Allies of World War I

Allies Of World War I

The Entente Powers or Allies (French: Forces de l'Entente / Alliés; Italian: Alleati; Russian: Союзники, Soyuzniki) were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the British Empire, the French Republic, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on the side of the Entente in 1915. Japan, Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Romania and the Czechoslovak legions were minor members of the Entente.

The United States declared war on Germany on the grounds that Germany violated U.S. neutrality by attacking international shipping and because of the Zimmermann Telegram sent to Mexico. The U.S. entered the war as an "associated power", rather than a formal ally of France and Great Britain, in order to avoid "foreign entanglements". Although the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria severed relations with the United States, neither declared war.

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 From early 1917 the BWC was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, which had Dominion representation.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 Lieutenant Generals John Monash and Arthur Currie, respectively, who reported in turn to British generals.

In April 1918, operational control of all Entente forces on the Western Front passed to the new supreme commander, Ferdinand Foch.