The Axis Powers is a term for the loose alliance of participants in World War II led by Germany,
Italy, and Japan. The three major Axis powers
referred to themselves as the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis. The Axis powers were opposed by the Allies and ultimately defeated in World War
II.
- Major Axis Powers
- Lesser Axis Powers
- Countries in active coalition with the Axis
- Under direct internal Axis control
Italy, facing opposition to its war in Abysinnia from the League of
Nations, forged an alliance with Germany, which had withdrawn from the League in
1933. The term was first used by Benito Mussolini, in November 1936, when he spoke of a Rome-Berlin axis in
reference to the treaty of friendship signed between Italy and Germany on October 25, 1936. The two countries would form an "axis" around which the other states
of Europe could revolve. Later, in May 1939, this relationship transformed into an
alliance, dubbed the "Pact of Steel".
The Axis was extended to include Japan as a result of the Tripartite
Treaty of September 27, 1940. The
alliance was subsequently joined by Hungary (November 20, 1940), Romania
(November 23, 1940), Slovakia's puppet government (November 24, 1940) and Bulgaria
(March 1, 1941).
Yugoslavia joined on March 25, 1941, but a British-supported coup d'état two days later put Yugoslavia's participation in question (although King Peter II of Yugoslavia actually declared his adherence to the
treaty), leading to a German occupation of Yugoslavia in April.
On April 10, 1941, the Independent State of Croatia was proclaimed on
parts of Yugoslav territory, ruled by the Ustaše with the leader of the state
being Ante Pavelić. Other parts of Yugoslavia were either annexed,
governed directly by the coalition forces, or by other locals (e.g. general Milan Nedić). The nation was largely
founded on nationalist asperations due to the mistreatment of Croats and other South Slavic people within Yugoslavia because of the Serbian Yugoslav royal
government's policy of pro-Serb bias. When Nazi Germany and Italy invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia several nationalist groups used this to their advantage. Fascist forces would
emerge on top and subsequently send almost as many Serbs as Jews to their deaths or camps. Yugoslavian Communist forces under the
command of Josip Broz Tito would invade Croatia in 1943 and a year later re-incorperate Croatia into
Yugoslavia. It would be another 50 years before Croats regained an independent nation.
The Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale
Italiana in Italian) was established in 1943
following Italy's defeat at the hands of the allies. On July 25, 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III stripped Benito Mussolini of his
powers and had him arrested upon leaving the palace. Several months later, in a spectacular raid led by Otto Skorzeny, Mussolini was freed, declared his dismissal a coup, and proclaimed
it put down on September 23, 1943. On that same date he assumed control in the northern half of Italy, which he proclaimed to be
the Italian Social Republic with its capital at Salò. The Republic came to an end in 1945
when Allied forces ousted the Germans from Italy.
Iraq under the control of Rashid Ali al-Kaylani tried to join the Axis but met internal resistance. When Kaylani was again
appointed prime minister in 1940, King Ghazi had just passed away and the new four-year-old King Faisal II assumed the throne
with his uncle Emir Abdul-Illah serving as "acting monarch." While Abdul-Illah supported the British in the war, Kaylani was
strongly oposed to them and refused to allow troops to cross through Iraq to the war front. Kaytani was also oposed to those
calling for him to break off ties with the Fascist goverment in Italy. He subsequently sent his Justice Minister, Naji Shawkat,
to meet with the then German ambassador to Turkey, Franz von Papen, to win German support for his government. At a later meeting, in which the Mufti's
private secretary acted as the representative for the Iraqi government, Kaylani assured Germany that his country's natural
resources would be made available to the Axis Powers in return for German recognition of the Arab states' right to independence
and political unity, as well as the right to "deal with" the Jews living in Arab lands.
When Great Britain got wind of these dealings sactions were imidietly
placed on Iraq. The last chance for Iraqi enterence on the side of Germany slipped away when the Italians began to loose control
to their territory holdings in North Africa. On January 31, 1941 Kaylani was forced to resign from the post of Iraqi Prime
Minister do to British preassure.
The Philippines were not officially or technically Axis members; however,
during the de facto independence from 1943 to 1945 the government was cooperating with the Japanese and offering minor
assistance. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 the United States had declared war against the Empire of Japan. Japan
had long been annexing East Asian territory for nearly ten years before bringing the U.S. into the war. Following Pearl Harbor the Japanese invaded the Philipino islands. In 1943 most high
goverment officials had fled off the islands but a justice of the Philipino Supreme Coart by the name of José P. Laurel opted to remain in Manila rather than follow the lead of President Manuel
Quezon, who went into exile to Bataan and
then to the United States. It is because Laurel was such a critic of the United States that he fell in favor with the higher ups
of the Japanese occupieng force. He was appointed President of the Philippines on October 14, 1943. Attempts were made at
Laurel's life by Philipinos trying resist the Japanese. Laurel was shot on two occasions but recovered.
The Japanese invaders began occupying Siam (now Thailand) on the morning of December 8, 1941. Resistance to the Japanese invaders was swift but Col. Luang Phibul Songkhram
ordered a stop to resistance. On December 21st an assistance treaty with Japan was signed. Three Siamese divisions invaded
British Burma alongside the Japanese, and on January 25, 1942 Siam declared war on Britain and the United States of America. The Thai ambassador to the United States did not
deliver his copy of the declaration of war, so although the British reciprocated by declaring war on Siam and consequently
considered it a hostile country, the USA did not. Siamese forces conducted their biggest offensive of the war in May 1942, taking
Kengtun in northern Burma from the Chinese 93rd Army. As the war dragged on, the Siamese population came to resent the Japanese
presence. In June 1944, Songkhram was overthrown in a coup. The new civilian government attempted to distance itself from the war
effort but still could not expel the Japanese. After the war, American influence prevented Siam being treated as an Axis nation,
but Britain demanded 3 million tons of rice as reparations and the return of areas annexed from the British colony of Malaya
during the war and invasion. Siam (mow known as Thailand by most at this point) also had to return the portions of British Burma,
French Cambodia and French Laos that had been
taken.
Following the successful invasion of France by German forces and the capture of
Paris, France surrendered to Germany on 24 June 1940. Germany divided France into occupied and non-occupied zones with the latter under the leadership of the Vichy government, which was the official government of France led by prime minister Henri
Philippe Pétain. The occupation resulted in a divided French state splintered into Vichy France and France. Charles de Gaulle directed forces called the Free French Forces in exile. Like the other nations created by the Axis
ot one of its members, it would not remain on any postbellum maps. Vichy France would cease to exist on June 3, 1944 falling the victory of Free French forces and restoration of the French
Republic over all Vichy territories, colonies, and land holdings.
Manchukuo, meaning Manchuria,
was a puppet state set up by Japan on February 18, 1932. The country's independence was not recognized by the League of Nations causing Japan to withdraw from the League. Italy,
Germany and the Japanese-puppet Government under Wang Jingwei were the only
major nations to recognize the Japanese backed state. Manchuria met its dissolution in 1945 following Japan's defeat ending World
War II.
In Allied usage, Finland was often
referred to as an Axis country because it fought against the Soviet Union;
however it was never a signatory to the Tripartite Treaty, and this language usage is deplored by many Finns who consider it an
effect of Soviet propaganda depicting the Finns as fascists in disguise. Finland characterized its relationship with Germany
during the Continuation War (1941–1944) as co-belligerence. During a period of six weeks, the relation had more of the character of a formal
alliance, the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement, which
was presented as a German condition for much needed help with munitions and air support during the Soviet offensive coordinated
with D-day, that threatened Finland with complete occupation.
The Provisional Goverment of India or Free India was led by Subhas Chandra Bose.
Bose was an Indian nationalist who did not believe in Ghandi's peaceful methods for
acheiving independence. Several key factors were vital in Bose's rise to power. The first was that even though India was a colony
its army was largely autonomous. The second factor was that with Great
Britain at war with Germany, an uprising could not be put down as easily as years prior. The third and most important factor
was the advance of the Japanese Empire through Asia. The Japanese
Empire had earlier established Manchukou (Manchuria) as independent in 1932 and
later Indonesia and Vietnam independent without the approval of the latter two's European colonial masters. Bose led several
units in mutiny against the British goverment and had come into alliance with the invading Japanese Empire to India's east. Bose declared India's independence
on October 21, 1943. With its provisional capital at Port Blair on the Nicobar Islands, the nation
would last two more years until August 18th of 1945 when it officially became
defunct. In its existence it would receive
recognition from nine nations: Germany, Japan, Italy, Croatia, China (Wang Jing Wei), Thailand, Burma (under Ba Maw), Manchukou, and The Philippines under de
facto president (and later de jure) José Laurel.
Of the thirteen members of the Axis powers six would become defunct by war's end. The ones that follow are inactive: Vichy
France, the Independent State of Croatia, Slovakia, Manchukou, Italian Social Republic, and India. Of those six only three would
reemerge. They are Slovakia (1993), Croatia (1991),
and India (1947).
The Italian name Roberto briefly acquired a new meaning from
"Romo-Berlin-Tokio" during this time.
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