The participants in World War II were those nations who either participated directly in or were affected by any of the theaters or events of World War II. World War II was primarily fought between two large military alliances. The Axis powers were a group of countries led by Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy (until its defeat) and the Empire of Japan. They were considered the aggressors of the conflict. The Allies, led by the United Kingdom, its Commonwealth (excluding the Irish Free State), and France (until its defeat), were joined in the European theatre by the Soviet Union in June 1941 and by the United States in December 1941. In the Asia-Pacific theater, the Allies were led by the Republic of China, following the 1937 invasion of China by Japan, and the United States and the British Commonwealth, following the 1941–42 Japanese attacks.
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Famous quotes containing the words participants, world and/or war:
“A civilization which leaves so large a number of its participants unsatisfied and drives them into revolt neither has nor deserves the prospect of a lasting existence.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
“The world goes by my cage and never sees me.”
—Randall Jarrell (1914–1965)
“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse.... A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their own free choice—is often the means of their regeneration.”
—John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)