Axis powers of World War II.html |
| | | ca | | | de | | | en | | | es | | | fr | | | it | | | nl | | | no | | | pl | | | pt | | | ru | | | ro | | | fi | | | sv | | | tr | | | vo | | |
| |  |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Axis powers (also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis) were those countries that were opposed to the Allies during World War II.1 The three major Axis powers - Germany, Italy, and Japan - were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers. At their zenith, the Axis powers ruled empires that dominated large parts of Europe, Africa, East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, but World War II ended with their total defeat. Like the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, and some nations entered and later left the Axis during the course of the war.2
Origins
The term "axis" is believed to have been first coined by Hungary's fascist prime minister Gyula Gömbös who advocated an alliance of Germany, Hungary, and Italy and worked as an intermediary between Germany and Italy to lessen differences between the two countries to achieve such an alliance.3 Gömbös' sudden death in 1936 while negotiating with Germany in Munich and the arrival of a non-fascist successor to him ended Hungary's initial involvement in pursuing a trilateral axis, but the lessening of differences between Germany and Italy would lead to a bilateral axis being formed.4
In November 1936, the term "axis" was first officially used by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini when he spoke of a Rome-Berlin axis arising out of the treaty of friendship signed between Italy and Germany on 25 October 1936. Mussolini declared that the two countries would form an "Axis" around which the other states of Europe (and of the world) would revolve. This treaty was forged when Italy, originally opposed to Nazi Germany, was faced with opposition to its war in Abyssinia from the League of Nations and received support from Germany. Later, in May 1939, this relationship transformed into an alliance, called by Mussolini the "Pact of Steel".
The term "Axis powers" formally took the name after the Tripartite Pact was signed by Germany, Italy and Japan on September 27, 1940 in Berlin, Germany. The pact was subsequently joined by Hungary (November 20, 1940), Romania (November 23, 1940), Slovakia (November 24, 1940) and Bulgaria (March 1, 1941). The Italian name Roberto briefly acquired a new meaning from "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo" between 1940 and 1945. Its most militarily powerful members were Germany and Japan. These two nations had also signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with each other as allies before the Tripartite Pact in 1936.
Participating nations
Major Axis powers
Three major Axis powers were the original signatories to the Tripartite Pact:
Germany
Germany was unofficially the leader of the Axis powers as it had the largest and most technologically-advanced armed forces of the Axis powers. Germany was ruled at this time by Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist German Workers' Party (a.k.a. the Nazi Party).
German citizens felt that their country had been humiliated as a result of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I in which Germany was forced to pay enormous reparations payments, and forfeit German-populated territories and its colonies. German nationalists blamed the country's defeat on pacifists, Communists, and Jews. The Germans had to pay large reparations which placed pressure on the German economy leading to hyperinflation during the early 1920s. In 1923, the French occupied the Ruhr region as a result of late payments leading to greater feelings of discontent. 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 Adolf Hitler followed and promoted the nationalist belief that Germany had been betrayed by Jews and Communists and promised to rebuild Germany as a major power and to create a Greater Germany which would include Alsace-Lorraine, Austria, Sudetenland, and other German-populated territories in Europe. In addition to this, the Nazis aimed to occupy non-German territory of Poland, Baltic countries, and the Soviet Union to colonize with Germans as part of the Nazi policy of seeking Lebensraum ("living space") in eastern Europe.
Germany renounced the Versailles treaty in 1935 and began to rearm. The Rhineland was remilitarised. Germany later annexed Austria in 1938, the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia and Memel from Lithuania in 1939. Germany then invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939, creating the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and Slovakia as a country.
The invasion of Poland led to the subsequent beginning of World War II. By 1941, Germany occupied most of Europe and its military forces were fighting the Soviet Union, nearly capturing its capital of Moscow. However, crushing defeats at the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk devastated the German armed forces. This combined with Western Allied landings in France and Italy led to a three-front war which depleted Germany's armed forces resulting in Germany's defeat in 1945.
Japan
Japan was the principal Axis power in Asia and the Pacific. The Empire of Japan, commonly referred to as Imperial Japan, was a constitutional monarchy ruled by Emperor Shōwa. The constitution prescribed that "The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present Constitution" (article 4) and that "The Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and the Navy" (article 11). Under the imperial institution were a political cabinet and Imperial General Headquarters with two chief of staff.
At its height, Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere included Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, large parts of China, Malaysia, French Indochina, Dutch East Indies, The Philippines, Burma, some of India, and various other Pacific Islands - specifically in the central Pacific.
As a result of the internal discord and economic downturn of the 1920s, militaristic elements set Japan on a path of expansionism. Japan had plans to establish its hegemony in Asia and thus become self-sufficient, as the Japanese home islands lacked natural resources needed for growth, by acquiring areas with abundant natural resources. Japan's expansionist policies alienated it from other countries in the League of Nations and by the mid-1930s brought it closer to Germany and Italy which both had pursued similar expansionist policies which resulted in condemnation by a number of countries. Initial steps of Japan aligning itself militarily with Germany began with the Anti-Comintern Pact, in which the two countries agreed to ally with each other to challenge any attack by the Soviet Union.
Japan's first major belligerent action was against the Chinese in 1937. The subsequent Japanese invasion and occupation of parts of China resulted in numerous atrocities against civilians such as the Nanking massacre and the Three Alls Policy. The Japanese also fought skirmishes with Soviet Union forces in Manchukuo in 1938 & 1939. Japan sought to avoid potential war with the Soviet Union by signing a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union later in 1941.
With European colonial powers focused on the war in Europe, Japan sought to acquire their colonies. In 1940 Japan responded to the collapse of France to the Germans, by sending the Japanese forces to occupy French Indochina. The regime of Vichy France, a de-facto ally of Germany, accepted Japan's takeover of Indochina. Allied forces did not respond with war. However, with the continuing war in China, the United States instituted in 1941 an embargo against Japan cutting off the supply of scrap metal and oil needed for its industry and war effort.
In order to isolate American forces in the Philippines and American naval power, the Imperial General Headquarters ordered the Imperial Japanese Navy to attack the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The Japanese also invaded Malaysia and Hong Kong. The Japanese initially were able to inflict a series of defeats against the allies, however by 1943 American industrial strength was made apparent and the Japanese were pushed back towards the home islands. The Pacific War lasted until the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The Soviets formally declared war in August, 1945 and engaged Japanese forces in Manchuria and northeast China.
Italy
.svg)
The Kingdom of Italy was under the leadership of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in the name of King Victor Emmanuel III.
During World War I, Italy had entered the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary. At the end Italy made only minor gains rather than the large concessions promised by the London Pact. The London pact was nullified with the treaty of Versailles, Italian nationalists and the public saw this as an injustice and an outrage, there had been over 600,000 Italian casualties. This resentment together with internal discontent and an economic downturn allowed the Italian Fascists under Benito Mussolini to rise to power in 1922.
In the late 19th century after the reunification, a nationalist movement grew around the concept of Italia irredenta which advocated the incorporation of Italian-speaking areas under foreign rule into Italy; there was a desire to annex Italian speaking areas in Dalmatia. Italy's Fascist regime's intention was to create a "New Roman Empire" in which Italy would dominate the Mediterranean Sea. In 1935-1936, Italy invaded and annexed Ethiopia. The League of Nations protested, however no serious action was taken, though Italy faced diplomatic isolation by many countries. In 1937 Italy left the League of Nations and in the same year joined the Anti-Comintern Pact which was signed by Germany and Japan the preceding year. In March/April 1939 Italian troops invaded and annexed Albania. Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel on May 22.
Italy entered World War II on June 10, 1940. In September 1940 Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact. By 1941, however, the Italians had suffered multiple military defeats; in Greece and against the British in Egypt. It was only through German intervention in Yugoslavia, the Balkans and North Africa that Italy managed to avert a major military collapse. By 1943 the Italian people had lost faith in Mussolini and no longer supported the war; Italy had lost its colonies, the allies had taken North Africa in May and Sicily had been invaded in July.
On July 25, 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini, placed him under arrest, and began secret negotiations with the Allies. Italy then signed an armistice with the Allies on September 8, 1943 and later joined the Western Allies as a co-belligerent. On September 12, 1943, Mussolini was rescued by the Germans in Operation Oak and a puppet state was formed in northern Italy (see "German puppet states" below), although it exercised little real power and Italy continued as a member of the Axis Tripartite Pact in name only. This resurrected Fascist state was referred to as Repubblica di Salò or the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana/RSI).
Minor powers
Several minor powers formally adhered to the Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy and Japan in this order:
Hungary
Hungary was ruled by Regent Admiral Miklós Horthy. Hungary was the first country apart from Germany, Italy, and Japan to adhere to the Tripartite Pact, signing the agreement on 20 November 1940.
In the late 1910s and early 1920s, political instability plagued the country until a regency was established by Miklos Horthy. Horthy, who was a Hungarian nobleman and Austro-Hungarian naval officer, became Regent in 1920. In Hungary, nationalism was strong, as was anti-Semitism, which drew Hungarian nationalists to support the Nazi regime in Germany. There was a desire by Hungarian nationalists to recover the territories lost through the Trianon Treaty. Hungary drew closer to Germany and Italy largely because of the shared desire to revise the peace settlements made after the First World War. Because of its pro-German stance, the Hungarians received favourable territorial settlements in the form of territory from German annexed Czechoslovakia in 1939 and Northern Transylvania from Romania in the Vienna Awards of 1940. During the invasion of Yugoslavia, the Hungarians permitted German troops to transit through their territory and Hungarian forces also took part in the invasion. Parts of Yugoslavia were annexed to Hungary; in response, the United Kingdom immediately broke off diplomatic relations.
Although Hungary did not participate initially in the German invasion of the Soviet Union, on 27 June, Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union. Over 500,000 troops served in the Eastern Front. All five of Hungary's field armies ultimately participated in the war against the Soviet Union; the largest and the most significant contribution was made by the Second Army.
On 25 November 1941, Hungary was one of thirteen signatories to the revived Anti-Comintern Pact. Hungarian troops like their other Axis counterparts were involved in numerous actions against the Soviets. By the end of 1943, however, the Soviets had gained the upper hand while the Germans found themselves in retreat. The Hungarian Second Army was destroyed in fighting near Voronezh, on the banks of the Don River. In 1944, with Soviet troops advancing toward Hungary, Horthy attempted to reach an armistice with the allies. However, the Germans replaced the existing regime with a new one. Eventually Budapest was taken by the Soviets, after fierce fighting. A number of pro-German Hungarians retreated to Italy and Germany where they fought until the end of the war.
Romania
Romania, under King Mihai I and the military government of Ion Antonescu signed the Tripartite Pact on November 23, 1940. When war erupted in Europe in 1939, Romania was pro-British and was allied to the Poles. However with the defeat of Poland and the German conquest of France and the low countries, Romania found itself increasingly isolated. Pro-German and pro-fascist elements began to grow.
On June 28, 1940, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and Hertza County. On August 30, 1940, Germany forced Romania to cede Northern Transylvania to Hungary as a result of the second Vienna Award. Southern Dobruja was also ceded to Bulgaria in September 1940. In an effort to appease the Fascist elements with the country and obtain German protection, King Carol II appointed the General Ion Antonescu as Prime Minister on September 6, 1940. Two days later, Antonescu forced the king to abdicate and installed the king's young son Michael on the throne, then declared himself Conducător (Leader) with dictatorial powers. German troops entered the country in 1941 and used the country as platform for invasions of both Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Romania was also a key supplier of resources, especially oil and grain.
Romania joined the German led invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Nearly 800,000 Romanian troops fought on the Eastern front. Areas that were annexed by the Soviets were reincorporated into Romania. By 1943, the tide began to turn and the Soviets pushed further west closer to Romania. Led by pro-allied elements, Romania switched sides during King Michael's Coup on 23 August 1944. Romanian troops then fought alongside the Soviet Army until the end of war, reaching as far as Czechoslovakia and Austria.
Bulgaria
.svg){kind=small}
Bulgaria was ruled by King Boris III when the country signed the Tripartite Pact on March 1, 1941. Bulgaria had been an ally of Germany in the First World War and like Germany, sought a return of lost territory specifically Macedonia and Aegean Thrace. During the 1930s, because of traditional right-wing elements Bulgaria drew closer to Nazi Germany. In 1940, under the terms of the Treaty of Craiova, Germany pressured Romania to return Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria which was ceded in 1913.
Bulgaria participated in the German invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece, and annexed Vardar Banovina from Yugoslavia and eastern Greek Macedonia and Western Thrace from Greece. Bulgarian forces garrisoned in the Balkans fought various resistance movements. Despite German pressure, Bulgaria did not join the German invasion of the Soviet Union and never declared war on this country. However, despite the lack of official declarations of war by both sides, the Bulgarian Navy was involved in a number of skirmishes with the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, which attacked Bulgarian shipping.
The Bulgarian government declared war on the Western Allies. However, this turned into a disaster for the citizens of Sofia and other major Bulgarian cities, which were heavily bombed by the USAAF and RAF in 1943 and 1944. As the Red Army approached the Bulgarian border, on September 2, 1944, a coup brought to power a new government which sought peace with the Allies. However, on September 5 the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria and the Red Army marched into the country, meeting no resistance. During the coup d'état of 9 September 1944, a new government of the Fatherland Front took power and Bulgarian troops fought on the Allies' side throughout the rest of the war. Bulgaria kept Southern Dobrudja but lost the occupied parts of the Aegean region and Vardar Macedonia resulting in 150,000 Bulgarians being expelled from Western Thrace.
Yugoslavia
For about two days in 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was briefly a member of the Axis.
On 25 March 1941, fearing that Yugoslavia would be invaded otherwise, Regent Prince Paul signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany, Italy, and Japan.
The relations between Yugoslavia and Germany's major ally, Italy were cold and adversarial based on historical tensions. In 1925, Benito Mussolini and the Yugoslav government signed the Treaty of Nettuno after Mussolini pressured Yugoslavia with the threat of war to allow Italians to freely move into Dalmatia.5 Yugoslavs saw this as a submission to effective Italian colonization of Dalmatia and opposed this. The political situation between Italians and Yugoslavs in the Italian Adriatic coastal enclave of Zara became hostile after reports were released of an Italian veterans association in Zara which chanted anti-Yugoslav songs calling Yugoslavs "pigs" and the association announced that Italy should annex Dalmatia. These actions and attitudes resulted in rage by Yugoslavs towards Italy, as in large protests in Yugoslavia in 1928 where Yugoslavs shouted "Down with Mussolini!", "Death to Fascismo!", and "Down with the Treaty of Nettuno!" and "Long live King Alexander!", accusations of treason against the Yugoslav government and violence between opposition and government members in the Yugoslav parliament.6 These were followed by Yugoslavs storming the Italian embassies in Zagreb, Ragusa, and Splato, tearing down and burning pictures of Mussolini, along with burning and tearing Italian flags at the embassies.7
Two days after signing the alliance in 1941, after uprisings in the streets, Prince Paul was removed from office by a coup d'état. 17-year-old Prince Peter was proclaimed to be of age and crowned king. The new Yugoslavian government under King Peter II, still fearful of invasion, attempted to indicate that it would remain bound by the Tripartite Pact. But German dictator Adolf Hitler suspected that the British were behind the coup against Prince Paul and vowed to destroy the country.
The German invasion began on 6 April 1941. Yugoslavia was a multi-ethnic country from its creation and was heavily dominated by the Serbs. It also had unresolved questions of national identity so even the resistance to Nazi occupation wasn't united until major resistance groups like the Partizani and Chetniks (The Chetniks were known to collaborate with occupying forces and attacked Axis forces only periodically. See Chetnik movement for more details.) began forming and making offenses in the Balkans. Resistance crumbled in less than two weeks and an unconditional surrender was signed in Belgrade on 17 April. By this time, King Peter II and much of the Yugoslavian government had already fled.
While the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was no longer capable of being a member of the Axis, several Axis-aligned puppet states emerged after the kingdom was dissolved. Local governments were set up in Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro. The remainder of Yugoslavia was divided among the other Axis powers. Germany annexed Slovenia. Italy annexed coastal parts of Croatia (Dalmatia and the islands), and attached Kosovo to Albania (occupied since 1939). Hungary annexed several border territories. Bulgaria annexed Macedonia.
Ivan Mihailov's faction of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) welcomed the Bulgarian annexation of Vardar Macedonia. In early September 1944, when the Bulgarian government left the Axis, Germany offered Mihailov support in establishing an independent Macedonian state, but he declined.
Co-belligerents
Finland
Although Finland never signed the Tripartite Pact and legally (de jure) was not a part of the Axis, it was Axis aligned with its fight against the Soviet Union.8 The common term used in that kind of relationship is co-belligerence. Finland signed the revived Anti-Comintern Pact of November 1941.
Having been a victim of Soviet aggression during the Winter War, Finland had sought protection and support from the United Kingdom910 and neutral Sweden,11 but was thwarted by Soviet and German actions. This resulted in Finland being drawn closer to Germany, first with the intent of enlisting German support as a counterweight to thwart continuing Soviet pressure and later to help regain lost territories.
In the opening days of the Operation Barbarossa, Finland permitted German planes returning from bombing runs over Leningrad to refuel at Finnish airfields before returning to bases in East Prussia. In retaliation the Soviet Union launched major air offensive against Finnish airfields and towns, which resulted Finnish declaration of war to the Soviet Union on June 25, 1941. The Finnish conflict with the Soviet Union is generally referred as the Continuation War.
The Finnish main objective was to regain the territory lost to the Soviet Union in the Winter War, but on July 10, 1941, Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim issued an Order of the Day which contained a formulation what was understood internationally as a Finnish interest to the Russian Karelia.
Diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Finland were severed on August 1, 1941, after the British bombed German forces in the Finnish city of Petsamo. The United Kingdom repeatedly called on Finland to cease its offensive against the Soviet Union, and on December 6, 1941, declared war on Finland, although no other military operations followed. War was never declared between Finland and the United States.
Unlike other Axis powers, Finland maintained command of its armed forces and pursued its war objectives independently of Germany. Finland refused German requests to participate in the Siege of Leningrad, and also granted asylum to Jews, while Jewish soldiers continued to serve in her army.
The relationship between Finland and Germany more closely resembled an alliance during the six weeks of the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement, which was presented as a German condition for help with munitions and air support, as the Soviet offensive coordinated with D-Day threatened Finland with complete occupation. The agreement, signed by President Risto Ryti, but never ratified by the Finnish Parliament, bound Finland not to seek a separate peace.
After Soviet offensive were fought to standstill, Ryti's successor as president, Marshall Mannerheim, dismissed the agreement and opened secret negotiations with the Soviets, which resulted a ceasefire at September 4 and the Moscow Armistice on September 19, 1944. Under the terms of the armistice, Finland was obligated to expel German troops from Finnish territory, which resulted in the Lapland War. In 1947, Finland signed a peace treaty with the Allied powers.
Iraq
Iraq was a co-belligerent of the Axis, fighting the United Kingdom in the Anglo-Iraqi War of 1941.
Anti-British sentiments were widespread in Iraq prior to 1941. Seizing power on April 3, 1941, the nationalist government of Iraqi Prime Minister Rashid Ali repudiated the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930 and demanded that the British abandon their military bases and withdraw from the country. Ali sought support from Germany and Italy in expelling British forces from Iraq.
In early May 1941, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem and associate of Ali, declared "holy war" against the British and called on Arabs throughout the Middle East to rise up against British rule. On May 25, 1941, the Germans stepped up offensive operations. Hitler issued Order 30,
| “ | "The Arab Freedom Movement in the Middle East is our natural ally against England. In this connection special importance is attached to the liberation of Iraq... I have therefore decided to move forward in the Middle East by supporting Iraq." | ” |
Hostilities between the Iraqi and British forces began on April 18, 1941, with heavy fighting at the RAF air base at Lake Habbaniya. The Germans and Italians dispatched aircraft and aircrew to Iraq. The Germans and Italians utilized Vichy French bases in Syria, which would later invoke fighting between British and Vichy French forces in Syria.
The Germans planned to coordinate a combined German-Italian offensive against the British in Egypt, Palestine and Iraq. Iraqi military resistance, however, ended by May 31, 1941. Rashid Ali and the Mufti of Jerusalem fled to Persia, then Turkey, Italy and finally Germany where Ali was welcomed by Hitler as head of the Iraqi government-in-exile in Berlin. In propaganda broadcasts from Berlin, the Mufti continued to call on Arabs to rise up against the British and aid German and Italian forces. He also helped recruit Muslim volunteers in the Balkans for the Waffen SS.
Thailand
Thailand became a formal ally of Japan from January 25, 1942.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces invaded Thailand's territory on the morning of December 8, 1941. Only hours after the invasion, the then prime minister Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram, ordered the cessation of resistance against the Japanese. On December 21, 1941, a military alliance with Japan was signed and Thailand declared war on Britain and the United States. The Thai ambassador to the United States, Mom Rajawongse Seni Pramoj did not deliver his copy of the declaration of war, so although the British reciprocated by declaring war on Thailand and consequently considered it a hostile country, the United States did not.
On May 10, 1942, the Thai Phayap Army entered Burma's Shan State, at one time in the past the area had been part of the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The boundary between the Japanese and Thai operations was generally the Salween. However, the area south of the Shan States known as Karenni States, the homeland of the Karens, was specifically retained under Japanese control. Three Thai infantry and one cavalry division, spearheaded by armoured reconnaissance groups and supported by the air force engaged the retreating Chinese 93rd Division. Kengtung, the main objective, was captured on May 27. Renewed offensives in June and November evicted the Chinese into Yunnan.12
The Free Thai Movement ("Seri Thai") was established during these first few months, parallel Free Thai organisations were also established in the United Kingdom and inside Thailand. Queen Ramphaiphanni was the nominal head of the British-based organisation, and Pridi Phanomyong, the regent, headed its largest contingent, which was operating within the country. Aided by elements of the military, secret airfields and training camps were established while OSS and Force 136 agents fluidly slipped in and out of the country.
As the war dragged on, the Thai population came to resent the Japanese presence. In June 1944, Phibun was overthrown in a coup d'état. The new civilian government under Khuang Aphaiwong attempted to aid the resistance while at the same time maintaining cordial relations with the Japanese. After the war, U.S. influence prevented Thailand from being treated as an Axis country, but the British demanded three million tons of rice as reparations and the return of areas annexed from the colony of Malaya during the war. Thailand also returned the portions of British Burma and French Indochina that had been annexed. Phibun and a number of his associates were put on trial on charges of having committed war crimes and of collaborating with the Axis powers. However, the charges were dropped due to intense public pressure. Public opinion was favourable to Phibun, since he was thought to have done his best to protect Thai interests.
Japanese puppet states
The Empire of Japan created a number of puppet states in the areas occupied by its military, beginning with the creation of Manchukuo in 1932. These puppet states achieved varying degrees of international recognition.
Manchukuo (Manchuria)
Manchukuo was a Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, the northeast region of China. It was nominally ruled by Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, but in fact controlled by the Japanese military, in particular the Kwantung Army. While Manchukuo ostensibly meant a state for ethnic Manchus, the region had a Han Chinese majority.
Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the independence of Manchukuo was proclaimed on February 18, 1932, with Puyi as "Head of State." He was proclaimed the Emperor of Manchukuo a year later. Twenty three of the League of Nations' eighty members recognised the new Manchu nation, but the League itself declared in 1934 that Manchuria lawfully remained a part of China. This precipitated Japanese withdrawal from the League. Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union were among the major powers who recognised Manchukuo, other countries who recognised the state were the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and the Vatican. Manchukuo was also recognised by the other Japanese allies and puppet states, including Mengjiang, the Burmese government of Ba Maw, Thailand, the Wang Jingwei regime, and the Indian government of Subhas Chandra Bose. The Manchukuoan state ceased to exist after the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945.
Mengjiang (Inner Mongolia)
Mengjiang (alternatively spelled Mengchiang) was a Japanese puppet state in Inner Mongolia. It was nominally ruled by Prince Demchugdongrub, a Mongol nobleman descended from Genghis Khan, but was in fact controlled by the Japanese military. Mengjiang's independence was proclaimed on February 18, 1936, following the Japanese occupation of the region.
The Inner Mongolians had several grievances against the central Chinese government in Nanking, with the most important one being the policy of allowing unlimited migration of Han Chinese to this vast region of open plains and desert. Several of the young princes of Inner Mongolia began to agitate for greater freedom from the central government, and it was through these men that Japanese saw their best chance of exploiting Pan-Mongol nationalism and eventually seizing control of Outer Mongolia from the Soviet Union.
Japan created Mengjiang to exploit tensions between ethnic Mongolians and the central government of China which in theory ruled Inner Mongolia. The Japanese hoped to use pan-Mongolism to create a Mongolian ally in Asia and eventually conquer all of Mongolia from the Soviet Union.
When the various puppet governments of China were unified under the Wang Jingwei government in March 1940, Mengjiang retained its separate identity as an autonomous federation. Although under the firm control of the Japanese Imperial Army which occupied its territory, Prince Demchugdongrub had his own army that was, in theory, independent.
Mengjiang vanished in 1945 following Japan's defeat ending World War II and the invasion of Soviet and Red Mongol Armies. As the huge Soviet forces advanced into Inner Mongolia, they met limited resistance from small detachments of Mongolian cavalry, which, like the rest of the army, were quickly brushed aside.
Wang Jingwei Government
.svg)
A short-lived state was founded on March 29, 1940 by Wang Jingwei, who became Head of State of this Japanese supported collaborationist government based in Nanking.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan advanced from its bases in Manchuria to occupy much of East and Central China. Several Japanese puppet states were organised in areas occupied by the Japanese Army, including the Provisional Government of the Republic of China at Peking which was formed in 1937 and the Reformed Government of the Republic of China at Nanking which was formed in 1938. These governments were merged into the Reorganised Government of the Republic of China at Nanking in 1940. The government (known as the Wang Jingwei Government) was to be run along the same lines as the Nationalist regime and adopted symbols of the latter.
The Nanking Government had no real power, and its main role was to act as a propaganda tool for the Japanese. The Nanking Government concluded agreements with Japan and Manchukuo, authorising Japanese occupation of China and recognising the independence of Manchukuo under Japanese protection. The Nanking Government signed the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941 and declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom on January 9, 1943.
The government had a strained relationship with the Japanese from the beginning. Wang's insistence on his regime being the true Nationalist government of China and in replicating all the symbols of the Kuomintang (KMT) led to frequent conflicts with the Japanese, the most prominent being the issue of the regime's flag, which was identical to that of the Republic of China.
The worsening situation for Japan from 1943 onwards meant that the Nanking Army was given a more substantial role in the defence of occupied China than the Japanese had initially envisaged. The army was almost continuously employed against the communist New Fourth Army.
Wang Jingwei died in a Nagoya hospital on November 10, 1944, and was succeeded by his deputy Chen Gongbo. Chen had little influence and the real power behind the regime was Zhou Fohai, the mayor of Shanghai. Wang's death dispelled what little legitimacy the regime had. The state stuttered on for another year and continued the display and show of a fascist regime.
On September 9, 1945, following the defeat of Japan, the area was surrendered to General He Yingqin, a nationalist general loyal to Chiang Kai-shek. The Nanking Army generals quickly declared their alliance to the Generalissimo, and were subsequently ordered to resist Communist attempts to fill the vacuum left by the Japanese surrender. Chen Gongbo was tried and executed in 1946.
Burma (Ba Maw regime)
.gif)
The Japanese Army seized control of Burma from the United Kingdom during 1942. A Japanese puppet state in Burma was then formed on August 1 under the Burmese nationalist leader Ba Maw. The Ba Maw regime established the Burma Defence Army (later renamed the Burma National Army), which was commanded by Aung San.
Philippines (Second Republic)
The Japanese established a puppet state in the Philippine Islands in 1942. In 1943, the Philippine National Assembly declared the Philippines an independent republic and elected Jose P. Laurel as President of the Second Republic of the Philippines. There was never widespread support for the state, largely because of the anti-Japanese attitude of the people. The Second Philippine Republic ended with the Japanese surrender. Laurel was arrested and charged with treason by the US government, but was granted amnesty and continued being involved in politics, ultimately winning a seat in the Philippine Senate.
India (Provisional Government of Free India)
The Provisional Government of Free India was a shadow government led by Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian nationalist who rejected Gandhi's nonviolent methods for achieving independence. Its authority existed only in those parts of India which came under Japanese control.13
One of the most prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement of the time and former president of the Indian National Congress, Bose was arrested by British authorities at the outset of the Second World War. In January 1941 he escaped from house arrest, eventually reaching Germany and then in 1942 to Japan where he formed the Indian National Army, made up largely from Indian prisoners of war.
Bose and A.M. Sahay, another local leader, received ideological support from Mitsuru Toyama, chief of the Dark Ocean Society along with Japanese Army advisers.14 Other Indian thinkers in favour of the Axis cause were Asit Krishna Mukherji, a friend of Bose and his wife Savitri Devi, a French writer who admired Hitler. 15 Bose was helped by Rash Behari Bose, founder of the Indian Independence League in Japan. Bose declared India's independence on October 21, 1943. The Japanese Army assigned to the Indian National Army a number of military advisors, among them Hideo Iwakuro and Saburo Isoda.
The provisional capital was located at Port Blair on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, these islands fallen to the Japanese. The government would last two more years until August 18, 1945, when it officially became defunct. During its existence it received recognition from nine governments: Germany, Japan, Italy, Croatia, Manchukuo, China (under the Nanking Government of Wang Jingwei), Thailand, Burma (under the regime of Burmese nationalist leader Ba Maw, and the Philippines under de facto (and later de jure) president José Laurel.
The Indian National Army saw plenty of action (as did their Burmese equivalent). The highlight of the force's campaign in Burma was the planting of the Indian national flag by the "Bose Battalion" during the battle of Frontier Hill in 1944, although it was Japanese troops from the 55th Cavalry, 1/29th Infantry and 2/143rd Infantry who did most of the fighting.citation needed This battle also had the curious incidence of three Sikh companies of the Bose Battalion exchanging insults and fire with two Sikh companies of the 7/16th Punjab Regiment (British Indian Army)citation needed.
The Indian National Army was encountered again during the Second Arakan Campaign, where they deserted in large numbers back to their old "imperial oppressors" and again during the crossing of the Irrawaddy in 1945, where a couple of companies put up token resistance before leaving their Japanese comrades to fight off the assault crossing by 7th Indian Division.citation needed It subsequently held the area around Mount Popa, protected Kimura's flank while the latter attempted to retake Meiktilla
Vietnam
The Empire of Vietnam was a short-lived Japanese puppet state that lasted from March 11 to August 23, 1945.
When the Japanese seized control of French Indochina, they allowed Vichy French administrators to remain in nominal control. This ruling ended on March 9, 1945 when the Japanese officially took control of the government. Soon after, Emperor Bảo Đại voided the 1884 treaty with France and Trần Trọng Kim, a historian, became prime minister.
Despite the state's short existence, it suffered through a famine (see Vietnamese Famine of 1945) as well as succeeding in replacing French-speaking schools with Vietnamese language schools taught by Vietnamese scholars.
Cambodia
The Kingdom of Cambodia was a short-lived Japanese puppet state that lasted from March 9, 1945 to April 15, 1945.
In mid-1941, the Japanese entered Cambodia, but allowed Vichy French officials to remain in administrative posts. The Japanese calls of an "Asia for the Asiatics" won over many Cambodian nationalists, despite Tokyo's policy of keeping the colonial government in nominal control.
This policy changed during the last months of the war. The Japanese wanted to gain local support, so they dissolved French colonial rule and pressured Cambodia to declare its independence within the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Four days later, King Sihanouk declared Kampuchea (the original Khmer pronunciation of Cambodia) independent. Co-editor of the Nagaravatta, Son Ngoc Thanh, returned from Tokyo in May and was appointed foreign minister.
On the date of Japanese surrender, a new government was proclaimed with Son Ngoc Thah as prime minister. However, in October, when the Allies occupied Phnom Penh, Son Ngoc Thanh was arrested for collaborating with the Japanese and was exiled to France. Some of his supporters went to north-western Cambodia, which had been under Thai control since the French-Thai War of 1940, where they banded together as one faction in the Khmer Issarak movement, originally formed with Thai encouragement in the 1940s.
Laos
Fears of Thai irredentism led to the formation of the first Lao nationalist organization, the Movement for National Renovation, in January 1941, led by Prince Phetxarāt and supported by local French officials, though not by the Vichy authorities in Hanoi. This group wrote the current Lao national anthem and designed the current Lao flag, while paradoxically pledging support for France. The country declared its independence in 1945.
There matters rested until the liberation of France in 1944, bringing Charles de Gaulle to power. This meant the end of the alliance between Japan and the Vichy French administration in Indochina. The Japanese had no intention of allowing the Gaullists to take over, and in late 1944 they staged a military coup in Hanoi. Some French units fled over the mountains to Laos, pursued by the Japanese, who occupied Viang Chan in March 1945 and Luang Phrabāng in April. King Sīsavāngvong was detained by the Japanese, but his son Crown Prince Savāngvatthanā called on all Lao to assist the French, and many Lao died fighting against the Japanese occupiers.
Prince Phetxarāt, however, opposed this position, and thought that Lao independence could be gained by siding with the Japanese, who made him Prime Minister of Luang Phrabāng, though not of Laos as a whole. In practice the country was in chaos and Phetxarāt's government had no real authority. Another Lao group, the Lao Sēri (Free Lao), received unofficial support from the Free Thai movement in the Isan region.
Italian puppet states
Montenegro
Sekula Drljević and the core of the Montenegrin Federalist Party formed the Provisional Administrative Committee of Montenegro on July 12, 1941, and proclaimed on the Saint Peter's Congress the "Kingdom of Montenegro" under protectorate of the Fascist Kingdom of Italy. The country served Italy as part of its goal fragmenting the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia, expanding the Italian Empire throughout the Adriatic Sea, and both Italy's and Germany's drive to end pan-Slavism. The country was mostly caught by the rebellion of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland and Drljevic was already in October 1941 expelled from Montenegro which became under direct Italian control with the remainder of the Montenegrin collaborators. In 1943 with the Italian capitulation, Montenegro became a direct sector of occupation of Nazi Germany.
In 1944, Drljević formed a pro-Ustaše Montenegrin State Council in exile based in the Independent State of Croatia with the aims of restoring rule over Montenegro. It subsequently formed a Montenegrin People's Army out of various Montenegrin nationalist troops. By then the Partisans already liberated most of Montenegro, which became a Federal Unit of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. Montenegro endured intense air bombing by the Allied air forces in 1944. The regime is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people.
German puppet states
Slovakia (Tiso regime)
The Slovak Republic under President Josef Tiso signed the Tripartite Pact on November 24, 1940.
Slovakia had been closely aligned with Germany almost immediately from its declaration of independence from Czechoslovakia on March 14, 1939. Slovakia entered into a treaty of protection with Germany on March 23, 1939.
Slovak troops joined the German invasion of Poland, having interest in Spiš and Orava. Those two regions (alongside with Cieszyn Silesia) were divided and disputed between Poland and Czechoslovakia since 1918, until the Poles fully annexed them following the Munich agreement. After the September Campaign, Slovakia reclaimed control of those territories.
Slovakia declared war on the Soviet Union in 1941 and signed the revived Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941. Slovak troops fought on Germany's Eastern Front, with Slovakia furnishing Germany with two divisions totalling 20,000 men. Slovakia declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States of America in 1942.
Slovakia was spared German military occupation until the Slovak National Uprising, which began on August 29, 1944, and was almost immediately crushed by the Waffen SS and Slovak troops loyal to Josef Tiso, the Catholic priest-turned-dictator of Slovakia.
After the war, Tiso was executed and Slovakia was rejoined with Czechoslovakia. The border with Poland was shifted back to the pre-war state. Slovakia and the Czech Republic finally separated into independent states in 1993.
Serbia (Nedić Regime)
In April 1941, Germany invaded and occupied Yugoslavia. On April 30, a pro-German Serbian administration was formed under Milan Aćimović.16 In 1941, after the invasion of Russia, a guerilla campaign against the Germans and Italians was launched by the communist Partisans under Josip Broz Tito. The uprising became a serious concern for the Germans as most of their forces were deployed to Russia; only three divisions of which were in the country. On August 13, 546 Serbs, including many of the country's most prominent and influential leaders, issued an appeal to the Serbian nation which called for loyalty to the Nazis and condemned the Partisan resistance as unpatriotic.17 Two weeks after the appeal, with the Partisan insurgency beginning to gain momentum, seventy five prominent Serbs convened a meeting in Belgrade where it was decided to form a Government of National Salvation under Serbian General Milan Nedić to replace the existing Serbian administration.18 On August 29, the German authorities installed General Nedić and his government in power.18 Nedić would serve as Prime Minister, while the former Yugoslavian Regent, Prince Paul, would be recognized as its head of state. The Germans were short of police and military forces in Serbia, as a result the Germans came to rely on armed Serbian formations to maintain order19 By October, 1941, Serbian forces under German supervision became increasingly effective against the resistance.20 These Serbian formations were German armed and equipped.
Nedić's forces included the Serbian State Guards and the Serbian Volunteer Corps, which were initially largely members of the fascist Yugoslav National Movement "Zbor" (Jugoslovenski narodni pokret "Zbor", or ZBOR) party. Some of these formations wore the uniform of the Royal Yugoslav Army as well as helmets and uniforms purchased from Italy, while others from Germany.21 These forces were involved, either directly or indirectly, in the mass killings of not only Croats, Muslims and Jews but also Serbs who sided with any anti-German resistance or were suspects of being a member of such.22 After the war, the Serbian involvement in many of these events and the issue of Serbian collaboration were subject to historical revisionism.23
| “ | The apparatus of the German occupying forces in Serbia was supposed to maintain order and peace in this region and to exploit its industrial and other riches, necessary for the Germany war economy. But, however well organised, it could have not realized its plans successfully if the old apparatus of state power, the organs of state administration, the gendarmes, and the Police had not been at its service.24 | ” |
Several concentration camps were formed in Serbia and at the 1942 Anti-Freemason Exhibition in Belgrade the city was pronounced to be free of Jews (Judenfrei). On 1 April 1942, a Serbian Gestapo was formed.
Italy (Salò regime)
Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini formed the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana in Italian) on September 23, 1943, succeeding the Kingdom of Italy as a member of the Axis.
Mussolini had been removed from office and arrested by King Victor Emmanuel III on July 25, 1943. The King publicly reaffirmed his loyalty to Germany, but authorized secret armistice negotiations with the Allies. In a spectacular raid led by German paratrooper Otto Skorzeny, Mussolini was rescued from arrest.
Once safely ensconced in German occupied Salò, Mussolini declared that the King was deposed, that Italy was a republic and that he was the new president. He functioned as a German puppet for the duration of the war.
Albania (under German control)
After Benito Mussolini was overthrown by his own Italian Grand Council, a void of power opened up in Albania. The Italian occupying forces could do nothing as the communists took control of the south and the National Liberation Movement (NLM) took control of the north. Albanians in the Italian army scurried to join the guerrilla forces. In September 1943, the guerrillas moved to can take the capitol of Tirana, but before they could, German paratroopers dropped into the city.Soon after a long fight,German High Command announced that they would recognize the independence of a neutral Albania and organized an Albanian government, police, and military. The country retained the official name the Albanian Kingdom and existed in borders set by Italy in 1941. Since King Zog I was in absentia, a High Council of Regency was created to carry out the functions of a head of state, while the government was headed mainly by Albanian conservative politicians. The Germans didn't exert heavy control over Albania's administration. Instead, they attempted to gain popular appeal by giving the Albanians want they wanted.Albania is unique in that it is the only European country occupied by the Axis powers that ended World War II with a larger Jewish population than before the War.25Given their autonomy, the Albanian government refused to hand over their Jewish population.Instead they provided the Jewish families with forged documents and helped them disperse in the Albanian population.2627 However, the Axis powers did have success in cooperating with some Balli Kombëtar units in suppressing the communists. In addition, several Balli Kombëtar leaders held positions in the regime. Albania was completely liberated on November 28, 1944.