ents of 1917 were the entrance of America into
the conflict and the revolt in Russia, which caused the abdication of
the Czar and turned the great country into a republic. The ultimate in
Russia's history is still to be written, but the change was fraught with
disaster. The people let free, and unaccustomed to self-government,
could not be controlled, and the army became demoralized.

The element which had been loyal to the Romanoffs refused to fight for
liberty, and the Germans, taking advantage of the situation, drove the
Russian troops back over the frontiers and gained all that the Russians
had once taken in conflict. And out of this grew one of the most
picturesque incidents of the entire war. Russian women and girls, filled
with ideals and with a deep sense of the responsibilities which rested
upon the nation, formed a corps, and, dressed in full military costume,
went to the front and attacked the German troops. No soldiers of any
nation have shown more heroism, or more capability, for the women faced
the bullets, and, while they were being mowed down by the German guns,
they urged their men to face the enemy and fight--fight--fight.

BRITISH NAVY AN EFFECTIVE ASSET.

While there have been few of the picturesque battles on the seas, which
the world has long regarded as a necessary adjunct to a successful war,
the work of the British Navy has proved through the period of the
conflict to be one of the most powerful and effective assets of the
Allied forces. Through the operation of the British fleet, later
augmented by an American war fleet, the German ships have been corked up
in their home ports and chased from the seas.

The first naval battle of the war was an engagement between portions of
the British squadron in the Pacific and a superior German force. The
engagement occurred off the coast of Chili in November, 1915. Two
British vessels were lost and a third badly damaged. However, a few
months later, the German squadron, in command of Admiral von Spee, was
met off the Falkland Islands by a second British squadron, and in the
engagement four of the German vessels were sunk and a fifth damaged.
This vessel was later sunk.

The most important naval engagement was the battle of Jutland in May,
1916, when Admiral Beatty met a German fleet in the North Sea. The
German boats made a dash from the Kiel canal and engaged the British off
the coast of Denmark. Both England and Germany claimed victory, the
former