Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Axis Powers

Starting point is 00:00:00 World War II was famously fought between two forces, the Axis and the Allies. Most people know that the Axis was comprised of Germany, Italy, and Japan. What most people don't know is that there were actually several more countries that were part of the alliance. And why exactly was it called the Axis? And how did these countries work together? Learn more about the Axis powers, how their alliance was created and how they worked together, or didn't, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night.

Starting point is 00:00:52 And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the Thurline podcast from NPR. The fascination with the Second World War is probably going to continue for centuries. It was a war with very clear bad guys. It was an extremely well-documented war with plenty of footage and reporting of exactly what happened. That being said, much of what people do know about the war tends to be oversimplified. There is a great deal of nuance that is lost, especially when you look at the war in its totality. And this is especially true with the Axis Powers. The origin of what would become

Starting point is 00:01:32 the Axis Powers actually begins in Italy. Benito Mussolini rose to power in 1922 as the Prime Minister of Italy and was the leader of the Italian Fascist Party. The term fascist and fascism actually comes from the Italian fascist party, and their name was derived from the Latin word, FACCHUS. FACUS were a bundle of sticks with an axehead that was used for ceremonial purposes. Magistrates had bodyguards known as Lictors, who would carry FACCUS with them to signify the authority of the consul or tribune. The Italian fascists were the first major anti-communist party to emerge in Europe after World War I. The next big thing that occurred in the creation of the Axis Alliance was the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist Party in Germany in January

Starting point is 00:02:14 1933. Hitler had been an admirer of Mussolini for years. His beer hall pushed was an ill-fated attempt to recreate Mussolini's 1922 March on Rome. Mussolini donated money to the Nazis in the 1920s and allowed Nazi brown shirts to train with his fascist black shirts. Publicly, Mussolini celebrated the rise of Hitler in Germany because he felt it was a validation of his regime in Italy. Privately, he actually thought very little of Hitler's racial theories that placed northern Europeans at the top of some racial hierarchy. He was reported to have said in private, quote, 30 centuries of history allow us to look with supreme pity on certain doctrines which are preached beyond the Alps by the descendants of those who were illiterate when Rome had Caesar, Virgil, and Augustus.

Starting point is 00:02:59 End quote. Nonetheless, in a Europe with democratic societies, they had more in common than not. On October 23rd, 1936, in Berlin, Italian foreign minister, Ghalhal Liaso Siano and German foreign minister Constantine van Nureth signed a nine-point agreement with each other. The agreement mostly dealt with the Spanish Civil War, acknowledging the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, and German claims to former territories taken during the First World War. About a week later in Milan, Mussolini gave a speech where he coined the term that would define the alliance. He said, quote, this Berlin-Rome protocol is not a barrier, but rather it is an axis around which all European states, by a desire for peace may collaborate on troubles. End quote. The same day that Italy and Germany

Starting point is 00:03:46 signed the nine-point pact, a representative from the Japanese government was in Berlin to negotiate a treaty of their own. This resulted almost a month later, on November 25, 1936, in the signing of the anti-commontern pact. The anti-commontern pact was directed at the Communist International, also known as Common Turn. For all practical purposes, it was an alliance against the Soviet Union, which is exactly how the Soviets interpreted it. In addition to the more generic anti-communist parts of the treaty, which were public, there was also a secret part where Germany and Japan mentioned the Soviet Union by name and how the countries would assist each other if attacked by the Soviets.

Starting point is 00:04:25 I should note that while fascist Italy and Nazi Germany had things that separated them, Germany and Imperial Japan really had very little in common beyond mutual geopolitical interests. In fact, Hiller ultimately had to declare the Japanese to be, quote, honorary Aryans to justify their partnership. In November 1937, Italy became a signatory to the public part of the anti-commonterne pact as well. In February 1939, the Japanese puppet regime in Manchuria, known as Manchukho signed the treaty, as did Hungary.

Starting point is 00:04:56 More on them in a bit. In March, immediately after the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War, Franco had Spain signed the treaty as well. In May of 1939, Italy and Germany strengthened their ties by signing the Pact of Friendship and alliance between Germany and Italy, also known as the Pact of Steel. The treaty originally was intended to include Japan, but the Japanese were more interested in fighting the Soviets, and the Germans and Italians were more interested in the French and the British. The Pact of Steel was an explicit military alliance between Italy and Germany, and called on one to come to the aid of the other if attacked.

Starting point is 00:05:30 What Germany then did in August of 1939 was quite shocking to its allies. The German foreign minister, Yochim von Ribbentrop traveled to Moscow to sign a secret agreement with the Soviet foreign minister Vichislav Molotov. I've previously done an episode on the Ribbentrop-Molatov agreement, but basically it set the stage for the invasion of Poland which would take place only a week later. Militarily speaking, the Ribbentrop Molotov pact was far more detailed than anything the Germans ever signed with one of their supposed allies. In addition to being a non-aggression pact, the Germans recognized a Soviet sphere of influence in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Bessarabia, now known as Moldova, and Eastern Poland.

Starting point is 00:06:11 Ribbentrop told the Soviets that the anti-commontern pact was really more of an anti-Western pack, and Molotov, for his part, never made it an issue. There was actually a joke going around Germany afterwards that the Soviet Union would be the next to sign the anti-commontern pact. The other signatories of the anti-commonetern pact had various reactions to Hitler's deal with the Soviets. Mussolini was ambivalent. He had now become the junior partner in his relationship with Hitler. In the previous year in 1938, he adopted Nazi policies on Jews because he needed Hitler's support. The Italian public had always been suspicious of an alliance with the Germans, and this treaty now only confirmed it. The Japanese actually felt betrayed. They had been fighting border

Starting point is 00:06:51 skirmishes with the Soviets along the border of Manchuria. When the Ribbentrop-Molatov Pact became known, they immediately came to terms with the Soviets. Their concern was that if the Soviets didn't have to worry about their Western border, they would turn their attention to the East. There are many what-ifs you can play with respect to World War II. One of the biggest is, what if Germany and Japan had both focused their attention on the Soviet Union and ignored the United States. With the formal start of war in Europe and the possible expansion of the war looming, Germany once again saw the need for allies. In September of 1940, after the successful invasion of France, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the tripartite pact. The tripartite pact was really the agreement that defined the axis as we think of them today.

Starting point is 00:07:35 today, insofar as it included the three main belligerent countries. However, it never replaced the anti-commontern pact or the pact of steel. The tripartite pact was intended to be a defensive treaty, and in the event that one of the signatories was attacked, the other members would be obligated to declare war. Oddly enough, that article was never invoked the entire time the treaty was in effect. There are several things about the tripartite pact that most people don't realize. The first is that the Soviets wanted to join. In October of 1940, Molotov flew to Berlin to meet German officials to discuss the Soviet Union becoming the fourth member of the alliance. The Soviets viewed this as just an extension of their current agreement with the Germans.

Starting point is 00:08:17 This is something that most people either don't realize or downplay. The Soviets actually wanted to be a part of the Axis before they became part of the Allies. They actually went so far as to offer economic incentives to Germany. They sent a proposal to the Germans in November, which largely outlined their control over Finland, but the Germans never replied. By November of 1940, the Nazis already knew that they intended to invade the Soviet Union the next year, and it would never allow the Soviets in the club. Germany, Japan, and Italy signing the tripartite pact is not the end of this story. Another thing that most people don't realize is that there were more than three countries that

Starting point is 00:08:53 signed the tripartite pact and were members of the Axis Alliance. While the Soviets may not have gotten in, other countries did. The first country that sought membership was Hungary. When news of the treaty went public, Hungary immediately contacted the Germans to become a signatory. The reason why Hungary wanted to join was mostly due to geopolitical reality. Their primary fear was being invaded and conquered by the Soviets. Neither Germany nor Italy was keen to have Hungary join, but situations on the ground force their hand. In early October, Romania requested German troops to guard the Ployashdi oil fields. Hungary agreed to let German troops pass through their country to reach Romania. Hitler then had a change of mind and allowed any country friendly to Germany to join the treaty.

Starting point is 00:09:36 Hungary signed the tripartite treaty on October 12, 1940. Romania sought to join the treaty as well to seek protection from the Soviet Union. They signed the treaty on November 23rd, 1940. Slovakia was a newly created state after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1939. While not explicitly a puppet state of Germany, its leaders were only there because of Germany, so they were very sympathetic. Bulgaria had been an ally of Germany since the First World War, and Germany had put pressure on Bulgaria to join. On November 17th, the Tsar Boris III, the ruler of Bulgaria, flew to Berlin to meet with Hitler.

Starting point is 00:10:12 The Tsar agreed in principle to join, but held off on formally signing. The Soviets used this opportunity to try and woo Bulgaria itself, but the actions of Bulgarian communists ruined their overtures. Ultimately, on March 1st, 1941, Bulgaria exceeded to joining the pact if for no other reason than survival. Germany wanted to intervene in the Italian-Greek war and needed to send troops through Bulgaria to do so. I should note that the United States issued formal declarations of war on Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria in June of 1942, in addition to their previous declarations against Japan, Germany, and Italy. On March 24, 1941, Yugoslavia, signed the treaty. However, just two days later, the Yugoslavian government was overthrown in a coup,

Starting point is 00:10:56 which resulted in an invasion by the access just two weeks later. One result of the invasion of Yugoslavia was the creation of the independent state of Croatia, which was really just a puppet of Italy and Germany. They signed the treaty on June 15, 1941. Two other countries considered joining, but never actually did. Finland considered it, just as a bulwark against Soviet aggression, and Thailand did because the Japanese wanted to transfer troops through the country to get to Burma. June 14th, 1941 would be the high mark for the Axis Alliance. The next week, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and everything changed. To give you an idea of just how loose this alliance actually was, Germany never told Japan

Starting point is 00:11:38 about Operation Barbarossa and the invasion of the Soviet Union. Likewise, Japan never notified Germany about attacking Pearl Harbor and everything else they attacked on the same day. Other than having signed a piece of paper, there was really no coordination of anything militarily between Germany and Japan. The only thing of consequence was Germany and Italy declaring war in the United States after Pearl Harbor, and they didn't even have to do that according to the treaty. Even between Germany and Italy, it was hardly a partnership of equals. The lesser Axis countries only had a minor contribution to the war, but they were a part of the Axis Alliance nonetheless. As the war began to turn, the Axis powers began to fade away. Mussolini's fascist regime fell in 1943, which required the Germans to invade Italy to stop the Allied advance.

Starting point is 00:12:24 Governments in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary all dissolved as the Soviets swept through them in pursuit of the Germans. Germany and Japan were the last one standing, and we all know what happened to them. The Axis was really just an alliance in name. They never had the deep integration of forces and strategy that the Allies did. They also never really trusted each other, as each one of the members had their own agenda. This lack of unity and cooperation is just one of many reasons why the Axis ultimately lost the war. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Peter Bennett and Cameron Kiefer.

Starting point is 00:13:03 Today's review comes from listener Panhandled nude Nick over on Apple Podcasts in the United States. They write, great podcast. I'm working my way from the bottom up. It has a good calming effect while I'm at a stressful job, although you will develop an urge to make scotch eggs. Thanks, Panhandle. Not only does listening to this podcast provide a calming effect, but if made properly, scotch eggs do as well.

Starting point is 00:13:26 Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostagram, you two can have it right in the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Axis Powers

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