A Brief History
On November 24, 1940, The First Slovak Republic signed up to become part of the Axis Powers during World War II, just one of many nations and states to join Germany, Italy, and Japan in their fight against the democratic world.
Digging Deeper
Some of these other Axis aligned nations included:
Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Thailand.
Finland became an ally of Germany when the Germans invaded the USSR, giving new life to Finland’s struggle against Soviet hegemony. Thailand started out as a neutral country, but after Japan invaded, the reality of the situation on the ground made it prudent for Thailand to ally with Japan against European, namely French, colonialism in Asia.
Early in World War II, Axis success made cozying up to the Axis seem like a viable route for nations to either avoid becoming victims themselves or to gain territory for themselves. Unfortunately for them, being buddies with Germany and Japan did not work out so well!
Question for students (and subscribers): What Axis powers were you unaware of? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Osborne, Richard. The Axis: Hitler’s Allies. Riebel-Roque, 2015.
Rodao, Florentino. From Allies to Enemies: Spain, Japan and the Axis in World War II. Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.
The featured image in this article, a map of the Second World War in Europe at the end of November 1940, has been released into the public domain worldwide by its author, San Jose.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.