With political resentments already high, the deprivations of the harsh winter of 1916-17 cause them to boil over. The Russian Revolution has begun.

When the Great War began, Russian political factions mostly united in a common front to support the war effort, as political parties did in the other belligerent nations. But when Russia's military reversals and shortcomings in leadership became too obvious to ignore, opponents of the government began to speak up.

With the Mexican Revolution winding down and the prospects of war between Mexico and the USA seeming increasingly remote, the German Foreign Secretary explores the idea of inviting Mexico to declare war on the United States.