Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers (from Triple Entente) were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The main allies were the Russian Empire, France, the British Empire, Italy, the Empire of Japan, and the United States. France, Russia, and the United Kingdom (including its empire), entered World War I in 1914, as a result of their Triple Entente alliance. Many other countries later joined the Allied side in the war (see below).
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and his administration were determined not to define the U.S. as an "ally".[citation needed] The United States declared war on Germany on the grounds that Germany violated American neutrality by attacking international shipping.[1] The U.S. entered the war as an "associated power", rather than a formal ally of France and Britain, and maintained that distance throughout the war. The U.S. was not at war with some of the Central Powers, such as the Ottoman Empire or Bulgaria.[citation needed]
Although the Dominions and Crown Colonies of the British Empire made significant contributions to the Allied war effort, they did not have independent foreign policies during World War I. Operational control of British Empire forces was in the hands of the five-member British War Cabinet (BWC). However, the Dominion governments controlled recruiting, and did remove personnel from front-line duties as they saw fit. From early 1917 the BWC was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, which had Dominion representation. The Australian Corps and Canadian Corps were placed for the first time under the command of Australian and Canadian Lieutenants General John Monash and Arthur Currie, who reported in turn to British generals.
In April 1918, operational control of all Allied forces on the Western Front passed to the new supreme commander, Ferdinand Foch.
Main Allied states
- French Third Republic (including French colonial forces)
- Russian Empire (until November 1917)
- British Empire:
- Kingdom of Italy (April 1915 and after) (including Italian colonial forces)
- Empire of Japan
- Portuguese Republic (March 1916 and after) (including Portuguese colonial forces)
- Kingdom of Romania (August 1916-May 1918)
- Kingdom of Greece (November 1916 for the Government of National Defence; June 1917 for the whole country)
- United States of America (1917 and after)
Other states which had military participation:
- Albania
- Brazil (October 1917 and after)
- Armenia (May 1918 and after)
- Czechoslovakia - See Czechoslovak Legions
- Finland (October 1918 and after)
- Kingdom of Siam
- San Marino (June 1915 and after)
States which had declared war (But with no military involvement):
- Andorra
- Bolivia (April 1917 and after)
- China (August 1917 and after)
- Costa Rica (May 1918 and after)
- Cuba (April 1917 and after)
- Ecuador (December 1917 and after)
- Guatemala (April 1918 and after)
- Liberia (August 1917 and after)
- Haiti (July 1918 and after)
- Honduras (July 1918 and after)
- Nicaragua (May 1918 and after)
- Panama (December 1917 and after)
- Peru (October 1917 and after)
- Uruguay (October 1917 and after)
Leaders
Russia
- Nicholas II — Russian Emperor, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland. (Until 15 March 1917)
- Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich - Commander-in-chief (1 August 1914 – 5 September 1916) and viceroy in the Caucasus
- Alexander Samsonov - Commander of the Russian Second Army for the invasion of East Prussia (1 August 1914 – 29 August 1914)
- Paul von Rennenkampf - Commander of the Russian First Army for the invasion of East Prussia (1 August 1914 - November 1914)
- Nikolai Ivanov - Commander of the Russian army on the Southwestern Front, (1 August 1914 - March 1916) responsible for much of the action in Galicia
- Aleksei Brusilov - Commander of the South-West Front, then provisional Commander-in-Chief after the Tsar's abdication (February 1917 - August 1917)
- Lavr Georgievich Kornilov - Commander of the South-West Front, then Commander-in-Chief (August 1917)
France
- Raymond Poincaré - President of France
- René Viviani - Prime Minister of France (13 June 1914 - 29 October 1915)
- Aristide Briand - Prime Minister of France (29 October 1915 - 20 March 1917)
- Alexandre Ribot - Prime Minister of France (20 March 1917 - 12 September 1917)
- Paul Painlevé - Prime Minister of France (12 September 1917 - 16 November 1917)
- Georges Clemenceau - Prime Minister of France (From 16 November 1917)
- Joseph Joffre - Commander-in-Chief of the French Army (3 August 1914 - 13 December 1916) and Marshal of France
- Robert Nivelle - Commander-in-Chief of the French Army (13 December 1916 - April 1917)
- Philippe Pétain - Commander-in-Chief of the French Army (April 1917 - 26 March 1918) and Marshal of France
- Ferdinand Foch - Commander-in-Chief of the French Army and Marshal of France, Supreme Allied Commander (26 March 1918 - 11 November 1918)
United Kingdom
- George V - King of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth Realms, Emperor of India
- H. H. Asquith - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Until 5 December 1916)
- D. Lloyd George - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (From 7 December 1916)
- John French - Commander-in-Chief of the BEF (4 August - 15 December 1915)
- Douglas Haig - Commander-in-Chief of the BEF (15 December 1915 - 11 November 1918)
- John Jellicoe - First Sea Lord (November 1916 - December 1917)
- Horatio Herbert Kitchener - Secretary of State for War (5 August 1914 - 5 June 1916)
Dominion of Canada
- Arthur Currie - Commander of the unified Canadian Corps of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and first Canadian to attain the rank of full general. (December 5, 1875 – November 30, 1933)
Union of South Africa
- Jan Smuts - Led forces in South-West Africa Campaign and East African Campaign
Serbia
- Peter I - King of Serbia
- vojvoda Radomir Putnik - Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Army
- vojvoda Petar Bojović - Commander of 1st Serbian Army, later Chief of General Staff
- vojvoda Stepa Stepanović - Commander of 2nd Serbian Army
- vojvoda Živojin Mišić - Commander of 1st Serbian Army
- serdar Janko Vukotić - Commander of 1st Serbian Army
Belgium
- Albert I of Belgium - King of Belgium (23 December 1909 - 17 February 1934)
Czechoslovakia
- Milan Rastislav Stefanik - Czechoslovak Minister of War
Italy
- Victor Emmanuel III - King of Italy
- Luigi Cadorna - Commander-in-Chief of the Italian army
- Armando Diaz - Chief of General Staff of the Italian army
- Luigi, Duke of Abruzzi - Commander-in-Chief of the Adriatic Fleet of Italy (1914 - 1917)
Romania
- Constantin Prezan - Chief of the General Staff of Romania
- Alexandru Averescu - Commander of the Romanian 2nd Army, 3rd Army, then Army Group South
United States
- Woodrow Wilson - President of the United States/Commander-In-Chief of the U.S. armed forces
- Newton D. Baker - U.S. Secretary of War
- John J. Pershing - Commander of the American Expeditionary Force
Japan
- Emperor Taishō - Emperor of Japan
- Ōkuma Shigenobu - Prime Minister of Japan (16 April 1914 - 9 October 1916)
- Terauchi Masatake - Prime Minister of Japan (9 October 1916 - 29 September 1918)
Personnel and casualties of the Allied powers
These are estimates of the cumulative number of different personnel in uniform 1914-1918, including army, navy and auxiliary forces. At any one time, the various forces were much smaller. Only a fraction of them were combat troops. The numbers do not reflect the length of time each country was involved, or the number of casualties. (See also: World War I casualties.)
Allied powers | Personnel | Killed in action | Wounded in action | Total casualties | Casualties as % of total personnel |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australia | 412,953Template:Mn | 61,928[3] | 152,171 | 214,099 | 52% |
Belgium | 267,000Template:Mn | 38,172[4] | 44,686 | 82,858 | 31% |
Canada | 628,964Template:Mn | 64,944[5] | 149,732 | 214,676 | 34% |
France | 8,410,000Template:Mn | 1,397,800[6] | 4,266,000 | 5,663,800 | 67% |
Greece | 230,000Template:Mn | 26,000[7] | 21,000 | 47,000 | 20% |
India | 1,440,437Template:Mn | 74,187[8] | 69,214 | 143,401 | 10% |
Italy | 5,615,000Template:Mn | 651,010[9] | 953,886 | 1,604,896 | 29% |
Japan | 800,000Template:Mn | 415[10] | 907 | 1,322 | <1% |
Montenegro | 50,000Template:Mn | 3,000 | 10,000 | 13,000 | 26% |
New Zealand | 128,525Template:Mn | 18,050[11] | 41,317 | 59,367 | 46% |
Newfoundland | 11,922Template:Mn | 1,204[12] | 2,314 | 3,518 | 30% |
Portugal | 100,000Template:Mn | 7,222[13] | 13,751 | 20,973 | 21% |
Romania | 750,000Template:Mn | 250,000[14] | 120,000 | 370,000 | 49% |
Russia | 12,000,000Template:Mn | 1,811,000[15] | 4,950,000 | 6,761,000 | 56% |
Serbia | 707,343Template:Mn | 275,000[16] | 133,148 | 408,148 | 58% |
South Africa | 136,070Template:Mn | 9,463[17] | 12,029 | 21,492 | 16% |
United Kingdom | 6,200,000Template:Mn | 885,138[18] | 1,663,435 | 2,548,573 | 41% |
United States | 4,355,000Template:Mn | 116,708[19] | 205,690 | 322,398 | 7% |
Total | 42,243,214 | 5,691,241 | 12,809,280 | 18,500,521 | 44% |
Bibliography
- Ellis, John and Mike Cox. The World War I Databook: The Essential Facts and Figures for All the Combatants (2002)
- Esposito, Vincent J. The West Point Atlas of American Wars: 1900-1918 (1997) despite the title covers entire war; online maps from this atlas
- Falls, Cyril. The Great War (1960), general military history
- Higham, Robin and Dennis E. Showalter, eds. Researching World War I: A Handbook (2003), historiography, stressing military themes
- Pope, Stephen and Wheal, Elizabeth-Anne, eds. The Macmillan Dictionary of the First World War (1995)
- Strachan, Hew. The First World War: Volume I: To Arms (2004)
- Trask, David F. The United States in the Supreme War Council: American War Aims and Inter-Allied Strategy, 1917-1918 (1961)
- Tucker, Spencer, ed. The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, and Military History (5 volumes) (2005), online at eBook.com
- Tucker, Spencer, ed. European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia (1999)
Footnotes
- ^ US Declaration of War
- ^ 1914 is wrong: Italy and Bulgaria entered the war 1915, Romania and Portugal in 1916, Greece in 1917 see: Tucker, Spencer ed. The Encyclopedia of World War I. A Political, Social and Military History. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2005, ISBN 1-85109-420-2.
- ^ Australia casualties
Included in total are 55,000 killed or missing in action and died of woundsTemplate:Mn-.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.Template:Mn-
Totals include 2,005 military deaths during 1919-21Template:Mn-. The 1922 War Office report listed 59,330 Army war deadTemplate:Mn. - ^ Belgium casualties
Included in total are 35,000 killed or missing in action and died of woundsTemplate:Mn Figures include 13,716 killed and 24,456 missing up until Nov.11, 1918. "These figures are approximate only, the records being incomplete." Template:Mn. - ^ Canada casualties
Included in total are 53,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds.Template:Mn
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.Template:Mn
Totals include 3,789 military deaths during 1919-21 and 150 Merchant Navy deathsTemplate:Mn-. The losses of Newfoundland are listed separately on this table. The 1922 War Office report listed 56,639 Army war deadTemplate:Mn. - ^ France casualties
Included in total are 1,186,000 killed or missing in action and died of woundsTemplate:Mn. Totals include the deaths of 71,100 French colonial troops. Template:Mn-Figures include war related military deaths of 28,600 from 11/11/1918 to 6/1/1919.Template:Mn - ^ Greece casualties
Jean Bujac in a campaign history of the Greek Army in World War One listed 8,365 combat related deaths and 3,255 missingTemplate:Mn, The Soviet researcher Boris Urlanis estimated total dead of 26,000 including 15,000 military deaths due diseaseTemplate:Mn - ^ India casualties
British India included present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Included in total are 27,000 killed or missing in action and died of woundsTemplate:Mn.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.Template:Mn
Totals include 15,069 military deaths during 1919-21 and 1,841 Canadian Merchant Navy deadTemplate:Mn. The 1922 War Office report listed 64,454 Army war deadTemplate:Mn - ^ Italy casualties
Included in total are 433,000 killed or missing in action and died of woundsTemplate:Mn
Figures of total military dead are from a 1925 Italian report using official dataTemplate:Mn. - ^ War dead figure is from a 1991 history of the Japanese ArmyTemplate:Mn.
- ^ New Zealand casualties
Included in total are 14,000 killed or missing in action and died of woundsTemplate:Mn.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.Template:Mn
Totals include 702 military deaths during 1919-21Template:Mn. The 1922 War Office report listed 16,711 Army war deadTemplate:Mn. - ^ Newfoundland casualties
Newfoundland was a Dominion at the time, and not part of Canada. The 1922 War Office report listed 1,204 Army war deadTemplate:Mn - ^ Portugal casualties
Figures include the following killed and died of other causes up until Jan.1, 1920; 1,689 in France and 5,332 in Africa. Figures do not include an additional 12,318 listed as missing and POWTemplate:Mn. - ^ Romania casualties
Military dead is "The figure reported by the Rumanian Government in reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office"Template:Mn. Included in total are 177,000 killed or missing in action and died of woundsTemplate:Mn. - ^ Russia casualties
Included in total are 1,451,000 killed or missing in action and died of woundsTemplate:Mn. The estimate of total Russian military losses was made by the Soviet researcher Boris Urlanis.Template:Mn - ^ Serbia casualties
Included in total are 165,000 killed or missing in action and died of woundsTemplate:Mn.The estimate of total combined Serbian and Montenegrin military losses of 278,000 was made by the Soviet researcher Boris UrlanisTemplate:Mn
- ^ South Africa casualties
Included in total are 5,000 killed or missing in action and died of woundsTemplate:Mn
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.Template:Mn
Totals include 380 military deaths during 1919-21Template:Mn. The 1922 War Office report listed 7,121 Army war deadTemplate:Mn. - ^ UK and Crown Colonies casualties
Included in total are 624,000 killed or missing in action and died of woundsTemplate:Mn.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.Template:Mn
Military dead total includes 34,663 deaths during 1919-21 and 13,632 British Merchant Navy deathsTemplate:Mn. The losses of Newfoundland are listed separately on this table. The 1922 War Office report listed 702,410 war dead for the UKTemplate:Mn, 507 from "Other colonies"Template:Mn and the Royal Navy (32,287)Template:Mn.
The British Merchant Navy losses of 14,661 were listed separately Template:Mn; The 1922 War Office report detailed the deaths of 310 military personnel due to air and sea bombardment of the UKTemplate:Mn. - ^ United States casualties
Official military war deaths listed by the US Dept. of Defense for the period ending Dec. 31, 1918 are 116,516; which includes 53,402 battle deaths and 63,114 other deaths.[1], The US Coast Guard lost an additional 192 dead Template:Mn.
References
- Template:MnbThe War Office (March 1922). Statistics of the military effort of the British Empire during the Great War 1914—-1920. London: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84734-681-2.
- Template:MnbGilbert Martin (1994). Atlas of World War I. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-521077-8.
- Template:MnbTucker Spencer C (1999). The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-3351-X.
- Template:MnbThe Commonwealth War Graves Commission. "Annual Report 2005-2006" (PDF).
- Template:MnbThe Commonwealth War Graves Commission. "Debt of Honour Register".
- Template:MnbUrlanis Boris (1971). Wars and Population. Moscow.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Template:MnbHuber M (1931). La Population de la France pendant la guerre (in French). Paris.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Template:MnbBujac Jean (1930). Les campagnes de l'armèe Hellènique 1918--1922 (in French). Paris.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Template:MnbMortara G (1925). La Salute pubblica in Italia durante e dopo la Guerra (in Italian). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.
- Template:MnbHarries Merion (1991). Soldiers of the Sun - The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. Random House. ISBN 0-679-75303-6.
- Template:MnbClodfelter Michael (2002). Warfare and Armed Conflicts - A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500--2000 (Second Edition ed.). ISBN 0-7864-1204-6.
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