As early as , Romania had come under control of a fascist government that bore On July 2, , as part of the British and American strategy to lay mines in the Danube River by dropping them from the air, American aircraft also drop bombs and leaflets on German-occupied Budapest.
Hungarian oil refineries and storage tanks, important to the German war Live TV. This Day In History. As for Japan, it invaded China and other parts of Asia and faced very little resistance. Fascism was pronounced superior and modern — the future of humankind — by the Axis nations.
They were the only country to face Hitler alone for a year between June and June Britain, Hanson said, was the only country to go to war on virtually the first day of the conflict Germany invaded Poland on Sept. In fact, the British were exclusive in going to war on the principle of protecting an ally Poland rather than being first attacked themselves — or surprise-attacking another country.
And, British prime minister Winston Churchill was the strongest and most eloquent voice in making the case that WWII was an existential war for the West, he noted. An apparent aversion to conflict among Western nations laid the groundwork for Nazi and Japanese aggression, Hanson said. The other factor was active German collusion with Russia early on after the non-aggression pact of August that allowed Hitler to focus on the Western flank, he said.
America entered the war on both Asian and European fronts, after Germany and Italy first declared war on the U. After June , the Allies grew more united and pragmatic in their approach than the overreaching Axis powers, which had smaller populations, economies and industrial production, Hanson wrote in his book.
The Allied powers eventually built more long-range bombers and aircraft carriers and became highly efficient at transporting troops and machines to faraway theaters, Hanson said. By , the gross domestic product of the U. Meanwhile, Germany had no aircraft carriers, and both Germany and Japan had no true long-range bomber advantage.
In order to secure raw materials, transit rights for German troops, and troop contributions for the invasion from sympathetic powers, Germany began to cajole and pressure the southeast European states to join the Axis. Nazi Germany offered economic aid to Slovakia and military protection and Soviet territory to Romania, while warning Hungary that recent German support for Hungarian annexations of Czechoslovak and Romanian territory might change to the benefit of Slovakia and Romania.
To subdue Greece and move the British off the European mainland, Nazi Germany now required troop transport through Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.
Hoping for preferential economic treatment, mindful of recent German support for annexation of northern Transylvania, and eager for future Axis support for acquiring the remainder of Transylvania, Hungary joined the Axis on November 20, Romania Having already requested and received a German military mission in October , Romania joined on November 23, The Romanians hoped that loyal support for a German invasion of the Soviet Union and faithful oil deliveries would destroy the Soviet threat, return the provinces annexed by the Soviet Union in June , and win German support for the return of northern Transylvania.
Bulgaria Bulgaria, whose leaders were reluctant to get involved in a war with the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia, which was nominally an ally of Greece, stalled, resisting German pressure. After the Germans offered Greek territory in Thrace and exempted it from participation in the invasion of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria joined the Axis on March 1, Yugoslavia When the Germans agreed to settle for Yugoslav neutrality in the war against Greece, without demanding transit rights for Axis troops, Yugoslavia reluctantly joined the Axis on March 25, Two days later, Serbian military officers overthrew the government that had signed the Tripartite Pact.
Italy Italy was the first Axis partner to give up: it surrendered to the Allies on September 8, , six weeks after leaders of the Italian Fascist Party deposed Fascist leader and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Romania On August 23, , following the overthrow of dictator Marshal Ion Antonescu, Romania switched sides: Romanian troops fought alongside Soviet troops for the remainder of the war.
Bulgaria After the Soviets rejected its offer of an armistice, Bulgaria surrendered on September 8, , as the Communist-led Fatherland Front seized power from the Axis government in a coup and then declared war on Nazi Germany. Hungary The German occupation of Hungary in March succeeded in its primary purpose: to prevent the Hungarian leaders from deserting the Axis as the Romanians would later do.
Slovakia Slovakia, which German troops occupied in the summer of to suppress the Slovak uprising, remained in the Axis as a puppet state until the Soviets captured the capital, Bratislava, in early April
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