Part 1 of this series¹ ended with the start of the Great Migration of African Americans, many of them Republicans, from the South to cities in other parts of the country. Abroad, several nations were waging World War I.

Suffering heavy losses and other hardships in World War I, the Russian military was verging on mutiny. In 1905, Russian civilians had attempted a revolution, resulting in significant reforms, including the Russian Constitution of 1906, but not in conclusive victory for the revolutionaries. In March, 1917 (February, Julian calendar), they attempted a second revolution. Leaders of the Russian military did not try to suppress it, but, again, the revolutionaries did not prevail.² Russia went on with a loose(ish) form of dual government. In 1917, the U.S. entered World War I.