Allies of World War I
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The Allies of World War I, commonly referred to as the Entente Powers (from Triple Entente) or the Allied Powers, were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The main allies were France, the Russian Empire, the British Empire, Italy and the United States. France, Russia, the United Kingdom (and, by default, 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".[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 From early 1917 the BWC was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, which had Dominion representation.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 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.
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[edit] Allied states
Belgium (including Belgian colonial forces)
British Empire
Empire of Japan
French Third Republic (including French colonial forces)
Kingdom of Greece (October 1915 and after)
Kingdom of Italy (April 1915 and after)
Kingdom of Montenegro
Kingdom of Serbia
Portugal (March 1916 and after) (including Portuguese colonial forces)
Kingdom of Romania (August 1916-May 1918)
Russian Empire (until November 1917)
United States of America (1917 and after)
as well as:
Albania
Andorra
Armenia (May 1918 and after)
Bolivia (April 1917 and after)
Brazil (October 1917 and after)
China (August 1917 and after)
Costa Rica (May 1918 and after)
Cuba (April 1917 and after)
Czecho-Slovak Republic (October 1918 and after) - See Czechoslovak Legions
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)
San Marino (June 1915 and after)
Siam (July 1917 and after)
Uruguay (October 1917 and after)
[edit] Leaders
Nikolas II - Russian Emperor, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland.
Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich - Commander-in-chief and viceroy in the Caucasus
Alexander Samsonov - Commander of the Russian Second Army for the invasion of East Prussia
Paul von Rennenkampf - Commander of the Russian First Army for the invasion of East Prussia
Nikolai Ivanov - Commander of the Russian army on the Southwestern Front, 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
Raymond Poincaré - President of France
Georges Clemenceau - Prime Minister of France
Joseph Joffre - Commander-in-Chief of the French Army and Marshal of France
Ferdinand Foch - Commander-in-Chief of the French Army and Marshal of France, Supreme Allied Commander
Robert Nivelle - Commander-in-Chief of the French Army
Philippe Pétain - Commander-in-Chief of the French Army and Marshal of France
George V - King of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth Realms, Emperor of India
H. H. Asquith - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
D. Lloyd George - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
John French - Commander-in-Chief of the BEF
Douglas Haig - Commander-in-Chief of the BEF
John Jellicoe - First Sea Lord
Horatio Herbert Kitchener - Secretary of State for War
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
Albert I of Belgium - King of Belgium
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
Constantin Prezan - Chief of the General Staff of Romania
Alexandru Averescu - Commander of the Romanian 2nd Army, 3rd Army, then Army Group South
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
Emperor Taishō - Emperor of Japan
Ōkuma Shigenobu - Prime Minister of Japan
[edit] 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[1] | 61,928[2] | 152,171 | 214,099 | 52% |
| Belgium | 267,000[3] | 38,172[3] | 44,686 | 82,858 | 31% |
| Canada | 628,964[1] | 64,944[4] | 149,732 | 214,676 | 34% |
| France | 8,410,000[3] | 1,397,800[5] | 4,266,000 | 5,663,800 | 67% |
| Greece | 230,000[3] | 26,000[6] | 21,000 | 47,000 | 20% |
| India | 1,440,437[1] | 74,187[7] | 69,214 | 143,401 | 10% |
| Italy | 5,615,000[3] | 651,010[8] | 953,886 | 1,604,896 | 29% |
| Japan | 800,000[3] | 415[9] | 907 | 1,322 | <1% |
| Montenegro | 50,000[3] | 3,000 | 10,000 | 13,000 | 26% |
| New Zealand | 128,525[1] | 18,050[10] | 41,317 | 59,367 | 46% |
| Newfoundland | 11,922[1] | 1,204[11] | 2,314 | 3,518 | 30% |
| 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 | 6,200,000[2] | 885,138[17] | 1,663,435 | 2,548,573 | 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] 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)
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ US Declaration of War
- ^ 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]. - ^ Newfoundland casualties
Newfoundland was a Dominion at the time, and not part of Canada. The 1922 War Office report listed 1,204 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 losses of Newfoundland are listed separately on this table. 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].
- 1. ^ Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914-1920, The War Office, London (March 1922) -Reprinted by Naval & Military Press- ISBN 1-84734-681-2
- 2. ^ Gilbert,Martin Atlas of World War I, Oxford UP, (1994) ISBN 0-19-521077-8
- 3. ^ Tucker, Spencer C. The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia, Garland Publishing, New York (1999) ISBN 0-8153-3351-X
- 4. ^ The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2005-2006 [2] (PDF).
- 5. ^ The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register.[3]
- 6. ^ Urlanis, Boris. Wars and Population, Moscow, (1971)
- 7. ^ Huber, M. La Population de la France pendant la guerre, Paris (1931)
- 8. ^ Bujac, Jean. Les campagnes de l'armèe Hellènique, 1918-1922, Paris (1930)
- 9. ^ Mortara, G. La Salute pubblica in Italia durante e dopo la Guerra, New Haven, Yale University Press (1925).
- 10. ^ Harries, Merion. Soldiers of the Sun - The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army, Random House, (1991) ISBN 0-679-75303-6
- 11. ^ Clodfelter, Michael. Warfare and Armed Conflicts - A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500-2000 Second Edition (2002) ISBN 0-7864-1204-6.
