 European military alliances prior to the war. The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The key members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire. Many other countries later joined the Entente side in the war: Belgium, Serbia, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania and the United States, which were also drawn into the war. The United States declared war on Germany on the grounds that Germany violated American neutrality by attacking international shipping and because of the Zimmermann Telegram that was sent to Mexico.[1] The U.S. entered the war as an "associated power", rather than a formal ally of France and Great Britain, because it had not declared war on the Ottoman Empire like those two countries. Although Turkey severed relations with the United States, it did not declare war. 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 From early 1917 the BWC was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, which had Dominion representation.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 Lieutenant Generals John Monash and Arthur Currie, who reported in turn to British generals. In April 1918, operational control of all Entente forces on the Western Front passed to the new supreme commander, Ferdinand Foch. [edit] History  Russian poster depicting the Triple Entente The original alliance opposed to the Second Reich was the Triple Entente, which was formed by three Great European Powers: The war began with the Austrian attack invasion of Serbia on July 28, 1914, in response to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Austrian Empire followed with an attack on Serbian allies Montenegro on August 8. On the Western Front, the two neutral States of Belgium and Luxembourg were immediately occupied by German troops as part of the German Schliefen Plan. Of the two Low Countries, Luxembourg chose to capitulate, and was viewed as a collaborationist State by the Entente Powers: Luxembourg never became part of the Allies, and only nearly avoided Belgian efforts of annexation, at the conclusion of hostilities in 1919. On August 23, Japan joined the Entente, which counted 7 members. On May 23, 1915, Italy, originally a member of the Triple Alliance but neutral from the beginning of the conflict, entered the war on the Entente side and declared war on Austria. In 1916, two more nations joined the Entente, Portugal and Romania. The direction of the war changed on April 6, 1917, with the entrance of the United States and its American allies. Liberia, China, Siam and Greece also became allies. After the October Revolution, Russia left the alliance and ended formal involvement in the war, by the signing of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk in November effectively creating a separate peace with the Central Powers. This was followed by Romanian cessation of hostilities, however the Balkan State declared war on Central Powers again on November 10, 1918. The Russian withdrawal allowed for the final structure of the alliance, which was based on five Great Powers: When war finished in November 1918, many new States were formed over the ruins of the Central Powers. The Great Powers recognized these national movements and their help to the common goal, accepting their claims of sovereignty between the signatories of the peace treaties. [edit] Leaders  United Kingdom
 Russia
 France
 Commonwealth of Australia
 Dominion of Canada
 Indian Empire
 Union of South Africa
 Serbia
 Belgium
 Italy
 Romania
 United States
 Japan
[edit] Personnel and casualties  Pie chart showing military deaths 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 frontline combat troops. The numbers do not reflect the length of time each country was involved. (See also: World War I casualties.) | Allied powers | Mobilized personnel | Killed in action | Wounded in action | Total casualties | Casualties as % of total mobilized | | Australia | 412,953[1] | 61,928[3] | 152,171 | 214,099 | 52% | | Belgium | 267,000[3] | 38,172[4] | 44,686 | 82,858 | 31% | | Canada | 628,964[1] | 64,944[5] | 149,732 | 214,676 | 34% | | France | 8,410,000[3] | 1,397,800[6] | 4,266,000 | 5,663,800 | 67% | | Greece | 230,000[3] | 26,000[7] | 21,000 | 47,000 | 20% | | India | 1,440,437[1] | 74,187[8] | 69,214 | 143,401 | 10% | | Italy | 5,615,000[3] | 651,010[9] | 953,886 | 1,604,896 | 29% | | Japan | 800,000[3] | 415[10] | 907 | 1,322 | <1% | | Montenegro | 50,000[3] | 3,000 | 10,000 | 13,000 | 26% | | New Zealand | 128,525[1] | 18,050[11] | 41,317 | 59,367 | 46% | | Portugal | 100,000[3] | 7,222[12] | 13,751 | 20,973 | 21% | | Romania | 750,000[3] | 250,000[13] | 120,000 | 370,000 | 49% | | Russia | 12,000,000[3] | 1,811,000[14] | 4,950,000 | 6,761,000 | 56% | | Serbia | 707,343[3] | 275,000[15] | 133,148 | 408,148 | 58% | | South Africa | 136,070[1] | 9,463[16] | 12,029 | 21,492 | 16% | | United Kingdom | 6,211,922[2] | 886,342[17] | 1,665,749 | 2,552,091 | 41% | | United States | 4,355,000[3] | 116,708[18] | 205,690 | 322,398 | 7% | | Total | 42,243,214 | 5,691,241 | 12,809,280 | 18,500,521 | 44% | [edit] Summary of Allied declarations of war on Central Powers List of the 23 member States of the Entente: [edit] After the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand [edit] After the Miracle of the Marne [edit] After the Russian Revolution [edit] Special case: British Empire Five Dominions of the British Empire, which were subordinate to London under international law, were admitted to the Conference of Versailles as reward for their huge military involvement: [edit] Special case: Nominal allies Four States of South America severed relationships with Germany, but did not declare war and had no military involvement: [edit] Special case: Insurgent nationalities Four insurgent nationalities, which voluntarily fought with the Allies and seceded from the constituent states of the Central Powers at the end of the war, were allowed to participate as winning nations to the peace treaties: [edit] See also - ^ US Declaration of War
- ^ first Canadian to attain the rank of full general
- ^ Australia casualties
Included in total are 55,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds[6,85]-.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.[4]-
Totals include 2,005 military deaths during 1919-21[5]-. The 1922 War Office report listed 59,330 Army war dead[1,237]. - ^ Belgium casualties
Included in total are 35,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds[6,85] Figures include 13,716 killed and 24,456 missing up until Nov.11, 1918. "These figures are approximate only, the records being incomplete." [1,352]. - ^ Canada casualties
Included in total are 53,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds.[6,85]
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.[4]
Totals include 3,789 military deaths during 1919-21 and 150 Merchant Navy deaths[5]-. The losses of Newfoundland are listed separately on this table. The 1922 War Office report listed 56,639 Army war dead[1,237]. - ^ France casualties
Included in total are 1,186,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds[6,85]. Totals include the deaths of 71,100 French colonial troops. [7,414]-Figures include war related military deaths of 28,600 from 11/11/1918 to 6/1/1919.[7,414] - ^ 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 missing[8,339], The Soviet researcher Boris Urlanis estimated total dead of 26,000 including 15,000 military deaths due disease[6,160] - ^ 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 wounds[6,85].
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.[4]
Totals include 15,069 military deaths during 1919-21 and 1,841 Canadian Merchant Navy dead[5]. The 1922 War Office report listed 64,454 Army war dead[1,237] - ^ Italy casualties
Included in total are 433,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds[6,85]
Figures of total military dead are from a 1925 Italian report using official data[9]. - ^ War dead figure is from a 1991 history of the Japanese Army[10,111].
- ^ New Zealand casualties
Included in total are 14,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds[6,85].
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.[4]
Totals include 702 military deaths during 1919-21[5]. The 1922 War Office report listed 16,711 Army war dead[1,237]. - ^ 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 POW[1,354]. - ^ Romania casualties
Military dead is "The figure reported by the Rumanian Government in reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office"[6,64]. Included in total are 177,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds[6,85]. - ^ Russia casualties
Included in total are 1,451,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds[6,85]. The estimate of total Russian military losses was made by the Soviet researcher Boris Urlanis.[6,46-57] - ^ Serbia casualties
Included in total are 165,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds[6,85].The estimate of total combined Serbian and Montenegrin military losses of 278,000 was made by the Soviet researcher Boris Urlanis[6,62-64]
- ^ South Africa casualties
Included in total are 5,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds[6,85]
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.[4]
Totals include 380 military deaths during 1919-21[15]. The 1922 War Office report listed 7,121 Army war dead[1,237]. - ^ UK and Crown Colonies casualties
Included in total are 624,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds[6,85].
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 is the source of total military dead.[4]
Military dead total includes 34,663 deaths during 1919-21 and 13,632 British Merchant Navy deaths[5]. The 1922 War Office report listed 702,410 war dead for the UK[1,237], 507 from "Other colonies"[1,237] and the Royal Navy (32,287)[1,339].
The British Merchant Navy losses of 14,661 were listed separately [1,339]; The 1922 War Office report detailed the deaths of 310 military personnel due to air and sea bombardment of the UK[1,674-678]. - ^ 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 [11,481]. - ^ S.N. Broadberry, Mark Harrison. The Economics of World War I. illustrated ed. Cambridge University Press, 2005, pgs. 7-8.
[edit] References [edit] Sources See List of World War I books - 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)
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