people died of influenza Half of the American soldiers in Europe who were killed, died of the flu The flu effected people in the 20 to 40 age group There were no vaccines yet so the only way to fight it was through quarantine and the closing down of public spaces

The Fighting was over on November 11th, 1918 The War Ends With American help and because the Germans were exhausted, the war drew to an end The 100 Day Offensive ended with an armistice and negotiations began to sign a peace treaty The Fighting was over on November 11th, 1918