Internally, China struggles to modernize and to resolve the conflict between democratization and one-man rule. Externally, the Chinese government seeks to enter the Great War, as a way of winning back German and Austrian concessions as well as earning a place as a peer of the Allies.

The Allies were reluctant at first, but manpower shortages encouraged their acceptance of Chinese assistance behind the lines. Then a U-boat attack killed hundreds of Chinese, giving China its own casus belli.

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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Chinese Buddhist Ritual
Recorded by Les Cartes and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. Source. 

Closing War Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

In the old days of the Belle Époque, in Paris, Mata Hari made a name for herself for her alluring and risqué dances, as well as for her exotic (and often invented) life story.

When the Great War came, being a mysterious woman with an invented past and no obvious means of support no longer drew curiosity and admiration but suspicion and hostility. It might even draw a firing squad.

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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Prelude from Carmen
Composed in 1875 by Georges Bizet. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source. 

Carmen Suite No. 2
Composed in 1875 by Georges Bizet, adapted by Ernest Guiraud. Public domain.
Performed by Papalin, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

It took the Italian Army eleven bloody offensives, and hundreds of thousands of casualties, but by mid-1917, they were halfway to Trieste and it looked as if the Austrian Army was collapsing.

Germany was forced to intervene. The result was the Battle of Caporetto, a humiliating defeat for Italy.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Cello Sonata in E minor
Composed c. 1725 by Antonio Vivaldi. Public domain.
Performed by the Telemann Trio. Public domain recording. Source. 

Closing War Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

By mid-1917, the Allies were in a precarious situation. The Nivelle Offensive had failed. Russia’s ability to keep up the fight was in doubt. The Americans weren’t even close to ready.

And so it fell to the British Army, commanded by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, to keep up the pressure on the Germans. Haig was eager to begin a new offensive, though the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, questioned the wisdom of such an operation.

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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Second Suite for Military Band
Composed in 1911 by Gustav Holst. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band. Public domain recording. Source. 

Closing War Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

The Kornilov Affair weakened both the Army and the Russian government, such as it was. The only people coming out of those events with their reputation enhanced were the Bolsheviks.

In early November (late October by the Julian calendar) the Bolsheviks are at last ready to seize control of the government.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 5 in E minor
Composed in 1888 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source. 

Closing War Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

Almost as soon as he appointed Lavr Kornilov commander-in-chief of the Russian Army, Alexander Kerensky began to worry that Kornilov was plotting a counter-revolutionary coup.

Then came the moment Kerensky had long feared…but was it merely a misunderstanding?

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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

In the Steppes of Central Asia
Composed in 1880 by Alexander Borodin. Public domain.
Performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source. 

Closing War Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

The Russian Provisional Government was looking weaker than ever, and the Kerensky Offensive only made the situation worse.

The Russian General Lavr Kornilov seemed to be the right soldier to revive the Army, but was he plotting a right-wing coup?

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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 4 in F minor
Composed in 1878 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source. 

Closing War Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

Alexander Kerensky became Minister of War and set to work revitalizing the Russian Army and planning a new offensive against the Austrians.

But word of the new offensive did not sit well with socialists, and particularly with the Bolsheviks in the Petrograd Garrison, who rose up against the Provisional Government.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Farewell of Slavianka”
Composed in 1912 by Vasily Ivanovich Agapkin. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Coast Guard Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

The question of war aims comes to the front and center when the liberal ministers of the Provisional Government repeatedly refuse to renounce Russian territorial claims and agree with the Petrograd Soviet on a “peace without annexations or indemnities.”

The resulting government shake-up brought socialists into the Provisional Government and made it a government of national unity like the ones in London and Paris…except for the Bolsheviks, who refuse to temper their criticisms.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Piano Sonata No. 3
Composed in 1917 by Sergei Prokofiev. Public domain.
Performed by Peter Bradley-Fulgoni, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source. 

Closing War Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.