Axis

__//** The Axis Powers **//__

The Axis powers (German: Achsenmächte, Japanese: Suujikukoku (枢軸国), Italian: Potenze dell'Asse, Hungarian: Tengelyhatalmak,Romanian: Puterile Axei, Bulgarian: Сили от Оста), also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, comprised the countries that were opposed to the Allies during World War II. 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 empires that dominated 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.