Allies
Axis
Neutral
While a surprising number of countries are currently at war, all of today's conflicts combined would still be far smaller than World War II. Involving more than 100 million people from dozens of nations (many more than in World War I) spread all across the globe, WWII was the biggest war in human history. It was also the deadliest war in history, resulting in an estimated 21-25 million military casualties and 50-55 civilian deaths—including the more than 6 million Jews who were killed in Nazi concentration camps. Leading up to the war, many countries attempted to remain neutral. However, as the conflict raged on, more and more countries were forced to join one of two sides: the Allies and the Axis Powers.
Both of these alliances changed and morphed over the course of the war, with countries coming and going as battles were won and lost, territories were taken and liberated, and political agreements were forged and dissolved. Several countries started out as neutral but were eventually drawn into the conflict, or initially fought for one side, but switched to the other (often after a forceful change in government). As a result, several countries were both Allies and Axis, or both neutral and either Allies/Axis.
When World War II began in 1939, the Allies were France, Poland, and the United Kingdom. Days later, the independent British dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa joined. As the war continued, more and more countries joined the Allies—including two major powers which had intended to remain neutral.
The first of these powers was Russia, which had signed a non-aggression pact with Germany and had even participated in Germany's initial invasion of Poland. However, when Germany broke that pact and invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, Russia quickly joined the Allies.
The second formerly neutral power was the United States, whose entry into the war was prompted by Axis power Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. China also joined the Allies in December 1941—though the country had already been at war with Japan since 1937.
The Allied countries were led by the "Four Powers," which consisted of the "Big Three"—the United Kingdom, United States, and Russia—as well as China. More than twenty additional countries also contributed to the cause. The Allies would formalize their union with the Declaration of United Nations, which was signed by the Four Powers on January 01, 1942, and 22 more countries on January 02. The declaration would become the United Nations Charter with the formal launch of the United Nations in 1945.
Country | Date Joined | Country | Date Joined | Country | Date Joined | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Argentina | 27 March 1945 | Finland* | 15 Sept. 1944 | Oman | 10 Sept. 1939 | ||
Australia | 3 Sept. 1939 | France | 3 Sept. 1939 | Panama | 7 Dec. 1941 | ||
Belgium | 10 May 1940 | Greece | 28 Oct 1940 | Paraguay | 7 Feb. 1945 | ||
Bolivia | 7 Apr. 1943 | Guatemala | 9 Dec. 1941 | Peru | 12 Feb. 1945 | ||
Brazil | 22 Aug. 1942 | Haiti | 8 Dec 1941 | Philippines | 8 Dec 1941 | ||
British India | 3 Sept. 1939 | Honduras | 8 Dec. 1941 | Poland | 1 Sept. 1939 | ||
Bulgaria* | 8 Sept. 1944 | Iran | 9 Sept. 1943 | Romania* | 25 Aug. 1944 | ||
Canada | 10 Sept. 1939 | Iraq | 16 Jan. 1943 | Saudi Arabia | 1 Mar. 1945 | ||
Chile | 11 April 1945 | Lebanon | 27 Feb. 1945 | South Africa | 6 Sept. 1939 | ||
China | 9 Dec 1941 | Italy* | 10 Oct. 1943 | South Korea* | 10 Dec. 1941 | ||
Colombia | 26 July 1943 | Liberia | 27 Jan. 1944 | Soviet Union | 22 June 1941 | ||
Costa Rica | 8 Dec. 1941 | Luxembourg | 10 May 1940 | Syria | 26 Feb. 1945 | ||
Cuba | 9 Dec. 1941 | Mexico | 22 May 1942 | Turkey | 23 Feb. 1945 | ||
Czechoslovakia* | 16 Dec. 1941 | Mongolia | 1 Aug 1945 | United Kingdom | 3 Sept. 1939 | ||
Denmark | 8 Apr. 1940 | Nepal | 4 Sept. 1939 | United States | 8 Dec. 1941 | ||
Dominican Rep. | 8 Dec. 1941 | Netherlands | 10 May 1940 | Uruguay | 15 Feb. 1945 | ||
Ecuador | 2 Feb. 1945 | New Zealand | 3 Sept. 1939 | Venezuela | 15 Feb. 1945 | ||
Egypt | 24 Feb. 1945 | Nicaragua | 8 Dec. 1941 | Vietnam (Viet Minh) | 7 Dec. 1941 | ||
El Salvador | 8 Dec. 1941 | Norway | 8 Apr. 1940 | Yugoslavia | 6 Apr. 1941 | ||
Ethiopia | 14 Dec. 1942 |
* Notes:
The three major Axis powers were Germany, Italy, and Japan, which banded together under a series of agreements, culminating in the Tripartite Pact of 1940. Six additional nations then joined the Tripartite Pact. The first four were fairly straightforward: Hungary on November 20, 1940, Romania on November 23, Slovakia on November 24, Bulgaria on March 1, 1941.
The final two signatories on the Tripartite Pact come with caveats. First is Yugoslavia, whose government feared a German invasion if they chose to resist, and so signed the pact on March 25, 1941—however, the government was promptly overthrown by a coup and the new government rejected the agreement a mere two days later. (This act prompted Germany to add Yugoslavia to the list of countries it had invaded.) Lastly, the German-Italian puppet state of Croatia signed on April 10, 1941, despite the fact that it was an illegitimate nation with no actual authority to do so.
In addition to the Tripartite Pact, certain other countries signed what was known as the Anti-Comintern Pact, which was much less demanding. Many Anti-Comintern countries were allowed to remain neutral or required to send only volunteer troops to join the Nazi army. Even less binding were the Bilateral Pacts that other countries (as well as a few illegitimate governments and Nazi-installed puppet states) agreed to follow. Additionally, the Axis powers, particularly Japan, also made extensive use of "puppet states," in which a newly overtaken country's existing government would be replaced by a new (typically illegitimate) government that operated on its own but took its orders from the "puppetmaster" country.
Country | Nature | Country | Nature | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bulgaria | Axis | Laos* | puppet state | |
Burma (Ba Maw govt)* | bilateral pact | Manchuko* | puppet state | |
Cambodia (Kampuchea)* | puppet state | Mongolia (Mengjiang)* | puppet state | |
Croatia | Axis | Philippines (Second Republic)* | puppet state | |
Denmark* | Anti-Comintern | Romania | Axis | |
Finland* | Anti-Comintern | Slovakia | Axis | |
Germany | Axis | Soviet Union* | bilateral pact | |
Greece (Hellenic States) | puppet state | Spain | Anti-Comintern | |
Hungary | Axis | Thailand | bilateral pact | |
India (Azad Hind)* | puppet state | Vichy France* | puppet state | |
Iraq | bilateral pact | Vietnam (Empire of Vietnam)* | puppet state | |
Italy | Axis | Yugoslavia* | non-ratified | |
Japan | Axis |
* Notes:
As difficult a task as it was, several countries did manage to remain neutral during World War II. Many officially neutral countries nonetheless offered limited support to one side or the other, such as sending volunteer troops or allowing passage through their territory.
Afghanistan | Latvia | Spain |
Andorra | Liechtenstein | Sweden |
Bhutan | Lithuania | Switzerland |
Estonia | Monaco | Tibet |
Iceland | Portugal | Turkey |
Iran | San Marino | Vatican City |
Ireland | Saudi Arabia | Yemen |
It is generally accepted that World War II began on September 1, 1939, when German troops invaded Poland, prompting the leaders of France and Britain to declare war two days later. However, as this conflict expanded, it merged with existing hostilities between Japan and several other countries in Asia. Because of this, some historians suggest that WWII actually began as early as July 7, 1937, the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, or when Japan invaded Manchuria on September 19, 1931. The war's end date is also debatable. Most historians agree that the end date was August 14, 1945, also known as V-J (Victory over Japan) day. Technically, however, the war didn't end until September 2, 1945, the day Japan formally surrendered.
Country | Axis or Allies | WWII Time Line | Additional Details |
---|---|---|---|
Turkey | Neutral | Turkey 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. | |
Spain | Neutral | Spain, whose civil war had just ended at the beginning of World War II, sent troops to the Russian front to help German armed forces | |
Argentina | Neutral | Because 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. | |
Afghanistan | Neutral | ||
Yemen | Neutral | ||
Saudi Arabia | Neutral | Although 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. | |
Sweden | Neutral | The 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. | |
Portugal | Neutral | Portugal granted access to the British to its bases in the Azores | |
Switzerland | Neutral | Nazis 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. | |
Ireland | Neutral | Éamon 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. | |
Uruguay | Neutral | ||
Lithuania | Neutral | The 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. | |
Latvia | Neutral | The 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. | |
Estonia | Neutral | The 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. | |
Bhutan | Neutral | ||
Iceland | Neutral | Occupied by Allied forces from May 1940> | |
Andorra | Neutral | ||
Liechtenstein | Neutral | ||
Monaco | Neutral | Monaco was occupied by Italy and later by Germany. | |
San Marino | Neutral | San 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 City | Neutral | ||
Japan | Axis | September 22, 1940 - September 2, 1945 | |
Germany | Axis | September 1, 1939 - May 8–9, 1945 | |
Italy | Axis | June 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. |
Romania | Axis | November 23, 1940 - August 23, 1944 | Originally an Axis power, Romania surrendered to Russia in 1944 and subsequently became an Allied participant. |
Hungary | Axis | November 20, 1940 - March 1944 | In March 1944, Germany forced Hungary to accept occupation by German forces. Hungary never surrendered. The war ended for Hungary in early April 1945. |
Laos | Axis | Laos at the time of WWII was a puppet state ruled by Japan. | |
Bulgaria | Axis | March 1, 1941 - September 8, 1944 | Bulgaria 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. |
Slovakia | Axis | November 24, 1940 - early April 1945 | Part 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. |
Croatia | Axis | June 15, 1941 | |
China | Allies | December, 1941 | China 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 States | Allies | December 11. 1941 | |
Brazil | Allies | August 22, 1942 | |
Russia | Allies | June 22, 1941 | Russia'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. |
Ethiopia | Allies | July, 1940 | The 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. |
Mexico | Allies | May 22, 1942 | |
Philippines | Allies | December 8, 1941 | |
Iran | Allies | Iran was initially neutral but was occupied by the Allies. It later declared war on Germany in 1943. | |
United Kingdom | Allies | September 3, 1939 | |
France | Allies | September 3, 1939 | |
South Africa | Allies | September 1939 | |
Canada | Allies | September 1939 | |
Poland | Allies | September 1, 1939 | |
Australia | Allies | September 1939 | |
Guatemala | Allies | December, 1941 | |
Netherlands | Allies | May, 1940 | |
Bolivia | Allies | April 7, 1943 | |
Haiti | Allies | December, 1941 | |
Belgium | Allies | May, 1940 | |
Dominican Republic | Allies | December, 1941 | |
Cuba | Allies | December, 1941 | |
Honduras | Allies | December, 1941 | |
Czech Republic | Allies | March 15, 1939 | Part 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. |
Greece | Allies | October 28, 1940 | |
El Salvador | Allies | December, 1941 | |
Denmark | Allies | April 9, 1940 | Did not join Axis and supplied only volunteer troops, but was occupied by Germany through much of the war. |
Finland | Allies | June 26, 1941 - September 19, 1944 | Finland 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. |
Norway | Allies | April 9, 1940 | |
New Zealand | Allies | September 1939 | |
Costa Rica | Allies | December, 1941 | |
Panama | Allies | December, 1941 | |
Mongolia | Allies | 10 August 1945 | |
Luxembourg | Allies | May, 1940 |