Editing Axis powers (section)

===Germany===
{{Main|Nazi Germany|Greater Germanic Reich|Flensburg Government}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2001-0706-501, Warschau, Walther v. Brauchitsch, Adolf Hitler.jpg|thumb|German Führer [[Adolf Hitler]] along with General [[Walther von Brauchitsch]], during the victory parade in Warsaw after the [[Invasion of Poland|defeat of Poland]], October 1939]]
[[File:Heinkel He 111 during the Battle of Britain.jpg|thumb|German [[Heinkel He 111]] bomber aircraft during the [[Battle of Britain]]]]
[[File:Advance of the Panzerjager-Abteilung 39-AC1942.jpg|thumb|German vehicles advancing during the [[Second Battle of El Alamein]] in the [[North African campaign]]]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1971-107-40, Russland, Kampf um Stalingrad, Infanterie.jpg|thumb|German soldiers during the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] in the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front campaign]]]]
[[File:U-118 Angriff.jpg|thumb|German submarine ''[[German submarine U-118 (1941)|U-118]]'' under air attack in June 1943]]

====War justifications====
Hitler in 1941 described the outbreak of World War II as the fault of the intervention of Western powers against Germany during its war with Poland, describing it as the result of "the European and American warmongers".<ref name="Lewis Copeland 1999 Pp. 485">Lewis Copeland, Lawrence W. Lamm, Stephen J. McKenna. ''The World's Great Speeches: Fourth Enlarged (1999) Edition''. p. 485.</ref> Hitler had designs for Germany to become the dominant and leading state in the world, such as his intention for Germany's capital of Berlin to become the ''Welthauptstadt'' ("World Capital"), renamed [[Welthauptstadt Germania|Germania]].<ref>Hitler's Germany: Origins, Interpretations, Legacies. London, England: Routledge, 1939. p. 134.</ref> The German government also justified its actions by claiming that Germany inevitably needed to territorially expand because it was facing an [[Human overpopulation|overpopulation]] crisis that Hitler described: "We are overpopulated and cannot feed ourselves from our own resources".<ref name="Stephen J. Lee 1945. P. 237">Stephen J. Lee. Europe, 1890–1945. p. 237.</ref> Thus expansion was justified as an inevitable necessity to provide ''[[lebensraum]]'' ("living space") for the German nation and end the country's overpopulation within existing confined territory, and provide resources necessary to its people's well-being.<ref name="Stephen J. Lee 1945. P. 237"/> Since the 1920s, the Nazi Party publicly promoted the expansion of Germany into territories held by the Soviet Union.<ref name="Peter D. Stachura P. 31">Peter D. Stachura. ''The Shaping of the Nazi State''. p. 31.</ref>

Germany justified its war against Poland on the issues of [[German minority in Poland|German minority within Poland]] and Polish opposition to the incorporation of the ethnically German-majority [[Free City of Danzig]] into Germany. While Hitler and the Nazi party before taking power openly talked about destroying Poland and were hostile to Poles, after gaining power until February 1939 Hitler tried to conceal his true intentions towards Poland, and signed a 10-year [[German–Polish declaration of non-aggression|Non-Aggression Pact]] in 1934, revealing his plans to only to his closest associates.<ref>Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum, 3. PL {{ISSN|0137-5377}}. Mirosław Gliński Geneza obozu koncentracyjnego Stutthof na tle hitlerowskich przygotowan w Gdansku do wojny z Polska</ref> Relations between Germany and Poland altered from the early to the late 1930s, as Germany sought rapprochement with Poland to avoid the risk of Poland entering the Soviet sphere of influence, and appealed to anti-Soviet sentiment in Poland.<ref name="Jan Karski 2014. P197">Jan Karski. ''The Great Powers and Poland: From Versailles to Yalta''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. p. 197.</ref> Hitler even tried to convince Poland to join the Anti-Comintern Pact.{{Sfn|Weinberg|2005|p=32}} The Soviet Union in turn at this time competed with Germany for influence in Poland.<ref name="Jan Karski 2014. P197"/> At the same time Germany was preparing for a war with Poland and was secretly preparing the German minority in Poland for a war.<ref>Maria Wardzyńska, "Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce Intelligenzaktion Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, IPN 2009</ref>

A [[Danzig crisis|diplomatic crisis erupted]] following Hitler demanding that the Free City of Danzig be annexed to Germany, as it was led by a Nazi government seeking annexation to Germany. Germany used legal precedents to justify its intervention against Poland and annexation of the [[Free City of Danzig]] (led by a local Nazi government that sought incorporation into Germany) in 1939.<ref name="C. Kiss. 1989">A. C. Kiss. ''Hague Yearbook of International Law''. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1989.</ref> Poland rejected Germany's demands and Germany in response prepared a general mobilization on the morning of 30 August 1939.<ref name="William Young 2006. P. 271">William Young. ''German Diplomatic Relations 1871–1945: The Wilhelmstrasse and the Formulation of Foreign Policy''. iUniverse, 2006. p. 271.</ref>

Germany justified its invasion of the [[Low Countries]] of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands in May 1940 by claiming that it suspected that Britain and France were preparing to use the Low Countries to launch an invasion of the industrial [[Ruhr]] region of Germany.<ref name="Gabrielle Kirk McDonald 2000. P. 649">Gabrielle Kirk McDonald. ''Documents and Cases, Volumes 1–2''. The Hague, Netherlands: Kluwer Law International, 2000. p. 649.</ref> When war between Germany versus Britain and France appeared likely in May 1939, Hitler declared that the Netherlands and Belgium would need to be occupied, saying: "Dutch and Belgian air bases must be occupied&nbsp;... Declarations of neutrality must be ignored".<ref name="Gabrielle Kirk McDonald 2000. P. 649"/> In a conference with Germany's military leaders on 23 November 1939, Hitler declared to the military leaders that "We have an [[Achilles heel]], the Ruhr", and said that "If England and France push through Belgium and Holland into the Ruhr, we shall be in the greatest danger", and thus claimed that Belgium and the Netherlands had to be occupied by Germany to protect Germany from a British-French offensive against the Ruhr, irrespective of their claims to neutrality.<ref name="Gabrielle Kirk McDonald 2000. P. 649"/>

[[Operation Barbarossa|Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union]] in 1941 involved issues of ''[[lebensraum]]'', [[anti-communism]], and Soviet foreign policy. After Germany invaded the [[Soviet Union]] in 1941, the Nazi regime's stance towards an independent, territorially-reduced Russia was affected by pressure beginning in 1942 from the [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|German Army]] on Hitler to endorse a "[[Russian Liberation Army]]" led by [[Andrey Vlasov]].<ref>Geoffrey A. Hosking. ''Rulers And Victims: The Russians in the Soviet Union''. Harvard University Press, 2006 p. 213.</ref> Initially the proposal to support an anti-communist Russian army was met with outright rejection by Hitler, however by 1944 as Germany faced mounting losses on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]], Vlasov's forces were recognized by Germany as an ally, particularly by [[Reichsführer-SS]] [[Heinrich Himmler]].<ref>Catherine Andreyev. ''Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Movement: Soviet Reality and Emigré Theories''. First paperback edition. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1989. pp. 53, 61.</ref>

After the [[Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]] and the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States, Germany supported Japan by declaring war on the US. During the war Germany denounced the [[Atlantic Charter]] and the [[Lend-Lease Act]] that the US adopted to support the Allied powers prior to entry into the alliance, as imperialism directed at dominating and exploiting countries outside of the continental [[Americas]].<ref name="Randall Bennett Woods 1990. P. 200">Randall Bennett Woods. ''A Changing of the Guard: Anglo-American Relations, 1941–1946''. University of North Carolina Press, 1990. p. 200.</ref> Hitler denounced American President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s invoking of the term "freedom" to describe US actions in the war, and accused the American meaning of "freedom" to be the freedom for democracy to exploit the world and the freedom for plutocrats within such democracy to exploit the masses.<ref name="Randall Bennett Woods 1990. P. 200"/>

====History====

At the end of World War I, German citizens felt that their country had been humiliated as a result of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], which included a [[Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles|war guilt clause]] and forced Germany to pay enormous reparations payments and forfeit territories formerly controlled by the German Empire and all its colonies. The pressure of the reparations on the German economy led to [[Inflation in the Weimar Republic|hyperinflation during the early 1920s]]. In 1923 [[Occupation of the Ruhr|the French occupied the Ruhr region]] when Germany defaulted on its reparations payments. Although Germany began to improve economically in the mid-1920s, the [[Great Depression]] created more economic hardship and a rise in political forces that advocated radical solutions to Germany's woes. The Nazis, under Hitler, promoted the nationalist [[stab-in-the-back legend]] stating that Germany had been betrayed by Jews and Communists. The party promised to rebuild Germany as a major power and create a [[German question#Later influence|Greater Germany]] that would include [[Alsace-Lorraine]], Austria, [[Sudetenland]], and other German-populated territories in Europe. The Nazis also aimed to occupy and colonize non-German territories in Poland, the [[Baltic states]], and the Soviet Union, as part of the Nazi policy of seeking ''[[Lebensraum]]'' ("living space") in [[Central and Eastern Europe]].

Germany renounced the Versailles treaty and [[remilitarization of the Rhineland|remilitarized the Rhineland]] in March 1936. Germany had already resumed conscription and announced the existence of a German air force, the [[Luftwaffe]], and naval force, the [[Kriegsmarine]] in 1935. Germany [[Anschluss|annexed Austria in 1938]], the [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|Sudetenland]] from Czechoslovakia, and the [[Memel territory]] from [[Lithuania]] in 1939. Germany then invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939, creating the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] and the country of [[Slovakia]].

On 23 August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]], which contained a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence.{{sfn|Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|1939}} Germany's invasion of its part of Poland under the Pact eight days later{{sfn|Roberts|2006|p=82}} triggered the beginning of World War II. By the end of 1941, Germany occupied a large part of Europe and [[Wehrmacht|its military forces]] were fighting the Soviet Union, nearly capturing Moscow. However, crushing defeats at the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] and the [[Battle of Kursk]] devastated the German armed forces. This, combined with Western Allied [[Normandy Landings|landings in France]] and [[Allied invasion of Sicily|Italy]], led to a three-front war that depleted Germany's armed forces and resulted in Germany's defeat in 1945.

====Occupied territories====
{{Further|Areas annexed by Nazi Germany|German-occupied Europe}}

The [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] was created from the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. Shortly after Germany annexed the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, the [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovak Republic]] declared its independence from the rump [[Second Czechoslovak Republic]]. The new [[Slovak State]] allied itself with Germany. The remainder of the country was occupied by German military forces and organized into the Protectorate. Czech civil institutions were preserved but the Protectorate was considered within the sovereign territory of Germany.

The [[General Government]] was the name given to the territories of [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupied Poland]] that were not [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|directly annexed into German provinces]], but like Bohemia and Moravia was considered within the sovereign territory of Germany by the Nazi authorities.

[[Reichskommissariat]]s were established in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Norway, designated as places the "Germanic" populations of which were to be incorporated into the planned Greater Germanic Reich. By contrast the Reichskommissariats established in the east ([[Reichskommissariat Ostland]] in the Baltics, [[Reichskommissariat Ukraine]] in Ukraine) were established as colonies for settlement by Germans.

In Norway, under [[Reichskommissariat Norwegen]], the [[Quisling regime]], headed by [[Vidkun Quisling]], was installed by the Germans as a client regime [[Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany|during the occupation]], while king [[Haakon VII]] and the legal [[Nygaardsvold's Cabinet|government were in exile]]. Quisling encouraged Norwegians to serve as volunteers [[5th SS Panzer Division Wiking|in the Waffen-SS]], collaborated in the deportation of Jews, and was responsible for the executions of members of the [[Norwegian resistance movement]]. About 45,000 Norwegian collaborators joined the pro-Nazi party ''[[Nasjonal Samling]]'' (National Union), and some police units helped arrest many Jews. However, Norway was one of the first countries where [[resistance during World War II]] was widespread before the turning point of the war in 1943. After the war, [[Legal purge in Norway after World War II|Quisling and other collaborators were executed]]. Quisling's name has become an international [[eponym]] for [[traitor]].