World War II Alliances: The Allies and The Axis

The vast majority of wars tend to face two sidesThese are formed by alliances of different countries or regions that come together to be able to face an enemy that they consider greater. These alliances bring consequences of a very different nature, but to know any war it is necessary to understand what its members were and the reasons for their formation. To talk about the sides of one of the main wars in history we must talk in this lesson from a PROFESSOR about the wwii alliances.

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Index

The Allies in World War II
The key alliances for the end of World War II
Axis Powers in WWII

The Allies in World War II.

Within the alliances of the Second World War we have to talk about one of the two sides that had the most changes during the World War II process: that of the allies. The members that formed this union changed on numerous occasions throughout the conflict, although they all had in common wanting face the dangerous Axis Powers.

At the beginning of the war, the nations that formed the Allies were

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France, UK, Poland, Canada, Australia, the British Raj, and New Zealand. The entry of France and the United Kingdom occurred because both had become the greatest defenders of liberalism in their fight against it. fascismThe entry of Poland was due to the fact that Germany invaded her nation, while the rest of the powers entered the war due to their relationship with the United Kingdom. In this first moment the alliance was to face Germany and that is why nations like China that were faced with other Axis Powers like Japan at first did not enter the war like the rest.

Changes on the side of the Allies

The evolution of war was changing the members of the alliance, an example being the globalization of the conflict and therefore the entry of nations from other parts of the world to a war that no longer seemed like just a European conflict. The most relevant case was that of China, who joined the Allies, although he had already faced Japan for years in an independent war that was later considered part of World War II. Other non-European nations that entered the war were Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, all of them late in the war.

In 1940 and with the war already more advanced, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Yugoslavia and the Netherlands entered the war. All these were joined by the so-called Free France, being the French part that managed to escape or survive the conquest of the French nation by Nazi Germany.

Image: Time Toast

The key alliances for the end of World War II.

But there were two entrances on the side of the Allies that changed the war forever, these two nations being the ones with their strategic position and great military capabilities were able to turn the tide of war and end Nazi rule in Europe, being these the USSR and the United States.

Entry of the USSR

At first, the USSR had not participated in the war, signing a non-aggression pact with Germany, and as a result achieving conquer many regions of Europe. But Hitlerhe feared the power of the Russians, and so he tried to carry out a Surprise attack to occupy the area, breaking the pact and initiating the so-called Operation Barbarossa.

At first the attack was successful and the Germans managed to occupy important positions in Russia, but the arrival of winter turned the tables, the USSR started a counterattack, joining the Allies and managing to occupy the city of Berlin soon after.

United States in World War II

The United States at first did not enter the war, although it did help the Allies with weapons and financial aid. But the Japanese attack on Pearl harbor, a US naval base, made the United States decide attack Germany and Japan, entering the Second World War and initiating a massive dispatch of soldiers to the European continent.

To be clearer, we must list all those nations that participated alongside the Allies in war, being the following:

USSR
USA
France (later liberated France)
UK
China
Ethiopia
Poland
Yugoslavia
Greece
Netherlands
Belgium
Norway
Czechoslovakia
Luxembourg
India
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
Brazil
Mexico
Colombia

Axis Powers in WWII.

To continue this lesson on the alliances of World War II we must talk about the calls Axis Powers, being an alliance of three great nations that received the support of other nations to a greater or lesser extent.

The Union of Italy, Germany and Japan took place with the signing of Tripartite Pact, being the three nations with a similar ideology, an economic form and a political thought, with great similarities in their fascist ideas, and that had been very punished after the First World War.

Of the three nations, the most powerful was without a doubt Germany, being the leading nation and possessing enormous control over Italy. On the other hand, Japan was more focused on its fight against China and the United States, not having as much weight in the European campaign led by Hitler.

Although the three main nations were these three, we must talk about the Rest of the countries that formed the Axis bloc, being some partners of lesser rank, governments that collaborate with the Axis, and other strange cases that participated for different reasons. The nations that aided the Axis are as follows: