March 1917 On the brink of war and revolution

Will Englund

Book - 2017

"We are provincials no longer," declared Woodrow Wilson on March 5, 1917, at his second inauguration. He spoke on the eve of America's entrance into World War I, just as Russia teetered between autocracy and democracy. In the face of turmoil in Europe, Wilson was determined to move America away from the isolationism that had defined the nation's foreign policy and to embrace an active role in shaping world affairs. Just ten days later, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne, ending a three-centuries-long dynasty and plunging his country into a new era of uncertainty, ultimately paving the way for the creation of a Soviet empire. Within a few short weeks, at Wilson's urging, Congress voted to declare war on Ge...rmany, asserting the United States' new role as a global power and its commitment to spreading American ideals abroad. Yet at home it remained a Jim Crow nation, and African Americans had their own struggle to pursue. American women were agitating for the vote and a greater role in society, and labor strife was rampant. As a consequence of the war that followed, the United States and Russia were to endure a century of wariness and hostility that flickers and flares to this day. This book reexamines these tumultuous events and their consequences in a compelling new analysis. Drawing on a wealth of contemporary Russian and American diaries, memoirs, oral histories, and newspaper accounts, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Will Englund examines the dreams of that year's warriors, pacifists, activists, revolutionaries, and reactionaries, and creates a highly detailed and textured account of the month that transformed the world's greatest nations.--From book jacket.

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Subjects
Published
New York : W.W. Norton & Company [2017]
Language
English
Main Author
Will Englund (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
x, 387 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages [331]-364) and index.
ISBN
9780393292084
  • Notes on the Text
  • Chapter 1. "Go! Go! Go!"
  • Chapter 2. "A Crime Against Civilization"
  • Chapter 3. "Rich Earth, Rotting Leaves"
  • Chapter 4. "You Fellows Are In for It"
  • Chapter 5. "We Have Had to Push, and Push, and Push"
  • Chapter 6. "People Think It Will Be Very Bloody"
  • Chapter 7. "A Twilight Zone"
  • Chapter 8. "No, Sir, Boss"
  • Chapter 9. "A Pleasant Air of Verisimilitude"
  • Chapter 10. "We Are Sitting on a Volcano"
  • Chapter 11. "Cossacks, Riding Up and Down"
  • Chapter 12. "Happier Days for All Humanity"
  • Chapter 13. "Nothing to Lose but Their Miserable Lives"
  • Chapter 14. "The Great Liberal Leader of the World"
  • Chapter 15. "It Might Be All Right for You to Have Your Little Pocket Gun"
  • Chapter 16. "Like a River at Flood"
  • Chapter 17. "To Scold an Earthquake"
  • Chapter 18. "Reeked with Patriotism"
  • Chapter 19. "A Mending of Their Troubles"
  • Chapter 20. "The Lid Is Kept Screwed Down"
  • Chapter 21. "When the Man-World Is Mad for War"
  • Chapter 22. "History Will Count You Right"
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Image Credits
  • Index
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Despite the plethora of books on WWI, Englund, an experienced Moscow-based correspondent for the Washington Post, crafts a novel and persuasive point of entry into the topic, focusing on the pivotal month of March 1917-"the most critical month in Washington since the Civil War." He structures his narrative history around two primary developments: the lead-up to U.S. involvement in the war in Europe, amid unceasing German submarine warfare and after raucous domestic debate, and the overthrow of czarist autocracy in Russia. Englund alternates between these two primary narratives and deftly interweaves additional stories and anecdotes to provide social, cultural, and political context for this pivotal time. These elements largely center on the U.S.: race relations, labor disputes, music, sports, and more. Englund uses light and compelling storytelling to enliven multiple narratives of select individuals, including then-President Woodrow Wilson, former president Theodore Roosevelt, "professional revolutionary" Leon Trotsky, women suffrage activists, an American banker in Russia witnessing its revolution, and a privileged couple in the Ukraine. Despite the lack of any groundbreaking perspectives or material, Englund delivers a satisfying, well written, and well timed work. Illus. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

In March 1917, World War I in Europe had sputtered to a stalemate. Few thought that the war would be over soon. However, that month altered the conflict's trajectory with the ouster of Nicholas II of Russia and the galvanizing of prowar forces within the United States. Journalist Englund, most recently Moscow correspondent for The Washington Post, ties these two events together in this debut book. The author maintains that when Russian liberals seized control, this event led to another ally for the Americans. As Englund narrates, because Russia was now democratic, the United States could trust her as a force of good in the defeat of autocratic Germany. This book nicely details both the political arena and the submerged social currents. It also adds to the knowledge base about this time period which has been described in Adam Tooze's The Deluge, Marc Ferro's The Russian Revolution of February 1917, and Ross Kennedy's The Will To Believe. -VERDICT Recommended for those eager to learn about -watershed moments in history and all readers interested in World War I.-Jacob Sherman, John Peace Lib., Univ. of Texas at San Antonio © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

In his debut, Washington Post assistant foreign editor Englund takes a close look at a month "that wrenched America toward a new course."This was the month immediately before Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to take America into World War I. Wilson, the book's central figure, was initially determined to keep America neutral but was also relentlessly drawn to the conclusion that escalating German attacks on American shipping required the nation to join the hostilities. Early in the month, the first Russian revolution broke out and the hapless Czar Nicholas II abdicated, thus eliminating the embarrassing prospect of Americans fighting for democracy alongside an absolute despotism. Supporting players in the drama include Theodore Roosevelt, fulminating for a war he would not be permitted to join; Jeannette Rankin, the first American congresswoman, who wanted to focus on obtaining suffrage for women but first had to decide how to vote on going to war; H.L. Mencken, the Germanophile journalist who spent March in Cuba covering a farcical failed revolution; and James Reese Europe, a pioneering jazz and military band leader. Englund is an accomplished storyteller, and he well captures the spirit of the time: in Russia, where the exhilaration and confusion as the nation stumbled toward a humiliating separate peace with Germany and a second revolution; in America, full of anxiety and anticipation as the country slid reluctantly into war. The author also ably portrays the unfortunate misperceptions about emerging Russian democracy. Englund's self-imposed time frame proves constraining, however. The events of March were, of course, the culmination of earlier developments that require and receive full explanation, particularly the resumption by Germany of unrestricted submarine warfare and the now-famous Zimmermann telegram. The coverage of Rankin's congressional debut effectively displays the distressing split that the prospect of war caused in the ranks of the suffragists, but the adventures of Mencken and James Europe seem of only tangential relevance. An entertaining narrative of events that have received more thorough treatment elsewhere. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.