Editing Axis powers (section)

{{Short description|Major alliance of World War II}}
{{Pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Redirect-multi|2|The Axis|Rome-Berlin Axis|the book|The Rome–Berlin Axis|other uses|Axis (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox geopolitical organization
| conventional_long_name = Axis powers
| native_name = {{ubl|{{native name|de|Achsenmächte}}|{{native name|it|Potenze dell'Asse}}|{{native name|ja|樞軸國, {{Transliteration|ja|Sūjikukoku}}}}}}
| common_name = Axis
| status = [[Collective defense|Military alliance]]
| era = World War II
| life_span = 1936–1945
 | event_start = [[Anti-Comintern Pact]]
 | year_start = 1936
 | date_start = 25 November 
 | event_end = [[World War II#Axis collapse and Allied victory (1944–1945)|Defeated]]
 | year_end = 1945
 | date_end = 2 September
 | event1 = [[Pact of Steel]]
 | date_event1= 22 May 1939
 | event2 = [[Tripartite Pact]]
 | date_event2 = 27 September 1940
| flag_p1 = WWI-re.png
| image_map2  = Celebration of the Japan-Germany-Italy-Triparite-Pact (1940) in Tokio.jpg
| image_map2_caption = Celebration of the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Tokyo
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<!--The contents of this infobox have been the subject of ***EXTENSIVE CONTROVERSY*** which you can review on the talk page. Please ***DO NOT ADD COUNTRIES*** to the below lists, or remove them, without first establishing a consensus for doing so on the talk page. Please provide reliable, independent sources (preferably more than one) showing that the country you wish to add is regarded as having been an Axis power.-->
{{Plainlist | style = padding-left: 0.6em; text-align: left; |
'''{{underline|Major Axis powers:}}'''{{Efn|Germany, Italy, and Japan are typically described as being the "major" (or similar) countries amongst the Axis powers (see e.g., ''Global Strategy'', Momah, p. 71, or ''Encyclopedia of World War II'', Tucker & Roberts, p. 102).}}
* {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany|name=German Reich}} 
* {{flagcountry|Fascist Italy|name=Kingdom of Italy}}{{Efn|After the [[Armistice of Cassibile|Italian surrender in September 1943]], the [[Kingdom of the South|Kingdom of Italy fought as a co-belligerent of the Allies]], whereas the [[Italian Social Republic]], a German puppet state, was formed in northern Italy and existed until the surrender on 29 April 1945.}}
* {{flagcountry|Empire of Japan|name=Empire of Japan}}
}}
{{Plainlist | style = padding-left: 0.6em; text-align: left; |
'''{{underline|Other Axis states:}}'''
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|name=Kingdom of Hungary}}{{Efn|name=Tri|Acceded to the [[Tripartite Pact]], generally considered Axis powers (see e.g., ''Facts About the American Wars'', Bowman, p. 432, which includes them in a list of "Axis powers", or ''The Library of Congress World War II Companion'', Wagner, Osborne, & Reyburn, p. 39, which lists them as "The Axis").}}{{Efn|name=Hun|Following [[Operation Panzerfaust]], a German puppet under [[Ferenc Szálasi]] from 15 October 1944 onwards (see ''Germany and the Axis Powers'', DiNardo, p. 189).}}
*{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania|name=Kingdom of Romania}}{{Efn|name=Tri}}
*{{flag|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|name=Slovak Republic}}{{Efn|name=Tri}}{{Efn|name=pup|Puppet state installed by the Axis powers (see e.g., ''Axis Rule in Occupied Europe'', Lemkin, p. 11).}}
*{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Bulgaria|name=Tsardom of Bulgaria}}{{Efn|name=Tri}}
*{{flag|Finland|name=Republic of Finland}}{{Efn|Official position of wartime government was that they were a co-belligerent of the Axis against the USSR and United Kingdom during the [[Continuation War]], but generally considered to be a member of the Axis (see e.g., Bowman, p. 432, Wagner, Osborne, & Reyburn p. 39, or Dinardo p. 95).}}
*{{flagicon|Independent State of Croatia}} [[Independent State of Croatia]]{{efn|name=Tri}}{{Efn|name=pup}}
*{{flagicon|Thailand}} [[History of Thailand (1932–1973)|Kingdom of Thailand]]{{Efn|Declared war on the United Kingdom and United States in alliance with Japan on 25 January 1942, generally considered to be a member of the Axis (e.g. Bowman, p. 432).}}}}
|footnotes = {{collapsible list|title={{nobold|Footnotes}}|{{notelist}}}}
|demonym=|area_km2=|area_rank=|GDP_PPP=|GDP_PPP_year=|HDI=|HDI_year=|today=
}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L09218, Berlin, Japanische Botschaft.jpg|thumb|Flags of [[Nazi Germany|Germany]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]], and [[Fascist Italy|Italy]] draping the facade of the Embassy of Japan on the [[Tiergartenstraße]] in Berlin (September 1940)]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1969-065-24, Münchener Abkommen, Ankunft Mussolini.jpg|thumb|Germany's ''[[Führer]]'' [[Adolf Hitler]] (right) beside Italy's ''[[Duce]]'' [[Benito Mussolini]] (left)]]
[[File:Greater East Asia Conference.JPG|thumb|Japan's [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]] [[Hideki Tojo]] (center) with fellow government representatives of the [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]]. To the left of Tojo, from left to right: [[Ba Maw]] from Burma, [[Zhang Jinghui]], [[Wang Jingwei]] from China. To the right of Tojo, from left to right, [[Wan Waithayakon]] from Thailand, [[Jose P. Laurel|José P. Laurel]] from the Philippines, and [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] from India.]]
[[File:Signing ceremony for the Axis Powers Tripartite Pact.jpg|thumb|The signing of the Tripartite Pact by Germany, Japan, and Italy on 27 September 1940 in [[Berlin]]. Seated from left to right are the Japanese ambassador to Germany [[Saburō Kurusu]], Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs [[Galeazzo Ciano]], and [[Adolf Hitler]].]]

The '''Axis powers''',{{refn|{{langx|de|Achsenmächte}} {{IPA|de|ˈaksn̩ˌmɛçtə||De-Achsenmächte.ogg}}; {{langx|it|Potenze dell'Asse}} {{IPA|it|poˈtɛntse delˈlasse|}}; {{langx|ja|枢軸国}} ''Sūjikukoku'' {{IPA|ja|sɯːdʑikɯꜜkokɯ|}}|group=nb}} originally called the '''Rome–Berlin Axis'''<ref name="Goldberg et al">{{cite web |last1=Goldberg |first1=Maren |last2=Lotha |first2=Gloria |last3=Sinha |first3=Surabhi |title=Rome-Berlin Axis |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rome-Berlin-Axis |website=Britannica.Com |publisher=Britannica Group, inc. |access-date=11 February 2021 |date=24 March 2009}}</ref> and also '''Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis''', was the military [[coalition]] which initiated [[World War II]] and fought against the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. Its principal members were [[Nazi Germany]], [[Fascist Italy|Kingdom of Italy]] and the [[Empire of Japan]]. The Axis were united in their far-right positions and general opposition to the Allies, but otherwise lacked comparable coordination and ideological cohesion.

The Axis grew out of successive diplomatic efforts by Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the [[Italo-German protocol of 23 October 1936|protocol signed by Germany and Italy]] in October 1936, after which Italian leader [[Benito Mussolini]] declared that all other European countries would thereafter rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term "Axis".<ref name="Schmitz">{{cite book |author=Cornelia Schmitz-Berning |title=Vokabular des Nationalsozialismus |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter |page=745 |year=2007 |isbn=978-3-11-019549-1}}</ref> The following November saw the ratification of the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]], an [[anti-communist]] treaty between Germany and Japan; Italy joined the Pact in 1937, followed by [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] and [[Francoist Spain|Spain]] in 1939. The "Rome–Berlin Axis" became a [[Collective defense|military alliance]] in 1939 under the so-called "[[Pact of Steel]]", with the [[Tripartite Pact]] of 1940 formally integrating the military aims of Germany, Italy, Japan, and later followed by other nations. The three pacts formed the foundation of the Axis alliance.<ref name="Cooke1">{{cite book|last1=Cooke|first1=Tim|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKDhPHvv_c0C&q=%22Tripartite+pact%22+%22The+axis%22+%22anti-comintern+pact%22&pg=PA154|title=History of World War II. |volume= 1 – Origins and Outbreak|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|year=2005|isbn=0761474838|page=154|access-date=28 October 2020}}</ref>

At its zenith in 1942, the Axis presided over large parts of Europe, North Africa, and East Asia, either through occupation, annexation, or [[puppet state]]s. In contrast to the Allies,<ref name="Tucker & Roberts1">{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer |last2=Roberts |first2=Priscilla Mary |title=Encyclopedia of World War II A Political, Social and Military History |year=2005 |publisher=ABC-Clio |page=102 |isbn=9781576079997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=POspAQAAMAAJ&q=%22major%20Axis%20powers%22 |access-date=13 February 2021}}</ref> there were no three-way summit meetings, and cooperation and coordination were minimal; on occasion, the interests of the major Axis powers were even at variance with each other.<ref name="Momah1">{{cite book |last1=Momah |first1=Sam |title=Global strategy : from its genesis to the post-cold war era |year=1994 |publisher=Vista Books |isbn=9789781341069 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XSsvAAAAYAAJ&q=%22major+Axis+powers%22 |access-date=13 February 2021}}</ref> The Axis ultimately came to an end with its defeat in 1945.

Particularly within Europe, the use of the term "the Axis" sometimes refers solely to the alliance between Italy and Germany, though outside Europe it is normally understood as including Japan.<ref name="Hedinger1" />{{TOC limit|4}}