Axis Powers

The Axis Powers is a term for those participants in World War II opposed to the Allies. The 3 major Axis powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and the Empire of Japan, referred to themselves as the "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis". The Axis powers ruled empires that dominated large portions of Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, but they were ultimately defeated in the end of World War II. Like the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, and some nations entered and later left the Axis during the course of the war.

Countries in active or passive coalition with the Axis

Finland

After being attacked by the Soviet Union in the Winter War (1939–1940), the democratic Finland was a co-belligerent of Nazi Germany during the Continuation War (1941–1944), seeking to regain its lost territory and conquer East Karelia. Some Finns tended to view (and still do) these two conflicts as separate from World War II.

Related Topics:
Soviet Union - Winter War - 1939 - 1940 - Finland - Co-belligerent - Continuation War - 1941 - 1944 - East Karelia

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In Allied usage, Finland was often referred to as an Axis country, which is often deplored as an effect of Soviet propaganda depicting the Finns as fascists in disguise. This conflicts with Finnish self-perception, which considers Finns acting only for self-preservation.

Related Topics:
Allied - The Finns as fascists in disguise

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The Finnish government was very careful to nurture this political separation. Finland was never a signatory to the Tripartite Treaty, and Finns refused to put Finnish army under the joint command with Germans. Also Finnish high command refused to implement German wishes which it considered too damaging to Finnish interests, like attack to Leningrad or cutting Murmansk railroad at Louhi.

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The relation did more closely resemble a formal alliance during the six weeks of the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement, which was presented as a German condition for much needed help with munitions and air support as the Soviet offensive coordinated with D-day threatened Finland with complete occupation.

Related Topics:
Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement - D-day

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In the Lapland War (1944–1945), Finland as a co-belligerent of the Soviet Union pushed the German Wehrmacht out of Finnish territory to then-occupied Norway.

Related Topics:
Lapland War - 1944 - 1945 - Norway

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Thailand

Japanese forces began occupying Thailand on the morning of December 8, 1941. Resistance to the Japanese invaders was swift but Field Marshal Luang Phibunsongkhram, the prime minister, ordered the cessation of resistance. On December 21st an assistance treaty with Japan was signed. The Thai Phayap Army invaded British Burma alongside the Japanese, and on January 25, 1942 Thailand declared war on Britain and the United States of America. The Thai ambassador to the United States, Seni Pramoj did not deliver his copy of the declaration of war, so although the British reciprocated by declaring war on Thailand and consequently considered it a hostile country, the USA did not. The Seri Thai was established during these first few months. Thai forces conducted their biggest offensive of the war in May 1942, taking Kengtung in northern Burma from the Chinese 93rd Army.

Related Topics:
Thailand - December 8 - 1941 - Luang Phibunsongkhram - Burma - January 25 - 1942 - United States of America - Seni Pramoj - Seri Thai

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Parallel Seri Thai organisations were established in Britain and inside Thailand. Queen Ramphaiphanee was the nominal head of the Britain-based organisation, and Pridi Phanomyong, then regent, headed its largest contingent. Aided by the military, secret airfields and training camps were established while Allied agents fluidly slipped in and out of the country.

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As the war dragged on, the Thai population came to resent the Japanese presence. In June 1944, Phibun was overthrown in a coup engineered by the Seri Thai. The new civilian government attempted to aid the Seri Thai while at the same time maintaining cordial relations with the Japanese.

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After the war, US influence prevented Thailand being treated as an Axis country, but Britain demanded three million tons of rice as reparations and the return of areas annexed from the British colony of Malaya during the war and invasion. Thailand also had to return the portions of British Burma, French Cambodia and French Laos that had been taken.

Related Topics:
Cambodia - Laos

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Soviet Union

In order to gain strength before the inevitable all-out war, under secret provisions in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union invaded several eastern European nations, which were previously part of the Russian Empire for centuries, on September 17, 1939. Poland was partitioned between Germany and the Soviet Union. The Baltic States capitulated to the Soviets on September 28. The Soviets invaded another part of former Russian Empire, Finland, on November 30 and seized minor parts of its territory. Relations with the Germans deteriorated after disagreements and mutual suspicions. Hitler never intended to continually honour the pact and invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 thus ending the treaty.

Related Topics:
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - Soviet Union - Russian Empire - September 17 - 1939 - Baltic States - September 28 - November 30 - June 22 - 1941

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Free India

The Provisional Government of Free India was a shadow government led by Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose was an Indian nationalist who did not believe in Gandhi's peaceful methods for achieving 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 Britain at war with Germany, an uprising could not be put down as easily as in years prior. The third and most important factor was the advance of the Japanese Empire through Asia. The Japanese Empire had earlier established Manchukuo (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 government and had come into alliance with the invading Japanese Empire to India's east. Bose and A.M.Sahay, another local leader, received ideological support from Mitsuru Toyama, chief of the Black Dragon Society along with Japanese Army advisers. Other Indian thinkers in favour of the Axis cause were Asit Krishna Mukherji, a friend of Bose and husband of Savitri Devi Mukherji, one of the women thinkers in support of the German cause, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the Pandit Rajwade of Poona. Bose was helped by Rash Behari Bose , founder of the Indian Independence League in Japan. Bose declared India's independence on October 21, 1943. With its provisional capital at Port Blair on the Nicobar Islands, the state would last two more years until August 18th of 1945 when it officially became defunct. In its existence it would receive recognition from nine governments: Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, Italy, Independent State of Croatia, Reformed Government of the Republic of China, Thailand, Burma (under Ba Maw), Manchukuo, and the Philippines under de facto (and later de jure) president José Laurel.

Related Topics:
Provisional Government of Free India - Subhas Chandra Bose - Gandhi - Japanese Empire - Manchukuo - Manchuria - Indonesia - Vietnam - India - A.M.Sahay - Mitsuru Toyama - Black Dragon Society - Asit Krishna Mukherji - Savitri Devi Mukherji - Bal Gangadhar Tilak - Poona - Rash Behari Bose - October 21 - Port Blair - Nicobar Islands - August 18 - Defunct - Nazi Germany - Imperial Japan - Independent State of Croatia - Reformed Government of the Republic of China - Ba Maw - Philippines - De facto - De jure - José Laurel

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Spain

Although Spain under Generalissimo Francisco Franco stayed neutral throughout the war, the country was ideologically aligned with the Axis powers (the Nationalists had received considerable military support from Germany and Italy during the Spanish Civil War). Franco did allow Spaniards to volunteer for what was described as a struggle against Bolshevism, and eventually over 40,000 Spanish volunteers fought on the Axis side during World War Two (primarily on the Eastern Front) under the auspices of the Blue Division.

Related Topics:
Francisco Franco - Spanish Civil War - Blue Division

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