We explain which Axis powers faced the Allies in World War II.
The Axis was led by Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy and Hirohito’s Japan.
What were the Axis powers?
The Axis Powers They were a coalition led by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan that fought against the Allies in World War II (1939-1945)..
The origin of this alliance was the progressive understanding between the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and the fascist leader Benito Mussolini. during the final years of the interwar period. This understanding led to the proclamation of October 25, 1936 the existence of a mutual friendship, which later received the name of the “Rome-Berlin Axis”.
An essential role in this rapprochement between Germany and Italy was played by the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, which led to Mussolini’s estrangement from the governments of France and the United Kingdom, and by the fact that both Germany and Italy fought together in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) in support of Francisco Franco’s rebellion.
Shortly after, On November 25, 1936, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact against the Communist International led by the Soviet Union (USSR), which was joined by Italy in November 1937.
The rapprochement between Germany and Italy led to a full political and military alliance when the Pact of Steel was signed on May 22, 1939. Finally, On September 27, 1940, the Tripartite Pact was signed between the three powers, which formally constituted the military alliance of the Axis powers. Other countries as Croatia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania or Hungary collaborated to a greater or lesser extent with the Axis.
The Axis powers were defeated in World War II.Mussolini was dismissed in July 1943 and the new Italian government signed an armistice with the Allies on 3 September 1943. Germany signed an unconditional surrender on 7 and 8 May 1945 and Japan did so on 2 September 1945, the date on which the war ended.
Frequent questions
Which countries were the Axis powers in World War II?
The Axis powers were Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan. Germany sparked World War II when it invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940. Japan had been at war with China since 1937 and became militarily involved with its two European allies in 1940, when the three powers signed the Tripartite Pact. Other countries also joined the Axis, including Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Croatia.
Who were the leaders of the Axis powers?
The main political leaders of the Axis powers were Adolf Hitler (Chancellor of Germany), Benito Mussolini (President of the Council of Ministers of Italy) and Hirohito (Emperor of Japan). Also prominent were the Foreign Ministers of Germany (Joachim von Ribbentrop) and Italy (Galeazzo Ciano) and the militarist cabinet of Japan. The other countries that joined the Axis were led by leaders such as Ante Pavelić (Croatia), Jozef Tiso (Slovakia), Miklós Horthy (Hungary) or Vidkun Quisling (Norway).
What was the objective of the Axis powers?
The three powers leading the Axis sought territorial expansion, the defence of their nationalist projects and the defeat of communism. Germany and Italy aspired to expand primarily in Europe and the Mediterranean, and in the case of the Nazis, also to displace or eliminate populations considered racially inferior, such as European Jews. Japan wanted to form a large economic space in Asia and the Pacific under Japanese hegemony, called the “Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.”
The historical context
After the end of the First World War (1914-1918), a process of radicalization of nationalism began in Europe, which in Italy gave birth to fascismwhich came to power in 1922, when Benito Mussolini was appointed President of the Council of Ministers.
The rejection of some social sectors to the rise of socialist and communist movements, especially after the triumph of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917, was combined in the 1930s with the effects of the Great Depression. This allowed the growth of Nazism in Germanya nationalist movement that also expressed discontent with the war reparations imposed by the Allies on Germany after the First World War.
Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, was appointed Chancellor of Germany in January 1933 and soon began a process of rearmament and expansionism that a few years later, in September 1939, led to the start of the Second World War. For its part, Mussolini began the invasion of Ethiopia in October 1936 and militarily occupied Albania in April 1939. Meanwhile, in East Asia, The Empire of Japan began a political expansion with the annexation of Manchuria in 1931 and the invasion of other parts of China in 1937.
The Rome-Berlin Axis (1936)
The first step towards the formation of the Axis as a military coalition between Germany, Italy and Japan took place in 1936. Despite their obvious ideological affinities, the relationship between Mussolini and Hitler was initially based on mistrust.because they had conflicting interests regarding the future of Austria (Hitler wanted to annex it to Germany and Mussolini wanted it to be under Italian influence). This initially prevented an alliance between the two fascist powers.
However, two events contributed to the Italian government turning towards an alliance with Nazi Germany:
- France and the United Kingdom condemned the Italian annexation of Ethiopia (Abyssinia) in October 1935, and this broke the Stresa Front formed by Italy, the United Kingdom and France in April 1935.
- Germany and Italy militarily supported the same side (Franco’s) in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
The work of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Galeazzo Ciano, better known as “Count Ciano” and appointed in June 1936, led to the signing on October 25, 1936 of a declaration in which both countries proclaimed their friendship and the maintenance of common views in international politics.
On November 1, Mussolini gave a speech in which he welcomed the new German-Italian friendship and announced the existence of an understanding he referred to as a “Rome-Berlin Vertical” that would function as an axis around which the other European states would henceforth revolve. Journalists soon began to speak of the Rome-Berlin Axis. This agreement was later reinforced by the Anti-Comintern Pact between Germany and Japan.
The Anti-Comintern Pact (1936)
On November 25, 1936, shortly after the formation of the Rome-Berlin Axis, Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pacta treaty in which they declared the hostility of both countries to communism and the Communist International (also known as the Comintern). In November 1937 Mussolini’s Italy also joined in and in 1939 Franco’s Spain did the same.
This pact It was an important step in shaping the Axis side that would fight the Allies during World War II. This side, made up of three countries with nationalist and militaristic ideologies (Italy, Germany and Japan), was fully established with the signing of the Tripartite Pact on September 27, 1940.
The signing of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union in August 1939 nullified the Anti-Comintern Pact, but the latter was revived when Germany launched its attack on the Soviet Union in 1941.
In addition to Franco’s Spain, other countries in the Axis orbit or clearly opposed to the Soviet Union signed the pact, such as Manchukuo, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia and Finland.
The Pact of Steel (1939)
On 22 May 1939, Count Ciano and Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the Pact of Steel.
The Pact of Steel was the military alliance formed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.He was persistently sought after by the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, from 1938 onwards. However, he initially came up against Italy’s lack of preparedness for an immediate war.
Tensions between Germany and other European countries increased in 1939. Italy and France, for their part, were fighting over colonial territories. In this context, Mussolini and Count Ciano considered it appropriate to strengthen ties with a government that challenged the Western powers and finally agreed to sign a pact of close military alliance with Germany.
On May 22, 1939, Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel in Berlin, by which They undertook to provide mutual military assistance.The Italian war industry was exhausted after the intervention in the Spanish Civil War, so the Italian government asked that the conflict not break out for at least three years..
However, Germanywhich was the most powerful of the two European totalitarian powers, started the war in September 1939 by invading Poland. Mussolini claimed that the Italian army was unprepared and waited a few months before launching the war alongside his German ally. His declaration of war on the Allies did not come until 10 June 1940, when Germany was about to complete the conquest of France.
The Tripartite Pact (1940)
The Tripartite Pact formally established the alliance of the Axis powers.
The three totalitarian powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) had signed the Anti-Comintern Pact between 1936 and 1937, directed against the Communist International (in practice, against the Soviet Union). The signing of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in August 1939 outraged the Japanese government, which abandoned the Anti-Comintern Pact.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 and Italy’s entry into the war in June 1940, Growing tension in the Pacific led the Japanese government to agree to sign another pact on September 27, 1940, which was named the Tripartite Pact and formally constituted the Axis powers.
The Tripartite Pact It was signed by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan.In this pact, Japan recognized the leadership of Germany and Italy in Europe and the two European totalitarian powers accepted Japanese hegemony in Asia…