Allies of World War I





The Allied Powers (from Triple Entente) were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The main allies were the Russian Empire, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, 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).

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. The U.S. entered the war as an "associated power", rather than a formal ally of France and 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. The U.S. was not at war with some of the other Central Powers, such as the Kingdom of 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 From early 1917 the BWC was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, which had Dominion representation.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 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.

Main Allied countries

 * 🇧🇪 Kingdom of Belgium (including Belgian colonial forces)
 * 🇲🇪 Kingdom of Montenegro
 * 🇷🇸 Kingdom of Serbia
 * 🇫🇷 French Third Republic (including French colonial forces)
 * Russian Empire (until November 1917)
 * British Empire:
 * United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
 * 🇦🇺 Australia
 * British crown colonies
 * 🇮🇳 India
 * 🇨🇦 Canada
 * Newfoundland
 * 🇳🇿 New Zealand
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa
 * 🇮🇹 Kingdom of Italy (April 1915 and after) (including Italian colonial forces)
 * Empire of Japan
 * 🇵🇹 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)
 * United States of America (1917 and after)
 * Alaska
 * Hawaii
 * Philippine Islands
 * Puerto Rico
 * 🇺🇸 other unincorporated territories

Other states which had military participation:


 * 🇦🇱 Albania
 * 🇧🇷 Brazil (October 1917 and after)
 * 🇦🇲 Armenia (May 1918 and after)
 * Czechoslovakia - See Czechoslovak Legions
 * 🇫🇮 Finland (October 1918 and after)
 * 🇳🇵 Nepal (soldiers served under the British Indian Army)
 * 🇹🇭 Kingdom of Siam
 * 🇸🇲 San Marino (June 1915 and after)

States which had declared war, but had no military involvement:


 * 🇦🇩 Andorra
 * 🇧🇴 Bolivia (April 1917 and after)
 * Republic of China (August 1917 and after)
 * 🇨🇷 Costa Rica (May 1918 and after)
 * 🇨🇺 Cuba (April 1917 and after)
 * 🇪🇨 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)
 * 🇺🇾 Uruguay (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)
 * Horatio Herbert Kitchener - Secretary of State for War (5 August 1914 - 5 June 1916)
 * William Robertson - Chief of the Imperial General Staff
 * John French - Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (4 August - 15 December 1915)
 * Douglas Haig - Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (15 December 1915 - 11 November 1918)
 * "Jackie" Fisher - First Sea Lord - (1914 - May 1915)
 * Henry Jackson - First Sea Lord - (May 1915 - November 1916)
 * John Jellicoe - First Sea Lord (November 1916 - December 1917)

🇦🇺 Dominion of Australia


 * Billy Hughes - Prime Minister of Australia (1915 - end of war)
 * John Monash - Commander of the Australian Corps (all five Australian infantry divisions serving on the Western Front) (May 1918 - )

🇨🇦 Dominion of Canada


 * Robert Borden - Prime Minister of Canada (1914-1918)
 * 🇬🇧 Julian Byng (June 1916 - June 1917) Canadian Corps commander
 * Sir Sam Hughes-(1914- January 1915)
 * Edwin Alderson - Commander of the unified Canadian Corps of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (26 January 1915-September 1915)
 * Arthur Currie - Commander of the unified Canadian Corps of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (June 1917 - )

🇮🇳 Indian Empire


 * John Nixon commander of the British Indian Army (active in the Middle East)

Dominion of Newfoundland


 * Edward Morris - Prime Minister of Newfoundland (1914-1917)
 * William F. Lloyd - Prime Minister of Newfoundland (1918-1919)

🇿🇦 Union of South Africa


 * Louis Botha - Prime Minister of South Africa
 * Jan Smuts - Led forces in South-West Africa Campaign and East African Campaign, later member of the Imperial War Cabinet

🇷🇸 Serbia


 * Peter I - King of Serbia
 * Vojvoda Radomir Putnik - Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army
 * Vojvoda Petar Bojović - Commander of First Army, later Chief of General Staff
 * Vojvoda Stepa Stepanović - Commander of Second 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


 * Ferdinand I - King of 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 frontline 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.)