Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/847

The Final Stages of the War: the Russian Revolution 633 Panama immediately followed the example set by the great North American Republic ; Greece, after much internal turmoil and dissension, finally, under the influence of Venizelos, joined the Allies ; in the latter half of the year Siam, Liberia, China, and Brazil proclaimed war on Germany. The war had become literally a world conflict. The governments of nearly a billion and a half of the earth's population were involved in the amazing struggle. Thirteen hundred and forty millions of people were committed by their rulers to the side of the Allies, and the coun- tries included in the Central European alliance had a total popu- lation of about one hundred and sixty millions. So nearly seven eighths of the population of the globe were nominally at war, and of these nine tenths were arrayed against one tenth, led by Prussia. Of course the vast population of India and China played a great part in these figures but had little or no part in the active prosecution of the war. And after the Russian revolution de- stroyed the old government, that country, with its millions of inhabitants, by the end of 1917 could no longer be reckoned an active factor. . 1145. The Neutral Nations. As for the countries which re- mained neutral, they included a population of perhaps one hundred and ninety -millions. Holland, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were far too close to Germany to risk breaking with her, although it would seem that many of their people disapproved of her conduct. Spain and a number of Latin-American states, in- cluding Mexico and Chile, held aloof. But no country could escape the burdens and afflictions of a war of such magnitude. Real neutrality was almost impossible. Everywhere taxes and prices rose, supplies were cut off, and business was greatly dislocated. II. THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION; THE BOLSHEVIKI 1146. The Russian Revolution (March, 1917). In March, 1917, one of the chief belligerent countries, Russia, underwent such a great internal change as greatly to modify the course of the war and the problem of peace. We must now consider the