Axis, WW2
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#Germany
#Italy
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In World War II (1939–1945), the Axis Powers were the coalition of countries that opposed the Allies. The Axis was primarily led by:
Major Axis Powers
1. Nazi Germany
• Leader: Adolf Hitler (Führer, 1934–1945)
• Goals: Establish a vast European empire, eliminate Jews and other groups via the Holocaust, overturn the Treaty of Versailles.
• Invaded Poland in 1939, starting the war.
2. Fascist Italy
• Leader: Benito Mussolini (Il Duce, 1922–1943)
• Aimed to recreate a “New Roman Empire” in Africa and the Mediterranean.
• Initially successful in Ethiopia and Albania but struggled in Greece and North Africa.
3. Empire of Japan
• Leaders: Emperor Hirohito (symbolic); military controlled by PMs like Hideki Tojo.
• Sought to dominate East Asia and the Pacific via the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”.
• Attacked Pearl Harbor (Dec 1941), bringing the U.S. into the war.
Axis Treaties and Pacts
• Anti-Comintern Pact (1936) – Germany & Japan agreed to oppose Communism.
• Pact of Steel (1939) – Germany and Italy formalized their alliance.
• Tripartite Pact (1940) – Germany, Italy, and Japan agreed to mutual defense and cooperation, forming the official Axis Powers.
Other Axis-Aligned or Co-Belligerent Nations
Some countries formally joined or cooperated with the Axis due to pressure, ideological alignment, or strategic necessity:
• Hungary (joined 1940)
• Romania (joined 1940; key oil supplier to Germany)
• Bulgaria (joined 1941)
• Finland (co-belligerent with Germany vs. USSR but never signed the Tripartite Pact)
• Slovakia (puppet state of Germany)
• Croatia (puppet state under Ustaše regime)
• Thailand, Manchukuo (Japanese puppet in Manchuria), Vichy France (collaborated with Germany but remained semi-autonomous)
Key Characteristics of the Axis
• Authoritarian/Totalitarian regimes
• Militarism and expansionism (Lebensraum, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Italian Empire)
• Anti-communism
•Often racist or ethnonationalist ideologies (especially in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan)
Decline and Defeat
• Turning points:
• Stalingrad (1942–43) – Major Soviet victory over Germany.
• El Alamein (1942) – British victory over Axis in North Africa.
• Midway (1942) – U.S. naval victory over Japan.
• D-Day (1944) – Allied landing in Normandy, France.
• By May 1945, Germany surrendered; Japan surrendered in August 1945 after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Would you like more detail on a specific country within the Axis, their military campaigns, war crimes, or propaganda strategies?
