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World War I: war time alliance systems the Allies
World War I Wartime Alliances: The Allies
Figure 1.--This French post card shows the major Allied countries. The boys are wearing the uniforms of their respective countries. The British boy seems to be holding an Australian flag. The core of the alliance was the Entente between France and Russia. They were joined by Belgium France when the Germans launched the war by invading Belgium. Italy was a first associated with the Central Powers, but the British and French offered them substantial support and territirial gains to join the Allies. Not pictured are the Serbs probably because by 1916 they were occupied. Also not pictured are the Americans who would not enter the wr until 1917. America entered the War, but never formally entered any alliance. Tgere is a message on the back of this card, I have loaded it, but I can't get the mouse over function to work.
The core of the Allies was the treaty between France and Russia. Once Kaiser Wilhem II allowed the Treaty with Russia tolapse, the French immediately seized the opportunity and negotiated a treaty with the Tsar. Republican France and Tsarist Russia may seem unlikely allies, but the French had learned their lesson fron the Franco-Prussian War. Never again would they face the Gemans without allies. The Franco-Russia Treaty was the core of the Allied war effort in the opening year of the War. Yet an alliance with absoltist Tsarist Russia was an embsarassment for the Allies, making it difficult to advance any higher principles for the War. (After the Russian Revolution both Britain and France refused to grant the Tsar and his family refuge despite the request of the Provissional Government.) The question as Europe moved toward war was how Britain react. Britain and France overcame imperialistic conflicts because of the increasingly beligerant Germany. Britain and France signed the Entente Cordiale (1904). Russia formed an Entente with Britain (1907). This required Russia to reach an understanding with Britain's Asian ally Japan. (The two had fought the Russo-Japanese War a few years earlier.) The alliance between Britain, France, and Russia became known as the Triple Entente. Still it was not clear if Britain would enter a continental ground war with Germany. Germany attacked France through neutral Belgium. This activated the treaty between those two countries. Austrian invasion of Serbia brought that country into the Allied sphere. While the British treaties were loosely written, there was no doubt about Britain's treaty obligations to Belgium. The British declaration of war automatically brought the Empire and Dominions into the war (Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and others) into the War. These countries made a very substantial contribution to the Allied cause. The Germans believing that victory wold come quickly in a massive suumer offensive did not factor in the Empire or A,erica in their pre-War calculations. (A mistake Hitler would repear in 1939.) The lure of territorial gains brought Italy into the War on the Allied side (May 1915). Greece was also offered territorial gains. While Germany was the most powerful country in Europe, the combined strength of Russia and France was a formidable challenge. Britain had only a small army, but the powerfil Royal Navy meant that the Allies could enact a naval blockade. The only major power not engaged in the War by 1917 was America. Britain understood the importance of America. Germany did not. The Kaiser's Government engaged in reckless policies that eventually brought America into the war on the Allied side (April 1917).
