The division was formed at the end of December 1914 and organized over the next month, arriving in the line in late January 1915.

The division was recruited in the Kingdom of Bavaria and was considered to be skilled in mountain warfare.

The 8th Bavarian Reserve Division initially fought on the Western Front, seeing its first action in the trenches in Alsace, where it remained until May 1915.

In October 1916, the division entered the Romanian Campaign, where it engaged in mountain warfare.

The division remained in combat in various parts of Romania until December 1916, and then engaged in positional warfare in Transylvania until July 1917, when it went back on the offensive.