The Entente Cordiale & Allies (Listed by date of entry into conflict)
SERBIA
Entered War: 28 July 1914 (Austro-Hungarian declaration of war).
Political System: Serbia became a monarchy in 1882 after gaining independence from Turkey (1878).
Leaders: Peter I: sovereign, 1903-21. In 1914, Crown Prince Alexander became Regent with executive authority, owing to his father's ill health. Nikola Pasic: Prime Minister, 1903-26.
Population: 4.5 million (1914).
Army: 360,000 men mobilised for service in 1914.
Air Force: 15 aircraft (1914).
History: Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro formed the Balkan League in 1912 and won a series of victories over Turkey in the First Balkan War. However, Bulgaria was disappointed by its gains from this conflict and declared war on Greece and Serbia in 1913. The Second Balkan War ended when Bulgaria was invaded by Romania. The subsequent peace treaty doubled the size of Serbia and gave Greece control over most of the Aegean coast. Romania also gained territory. Serbia's long-term goal was to expel Austria-Hungary from the Balkans and form a Slav super-state.
Casualties: Military losses (dead, wounded and missing) were in the region of 300,000-350,000, but many of these were due to disease. Civilian losses following the flight over the mountains may have exceeded 600,000.
RUSSIA
Entered War: 1 August 1914 (declaration of war by Germany).
Political System: Tsarist autocracy and empire to 1917. A parliament - the Duma - was created following the 1905-06 revolution, but its role was purely consultative. In March 1917, the Tsar was forced to abdicate as a result of growing discontent with the war and deteriorating conditions at home. He was replaced by a provisional government in which Alexander Kerensky became the dominant figure. In November 1917 (October in the Russian Julian calendar), Kerensky's Provisional Government was overthrown by Lenin's Bolsheviks and Russia became the world's first communist state. The Tsar and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks in July 1918.
Leaders: Nicholas II: Tsar, 1894-1917. Vladimir Lenin, 1917-24.
Population: 166 million (1910).
Army: 1.4 million men (1914). Russia's army was the largest in the world and, by December 1914, had grown to 6.5 million men.
Navy: 9 battleships, 12 cruisers (different classes), 29 destroyers, 67 torpedo boats, 15 submarines, 8 minelayers, 7 coastal gunboats in the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets (1914).
Air Force: 360 aircraft, 16 airships (1914).
History: Russia had been humiliated by Japan in the 1904-05 war, and this had triggered a period of reform, unrest and modernisation. The Duma was established following the 1905-06 revolution, and the armed forces were modernised. Russia regarded Germany as its main threat, and signed an Entente with Britain in 1907. In 1914, the country was still racked by political dissent, which, three years later, would explode into major revolution.
Background Information: Russia's army was huge but poorly equipped: in December 1914, 6.5 million soldiers shared 4.6 million rifles. The country's primitive transport infrastructure made it difficult to deploy this huge force.
Casualties: 1.7 million dead, 4.95 million wounded; 2.4 million taken prisoner.
FRANCE
Entered War: 3 August 1914 (declaration of war by Germany).
Political System: Republic.
Leaders: Raymond Poincaré: President, 1913-20. Alexandre Ribot: Prime Minister, 1914. René Viviani: Prime Minister, 1914-15. Aristide Briand: Prime Minister, 1915-17. Alexandre Ribot: Prime Minister, 1917. Paul Painlevé: Prime Minister, 1917. Georges Clemenceau: Prime Minister, 1917-20.
Population: 40 million (1911).
Army: 770,000 French troops, 46,000 colonial troops (summer 1914). An additional 2.9 million men were mobilised by mid-August. A total of 8.32 million Frenchmen and 475,000 colonial troops served in France's army during the war.
Navy: 19 battleships, 32 cruisers, 86 destroyers, 34 submarines and 115 torpedo boats (1914).
Air Force: 132 aircraft (1914).
History: France had been humiliated by Prussia during the 1870-1 war (losing Alsace-Lorraine) and regarded Germany as her main enemy. France and Russia concluded an alliance between 1891-94 (which would enable them to squeeze Germany in any future two-front war) and in 1904, France and Britain concluded the Entente Cordiale (which resolved outstanding disputes in North Africa). Russia and Britain concluded an Entente in 1907, and the Triple Entente was generally seen as a counter-balance to the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
Background Information: France had extensive Imperial interests and could count on the support of these colonies in time of war.
Casualties: 1.36 million dead, 4.2 million wounded.
BELGIUM
Entered War: 4 August 1914 (invaded by Germany).
Political System: Constitutional monarchy since gaining independence from Holland (1831). Belgium enjoyed universal male suffrage, but voting was weighted in favour of the affluent and educated.
Leader: Albert I: sovereign, 1909-1934.
Population: 7.5 million (1910).
Army: 243,000 men plus 115,000 trained reserves (1914). Much of Belgium was occupied during the war and so the Belgian army could only expand to 170,000 men. A total of 267,000 Belgians served in the army during the war.
Air Force: 12 aircraft (1914).
History: Belgium commanded the only wide-open space between France and Germany and tried to remain neutral, avoiding both Triple Alliance and Triple Entente commitments.
Casualties: 14,000 dead, 45,000 wounded.
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND
Entered War: 4 August 1914 (declared war on Germany following its invasion of Belgium).
Political System: Constitutional Monarchy and Empire.
Leaders: George V: sovereign, 1910-36. H H Asquith: Prime Minister, 1908-16. David Lloyd George: Prime Minister, 1916-22.
Population: 45.2 million (Britain and Ireland).
Army: 250,000 regular troops (1914). Half of these were stationed abroad; half were in the British Expeditionary Force. Britain was forced to introduce conscription in 1916.
Navy: 24 dreadnoughts, 29 pre-dreadnought battleships, 200 cruisers (different classes), 200 destroyers (1914). Britain's navy was the largest in the world.
Air Force: 63 aircraft (1914).
History: Britain joined France in the Entente Cordiale ('friendly understanding') in 1904. This was expanded into the Triple Entente when Britain signed an entente with Russia in 1907. However, neither of these committed Britain to military action. On the whole, it wanted to stay out of European wars (as long as no single power dominated the continent) and concentrate its energies on its empire.
Background Information: Britain's was the largest empire in the world in 1914, covering 11.5 million square miles and comprising 365 million people. There were British colonies and dominions in Africa, the Caribbean, North America, the Pacific and Australasia, and Britain could count on support from these territories in time of war. By the start of the 20th century, Britain's economic pre-eminence was under threat from both Germany and the United States.
Casualties: 660,000 dead, 140,000 missing (presumed dead), 2 million wounded.
AUSTRALIA
Entered War: 4 August 1914 (agreed to support Britain).
Political System: Self-governing dominion within the British empire (1901). A British Governor-General appointed the federal government, but the two-tier parliament was elected by adult suffrage. Australian women gained the vote in 1902.
Leader: Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson: Governor-General, 1914-20. Joseph Cook: Prime Minister, 1913-14. Andrew Fisher: Prime Minister, 1914-15. William Hughes: Prime Minister, 1915-23.
Population: 5 million people of European ancestry, plus 200,000 Aborigines.
Army: Australia's regular army was very small and was intended for home defence only. In 1914, it was backed up by a part-time militia of 45,000 men. When war was declared, Australia promised to provide Britain with 20,000 troops for imperial defence, and a new overseas force - the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) - was created. In 1914, the AIF joined with the New Zealand Army Corps to create the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Australia contributed approximately 322,000 soldiers to the Allied cause during the war.
Navy: 1 battle-cruiser, 5 cruisers, 6 destroyers, 3 submarines (1914).
Casualties: 60,000 dead, 152,170 wounded.
CANADA
Entered War: 4 August 1914 (in support of Britain).
Political System: Self-governing dominion within the British Empire (1867).
Leader: Robert Borden: prime minister, 1911-20.
Population: 7.2 million (1911).
Army: 3,000 regular soldiers backed up by a volunteer militia (1914). Anticipating the outbreak of a European war, Canada established a Canadian Expeditionary Force in mid-1914, and 30,000 Canadian troops were training in Britain by November 1914. A total of 620,000 Canadians volunteered for service during the First World War, mainly in the army but also on naval duties and with the Royal Flying Corps.
Casualties: 56,500 dead, 149,700 wounded.
INDIA
Entered War: 4 August 1914 (in support of Britain).
Political system: Colony within the British Empire.
Leader: George V was Emperor of India and ruled through his viceroy in New Delhi. The Viceroy selected a cabinet from among British officials serving in India.
Population: 320 million (1914).
Army: 155,000 troops in the Indian army, plus an internal security force of 80,000 (1909). One quarter of the infantry and cavalry soldiers were British. The Indian army contained 573,000 men by November 1918, and a total of 1.3m million men saw service during the war.
Casualties: 43,000 dead, 65,175 wounded.
NEW ZEALAND
Entered War: 4 August 1914 (in support of Britain).
Political System: Self-governing dominion within the British Empire (1907).
Leader: William Ferguson Massey: prime minister, 1912-25.
Population: 1.1 million (including 50,000 Maoris) (1916).
Army: 25,000-strong part-time militia (1911). In December 1914, the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and the Australian Imperial Force combined to form the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. A total of 124,000 New Zealanders joined the army during World War I.
Navy: 1 battle-cruiser, three cruisers, several torpedo boats. New Zealand's small navy was taken under UK Admiralty control when the war started.
Casualties: 17,000 dead, 40,750 wounded.
RHODESIA
Entered War: 4 August 1914 (in support of Britain)
Political System: Colony within the British empire. Rhodesia consisted of two administrations (North and South), which corresponded with present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively.
Leader: Ultimate authority rested with George V and the Imperial Government in London.
Population: 100,00-200,000 indigenous people, plus 35,000 settlers of mainly British origin (1914).
Army: 2,700 men in the Northern Rhodesia Rifles and 1,800 in the Southern Rhodesia Volunteers (1914). 6,831 Rhodesians saw service in the First World War, both in Europe and on the border with German East Africa.
Casualties: 732 dead.
SOUTH AFRICA
Entered War: 4 August 1914 (in support of Britain).
Political System: Self-governing dominion within the British empire (1907).
Leader: Louis Botha: prime minister, 1910-19.
Population: 6.45 million (1914).
Army: An expeditionary force of 50,000 men was raised to invade German South West Africa (present-day Namibia) in 1914. A total of 146,000 white South Africans served in the army during the war, while a further 13,000 joined the British armed forces. 85,000 black South Africans served in labour battalions.
Air Force: 1 seaplane (1914).
History: Britain had fought the Boer settlers in South Africa in two wars (1880-1, 1899-1902), so in 1914 many Afrikaaners sympathised with Germany. While Botha was raising an expedition to invade German South West Africa, pro-German Boers raised a rebellion against British authority. This was not fully suppressed until early 1915 and only then could the invasion of South West Africa be fully launched.
Casualties: 6,600 dead, 12,000 wounded.
MONTENEGRO
Entered War: 7 August 1914 (declared war on Austria-Hungary).
Political system: Independent kingdom (with close ties to Serbia).
Leader: Nikola I: sovereign, 1910-18.
Population: 500,000 (1914).
Army: 40,000 men (1914).
History: Montenegro joined Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria in a war against Turkey in 1912. Involvement in this Balkan War reinforced Montenegro's sense of independence from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). When the World War I began in 1914, the Montenegrin army fought with the Serbs against Austria-Hungary on the Balkan Front.
Casualties: 3,000 dead, 10,000 wounded.
JAPAN
Entered War: 23 August 1914 (declared war on Germany).
Political System: Empire.
Leader: Taisho: Emperor, 1912-26.
Population: 55 million (1915).
Army: 300,000 men (1914).
Navy: 2 dreadnoughts, 16 battleships, 4 battle-cruisers, 20 cruisers (various classes), 55 destroyers, 56 torpedo boats, 17 submarines (1914). Japan's navy was the fourth largest in the world.
History: Japan emerged as a major world power after humiliating Russia in the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. Its territorial interests lay exclusively in the Far East and Pacific, and it used the war as an excuse to annex German colonies in the region (Tsingtao and the Marshall, Caroline and Marianas islands). Japan attempted to reduce China to colonial status and to establish itself as the dominant power there when it submitted its 21 Demands in January 1915.
Casualties: 2,000 killed and wounded.
ITALY
Entered War: 23 May 1915 (declared war on Austria-Hungary).
Political System: Constitutional monarchy since emerging as an independent unified kingdom in the 1860s.
Leaders: Victor Emmanuel III: Sovereign, 1900-1947. Antonio Salandra: Prime Minister, 1914-16. Paolo Boselli: Prime Minister,1916-17. Vittorio Orlando: Prime Minister,1917-19.
Population: 34.7 million (1911).
Army: 300,000 men (1912). In 1915, the Italian army consisted of 875,000 men in 25 infantry divisions and four cavalry divisions. A total of 5.2 million Italians were mobilised for army service during the war.
Navy: 5 dreadnoughts, 8 pre-dreadnought battleships, 21 cruisers, 49 destroyers, 85 torpedo boats, 25 submarines (1915).
History: Italy joined Germany and Austria-Hungary in the Triple Alliance in 1882. Under the terms of this agreement, each country was supposed to support the others if attacked by Russia or France; the alliance was renewed every five years. However, Italy concluded a secret agreement with France in 1902. When Germany and Austria-Hungary went to war in 1914, Italy reneged on its Triple Alliance commitments, claiming that the other two had behaved aggressively and that the terms of the Triple Alliance did not apply. With Prime Minister Salandra claiming Italy's Sacro Egoismo (sacred self-interest), the country joined the war in 1915 on the side of the Allies. It hoped to gain territory at Austria-Hungary's expense.
Casualties: 650,000 dead, 959,000 wounded
PORTUGAL
Entered War: 9 March 1916 (Germany declared war on Portugal after the Portuguese government seized German merchant ships seeking refuge in its harbours).
Political System: Republic (since 1910).
Leaders: Manoel de Arriaga: President, 1911-1915. Teofilo Braga: President, 1915.Bernardino Machado: President, 1915-1917. Sidonia Pais: President, 1917-1918.
Population: 6.2 million (1916).
Army: 33,000 men (1914). A total of 100,000 Portuguese troops served in Mozambique and on the Western Front during the war.
Navy: 1 battleship, 4 cruisers, 9 destroyers, 1 submarine (1914).
Air Force: 4 training aircraft (1916).
History: Portuguese and German troops clashed on the frontier between German South-West Africa and Angola in 1914, but this did not lead to a formal declaration of war.
Casualties: 7,222 dead, 13,751 wounded.
ROMANIA
Entered War: 27 August 1916 (declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary).
Political System: Constitutional Monarchy since gaining independence from Turkey (1878).
Leader: Ferdinand I: Sovereign, 1914-27. Ion Bratianu: Prime Minister, 1914-18.
Population: 7.5 million (1914).
Army: 400,000 men (1913). When the army was fully mobilised in 1916, that number rose to 860,000 men.
Navy: 1 cruiser, 4 monitors, 4 destroyers, 3 torpedo boats (1914).
History: The Second Balkan War of 1913 - when Bulgaria declared war against Greece and Serbia - ended when Bulgaria was invaded by Romania. The subsequent peace treaty doubled the size of Serbia and gave Greece control over most of the Aegean coast. Romania also gained territory.
Romania stayed neutral when war began in 1914, but Russian successes in 1916 convinced it to join the Allies in the hope of gaining territory from Austria-Hungary, particularly Transylvania. King Ferdinand was married to a cousin of George V.
Casualties: 335,706 dead, 120,000 wounded.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Entered War: 6 April 1917 (declared war on Germany).
Political System: Republic.
Leader: Woodrow Wilson : president 1912-1920.
Population: 100 million (1914).
Army: 98,000 men plus 27,000 in the National Guard (1914). The army expanded to 140,000 men when the war started, and more than one million American soldiers were stationed in France by July 1918. Two hundred thousand African-Americans served in the US army, but only 42,000 were classified as combat troops. These fought with the French army due to racism in the US army.
Navy: 17 pre-dreadnought battleships, 10 modern battleships, 32 cruisers, 56 destroyers, 51 submarines, 21 torpedo boats (1914). The US navy was the third largest in the world in 1914.
Air Force: 260 aircraft (1917).
History: Before 1914, the US was strongly isolationist as regards Europe and focused its attention on the Pacific, the Caribbean and Latin America. Many US citizens originated from First World War combatant states, and favouring one side over the other could have created political unrest. President Wilson therefore reaffirmed the US's policy of neutrality in August 1914. The US was slowly sucked into the war as a consequence of Germany's submarine campaign, its orchestration of sabotage and subversion within the United States and its attempts to foment war between Mexico and the US. In 1915 and 1916, President Wilson believed that he would be in a strong position to arbitrate between the warring powers if the United States remained neutral. However, by 1917, he believed that the United States would have to fight in order to have a voice in the creation of a New World order.
Background Information: The US had the world's largest economy in 1917, and US bankers played a crucial role in funding the Allied war effort throughout 1914-18.
Casualties: 75,000 dead (58,480 in battle), 189,955 wounded.
GREECE
Entered War: 27 June 1917 (declared war against the Central Powers).
Political System: Independent constitutional monarchy since gaining independence from Turkey (1829).
Leaders: Constantine I: Sovereign, 1913-17. Alexander I: Sovereign, 1917-20. Eleftherios Venizelos: Prime Minister, 1909-15, 1917-20.
Population: 4.8 million (1914).
Army: 210,000 men (1913). A total of 250,000 Greeks served in the army following Greece's entry into the war.
Navy: 5 pre-dreadnought battleships, 2 cruisers (different classes), 14 destroyers, 13 torpedo boats, 2 submarines (1914).
History: Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro formed the Balkan League in 1912 and won a series of victories over Turkey in the First Balkan War. However, Bulgaria was disappointed by its gains from this conflict and declared war on Greece and Serbia in 1913. The Second Balkan War ended when Bulgaria was invaded by Romania. The subsequent peace treaty doubled the size of Serbia and gave Greece control over most of the Aegean coast. Romania also gained territory.
In 1914, Greece was divided between those who favoured neutrality or supported Germany (the king and many army officers) and those who supported Britain (Prime Minister Venizelos). When Venizelos invited the Allies to land at Salonika in 1915, he was dismissed by Constantine and fled to Crete where he formed a revolutionary government. Constantine was deposed in 1917 and Venizelos returned to power. Greece then joined the war on the side of the Allies.
Casualties: 15,000 dead, 85,000 wounded.
The Central Powers.
AUSTRIA - HUNGARY
Entered War: 28 July 1914 (declared war on Serbia).
Political System: Dual monarchy and empire. The kingdoms of Austria and Hungary were united in 1867.
Leaders: Franz Josef I: Emperor, 1848-1916, Karl I: Emperor, 1916-18.
Population: 51 million (1910).
Army: 325,000 men in the Imperial and Royal Army (drawn from all parts of the empire), 40,000 men in the Austrian Territorial Army and 30,000 in the Hungarian Territorial Army (1914). When the war started, Austria-Hungary mobilised 2.25 million men. A total of 7.8 million were mobilised for army service during the war.
Navy: 15 battleships, 7 cruisers, 18 destroyers, 5 submarines, 90 torpedo boats (1914).
Air Force: 250 aircraft (1916).
History: With Germany and Italy, Austria-Hungary was a member of the Triple Alliance, formed in 1882, which was meant to protect its member countries against attack by Russia or France. It was renewed every five years. There was, however, underlying tension with Italy - a number of ethnic Italians lived within the empire. Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia in 1908 drew it into conflict with Serbia. The Serbs wished to see Austria-Hungary expelled from the Balkans.
Background Information: Austria-Hungary was a multi-national, multi-lingual and multi-ethnic empire. The Austrians and the Hungarians constituted the largest groups, but it also included Poles, Croats, Bosnians, Serbs, Italians, Czechs and numerous others. This ethnic and linguistic diversity weakened the power of the Austro-Hungarian military - 80% of all officers spoke German, but only 30% of other ranks.
Casualties: 925,000 dead, 3.6 million wounded; 1.2 million were taken prisoner.
GERMANY
Entered War: 1 August 1914 (declared war on Russia). 3 August 1914 (declared war on France).
Political System: Federal Empire in which Prussia's monarch was also Kaiser (Emperor) of Germany. Although elected on the basis of universal male suffrage, Germany's parliament (Reichstag) was primarily a deliberative chamber. The Kaiser controlled foreign policy, the armed forces and all ministerial appointments.
Leaders: Wilhelm II: emperor, 1888-1918, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg: Chancellor, 1909-17, Bethmann-Hollweg was succeeded by a number of puppet chancellors until the German (Weimar) republic was declared on 9 November 1918.
Population: 65 million (1914).
Army: 700,000 men (summer 1914). Within a week of war being declared, the German army had expanded to 3.8 million men, and by August 1916, 4.5 million German soldiers were fighting on the Western and Eastern Fronts.
Navy: 17 dreadnoughts, 20 pre-dreadnought battleships, 5 battle-cruisers, 25 other cruisers (various classes), 28 submarines and a further 17 under construction (1914). Germany's navy was the second largest in the world.
Air Force: 260 aircraft, 11 airships (1914).
History: Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy were all members of the Triple Alliance (1882), a diplomatic arrangement that was designed to protect its members from attack by Russia or France.
Background Information: Germany emerged as a major industrial, military and political power in the late 19th century and began to acquire imperial possessions in Africa, the Pacific and the Far East. The older imperial powers regarded this as a threat to their own status.
Casualties: 1.7 million dead, 4.1 million wounded.
TURKEY (OTTOMAN EMPIRE)
Entered War: 29 October 1914 (attacked Russia's ports in the Black Sea).
Political System: Empire.
Leader: Mehmed V was Sultan between 1909 and 1918, but real power lay with the 'Young Turks', a secular, modernising group that had seized power in 1909 and installed Mehmed as Sultan. The leading 'Young Turks' were Enver Pasha, Talaat Pasha and Cemal Pasha.
Population: 25 million (1914). 14 million were Turks and the rest consisted of Greeks, Arabs, Armenians, Kurds and other nationalities.
Army: 36 divisions (1914). Total fighting strength rose to approximately 1.25 million men by 1916.
Navy: 2 pre-dreadnought battleships, 4 destroyers (1910). More ships were ordered after 1910 but not all were delivered by the start of hostilities. Germany gave Turkey two cruisers (Goeben and Breslau) at the start of the war.
Air Force: 20 aircraft (1914).
History: By the early 20th century, Turkey had been largely expelled from its European territories, and a number of 'successor states' (Bulgaria, Rumania, Serbia and Greece) had arisen to replace it. Turkey was regarded as the 'sick man of Europe' and desperately sought an alliance with a major European power to improve its political position. However, because of its declining status and its ambiguous position (a predominantly Islamic state straddling both east and west), most European powers were reluctant to form an alliance with Turkey until Germany befriended it. At the outbreak of World War I, Turkey had already been humiliated in the First Balkan War (1912-13) and had lost territory.
Casualties: 300,000 dead, 400,000 wounded.
BULGARIA
Entered War: 12 October 1915 (declared war against Serbia).
Political System: Monarchy. Bulgaria's parliament, elected by male suffrage, could veto royal legislation.
Leader: Ferdinand I: Tsar, 1896-1918.
Population: 4.5 million (1914).
Army: 250,000 men at the time of the Balkan wars (1913). All men aged between 20 and 46 were liable for conscription. A total of 1.2 million Bulgarians were mobilised for army service during the war.
History: Ferdinand was internationally recognised as Bulgaria's ruler in 1896 and he declared Bulgaria independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1908. Four years later, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro joined forces to drive Turkey out of Macedonia. However, Bulgaria was unhappy with its gains from the First Balkan War and attacked its former allies during the Second Balkan War in 1913. Bulgaria was defeated when Romania entered this war. This partly explains Bulgaria's decision to align itself with Germany during the First World War.
Casualties: 90,000 dead, 152,390 wounded
