The FT contest that challenged readers to redraw Europe’s borders The extraordinary story of when, two months into the bloody Great War, the newspaper launched an unusual competition.

 The challenge was as concise as it was complex: “Sketch in the boundaries of states according to your view of probable peace terms.” Two months into what was quickly becoming known as the Great War, the Financial Times asked its readers to predict the impact the conflict would have on the map of Europe. As a game. With cash prizes.

Britain had declared war on Germany on August 4, following the invasion of neutral Belgium. Over the next two months, before the arrival of trench warfare on the Western Front, a series of six major battles, known as the “Battle of the Frontiers”, sent casualty figures soaring to horrific levels.