Axis powers: Difference between revisions
| Line 183: | Line 183: | ||
==Italian puppet state== |
==Italian puppet state== |
||
===Albania=== |
===Albania=== |
||
Albana was joined in "personal union" with Italy under the kingship of [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy|Victor Emmanuel III]], whose full title was King of Italy, Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Albania. It was a constituent of the [[New Roman Empire]] envisioned by Italy's fascist dictator, [[Il Duce]][[Benito Mussolini]]. |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
On [[April 7]], 1939, Italian troops landed in Albania, quickly occupying the country and forcing the Albanian king [[Zog]] into exile. Five days after the beginning of the invasion, the Albanian parliament voted to join the nation to Italy "in personal union" by offering the Albanian crown to [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy|Victor Emmanuel III]]. Virtually no one protested Mussolini's coup, and Zog later moved to the United States and lived in a Brooklyn apartment house where he died in obscurity. |
|||
Albania followed Italy into war with Britain and France on June 10, 1940. Albania served as the base for the Italian invasion of Greece in 1941. Albanian troops participated in the Greek campaign, and Albanian volunteers later served in the SS Skanderberg Division. Albania declared war on the United States in 1941. |
|||
| ⚫ | The pragmatic view of Italy's annexation of Albania has been debated furiously during the post war era by many noted academics. The orthodox argument is that Mussolini invaded Albania for selfish reasons, trusting his armies' superior capabilities over that of the Slavic people. The personal prestige Mussolini hoped to gain through this venture was triggered by two reasons, the first being that Hitler had conducted his wars with great efficiency and was overshadowing the Duce of fascism, and secondly because Mussolini had fallen from international respect after his peacekeeping role at Munich was refuted when Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. The revisionist argument is that Mussolini in fact merely continued Italy's policies around the Adriatic and that the eventual annexation of Albania had always been a long term nationalist aim. |
||
==German puppet states== |
==German puppet states== |
||
Revision as of 20:17, 9 September 2006
 | This article's factual accuracy is disputed. |
 |
 The Allies depicted in green (those in light green entered after the Attack on Pearl Harbor), the Axis Powers in orange, and neutral countries in grey. |
The Axis Powers were those nations opposed to the Allies during the Second World War. The three major Axis Powers, Nazi Germany, Empire of Japan and Fascist Italy and were part of an alliance. At their zenith, the Axis Powers ruled empires that dominated large parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Ocean, but the Second World War 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.
Origins
The term was first used by Benito Mussolini, in November 1936, when he spoke of a Rome-Berlin axis arising out of the treaty of friendship signed between Italy and Germany on October 25, 1936. Mussolini declared that the two countries would form an "axis" around which the other states of Europe would revolve. This treaty was forged when Fascist 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". An Axis was declared between Germany and Italy by Galeazzo Ciano, foreign minister of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini on October 25, 1936.
The term "Axis Powers" formally took the name after the Tripartite Treaty was signed by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial 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 the Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. These two nations also have signed Anti-Comintern Pact with each other as allies before the Tripartite Pact in 1936.
Major Axis Powers
The three major Axis powers were the original signatories to the Tripartite Pact:
Nazi Germany
.svg)
Germany was the principal Axis power in Europe. Its official name was Deutsches Reich meaning German Empire, and after 1943, Grossdeutsches Reich meaning Greater German Empire, but during this period is most commonly known as Nazi Germany after its ruling National Socialist party.
Germany was headed by Führer Adolf Hitler, and during the last days of the war, President Karl Dönitz and Chancellor Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk.
Greater Germany included Austria, with which it was united in 1938, the Sudetenland, which was ceded from Czechoslovakia in 1938, Memelland, which was annexed from Lithuania in 1939, substantial territories annexed from Poland in 1939, Luxembourg, which was occupied in 1940 and annexed in 1942 Alsace-Lorraine, Slovenia and Eupen-Malmedy, taken from Belgium, and parts of northern Italy, ceeded by Mussolini in 1943.
After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Greater Germany was enlarged to include parts of Poland occupied by Stalin in 1939. Other territories occupied by the Germans were subject to separate civilian commissariats or to direct military rule.
Imperial Japan
Japan was the principal Axis power in Asia and the Pacific. Its official name was Dai Nippon Teikoku meaning Empire of Great Japan, but during this period is commonly known as Imperial Japan for its imperial ambitions toward Asia and the Pacific. Japan was ruled by Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, and during the last days of the war, Prime Ministers Kuniaki Koiso and Kantaro Suzuki. Greater Japan included Korea and Taiwan and during its peak large parts of China, southeast Asian countries and the Pacific.
Fascist Italy
.svg)
Fascist Italy was the other European member of the Axis, belonging to the Axis in two incarnations, both under the leadership of Il Duce Benito Mussolini. Its first incarnation was officially known as Italia meaning Kingdom of Italy.
The Kingdom of Italy was ruled by Mussolini in the name of King Victor Emmanuel III. Victor Emmaneul III was additionally Emperor of Abysinnia and King of Albania. Abysinnia had been occupied by Italian troops in 1936 and incorporated into the Italian colony of Italian East Africa. Albania was occupied by Italian troops in 1939 and joined in "personal union" with Italy when Victory Emmanuel III was offered the Albanian crown. Other Italian colonies included Libya and the Dodacenese Islands.
Unfortunatly for Mussolini, it became quite clear that the alliance of Italy with Hitlerite Germany, in addition to being a dominative-submissive relationship, was also extremely unpopular to say the very least. Many Italians were extremely hostile to Fascism, and with Mussolini often on the verge of surrendering territory annexed by Italy to the Third Reich (which took over Austrian territorial claims with its annexation of Austria), many also saw Germany as a continuation of Austria and thus the enemy, whereas they also saw themselves as Western Allies by default, and thus, despite much recent hostility, saw England, France, Greece, and the US as Allies with whom relations were temporarily strained. It got to be bad enough that Hitler kept sizable forces in Italy to make sure that an Anti-Facist did not occur.
The second incarnation of Fascist Italy was officially known as Repubblica Sociale Italiana meaning Italian Social Republic. On September __, 1943, after Italy had lost control of its African colonies and been subjected to Anglo-American invasion of its mainland, King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini, placed him under arrest and began secret negotiations with the Allies. When Italy switched sides in the war, Mussolini was rescued by the Germans, and later announced the formation of the Italian Social Republic in Northern Italy.
Minor Powers
Several minor powers formally adhered to the Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy and Japan in this order:
Hungary
.svg)
Hungary, ruled by Admiral Miklos Horthy as Regent, was the first power to adhere to the Tripartite Pact of Germany, Italy and Japan, signing the agreement on November 20, 1940.
Hungary was allied to Germany during the First World War by virtue of her being a constituent kingdom of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Hungary suffered much the same fate as Germany, with the victorious powers stripping the kingdom of more than 70 per cent of her pre-war sovereign territory, which was then distributed to neighbouring states, some newly created, largely on the basis of ethnicity, in accordance with the Treaty of Trianon). Horthy, a Hungarian nobleman and Austro-Hungarian naval officer, became Regent in 1920, ruling the kingdom in the absence of an acknowledged king.
Hungary’s foreign policy under Horthy was driven by the ambition to recover the territories lost through the imposition on her of 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.
Hungary participated in the German partition of Czechoslovakia, signed the Tripartite Pact, and was rewarded by Germany in the Vienna Awards which restored some of the territories taken from her by the Trianon Treaty.
Following political upheaval in Yugoslavia which threatened its continued membership in the Tripartite Pact, Hungary permitted German troops to transit its territory for a military invasion and occupation of that country. On April 11, 1941, five days after Germany invaded Yugoslavia and had largely destroyed the Yugoslav army, Hungary invaded Yugoslavia, occupying border territories. Hungary participated in the partition of Yugoslavia. Great Britain immediately broke off diplomatic relations with Hungary.
Hungary was not asked to participate in the German invasion which began on June 22, 1941, with attacks from German, Finnish and Romanian forces as well as a declaration of war by Italy. Currying favor with Germany, Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union five days later on June 27, 1941. Hungary raised over 200,000 troops for Eastern Front, and all three of its field armies participated in the war against the Soviet Union, although by far the largest and the most significant was the Hungarian Second Army. On November 26, 1941, Hungary was one of 13 signatories to the revived Anti-Comintern Pact. The other sigatories were: Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, Manchukuo, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Slovakia, and the Nanking regime in China. On December 6, 1941, Great Britain declared war on Hungary. Several days later, Hungary declared war on Great Britain and the United States of America. The United States declared war on Hungary in 1942. Hungarian troops advanced far into Soviet territory, but in the Soviet counteroffensive of 1943, the Hugarian Second Army was almost completed annihilated in fighting near Voronezh on the banks of the Don River. In 1944, as Soviet troops neared Hungarian territory, Germany troops occupied Hungary. The Hungarian First Army continued to fight the Red Army even after Hungary had been completely occupied by the Soviet Union, not disbanding until May 8, 1945.
- Macartney, Carlile AylmerOctober Fifteenth - A History of Modern Hungary 1929-1945, Edinburgh University Press (1956)
- Macartney, Carlile Aylmer Hungary, A Short History, Edinburgh University Press, (1962).
Romania
An ally of France and Great Britain during the First World War, Romania moved closer to Germany during the 1930s. Romania sought German protection from Soviet aggression by adhering to the Tripartite Pact on November 23, 1940. The Soviet Union had occupied and annexed its province of Moldova on June 28, 1940, and Germany had forced it to relinquish Transylvania to Hungary on August 30, 1940 in the first Vienna Award.
German troops entered the country in 1941, and used it as a base for both its invasions of both Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Romania was also a key supplier of resources, especially oil and grain.
Romania joined Germany in invading the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Not only was Romania a base for the invasion, Romania contributed nearly 300,000 troops - more than all other Axis allies combined - to the war against the Soviet Union. German and Romanian troops quickly regained Moldova, which were annexed by Romania. Romania made additional annexations of Soviet territory as far east as Odessa.
After the Soviets turned back the German invasion and prepared to attack Romania, Romania switched to the Allied side on August 23, 1944. After the war, Romania regained the part of Transylvania lost to Hungary, but lost Moldova, Basarabia and Bucovina to the USSR, as well as not regaining the Cadrilater, lost to Bulgaria in 1940.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, a German ally during the First World War, joined the Axis on March 1, 1941 despite mass support by the Bulgarian Communists for the Soviet cause. Tsar Boris III decided to join with Germany after Hitler promised to Bulgaria all the San Stefano Treaty lands, which included the cities of Nish, Solun, Skopje, and more. He also promised the Bulgarian people that they would finally unite with their brothers—the Macedonians. In that course of action, he wanted the war to become national for the people of Bulgaria.
Bulgaria left the Axis and declared war on Germany when an anti-Nazi government of one of the wings of the Bulgarian Agrarian National union came in power on 2 September 1944. As the Red Army approached the northern Bulgarian border, on September 9 1944 the Bulgarian Communist Party initiated a coup and a mass uprising, and a government of the pro-Allied Fatherland Front came in power. Bulgaria joined the Allies in 1944 and fought to push Germans from parts of Yugoslavia, Hungary and Austria. That is why it was allowed to keep the important province of Southern Dobrudja(a major supplier of wheat for the Bulgarian economy) which it acquired from Romania in 1940.
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia's royal representatives joined on March 25 1941, but the people of Yugoslavia organised a British-supported coup d'état in Belgrade two days later and put Yugoslavia's participation in question (although King Peter II of Yugoslavia actually reaffirmed Yugoslav adherence to the treaty), leading to a German invasion of Yugoslavia and the bombing of Belgrade on April 6. The Yugoslavian alliance with the Axis lasted for 12 days.
Yugoslavia ceased to exist except as a "government-in-exile" headquartered in London. Germany and Italy annexed Slovenia, Italy annexed Dalmatia, Bulgaria annexed Macedonia, and Italian-controlled Albania annexed Montenegro. Croatia was transformed into a new Nazi state called the "Independent State of Croatia" which joined the Axis, and Serbia was put under a puppet regime led by pro-Axis Serbian general Milan Nedić.
In 1941 Ivan Mihailov's Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) welcomed Bulgaria's annexation of Vardar Macedonia. Bulgaria claimed that land was historically Bulgarian. In the beginning of September 1944, when the Bulgarian government left the Axis and declared war on Nazi Germany, Berlin offered Mihailov support to declare Macedonia's independence, but he declined.
There was a fierce Yugoslav resistance against the Nazis. The mainly communist Partisans composed the largest resistance group; they were lead by Josip Broz Tito. They temporarily managed to free parts of the country from the Axis occupation and form a small free state called "The Uzicka Republic" within the Serbian territory. Serbian royalist Chetnik troops fought the Croatian Ustase and Nazis. Chetnik troops and the Partisans also fought each other during WWII because of their inconsonance in political views. Yugoslavia was liberated in 1944 by Yugoslav resistance fighters, Albanian partisans and Soviet troops.
Co-Belligerents
Thailand
Japanese forces began invading Thailand at nine areas on the morning of December 8 1941. Thai troops initially resisted the invasion, but Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram, the prime minister, ordered the cessation of resistance. On December 21, a military alliance with Japan was signed and on January 25 1942 Thailand declared war on Britain and the United States of America. 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. The Free Thai Movement ("Seri Thai") was established during these first few months.
Parallel Free Thai organisations were established in Britain and inside Thailand. Queen Ramphaiphanni was the nominal head of the Britain-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.
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, that 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 ably by the air force, started their advance on May 10, and 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.
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 engineered by the Free Thai. 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, US influence prevented Thailand from being treated as an Axis country, but Britain demanded three million tons of rice as reparations and the return of areas annexed from the British colony of Malaya during the war and invasion. Thailand also had to return the portions of British Burma and French Indochina that had been taken.
Finland
At the start of the operation Barbarossa, Finland mobilised its own army, allowed German naval units to base in the Finnish archipelago before the mining of the Gulf of Finland and allowed German bombers returning from bombing runs from Leningrad to refuel at Finnish airfields before returning to German East Prussia. Also four divisions of German troops were present and preparing to attack Soviets in Finnish Lappland. One German division had been submitted to Finnish command in the southern Finland.
Finns refer to the conflict with the Soviet Union as the Continuation War, viewing it as continuation of the Winter War. The Finns sought to regain the territory lost in the Winter War and to conquer East Karelia.
Open warfare started with the Soviet air offensive on Finnish airfields and civilian targets June 25, which was followed by Finland's declaration of war on the next day. Great Britain declared war on Finland on December 6, 1941, after repeatedly calling on Finland to cease its hostilities against the Soviet Union. The United States never declared war on Finland.
Finland was never a signatory to the Tripartite Treaty, although it did sign the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941. Finland refused to place Finnish forces under joint command with Germans and at times acted independently of the Germans, as in refusing to cut the railroad to Murmansk at Louhi and refusing to attack or bombard the city itself during the Siege of Leningrad.
The relationship more closely resembled a formal alliance during the six weeks of the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement, which was presented as a German condition for much-needed help with munitions and air support as the Soviet offensive coordinated with D-day threatened Finland with complete occupation.
President Ryti shouldered the responsibility for the alliance with Nazi Germany personally. The alliance was decreed a "personal union" and his successor, President Mannerheim, declared it void right after Ryti left office, which he did after the Soviet offensive was stalled and separate peace again became a realistic possibility. The Soviets pushed the Finnish authorities to organise a trial against Ryti and some members of his cabinet, in which they were given a prison sentence on the basis of a retroactive law.
Finland switched sides in 1944 attacking the Nazi German forces in Finland according the armistice terms in what Finns call the Lapland War.
Japanese puppet states
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.
Manchuria (Manchukuo)
Manchukuo, meaning "Great Manchu State", was a Japanese puppet state in Manchuria. It was nominally ruled by the former Chinese emperor, Puyi, the last emperor of the Quing dynasty, but in fact controlled by the Japanese military. Following the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the independence of Manchukuo was proclaimed on February 18, 1932 with Puyi as "Chief Executive." He was proclaimed Emperor of Manchukuo a year later. Twenty three of the League of Nations's eighty members recognised the new Manchu nation, but when the League itself declared in 1934 that Manchuria lawfully remained a part of China, Japan withdrew from the League. Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union were among the major powers recognising Manchukuo. The county was also recognised by 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 Chingwei regime, and the Indian government of Subhas Chandra Bose.
Mongolia (Mengjiang)
Mengjiang (alternatively spelled Mengchiang) was a Japanese puppet state in Inner Mongolia. It was nominally ruled by Prince Demchugdongrub, a Mongol nobleman descended from Ghengis Khan, but was in fact controlled by the Japanese military. Mengjiang was proclaimed on February 18, 1936 following the Japanese occupation of the region.
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 conqure all of Mongolia from the Soviet Union.
When the various puppet governments of China were unified under the Wang Chingwei government in March 1940, Mengjiang retained its separate indentity 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 overwhelemed.
China (Reorganised Government of the Republic China at Nanking)
Wang Chingwei, a Nationalist Chinese general, formed the Reorganized Government of China at Nanking on March 29, 1940. Wang was Head of State, although his government was effectively under the control of Japanese military authorties in China.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, (1937-1945), Japan advanced from bases in Manchuria to occupy much of China. Several Japanese puppet states were organized in areas occupied by the Japanese Army, including the Provisional Government of the Republic of China at Bejing 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 Reorganized Government of the Republic of China at Nanking in 1940.
The Nanking Government concluded agreements with Japan and Manchukuo, authorizing Japanese occupation of China and recognizing the independence of Manchuko under Japanese protection. The Nanking Government signed the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941 orchestrated by Germany and declared war on the United States and Great Britain on on January 9, 1943.
Wang insisted that his government was the lawful Nationalist government of China and his flag was the same as of that of the Republic of China, causing confusion.
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 Chingwei died in a Tokyo clinic on November 10, 1944, and was succeeded by his deputy Ch'en Kung-po. Ch'en had little influence and the real power behind the regime was Chou Fou-hai, 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 in World War II, the area was surrendered to General Ho Ying-ching, 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 attemps to fill the vacuum left by the Japanese surrender. Ch'en Kung-po was tried and executed in 1946.
Burma (Ba Maw regime)
Burmese nationalist leader Ba Maw formed a Japanese puppet state in Burma on August 1, 1942 after the Japanese Army siezed control of the nation from Great Britain. The Ba Ma regime organized the Burma Defence Army (later renamed the Burma National Army), which was commanded by Aung San.
Phillipines (Second Republic)
India (Provisional Government of Free India)
The Provisional Government of Free India was a shadow government led by Subhas Chandra Bose. It operated only in those parts of India which came under Japanese control. Bose was an Indian nationalist who did not believe in Gandhi's peaceful methods for achieving independence. Several key factors were vital in Bose's rise to power. The first was that even though India was a colony its army was largely autonomous. The second factor was that with Britain at war with Germany, an uprising could not be put down as easily as in years prior. The third and most important factor was the advance of the Japanese Empire through Asia. The Japanese Empire had earlier established Manchukuo as an "independent" state in 1932.
Bose led several units in mutiny against the British government and had come into alliance with the invading Japanese Empire to India's east. 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. Other Indian thinkers in favour of the Axis cause were Asit Krishna Mukherji, a friend of Bose and husband of Savitri Devi Mukherji, one of the women thinkers in support of the German cause, and the Pandit Rajwade of Poona. 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 Major-General Isoda.
With its provisional capital at Port Blair on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after they fell to the Japanese, the state would last two more years until August 18 1945 when it officially became defunct. In its existence it would receive recognition from nine governments: Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, Italy, the Independent State of Croatia, the Nanking Government of Wang Chingwei, Thailand, Burma (under Ba Maw), Manchukuo, and the Philippines under de facto (and later de jure) president José Laurel.
Italian puppet state
Albania
Albana was joined in "personal union" with Italy under the kingship of Victor Emmanuel III, whose full title was King of Italy, Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Albania. It was a constituent of the New Roman Empire envisioned by Italy's fascist dictator, Il DuceBenito Mussolini.
Albania had been in Italian orbit since the 1920s. Italian had been taught in Albanian schools since before the First World War, the Albanian army had been trained by Italian military instructors, and Italian fortifications had been erected in Albania to provide for its own "protection."
On April 7, 1939, Italian troops landed in Albania, quickly occupying the country and forcing the Albanian king Zog into exile. Five days after the beginning of the invasion, the Albanian parliament voted to join the nation to Italy "in personal union" by offering the Albanian crown to Victor Emmanuel III. Virtually no one protested Mussolini's coup, and Zog later moved to the United States and lived in a Brooklyn apartment house where he died in obscurity.
Albania followed Italy into war with Britain and France on June 10, 1940. Albania served as the base for the Italian invasion of Greece in 1941. Albanian troops participated in the Greek campaign, and Albanian volunteers later served in the SS Skanderberg Division. Albania declared war on the United States in 1941.
The pragmatic view of Italy's annexation of Albania has been debated furiously during the post war era by many noted academics. The orthodox argument is that Mussolini invaded Albania for selfish reasons, trusting his armies' superior capabilities over that of the Slavic people. The personal prestige Mussolini hoped to gain through this venture was triggered by two reasons, the first being that Hitler had conducted his wars with great efficiency and was overshadowing the Duce of fascism, and secondly because Mussolini had fallen from international respect after his peacekeeping role at Munich was refuted when Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. The revisionist argument is that Mussolini in fact merely continued Italy's policies around the Adriatic and that the eventual annexation of Albania had always been a long term nationalist aim.
German puppet states
Denmark (Protectorate Government)
Norway (Quisling regime)
Croatia
.svg)
On April 10 1941, the extreme-right nationalist Ustaše organisation proclaimed the "Independent State of Croatia" on parts of occupied Yugoslav territory. The leader of the state was Ante Pavelić. The state was founded on nationalist aspirations because of the previous mistreatment of Croats and other South Slavic people in Yugoslavia because of the Royal Yugoslav government's policy of pro-Serb bias. Fascist forces subsequently sent hundreds of thousands of Serbs to concentration camps where most died. This is an extremely controversial part of WWII history, as the NDH largly had its genocide raids led by Christian Priests such as Bozidar Bralow (who was rumoured to eschew carrying a bible in favour of a sub-machinegun) with little opposition from the Vatican at the time. The "Independent State" collapsed in May 1945 with the advance of the Soviets and Tito's partisans.
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana in Italian) succeeded the Kingdom of Italy as a member of the Axis in 1943. On July 25 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III, in agreement with Fascist leaders, dismissed Benito Mussolini from office and had him arrested upon leaving the palace. The Kingdom of Italy then switched sides declaring war on Germany, and began negotiating peace or even an alliance with the Allies. In a spectacular raid led by Otto Skorzeny, Mussolini was freed. The northern half of Italy was occupied by the German Wehrmacht and on September 23 1943, Mussolini proclaimed the Italian Social Republic. This state, centred at Salò, decreased in territory as the Western Allied forces advanced north and eventually came to an end in 1945, when the last German forces on Italian soil capitulated and withdrew or surrendered, while Mussolini was lynched to death by Italian partisans and the local people.
Slovakia
Slovakia declared its independence from Czechoslovakia on March 14 1939 and immediately entered into a treaty of protection with Germany on March 23 1939. The treaty subordinated its foreign, military and economic policy to Germany. Slovak troops fought against Poland to reclaim lands lost in 1918. During the invasion of the Soviet Union, Slovakia then supplied two divisions totaling 20,000 men who fought primarily in the Ukraine and Caucuses. Slovakia even declared war on Great Britain and the United States of America. However, Slovakia was spared occupation by German troops until the Slovak National Uprising, which began on August 29 1944. After the fall of the uprising there was a strong resistance by guerrilla fighters and the country was liberated by Soviet and Czechoslovak troops in 1945. The Czechoslovak republic was reinstalled in the liberated areas immediately.
Axis collaborator states
France (Vichy regime)
Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain was named Chief of State of France after its surrender on June 22 1940. Under the terms of the armistice, Germany occupied approximately two thirds of France, including Paris. Petain established his seat of government at the resort town of Vichy in the unoccupied zone.
The Allies feared that the French fleet would fall into German hands and launched several attacks, including one attack leading to the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir on July 3 1940. The Vichy regime broke relations with Britain after the attack and considered declaring war.
The Vichy government maintained control of much of the French colonial empire and continued to be recognised as a lawful government of France by the United States until 1942. It was opposed by the Free French headquartered in London under the command of Charles de Gaulle.
Allied forces (including Free French forces) also attacked Vichy forces in West Africa in 1940, Syria and Lebanon in 1941 and the Madagascar in 1942. The Vichy state signed the Anti-Comintern Pact and sent French volunteers to fight the Soviet Union. Vichy controlled colonies were often used as bases for Axis attacks.
Japan occupied French Indochina, which became the starting point for the Japanese invasions of Thailand, Malaya and Borneo. The colony also fought a brief war with Thailand in late 1940.
German troops occupied southern France and the Vichy colony of Tunisia in 1942, after Allied forces landed in North Africa. Though Churchill would defend his controversial decisions on sinking the French Fleet and invading French Syria to his death, the French people themselves were less confident in the validity of these decisions. Though the Allies treated the Vichy French forces with great respect following their defeat in Syria, German propaganda was able to trumpet these actions as an absolute betrayal of the French people by their former allies. When one takes this into account the somewhat passive compliance the French people displayed under Nazi occupation seems clearer.
Spain
References
- Gerhard L. Weinberg. A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II.(NY: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2005) provides a scholarly overview.
- I. C. B. Dear and M. R. D. Foot, eds. The Oxford Companion to World War II. (2001) is a reference book with encyclopedic coverage of all military, political and economic topics.
- Kirschbaum, Stanislav (1995) A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival. St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 0-312-10403-0 entails Slovakia's involvement during the World War II.
See also
- World War II
- Allies of World War II
- Participants in World War II
- Military equipment of Axis Power forces in Balkans and Russian Front
- Tripartite Pact
- Ryti-Ribbentrop_Agreement
- List of Pro-Axis Leaders and Governments or Direct Control in Occupied Territories
- Expansion plans of the Axis
- Expansion operations and planning of the Axis Powers
External links
