World map in 1920

Border history

The interactive map lets you inspect named territories in 1920 and compare them to earlier or later snapshots on the timeline.

Biographical context

Meet figures alive in, or close to, 1920 and move from political geography to the people connected to the period.

Era-based reading

The related chronicles below provide long-form reading tied closely to the modern period.

1920

Franco-Syrian War

French Republic vs Arab Kingdom of Syria (King Faisal)

Brief but decisive conflict between France and the Arab Kingdom of Syria under King Faisal. France crushed the newly proclaimed Arab state at the Battle of Maysalun to enforce its League of Nations mandate, ending Arab hopes for an independent Greater Syria.

Key battles and events: Battle of Maysalun (1920); French occupation of Damascus (1920)

1920

Iraqi Revolt of 1920

Iraqi tribal and religious factions vs British Empire

Widespread armed uprising against British occupation of Iraq following the League of Nations mandate. Shia and Sunni communities briefly united against colonial rule. The revolt's suppression cost Britain more than the entire WWI Mesopotamian campaign.

Key battles and events: Battle of Raranjiya (1920); Siege of Kufa (1920)

1919 – 1922

Greco-Turkish War

Turkey (Kemalist forces) vs Greece

Greece invaded Anatolia after World War I but was defeated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's nationalist forces. The resulting Treaty of Lausanne led to a massive population exchange of 1.5 million Greeks and 500,000 Turks.

Key battles and events: Battle of Sakarya (1921); Great Offensive / Battle of Dumlupınar (1922)

1919 – 1921

Irish War of Independence

Irish Republican Army (Michael Collins) vs British Government & Black and Tans

Following the 1916 Easter Rising, the IRA waged a guerrilla war against British rule in Ireland. Michael Collins's intelligence network and flying columns forced Britain to negotiate. The Anglo-Irish Treaty created the Irish Free State but excluded Northern Ireland, leading directly to the Irish Civil War.

Key battles and events: Bloody Sunday (1920); Burning of Cork (1920)

1919 – 1921

Polish–Soviet War

Second Polish Republic vs Soviet Russia

Poland halted the westward advance of Soviet communism in the 'Miracle on the Vistula' — a decisive victory at Warsaw in 1920 that shaped the post-WWI European order and delayed Soviet expansion for two decades.

Key battles and events: Polish Kiev Offensive (1920); Battle of Warsaw / Miracle on the Vistula (1920)

1919 – 1923

Turkish War of Independence

Turkish National Movement (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk) vs Greece, France, Armenia, Italy, UK

Revolutionary war led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk against Allied occupation forces following WWI and the partition of the Ottoman Empire. The decisive Turkish victory resulted in the Treaty of Lausanne and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.

Key battles and events: Battle of Sakarya (1921); Battle of Dumlupınar (1922)

1919 – 1939

Waziristan Campaigns

British India vs Waziri and Mahsud tribes

Decades of British campaigns in Waziristan's mountainous terrain proved that the region was nearly impossible to pacify — a lesson that would be relearned by NATO forces in the 21st century.

Key battles and events: Mahsud Campaign (1919-1920); Pink's War (1925)

1918 – 1920

Estonian War of Independence

Estonia (backed by Finland, UK) vs Soviet Russia, Baltic German Landeswehr

Tiny Estonia, with just 1 million people, defeated Soviet forces and won independence at the Treaty of Tartu. With British naval support and Finnish volunteers, Estonia fought off both the Red Army and Baltic German forces in a remarkable national struggle.

Key battles and events: Battle of Paju (1919); Battle of Cēsis (1919, with Latvia)

Poland / United States

Abraham Joshua Heschel

1907 – 1972

Jewish theologian, philosopher, civil rights activist, prophetic voice of the twentieth century

Switzerland

Carl Jung

1875 – 1961

Analytical psychology, archetypes, collective unconscious, psychological types

France / Lithuania

Emmanuel Levinas

1906 – 1995

Philosopher, phenomenologist, ethicist, Talmudic scholar

Prague / Austria-Hungary

Franz Kafka

1883 – 1924

The Metamorphosis, The Trial, The Castle, pioneer of existentialist and absurdist fiction

Germany

Franz Rosenzweig

1886 – 1929

The Star of Redemption, dialogical philosophy, Buber-Rosenzweig Bible translation, the Lehrhaus

British India / England / Burma / Spain

George Orwell

1903 – 1950

Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four, anti-totalitarian essays, and the invention of Big Brother, doublethink, and Newspeak

Built 1920 · Africa

Namugongo Martyrs' Shrine

Major Catholic and Anglican pilgrimage site honouring the Uganda Martyrs of 1886

Built 1916 · South America

Las Lajas Sanctuary

Neo-Gothic basilica built inside a canyon over the Guáitara River in southern Colombia

Built 1914 · Asia

Al-Muhdhar Mosque

Iconic mosque in Tarim, Yemen with the tallest mud-brick minaret in the world at 53 meters, a symbol of Hadrami Islamic architecture

Built 1914 · Africa

Cathedral Notre-Dame du Congo

Monumental cathedral in Kinshasa, one of the largest churches in Central Africa

Built 1910 · Oceania

Rabaul

Capital of German New Guinea from 1910, built around Simpson Harbour as a major copra-trade port and the chief commercial hub of the New Guinea Islands.

Built 1908 · Asia

Our Lady of Lebanon

Maronite Christian pilgrimage shrine overlooking Jounieh Bay, with a 15-ton bronze statue of the Virgin Mary atop a hill in Harissa

Serbia / United States · Scientist

Nikola Tesla

He Won the Current War. He Died Broke at 86. The FBI Took His Papers the Same Day.

Genius, rivalry, and vindication — how a penniless Serbian immigrant defeated Edison and powered the modern world.

Spain / France · Artist

Pablo Picasso

The Man Who Broke the Mirror

The life of the artist who shattered five centuries of Western painting and rebuilt it from the fragments — from Málaga to Mougins.

Poland / United States · Philosopher

Abraham Joshua Heschel

The Prophet of Radical Amazement

The Hasidic rabbi’s son from Warsaw who became the conscience of American Judaism and marched arm in arm with Martin Luther King Jr.

Prague / Austria-Hungary · Thinker

Franz Kafka

The Man Who Became a Metaphor

Alienation, bureaucracy, and genius — how a Prague insurance clerk wrote the most unsettling literature of the twentieth century, then asked his best friend to burn it all.