Mata Hari, an enchanting Dutch dancer, is convicted of spying and is sentenced to death in Paris.

20 Aug.

French troops break through German lines along an eleven-mile front at Verdun.

15 Sept.

Aleksandr Kerensky proclaims Russia a republic.

17 Sept.

Russian troops are routed from Riga, Latvia, on the Baltic Sea by the German army, further unsettling Kerensky's provisional government.

24 Oct.

The Battle of Caporetto begins on the Italian front with an offensive launched by combined German and Austrian forces that drives the Italian army back to the Piave River, inflicting heavy casualties. The advance is halted only after French and British reinforcements arrive. The Italians suffer 320,000 casualties.

6 Nov.

The third Battle of Ypres, in Flanders, ends when Canadian forces capture the town of Passchendaele.

7 Nov.

In a coup led by the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin, Kerensky's provisional government is ousted in Russia. This coup becomes known as the October Revolution...