The Axis were the powers of evil during the Second World War, and the cultivation of their power came with time
and planning. The powers that be cultivated a “Pact of Steel” and later the “Tripartite Pact” and began to consolidate
their power. As time went on, more and more was added to their power, either directly or indirectly, and some of the
countries who joined may even be a mystery. Each country had a “reason” for joining the Axis powers, but their reasons
were not always the best. It’s complimentary to understand what these pacts mean and where they came from. I’m going to be list the 10 Axis powers of World War 2 and their origins. The weird thing is that there were exactly ten official Axis powers.
—
10 Axis Powers of World War 2
—
1. Germany
As we all know, Germany was the stronghold of the Nazi powers, leading the way for the rest of the Axis during
World War 2. Nazi Germany formed after the Nazi Party took over in 1933, leading to the rise of the party’s leader,
Adolf Hitler. It started when the Germans lost World War 1, leading to great dissatisfaction for the German people.
Since they had no one but themselves to blame, they looked outward, and in 1930, the global economy was in crisis,
and Germany could no longer repay their war debts.
—
Many Germans lost their jobs and they were facing a political crisis, but earlier on, Hitler came along and proved
his leadership ability before turning the country into a dictatorship. The Nazi party slowly gained support over time,
and Hitler appealed to a longing for vitality, unity, and especially youth, something prevalent in Germany at
the time. Not having quite enough votes to win, the party pressured the president to elect Hitler as chancellor,
later being realized as a huge mistake.
—
Hitler and the Nazi Party continued to consolidate power, creating the “Enabling Act”, allowing Hitler to enact
new laws without interference. He further oppressed other opponents, curtailed freedom of expression, appointing
rejects to power, and dismissing various civil servants, including Jews. Beyond the Jewish people being oppressed,
Hitler slowing burned the toad in the pot and created his form a fascist dictatorship, called the Third Reich. Included in this was the country of Austria, which happened to be a direct part of the German war machine at the time.
—
2. Italy
Italy had it’s consolidation of power happened a little sooner than Hitler and the Nazi Party did, beginning shortly after the First World War. The dictator wannabe you know as Benito Mussolini began his fascist movement in 1919 after finding the Treaty of Versailles irritating. Mussolini before this had been involved in socialist newspapers and
even joined the Italian Army during World War 1, calling for a dictator to seize power in Italy.
His first attempts to gain power failed, but he kept going like a good sport, stock-piling weapons to overthrow
the government, and took a seat as a deputy in parliament.
—
Mussolini eventually strong-armed his way into power by threat and took advantage of the graciousness of the king at the time to gain power. Mussolini then, after the government had been dissolved, formed a new government,
declaring himself the ultimate dictator by 1925. With his power, he rigged elections, curtailed freedom, pressured
children, censored newspapers, and nearly got himself killed after several assassination attempts. Mussolini would
later befriend Hitler after being skeptical at first, embracing an anti-Semitic ideology. They would later on form
the Pact of Steel in 1939, having had helped Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War and leaving the League of
Nations with Germany in 1937.
—
10 Axis Powers of World War 2
—
3. Japan
Japan‘s history before the war is fairly indirect, but their ties with the Axis alliance were still key to the
formation of the Axis Powers as a whole. This mostly started with the signing of the Anti-Conmintern pact in
1936, later being extended to Italy in 1937. After the beginning of the war, in 1940, the Tripartite Pact was
made official and later recognizing the Japanese as the dominant power in Asia. The pact made it official that
the Japanese were an Axis power and that any help would be given if they were in need of assistance. The attack on
Pearl Harbor would be because power consolidation and a weakening of western relations with the US, a lack
of concessions on Japan’s part, and oil embargos.
—
Much of this was meant to sent power signs to the United States to avoid joining the Allied Powers, the Soviets
and Germany having allied under the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. Much of their agreement to join was there
to help the Japanese help claim much of Eastern Asia through conquest, the Second Sino-Japanese War having started in 1937. Japan lacked a close connection with both the German and Soviet governments, but they did sign a neutrality pact with the Soviet Union in 1941. The Japanese maintained their stronghold in the East, even though their power was cut short, not abiding by totalitarianism mostly because the warlike government could not reach the ranks. Unfortunately Konoe, the then prime minister of Japan, stepped down and allowed war general Tojo to take over and start their war with the US.
—
4. Thailand
Thailand joined the Axis during World War 2, but it does not mean that their alliance is any less important.
Starting in 1932, a coup took place, making Thailand a constitutional monarchy, and in 1935, King Rama VII
abdicated in favor of his nephew. Later on, in 1938, General Plaek took power as prime minister and began to
concentrate his power, arresting many of his political opponents and executing some of them. The country would
later go from being named Siam to Prathet Thai, which stands for Thailand, conveying a sense of importance for the
Thai ethnicity and disowning minorities.
—
Plaek would then compromise radio and newspapers, launching modernization and westernization campaigns and
befriending Japan and Germany to help Thailand with their struggle against France concerning colonialism.
France would later seem weak to Plaek after their surrender of Indochina to Japan, leaving Plaek to take the
opportunity to regain territories in Laos and Cambodia. This eventually led to conflict between Thailand and
France, leaving France in dire condition before a French naval victory in 1941. Japan would negotiate a lukewarm
peace deal, leaving the Thai government a little disappointed. Thailand, weak at the wrist, caved to Japanese
pressures in 1941, in spite of neutrality, to join the them in a military pact in confidence,
leaving them to declare war on the Allies at the beginning of 1942.
—
10 Axis Powers of World War 2
—
5. Hungary
Hungary was somewhat resistant to join the Axis in their cravings for world domination, but they reluctantly
agreed after having second thoughts. Miklos Horthy, the anticommunist regent and virtual dictator of Hungary,
had hoped to keep his country a nonbelligerent in the war that had erupted all throughout Europe, but he changed
his mind. Hungary aligned with Hitler, having a distaste for communists anyway, and joined with the fascists in
November of 1940. Although the not a fascist country, Hungary had many radical right-wing elements in their
politics.
—
To protect his country from communism, Horthy was mostly compliant, especially in their aid to attack the Soviet
Union. Also, considering the radical right-wing elements in the country already, there were elements of
anti-Semitism as well. Believing that the future would be bright for Germany, the idea was not so caustic to
Hungary. Their involvement was mostly to placate influential parties within his own country to protect against
the evil Soviets, in spite of a lack of admiration for Hitler personally.
—
6. Finland
After Germany invaded Poland, the USSR wanted to start taking control over disputed areas from Finland.
Finland, without compromise, resisted the pressure from the Soviets, but the Soviets, along with Joseph Stalin,
responded by doing it anyway, having had the “small print” rights to do so from the nonaggression pact they had
signed. The Soviets invaded Finland in 1939.
—
The Finns beat back the initial offensive, although they lacked the proper manpower to maintain their resistance.
The Finnish were even awarded by the United States for being the only country to pay back their war debts from
the First World War. The Finnish eventually faltered, handing over the land after signing the Treaty of Moscow.
—
With tensions rising between the Soviets and Germany, Finland saw an opportunity to gain back what they thought
was theirs in companionship with Germany. The Germans and Finnish united in fighting the Soviets, seizing back
control of much of their lost land, but later becoming more reluctant to delve deeper into Soviet territory.
—
10 Axis Powers of World War 2
—
7. Romania
Starting in 1937, Romania had come under the control of a fascist government that was very similar to the
government of Germany. Since the Romanians were just as much anti-Semites as Hitler, they found common ground
and friendship. Romania’s King Carol II dissolved the government a year later because of a failing economy
and installed Romania’s Orthodox Patriarch as prime minister. The Patriarch later died, and the peasant uprising
provoked a greater agitation by the fascist Iron Guard paramilitary organization, which had it’s eyes on the
government control prize.
—
In 1940, the Soviet Union co-opted two Romanian provinced, the king searching for an ally to help protect it to
appease the far-right within the country. Shortly after this, Romania allied itself with Nazi Germany, only to
be invaded by Hitler to create a huge eastern front against the Soviet Union. Later on, King Carol abdicated,
leaving the country in control of a fascist prime minister. They later signed the Tripartite Pact, leaving them
at the behest of the Axis powers.
—
8. Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia, consisting of an uneasy federation of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, was a response to the collapse
of the Ottoman and Hapsburg empires after World War 1, both of which had previously contained parts of what
became Yugoslavia. As a constitutional monarchy, Yugoslavia made friends with France and Czechoslovakia between
the first and second world wars, but with the outbreak of World War 2 and union between Austria with Germany,
pressure was placed on Yugoslavia to ally itself with Germany, in spite of their neutrality.
—
They later signed a “friendship treaty” of sorts to ward of an invasion like that of France,
fearing retaliation from the Nazi power. After further manipulation to join by Hitler, they still did not cave
to the pressures of the Nazis, even receiving a call from Winston Churchill after the invasion of Greece by
Italy. It had been claimed that their cooperation with the Greeks was important, but this position was later
shifted after King Boris of Bulgaria caved to Germany, leaving Prince Paul caving into pressures as well and
allowing Germany to make Prime Minister Cvetkovic sign the Tripartite Pact in Vienna in 1941. The unified
front of peasants made overthrew the government 2 weeks later and renounced the decision.
—
10 Axis Powers of World War 2
—
9. Bulgaria
The Bulgarians claimed neutrality during World War 2, but they quickly shifted to joining the Nazi enterprise
shortly after the war had begun. Their positions quickly shifted because of their newly appointed government,
one that was more in favor of Germany. Bogdan Filow, a beloved Germanophile, was the notorious new leader in
charge of what would become a German-loving Bulgaria.
—
This government moved them closer to German orbit, become further solidified after Germany and the Soviet Union forced Romania to restore the southern Dobruja to Bulgaria in August of 1940. This, along with a desire for
territorial expansion at the expense of Yugoslavia and Greece, led them to make the choice hastened by expectations
of a German victory. They, with the help of Boris, then joined in March of 1941, Germany using Bulgaria as a
base to attack Yugoslavia and Greece.
—
10. Slovakia
Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918 after the end of World War 1, containing the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The Czechs were the dominant ethnic group, and this would later disenfranchise the Slovaks in the country.
Since the Slovaks desired autonomy from the very beginning, the capital being Prague, they prompted a change
in 1939. When the Germans invaded the Sudentenland, the Slovaks saw an opening for their freedom from human
unification, but this would be guided by the Germans.
—
The Germans did end up allowing the Slovaks to form their own pseudo-independent nation, but it quickly turned
south when a revolt disbanded the Slovak Armed Forces by the Germans, turning them into construction units.
While the Slovaks showed military might, they lacked the proper weaponry, but many were sent to work for Germany,
many having been discriminated against in light of the Czechs.
—
10 Axis Powers of World War 2
—
Blog Page: https://creatorconquer.com/bloggers-paradise/
—
Godspeed
—
