The "Big Three"—the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States—were the principal contributors of manpower, resources and strategy, each playing a key role in achieving victory. Relations between the United Kingdom and the United States wereespecially close, with their bilateralAtlantic Charter forming the basis of their alliance.[2][3][4] A series of conferences between Allied leaders, diplomats, and military officials gradually shaped the makeup of the alliance, the direction of the war, and ultimately the postwar international order.
The Allies became a formalized group upon theDeclaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942, which was signed by 26 countries around the world; these ranged fromgovernments in exile from the Axis occupation to small states far removed from the war. The Declaration officially recognized the Big Three and China as the "Four Powers",[5] acknowledging their central role in prosecuting the war; they were also referred to as the "trusteeship of the powerful", and later as the "Four Policemen" of theUnited Nations.[6] Many more countries joined through to the final days of the war, including colonies and former Axis states. After the war ended, the Allies, and the Declaration that bound them, would become the basis of the modern United Nations.[7]
Following theFirst World War, theTreaty of Versailles (1919) established theLeague of Nations in an attempt to create a system of collective security and prevent war. The League's covenant obliged members to protect the political and territorial integrity of all members against aggression. Four of the majorallies of the First World War—the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan—became permanent members of the league's council. The league, however, was weakened by the failure of the United States to join and by the cumbersome rules for enforcing sanctions for breaches of its security provisions.[8]: 27–28
France attempted to further protect itself against possible future German attack with theFranco-Polish alliance (1921) and the Franco-Czechoslovakian alliance (1924).[9]: 17–18 Under theLocarno treaties (1925), France, Britain, Belgium, Germany and Italy also guaranteed the borders between Germany and France and Germany and Belgium as defined in the Treaty of Versailles.[8]: 94–97
Germanyremilitarised the Rhineland in March 1936 in contravention of the Versailles and Locarno treaties but Britain, France and the League of Nations imposed no sanctions.[10]: 84–91 Britain, however, announced that it would aid France and Belgium if they were the victims of aggression, and France stated that it would assist Britain and Belgium in the same circumstances.[8]: 231 In July 1937, Japan began anundeclared war in China. The league found Japan's actions illegal and invited its members to impose sanctions.[8]: 244–245 [10]: 135 In November, Italy joined the German and JapaneseAnti-Comintern pact, and in December it left the league.[10]: 155
In March 1938, Germany invaded andannexed Austria in contravention of the Versailles treaty. France and Britain issued formal protests but took no further action.[10]: 186–187 Britain declined a Soviet offer to form a defensive alliance against Germany and also declined a French request to provide a security guarantee to Czechoslovakia, which was subject to German threats over its alleged mistreatment of the German-speaking majority in itsSudetenland region. Instead, Britain continued its policy ofappeasing Germany by putting pressure on Czechoslovakia to negotiate a solution acceptable to Hitler.[10]: 199–203 As the crisis deepened, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy signed theMunich Agreement on 30 September 1938, whereby the Sudetenland was ceded to Germany against the wishes of the Czechoslovakian government, and the signatories guaranteed the territorial integrity of therump Czechoslovakian state.[10]: 282–285, 293
Germany invaded Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939 in violation of the Munich Agreement. Subsequently, Germany increased pressure on Poland to agree to the transfer ofDanzig (a free city under the Versailles treaty) and thePolish corridor to Germany. On 31 March, Britain and France announced that they would come to Poland's aid if it were attacked.[10]: 324–328 Italy invaded Albania on 7 April, and Britain and France responded by issuing security guarantees to Greece, Romania and Turkey.[10]: 329–330 [9]: 125 In May, France and Poland agreed to preliminary political and military protocols for mutual defence.[11] Britain and France also began negotiations for a defence treaty with the Soviet Union but little progress was made.[10]: 323–324, 351–359 On 22 May, Germany and Italy signed a military alliance known as thePact of Steel.[10]: 342
The governments of Germany and the Soviet Union signed anon-aggression pact on 23 August, which included a secret protocol for the partition of Poland.[12]: 34–35 Two days later, Britain signed amilitary alliance with Poland.[10]: 367
A 1940,Poland- First to Fight, US envelope design printed in support ofPoland following theGerman invasion of the country
On 1 September 1939,Germany invaded Poland, and on 3 September,Britain andFrance declared war on Germany. TheSoviet Union invaded Poland from the east on 17 September but remained officially neutral in the war between Germany and the western allies.[12]: 56–57, 87 Italy, Japan and the United States were also formally neutral in the conflict,[12]: 73–75, 79–83, 87 although Italy eventually declared war on Britain and France on 10 June 1940.[13]: 116
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada declared war on Germany in the two weeks following the British declaration.[13]: 28 AnAnglo-French Supreme War Council was established to coordinate military decisions and it first met on 12 September 1939.[10]: 383 By 1 October, Warsaw had fallen and the Polish government had escaped into exile.[13]: 32–34 Following alull in fighting between Germany and the western allies, Germany began its invasion of western Europe in April 1940, quickly overrunning Denmark, Norway, the Low Countries, and France. Poland and these other occupied countries, with the exception of France, subsequently established governments-in-exile in London and were recognized as allies. France formed aFree-French administration underCharles de Gaulle which was not recognized as a government-in-exile until 1944. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Greece also established governments-in-exile in 1941.[14]
The First Inter-Allied Meeting took place in London in early June 1941 between the United Kingdom, the four alliedBritish Dominions, the eight governments in exile, and Free France. The meeting culminated with theDeclaration of St James's Palace, which committed the signatories to work together until victory was achieved and an enduring peace secured.[15]: 140–145
At the Second Inter-Allied Meeting in London in September 1941, the Soviet Union joined the other Allies in adopting the Atlantic Charter.[15]: 147 On 7-8 December, Japan attacked American and British territories in Asia and the Pacific, resulting in the US entering the war as an Allied power.[13]: 250–256 China, which had been resisting a Japanese invasion since 1937, formally declared war on the Axis on 9 December.[17]
The Big Three and Big Four
Winston Churchill called the association of the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union and other Allies the "Grand Alliance".[18] The "Big Three"—the United Kingdom, United States and Soviet Union—were the principal contributors of manpower, resources and strategy, each playing a key role in achieving victory.[19][20] The United States also saw China and its leaderChiang Kai-shek as its main ally in Asia and considered it one of the "Big Four" allied powers, a view not always shared by the United Kingdom and Soviet Union.[21][13]: 510
Declaration by United Nations
In December 1941, at theFirst Washington Conference, Roosevelt proposed the name "United Nations" for the Allies and Churchill agreed. On 1 January 1942, Roosevelt, Churchill and representatives of the Soviet Union and China signed theDeclaration by United Nations. The following day, representatives of 22 other allied countries signed the declaration. The Free French were not invited to sign because the United States recognized the Vichy government in France.[16]: 251–257 The 26 original signatories[22] were:
From this time, countries that adopted the declaration were considered allies.[23] Mexico, the Philippines and Ethiopia adopted the declaration later in 1942, followed by Iraq, Brazil, Bolivia, Iran and Columbia in 1943, and Liberia in February 1944. Following the liberation of France, the French provisional government signed the declaration on 26 December 1944 and France officially became one of the allied nations. Eleven nations adhered to the declaration in early 1945, when an allied victory over Germany was assured and the Big Four powers were preparing to invite signatories to theSan Francisco Conference to prepare a charter for the new United Nations organization.[24]
Aseries of conferences between the major allied leaders, diplomats, and military officials shaped the strategic direction of the war and the post-war international order. Churchill and Roosevelt attended thefirst Washington Conference (December 1941 to January 1942) where they established the Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee and agreed to prioritize the European and North African theatres in the war. Churchill and Roosevelt met again atCasablanca (January 1943) andWashington (May 1943) where they decided on an invasion of Sicily, the postponement of a landing in France until May 1944, and began planning a counter-offensive against Japan in Asia and the Pacific. At the firstQuebec Conference (August 1943) Churchill and Roosevelt agreed to a new command structure in South-East Asia.[25]
Churchill, Roosevelt and Chiang met at the Cairo Conference (November 1943) where they discussed operations against Japan and issued theCairo Declaration outlining their vision for post-war Asia whereby Japan would lose all the territories it had gained since 1914. Stalin declined to attend or send representatives as the Soviet Union was not at war with Japan.[26] Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met for the first time at theTehran Conference (November-December 1943) where they decided that the full-scale offensive in France in mid-1944 was the allied priority and where Stalin announced that he would declare war on Japan once Hitler was defeated. At theYalta Conference (February 1945) Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin agreed to zones of occupation for the soon-to-be-defeated Germany and made plans for the post-war settlement of Europe and theUnited Nations organization. Following the alliedvictory in Europe, the new US president,Harry S. Truman, and new British prime minister,Clement Attlee, attended the final summit of the Big Three leaders atPotsdam (July-August 1945) where they discussed the final operations against Japan and issued a demand for its unconditional surrender.[25]
Relations between the United Kingdom and United States were especially close.[16]: xii [note 2] Before they were formally allied, they had cooperated in a number of ways, notably through thedestroyers-for-bases deal in September 1940 and the AmericanLend-Lease program, which provided Britain and the other allies with war materiel from March 1941.[27][28] TheBritish Commonwealth andempire obtained about half of the $42 to $50 billion in lend-lease aid during the war. TheBritish Commonwealth and, to a lesser extent, the French empire and Soviet Union reciprocated with a smallerReverse Lend-Lease program worth about $8 billion.[29][30] After the United States entered the war, the United Kingdom and the United States established aCombined Chiefs of Staff[31] to harmonize military planning, and Combined Boards to co-ordinate shipping, raw materials, and war production.[32]
Churchill and Roosevelt also met nine times in conferences without the presence of the other Big Four leaders. At the First Washington Conference, held soon after the United States entered the war, they agreed that Germany should be first defeated before focusing their forces on Japan.[16]: 252 Nevertheless, divisions between the United Kingdom and United States soon arose over strategy for the defeat of Germany. American planners pushed for a landing in France in 1942 followed by a full scale invasion 1943. Britain, however, argued that an early invasion of France risked being repulsed with heavy allied losses. Instead, they argued for weakening Germany throughstrategic bombing andeconomic warfare and dispersing Axis forces by opening fronts in French north Africa, Italy, and possibly the Balkans. The United States and United Kingdom ultimately agreed to delay a full scale of invasion of France until May or June 1944, which angered Stalin because the Soviet Union was suffering heavy losses on its front with Germany.[32][16]: 285–287, 366, 537 [33]
There were also significant disagreements between the United Kingdom and United States about the Asia-Pacific front. While Churchill prioritized the recovery of British imperial possessions such as Burma, Malaya, Hong Kong and Singapore, the Americans were more focused on supporting China by reopening its overland supply lines from India through theBurma road.[32][16]: 416–417 Roosevelt and Chiang were hostile to imperialism and pressed Churchill to reach an agreement with the leaders of the Indian independence movement and to agree to post-war mandates for British and French imperial possessions to prepare them for full independence.[16]: 269, 442–444
Despite their ideological differences and severe tensions over the timing of an invasion of France, the Soviet Union and its western allies cooperated in a number of ways. On the political front, the Soviet Union signed the Anglo-Soviet Agreement in July 1941,[16]: 213 endorsed the Atlantic Charter in September,[15]: 147 signed theDeclaration by United Nations in January 1942,[16]: 257 theAnglo-Soviet Treaty in May 1942,[16]: 281–285 and theFour Powers Declaration in October 1943.[16]: 378–380 In May 1943, Stalin agreed to dissolve theComintern as a gesture of goodwill.[16]: 361–362 On the strategic front, the Soviet Union, United Kingdom and United States agreed at the Tehran conference of late 1943 that an invasion of France was the military priority for 1944.[16]: 386–394 On the military front, in August 1941, British and Soviet forces invaded neutral Iran, which they suspected was pro-Axis, to secure oil supplies and the overland supply route into the Soviet Union.[16]: 212 The western allies sought to relieve pressure on the Soviet front by its strategic bombing campaign and economic warfare on Germany and by diverting Axis forces to the north African and Italian fronts.[32] Western food and materiel aid to the Soviet Union was also of great importance. The United States supplied the Soviet Union with $10 billion worth of aid under lend-lease: equivalent to 7% of Soviet war production.[34] The Soviet Union, in turn, prosecuted the bulk of the ground war in which an estimated 5 million Axis soldiers were killed or missing in action on the eastern front.[35]
A rift developed between the Soviet Union and the western allies over the political settlement of postwar Europe. The Soviet Union pressed the United Kingdom and United States to recognise the territorial gains it had made in the Baltic states, Finland, Bessarabia and eastern Poland before the German invasion. The United Kingdom and United States rejected these demands as incompatible with the Atlantic Charter principle of no territorial changes without the consent of the people concerned.[16]: 278–285 US and British concerns over Stalin's intentions increased when the Soviet Union severed relations with the Polish government-in-exile in April 1943, established a rival Polish Committee of National Liberation in June 1944, and failed to assist theWarsaw uprising (August to October 1944) until it was too late.[36][16]: 462–468 Nevertheless, the Big Three reached a secret agreement at the Tehran Conference to move Poland's eastern border to theCurzon line,[16]: 454–455 and, in October 1944, Churchill and Stalin reached a private agreement over Soviet and western spheres of influence in Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Greece.[16]: 480–481 Despite their remaining differences over the borders and political future of the territories they occupied, the Big Three alliance held to the end of the war. On 8 August 1945, six days before Japan's surrender, the Soviet Union honoured its commitment to enter the war against Japan.[16]: 534
Roosevelt viewed China as an important ally in the war against Japan and as a potential counterweight to Soviet influence in the postwar world. The United States saw allied military bases in China as staging posts for an eventual invasion of Japan and, in the meantime, Chinese nationalist forces tied up 500,000 to 600,000 Japanese troops in central China.[37][16]: 409–410, 412 The United States provided loans and lend-lease aid to the nationalist government and, in December 1941, Chiang was named Supreme Allied Commander for China, Thailand and Indo-China.[16]: 405 In October 1942, the United States and United Kingdom agreed to relinquish theirterritorial concessions and other privileges under theirunequal treaties with China.[16]: 410 In October 1943, the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and China signed the Four Power Declaration in which they pledged to cooperate against their common enemies and establish an international organization for peace and security. At the Tehran Conference later that year, Roosevelt outlined his vision of China as one of the "four policemen" of the postwar world.[16]: 378–381, 408–409
Senior officials in the Big Three powers, however, were critical of the corruption and inefficiency of the nationalist government and its military forces.[16]: 411–415 There were also strategic differences between Chiang, who wanted a higher priority on the war against Japan, and the Big Three leaders who had agreed on a policy of defeating Germany first.[16]: 405 Relations between Chiang and his American chief-of-staffJoseph Stilwell were particularly tense. Stilwell believed the Chinese forces lacked adequate training, supplies and leadership, while Chiang blamed Stilwell's insistence on diverting Chinese forces to theBurma campaign for the collapse of the nationalist army during Japan'sChina offensive of 1944.[16]: 416–417 [38] Chiang's standing with the other allied leaders was weakened by the poor performance of his army during this offensive and by the US adoption of theisland hopping strategy against Japan which reduced the importance of bases in China. Chiang was not invited to the Yalta and Potsdam conferences of 1945.[16]: 413–419 [39]
British Prime Minister,Neville Chamberlain delivered hisUltimatum Speech on 3 September 1939 whichdeclared war on Germany, a few hours before France. As theStatute of Westminster 1931 was not yet ratified by the parliaments of Australia and New Zealand, the British declaration of war on Germany also applied to thosedominions. The other dominions and members of theBritish Commonwealth declared war from 3 September 1939, all within one week of each other; they were Canada,British India andSouth Africa.[40]: 150–151
During the war, Churchill attended seventeenAllied conferences at which key decisions and agreements were made. He was "the most important of the Allied leaders during the first half of World War II".[41]
India was part of the British Empire. About two-thirds of the country was under thedirect rule of the United Kingdom exercised by aviceroy representing the British crown. The other third mostly consisted ofprincely states, nominally under Indian rulers subordinate to the British crown.[42] Nevertheless, India separately signed the Declaration by United Nations on 2 January 1942,[43] and signed theParis Peace Treaties of February 1947 as an Allied Power.[44]: 163, 251, 273, 298, 322
India was an important supply base for Commonwealth, American and Chinese forces and itself produced about £286.5 million worth of military equipment and other supplies. By 1945, the Indian army numbered 2.5 million people – the largest volunteer army in history. Indian troops played a major role in the Burma campaign and in other theatres. Its military losses were about 100,000 killed, wounded or missing, and almost 80,000 taken prisoner. An estimated 3 million Indian people died in the Bengal famine of 1943.[45]
Burma
Burma was a British colony at the start of World War II. It was later invaded by Japanese forces and that contributed to the Bengal Famine of 1943. For the native Burmese, it was an uprising against colonial rule, so some fought on the Japanese's side, but most minorities fought on the Allies side.[46] Burma also contributed resources such as rice and rubber.
British West Africa and the British colonies in East and Southern Africa participated, mainly in the North African, East African and Middle-Eastern theatres. Two West African and one East African division served in theBurma Campaign.
Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing colony, having receivedresponsible government in 1923. It was not a sovereign dominion. It governed itself internally and controlled its own armed forces, but had no diplomatic autonomy, and, therefore, was officially at war as soon as Britain was at war. The Southern Rhodesian colonial government issued a symbolic declaration of war nevertheless on 3 September 1939, which made no difference diplomatically but preceded the declarations of war made by all other British dominions and colonies.[47]
TheCyprus Regiment was formed by the British Government during the Second World War and made part of the British Army structure. It was mostlyGreek Cypriot volunteers andTurkish Cypriot inhabitants of Cyprus but also included other Commonwealth nationalities. On a brief visit to Cyprus in 1943, Winston Churchill praised the "soldiers of the Cyprus Regiment who have served honourably on many fields from Libya to Dunkirk". About 30,000 Cypriots served in the Cyprus Regiment. The regiment was involved in action from the very start and served atDunkirk, in theGreek Campaign (about 600 soldiers were captured inKalamata in 1941), North Africa (Operation Compass), France, the Middle East and Italy. Many soldiers were taken prisoner especially at the beginning of the war and were interned in various PoW camps (Stalag) including Lamsdorf (Stalag VIII-B), Stalag IVC at Wistritz bei Teplitz and Stalag 4b near Most in the Czech Republic. The soldiers captured in Kalamata were transported by train to prisoner of war camps.
FAFL Free FrenchGC II/5 "LaFayette" receiving ex-USAAFCurtiss P-40 fighters atCasablanca, French MoroccoThe French fleet scuttled itself rather than fall into the hands of the Axis after their invasion of Vichy France on 11 November 1942.
After Germany invaded Poland, Francedeclared war on Germany on 3 September 1939.[48] In January 1940, French Prime MinisterÉdouard Daladier made a major speech denouncing the actions of Germany:
At the end of five months of war, one thing has become more and more clear. It is that Germany seeks to establish a domination of the world completely different from any known in world history.
The domination at which the Nazis aim is not limited to the displacement of the balance of power and the imposition of the supremacy of one nation. It seeks the systematic and total destruction of those conquered by Hitler and it does not treaty with the nations which it has subdued. He destroys them. He takes from them their whole political and economic existence and seeks even to deprive them of their history and culture. He wishes only to consider them as vital space and a vacant territory over which he has every right.
The human beings who constitute these nations are for him only cattle. He orders their massacre or migration. He compels them to make room for their conquerors. He does not even take the trouble to impose any war tribute on them. He just takes all their wealth and, to prevent any revolt, he scientifically seeks the physical and moral degradation of those whose independence he has taken away.[48]
France experienced several major phases of action during World War II:
The "Phoney War" of 1939–1940, also calleddrôle de guerre in France,dziwna wojna in Poland (both meaning "Strange War"), or theSitzkrieg ("Sitting War", a pun onBlitzkrieg) in Germany.
The period ofresistance against the occupation and Franco-French struggle for control of the colonies between the Vichy regime and theFree French, who continued the fight on the Allies' side after theAppeal of 18 June by GeneralCharles de Gaulle, recognized by the United Kingdom as France's government-in-exile. It culminated in theAllied landings in North Africa on 11 November 1942, when Vichy ceased to exist as an independent entity after having been invadedby both the Axis and the Allies simultaneously, being thereafter only the nominal government in charge during the occupation of France. Vichy forces in French North Africa switched allegiance andmerged with the Free French to participate in the campaignsof Tunisia andof Italy and the invasionof Corsica in 1943–44.
Soviet soldiers andT-34 tanks advancing near Bryansk in 1942Soviet soldiers fighting in the ruins ofStalingrad during theBattle of StalingradSovietIl-2 ground attack aircraft attacking German ground forces during theBattle of Kursk, 1943
History
In the lead-up to the war between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, relations between the two states underwent several stages.General SecretaryJoseph Stalin and the government of the Soviet Union had supported so-calledpopular front movements ofanti-fascists including communists and non-communists from 1935 to 1939.[50] The popular front strategy was terminated from 1939 to 1941, when the Soviet Union cooperated with Germany in 1939 in the occupation and partitioning of Poland. The Soviet leadership refused to endorse either the Allies or the Axis from 1939 to 1941, as it called the Allied-Axis conflict an "imperialist war".[50]
Stalin had studied Hitler, including readingMein Kampf, and from it knew of Hitler's motives for destroying the Soviet Union.[51] As early as in 1933, the Soviet leadership voiced its concerns with the alleged threat of a potential German invasion of the country should Germany attempt a conquest ofLithuania,Latvia, orEstonia, and in December 1933 negotiations began for the issuing of a joint Polish-Soviet declaration guaranteeing the sovereignty of the three Baltic countries.[52] However, Poland withdrew from the negotiations following German and Finnish objections.[52] The Soviet Union and Germany at this time competed with each other for influence in Poland.[53]
On the same day, Soviet party leaderJoseph Stalin received a telegram from German ChancellorAdolf Hitler, suggesting that German Foreign MinisterJoachim von Ribbentrop fly to Moscow for diplomatic talks. (After receiving a lukewarm response throughout the spring and summer, Stalin abandoned attempts for a better diplomatic relationship with France and the United Kingdom.)[54]
On 23 August, Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign MinisterVyacheslav Molotov signedthe non-aggression pact including secret protocols dividing Eastern Europe into defined "spheres of influence" for the two regimes, and specifically concerning the partition of the Polish state in the event of its "territorial and political rearrangement".[40]: 148–151
Among the Soviet forces during World War II, millions of troops were from theSoviet Central Asian Republics. They included 1,433,230 soldiers fromUzbekistan,[62] more than 1million fromKazakhstan,[63] and more than 700,000 fromAzerbaijan,[64] among other Central Asian Republics.
The United States had indirectly supported Britain's war effort against Germany up to 1941 and declared its opposition to territorial aggrandizement. Materiel support to Britain was provided while the U.S. was officially neutral via theLend-Lease Act starting in 1941.
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt and Prime MinisterWinston Churchill in August 1941 promulgated theAtlantic Charter that pledged commitment to achieving "the final destruction of Nazi tyranny".[65] Signing the Atlantic Charter, and thereby joining the "United Nations" was the way a state joined the Allies, and also became eligible for membership in theUnited Nations world body that formed in 1945.
The United States strongly supported the Nationalist Government in China in its war with Japan, and provided military equipment, supplies, and volunteers to the Nationalist Government of China to assist in its war effort.[66] In December 1941 Japan opened the war with itsattack on Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan, and Japan's allies Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, bringing the United States into World War II.
The United States played a central role in liaising among the Allies and especially among the Big Four.[1] At theArcadia Conference in December 1941, shortly after the United States entered the war, the United States and Britain established aCombined Chiefs of Staff, based in Washington, which deliberated the military decisions of both the United States and Britain.
History
On 8 December 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Congress declared war on Japan at the request of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt. This was followed by Germany and Italy declaring war on the United States on 11 December, bringing the country into the European theatre.
The United States led Allied forces in the Pacific theatre against Japanese forces from 1941 to 1945. From 1943 to 1945, the United States also led and coordinated the Western Allies' war effort in Europe under the leadership of GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower.
The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor followed by Japan's swift attacks on Allied locations throughout the Pacific, resulted in major United States losses in the first several months in the war, including losing control of thePhilippines,Guam,Wake Island and several Aleutian islands includingAttu andKiska to Japanese forces. American naval forces attained some early successes against Japan. One was the bombing of Japanese industrial centres in theDoolittle Raid. Another was repelling a Japanese invasion ofPort Moresby inNew Guinea during theBattle of the Coral Sea.[67]
A major turning point in the Pacific War was theBattle of Midway where American naval forces were outnumbered by Japanese forces that had been sent to Midway to draw out and destroy American aircraft carriers in the Pacific and seize control of Midway that would place Japanese forces in proximity to Hawaii.[68] However American forces managed to sink four of Japan's six large aircraft carriers that had initiated the attack on Pearl Harbor along with other attacks on Allied forces. Afterwards, the United States began an offensive against Japanese-captured positions. TheGuadalcanal Campaign from 1942 to 1943 was a major contention point where Allied and Japanese forces struggled to gain control ofGuadalcanal.
In the Pacific it held multiple island dependencies such asAmerican Samoa,Guam,Hawaii,Midway Islands,Wake Island and others. These dependencies were directly involved in the Pacific campaign of the war.
In the 1920s the Soviet Union provided military assistance to theKuomintang, or the Nationalists, and helped reorganize their party alongLeninist lines: a unification of party, state, and army. In exchange the Nationalists agreed to let members of theChinese Communist Party join the Nationalists on an individual basis. However, following the nominal unification of China at the end of theNorthern Expedition in 1928,GeneralissimoChiang Kai-shek purged leftists from his party and fought against the revolting Chinese Communist Party, formerwarlords, and other militarist factions.
A fragmented China provided easy opportunities for Japan to gain territories piece by piece without engaging intotal war. Following the 1931Mukden Incident, the puppet state ofManchukuo was established. Throughout the early to mid-1930s, Chiang's anti-communist and anti-militarist campaigns continued while he fought small, incessant conflicts against Japan, usually followed by unfavorable settlements and concessions after military defeats.
In December 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor, China formally declared war on Japan, as well as Germany and Italy. As part of the war'sPacific theater, China became the only member of the Allies to commit more troops than one of the Big Three,[69] exceeding even the number of Soviet troops on theEastern Front.[70]
Continuous clashes between the Communists and Nationalists behind enemy lines cumulated ina major military conflict between these two former allies that effectively ended their cooperation against the Japanese, and China had been divided between the internationally recognizedNationalist China under the leadership of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek andCommunist China under the leadership ofMao Zedong until the Japanese surrendered in 1945.
Soldiers of theNational Revolutionary Army associated with Nationalist China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Prior to the alliance of Germany and Italy to Japan, the Nationalist Government held close relations with both Germany and Italy. In the early 1930s,Sino-German cooperation existed between the Nationalist Government and Germany in military and industrial matters. Nazi Germany provided the largest proportion of Chinese arms imports and technical expertise. Relations between the Nationalist Government and Italy during the 1930s varied, however even after the Nationalist Government followed League of Nations sanctions against Italy forits invasion ofEthiopia, the international sanctions proved unsuccessful, and relations between the Fascist government in Italy and the Nationalist Government in China returned to normal shortly afterwards.[71]
Up until 1936, Mussolini had provided the Nationalists with Italian military air and naval missions to help the Nationalists fight against Japanese incursions and communist insurgents.[71] Italy also held strong commercial interests and a strong commercial position in China supported by theItalian concession in Tianjin.[71] However, after 1936 the relationship between the Nationalist Government and Italy changed due to a Japanese diplomatic proposal to recognize theItalian Empire that included occupied Ethiopia within it in exchange for Italian recognition ofManchukuo, Italian Foreign MinisterGaleazzo Ciano accepted this offer by Japan, and on 23 October 1936 Japan recognized the Italian Empire and Italy recognized Manchukuo, as well as discussing increasing commercial links between Italy and Japan.[72]
The Nationalist Government held close relations with the United States. The United States opposed Japan's invasion of China in 1937 that it considered an illegal violation of China'ssovereignty, and offered the Nationalist Government diplomatic, economic, and military assistance during its war against Japan. In particular, the United States sought to bring the Japanese war effort to a complete halt by imposing a full embargo on all trade between the United States to Japan, Japan was dependent on the United States for 80 per cent of itspetroleum, resulting in an economic and military crisis for Japan that could not continue its war effort with China without access to petroleum.[73] In November 1940, American military aviatorClaire Lee Chennault upon observing the dire situation in the air war between China and Japan, set out to organize a volunteer squadron of American fighter pilots to fight alongside the Chinese against Japan, known as theFlying Tigers.[74] US PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt accepted dispatching them to China in early 1941.[74] However, they only became operational shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
TheSoviet Union recognised theRepublic of China but urged reconciliation with the Chinese Communist Party and inclusion of Communists in the government.[75] The Soviet Union also urged military and cooperation between Nationalist China and Communist China during the war.[75]
Even though China had been fighting the longest among all the Allied powers, it only officially joined the Allies after the attack on Pearl Harbor, on 7 December 1941. China fought the Japanese Empire before joining the Allies in thePacific War. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek thought Allied victory was assured with the entrance of the United States into the war, and he declared war on Germany and the other Axis states. However, Allied aid remained low because theBurma Road was closed and the Allies suffered a series of military defeats against Japan early on in the campaign. GeneralSun Li-jen led the R.O.C. forces to the relief of 7,000 British forces trapped by the Japanese in theBattle of Yenangyaung. He then reconquered North Burma and re-established the land route to China by theLedo Road. But the bulk of military aid did not arrive until the spring of 1945. More than 1.5 million Japanese troops were trapped in the China Theatre, troops that otherwise could have been deployed elsewhere if China had collapsed and made a separate peace.
Communist China had been tacitly supported by theSoviet Union since the 1920s: though the Soviet Union diplomatically recognised the Republic of China,Joseph Stalin supported cooperation between the Nationalists and the Communists—including pressuring the Nationalist Government to grant the Communists state and military positions in the government.[75] This was continued into the 1930s that fell in line with the Soviet Union's subversion policy ofpopular fronts to increase communists' influence in governments.[75]
The Soviet Union urged military and cooperation between Communist China and Nationalist China during China's war against Japan.[75] InitiallyMao Zedong accepted the demands of the Soviet Union and in 1938 had recognized Chiang Kai-shek as the "leader" of the "Chinese people".[76] In turn, the Soviet Union accepted Mao's tactic of "continuous guerilla warfare" in the countryside that involved a goal of extending the Communist bases, even if it would result in increased tensions with the Nationalists.[76]
After the breakdown of their cooperation with the Nationalists in 1941, the Communists prospered and grew as the war against Japan dragged on, building up their sphere of influence wherever opportunities were presented, mainly through rural mass organizations, administrative, land and tax reform measures favoring poor peasants; while the Nationalists attempted to neutralize the spread of Communist influence by military blockade and fighting the Japanese at the same time.[77]
The Communist Party's position in China was boosted further upon theSoviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945 against the Japanese puppet state ofManchukuo and the JapaneseKwantung Army in China andManchuria. Upon the intervention of the Soviet Union against Japan in World War II in 1945, Mao Zedong in April and May 1945 had planned to mobilize 150,000 to 250,000 soldiers from across China to work with forces of the Soviet Union in capturing Manchuria.[78]
Australia was a sovereign Dominion under theAustralian monarchy, as per theStatute of Westminster 1931. At the start of the war Australia followed Britain's foreign policies and accordingly declared war against Germany on 3 September 1939. Australian foreign policy became more independent after theAustralian Labor Party formed government in October 1941, and Australia separately declared war against Finland, Hungary and Romania on 8 December 1941 and against Japan the next day.[79]
Members of the Belgian Resistance with a Canadian soldier inBruges, September 1944 during theBattle of the Scheldt
Before the war, Belgium had pursued a policy ofneutrality and only became an Allied member afterbeing invaded by Germany on 10 May 1940. During the ensuing fighting, Belgian forces fought alongside French and British forces against the invaders. While the British and French were struggling againstthe fast German advance elsewhere on the front, the Belgian forces were pushed into a pocket to the north. On 28 May, theKing Leopold III surrendered himself and his military to the Germans, having decided the Allied cause was lost.
The legal Belgian government was reformed asa government in exile in London. Belgian troops and pilots continued to fight on the Allied side as theFree Belgian Forces. Belgium itself was occupied, but a sizeableResistance was formed and was loosely coordinated by the government in exile and other Allied powers.
British and Canadian troops arrived in Belgium in September 1944 and the capital,Brussels, was liberated on 6 September. Because of theArdennes Offensive, the country was only fully liberated in early 1945.
Belgium held the colony of theBelgian Congo and the League of Nations mandate ofRuanda-Urundi. The Belgian Congo was not occupied and remained loyal to the Allies as an important economic asset while its deposits of uranium were useful to the Allied efforts to develop the atomic bomb. Troops from the Belgian Congo participated in theEast African Campaign against the Italians. The colonialForce Publique also served in other theatres including Madagascar, the Middle-East, India and Burma within British units.
Initially,Brazil maintained a position of neutrality, trading with both the Allies and theAxis, while Brazilian presidentGetúlio Vargas's quasi-Fascist policies indicated a leaning toward the Axis powers.[citation needed] However, as the war progressed, trade with the Axis countries became almost impossible and the United States initiated forceful diplomatic and economic efforts to bring Brazil onto the Allied side.[citation needed]
At the beginning of 1942, Brazil permitted the United States to set up air bases on its territory, especially inNatal, strategically located at the easternmost corner of theSouth American continent, and on 28 January the country severed diplomatic relations with Germany, Japan and Italy. After that, 36 Brazilian merchant ships were sunk by the German and Italian navies, which led the Brazilian government to declare war against Germany and Italy on 22 August 1942.
Brazil then sent a 25,700 strongExpeditionary Force to Europe that fought mainly on theItalian front, from September 1944 to May 1945. Also, theBrazilian Navy andAir Force acted in theAtlantic Ocean from the middle of 1942 until the end of the war. Brazil was the only South American country to send troops to fight in the European theatre in the Second World War.
Canada was a sovereign Dominion under theCanadian monarchy, as per the Statute of Westminster 1931. In a symbolic statement of autonomous foreign policy Prime MinisterWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King delayed parliament's vote on a declaration of war for seven days after Britain had declared war. Canada was the last member of the Commonwealth to declare war on Germany on 10 September 1939.[80]
Because ofCuba's geographical position at the entrance of theGulf of Mexico,Havana's role as the principal trading port in theWest Indies, and the country's natural resources, Cuba was an important participant in theAmerican Theater of World War II, and subsequently one of the greatest beneficiaries of the United States'Lend-Lease program. Cuba declared war on theAxis powers in December 1941,[81] making it one of the firstLatin American countries to enter the conflict, and by the war's end in 1945 its military had developed a reputation as being the most efficient and cooperative of all the Caribbean states.[82] On 15 May 1943, the Cuban patrol boat CS-13 sank the German submarineU-176.[83][84]
In 1938, with theMunich Agreement, Czechoslovakia, the United Kingdom, and France sought to resolve German irredentist claims to theSudetenland region. As a result, the incorporation of the Sudetenland into Germany began on 1 October 1938. Additionally, a small northeastern part of the border region known asTrans-Olza was occupied by and annexed toPoland. Further, by theFirst Vienna Award,Hungary received southern territories of Slovakia andCarpathian Ruthenia.
ASlovak State was proclaimed on 14 March 1939, and the next day Hungary occupied and annexed the remainder of Carpathian Ruthenia, and the GermanWehrmacht moved into the remainder of the Czech Lands. On 16 March 1939 theProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed after negotiations withEmil Hácha, who remained technically head of state with the title of State President. After a few months, former Czechoslovak President Beneš organized a committee in exile and sought diplomatic recognition as the legitimate government of theFirst Czechoslovak Republic. The committee's success in obtaining intelligence and coordinating actions by theCzechoslovak resistance led first Britain and then the other Allies to recognize it in 1941. In December 1941 theCzechoslovak government-in-exile declared war on the Axis powers. Czechoslovakian military units took part in the war.
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic was one of the very few countries willing to accept mass Jewish immigration duringWorld War II. At theÉvian Conference, it offered to accept up to 100,000 Jewish refugees.[85] The DORSA (Dominican Republic Settlement Association) was formed with the assistance of the JDC, and helped settle Jews inSosúa, on the northern coast. About 700 European Jews ofAshkenazi Jewish descent reached the settlement where each family received 33 hectares (82 acres) of land, 10 cows (plus 2 additional cows per children), a mule and a horse, and aUS$10,000 loan (equivalent to about $214,000 in 2024[86]) at 1% interest.[87][88]
The Dominican Republic officially declared war on the Axis powers on 11 December 1941, after theattack on Pearl Harbor. However, the Caribbean state had already been engaged in war actions since before the formal declaration of war. Dominican sailboats and schooners had been attacked on previous occasions by German submarines as, highlighting the case of the 1,993-ton merchant ship,San Rafael, which was making a trip fromTampa, Florida toKingston, Jamaica, when 80 miles away from its final destination, it was torpedoed by theGerman submarine U-125, causing the commander to order the ship abandoned. Although the crew ofSan Rafael managed to escape the event, it would be remembered by the Dominican press as a sign of the "infamy of the German submarines and the danger they represented in the Caribbean".[attribution needed][89]
Recently, due to a research work carried out by the Embassy of the United States of America in Santo Domingo and theInstitute of Dominican Studies of the City of New York (CUNY), documents of theDepartment of Defense were discovered in which it was confirmed that around 340 men and women of Dominican origin were part of the US Armed Forces during the World War II. Many of them received medals and other recognitions for their outstanding actions in combat.[90]
Egypt
TheKingdom of Egypt had been nominally an independent state since 1922 but, under theAnglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936, British forces were permitted in Egypt to defend theSuez Canal, the major trade route between the United Kingdom, India and Australia.[91][92] On 1 September 1939, Britain invoked another clause in the treaty allowing Britain to effectively occupy the country in the event of war. Although Egypt subsequently severed diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Vichy France, it remained formally neutral, even after Italy invaded the country on 17 September 1940. Britain consideredKing Farouk an Axis sympathiser and, in theAbdeen Palace incident of February 1942, forced him to appoint a pro-British government which clamped down on Axis sympathisers. The Allied victory at theSecond Battle of El Alamein in November 1942, secured Egypt from the Axis. On 26 February 1945, Egypt declared war on Germany and Japan, and the following day signed the United Nations declaration.[92][93]
Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Empire wasinvaded byItaly on 3 October 1935. On 2 May 1936, EmperorHaile Selassie I fled into exile, just before the Italian occupation on 7 May. After the outbreak of World War II, the Ethiopian government-in-exile cooperated with the British during theBritish Invasion of Italian East Africa beginning in June 1940. Haile Selassie returned to his rule on 18 January 1941. Ethiopia declared war on Germany, Italy and Japan in December 1942.
Greece wasinvaded by Italy on 28 October 1940 and subsequently joined the Allies. The Greek Army managed to stop the Italian offensive from Italy's protectorate of Albania, and Greek forces pushed Italian forces back into Albania. However, after theGerman invasion of Greece in April 1941, German forces managed to occupy mainland Greece and, a month later,the island of Crete. The Greek governmentwent into exile, while the country was placed undera puppet government and divided into occupation zones run by Italy, Germany and Bulgaria.
From 1941, a strong resistance movement appeared, chiefly in the mountainous interior, where it established a "Free Greece" by mid-1943. Following the Italian capitulation in September 1943, the Italian zone was taken over by the Germans. Axis forces left mainland Greece in October 1944, although some Aegean islands, notably Crete, remained under German occupation until the end of the war.
Before the war, Luxembourg had pursued a policy ofneutrality and only became an Allied member afterbeing invaded by Germany on 10 May 1940. The government in exile fled, winding up in England. It made Luxembourgish language broadcasts to the occupied country onBBC Radio.[94] In 1944, the government in exile signeda treaty with the Belgian and Dutch governments, creating theBenelux Economic Union and also signed into theBretton Woods system.
Mexico declared war on Germany in 1942 after German submarines attacked the Mexican oil tankersPotrero del Llano andFaja de Oro that were transporting crude oil to the United States. These attacks promptedPresidentManuel Ávila Camacho to declare war on the Axis powers.
Some 300,000 Mexican citizens went to the United States to work on farms and factories. Some 15,000 U.S. nationals of Mexican origin and Mexican residents in the US enrolled in the US Armed Forces and fought in various fronts around the world.[96]
The Netherlands became an Allied member after being invaded on 10 May 1940 by Germany. During theensuing campaign, the Netherlands were defeated and occupied by Germany. The Netherlands was liberated by Canadian, British, American and other allied forces during the campaigns of 1944 and 1945. ThePrincess Irene Brigade, formed from escapees from the German invasion, took part in several actions in 1944 in Arromanches and in 1945 in the Netherlands. Navy vessels saw action in the British Channel, the North Sea and the Mediterranean, generally as part of Royal Navy units. Dutch airmen flying British aircraft participated in the air war over Germany.
TheDutch East Indies (modern-dayIndonesia) was the principal Dutch colony in Asia, and was seized by Japan in 1942. During theDutch East Indies Campaign, the Netherlands played a significant role in the Allied effort to halt the Japanese advance as part of theAmerican-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command. The ABDA fleet finally encountered the Japanese surface fleet at theBattle of Java Sea, at which Doorman gave the order to engage. During the ensuing battle the ABDA fleet suffered heavy losses, and was mostly destroyed after several naval battles aroundJava; the ABDA Command was later dissolved. The Japanesefinally occupied the Dutch East Indies in February–March 1942. Dutch troops, aircraft and escaped ships continued to fight on the Allied side and also mounted aguerrilla campaign in Timor.
New Zealand was a sovereign Dominion under theNew Zealand monarchy, as per the Statute of Westminster 1931. It quickly entered World War II, officially declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939, just hours after Britain.[97] Unlike Australia, which had felt obligated to declare war, as it also had not ratified the Statute of Westminster, New Zealand did so as a sign of allegiance to Britain, and in recognition of Britain's abandonment of itsformer appeasement policy, which New Zealand had long opposed. This led to then Prime MinisterMichael Joseph Savage declaring two days later:
With gratitude for the past and confidence in the future we range ourselves without fear beside Britain. Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand. We are only a small and young nation, but we march with a union of hearts and souls to a common destiny.[98]
Because of its strategic location for control of the sea lanes in theNorth Sea and theAtlantic, both the Allies and Germany worried about the other side gaining control of the neutral country. Germany ultimately struck first withOperation Weserübung on 9 April 1940, resulting in the two-month-longNorwegian Campaign, which ended in a German victory and their war-longoccupation of Norway.
Units of the Norwegian Armed Forces evacuated from Norway or raised abroad continued participating in the warfrom exile.
The Norwegian merchant fleet, then the fourth largest in the world, was organized intoNortraship to support the Allied cause. Nortraship was the world's largest shipping company, and at its height operated more than 1000 ships.
Norway was neutral when Germany invaded, and it is not clear when Norway became an Allied country. Great Britain, France andPolish forces in exile supported Norwegian forces against the invaders but without a specific agreement. Norway's cabinet signed a military agreement with Britain on 28 May 1941. This agreement allowed all Norwegian forces in exile to operate under British command. Norwegian troops in exile should primarily be prepared for the liberation of Norway, but could also be used to defend Britain. At the end of the war German forces in Norway surrendered to British officers on 8 May andallied troops occupied Norway until 7 June.[99]
TheInvasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, started the war in Europe, and the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. Poland fielded the third biggest army among the European Allies, after the Soviet Union and United Kingdom, but before France.[100]
Polish Army suffered a series of defeats in the first days of the invasion. The Soviet Union unilaterally considered the flight to Romania of PresidentIgnacy Mościcki and MarshalEdward Rydz-Śmigły on 17 September as evidence ofdebellatio causing the extinction of the Polish state, and consequently declared itself allowed to invade Poland starting from the same day.[101] However, theRed Army had invaded theSecond Polish Republic several hours before the Polish president fled to Romania. The Soviets invaded on 17 September at 3 a.m.,[102] while president Mościcki crossed the Polish-Romanian border at 21:45 on the same day.[103]
The Polish military continued to fight against both the Germans and the Soviets, and the last major battle of the war, theBattle of Kock, ended at 1 a.m. on 6 October 1939 with the Independent Operational Group "Polesie", a field army, surrendering due to lack of ammunition. The country never officially surrendered toNazi Germany, nor to the Soviet Union, and continued the war effort under thePolish government-in-exile.
The formation of thePolish armed forces in France began as early as September 1939. By June 1940, their numbers had reached 85,000 soldiers.[104]: 240 These forces took part in theNorwegian campaign and theBattle of France. After the defeat of France, the reconstitution of the Polish army had to start from scratch. Polish pilots played a key role in theBattle of Britain, separate Polish units took part in theNorth African Campaign. After the conclusion of thePolish-Soviet agreement on 30 July 1941, the formation of the Polish army in the Soviet Union (II Corps) also began.[104]: 241 The II Corps, numbering 83,000 along with civilians, began to be evacuated from the Soviet Union in mid-1942.[104]: 242 It later took part in thefighting in Italy.
After breaking off relations with the Polish government, the Soviet Union began forming its own Polish communist government and its armed forces in mid-1943, from which the1st Polish Army, underZygmunt Berling, was formed on 16 March 1944.[105] That army was fighting on theeastern front, alongside the Soviet forces, including theBattle of Berlin, the closing battle of the European theater of war.
TheHome Army, loyal to the London-based government and the largest underground force in Europe, as well other smaller resistance organizations in occupied Poland provided intelligence to the Allies and led to uncovering ofNazi war crimes (i.e.,death camps).
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic contacts with Germany on 11 September 1939, and with Japan in October 1941. The Saudis provided the Allies with large supplies of oil. Diplomatic relations with the United States were established in 1943.King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud was a personal friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Americans were then allowed to build an air force base nearDhahran.[106] Saudi Arabia declared war on Germany and Japan in 1945.[107]
South Africa was a sovereign Dominion under theSouth African monarchy, as per the Statute of Westminster 1931. South Africa held authority over the mandate ofSouth-West Africa. Due to significant pro-German feeling and the presence of fascist sympathizers within theAfrikaner nationalist movement (such as theGrey Shirts and theOssewabrandwag), South Africa's entry into the war was politically divisive.[108] Initially the government ofJ. B. M. Hertzog tried to maintain official neutrality after the outbreak of war. This caused a revolt by the governingUnited Party caucus which voted against Hertzog's position on the war and resulted in Hertzog's coalition partner,Jan Smuts, forming a new government and becoming prime minister. Smuts was then able to lead the country into war on the side of the Allies.[109]
Around 334,000 South Africans volunteered to fight in the war with 11,023 recorded wartime deaths.[110]
Partisans and Chetniks escorting captured Germans throughUžice, autumn 1941
Yugoslavia entered the war on the Allied side afterthe invasion of Axis powers on 6 April 1941. TheRoyal Yugoslav Army was thoroughly defeated in less than two weeks and the country was occupied starting on 18 April. The Italian-backed Croatian fascist leaderAnte Pavelić declared theIndependent State of Croatia before the invasion was over.King Peter II and much of the Yugoslavian government had left the country. In the United Kingdom, they joined numerous other governments in exile from Nazi-occupied Europe. Beginning with theuprising in Herzegovina in June 1941, there was continuous anti-Axis resistance in Yugoslavia until the end of the war.
Before the end of 1941, the anti-Axis resistance movement split between the royalistChetniks and the communistYugoslav Partisans ofJosip Broz Tito who fought both against each other during the war and against the occupying forces. The Yugoslav Partisans managed to put up considerable resistance to the Axis occupation, forming various liberated territories during the war. In August 1943, there were over 30 Axis divisions on the territory of Yugoslavia, not including the forces of theCroatian puppet state and other quisling formations.[111] In 1944, the leading Allied powers persuaded Tito's Yugoslav Partisans and the royalist Yugoslav government led by Prime MinisterIvan Šubašić to sign theTreaty of Vis that created theDemocratic Federal Yugoslavia.
The Partisans were a major Yugoslav resistance movement against the Axis occupation and partition of Yugoslavia. Initially, the Partisans were in rivalry with the Chetniks over control of the resistance movement. However, the Partisans were recognized by both the Eastern and Western Allies as the primary resistance movement in 1943. After that, their strength increased rapidly, from 100,000 at the beginning of 1943 to over 648,000 in September 1944. In 1945 they were transformed into theYugoslav army, organized in four field armies with 800,000[112] fighters.
The Chetniks, the short name given to the movement titled theYugoslav Army of the Fatherland, were initially a major Allied Yugoslav resistance movement. However, due to their royalist and anti-communist views, Chetniks were considered to have begun collaborating with the Axis as a tactical move to focus on destroying their Partisan rivals. The Chetniks presented themselves as a Yugoslav movement, but were primarily aSerb movement. They reached their peak in 1943 with 93,000 fighters.[113] Their major contribution wasOperation Halyard in 1944. In collaboration with theOSS, 413 Allied airmen shot down over Yugoslavia were rescued and evacuated.
Associated powers and other states fighting Axis
TheParis peace treaties of 1947 distinguished between "Associated Powers" of the Allies, and enemy states that had switched sides and become "co-belligerents" of the Allies or otherwise "took an active part in the war against Germany."[44]: 4, 163, 251, 273, 298
Italy invaded Albania on 7 April 1939 and annexed the country.King Zog of Albania fled to London, but Britain recognized the Italian annexation. Various resistance groups emerged in Albania including theBalli Kombëtar (National Front) and partisans led by theCommunist Party. Following Italy's withdrawal from the Axis in September 1943, Germany invaded Albania and installed a new collaborationist government. In October 1944, Germany began evacuating Albania, harried by the partisans who, supplied by the Allies, were now the dominant resistance army. Tirana fell to the partisans on 28 November 1944 and the Communist-dominatedNational Liberation Movement took control of the country.[114][115] Albania was recognized as an "Associated Power" of the Allies in the peace treaty with Italy of February 1947.[44]: 4
Bulgaria signed theTripartite Pact on 1 March 1941, and on 13 December declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States. Bulgaria did not declare war on the Soviet Union, but as the Soviet army advanced to its border in 1944, it submitted to Soviet pressure and declared war on Germany on 8 September. A new Bulgarian government, dominated by communists, committed over 300,000 troops to the war against Germany. These troops fought alongside Soviet forces in the Balkans, Hungary and Austria.[116] Bulgaria remained technically at war with the Allies until the ratification of its treaty of February 1947 with them.[44]: 251
Finland was invaded by the Soviet Union on 30 November 1939 and forced to cede territory in thesubsequent peace treaty of 12 March 1940. On 26 June 1941, Finland joined Germany in its invasion of the Soviet Union, leading to the United Kingdom declaring war on Finland on 5 December.[117][16]: 212 Finland sought peace when Soviet troops entered the country in 1944. The Soviet Union demanded that Finland break off relations with Germany and expel or disarm German troops in Finland as preconditions for an armistice. Finland severed relations with Germany on 3 September 1944, and signed theMoscow Armistice with the Soviet Union on 19 September. Under pressure from the Soviet Union, Finland escalated skirmishing with the German troops evacuating Finland intowarfare in the Lapland region by 2 October. Finland's war against Germany ended when the last German soldiers left Finland for Norway in April 1945.[118][119] Finland, however, was not recognised as an allied power. It remained technically at war with the Soviet Union and United Kingdom until ratification of its 1947 peace treaty with them.[44]: 322
Italy
The dead bodies of Benito Mussolini, his mistressClara Petacci, and several Fascist leaders, hanging for public display after they were executed by Italian partisans in 1945
Italy entered the war as an Axis power on 10 June 1940.[120]: 1. Introduction Following the Allied invasion of Sicily, Italy's fascist leaderBenito Mussolini was deposed on 25 July 1943, and the Italian king,Victor Emmanuel III, appointedPietro Badoglio prime minister. The new government signed anarmistice on 3 September 1943 ending Italy's war against the Allies.[120]: 3. Government and legal system The Italian government moved to the south of the country and declared war on Germany on 13 October, becoming aco-belligerent of the Allies.[16]: 421 [121] The ItalianCo-Belligerent Army participated in the Allied campaign against German forces in Italy and Mussolini'sItalian Social Republic in the north of the country. The co-belligerent army's participation in the fighting was initially limited until, in January 1945, fourdivisions were deployed on the frontline from Bologna to the Adriatic.[120]: 5(b) Armed forces and special forces: Army Italy remained technically at war with the Allies until ratification of its 1947 peace treaty with the Allied and Associated Powers.[44]: 163–164
Initially neutral in the war, Romania joined the Axis powers when it signed theTripartite Pact on 23 November 1940.[122] It joined the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, leading to the United Kingdom declaring war on Romania on 7 December. Romania declared war on the United States on 12 December. As the war turned against the Axis powers,King Michael of Romania deposed the government ofIon Antonescu on 23 August 1944, and Romania entered the war against Germany and Hungary. Romania signed an armistice with the Allies on 12 September under which it was required to deploy 12 infantry divisions against the remaining Axis powers. Romania eventually deployed 16 to 20 divisions, assisting the Soviet Union in driving Axis forces from Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The Romanian army was the fourth largest engaged against Axis forces in Europe at that time. The Soviet Union compelled the Romanian government ofPetru Groza to demobilise its forces in March 1945,[123] and Romania remained formally at war with the Allies until the ratification of its 1947 peace treaty with them.[44]: 298
At thePotsdam Conference of July–August 1945, Roosevelt's successor,Harry S. Truman, proposed that the foreign ministers of China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States "should draft the peace treaties and boundary settlements of Europe", which led to the creation of theCouncil of Foreign Ministers of the "Big Five", and soon thereafter the establishment of those states as thepermanent members of the UNSC.[126]
The Charter of the United Nations was agreed to during the war at theUnited Nations Conference on International Organization, held between April and July 1945. The Charter was signed by 50 states on 26 June (Poland had its place reserved and later became the 51st "original" signatory),[citation needed] and wasformally ratified shortly after the war on 24 October 1945. In 1944, the United Nations was formulated and negotiated among the delegations from the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and China at theDumbarton Oaks Conference[127][128] where the formation and thepermanent seats (for the "Big Five", China, France, the United Kingdom, US, and Soviet Union) of theUnited Nations Security Council were decided. The Security Council met for the first time in the immediate aftermath of war on 17 January 1946.[129]
These are the original 51 signatories (UNSC permanent members are asterisked):
Despite the successful creation of the United Nations, the alliance of the Soviet Union with the United States andwith the United Kingdom ultimately broke down and evolved into theCold War, which took place over the following half-century.[130][131]
U.S. government poster showing a friendlySoviet soldier, 1942
Soviet Union: 22 June 1941;[citation needed] Despite membership of the Soviet Union,Ukraine andBelarus were recognized as separate fighting states by the United Kingdom and the United States at the end of the war.[citation needed]
Finland: 3 March 1945[141] – former ally of Germany in theContinuation War. On 3 March 1945, Finland retroactively declared war on Germany from 15 September 1944.
^"On the political front, the Soviet Union and Great Britain had signed an agreement in Moscow on July 12, 1941. Requested by Stalin as a sign of cooperation, it provided for mutual assistance and an understanding not to negotiate or conclude an armistice or peace except by mutual consent. Soviet insistence on such an agreement presumably reflected their suspicion of Great Britain, though there is no evidence that either party to it ever ceased to have its doubt about the loyalty of the other if attractive alternatives were thought to be available." SeeWeinberg (2005) pp. 284-285.
^"The Anglo-American alliance was the most formidable, intricate and, in many ways, harmonious military alliance in history." SeeBouverie (2025) p. xii.
^Francedeclared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, two days after the German invasion of Poland. It was a member of the Allies until its defeat in theGerman invasion of France in June 1940. Unlike the othergovernments-in-exile in London, which were legitimate governments that had escaped their respective countries and continued the fight, France hadsurrendered to the Axis. The "Free French Forces" were a section of the French army which refused to recognize the armistice and continued to fight with the Allies. They worked towards France being seen and treated as a major allied power, as opposed to a defeated and then liberated nation. They struggled with legitimacy vis-a-vis the Germanclient state "Vichy France", which was the internationally recognized government of Franceeven among the Allies. ANational Liberation Committee was formed by the Free French after the gradual liberation of Vichy colonial territory, which led to thefull German occupation of Vichy France in 1942. This started a shift in Allied policy from trying to improve relations with the Vichy regime into full support to what was now theProvisional Government of the French Republic.
^Edvard Beneš, president of theFirst Czechoslovak Republic, fled the country after the 1938Munich Agreement saw theSudetenland region annexed by Germany. In 1939 a German sponsoredSlovak Republic seceded from the post-MunichSecond Czechoslovak Republic, providing justification for the establishment of aGerman protectorate over the remaining Czech lands (the rumpCarpathian Ruthenia region being annexed by Hungary). Following the outbreak of war later the same year, Beneš, in his exile, formed a Czechoslovak National Liberation Committee which after some months of negotiations regarding its legitimacy became regarded as the Czechoslovak government-in-exile by the Allies.
^The Ethiopian Empire wasinvaded byItaly on 3 October 1935. On 2 May 1936, EmperorHaile Selassie I fled into exile, just before the Italian occupation on 7 May. After the outbreak of World War II, the United Kingdom recognized Haile Selassie as the Emperor of Ethiopia in July 1940 and his Ethiopian exile governmentcooperated with the British during theirinvasion of Italian East Africa in 1941. Through the invasion Haile Selassie returned to Ethiopia on 18 January, with the liberation of the country being completed by November the same year.
^China had been atwar with Japan since July 1937. It declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy and joined the Allies in December 1941 after the attacks on Pearl Harbor.
^"The Big Three".The National WWII Museum New Orleans. Retrieved4 April 2021.In World War II, the three great Allied powers—Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union—formed a Grand Alliance that was the key to victory. But the alliance partners did not share common political aims, and did not always agree on how the war should be fought.
^Lane, Ann; Temperley, Howard (1996).The Rise and Fall of the Grand Alliance, 1941–45. Springer.ISBN978-1-349-24242-9.This collection by leading British and American scholars on twentieth century international history covers the strategy, diplomacy and intelligence of the Anglo-American-Soviet alliance during the Second World War. It includes the evolution of allied war aims in both the European and Pacific theatres, the policies surrounding the development and use of the atomic bomb and the evolution of the international intelligence community.
^Hoopes, Townsend, and Douglas Brinkley.FDR and the Creation of the U.N. (Yale University Press, 1997).
^Howard (2014). "Grand Alliance: term coined by Churchill to describe the association of nations, in particular the UK, USA, and USSR, which came together to fight the Axis powers in the Second World War."
^Overy, Richard (1996).Why the Allies Won. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 2.ISBN0393039250.
^Howard (2014). "The British on the other hand regarded the Chinese military potential as negligible and were unimpressed by Chiang either as a political or as a military leader, an opinion which he himself helped to reinforce when he attended the Cairo conference in November 1943."
^Dear, I. C. B.; Foot, M. R. D., eds. (2014). "Allied powers".The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/acref/9780198604464.001.0001.ISBN9780191727603.From January 1942 all countries, including the governments-in-exile of those countries occupied by the Germans, which became a party to the United Nations Declaration were also regarded as Allied powers.
^"Milestones: 1937–1945". United States: Office of the Historian, Department of State. Archived fromthe original on 18 August 2025. Retrieved23 August 2021.
^Gaddis, John Lewis (2000).The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941–1947. New York. p. 65.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Howard (2014). ""But the Warsaw rising, the apparently deliberate inactivity of the Soviet forces while the Germans crushed the insurrection, and Stalin's refusal to provide facilities for Allied air forces to drop supplies, opened the first serious rift in Allied unity and sharply diminished western enthusiasm at the prospect of the Red Army liberating eastern Europe."
^Howard (2014). "Indeed Roosevelt did not see the British as his principal allies in the Far East at all. That role was played by China under General Chiang Kai-shek with whom the USA had a close ‘special relationship’. … For Washington the initial objective was therefore to rescue China; partly as an obligation of honour …but also because at this stage of the war, it was generally accepted that air, naval, and military bases in China would be needed for mounting an invasion of Japan and so securing her defeat."
^Van Slyke (2014). "Stilwell had another point to make. He believed that nationalist Chinese troops—considered worthless by the Japanese, by most of the Allies, and even within China—could be the equal of the finest soldiers in the world, if they were properly fed, trained, supplied, and officered."
^Van Slyke (2014). "The trans-Pacific island-hopping strategy became more and more apparently the means for defeating Japan from the air and eventually, it was presumed, through amphibious warfare landings. This approach rendered China a sideshow, important mainly for tying down about one million Japanese troops and preventing their deployment elsewhere."
^Brown, Judith (2014). "India". In Dear, I. C. B.; Foot, M. R. D. (eds.).The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford University Press. pp. Oxford 3. Government and resistance.doi:10.1093/acref/9780198604464.001.0001.ISBN9780191727603.
^abcdefgLeiss, Amelia; Dennett, Raymond, eds. (1954).European Peace Treaties After World War II : Negotiations and Texts of Treaties with Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania, and Finland. Boston: World Peace Foundation.
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