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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 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).

It should be noted that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and his administration were determined not to define the U.S. as an "ally". The United States declared war on Germany on the grounds that Germany violated American neutrality by attacking international shipping. 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.

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 From early 1917 the BWC was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, which had Dominion representation.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 and Canadian army units were grouped in their own separate army corps, under Australian and Canadian commanders, who reported in turn to British and/or French 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

Kingdom of Belgium (including Belgian colonial forces)
Kingdom of Montenegro
Kingdom of Serbia

French Third Republic (including French colonial forces)
British Empire:

(until November 1917)
United States of America (1917 and after)
Kingdom of Italy (April 1915 and after)

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)

Other states which had military participation:

Albania
Brazil (October 1917 and after)
Armenia (May 1918 and after)
Czechoslovakia - See Czechoslovak Legions
Kingdom of Finland 1918 (October 1918 and after)
Kingdom of Siam
San Marino (June 1915 and after)

States which had declared war (But with no military involvement):

(April 1917 and after)
(August 1917 and after)
(May 1918 and after)
(April 1917 and after)
(December 1917 and after)
(April 1918 and after)
(August 1917 and after)
(July 1918 and after)
(July 1918 and after)
(May 1918 and after)
(December 1917 and after)
(October 1917 and after)
(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)

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	412,953	61,928	152,171	214,099	52%
Belgium	267,000	38,172	44,686	82,858	31%
Canada	628,964	64,944	149,732	214,676	34%
France	8,410,000	1,397,800	4,266,000	5,663,800	67%
Greece	230,000	26,000	21,000	47,000	20%
India	1,440,437	74,187	69,214	143,401	10%
Italy	5,615,000	651,010	953,886	1,604,896	29%
Japan	800,000	415	907	1,322	<1%
Montenegro	50,000	3,000	10,000	13,000	26%
New Zealand	128,525	18,050	41,317	59,367	46%
Newfoundland	11,922	1,204	2,314	3,518	30%
Portugal	100,000	7,222	13,751	20,973	21%
Romania	750,000	250,000	120,000	370,000	49%
Russia	12,000,000	1,811,000	4,950,000	6,761,000	56%
Serbia	707,343	275,000	133,148	408,148	58%
South Africa	136,070	9,463	12,029	21,492	16%
United Kingdom	6,200,000	885,138	1,663,435	2,548,573	41%
United States	4,355,000	116,708	205,690	322,398	7%
Total	42,243,214	5,691,241	12,809,280	18,500,521	44%

Bibliography

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)

Footnotes

References

The War Office Statistics of the military effort of the British Empire during the Great War 1914—-1920. Naval & Military Press.
Gilbert Martin (1994). Atlas of World War I. Oxford University Press.
Tucker Spencer C (1999). The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. Garland.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006. .
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register. .
Urlanis Boris (1971). Wars and Population.
Huber M (1931). La Population de la France pendant la guerre.
Bujac Jean (1930). Les campagnes de l'armèe Hellènique 1918--1922.
Mortara G (1925). La Salute pubblica in Italia durante e dopo la Guerra. Yale University Press.
Harries Merion (1991). Soldiers of the Sun - The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. Random House.
Clodfelter Michael (2002). Warfare and Armed Conflicts - A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500--2000. Second Edition,