In October 1917, at Caporetto, the Italians engage in a bloody fight against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians that results in a humiliating defeat for the Italians. At the same time, in Russia, Lenin, leading the Bolsheviks, sets the October Revolution in motion. The new masters of Russia, the Communists, sign a separate peace treaty with the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. This frees the Germans to concentrate their troops on the Western Front. They reassemble their men, and begin a march into France, causing frightened Parisians to flee the capital. The American reinforcements, however, are now ready to fight. By July 1918, there are 1,300,000 American troops on European soil. The great German offensives, predicting a conclusive victory, now suffer a number of decisive defeats. The Allied forces, with a welcome boost from Uncle Sam, meet with triumph after triumph, at Saint-Mihiel, Bois Belleau, Vittorio Veneto, and the Marne. Alsace, Lorraine, and all the territories taken from France at the beginning of the war are liberated. This series of victories hastens the German downfall. In the meantime, British troops boast a succession of victories in the Middle East: Palestine, Syria, Anatolia, Iran, and Iraq are all taken from the Ottoman Turks, who end up capitulating. On November 11, 1918, on the battlefields of France, bugles are blown, marking the armistice. The fighting stops and the soldiers are finally able to go home. But the scars of battle would begin to fester again, not long afterward. The terms of peace drawn up by the Allies are humiliating for Germany. The "Peace Conference" that closes on June 28, 1919, at Versailles, sows the Second World War...And Europe, decimated and in mourning, must staunch its wounds and rebuild its future.