Axis countries facts for kids

Axis and Allies.

Axis countries and Axis Powers are the names for some countries that fought together against the Allies during World War II. The war ended in 1945 with the Axis powers losing and their alliances broken.

Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis Powers

The most important Axis countries formed an alliance called the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis Powers (1922 to 1945). They included:

Nazi Germany
Fascist Italy
Empire of Japan

All three countries had authoritarian governments.

Other countries

Subsequent signatories of the Tripartite Pact

In addition to the main three countries, the less important Axis countries were:

Hungary
Romania

Other countries that helped the Axis without being a part of them were:

Co-belligerent states

Finland fought against the Soviet Union and participated in the Siege of Leningrad.
Iraq
Thailand

Client states

Slovakia
Philippines (Second Republic)
Vietnam (Empire of Vietnam)
Manchukuo (Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia)
Reorganized National Government of China
Independent State of Croatia
Province of Ljubljana

Controversial cases

Soviet Union Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939. Attacked Poland in concert with Germany at start of war.
Denmark Signed treaty of mutual non-aggression.
Spain Neutral, but gave non-military assistance.
Vichy France Agreed not to resist after Northern France was conquered. Allowed (forced?) to allow Japan to occupy French Indochina.

Manchukuo
Slovakia
Vichy France
Croatia

Several new or rebel governments that were created by the Axis during the war are:

Burma (Ba Maw regime)
India (Provisional Government of Free India)

Images for kids

Japan's 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, José P. Laurel from the Philippines, and Subhas Chandra Bose from India
Gustav Stresemann, Reich Chancellor of the German People, 1923, foreign minister of Germany, 1923–1929
Gyula Gömbös, Prime Minister of Hungary, 1932–1936
Engelbert Dollfuss, Chancellor of Austria, 1932–1934
Hideo Kodama, a wartime cabinet minister in the Empire of Japan.
Japanese writer Shūmei Ōkawa, a key exponent of Japanese nationalism.
Lt.Gen Hiroshi Ōshima, Japanese ambassador to Germany before and during World War II
German vehicles advancing during the Second Battle of El Alamein in the North African campaign
Italian Fiat M13/40 tanks in the North African Campaign in 1941
An Italian Maiale, the first practical human torpedo. It was used mainly by the Decima Flottiglia Mas, most notably during the Raid on Alexandria
Italian Macchi C.200 fighter aircraft during the war
IJN super-dreadnought battleships Yamashiro, Fusō, and battlecruiser Haruna, Tokyo Bay, 1930s
IJN Special Naval Landing Forces armed with the Type 11 Light Machine Gun during the Battle of Shanghai
IJA paratroopers are landing during the Battle of Palembang, February 13, 1942.
Manuel Roxas (left) and Japanese Lieutenant Colonel Nobuhiko Jimbo (right), 10 March 1943
Japanese officers training young Indonesian recruits, circa 1945
Bulgarian soldiers in Vardar Macedonia during the Balkans campaign
MÁVAG Héja fighter aircraft, derived from the Reggiane Re.2000, an Italian fighter design
A formation of Romanian IAR80 fighter aircraft
Finnish troops passing by the remains of a destroyed Soviet T-34 at the battle of Tali-Ihantala
An RAF officer investigates wrecked Iraqi artillery near Habbaniya.
Phot Phahonyothin (far left) with Hideki Tōjō (center) in Tokyo 1942
Italian Social Republic
Greece, 1941–1944
Manchurian soldiers training in a military exercise
Front row in order from left to right: Karl Wolff, Heinrich Himmler, Francisco Franco and Spain's Foreign Minister Serrano Súñer in Madrid, October 1940.
Italian pilots of a Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 long-range cargo aircraft meeting with Japanese officials upon arriving in East Asia in 1942.
German and Japanese direct spheres of influence at their greatest extents in Autumn 1942. Arrows show planned movements to an agreed demarcation line at 70° E, which was, however, never approximated.