Definition of Axis Powers

World War II has been the armed conflict largest in the history of mankind. From 1939 to 1945 more than 100 nations of the planet were directly or indirectly involved.

Two great sides clashed: the Allies led by the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union and, on the other hand, the Axis Powers, with Germany, Japan and Italy at the head.

The pact of these three countries is also known as the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo axis or Pact of Steel. It should be noted that other nations gave their support to the Axis Powers, such as Hungary, Romania, Finland, Albania, Serbia and Montenegro. At a lower level of collaboration, the tripartite agreement between Germany, Japan and Italy had the support of Iraq, Thailand or Burma.

The Berlin-Rome-Tokyo axis was based on common interests among the three nations

The governments of Germany, Italy, and Japan had similar strategies and interests. All of them were led by military forces. At the same time, all three nations had clear expansionist intentions. Germany wanted to impose the Third Reich on the whole

continent European, Italy aspired to consolidate a empire in East Africa and the government nationalist Japan was controlled by the armed forces that sought to expand their influence In the pacific.

Starting in 1943, the Axis Powers weakened. In fact, Italy abandoned the axis that it formed with Germany and Japan when the troops of the allied army occupied the island of Sicily and in a few weeks the government of Mussolini was overthrown. In this way, during World War II Italy was part of the opposing sides, first with the Axis and finally with the Allies.

The governments of Spain and Argentina were Germanophile during World War II

Countries like Spain and Argentina did not participate officially in World War II and remained neutral. Despite this, their governments did offer strategic support to German interests. In this sense, the Franco regime provided troops to the German army to fight the Soviets (the Blue Division was formed by 50,000 soldiers) and, at the same time, delivered raw materials to the Germans (tungsten from the Spanish mines was used for the manufacturing German armament).

The Argentine government sympathized with Germany and for this reason Argentina's espionage services were collaborating with the Nazis. It should be noted that after World War II, many Nazi leaders found refuge in Argentina.

Topics in Axis Powers