We explain what the alliances of World War II were and how they were formed, as well as their history and consequences.
The Allies fought the Axis powers between 1939 and 1945.
What were the alliances of World War II?
The Second World War pitted two alliances of countries against each other for six years: on the one hand, the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan)and on the other hand, The Allies (United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, France, the United States and China)Other countries also allied themselves with one side or the other, and the conflict affected most of the world.
The war began in September 1939 with the Nazi invasion of Poland and ended in September 1945 with the unconditional surrender of Japan, following the unconditional surrender of Germany that took place in May.
Not all nations entered the war at the same time.. Furthermore, coalitions began to form before the war but only took shape during the conflict. This diplomatic aspect determined the outcome of the war but also conditioned the organization of the world at the end of the conflict.
Frequent questions
What sides or alliances fought in World War II?
The opposing alliances were:
- The Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan).
- The Allies (United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, France, the United States and China).
Why did World War II break out?
Following the First World War, in an attempt to maintain global order, the victorious countries that were part of the Entente signed various agreements and treaties. One of the most important was the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which imposed punishments and reprisals against Germany. This provoked resentment, laid the foundations for a militaristic nationalism expressed by Nazism, and led to the German expansionism that unleashed the Second World War. Adherence to the Nazi regime is also explained by the growth of socialist movements and the great economic crisis that caused the Great Depression (1929).
Who won World War II?
The Allies won the war when they entered Berlin in May 1945 and the United States dropped the first atomic bombs in history on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (in August of that same year).
The Axis Powers in World War II
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini formed the Rome-Berlin Axis, which included Tokyo.
The Tripartite Pact
In 1936, three years before World War II, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany signed a friendship pact with Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italy which gave birth to the Rome-Berlin Axis. That same year, the Anti-Comintern Pact was signed between Germany and the Empire of Japan.
These pacts responded to the expansionist ambitions of the three states, dominated by nationalist and militarist parties. Shortly afterwards, Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact (1937), and Germany and Italy secured their political and military alliance through the Pact of Steel (May 1939).
A year after the start of the war, the The Tripartite Pact signed on September 27, 1940 was the main diplomatic agreement between the three great Axis powers..
The Axis Pacts in Western Europe
Following the German victory over France in June 1940 and the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Several European countries turned to the Axis side.
In Western Europe, Vichy France (the zone that was not occupied by the German army) became a collaborationist regime with Nazi Germany.
Franco’s Spain He went through various phases in his relations with Hitler and Mussolini. In 1939 he joined the Anti-Comintern Pact and was on the verge of entering the war alongside the Axis. Finally, After a meeting between Hitler and Franco in October 1940, that possibility did not materialize. (although Franco sent a volunteer corps, the Blue Division, to fight against the Red Army after Germany decided to invade the Soviet Union).
The Axis Pacts in Eastern Europe
The extension of the war to the Balkans led to the adhesion to the Tripartite Pact from Hungary, Romania and Slovakia in November 1940 and Bulgaria in March 1941. These accessions were largely voluntary, due to the territorial or defensive interests of these countries.
Yugoslavia joined the pact in March 1941, but after an internal coup d’état it was invaded by the Germans and dismembered. From the fragmented Yugoslavia was born the pro-Nazi dictatorship of Ante Pavelić in Croatiaone of the most criminal regimes in the region, which joined the pact in June 1941.
The arrival of Soviet troops in the Balkans and their advances towards Germany in 1944 precipitated the defeat of these German satellite states. Romania and Finland (a Nordic country that collaborated with Germany in its fight against the Soviet Union) signed an armistice with the Allies in September 1944, Bulgaria did so in October and, after a long siege of Budapest, Hungary did so on 20 January 1945.
On 18 October 1944, Marshal Tito’s partisan troops entered Belgrade with the help of Soviet troops and Yugoslavia was reconstituted after the expulsion of the Axis powers.
The East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere
The Empire of Japan had an expansionist project in East Asia and the Pacific.
In August 1940, the Japanese imperial government proclaimed a goal: the creation of what it defined as an “East Asian co-prosperity sphere.” It was about creating an association of Asian and Pacific states under Japanese hegemony..
This expansionist project resorted to an anti-colonialist discourse (under the slogan “Asia for Asians”) to gain the support of populations subjected to European colonialism. The response was rather weak, as Japanese oppression was often even more brutal than that of the French, British or Dutch.
The only country that supported Japan was Thailand. (formerly Siam), whose dictatorial government signed a non-aggression treaty with Japan in June 1940. However, Japanese troops subsequently invaded Thailand and forced the signing of a treaty of alliance with Japan in December 1941, leading the Thai government to declare war on the United Kingdom and the United States.
The rest of the Asian and Pacific territories that at some point in the war They collaborated with the Japanese government because they did it were under Japanese military rule.
The Allies in World War II
The Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom formed the “Grand Alliance.”
The historical context
The aggressions of the Axis powers ended up configuring what was called the “Grand Alliance” between the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States. This alliance was personified for much of the war, three figures reigned supreme: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (known as the “Big Three”).
This alliance between countries representing different political and economic systems was determined by the vicissitudes of the conflict. Previously, Stalin had signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, and at the beginning of the conflict it attempted to take advantage of this pact to obtain territorial gains: in September 1939 the Soviet Union occupied eastern Poland, and in August 1940 it annexed the Baltic republics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and the regions of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (which belonged to Romania).
Following the defeat of France in June 1940 and until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, The United Kingdom was the only power that resisted German expansionism.
The Anglo-American alliance
Churchill He was aware from the beginning of the need for US help to confront the German threat.. After being appointed British Prime Minister in May 1940, he sent a telegram to Roosevelt requesting the loan of 40 or 50 old American destroyers.
In late July 1940, Roosevelt accepted, impressed by the growing Japanese threat in the Pacific and the defeat of France. As Churchill stated, at the time The United States moved from “neutrality to non-belligerence”.
The final step in that direction was the Lend-Lease Act passed by the US Congress in March 1941. By putting its industrial capacity at the service of the Allies, The United States became what was called “the arsenal of democracy”.
The “Grand Alliance” between the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union
The German invasion of the Soviet Union radically changed the situation. The Anglo-Saxon powers did not hesitate to support Stalin against Hitler. After the beginning of the Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, an Anglo-Soviet agreement was signed. At the end of September, a conference in Moscow with representatives from the governments of Washington and London agreed on aid to the Soviet Union. The “Grand Alliance” was beginning to take shape.
A few days earlier, a meeting had taken place between Churchill and Roosevelt, which led to the writing of The Atlantic Charter, an ideological program aimed at the democratic powers who were opposed to the Axis, which was in favour of cooperative relations and opposed to territorial ambitions.
It was clear that even before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States had become involved in the conflict. The entry of the United States into the war in December 1941 led to a new conference in Washington between Churchill and Roosevelt.The result of this conference was the Declaration of the United Nations approved on January 1, 1942.
The “Big Three” in 1942
The principles of the Atlantic Charter did not coincide with Stalin’s proposals to retain, in the event of victory, the territories annexed under the non-aggression pact with Germany. However, on May 26, 1942, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden signed the Anglo-Soviet alliance with Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov.
Stalin demanded the opening of a “second front” in Western Europe to relieve the pressure on the Soviet army on the Eastern Front. The Americans were inclined to follow Moscow’s demands, But Churchill recommended a landing in North Africa. which would lead to a subsequent attack on Italy.
Churchill…