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)
“For human nature, being more highly pitched, selved, and distinctive than anything in the world, can have been developed, evolved, condensed, from the vastness of the world not anyhow or by the working of common powers but only by one of finer or higher pitch and determination than itself.”
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“Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defense can be just.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)