Axis and Allies, Leaders,

political philosophies and

policies
Axis (main force)
Allies (main force)
Germany (Axis)
Germany’s leader was the extremely nationalistic Adolf Hitler. Germany waged
two wars in a sense. One on the Allies and the other against the jewish population.
One of his main goals was to build the aryan race and to him jews were to blame
for the loss of world war 1 and were below the “superior” german race. So he
sought to eradicate them from his lands. He accomplished this through
dehumanization, segregation, and then concentration/death camps. When it
became apparent that Germany would lose Hitler focused on eradicating as many
people in the camps as possible. Another major goal was to eradicate
communism. The hate of soviet communism helped unite the major axis powers
(Italy, Japan, Germany). The final bonding goal was the expansion of their
empires. Germany’s desired empire was most of continental Europe.
Italy (Axis)
Italy’s leader was fascist Benito Mussolini. Italy shared the same philosophies as
the other axis powers. They sought destabilization in Europe and did so by
“reviving” the Roman empire. They wanted domination over the mediterranean
sea area. That was there desired territorial expansion. The extreme nationalism
growing in Europe before the war made the italians despise communism which is
almost the opposite of the Roman empire. Italy was never a major player in wars,
only joining the war when their enemy, France, was without a doubt going to be
defeated. Mussolini kept power through the OVRA (Organization for Vigilance and
Repression of Anti-Fascism). When the allies swept through Italy, the little
progress Mussolini made was instantly lost and he died. His body was left in a
square to be beaten by angry crowd members and italian fascism quickly
disappeared with the death of Mussolini.
Japan (Axis)
Japan was the final major player in the axis alliance, and the last to remain
standing. Under the leadership of Hideki Tojo Japan started their campaign. Their
desired territory was east europe and the pacific ocean. Japan opposed
communism because their monarchy revolved around classes while in
communism everyone is on even ground (true communism). They started with the
invasion of China and was followed by terrible crimes against the Chinese. Then
they attacked neutral US naval base of Pearl Harbor in order to get vengeance for
US embargos and to prevent the US from entering the war but it had the opposite
effect. Japan is a country where honor is held in high regard which is why they
were the last of the Axis powers to remain standing. Japan’s philosophies on
honor made them refuse surrender and after the first two nuclear bombings Japan
finally conceded to defeat.
United States (Allies)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the leader of the U.S. during World War 2. Though
the United States was the last to join the war on the fronts it assisted with the
manufacturing of tanks and planes to sell Britain and France. Being provoked by
Pearl Harbor the U.S. declared war on Japan dragging them into war and out of
neutrality which the U.S. tried to maintain. With the U.S. joining to help in the “fight
for democracy” the U.S. helped liberate France and effectively cleaned up the
west front. German troops had already been holding the front for quite some time
but were exhausted. The U.S. and the allies on the west front made it to the Rhine
liberating concentration camps they stumbled upon. With the surrender from
Germany the U.S. focused on their west front in the pacific island hopping
campaign. Making it somewhat close to Japan they made the decision to use the
two developed nuclear bombs as a show of strength and to end a war that would
have lasted much longer if they decided to invade Japan. Fought for democracy.
Great Britain
Winston Churchill was the leader of Great Britain during the war. France was also
an ally but was taken over quickly preventing them from being a major player in
the war. However Britain was there start to finish. Surviving constant bombings on
their cities and the stand still on the western front because of trenches they
persevered. To protect their political beliefs (Constitutional Monarchy) and ideals
they fought against Germany. Eventually with the U.S. joining the war they were
able to liberate northern africa and remove Italy from the war. Then they pushed
the Germans back to the Rhine.The liberation of France came first however
because it was an ally near Britain and was under harsh German rule. The Royal
Air Force was one of Britain’s strongest contributions to the war.
Soviet Union (USSR) (Allies)
The Soviet Union led by Joseph Stalin was originally a neutral country not wanting a
part in the war until they entered a secret pact with Germany to invade and split
Poland between them. This agreement came to fruition but Germany broke the pact
by then invading the USSR because Hitler saw them as inferior and opposed
communism. Stalin then entered the Allies and the East front became the bloodiest
battles in the war because unlike the trench riddled west front they made contant
pushes. Against the Germans the Red Army wasn’t faring well until winter hit.
German troops being in spring uniform with little aid making it to them the push into
the USSR came to stop. Using the winter as their advantage they counterattacked
and pushed into Germany. The Soviet Union took Berlin and Germany’s fight was
over with the suicide of Hitler. After splitting Berlin into west and east Stalin made the
east a communism to fulfil his goal of spreading Soviet communism. In the pursuit for
more power Stalin was merciless leading millions to die in the war and even
imprisoning some of his own people in concentration camps or Gulags.