Central Powers

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

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

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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.

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Pie chart showing military deaths of the Central Powers.

The Central Powers was one of the two sides that participated in World War I. They fought against the Allies, and consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. The name Central Powers is derived from the location of these countries; all four 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 the 7th of October, 1879, and were joined later on (20th of May, 1882) (see Triple Alliance) by Italy, which intended to limit the alliance to defensive purposes only. When World War I began, the petition made by Germany and Austria-Hungary for Italian intervention was rejected by the Italian Government on the grounds of these two countries declaring war on Serbia, rather than taking defensive action against it. Italy eventually entered World War I on May 23, 1915, but it fought against Germany and Austria-Hungary rather than with them.

Following the outbreak of war in Europe during August 1914, the Ottoman Empire intervened at the end of October by taking action against Russia, resulting in declarations of war by the Triple Entente.

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". During the years 1917 and 1918, the Finns under C.G.E. Mannerheim and the Ukrainian and Lithuanian nationalists fought Russia for a common cause. 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 the Allied Hundred Days Offensive, a succession of advances by Canadian, Belgian, British, French and US forces in north-eastern France and Belgium.

Central Powers by date of surrender
Flag	Name	Surrendered
Image:Flag of Bulgaria (1878-1944).svg	Bulgaria	01918-09-29 29 September 1918
Image:Ottoman Flag.svg	Ottoman Empire	01918-10-30 30 October 1918
Image:Flag of Austria-Hungary 1869-1918.svg	Austria-Hungary	01918-11-04 4 November 1918
Image:Flag of the German Empire.svg	German Empire	01918-11-11 11 November 1918