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China Main article: Second Sino-Japanese War When World War II began, the Republic of China had been fighting the Empire of Japan since 1937. During the 1920s, the Kuomintang government was aided by the Soviet Union, which helped to reorganize the party, superficially at least, along Leninist lines: a unification of party, state, and army. However, following the unification of China, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek purged leftists from his party and refused to ally with the Communist Party of China 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. Chiang's anti-communist campaigns continued while he fought small, incessant conflicts against Japan throughout the 1930s. This period saw China lose territories piece by piece to Japan. In the early 1930s, Germany and China became close partners in military and industrial matters. Nazi Germany provided the largest proportion of Chinese arms imports and technical expertise. Following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of July 7, 1937, China and Japan became embroiled in a full-scale war which continued until 1945. Initially, Germany denounced Japanese war crimes in China, such as the Nanking Massacre of 1937. However Germany also recognized that Japan would be a more capable ally against the Soviet Union, and broke off the cooperation with China in May 1938. The Soviet Union, wishing to keep China in the fight against Japan, supplied China with some military assistance until 1941, until it made peace with Japan to prepare for the war against Germany. 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. However, Allied aid remained low as the Burma Road was closed and the Allies suffered a series of military defeats against Japan early on in the campaign. The bulk of military aid would not arrive until the spring of 1945. More than 1.5 million Japanese troops were trapped in the China Theater; troops that otherwise could have been deployed elsewhere had China collapsed and made a separate peace with Japan. 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. Nepal, Newfoundland, Tonga, South Africa and Canada followed suit within days. On September 17, USSR invaded Poland from the East and on November 30 Soviet Union attacked Finland. The following year the USSR annexed the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) together with parts of Romania. 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 Invasion of Poland (1939)|German invasion of Poland After the end of the Phony War After the attack on Pearl Harbor After the Declaration by United Nations
After Battle of Normandy|D-Day After Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|the bombing of Hiroshima Original allies The original allies were those states that declared war on Nazi Germany following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. 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 Polish-British Common Defence Pact, signed on August 25, 1939, contained promises of mutual military assistance between the nations in the event either was attacked by Nazi Germany. Poland never officially surrendered to the Third Reich and the Polish government in exile after 1939 continued the Polish contribution to World War II on several fronts with hundreds of thousands 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 the People's Republic of Poland in 1952. British, Dutch and French colonies fought alongside their metropolitan countries, and many continued their contribution also when the mother countries were occupied. The British Commonwealth In addition to the United Kingdom, several independent members of the British Commonwealth — the official name in 1926-49 — known as the Dominions, declared war on Germany separately, either on the same day, or soon afterwards. These countries were: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland (which was not part of Canada until 1949) and South Africa. The Indian Empire (including the areas covered by the later Republic of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and the many British Crown Colonies around the world were controlled politically by Britain and therefore also entered hostilities with Britain's declaration of war. The Indian Empire suffered 1,500,000 civilian casualties, more than the U.K. It also contributed about 2,500,000 personnel and suffered 87,000 military casualties, more than any Commonwealth country other than the U.K. 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 *. Later Finland and the Kingdom of Denmark officially joined the Axis Anti-Comintern Pact. The Kingdom of Sweden remained officially neutral. Following the Moscow armistice of September 1944, Finland effectively joined the Allies and expelled German forces. This led to a series of armed clashes called the Lapland War. Denmark was invaded by Germany on April 9, 1940. The Danish government did not declare war and it surrendered the same day, on the understanding that it retaine control of domestic affairs. No government-in-exile was formed. Danes fought with both Allied and Axis forces. (See Occupation of Denmark for more details.) Iceland and Greenland, which were 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. Portugal Although Portugal remained officially neutral, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance was invoked in World War II leading to the establishment of an Allied base in the Azores. Portugal protested the occupation of Portuguese Timor by Allied forces in 1942, but did not actively resist. The colony was subsequently occupied by Japan; Timorese and Portuguese civilians assisted Allied commandos in resisting the Japanese (see: Battle of Timor). Macau was also occupied by Japan. 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: 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. Declaration by United Nations Declaration by United Nations, January 1, 1942 (26 signatories) (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 Pan American Union * (21 members) (Final Act of the Second Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics at Habana, Cuba, July 30, 1940) From July 1944, a Brazilian Expeditionary Force of 25,000 personnel joined the Allies in the Italian campaign. In 1945, the Mexican Air Force's Escuadrón 201 was attached to the U.S. Far East Air Force, during the Philippines campaign. The other countries in this group contributed support units, small combat forces, or to lesser degrees. See also | |||||||||||
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