Why did they join the Axis? Or were they invaded/annexed?
If you mean countries like Romania/Hungary/Bulgaria, they had fascist and anti-communist governments of their own, and were sympathetic to German goals. Countries like Vichy France, Slovakia, and Croatia, on the other hand, were formed by the Germans, after invading France, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, respectively, and were puppet governments.
The 1st category is what I had in mind. What about Thailand (a Japanese ally?)?
The Thais had a border dispute with French Indo-China, and saw a Japanese alliance as a way to get the disputed territory. They invaded Indo-China, and then, in the Tokyo Conference in 1941, mediated by the Japanese, the (Vichy) French government ceded the disputed land.
I’m pretty sure of those first three that Bulgaria was invaded before joining. Rumania, under Antonescu, voluntarily joined the Axis. Not sure about Hungary. Finland also supported the Axis, though never joined it.
I don’t think so. Bulgaria was neutral when the war broke out, but then Filtov’s government allied itself with Germany in exchange for German pressure on Romania to surrender Southern Dobrudza.
I don’t think so. Bulgaria was neutral when the war broke out, but then Filtov’s government allied itself with Germany in exchange for German pressure on Romania to surrender Southern Dobrudza.
Sorry…hit return too soon. The voluntary nature of the alliance was why Bulgaria was able not to 1. Declare war on the Soviet Union after Barbarossa, and 2. Save their Jews from the Holocaust.
One of those three nations was pretty much forced to join, and did save a large number of Jews. Hungary?
How about Finland?
An “Allied Country” pre-war, Britain and France were thinking of coming to their aid vs. Russia. Yet as Hitler launches Barbarossa, the Finns ally with the Axis. They do it to restore lands lost in a War of Aggression against them, but there is no doubt whose side they are on. Stalin rejects a separate peace at first (after Stalingrad) & Churchill & FDR go along. Its not until the USSR invades (again) Finland in June of ‘44 that the Fins sign an armistice & go to war vs. the Axis 6 days later.
**Not ** judging them. Understand fully how it happened. Just sayin’ I count them as “axis” from 41-44
Hungary was actually a fairly willing ally to the Third Reich because like Germany, Hungary had an interest in regaining some of the territory both nations ceded at the end of the First World War. In 1938 Hungary quietly slurped up about a third of (non-German-speaking) Slovakia after the Germans occupied the whole of the country. Later the Nazis brokered another arrangement whereby Rummania ceded Transylvania back to Hungary.
Hungary’s regent, Admiral Horthy saw the writing on the wall in 1944 and tried to negotiate a separate peace, but Hitler sent Otto Skorzeny in to kidnap Horthy and his influential son, and installed a puppet government which remained aligned with Germany until completely overrun.
Great Britian declared war on the Finns. It is also known that the Croats were very pro german. It remains even in the 90s the Germans recognized Croatia even when the rest of the EU refused to.
Markxxx
I believe you left out a huge amount of very important information in your minimalist post, which would lend any reader some perspective.