History
The original alliance opposed to the Central Powers was the Triple Entente, which was formed by three Great European Powers:
- British Empire
- Russia
- French Republic
The war began with the Austrian attack invasion of Serbia on July 28, 1914, in response to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Austrian Empire followed with an attack on Serbian allies Montenegro on August 8. On the Western Front, the two neutral States of Belgium and Luxembourg were immediately occupied by German troops as part of the German Schlieffen Plan. Of the two Low Countries, Luxembourg chose to capitulate, and was viewed as a collaborationist State by the Entente Powers: Luxembourg never became part of the Allies, and only narrowly avoided Belgian efforts of annexation, at the conclusion of hostilities in 1919. On August 23, Japan joined the Entente, which then counted seven members.. The entrance of the British Empire brought Nepal into the war.
On May 23, 1915, Italy entered the war on the Entente side and declared war on Austria; previously, Italy had been a member of the Triple Alliance but had remained neutral since the beginning of the conflict. In 1916, Montenegro capitulated and left the Entente, and two nations joined, Portugal and Romania.
April 6, 1917 marked the entrance of the United States and its American allies. Liberia, Siam and Greece also became allies. After the October Revolution, Russia left the alliance and ended formal involvement in the war, by the signing of the treaty of Brest Litovsk in November effectively creating a separate peace with the Central Powers. This was followed by Romanian cessation of hostilities, however the Balkan State declared war on Central Powers again on November 10, 1918. The Russian withdrawal allowed for the final structure of the alliance, which was based on five Great Powers:
- British Empire
- United States
- French Republic
- Italy
- Japan
| Population | Land | GDP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russian Empire (plus Poland and Finland), 1914 | 173.2m (176.4m) | 21.7m km2 (22.1m km2) | $257.7b ($264.3b) |
| French Third Republic, 1914 | 39.8m (88.1m) | 0.5m km2 (11.2m km2) | $138.7b ($170.2b) |
| The British Empire, 1914 | 46.0m (446.1m) | 0.3m km2 (33.3m km2) | $226.4b ($561.2b) |
| Empire of Japan (plus colonies), 1914 | 55.1m (74.2m) | 0.4m km2 (0.7m km2) | $76.5b ($92.8b) |
| Kingdom of Italy (plus colonies), 1915 | 35.6m (37.6m) | 0.3m km2 (2.3m 2 ) | $91.3b ($92.6b) |
| United States (plus overseas dependencies), 1917 | 96.5m (106.3m) | 7.8m km2 (9.6m km2) | $511.6b ($522.2b) |
| Allied approximate Total by 1917 | 928.7m | 79.2m km2 | $1,703.3b |
Read more about this topic: Allies Of World War I
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