Allies of World War I

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Map of the World showing the participants in World War I. Those fighting on the Entente's side (at one point or another) are depicted in green, the Central Powers in orange, and neutral countries in gray.

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 From early 1917 the BWC was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, which had Dominion representation.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.

European military alliances in 1917.[2] The Central Powers are depicted in puce, the Allies in grey and neutral countries in yellow.

Contents

Main Allied states



Other states which had military participation:


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

Leaders

Russia

France

United Kingdom

Dominion of Canada

Union of South Africa

Serbia

Belgium

Czechoslovakia

Italy

Romania

United States

Japan

Personnel and casualties of the Allied powers

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 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[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%
Newfoundland 11,922[1] 1,204[12] 2,314 3,518 30%
Portugal 100,000[3] 7,222[13] 13,751 20,973 21%
Romania 750,000[3] 250,000[14] 120,000 370,000 49%
Russia 12,000,000[3] 1,811,000[15] 4,950,000 6,761,000 56%
Serbia 707,343[3] 275,000[16] 133,148 408,148 58%
South Africa 136,070[1] 9,463[17] 12,029 21,492 16%
United Kingdom 6,200,000[2] 885,138[18] 1,663,435 2,548,573 41%
United States 4,355,000[3] 116,708[19] 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

Footnotes

  1. ^ US Declaration of War
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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].
  4. ^ 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].
  5. ^ 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].
  6. ^ 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]
  7. ^ 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]
  8. ^ 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]
  9. ^ 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].
  10. ^ War dead figure is from a 1991 history of the Japanese Army[10,111].
  11. ^ 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].
  12. ^ 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]
  13. ^ 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].
  14. ^ 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].
  15. ^ 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]
  16. ^ 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]
  17. ^ 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].
  18. ^ 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].
  19. ^ 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].

References

See also

World War I portal