Places of the war

The cities, rivers and straits the war was fought over.

Why they mattered, what happened there and when. Below the text, the battles fought nearby and every event of the chronicle connected with them.

• Western FrontAisneRiver of three battles. On the Aisne trench warfare began in 1914, the Nivelle offensive stalled in 1917, and in 1918 the Germans broke the front here.
• Western FrontAlbertA town on the Ancre behind the British line on the Somme, known for its "Leaning Virgin". It named three battles and was wholly destroyed in 1918.
• Western FrontAmiensA railway junction where the British and French armies met. Briefly German in 1914, in 1918 the goal of their offensive and the start of the 8 August attack.
• Western FrontAntwerpBelgium's largest port and its national redoubt. In 1914 the refuge of the army, King and government; after the siege and surrender, four years occupied.
• Eastern FrontArchangelA White Sea port through which the Allies sent Russia arms. Interventionists took it in August 1918, and the last British troops left in September 1919.
• Western FrontArrasA front-line city for four years. The Germans never took Artois's capital, but their guns destroyed nearly all of it. In 1917 an offensive set off from Arras.
• Middle EastBaghdadThe goal of the Mesopotamian campaign. The British were stopped at Ctesiphon in 1915, but on 11 March 1917 Maude's troops entered the city without a fight.
• Western FrontBapaumeA road junction in Artois, the goal of the Battle of the Somme that the British failed to reach in 1916. It changed hands four times during the war.
• Middle EastBasraA port on the Shatt al-Arab, taken by the British in November 1914. Defended at Shaiba in 1915, it was the base of the whole Mesopotamian campaign.
• Balkan FrontBelgradeSerbia's capital, right on the border with Austria-Hungary: shelled on the first night of the war, twice taken by the enemy, free again from 1 November 1918.
• Balkan FrontBitolaBitola, then Monastir, was held by the Bulgarians from 1915. Retaken by the Allies in 1916, it lay just behind the front for almost two years, under fire.
• Eastern FrontBrest-LitovskA Russian fortress on the Bug, given up in August 1915, then the German headquarters in the East, where Soviet Russia signed an armistice and a peace.
• War at seaBrindisiItalian port facing Albania, from 1915 the base of the Allied cruisers and destroyers guarding the Strait of Otranto, and a haven for Balkan refugees.
• Balkan FrontBucharestRomania's capital, where the decision for war was taken in 1916. Bombed from August, taken without a fight on 6 December 1916, occupied for almost two years.
• Western FrontCambraiA rail hub on the Scheldt, occupied from August 1914 to October 1918. It named the tank battle of 1917 and the battle of 1918, after which it returned burned.
• Middle EastConstantinopleThe Ottoman capital and seat of the Young Turk war government. In 1915 the Entente's goal at the Dardanelles; from November 1918 occupied by the victors.
• Balkan FrontCorfuIn 1916 the Entente took neutral Corfu and shipped the Serbian army there from Albania. It was Serbia's hospital, camp and seat of government until 1918.
• Eastern FrontCourlandA Russian province on the Baltic, occupied by the Germans in 1915. It was part of Ober Ost, and in 1918 it was to become a duchy tied to the German Reich.
• Balkan FrontCrnaVardar tributary that turns back in a bend east of Bitola. In 1915 the French held out near its mouth; from 1916 a front stood in the bend for two years.
• Eastern FrontCzernowitzBukovina's capital on the Russian border: taken three times by the Russians, retaken three times by the Austrians, joined to Romania in November 1918.
• Balkan FrontDanubeA river of borders and crossings: the front with Serbia at Belgrade and with Romania downstream, and from 1915 the Central Powers' supply route to Turkey.
• Middle EastDardanellesThe strait that linked Russia with its allies. The Turks closed it in September 1914, the Entente failed to force it in 1915, and the 1918 armistice opened it.
• Eastern FrontDniesterRiver of the southern wing of the Eastern Front: its Galician crossings were fought over from 1914 to 1917, and from 1918 it divided Bessarabia from Ukraine.
• Balkan FrontDobrujaThe land between the lower Danube and the Black Sea, disputed by Romania and Bulgaria. Taken by Mackensen's troops in 1916, divided by the victors in 1918.
• Western FrontDouaiA town on the Scarpe, four years the German rear of the Arras front: headquarters, billets, airfields. Empty and burning, it was freed in October 1918.
• War at seaDoverA Kent port at the narrowest point of the strait: base of the Dover Patrol, landing place of hospital ships, and a town under bombs and shells for four years.
• Balkan FrontDurrësCentral Albania's main port: capital of Prince Wied and Essad Pasha, port of the Serbian evacuation, an Austrian base from 1916, bombarded in 1918.
• Eastern FrontEast PrussiaGermany's eastern province, the only one besides Alsace-Lorraine where fighting took place on its soil. The Russians invaded it twice, both times in 1914.
• Middle EastErzurumThe largest Ottoman fortress in eastern Anatolia and the base of the Third Army. The Russians took it in February 1916; the Turks regained it in March 1918.
• Middle EastEuphratesMesopotamia's second river. The British fought along it from Qurna to Ana, the Russians reached its upper course, and its valley was a death road for Armenians.
• AfricaGerman South West AfricaA desert German colony on the Atlantic, today Namibia. South African troops conquered it in under a year, up to the surrender at Khorab in July 1915.
• Western FrontGhentThe capital of East Flanders, occupied from October 1914 to November 1918: a base behind the front, home to German bombers and a centre of the Flamenpolitik.
• Italian FrontGoriziaAn Austrian town on the Isonzo and the main goal of Italy's offensives for over two years. Taken in 1916, lost after Caporetto, regained in ruins in 1918.
• Western FrontHazebrouckA railway junction behind the British front in Flanders. In April 1918 the Germans came within about 8 km of the town but did not take it.
• Middle EastJerusalemThe Holy City of three faiths, for three years an Ottoman city of hunger behind the front. In December 1917 it fell to the British without a street fight.
• AfricaKamerunA German colony on the Gulf of Guinea, conquered by the British, French and Belgians between August 1914 and February 1916 and divided among the victors.
• Balkan FrontKavalaA Greek tobacco port the Entente dangled before Bulgaria in 1915. The Bulgarians took it in September 1916, and the occupation lasted until the autumn of 1918.
• Middle EastKermanshahThe chief city of western Persia, on the Baghdad–Tehran road. In 1915–1918 it was the seat of a pro-German government and changed hands several times.
• Eastern FrontKingdom of PolandThe Russian partition, swept by the front again and again in 1914–1915. Occupied by Germany and Austria-Hungary from 1915, in 1918 the core of free Poland.
• War at seaKotorAustria-Hungary's southernmost naval base, beneath Mount Lovćen. From 1915 a nest of submarines, in 1918 the scene of a sailors' mutiny.
• Middle EastKutA small town on the Tigris where Townshend's division surrendered in April 1916 after a 147-day siege. The British recovered it in February 1917.
• Western FrontLe HavreThe main port and base of the British army in France, and from October 1914 the seat of the Belgian government in exile in suburban Sainte-Adresse.
• Western FrontLensA mining town at the heart of the Pas-de-Calais coalfield, four years in German hands. Loos and Hill 70 were fought near it, and by 1918 only rubble was left.
• Eastern FrontLibauA Russian naval port in Courland, abandoned by the fleet as early as 1914. From May 1915 it was a forward base of the German navy in the eastern Baltic.
• Eastern FrontLublinGoal of an Austro-Hungarian offensive in 1914, from 1915 capital of the Austrian occupation of Congress Poland, in November 1918 seat of Daszyński's cabinet.
• Eastern FrontLvivThe capital of Austrian Galicia: 293 days under Russian occupation, retaken in June 1915, and in November 1918 a battlefield between Poles and Ukrainians.
• Western FrontLysA Flanders river along which the front ran from 1914. In April 1918 it gave its name to a German offensive, and in October the Allies crossed it.
• Western FrontMeuseRiver of the fortresses of Liège, Namur and Verdun. Forced by the Germans in 1914, then crossed by the front at Verdun; in 1918 the Americans attacked along it.
• Eastern FrontMogilevA town on the Dnieper, the Stavka's seat from August 1915: Nicholas II commanded here, left from here before abdicating, and Gen. Dukhonin died here in 1917.
• Middle EastMudrosA bay on the Greek island of Lemnos, in 1915 the base of the Gallipoli expedition and its hospitals. On 30 October 1918 Turkey signed an armistice here.
• Eastern FrontMurmanskAn ice-free port on the Barents Sea, built during the war as a supply route for Russia. In 1918 it became the first base of the Allied intervention.
• Balkan FrontNišSerbia's wartime capital in 1914–1915, under Bulgarian occupation from November 1915, liberated by the Serbian army on 12 October 1918.
• War at seaNorth SeaThe sea between the British and German fleets. Britain closed its exits and blockaded Germany, which answered with mines, U-boats and fleet raids.
• Western FrontNoyonA town on the Oise, for two and a half years the point of the German front nearest Paris. Recovered in 1917, lost in 1918, retaken in ruins in August 1918.
• Western FrontOiseA river flowing from Belgium towards Paris: an invasion route in 1914, for thirty months the axis of the front near Noyon, in 1918 a flank of German offensives.
• War at seaOstendA Belgian port on the North Sea: for a few days in 1914 the seat of government, then for four years a German U-boat base and the target of British raids.
• Western FrontPéronneA fortified town on the Somme, held by the Germans just behind the front for most of the war. A goal of the 1916 battle, stormed by Australians in 1918.
• Western FrontReimsThe city where the kings of France were crowned. After nine days of German occupation in 1914, it lay for four years under fire from the surrounding hills.
• Western FrontSaint-QuentinAn industrial town on the Somme, occupied from August 1914 to October 1918. Emptied of its people and looted in 1917, it was recovered in ruins in 1918.
• Balkan FrontSalonikaFrom 1915 the main Entente base in the Balkans, in 1916–1917 the capital of Venizelos's government, in 1918 the place of the armistice that took Bulgaria out.
• Eastern FrontSanThe river of Przemyśl and Jarosław, a front line in Galicia in 1914–1915: twice the Austrians fell back behind it; in May 1915 the Central Powers crossed it.
• War at seaScapa FlowA bay in Orkney, the main base of the British Grand Fleet. From here the fleet closed the North Sea to Germany, and in 1919 the German fleet sank here.
• Western FrontSoissonsA town on the Aisne, on the front line and under German shelling for almost four years. Occupied in 1914 and 1918, recovered in ruins on 2 August 1918.
• Western FrontSommeA river of Picardy whose valley the front crossed from 1914 to 1918. Here the British Army fought its bloodiest battle, and in 1918 the war swept through twice.
• War at seaStrait of DoverThe shortest crossing from England to France and the British army's key supply route. The Dover Patrol guarded it against U-boats and German night raids.
• Middle EastSuez CanalThe shortest route from Europe to India and Australia. The Turks twice tried to cut it; the British held it and made it the base for the march into Palestine.
• Middle EastTigrisThe main road of the Mesopotamian campaign. The British advanced up the Tigris from Qurna through Kut and Baghdad to Mosul, supplied by river steamers.
• Balkan FrontTransylvaniaA Hungarian land with a Romanian majority, for which Romania entered the war: invaded in 1916, won back by Falkenhayn, united with Romania in 1918.
• Italian FrontTriesteAustria-Hungary's main port and the chief goal of Italy's war. For two years the Italians pushed towards it on the Isonzo, but took it only on 3 November 1918.
• Balkan FrontVardarRiver and railway north from Salonika. In 1915 the French went up it to help the Serbs, then the front crossed it, and in 1918 it named a winning offensive.
• Balkan FrontVlorëAn Albanian port at the mouth of the Adriatic, occupied by Italy in December 1914. It was Italy's main base across the Adriatic and was given up only in 1920.
• Western FrontYpresA Flemish cloth town that for four years lay at the heart of a salient fought over in five battles. The Germans never took it, but they reduced it to rubble.
• War at seaZeebruggeThe port of Bruges through which German U-boats and torpedo boats from Flanders put to sea from 1914 to 1918. In April 1918 the target of Keyes's famous raid.