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Countries Involved in World War Two (WWII) 2024

  • Many countries have complex WWII histories. See Additional Details column for clarification.
  • List includes notable occupied territories and puppet insurgencies that were not officially recognized countries and were dissolved at the war's conclusion.

63 countries

Country
Axis or Allies
WWII Time Line
Additional Details
TurkeyNeutralTurkey was neutral until several months before the end of the war. Turkey was an important producer of chromite, a strategic material for metallurgy to which Germany had limited access. The Germans wanted it, and the Allies wanted to prevent them from getting it. So, chromite was the key issue in Turkey's negotiations with both sides. Turkey halted its sales to Germany in April 1944 and broke off relations in August. In February 1945 and then declared war on the Axis powers, but no Turkish troops ever saw combat.
SpainNeutralSpain, whose civil war had just ended at the beginning of World War II, sent troops to the Russian front to help German armed forces
ArgentinaNeutralBecause of strong divisions and internal disputes between members of the Argentine military, the country would continue to remain neutral, even after American sanctions. However, Argentina eventually gave in to the Allies' pressure, broke relations with the Axis powers on January 26, 1944, and declared war on March 27, 1945. More than 4,000 Argentine volunteers fought on the Allied side.
AfghanistanNeutral
YemenNeutral
Saudi ArabiaNeutralAlthough officially neutral, the Saudis provided the Allies with large supplies of oil. Diplomatic relations with the United States were established in 1943. King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud was a personal friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Saudi Arabia declared war on Germany on 28 February 1945 and Japan on 1 April 1945, but no military actions resulted from the declaration.
SwedenNeutralThe transit of German troops through Finland and Sweden and Swedish iron-ore mining during World War II helped the German war effort. | Danish resistance worked with Sweden to carry out the 1943 rescue of the Danish Jews by shipping them to Sweden. During the Liberation of Finnmark, Sweden sent Norwegian "police" troops over the border to link up with Allied forces. At the end of the war, Sweden was preparing to join the Allied invasion of Norway and Denmark if the occupying Wehrmacht forces rejected a general armistice.
PortugalNeutralPortugal granted access to the British to its bases in the Azores
SwitzerlandNeutralNazis purchased critical war material from neutral countries using Swiss francs gained in exchange for gold looted by the Nazis from occupied countries and from individual victims of concentration camps. Switzerland continued to trade until the end of the war in 1945.
IrelandNeutralÉamon de Valera the Taoiseach (head of government), refrained from joining either side, although he generally favored and aided the Allied powers by allowing access to their naval repair yards.
UruguayNeutral
LithuaniaNeutralThe Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, jointly declared their neutrality on 18 November 1938, in Riga, at the Conference of Baltic Foreign Ministers with their respective parliaments passing neutrality laws later that year. Despite that, all of them were occupied twice by the Soviet Union and once by Nazi Germany.
LatviaNeutralThe Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, jointly declared their neutrality on 18 November 1938, in Riga, at the Conference of Baltic Foreign Ministers with their respective parliaments passing neutrality laws later that year. Despite that, all of them were occupied twice by the Soviet Union and once by Nazi Germany.
EstoniaNeutralThe Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, jointly declared their neutrality on 18 November 1938, in Riga, at the Conference of Baltic Foreign Ministers with their respective parliaments passing neutrality laws later that year. Despite that, all of them were occupied twice by the Soviet Union and once by Nazi Germany.
BhutanNeutral
IcelandNeutralOccupied by Allied forces from May 1940>
AndorraNeutral
LiechtensteinNeutral
MonacoNeutralMonaco was occupied by Italy and later by Germany.
San MarinoNeutralSan Marino was briefly occupied by Germany on 17–20 September 1944. The occupation led the microstate to declare war on Germany on 21 September 1944.
Vatican CityNeutral
JapanAxisSeptember 22, 1940 - September 2, 1945
GermanyAxisSeptember 1, 1939 - May 8–9, 1945
ItalyAxisJune 1940 - September 8, 1943.Originally one of the major Axis powers, Italy left the Axis once its dictatorial ruler, Benito Mussolini, was removed. Although Italy did not join the Allies, it did declare war on Germany, making it a co-belligerent which fought alongside the Allies.
RomaniaAxisNovember 23, 1940 - August 23, 1944Originally an Axis power, Romania surrendered to Russia in 1944 and subsequently became an Allied participant.
HungaryAxisNovember 20, 1940 - March 1944In March 1944, Germany forced Hungary to accept occupation by German forces. Hungary never surrendered. The war ended for Hungary in early April 1945.
LaosAxisLaos at the time of WWII was a puppet state ruled by Japan.
BulgariaAxisMarch 1, 1941 - September 8, 1944Bulgaria was part of the Axis powers from 1941-1944. It was invaded by Allied Russia and its government forced into exile in 1944. The new government joined the Allies for the final year of the war.
SlovakiaAxisNovember 24, 1940 - early April 1945Part of Czechoslovakia at the time of the war, much of what is now Slovakia was split off as a German satellite state (the Slovak Republic) upon Germany's annexation of the rest of Czechoslovakia. The Slovak Republic rejoined Czechoslovakia in 1945. Czechoslovakia split into two countries again, amicably this time, on December 31, 1992. Most citizens of modern-day Slovakia consider their country a successor to Czechoslovakia, but not to the Slovak Republic.
CroatiaAxisJune 15, 1941
ChinaAlliesDecember, 1941China had been at war with Japan since July 1937. It declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy and joined the Allies in December 1941 after the attacks on Pearl Harbor.
United StatesAlliesDecember 11. 1941
BrazilAlliesAugust 22, 1942
RussiaAlliesJune 22, 1941Russia's predecessor country, the U.S.S.R (commonly referred to as Russia, or the Soviet Union) joined WW2 on behalf of the Axis powers on September 17, 1939, when it invaded eastern Poland in coordination with Nazi Germany. USSR changed sides to the Allies after Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941, when it was invaded by Germany.
EthiopiaAlliesJuly, 1940The Ethiopian Empire was invaded by Italy on 3 October 1935. On 2 May 1936, Emperor Haile Selassie I fled into exile. After the outbreak of World War II, the United Kingdom recognized Haile Selassie as the Emperor of Ethiopia in July 1940 and his Ethiopian exile government cooperated with the British during their invasion of Italian East Africa in 1941. Through the invasion Haile Selassie returned to Ethiopia on 18 January, with the liberation of the country being completed by November the same year.
MexicoAlliesMay 22, 1942
PhilippinesAlliesDecember 8, 1941
IranAlliesIran was initially neutral but was occupied by the Allies. It later declared war on Germany in 1943.
United KingdomAlliesSeptember 3, 1939
FranceAlliesSeptember 3, 1939
South AfricaAlliesSeptember 1939
CanadaAlliesSeptember 1939
PolandAlliesSeptember 1, 1939
AustraliaAlliesSeptember 1939
GuatemalaAlliesDecember, 1941
NetherlandsAlliesMay, 1940
BoliviaAlliesApril 7, 1943
HaitiAlliesDecember, 1941
BelgiumAlliesMay, 1940
Dominican RepublicAlliesDecember, 1941
CubaAlliesDecember, 1941
HondurasAlliesDecember, 1941
Czech RepublicAlliesMarch 15, 1939Part of Czechoslovakia at the time. Czechoslovakia's democratic government spent much of the war in exile due to Germany's occupation of Czechoslovakia, so the government's joining of the Allies was more ceremonial than functional.
GreeceAlliesOctober 28, 1940
El SalvadorAlliesDecember, 1941
DenmarkAlliesApril 9, 1940Did not join Axis and supplied only volunteer troops, but was occupied by Germany through much of the war.
FinlandAlliesJune 26, 1941 - September 19, 1944Finland entered the war against the USSR as a “co-belligerent.” The Finns sought to regain territory lost during the 1939–1940 Winter War with the Soviet Union. Finland never signed the Tripartite Pact or entered into a formal alliance with Nazi Germany. On September 19, 1944 Finland signed an armistice with the Soviet Union. Finland did not officially declare war on Germany until 3 March 1945, but made the declaration retroactive.
NorwayAlliesApril 9, 1940
New ZealandAlliesSeptember 1939
Costa RicaAlliesDecember, 1941
PanamaAlliesDecember, 1941
MongoliaAllies10 August 1945
LuxembourgAlliesMay, 1940

Which countries were involved in World War II?

Most countries joined the Allied or Axis powers. The Allies included the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and China. The Axis powers included Germany, Italy, and Japan.

How many countries were involved in World War II?

Only 21 countries remained neutral during World War II. The others choose to side with the Allied powers or the Axis side.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources