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In general, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose.They are also called the Allied Powers. In English usage, those who share a common goal and whose work toward that goal is complementary may be viewed as allies for various purposes even when no explicit agreement has been worked out between them. Similarly, when the term is used in the context of war or armed struggle, a formal military alliance is not required for being perceived as an ally—co-belligerence, to fight alongside someone, is enough. According to this general usage, allies become allies not when concluding an alliance treaty but when struck by war.

"Allies" spelled with a capital "A", usually denotes the countries who fought together against the Central Powers in World War I, (the Allies of World War I) or those who fought against the Axis Powers in World War II (the Allies of World War II).

More recently, the term "Allied forces" has also been used to describe the Coalition of the Gulf War, as opposed to forces the Multi-National Force in Iraq which are commonly refereed to as "Coalition forces" or, as by the Bush administration, "The coalition of the willing".

[edit] External links

Look up ally in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up allies in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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