Kingdom of Hungary

British Empire

The global system of dominions, colonies, and protectorates under the British Crown, the largest empire in history.

Byzantine Empire

The medieval continuation of the Roman Empire in the East, centered on Constantinople. For over a millennium, it served as a bastion of Christianity and Roman law, preserving ancient knowledge until its fall in 1453.

Czechoslovakia

A prosperous Central European parliamentary republic and industrial powerhouse founded in 1918, partitioned after the 1938 Munich Agreement, and active in the Allied war effort.

Kingdom of Denmark

One of Europe's oldest kingdoms spanning the Jutland Peninsula and the Baltic straits, noted in World War II for its active resistance movement and the citizen-led rescue of nearly its entire Jewish population.

Despotate of Epirus

An independent Greek successor state established in northwestern Greece after the fall of Byzantium.

Duchy of Athens

A Western European Crusader state that ruled Athens and central Greece.

Empire of Japan

The historical Japanese nation-state from the 1868 Meiji Restoration until the enactment of the 1947 postwar constitution.

Estonia

The northernmost Baltic republic, which achieved independence in 1918 and endured successive Soviet and German occupations during World War II.

Finland

A Nordic republic of thousands of lakes and forests that defended its independence through the Winter War and Continuation War during World War II.

French Third Republic

The system of government adopted in France from 1870 following the collapse of the Second Empire until 1940.

Kingdom of Greece

A Mediterranean monarchy founded in 1832 as the modern heir to ancient Hellas, which repelled the 1940 Italian invasion to score the Allies' first land victory of World War II.

Kingdom of Italy

The Italian state founded by national unification in 1861, ruled by Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime from 1922 to 1943 before becoming a republic in 1946.

Kingdom of Romania

A constitutional monarchy spanning the Carpathians and the Danube, whose Ploiești oil fields and large armies made it a pivotal belligerent in World War II.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

A Balkan monarchy uniting the South Slavic peoples after World War I, which waged one of Europe's largest partisan liberation struggles against Axis occupation in World War II.

Latvia

The central Baltic republic centered on the historic port of Riga, which became a major Eastern Front battleground between Soviet and German forces in World War II.

Lithuania

The southernmost Baltic republic, heir to the medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which restored its independence in 1918 and faced Soviet and German occupations in World War II.

Nazi Germany

The totalitarian German state ruled by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party from 1933 to 1945, which initiated World War II in Europe.

Kingdom of Norway

A constitutional monarchy in western Scandinavia that dissolved its personal union with Sweden in 1905 and fought as an Allied power after the German invasion in World War II.

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was a powerful Islamic state that began as a small Turkish tribe in Anatolia (present-day Turkey). Over six centuries, it grew into a massive superpower that stretched across three continents: Southeast Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa. It stood at the crossroads of the East and West, controlling vital trade routes.

Osman's Dream and the Foundation

Legend says the empire's founder, Osman I, had a miraculous dream in the late 13th century. He dreamed that a moon emerged from a holy man's chest and entered his own. Then, a massive tree grew from his navel, its branches covering the entire world. This dream was seen as a divine prophecy that Osman and his descendants were destined to rule a mighty empire.

The Fall of Constantinople

The backbone of the Ottoman army was the Janissaries, elite infantry soldiers trained with intense discipline. Using these forces and massive gunpowder cannons, Sultan Mehmed II accomplished the impossible in 1453: he conquered Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). This historic victory ended the thousand-year-old Byzantine Empire, and the city became the glorious new capital of the Ottomans.

The Golden Age

The empire reached its absolute peak in the 16th century under the rule of Suleiman the Magnificent. He was not only a brilliant military commander who expanded the empire deep into Europe—even laying siege to Vienna—but also a great lawmaker and patron of the arts. During his reign, the empire was incredibly wealthy, and its culture, architecture, and science flourished.

Decline and Fall

However, no empire lasts forever. Starting in the 17th century, the Ottoman Empire slowly began to weaken. It faced internal corruption, technological stagnation, and increasing pressure from rising European powers like the Russian and Habsburg Empires. By the 19th century, it was often called the 'Sick Man of Europe.' The final blow came during World War I (1914–1918), where the empire fought on the losing side. After the war, the vast empire was divided, leading to its official collapse in 1922 and the birth of the modern Republic of Turkey under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Principality of Achaea

A powerful Crusader state that ruled the Peloponnese peninsula.

Republic of China

Founded in 1912 after the Xinhai Revolution ended two millennia of imperial rule, it fought an eight-year war of resistance against Japan as one of the major Allied Powers.

Republic of Venice

A powerful maritime empire that dominated Mediterranean trade by controlling key islands and ports.

Second Bulgarian Empire

A powerful medieval empire in the Balkans established in 1185 after gaining independence from the Byzantine Empire.

Second Polish Republic

The interwar Polish state reborn in 1918 after 123 years of partition, which became the first battlefield of World War II in 1939.

Serbia

A powerful Christian state that dominated the medieval Balkans

Soviet Union

The world's first socialist federal state (1922–1991), which bore the brunt of the land war against Nazi Germany and emerged as a Cold War superpower.

Kingdom of Sweden

A Scandinavian kingdom north of the Baltic Sea that rose to great-power status in the 17th century through its iron mines and military reforms, and maintained armed neutrality alongside major humanitarian rescue efforts during World War II.

Thessaly

An independent power in north-central Greece that operated outside Byzantine control.

Tsardom of Bulgaria

A modern Balkan monarchy centered on the Balkan Mountains, which joined the Axis in World War II to reclaim lost borderlands while refusing to fight the Soviet Union or deport its native Jewish citizens.

United States

A federal republic founded in 1776 that served as the 'Arsenal of Democracy' during World War II and emerged as a global superpower.