Also, like Hikermore, my maternal grandmother came to the US as a result of the Russian Revolution. They weren't involved directly in the war, but suffered the affects of it. The devaluation of the ruble, which the family fortune was in, cost them most of their liquid assets. Shortly after, the arrival of the losing White Russian Army in Manchuria forced them to flee. It wasn't sewing needles, but the great grandmothers remaining jewelry that bought them passage out.