This map illustrates the geopolitical landscape of Europe in mid-November 1918, immediately after the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne (11 November 1918), which ended the First World War (1914–1918). The Great War, fought on an unprecedented industrial scale, brought devastation to every corner of the continent. As the guns fell silent, Europe stood at a crossroads, exhausted, fragmented, and uncertain of what would follow. The armistice marked not just the cessation of fighting but the collapse of an entire political order that had dominated Europe for centuries.
The war’s human and material cost, an estimated 20 million dead and 21 million wounded, nearly half of them civilians, was accompanied by the disintegration of four great empires: the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman. Monarchies fell, revolutions erupted, and new nations, such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, began to emerge amid the chaos. The principle of national self-determination, championed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, inspired hope for a just peace but also fueled competing territorial claims. The new map of Europe drawn in the aftermath of 1918 embodied both the promise of reconstruction and the seeds of future conflict, setting the stage for the turbulent decades to come.
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Cite This Work
APA Style
Netchev, S. (2025, November 11). Map of Europe at the End of World War One, November 1918: Lost Empires, Uncertain Borders, and New Nations. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/18127/map-of-europe-at-the-end-of-world-war-one-november/
Chicago Style
Netchev, Simeon. "Map of Europe at the End of World War One, November 1918: Lost Empires, Uncertain Borders, and New Nations." World History Encyclopedia, November 11, 2025. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/18127/map-of-europe-at-the-end-of-world-war-one-november/.
MLA Style
Netchev, Simeon. "Map of Europe at the End of World War One, November 1918: Lost Empires, Uncertain Borders, and New Nations." World History Encyclopedia, 11 Nov 2025, https://www.worldhistory.org/image/18127/map-of-europe-at-the-end-of-world-war-one-november/.
