WWII: Allies, Axis, or Associates?

Question: Soviet Union

Answer: The Soviet Union joined the Allies in response to Germany’s long-expected invasion of the country in June 1941.

Question: Germany

Answer: Germany was the leading force in the Axis coalition and unilaterally began World War II when it invaded Poland on September 1, 1939.

Question: United States of America

Answer: The United States was one of the Allied powers, having been drawn into World War II after the Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor naval base on December 7, 1941.

Question: Japan

Answer: Japan joined its interests with Germany when the two countries signed the Anti-Comintern Pact against the Soviet Union on November 25, 1936.

Question: France

Answer: France joined with Great Britain in declaring war on Germany two days after Poland was invaded in 1939. Although Germany later conquered France, the country was nevertheless a part of the alliance before and after its occupation.

Question: Netherlands

Answer: The Dutch fought alongside French, British, and Belgian troops when the German army marched through the lowland countries en route to the conquest of France in 1940.

Question: Finland

Answer: Finland never formally aligned itself with the Axis, but it cooperated with the group due to its long-standing opposition to the Soviet Union (against whom the country fought in 1939–40).

Question: Greece

Answer: Greece was brought into the war on the Allies’ side in October 1940 when Italy attacked it.

Question: Hungary

Answer: Hungary aligned itself with the Axis powers in November 1940, in part to avoid losing favor with Germany in a border dispute with Romania, who had also joined the Axis.

Question: Italy

Answer: Italy joined fortunes with its fellow aggressively dictatorial European country Germany with the signing of a proclamation of an “axis” between the two nations on October 25, 1936.