g this year warfare in the air continued to
advance. Guynemer (geen-m[)e]r'), the great French ace, who was lost on
September 11, had to his credit the destruction of fifty-four enemy
machines. The increase in the number of airplanes led to the grouping of
large numbers into regular formations (escadrilles), sometimes composed
of over a hundred planes. Each year showed a steady increase in the
effectiveness of this kind of warfare. In 1916 a total of 611 enemy
machines had been destroyed or damaged by the Allied forces. In 1917 the
French destroyed forty-three in twenty-four hours; and the British
brought down thirty-one enemy planes in one combat. In a single week in
1918 the Allies destroyed 339 German planes. On one day, October 9,
1918, three hundred and fifty airplanes were sent forth by the American
army in a single bombing expedition.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.--In 1917 the Allied cause received a heavy
blow through the collapse of the Russian government. Long before the war
there had been parties in Russia which desired to do away with the
autocratic government of the Czar and substitute some sort of
representative system which would give to the people a voice in the
management of their affairs. These reforming parties did not agree among
themselves as to the kind of government they wished to set up; their
ideas extended from limited monarchy of the English type, all the way to
anarchy, which means no government at all. In 1905 the Czar met the
wishes of the reformers to the extent of establishing the Duma, a sort
of representative assembly or parliament, which should help in making
the laws. The Duma, however, was never given any real authority, and as
time passed those who believed in Russian democracy became more and more
dissatisfied.

During the war the Germans by means of bribery and plotting did all they
could to weaken the authority of the Russian government. There existed,
moreover, much corruption and disloyalty among high Russian officials.
As the war dragged on a shortage of food added to the general
discontent. By the early months of 1917, conditions were very bad
indeed, and dissatisfied crowds gathered in the streets of Petrograd.
Hunger and hardship had made them desperate, and they refused to
disperse until the government should do something to relieve the
situation. Regiments of soldiers were summoned to fire upon the crowd.
They refused to do so and finally joined the mob. Thus began the Russia