The 19th volume of EVI, offered to the reader, covers the economic and political events of world history at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, which preceded the First World War. Based on broad factual material, it shows the aggravated contradictions between the leading capitalist powers, the inevitability of the rise and growth of the international labor and national liberation movement on the eve of the war and during hostilities from August 1914 to 1917, and analyzes the causes and consequences of the February Revolution in Russia. The reader's interest will undoubtedly be aroused by essays telling about the development of science, technology and culture at the turn of the century and showing Russia's contribution to the treasury of world civilization, especially in the field of literature and art.