:This [[Rome]]-[[Berlin]] protocol is an axis around which all [[European]] states, animated by a desire for [[peace]], may collaborate.<ref>Cortesi, Arnaldo (1936), "Mussolini Urges [[Paris]] and [[London]] to Enter Accord," ''[[The New York Times]],'' November 2, 1936, p. 1</ref>
Subsequently, newspapers began to use the phrase "Rome-Berlin axis," and later "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis," or "Axis" for short.
===Neutrals in 1939===
==== [[Oslo Group of States]]====
* [[Kingdom of Denmark]]
* [[Republic of Finland]]<ref>[http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1939/391214a.html League of Nations' Expulsion of the USSR, December 12, 1939]</ref>
* [[Grand Duchy of Luxembourg]]
* [[Kingdom of Norway]]
* [[Kingdom of the Netherlands]]
* [[Kingdom of Sweden]]
==The Axis powers==