Allied Powers

or Allies

Nations allied in opposition to the Central Powers in World War I or to the Axis Powers in World War II.

The original Allies in World War I

the British Empire, France, and the Russian Empire

were later joined by many other countries, including Portugal, Japan, and Italy. Other nations joining the Allies, including the U.S. after 1917, were called Associated Powers, a term emphasized by Pres. Woodrow Wilson to preserve the U.S.'s free hand in the war. In World War II the major Allied Powers were Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the U.S., and China. More generally, the Allies included all the wartime members of the United Nations, the 1942 signatories to the Declaration of the UN.

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▪ international alliance

also called  Allies 

      those nations allied in opposition to the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey) in World War I or to the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) in World War II.

      The major Allied Powers in World War I were the British Empire, France, and the Russian Empire, formally linked by the Treaty of London of Sept. 5, 1914; other nations that had been, or came to be, allied by treaty to one or more of these powers were also called Allies: Portugal and Japan by treaty with Britain; Italy by the Treaty of London of April 26, 1915, with all three powers. Other nations—including the United States after its entry on April 6, 1917—that were arrayed against the Central Powers were called “Associated Powers,” not Allied Powers; U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (Wilson, Woodrow) emphasized this distinction to preserve America's free hand. The Treaty of Versailles (Versailles, Treaty of) concluding the war listed 27 “Allied and Associated Powers” (Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, the British Empire, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Ecuador, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, the Hejaz, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serb-Croat-Slovene State, Siam, the United States, and Uruguay).

      In World War II the chief Allied Powers were Great Britain, France (except during the German occupation, 1940–44), the Soviet Union (after its entry in June 1941), the United States (after its entry on Dec. 8–11, 1941), and China. More generally the Allies included all the wartime members of the United Nations, the signatories to the Declaration of the United Nations. The original signers, of Jan. 1, 1942, were Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Poland, Salvador, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United States, and Yugoslavia; subsequent wartime signers were the Philippines, Mexico, Ethiopia, Iraq, Free French, and Free Danes.

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