The Great War, 1914–1919: Every Front and the Fall of Four Empires

From Sarajevo to the End of 1919

On 28 June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was shot in Sarajevo. Within six weeks the great powers of Europe were at war. Five years later four empires were gone: the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. In their place stood new states from Finland to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, many of them still fighting over their borders.

This map shows who held which land from 28 June 1914 to 31 December 1919, in 34 keyframes. It covers Europe west of the Urals, the Caucasus, Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Hejaz, so the war in the Middle East is shown alongside the fronts in Europe.

1914: The War of Movement

Germany invaded Belgium on 4 August 1914 and Britain entered the war the same day. By 20 August Brussels had fallen, while in the east Russian armies had crossed into East Prussia. In early September the Germans reached the Marne and the Russians took Lemberg (Lviv) in Austrian Galicia, then laid siege to the fortress of Przemyśl. By the end of 1914 a line of trenches ran from the North Sea to Switzerland. The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in November 1914, opening fronts in the Caucasus and Mesopotamia. Serbia, invaded by Austria-Hungary, held out through the first winter.

1915–1916: Stalemate in the West, Breakthroughs in the East

Przemyśl fell to the Russians in March 1915, but in May the German and Austro-Hungarian breakthrough at Gorlice–Tarnów began the Great Retreat. Warsaw fell on 5 August 1915, and by autumn Russia had lost Poland, Lithuania and much of Courland. Italy entered the war on the Allied side in May 1915, opening the Isonzo front. The Allied landings at Gallipoli ended in deadlock. Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in October 1915, and by December Serbia was overrun; the Allies held on at Salonika in Greek Macedonia.

In 1916 the Germans attacked at Verdun, Montenegro and Albania fell, and the Russians took Erzurum in eastern Anatolia. The Brusilov offensive of June 1916 pushed the Austro-Hungarians back in Galicia and Bukovina, the Arab Revolt broke out in the Hejaz, and the British and French opened the Battle of the Somme. Romania entered the war in August 1916 and advanced into Transylvania, but by January 1917 it had been overrun as far as the Siret river.

1917–1918: Revolution, Collapse and Armistice

In March 1917 the Germans pulled back to the Hindenburg Line, the British took Baghdad and Tsar Nicholas II abdicated. Russia's Kerensky offensive failed that summer, and Greece entered the war on the Allied side. Riga and the Baltic islands fell in the autumn. After Caporetto the Italian front settled on the Piave, the British took Jerusalem in December, and an armistice ended the fighting in the east.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918) and the Treaty of Bucharest (May 1918) left the Central Powers holding a vast area of eastern Europe, including occupied Ukraine. In the west the German offensives of 1918 reached their furthest point in July. Then the Central Powers collapsed one after another: the Allies broke through at Dobro Pole and Bulgaria left the war at the end of September, Damascus fell on 1 October, the Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October, Austria-Hungary fell apart, and the armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the war in the west.

1919: New States and Unfinished Wars

The fighting did not stop in November 1918. By December the Allies stood on the Rhine and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes had been proclaimed. In early 1919 the Red Army was in Kiev and Riga, and the Greater Poland Uprising had brought Poznań under Polish control. Greek troops landed at Smyrna in May, and Romanian troops entered Budapest in August. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919, five years to the day after Sarajevo. In Russia, Denikin's White armies reached Orel in October while Yudenich approached Petrograd. The map ends on 31 December 1919, with the Polish, Baltic, Hungarian and Russian wars still unresolved.

How to Read the Map

• Warm colours are the Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.
• Cool colours are the Allies. A country stays grey while it is neutral and takes its colour when it enters the war, as Italy did in 1915 and Romania in 1916.
• Pale tints mark land occupied by a foreign army: German-occupied Belgium, Russian-occupied Galicia, British-occupied Mesopotamia and many more.
• Event markers show battles, sieges, treaties and armistices at the place and date where they happened.
• Russia is shown west of the Urals. Persia and the Arabian interior are not shaded.

How the Map Was Made

The base is a layer of modern provinces from Natural Earth, cut along historical lines. The 1914 borders come mostly from OpenHistoricalMap (CC0) and were checked against treaty texts. Front lines and occupation zones were researched theatre by theatre from treaty texts and official histories. Each theatre came with a list of towns and who held them on each date, more than 17,000 test places in all, and the finished map puts 99.8% of them on the right side. Front lines are approximate: about 2–10 km, and less precise in the deserts and in the Russian Civil War.

Chronological Timeline

• 28 June 1914 — Assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo
• 4 August 1914 — Germany invades Belgium; Britain enters the war
• September 1914 — Battle of the Marne; Russians take Lemberg and besiege Przemyśl
• November 1914 — The Ottoman Empire enters the war; fighting at Ypres
• May 1915 — Italy enters the war; Gorlice–Tarnów breakthrough
• October–December 1915 — Bulgaria joins the Central Powers; Serbia overrun; Salonika front
• February 1916 — Battle of Verdun begins; Russians take Erzurum
• June–July 1916 — Brusilov offensive; Arab Revolt; Battle of the Somme
• March 1917 — Hindenburg Line; British take Baghdad; Tsar Nicholas II abdicates
• December 1917 — Italian front on the Piave; British take Jerusalem; armistice in the east
• 3 March 1918 — Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• May 1918 — Treaty of Bucharest; Ukraine under German and Austro-Hungarian occupation
• September 1918 — St-Mihiel; Ottoman forces take Baku; breakthrough at Dobro Pole
• 30 October 1918 — Armistice of Mudros; Austria-Hungary falls apart
• 11 November 1918 — Armistice in the west
• December 1918 — Allies on the Rhine; Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
• 28 June 1919 — Treaty of Versailles signed
• August 1919 — Romanians in Budapest; Denikin in Kiev
• October 1919 — Denikin at Orel; Yudenich nears Petrograd