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, 1941. 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, 1941. Slovakia Both politically and economically dependent on Germany for its very existence as an вЂњindependentвЂќ state, Slovakia followed suit on November 24.Д«ulgaria 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. 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 1940, and win German support for the return of northern Transylvania. Romania Having already requested and received a German military mission in October 1940, Romania joined on November 23, 1940. 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, 1940. Hungary After the Italo-Greek front opened on October 28, 1940, German pressure on Hungary and the Balkan States intensified. To subdue Greece and move the British off the European mainland, Nazi Germany now required troop transport through Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Greek entry into the war and victories in northern Greece and Albania allowed the British to open a Balkan front against the Axis in Greece that might threaten RomaniaвЂ™s oil fields, which were vital to Nazi GermanyвЂ™s invasion plans. ItalyвЂ™s failed effort to conquer Greece in the late autumn and winter of 1940-1941 exacerbated German concerns about securing their southeastern flank in the Balkans. 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. 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. In July 1940, just weeks after the defeat of France, Hitler decided that Nazi Germany would attack the Soviet Union the following spring. Germany Pressures other States to Join the Axis Italy entered World War II on the Axis side on June 10, 1940, as the defeat of France became apparent. The German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, unleashed the European war. On July 7, 1937, Japan invaded China to initiate the war in the Pacific. Finally, on September 27, 1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, which became known as the Axis alliance.Д®ven before the Tripartite Pact, two of the three Axis powers had initiated conflicts that would become theaters of war in World War II. On May 22, 1939, Germany and Italy signed the so-called Pact of Steel, formalizing the Axis alliance with military provisions. Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact on November 6, 1937. Nearly a month later, on November 25, 1936, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan signed the so-called Anti-Comintern Pact directed at the Soviet Union. On November 1, 1936, Germany and Italy, reflecting their common interest in destabilizing the European order, announced a Rome-Berlin Axis one week after signing a treaty of friendship.

The destruction or neutralization of Soviet Communism.

Territorial expansion and foundation of empires based on military conquest and the overthrow of the post- World War I international order and.

Formation of the Axis AllianceДЄlthough the Axis partners never developed institutions to coordinate foreign or military policy as the Allies did, the Axis partners had two common interests: The Allied Powers were led by Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. These three countries recognized German domination over most of continental Europe Italian domination over the Mediterranean Sea and Japanese domination over East Asia and the Pacific. The three principal partners in the Axis alliance were Germany, Italy, and Japan.

There were two major alliances during World War II: the Axis and the Allies.

Empires and allies alliance wars