Part I: Overview of Europe in 1914

In this 1st part, I hope to give you a sense of the map of Europe in 1914 as well as its political state. 1st of all here's a map just to give you a bit of sense of the political geography of Europe in 1914.

Correction: Turkey was known as the Ottoman Empire at the time. The empire at the time contained modern-day Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, and parts of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, and the UAE

Now, you might be thinking something like "Well Avi, I know most of these countries and you just told me about the Ottoman Empire, but what is this Austria-Hungary?" The answer is that the Austro-Hungarian Empire as it was called was an empire that existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe and comprises modern-day Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and parts of Italy, Poland, Serbia,Montenegro,  Romania, and Ukraine. Also, you may be thinking something like "Well the U.K., France, Spain, Portugal, and most countries look similar to today, but how about Russia and Germany? They look awfully different" One reason was that Poland was at the time, split between Germany, Russia, and Austria, so they could expand there. Also, Russia had expanded to include Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Finland among the countries they possessed.

Author: Avi Goel
Remember to check out Part 2!