Central Powers

Kaiser Wilhelm II, Mehmed V, Franz Joseph: The three emperors of the Central Powers in World War I

European military alliances in 1914. The Central Powers are depicted in purple, the Allied Powers in gray and neutral countries in yellow.

Map of the World with the Participants in World War I. The Allies and their colonies are depicted in green, the Central Powers and their colonies in orange, and neutral countries in gray.

Pie chart showing military deaths of the Central Powers.

The Central Powers were the states of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, which fought against the Allies during World War I. They were called this because they all were located between the Russian Empire in the east and France and the United Kingdom in the west.

Germany and Austria-Hungary became allies on 7 October, 1879, being joined subsequently (20 May, 1882) (see Triple Alliance) by Italy, which intended to limit the alliance to defensive purposes. At the beginning of the war, the German and Austro-Hungarian request of Italian intervention was rejected by the Italian Government based on the fact that Austria had declared war on Serbia, so it was not a defensive war. Italy entered World War I on May 23, 1915, on the side of the Entente.

Following the outbreak of European war in August 1914, the Ottoman Empire intervened at the end of October against Russia, provoking declarations of war by the Triple Entente powers--Russia, France and the United Kingdom.

Bulgaria, still resentful after its defeat in July 1913 at the hands of Serbia, Greece, Romania and the Ottoman Empire, was the last nation to enter the war against the Entente, invading Serbia in conjunction with German and Austro-Hungarian forces in October 1915.

Other movements supported the efforts of the Central Powers for their own reasons, such as the Irish Nationalists who launched the Easter Rising in Dublin in April 1916; they referred to their "gallant allies in Europe". In 1917-18 the Finns under C.G.E. Mannerheim and the Ukrainian and Lithuanian nationalists had a common cause against Russia. The Ottoman Empire also had its own allies in Azerbaijan and the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. The three nations fought alongside each other under the Army of Islam in the Battle of Baku.

Bulgaria signed an armistice with the Allies on 29 September,1918, following a successful Allied advance in Macedonia. The Ottoman Empire followed suit on 30 October,1918 in the face of British and Arab gains in Palestine and Syria. Austria and Hungary concluded ceasefires separately during the first week of November following the disintegration of the Habsburg Empire, and Germany signed the armistice ending the war on the morning of 11 November,1918 after a succession of advances by Canadian, Belgian, British, French and US forces in north-eastern France and Belgium.

Central Powers surrender by order of date:

• Bulgaria 29 September,1918
• The Ottoman Empire 30 October,1918
• Austria-Hungary 4 November,1918
• German Empire 11 November,1918

Central Powers

• Austro-Hungarian Empire
• Bulgaria
• German Empire
• Ottoman Empire

See also

• Triple Entente
• Participants in World War I
• Axis powers of World War II (allies of Nazi Germany in WWII)
• Allies of World War I

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