World War II Alliances

We explain to you what were and how the alliances of World War II formed. In addition, its history and its consequences.

What were the alliances of World War II?

World War II faced two alliances from countries for six years: on the one hand, Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan)and on the other hand, The allies (United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, France, the United States and China). Other countries also allied each other, and the conflict affected most of the world.

The war began in September 1939 with the Nazi invasion of Poland and concluded in September 1945 with the unconditional surrender of Japan, after the unconditional surrender of Germany that took place in May.

Not all nations entered the war at the same time. In addition, the coalitions began to form before the war but ended up taking shape during the conflict. This diplomatic aspect determined the result of the war but also conditioned the organization of the world at the end of the confrontation.

See also: Chronology of World War II

Axis powers in World War II

The tripartite pact

In 1936, three years before World War II, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany signed a friendly pact with Benito Mussolini's fascist Italy that gave birth to the Roma-Berlin axis. That same year the anti-komintern pact between Germany and the Empire of Japan was signed.

These pacts responded to the expansionist ambitions of the three states, dominated by nationalist and militaristic parties. A short time later, Italy joined the anti-komintern pact (1937), and Germany and Italy secured their political and military alliance through the steel pact (May 1939).

A year after the beginning of the war, the Tripartite pact signed on September 27, 1940 constituted the main diplomatic agreement between the three major axis powers.

Axis pacts in Western Europe

After the German victory over France in June 1940 and The German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, various European countries turned to the axis side.

In Western Europe, Vichy's France (the area that was not occupied by the German army) became a collaborating regime of Nazi Germany.

Franco's Spain He went through various phases in their relations with Hitler and Mussolini. In 1939 he adhered to the anti-komintern pact and He was about to enter the war next to the axis. Finally, After an interview that Hitler and Franco maintained in October 1940, that possibility did not materialize (Although Franco sent a body of volunteers, the blue division, to fight the Red Army after Germany decided to invade the Soviet Union).

Axis pacts in Eastern Europe

The extension of the war towards the Balkans caused adhesion to Tripartite pact of Hungary, Romania and Slovakia In November 1940 and Bulgaria In March 1941. These accessions were largely voluntary, due to the territorial or defensive interests of these countries.

Yugoslavia adhered to the pact in March 1941, but after an internal coup d'etat was invaded by the Germans and dismembered. From the fragmented Yugoslavia was born the Pro-Nazi dictatorship of Pavelić in Croatiaone of the most criminal regimes in the region, which adhered to the pact in June 1941.

The arrival of the Soviet troops to the Balkans and their advances to Germany in 1944 precipitated the defeat of these Satellite states of Germany. Romania and Finland (Nordic country that collaborated with Germany in its fight against the Soviet Union) signed the armistice with the allies in September 1944, Bulgaria did so in October and, after a long siege to Budapest, Hungary did so on January 20, 1945.

On October 18, 1944, Mariscal Tito's guerrilla troops entered Belgrade with the help of Soviet troops and Yugoslavia again reconstituted after the expulsion of the powers of the axis.

The sphere of coprosperity of Oriental Asia

The Japanese imperial government proclaimed in August 1940 an objective: the creation of what defined as “sphere of coprosperity of Eastern Asia.” It was about creating an association of states of Asia and the Pacific under Japanese hegemony.

This expansionist project resorted to an anticolonialist discourse (under the slogan “Asia for Asians”) to achieve the support of the populations subjected to European colonialism. The answer was quite weak, since Japanese oppression was often even more brutal than that of French, British or Dutch.

The only country that supported Japan was Thailand (The former Siam), whose dictatorial government signed a non -aggression treaty with Japan in June 1940. However, Japanese troops subsequently invaded Thailand and forced the signing of an alliance treaty with Japan in December 1941, which led the Thai government to declare war to the United Kingdom and the United States.

The rest of the Asian and Pacific territories that at some point in the war They collaborated with the Japan government did it because They were under Japanese military domain.

Allies in World War II

The historical context

The aggressions of the axis powers ended up configuring what was called the “Great Alliance” between the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States. This alliance He personified During a large part of the war in three figures: British prime minister Winston Churchill, the Soviet dictator Lósif Stalin and US president Franklin D. Roosevelt (known as the “three great”).

This alliance between countries that represented different political and economic systems was determined by the avatars of the conflict. Previously, Stalin He had signed a non -aggression pact with Nazi Germany, And at the beginning of the conflict he tried to take advantage of that pact to obtain territorial profits: in September 1939 the Soviet Union occupied the east of Poland, and in August 1940 he annexed the Baltic Republics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and the regions of Besarabia and Bukovina del Norte (which belonged to Romania).

After the defeat of France in June 1940 and even the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, United Kingdom was the only power that resisted German expansionism.

See also: Background of World War II

The Anglo-American alliance

Churchill He was aware from the beginning of the need for the help of the United States to deal with the German threat. After being appointed British Prime Minister in May 1940, he sent a telegram to Roosevelt requesting the loan of 40 or 50 old American destroyers.

At the end of July 1940, Roosevelt He accepted, impressed by the growing Japanese threat in the Pacific and the defeat of France. As Churchill said, at that time The United States went from “neutrality to non -belligerence”.

The final step in that direction was the Loan and Lease Law approved by the US Congress in March 1941. By putting their industrial capacity at the service of the allies, The United States became what was called “the arsenal of democracy”.

The “Great Alliance” between the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union

The German invasion of the Soviet Union radically changed the situation. The Anglo -Saxon powers did not hesitate to support Stalin against Hitler. After the beginning of the Barbarja operation In June 1941, An Anglosovostic agreement was signed. At the end of September, a conference in Moscow with envoys from the governments of Washington and London completed aid to the Soviet Union. The “Great Alliance” began to forge.

A few days before an encounter between Churchill and Roosevelt took place, which led to the writing of The Atlantic letter, an ideological program aimed at democratic powers that faced the axis, favorable to cooperation relations and opposite to territorial ambitions.

It was evident that, even before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States had been involved in the conflict. The entrance of the United States in the War in December 1941 led to a new conference in Washington between Churchill and Roosevelt. Fruit of that conference was the United Nations Declaration approved on January 1, 1942.

The “Big Tres” in 1942

The principles of the Atlantic letter did not coincide with Stalin's approaches to conserve, in the case of Victoria, the annexed territories under the non -aggression pact with Germany. However, on May 26, 1942 British Foreign Affairs Minister Anthony Eden signed with Soviet Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, the Anglo-Sovietic alliance.

Stalin demanded the opening of a “second front” in Western Europe that relieve the pressure that the Soviet army should endure in the Eastern Front. The Americans were prone to follow Moscow's demands, But Churchill recommended a landing in North Africa that will lead to a subsequent attack on Italy.

Churchill managed to convince the US administration and in November 1942 the landing was held in North Africa. Stalin had Accept the delays to your demand for a “second front” in Europe. The tension between the allies on this issue lasted until the Normandy landing in June 1944.

Moscow and Tehran conferences (1943)

After the success of the invasion of North Africa, Churchill and Roosevelt held a conference in Casablanca (Morocco) in January 1943. In it the landing in Sicily was agreed and the idea of ​​Roosevelt was adopted to demand the “unconditional surrender” of Germany, Italy and Japan.

Throughout 1943 other conferences were held, in which issues such as the date of landing in Normandy or the invasion of Italy, and in October, for the first time in the war, for the first time in the war, for the first time in the war, A Conference of Foreign Ministers of the “Three Grandes” took place in Moscow. At this conference The main Soviet concern was to ensure that landing in France, scheduled for the European spring of 1944, was not delayed.

In addition, the three countries represented and China signed a statement on a future international organization that guaranteed collective security after the war. The Soviet Union promised to declare war to Japan after German defeat, and He began to discuss the future occupation and division of Germany.

In November 1943, Churchill and Roosevelt met with Chiang Kai-Shek at the Cairo Conference, where it was decided that the objective of the war in Asia was “punishing the aggression of Japan”, which should abandon all its conquests acquired since 1914.

Finally, The “Three Great” gathered for the first time at the Tehran Conference (Iran) From November 28 to December 1, 1943. This meeting was held in an atmosphere of cordiality that reinforced the alliance. Stalin's irritation before the delay in the opening of the “second front” seemed calm after the firm promise of Roosevelt and Churchill to launch France's invasion in the coming months.

The “Grandes” after the Normandy landing (1944)

The liberation of Rome and the Normandy landing They occurred in June 1944, and the release of Paris on August 25. Simultaneously, The advance of Soviet troops in the east occurred. Much of the Balkans and the Danube region were in the hands of the Red Army, which had reached Eastern Prussia.

In October 1944, Churchill He traveled to Moscow and reached a verbal agreement with Stalin on the distribution of influences in the Balkans: Greece would be in the British orbit, while Bulgaria and Romania would be under Soviet influence. In Hungary and Yugoslavia a 50 % distribution of the influence was agreed.

This agreement, which contradicted the ideals of the Atlantic letter, was soon denied by the reality of weapons. The last months of 1944 were characterized by a growing distrust between the allies.

The Yalta Conference (1945)

The disagreement between the western allies and the Soviet Union became more noticeable. In January 1945, the Soviet Union granted the Polish National Committee, controlled by the communists, the Provisional Government Statute of Poland; In Romania, the Soviet authorities imposed their criteria arbitrarily; In Hungary, given the protests that claimed equality in the control of the territory, the control of the Red Army was affirmed.

To appease these differences, a new conference of the “Three Big” was convened. From February 4 to 11, 1945, Yalta's conference took place. In it Topics such as the United Nations Organization, the occupation and partition of Germany, the new Polish borders or the intervention of the Soviet Union against Japan were addressed.

In March 1945, The Soviets forcibly imposed a government chaired by a communist in Romaniaan act that was against the principles defended at the Yalta conference. In addition, they refused to integrate representatives not controlled by the communists in the Polish provisional government based in Lublin. Churchill and Roosevelt They sent protest telegrams to Moscow.

The Potsdam Conference (1945)

On May 7 and 8, Germany signed the unconditional surrender to the allies. Two months later, between July 17 and August 2, 1945, The Potsdam Conference was held on the outskirts of Berlin, the last meeting of the leaders of the “Great Alliance”: Stalin, Harry S. Truman (President of the United States after the death of Roosevelt) and Churchill (replaced in the position of British Prime Minister for Clement Attlee during the conference).

The atmosphere had deteriorated and the Allies Mutually accusations were crossed: The Anglo -Saxons accused the Soviets of implementing dictatorships in Bulgaria or Romania, and the Soviets denounced the British occupation in Greece. However, an effort of understanding was made and the reorganization of Germany, divided into four occupation zones.

It was, however, conclude the war in the Eastern Eastern. The Soviet Unionas he had committed in Yalta, declared the war to Japan August 8, Two days after the American launch of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. At that time, the Soviet troops occupied Manchuria, Korea and the Kuriles.

After suffering a new atomic attack in NagasakiJapan communicated his willingness to capitular. On September 2, 1945, aboard the Missouri ship anchored in Tokyo Bay, Japanese delegates signed unconditional surrender before the American general Douglas MacArthur. World War II was over.

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References

• Beevor, A. (2012). World War II. Past and present.
• Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2019). Allied Powers. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
• Hughes, Ta & Royde-Smith, JG (2022). World War II. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
• Stone, N. (2013). Brief history of World War II. Ariel.