Axis Powers
There were three major Axis countries in World War II: Germany, Italy, and Japan. Germany started the war in 1939, by invading Poland; Italy joined in 1940, after the invasion of France. Italy also invaded North Africa and Greece, taking advantage of its strategic place in the Mediterranean. In 1939, Japan was already engaged in a war against China; it took advantage of the fall of France to occupy other territories in Southeast Asia. This stirred the world in many different ways.
Then on December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched one of the most damaging surprise attacks of all time on the United States of America, forcing a sleeping giant to awake and join the war. The Americans lost about 3,000 sailors in the Attack on Pearl Harbor.
Other junior Axis powers were Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria,Yugoslavia, and Croatia.
The term "Axis" is a reference to a 1936 speech by Mussolini, celebrating a treaty with Germany, in which he said:
- This Rome-Berlin protocol is an axis around which all European states, animated by a desire for peace, may collaborate.[1]
Subsequently, newspapers began to use the phrase "Rome-Berlin axis," and later "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis," or "Axis" for short.
The Axis powers
- Third Reich (from September 27, 1940)
- Kingdom of Italy (from September 27, 1940)
- Japan (from September 27, 1940)
- Kingdom of Hungary (from November 20, 1940)
- Kingdom of Romania (from November 23, 1940)
- Slovak Republic (from November 24, 1940)
- Kingdom of Bulgaria (from March 1, 1941)
- Kingdom of Yugoslavia (from March 25, 1941 – March 27, 1941)
- Croatia (from June 15, 1941)
- Finland (1941)
See also
References
- ↑ Cortesi, Arnaldo (1936), "Mussolini Urges Paris and London to Enter Accord," The New York Times, November 2, 1936, p. 1
