Allies of World War I
The Allies of World War I were a coalition of nations that united against the Central Powers, which included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire, during the global conflict from 1914 to 1918. The principal members at the outset were Great Britain, France, and Russia, who were later joined by Italy and Japan. Additionally, the United States, which entered the war in 1917, and other countries fought alongside the Allies as part of the Associated Powers, although they did not sign a formal treaty.
The alliances were rooted in a complex web of treaties and agreements, notably the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, and the Triple Entente involving France, Russia, and Great Britain. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 acted as the catalyst for the conflict, ultimately leading to a series of declarations of war that involved multiple nations. The war had profound consequences, resulting in approximately nine million military deaths and significant civilian casualties, particularly affecting France and Russia.
The legacy of the war reshaped global power dynamics, contributing to the decline of British imperial strength and marking the emergence of the United States as a leading global power. The conflict also set the stage for social and political upheaval, particularly in Russia, where dissatisfaction with the war contributed to revolutionary changes.
Allies of World War I
The Allies of World War I were a group of nations joined by treaty against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire during the conflict that lasted from 1914–1918. The major Allies at the start of the war were Great Britain, France, and Russia. They were later joined by Italy and Japan. Other nations that entered the war on the side of the Allies—including the United States in 1917—but did not formally sign a treaty, were known as the Associated Powers. During the course of World War I, there were twenty-seven Allied and Associated Powers that fought the Central Powers.
Alliances and the Start of War
In the decades leading up to World War I, Germany's growing military strength and desire to create a unified German empire began alarming other European nations. In 1881, Germany signed the Triple Alliance, a treaty with Austria-Hungary and Italy promising mutual military aid if any of the nations were attacked. To counteract this alliance, France and Russia signed their own military treaty in 1892. Europe's most powerful nation, Great Britain, had long remained neutral in the squabbles of the mainland, but as Germany's naval power and influence grew, Britain began to see it as a threat. In 1907, Britain entered into an agreement with France and Russia called the Triple Entente, a non-binding pledge to support each other in the event of German aggression.
The domino that sent Europe falling into war occurred on June 28, 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by a Serbian nationalist. Austria-Hungary had annexed Bosnia in 1908, angering neighboring Serbia. Seeing a pretext to stamp its influence on the Balkan region, Austria-Hungary blamed the Serbian government for the assassination and issued an ultimatum demanding Serbia bring the killers to justice or face war. Because Russia and Serbia were allies, Austria-Hungary sought assurances from Germany that it would have German support in the event Russia entered the conflict. When Germany agreed, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914.
As expected, Russia began mobilizing its army to defend Serbia, prompting Germany to declare war on Russia. Germany knew that France was bound to support Russia and, having designs of its own on French territory, declared war on France on August 3. France responded by declaring war against Germany hours later.
Before France could mobilize its troops, Germany put into place a long-held plan to invade France and began sending its army into neutral Belgium—the shortest route to Paris—on August 4. Great Britain was originally divided on whether to honor its commitment to the Triple Entente, but Germany's invasion of Belgium solidified British opinion, and it entered the war on August 4. When Britain joined the conflict, so did other nations in the British Commonwealth such as Australia, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand.
Japan, which had a previous military agreement with Great Britain, honored its commitment and declared war on Germany in late August. While initially bound to the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, Italy at first avoided war by claiming it was only held to the treaty if those nations were attacked, not if they were the aggressors. In May 1915, Italy switched sides and signed a deal to join the Allies.
The United States had maintained neutrality from the start of the war but supported its trading partner Great Britain by supplying it with food and other goods. Beginning in 1915, German U-boats began attacking merchant and civilian ships in the Atlantic. A U.S. commercial ship was sunk in February 1915, and in May, a U-boat torpedoed the ocean liner Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. The acts outraged the American public and began a push for the United States to enter the war. The Germans agreed to stop sinking non-combat vessels without warning but restarted the practice in 1917. The resumption of unrestricted warfare on merchant shipping was the main reason the United States joined the Allied cause in April 1917.
Legacy of the War
When World War I ended in November 1918, approximately nine million soldiers had been killed and twenty-one million wounded. An estimated ten million civilians also lost their lives. Among the Allies, France was particularly hard hit. Much of the fighting had been done on the Western Front in France and Belgium, devastating the region. Of the more than eight million French soldiers who fought in the war, about 1.4 million were killed and 4.3 million wounded.
While fighting did not occur on British soil, Great Britain and its Commonwealth nations lost more than nine hundred thousand soldiers. Almost as devastating were the vast amounts of debt Britain accumulated from the war and the rising tide of nationalism among its colonial empire. World War I marked the beginning of Britain's decline as the world's predominant power. It also heralded the rise of the United States as a world leader.
Russia, which was attacked by Germany on the Eastern Front, fared badly in World War I. Despite having the world's largest army—twelve million Russian soldiers fought in the war—inferior infrastructure and poor training led to a series of catastrophic losses for the Russians. An estimated 1.7 million soldiers were killed and about five million wounded by war's end. The fighting caused food shortages and widespread dissatisfaction among the public. In October 1917, revolutionaries overthrew the Russian tsar and began making overtures of peace toward the Central Powers. These attempts failed, but even after Germany's defeat, Russia remained plagued by infighting and civil war, leading to the rise of the Communist Soviet Union in the 1920s.
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