World War I Allies: Strategic Partnerships and Tactical Triumphs in the Great War

By Fouad Sabry

What is World War I Allies

The Entente, or the Allies, were an international military coalition of countries led by France, the United Kingdom, Russia, the United States, Italy, and Japan against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria in World War I (1914-1918).

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Allies of World War I

Chapter 2: French entry into World War I

Chapter 3: Erich von Falkenhayn

Chapter 4: Treaty of London (1915)

Chapter 5: Eastern Front (World War I)

Chapter 6: List of postal services abroad

Chapter 7: Balkans theatre

Chapter 8: World War I

Chapter 9: Romania in World War I

Chapter 10: European theatre of World War I

(II) Answering the public top questions about world war i allies.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of World War I Allies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: May 31, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Allies of World War I

During the First World War (1914–1918), the French Third Republic, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Russian Empire, the United States, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Empire of Japan led the Allies, also known as the Entente powers, in a military alliance against the Central Powers of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

The major European nations were divided between the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance by the end of the first decade of the 20th century. The Triple Entente consisted of France, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were the initial members of the Triple Alliance, although Italy remained neutral in 1914. As the conflict continued, each coalition gained additional members. Japan joined the Entente in 1914, and despite declaring its neutrality at the start of the war, Italy also joined in 1915 despite having declared its neutrality at the beginning of the conflict. The word Allies became more popular than Entente, although France, Great Britain, Russia, and Italy were also known as the Quadruple Entente and, with Japan, as the Quintuple Entente. The Entente powers, which included British India, French Indochina, and Japanese Korea, included the colonies administered by the countries that fought for the allies.

Near the end of the war in 1917 (the same year that Russia withdrew from the conflict), the United States entered as a associated power rather than an official ally. Other affiliated members were Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro, Asir, Nejd, and Hasa, Portugal, Romania, Hejaz, Panama, Cuba, Greece, China, Siam, Brazil, Armenia, Luxembourg, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Haiti, Liberia, and Honduras.

The Triple Entente, founded in 1907 when the agreement between Britain and the Russian Empire supplemented existing accords between Britain, Russia, and France, fought the Central Powers when war broke out in 1914.

Austria invaded Serbia on 28 July 1914, ostensibly in retaliation for the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Emperor Franz Joseph I; this drew Serbia's ally Montenegro into the conflict on 8 August, when it assaulted the Austrian naval station at Cattaro, modern-day Kotor. Simultaneously, German troops executed the Schlieffen Plan by invading neutral Belgium and Luxembourg; approximately 95 percent of Belgium was seized, although the Belgian Army maintained its positions on the Yser Front throughout the conflict. This allowed Belgium to be recognized as an ally, unlike Luxembourg, which held control of domestic affairs but was controlled by German forces.

Between 7 and 9 August, the Russians entered German East Prussia and Austrian East Galicia in the East. Japan joined the Entente on August 23, declaring war on Germany and Austria on August 25. Japanese soldiers encircled the German Treaty Port at Tsingtao (now Qingdao) in China and invaded German territories in the Pacific, including the Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands, on 2 September.

Despite its participation in the Triple Alliance, Italy remained neutral until May 23, 1915, when it declared war on Austria but not Germany and joined the Entente. Montenegro capitulated on January 17, 1916, and left the Entente; The United States entered the war as a belligerent on April 6, 1917, along with Liberia, Siam, and Greece, which were affiliated allies. With the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918, Russia consented to a separate peace with the Central Powers following the October Revolution of 1917. In the Treaty of Bucharest of May 1918, Romania was compelled to do the same, but on 10 November it repudiated the Treaty and again declared war on the Central Powers.

These modifications meant that the Allies who negotiated the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 included France, Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States; on January 25, 1919, Part One of the Treaty ratified the foundation of the League of Nations. This was established on 16 January 1920 with Britain, France, Italy, and Japan as permanent members of the Executive Council; on 19 March, the United States Senate voted against ratification of the treaty, preventing the United States from joining the League.

Throughout much of the 19th century, Britain pursued a policy known as magnificent isolation, in which it strove to preserve the balance of power in Europe without formal alliances. This left it perilously exposed as Europe fractured into competing power blocs and the 1895–1905 Conservative government negotiated the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902 and the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904. The first observable consequence of this shift was British assistance for France against Germany during the Moroccan Crisis of 1905.

The Liberal government of 1905–1915 continued this realignment with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Similar to the Anglo-Japanese and Entente accords, it concentrated on settling colonial conflicts, but by doing so, it paved the path for broader cooperation and allowed Britain to refocus resources in reaction to German naval development.

Since possession of Belgium gave an adversary the ability to threaten invasion or embargo British trade, preventing this was a longstanding British strategic objective. Outside of government and the upper echelons of the military, it was not commonly believed that the United Kingdom was committed to assisting France in a war against Germany.

As late as 1 August, a resounding majority of the Liberal government and its supporters favored avoiding conflict.

The German high command was aware that entering Belgium would result in British action, but they deemed the risk acceptable because they anticipated a brief conflict and their representative in London said that Ireland's issues would prevent Britain from aiding France. Germany wanted free passage through any portion of Belgium on 3 August and, when this was denied, invaded early on 4 August.

The invasion of Belgium strengthened political and public support for the war by giving what appeared to be a straightforward moral and strategic option. Possibly, this confusion still exists now.

The declaration of war immediately enlisted all dominions, colonies, and protectorates of the British Empire, many of which made substantial contributions to the Allied war effort through the provision of troops and civilian laborers. It was divided into Crown Colonies controlled by the Colonial Office in London, such as Nigeria, and self-governing Dominions, including Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. These governed only their own domestic policies and military spending, not foreign policy.

In terms of population, the British Raj or British India, which comprised modern India, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Bangladesh, was the largest component (behind Britain herself). It was managed directly by the India Office or by British-aligned princes; it also controlled British interests in the Persian Gulf, including the Trucial States and Oman. Over one million British Indian Army personnel participated in several combat theaters, especially France and the Middle East.

From 1914 to 1916, the British War Cabinet in London directed the overall diplomatic, political, and military strategy of the Empire; in 1917, it was replaced by the Imperial War Cabinet, which included representatives from the Dominions. The Chief of the Imperial General Staff, or CIGS, was in charge of the Imperial ground forces, while the Admiralty was responsible for the Royal Navy. Then, theater commanders such as Douglas Haig on the Western Front and Edmund Allenby in Palestine reported to the CIGS.

After the Indian Army, the largest individual forces in France were the Australian Corps and Canadian Corps, commanded by their respective generals, John Monash and Arthur Currie, in 1918. South African, New Zealand, and Newfoundland contingents served in France, Gallipoli, German East Africa, and the Middle East, among other theaters. Separately, Australian troops took German New Guinea, while South African troops did the same in German South West Africa. This led to the Maritz revolt by former Boers, which was promptly put down. New Guinea and South-West Africa became Protectorates after the war and remained such until 1975 and 1990, respectively.

Between 1873 to 1887, Russia was allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary in the League of the Three Emperors, and later with Germany in the 1887–1890 Reinsurance Treaty; both alliances failed due to Austria's and Russia's opposing Balkan interests. While France took advantage of this to accede to the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1894, Britain viewed Russia with grave distrust; in 1800, more than 3,000 kilometers separated the Russian Empire from British India, but by 1902, in certain parts, the distance had shrunk to 30 kilometers.

Loss in the 1905 The Russo-Japanese War and Britain's isolation during the Second Boer War of 1899–1902 prompted both sides to seek allies. The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 resolved problems in Asia and paved the way for the formation of the Triple Entente with France, which was largely informal at the time. Austria conquered Bosnia and Herzegovina, a former Ottoman province, in 1908. In response, Russia founded the Balkan League to resist future Austrian expansion. In the 1912–1913 First Balkan War, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece acquired the majority of the remaining Ottoman territories in Europe. Disputes over the division of these territories led to the Second Balkan War, in which Bulgaria was defeated by its former allies.

Since 1905, Russia's economic base and railway network had grown greatly, albeit from a very low base; in 1913, Tsar Nicholas authorized an expansion in the size of the Russian Army by more than 500,000 soldiers. Although there was no official alliance between Russia and Serbia, their tight bilateral ties gave Russia access to the decaying Ottoman Empire, where Germany had important interests. Austria and Germany felt concerned by Serbian growth; when Austria invaded Serbia on 28 July 1914, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov saw it as an Austro-German plot to eliminate Russian influence in the Balkans.

The defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 resulted in the loss of Alsace-Lorraine and the foundation of the Third Republic. The new regime's repression of the Paris Commune led to significant political tensions and a succession of bitter political confrontations, including the Dreyfus investigation. Thus, militant nationalism or Revanchism was one of the few issues that brought the French together.

The loss of Alsace-Lorraine stripped France of its natural defense line along the Rhine, and it was weaker demographically than Germany, whose population in 1911 was 64.9 million compared to France's 39.6 million, which had Europe's lowest birthrate.

However, Russia's credibility was undermined by its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, and Britain's isolation during the Second Boer War caused both nations to seek other friends. This resulted in the Entente Cordiale between France and Britain in 1904; like the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention, it centered on settling colonial conflicts for domestic British consumption, but led to informal cooperation in other areas. By 1914, the British army and Royal Navy were committed to supporting France in the event of a conflict with Germany, but even inside the British government, few were aware of the scope of these pledges.

France called a general mobilisation on 2 August in anticipation of war in response to Germany's declaration of war against Russia. On 3 August, Germany declared war on France. Britain entered the war on August 4 in response to Germany's ultimatum to Belgium, whereas France did not declare war on Austria-Hungary until August 12.

As with Britain, France's colonies also participated in the war; before to 1914, French troops and politicians campaigned for the use of French African recruits to offset France's demographic vulnerability. But it ultimately proved ineffective, since