The Long, Long Trail 1917 - Facts

 This book takes place during the war in 1917.

Edward and Forbesson make reference to Russia and Rasputin. Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (21 January 1869 – 30 December 1916) was a Russian mystic and faith healer. He is best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, through whom he gained considerable influence in the final years of the Russian Empire. 

Later Cook and the servants read about his death. A group of nobles led by Purishkevich, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and Prince Felix Yusupov decided that Rasputin's influence over Alexandra threatened the Russian Empire. They concocted a plan in December 1916 to kill Rasputin. Rasputin was murdered during the early morning on 30 December1916 at the home of Prince Yusupov. He died of three gunshot wounds, one of which was a close-range shot to his forehead. 

In the front Messines Ridge is blown. The Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917) was an attack by the British Second Army, on the Western Front, near the village of Messines in West Flanders, Belgium, during the First World War.The attack forced the Germans to move reserves to Flanders from the Arras and Aisne fronts, relieving pressure on the French.

The important incursion in 1917 is Ypres. The Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies against the German Empire. The battle took place on the Western Front, from July to November 1917, for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders, as part of a strategy decided by the Allies at conferences in November 1916 and May 1917. 

Edward starts working for the Ministry of Food, and his first superior is Lord Devonport. The Minister of Food Control (1916–1921) and the Minister of Food (1939–1958) were British government ministerial posts separated from that of the Minister of Agriculture.

Hudson Ewbanke Kearley, 1st Viscount Devonport (1 September 1856 – 5 September 1934), styled Lord Devonport between 1910 and 1917, was an English grocer and politician. He founded the International Tea Company's Stores, became the first chairman of the Port of London Authority, and served as Minister of Food Control during World War I.

Later Lord Rhondda replaced Lord Devonport. David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda (26 March 1856 – 3 July 1918), was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician. He was made a member of the Privy Council in 1916. He later held office, notably as "Food Controller" in Lloyd George's wartime coalition government.

Sadie talks about the women's land army. The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls (Land Lassies). The Land Army placed women with farms that needed workers, the farmers being their employers. The members picked crops and did all the labour to feed the country. 

Another measure was the creation of National Kitchens. National Kitchens were restaurants established in a British Government initiative during the First World War to feed people cheaply and economically, at a time when food supplies were scarce because of the German U-boat campaign.

The newspapers bring news about the Tsar's abdication during the riots in Russia. Emperor Nicholas II abdicated the throne of the Russian Empire on 2 March 1917, in the midst of World War I and the February Revolution. The Emperor renounced the throne on behalf of himself and his son, Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. The next day the Grand Duke refused to accept the imperial authority, stating that he would accept it only if that was the consensus of democratic action by the Russian Constituent Assembly, which shall define the form of government for Russia. With this decision, the rule of the 300-year-old House of Romanov ended. Power in Russia then passed to the Russian Provisional Government, signaling victory for the February Revolution.

America declares war on Germany on April 6. On April 4, 1917, the U.S. Senate voted in support of the measure to declare war on Germany. The House concurred two days later. The United States later declared war on German ally Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917.

The reason why the United States entered the war is the Zimmerman note. The Zimmermann telegram (or Zimmermann note or Zimmermann cable) was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office on January 17, 1917, that proposed a military contract between the German Empire and Mexico if the United States entered World War I against Germany. With Germany's aid, Mexico would recover Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. The telegram was intercepted by British intelligence. Revelation of the contents enraged Americans, especially after German State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Arthur Zimmermann publicly admitted on March 3, 1917, that the telegram was genuine. It helped to generate support for the American declaration of war on Germany in April 1917.

Another main incursion was teh Battle of Arras. The Battle of Arras was a British offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras on the Western Front. The British achieved the longest advance since trench warfare had begun.

Cook is bombed when she is Folkestone visiting her sister. Tontine Street in Folkestone was packed with shoppers preparing for Whitsun weekend when the attack took place.

In 1917 the King changed the name of the Royal Family from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor. 

Laura and Louisa are in Poperinghe, helping bring injured soldiers in the ambulance. During World War I, the town was one of only two in Belgium not under German occupation. It was used to billet British troops and also provided a safe area for field hospitals. Known familiarly as "Pop", it was just behind the front line and formed an important link for the soldiers and their families, especially through the rest house known as Talbot House (or "Toc H"). 

The men's club, Toc H, is what gives Laura the idea to open a similar establishment for women. Toc H  is an international Christian movement. The name is an abbreviation for Talbot House, "Toc" signifying the letter T in the signals spelling alphabet used by the British Army in World War I. A soldiers' rest and recreation centre named Talbot House was founded in December 1915 at Poperinghe, Belgium. It aimed to promote Christianity.  Talbot House was styled as an "Every Man's Club", where all soldiers were welcome, regardless of rank.

Oliphant is killed in Cambrai. The Battle of Cambrai  was a British attack in the First World War, followed by the biggest German counter-attack against the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) since 1914.