The History of the Twentieth Century

Before the Allies were ready to negotiate with the Central Powers, they had to have a "pre-meeting" among themselves to establish a common negotiating position. This "pre-meeting" lasted five months.

With the War now behind us, we take a moment to reflect on its most important lessons.

The United States had a mid-term election just before the Armistice. The UK had a general election just after. Both elections would help shape the post-war world. Also, we say goodbye to Theodore Roosevelt.

The influenza virus that emerged in 1918 was more deadly than was typical for the disease. Because of the Great War, the virus was carried to every corner of the world, including into populations of human beings who had never known the disease before. The death toll was staggering. This epidemic was the deadliest in human history, in terms of absolute number of persons killed.

Influenza has plagued the human race for some 12,000 years. It is caused by a virus, an infectious agent barely understood in 1918.

Once Bulgaria quit the war, the dominoes began to fall. By early October, both Germany and Austria were in diplomatic exchanges with the US over peace terms. When news of this became public, both of those governments experienced domestic political collapse.

The German commanders and their African askari soldiers fought a smart and determined guerilla campaign against the British that actually lasted longer than the war in Europe had. But when news of the Armistice reached them, it was time to lay down their weapons.

The German spring offensives of 1918 were intended to force an end to the war before Allied numerical superiority became decisive. But the offensives failed, the German Army is crumbling, and mobile warfare has returned to the Western Front.

It was poetic that the war would end where it began, in the Balkans. An Allied offensive against a weary Bulgaria led to an armistice, forcing the Ottoman Empire--and Austria and Germany--also to sue for peace.

The policies of the new Bolshevik government befuddled both the Allies and the Central Powers. Both sides in the war sought better relations with Moscow, but the murders of the Imperial family signaled that the Bolsheviks were not ready to make nice.

The end of the war on the Eastern Front and the Italian defeat at Caporetto gave Austria-Hungary a badly needed military respite. But domestically, the country was crumbling, economically, socially, and politically. Discontent has reached critical mass.

The length and the toll of the Great War were a tragedy, but for Czech and Slovak nationalists, they also presented an opportunity to shake off the bonds of Habsburg rule and achieve independence.

In Russia, the Bolshevik government succeeds in throttling the Constituent Assembly and taking full control of the national government. They find themselves up against an array of enemies, including Czech and Slovak soldiers who had been fighting in the Russian Army.

A year after the US declared war on Germany, America's contribution to the war effort was still small. Later in 1918, after working through some political and organizational difficulties, American units began to make a difference on the battlefield.

Now that peace had come on the Eastern front, German soldiers were redeployed to the Western Front in one last-ditch attempt to win the war before the number of US troops on the Western Front became overwhelming.

Leon Trotsky challenged the Allies to state what great cause they were fighting for that justified continuing the war. With the Central Powers showing signs of readiness to negotiate, Woodrow Wilson lays out his conditions.

The Great War was framed in the West as a fight for the future of democracy, but in this episode we ponder how the demands of war are weakening democracy at home.

We look at economic and social changes in America brought on by the war, including the Espionage Act and new restrictions on freedom of expression.

Early 1918 saw both Germany and Russia each eager to make peace for their own reasons, but the power of the German military forced the Bolshevik government in Russia to accept the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

The October Revolution was seen at the time as merely replacing one temporary arrangement with another. But the Bolsheviks had other ideas.

Although Iran was not a belligerent in the Great War, Russian and Turkish armies clashed in Iran and the nation suffered. The Greek government split over the war question.

As British troops advance into Palestine, the British Cabinet formally embraces the concept of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, but does not explain what that means.

Is it because of the Great War that Billy Sunday had his greatest revival ever? Or that peasant children in Portugal witness miracles?

The Chinese government (despite its many internal problems) was willing to enter the Great War in order to reclaim concessions lost to Germany and Austria. The Allies were initially hesitant, but as the casualties mounted and the shortage of manpower became acute, Chinese civilian laborers began working behind the front lines. Later, after a U-boat attack killed hundreds of Chinese, China formally...

Mata Hari earned internationally acclaim as a dancer during the Belle Époque by trading on her exotic (and mostly invented) origins. But during the Great War, being mysterious and not entirely honest can get you killed.