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| 3 August 1914 (declaration of war by Germany) |
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Raymond Poincaré: president, 1913-20
Alexandre Ribot: prime minister, 1914
René Viviani: prime minister, 1914-15
Aristide Briand: prime minister, 1915-17
Alexandre Ribot: prime minister, 1917
Paul Painlevé: prime minister, 1917
Georges Clemenceau: prime minister, 1917-20 |
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| 770,000 French troops, 46,000 colonial troops (summer 1914). An additional 2.9 million men were mobilised by mid-August. A total of 8.32 million Frenchmen and 475,000 colonial troops served in France's army during the war |
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| 19 battleships, 32 cruisers, 86 destroyers, 34 submarines and 115 torpedo boats (1914) |
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| France had been humiliated by Prussia during the 1870-1 war (losing Alsace-Lorraine) and regarded Germany as her main enemy. France and Russia concluded an alliance between 1891-94 (which would enable them to squeeze Germany in any future two-front war) and in 1904, France and Britain concluded the Entente Cordiale (which resolved outstanding disputes in North Africa). Russia and Britain concluded an Entente in 1907, and the Triple Entente was generally seen as a counter-balance to the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. |
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| France had extensive imperial interests and could count on the support of these colonies in time of war. |
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| 1.36 million dead, 4.2 million wounded |
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