World War II: Encyclopedia II - World War II - Participants

World War II - Participants

Main article: Participants in World War II

The belligerents of the Second World War are usually considered to belong to either of the two blocks: the Axis and the Allies. A number of smaller countries participated in the war, some of them under occupation or as proxies of one of the large powers. Some nations participated on different sides at different times.

The Axis Powers consisted primarily of Germany, Italy, and Japan, which split the Earth into three spheres of influence under the Tripartite Pact of 1940, and vowed to defend one another against aggression. Smaller countries participating on the Axis side were Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and (at times) Finland. Spain's fascist government never joined the Axis or took part in the war.

Among the Allied powers, what emerged to be the Big Three were the United Kingdom (from September 3, 1939), the Soviet Union (from June 1941) and the United States (from December 1941). The nations which declared war on Germany in September 1939 included Britain and the Commonwealth, France, and Poland. China had been at war with Japan since 1937.

On August 23, 1939, just before the war broke out, the USSR and Germany signed the non-aggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which, among other things, divided Eastern Europe into regions of influence. But Germany violated the pact when it invaded the USSR in 1941. Similarly, the US had the (much older) unilateral Monroe Doctrine, which stated that Europe should not interfere in the Americas and in turn the U.S. would not interfere in European affairs. But the U.S. entered the war after first Japan and then Germany declared war on it and launched direct attacks on its navy, shipping and other interests.

Many other countries, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Thailand and Yugoslavia are also considered important Allies, although some of these were conquered and occupied by Axis forces or even officially joined the Axis as a result of coercion.

Countries that attempted to remain neutral in the conflict were often viewed with suspicion by the participants, and pressured to make contributions to the most influential power in their neighbourhood. Sovereignty was difficult to maintain as many countries that did not directly participate in the conflict nevertheless held vested interests in seeing a particular side prevail. For example, neutral Switzerland was generally considered to be "Allied-friendly", while neutral Spain was considered "Axis-friendly", despite the fact that neither country openly proclaimed any alliances. Such situations allowed neutral countries to become hotbeds of espionage.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Participants", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki