Allied Powers of World War I facts for kids

The Allied Powers of World War I were the countries who fought against the Central Powers in World War I. Major countries included the British Empire, France, the Russian Empire, the United States, Italy, and Japan. Most of these countries would fight alongside each other again in World War II, except that Italy and Japan would fight alongside Germany instead.

The Allied Powers in Europe were already allies before the war began. Serbia was an ally of Russia, and Russia was an ally of Britain and France. The war started because the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia in 1914, which led to a chain reaction of countries declaring war on each other.

At first, the United States was neutral, it was not part of either side. However, after several acts made by Germany against the US, the US declared war on Germany in 1917 and would fight for the Allied Powers.

Russia's campaign against the Central Powers went very poorly. Many Russian soldiers were poorly equipped and trained, many Russians were killed, and poverty and starvation became worse problems than before. Many Russians blamed Czar Nicholas II's poor leadership for Russia's problems, so he was overthrown and sent to exile. The Russian Provisional Government who replaced him also made many Russians upset because they promised that Russia would continue fighting the war. After the March Revolution that overthrew the Czar, communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin made a deal with Germany. The deal was that he would stop the fighting between Russia and Germany if they sent him to Russia to overthrow the government. Lenin's slogan for his communist government was "peace, land, and bread". This meant that the communist government promised no more fighting in the war, land redistribution so that everyone in Russia could have an equal amount of property, and that food would be plentiful. After the Communist Party took over Russia in the October Revolution, they fulfilled their promise to Germany and ended Russia's fighting in the war.

In World War II, Italy would join Germany in the Axis Powers because its leader, Benito Mussolini, had a similar ideology to Nazism. Japan was disappointed with the end of World War I because it did not gain as much as it wanted. Japan would also join the Axis Powers because it thought it would help the Japanese Empire grow faster than if it did with the Allies.

Images for kids

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  1914 Russian poster depicting the Triple Entente

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  The Council of Four (from left to right): David Lloyd George, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson in Versailles, 1919

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  The British Empire in 1914

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  HMS Dreadnought; the 1902, 1904 and 1907 agreements with Japan, France and Russia allowed Britain to refocus resources during the Anglo-German naval arms race.

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  Canadian Army recruitment poster

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  Indian soldiers of the 2nd Rajput Light Infantry on the Western Front, winter of 1914–15

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  Russian troops marching to the front

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  Russian recruiting poster; the caption reads 'World on fire; Second Patriotic War'

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  French bayonet charge, 1914; huge casualties in the early months of the war had to be replaced by French colonial troops.

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  French Zouaves of the Army of Africa

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  French artillery in action near Gallipoli, 1915

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  The Japanese carrier Wakamiya conducted the first ship-launched aerial attack in 1914.

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  Antonio Salandra, Italian PM March 1914 – June 1916

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  Alpini troops marching in the snow at 3,000 m altitude, 1917

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  The Serbian Army in retreat, 1915

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  The Yser Front, 1917 by Belgian artist Georges-Émile Lebacq

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  Belgian Congolese Force Publique troops in German East Africa, 1916

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  Eleftherios Venizelos with Constantine during the Balkan Wars

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  A unit of the National Defence Army Corps on its way to the front in 1918

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  Colonel Christodoulou of the National Defence Army Corps interrogates Bulgarian prisoners, September 1918

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  Nicholas accepts the surrender of Scutari, April 1913; Montenegro's major gain from the Balkan War, it was relinquished several months later.

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  Montenegrin soldiers leaving for the front, October 1914

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  Romanian 250 mm Negrei Model 1916 mortar at the National Military Museum

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  Vlaicu III

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  Romanian troops at Mărășești

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  Brazilian soldiers in World War I

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  Military leaders of World War I: Alphonse Jacques de Dixmude (Belgium), Armando Diaz (Italy), Ferdinand Foch (France), John J. Pershing (United States), and David Beatty (United Kingdom)

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  Marshal Foch's Victory-Harmony Banner

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  Russian High Command

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  President Raymond Poincaré and King George V, 1915

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  First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, 1914

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  Douglas Haig and Ferdinand Foch inspecting the Gordon Highlanders, 1918

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  Greek war poster

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  USAAS recruiting poster, 1918

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  Braziliian ship Cruzador Bahia

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  The Siamese Expeditionary Forces in Paris, 1919

See also

In Spanish: Aliados de la Primera Guerra Mundial para niños