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* [[Image:Flag of Chile.svg|15px]] [[Chile]]: [[1945]] [[11 April]] |
* [[Image:Flag of Chile.svg|15px]] [[Chile]]: [[1945]] [[11 April]] |
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* [[Image:Flag of the People's Republic of Mongolia (1949-1992).svg|15px]] [[People's Republic of Mongolia]]: [[1945]] [[9 August]] |
* [[Image:Flag of the People's Republic of Mongolia (1949-1992).svg|15px]] [[People's Republic of Mongolia]]: [[1945]] [[9 August]] |
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* [[Image:Flag of Finland.svg|15px]] [[Finland]] |
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==Formal alliances during the war== |
==Formal alliances during the war== |
Revision as of 19:29, 14 June 2006
The group of countries known as the Allies of World War II consisted of those nations opposed to the Axis Powers during the Second World War.
China
- Main article: Second Sino-Japanese War
By the time World War II began, Chinese forces had been fighting the Empire of Japan on and off since 1894.
During the 1920s, the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party; KMT) government was supported by the Soviet Union, which sought to hinder Japanese attempts to threaten Siberia. However, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek purged leftists from his party and refused to ally with the Communist Party of China (CCP) to fight against the Japanese, and instead opted to fight both at once. This remained the case even after the Mukden Incident and the puppet regime of Manchuria set by Japanese troops in 1931.
Starting in the late 1920s, Germany and China became close partners in areas of military and industrial exchange. After 1933, because of Chiang's anti-communist policies, Nazi Germany provided the largest proportion of Chinese arms imports. German military advisors assisted the Kuomintang armies; Chinese officers (including Chiang's second son) were trained by and served with the German Wehrmacht. The Nazis denounced Japanese war crimes in China, such as the Nanking Massacre of 1937. However the Nazis broke off the cooperation in May 1938 when they recognised the existence of Manchukuo.
Following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of July 8, 1937, Chinese forces engaged the Empire of Japan in full-scale hostilities which continued until 1945. In 1936, KMT generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng (with the support of the Communist leader Zhou Enlai), kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek in the Xi'an Incident and forced him to join a united front with the Communists against the Japanese. Even though the ceasefire was in effect, the armies were never under a united command, as both armies were trying to conserve their own strength for a coming showdown with each other.
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. Chiang Kai-shek felt Allied victory was assured with the entrance of the United States into the war and he declared war on Germany and the other Axis nations.
Key alliances are formed
On September 1, the German invasion of Poland began World War II. Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand all declared war on Germany on September 3. India followed a day later. Nepal, Newfoundland, Tonga, South Africa and Canada followed suit within days. On September 17, the Soviets invaded Poland from the East. The following year, the USSR annexed the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) together with parts of Romania, and attacked Finland. The German-Soviet agreement was brought to an end by the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941.
The United States of America joined the Allies following the attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941. The Declaration by United Nations, on January 1, 1942, officially united 26 nations as Allies. (The Declaration also formed the basis for the United Nations.) The informal Big 3 alliance of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States emerged in the latter half of the war, and their decisions determined Allied strategy around the world.
Dates on which states joined the Allies
Following the German invasion of Poland
- Poland: 1939 1 September
- United Kingdom: 1939 3 September
- France: 1939 3 September
- Australia: 1939 3 September
- New Zealand: 1939 3 September
- File:Imperial-India-Blue-Ensign.svg The Indian Empire: 1939 4 September
- Nepal: 1939 4 September
- Newfoundland: 1939 4 September
- Tonga: 1939 4 September
- South Africa: 1939 6 September
- Canada: 1939 10 September
After the end of the Phony War
- Denmark: 1940 9 April
- Norway: 1940 9 April
- Belgium: 1940 10 May
- Luxembourg: 1940 10 May
- Netherlands: 1940 10 May
- Malta: 1940 10 June
- File:Flag of Free France.svg Free France: 1940 18 June
- Greece: 1940 28 October
- Kingdom of Yugoslavia: 1941 6 April
- Soviet Union: 1941 22 June
- File:Tannutuva.gif Tannu Tuva: 1941 25 June
After the attack on Pearl Harbor
- Panama: 1941 7 December
- Philippines: 1941 7 December
- File:Flag of Costa Rica state.svg Costa Rica: 1941 8 December
- Dominican Republic: 1941 8 December
- El Salvador: 1941 8 December
- Haiti: 1941 8 December
- Honduras: 1941 8 December
- Nicaragua: 1941 8 December
- United States of America: 1941 8 December
- Republic of China: 1941 9 December
- Guatemala: 1941 9 December
- Cuba: 1941 9 December
- Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (Govt. in exile): 1941 9 December
- Czechoslovakia (Govt. in exile) : 1941 16 December
- Mexico: 1942 22 May
- Brazil: 1942 22 August
- File:Ethiopia1897.gif Ethiopia: 1942 14 December
- File:Iraq1924.gif Iraq 1943: 17 January
- Bolivia: 1943 7 April
- File:Persia1906.gif Iran 1943: 9 September
- Italy: 1943 13 October
- Colombia: 1943 26 November
- Liberia: 1944 27 January
After D-Day
- Romania: 1944 25 August, (formerly a member of the Axis)
- Bulgaria: 1944 8 September, (formerly a member of the Axis)
- San Marino: 1944 21 September
- Albania: 1944 26 October
- Hungary: 1945 20 January, (formerly a member of the Axis)
- File:Bahawalpur.gif Bahawalpur: 1945 2 February
- Ecuador: 1945 2 February
- Paraguay: 1945 7 February
- Peru: 1945 12 February
- Uruguay: 1945 15 February
- Venezuela: 1945 15 February
- Turkey: 1945 23 February
- Lebanon: 1945 27 February
- Saudi Arabia: 1945 March
- Argentina: 1945 27 March
- Chile: 1945 11 April
- People's Republic of Mongolia: 1945 9 August
Formal alliances during the war
Original allies
These countries were allied to each other by a net of common defence pacts and military alliance pacts signed before the war. The Franco-British Alliance dated back to the Entente Cordiale of 1904 and the Triple Entente of 1907, active during the World War I. The Franco-Polish Alliance was signed in 1921 and then amended in 1927 and 1939. The original allies were those states that declared war on Nazi Germany following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939.
The Polish government in exile after 1939 continued the Polish contribution to World War II on several fronts with hundreds of thousand of members in the Polish Army in France and UK, as well as the Home Army in occupied Poland. The Soviet Union however, did not recognize the government and in 1943 organized the Polish People's Army under Rokossovsky, around which eventually it constructed the post-war successor state.
British, Dutch and French colonies fought alongside their metropolitan countries, and many continued their contribution also when the mother countries were occupied.
The Commonwealth
In addition to the United Kingdom, several independent members of the Commonwealth of Nations, known as the Dominions, declared war on Germany separately, either on the same day, or soon afterwards.
British India
British India, a crown colony of Great Britain which included modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma declared war on the Axis powers soon after Britain's entry into the World War 2.
The Oslo Group
The Oslo Group was an organisation of officially neutral countries. Four members later joined the Allies, as governments in exile: the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
The Republic of Finland was invaded by the USSR on November 30 1939 [1]. Later Finland and the Kingdom of Denmark officially joined the Axis Anti-Comintern Pact. The Kingdom of Sweden remained officially neutral.
Iceland and Greenland, respectively in union with Denmark and a Danish colony, were occupied by the Allies for most of the war. British forces took control in Iceland in 1940, and it was used to facilitate the movement of Lend Lease equipment. Forces from the United States, although they were officially neutral at the time, occupied Greenland on April 9, 1941. The US also took over in Iceland on July 7, 1941. Iceland declared full independence from Denmark in 1944, but never declared war on any of the Axis powers.
Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was negotiated at the Atlantic Conference by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, aboard warships in a secure anchorage at Argentia, Newfoundland (located on Placentia Bay) and was issued as a joint declaration on August 14, 1941.
The Atlantic Charter established a vision for a post-World War II world, despite the fact the United States had yet to enter the war.
In brief, the nine points were:
- no territorial gains sought by the United States or the United Kingdom;
- territorial adjustments must be in accord with wishes of the people;
- the right to self-determination of peoples;
- trade barriers lowered;
- global economic cooperation and advancement of social welfare;
- freedom from want and fear;
- freedom of the seas;
- disarmament of aggressor nations, postwar common disarmament
- defeat of Germany and other Axis powers
The Atlantic Charter proved to be one of the first steps towards the formation of the United Nations.
Comintern
The following socialist and pro-Soviet forces also fought against the Axis powers before or during the Second World War.
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- International Brigades
- Popular Front
- Albanian National Liberation Army
- Chinese People's Liberation Army
- Moldova [2] & Bukovina
- Communist Party of Yugoslavia
- Greek National Liberation Front
- Malayan Communist Party
- Tudeh Party of Iran
- Mongolian People's Republic
- Polish People's Army
- Viet Minh
- People's Republic of Azerbaijan [3]
- Kurdish People's Republic
Declaration by United Nations
Declaration by United Nations, January 1, 1942
(26 signatories)
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- United States of America
- Republic of China
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Commonwealth of Australia
- Kingdom of Belgium
- Canada
- Republic of Costa Rica
- Republic of Cuba
- Czechoslovak Republic
- Dominican Republic
- Republic of El Salvador
- Kingdom of Greece
- Republic of Guatemala
- La Republique d' Haiti
- Republic of Honduras
- India
- Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
- Kingdom of the Netherlands
- Dominion of New Zealand
- Republic of Nicaragua
- Kingdom of Norway
- Republic of Panama
- Republic of Poland
- Union of South Africa
- Kingdom of Yugoslavia
(Note: During 1942 the declaration was adhered to by Mexico, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, and Ethiopia; in the first four months of 1943, it was adhered to by Iraq, Brazil, and Bolivia.
Tripartite Treaty of Alliance 29 January 1942
- United Kingdom
- Soviet Union
- Iran [4]
Pan American Union
[5] (21 members)
(Final Act of the Second Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics at Habana, Cuba, July 30, 1940)
- Bolivia
- Brazil (25 August 1942)
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Mexico (1 June 1942)
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- United States of America
By 1945 Mexican "Aztec Eagles" or Escuadrón 201 joined the United States of America in the Pacific, specially on the bombings over Formosa (Taiwan) and Luzon (Philippines). From July 1944, a Brazilian Expeditionary Force of 25,000 personnel joined the Allies in the Italian campaign. The other countries in this group contributed support units, small combat forces, or to lesser degrees.