During World War II some countries were Axis Powers and some were Allied Powers. What are the Axis Powers and Allied Powers?

Dando

The Allied Powers were those nations opposed to Nazi Germany. The anti-German coalition at the start of the war, on 1 September 1939, consisted of France, Poland and the United Kingdom. After 1941, the leaders of the British Empire, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the United States of America (known as "The Big Three")led the allied powers. France, before its defeat in 1940 and after Operation Overlord in 1944, and China were also major Allies. Other Allies included Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippine Commonwealth, Albania, the Union of South Africa, and Yugoslavia. The Axis Powers were opposed to the Allied Powers. The three major Axis powers — Germany, Japan and Italy — were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers. At their zenith, the Axis powers ruled large parts of Europe, Africa, East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, but World War II ended with their total defeat and dissolution. Like the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, and other nations entered and later left the Axis during the course of the war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_powers Jul 22 10, 3:57 PM

star_gazer

The Italian government formally surrendered on 8 Sept 1943, the day before the Allies landed at Salerno. Italy did not exactly switch sides. Churchill did not want to allow the Italians to become an ally. The only option was for them to surrender as a defeated enemy. However, on the local scale, many Italian ex-soldiers and citizens supported the Allies and worked for the local Allied commanders. They performed duties as translators, guides, and carrying supplies up into the mountains. because they realised that they didn't want to follow Mussolini (dictator in Italy) and US invaded tem. This was their chance to switch sides. Italy decarlared war aganist the germans on the 13th of October 1943. For more info go to the site listed below or go to google and type in Why did Italy change sides in world war 2 and scroll and click on HISTORY OF WW2 ans scroll down until the sub-title ITLAY CHANGES SIDES. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=2547&HistoryID=ac31 Jul 22 10, 9:42 PM