Axis Powers
There were three major Axis countries in World War II: Germany, Italy, and Japan. Germany and Italy started the war when Germany made advvances and conquering eastern Europe. Italy invaded North Africa, having a strategic place in the world for making an African conquest. Japan invaded China and most of the south Asian countries. This stirred the world in many different moods. Then on December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched one of the most damaging ambushes of all time on the United States of America; forcing a sleeping giant to awake. The Americans lost about 3,000 sailors in the Attack of Pearl Harbor. The minor Axis powers were Hungary, Romania,Slovakia,Bulgaria,Yugoslavia, and Croatia.
The term was 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.
References
- ↑ Cortesi, Arnaldo (1936), "Mussolini Urges Paris and London to Enter Accord," The New York Times, November 2, 1936, p. 1
