Against this phalanx of autocracy, twenty-four nations arrayed themselves. Populations of these twenty-eight warring nations far exceeded the total population of all the remainder of humanity. The conflagration of war literally belted the earth. It consumed the most civilized of capitals. It raged in the swamps and forests of Africa. To its call came alien peoples speaking words that none but themselves could translate, wearing garments of exotic cut and hue amid the smart garbs and sober hues of modern civilization. A twentieth century Babel came to the fields of France for freedom’s sake, and there was born an internationalism making for the future understanding and peace of the world. The list of the twenty-eight nations entering the World War and their populations follow:
| Countries | Population |
| United States | 110,000,000 |
| Austria-Hungary | 50,000,000 |
| Belgium | 8,000,000 |
| Bulgaria | 5,000,000 |
| Brazil | 23,000,000 |
| China | 420,000,000 |
| Costa Rica | 425,000 |
| Cuba | 2,500,000 |
| France[A] | 90,000,000 |
| Guatemala | 2,000,000 |
| Germany | 67,000,000 |
| Great Britain[A] | 440,000,000 |
| Greece | 5,000,000 |
| Haiti | 2,000,000 |
| Honduras | 600,000 |
| Italy | 37,000,000 |
| Japan | 54,000,000 |
| Liberia | 2,000,000 |
| Montenegro | 500,000 |
| Nicaragua | 700,000 |
| Panama | 400,000 |
| Portugal[A] | 15,000,000 |
| Roumania | 7,500,000 |
| Russia | 180,000,000 |
| San Marino | 10,000 |
| Serbia | 4,500,000 |
| Siam | 6,000,000 |
| Turkey | 42,000,000 |
| —————— | |
| Total | 1,575,135,000 |
| [A] Including colonies. | |
The following nations, with their populations, took no part in the World War:
| Countries | Population |
| Abyssinia | 8,000,000 |
| Afghanistan | 6,000,000 |
| Andorra | 6,000 |
| Argentina | 8,000,000 |
| Bhutan | 250,000 |
| Chile | 5,000,000 |
| Colombia | 5,000,000 |
| Denmark | 3,000,000 |
| Ecuador | 1,500,000 |
| Mexico | 15,000,000 |
| Monaco | 20,000 |
| Nepal | 4,000,000 |
| Holland[B] | 40,000,000 |
| Norway | 2,500,000 |
| Paraguay | 800,000 |
| Persia | 9,000,000 |
| Peru | 3,400,000 |
| Salvador | 1,250,000 |
| Spain | 20,000,000 |
| Sweden | 5,500,000 |
| Switzerland | 3,750,000 |
| Uruguay | 1,100,000 |
| Venezuela | 2,800,000 |
| —————— | |
| Total | 145,876,000 |
| [B] Including colonies. | |
Never before in the history of the world were so many races and peoples mingled in a military effort as those that came together under the command of Marshal Foch. If we divide the human races into white, yellow, red and black, all four were largely represented. Among the white races there were Frenchmen, Italians, Portuguese, English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Canadians, Australians, South Africans (of both British and Dutch descent), New Zealanders; in the American army, probably every other European nation was represented, with additional contingents from those already named, so that every branch of the white race figured in the ethnological total.
There were representatives of many Asiatic races, including not only the volunteers from the native states of India, but elements from the French colony in Cochin China, with Annam, Cambodia, Tonkin, Laos, and Kwang Chau Wan. England and France both contributed many African tribes, including Arabs from Algeria and Tunis, Senegalese, Saharans, and many of the South African races. The red races of North America were represented in the armies of both Canada and the United States, while the Maoris, Samoans, and other Polynesian races were likewise represented. And as, in the American Army, there were men of German, Austrian, and Hungarian descent, and, in all probability, contingents also of Bulgarian and Turkish blood, it may be said that Foch commanded an army representing the whole human race, united in defense of the ideals of the Allies.
TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY THE ALLIES UNDER THE ARMISTICE OF NOVEMBER 11, 1918
Dotted area, invaded territory of Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Alsace-Lorraine to be evacuated in fourteen days; area in small squares, part of Germany west of the Rhine to be evacuated in twenty-five days and occupied by Allied and U. S. troops; lightly shaded area to east of Rhine, neutral zone; black semi-circles, bridge-heads of thirty kilometers radius in the neutral zone to be occupied by Allied armies.
It will be seen that more than ten times the number of neutral persons were engulfed in the maelstrom of war. Millions of these suffered from it during the entire period of the conflict, four years three months and fifteen days, a total of 1,567 days. For almost four years Germany rolled up a record of victories on land and of piracies on and under the seas.