But in the week of March 8 15, the starving, freezing, war-weary workers and soldiers of Petrograd (until 1914, St . Petersburg succeeded in deposing the Tsar.
In his new book, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," published by the University of Chicago Press, he has compiled the best of those images, freezing the war's most intense and dramatic moments, from the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 to the democratic elections of December 2005.
Time has ironed out some of the reasons for objection: the book can be regarded as a window on dank, freezing post-war Britain, a world of houses and flats without double-glazing, central heating and – all too often – bathrooms.
The UN has managed to do little more than freeze the warring parties in place.
For Obama, detente with Iran and another long-term U.S. foe, Cuba, may be the only major foreign policy achievements within reach, with the Israel-Palestinian peace process frozen and wars raging in Syria and Iraq.
Some of the last surviving unsung heroes tell their extraordinary wartime stories: from torpedo attacks by German U-boats and the RAF's blanket bombing of Germany to the culture shock of Britain's freezing winters and war-torn landscape.
Ownership records are patchy, so these tussles are trickier than those over bank assets frozen during the war.
The peace deal signed in 1996 that ended the war froze the question of Chechnya's status for five years.
At the same time, rising oil prices caused economies worldwide to stall, and anxiety about the war froze business spending.
From 1914 until the Cold War froze the world temporarily into position, Europe was, politically, economically, and intellectually, a continent in extremis.
