After covering the war-contributing countries of the African continent in the first part of our
last video, we moved onto a few countries in the Middle East. In this next video,
we're first going to tick off a few more countries the Middle East,
pay a visit to Japan and Korea, and then take to the air and provide you
with an overview of Central and Western Europe, as well as the U.K. and Greenland.
The Jews and Arabs in British Mandatory Palestine were competing against each other British
authorities before the war. Among the Arabs, there was no uniform allegiance to either the Allies or
Axis, and the leader of the Jews in Palestine inspired many to cease fighting the Brits and
see the greater threat. Building the Palestine Regiment, the British tried to recruit equal Jews
and Arabs, but only one Arab volunteered for every three Jews. This regiment guarded North Africa
and Egypt, though in 1944, the Brits let three Jewish battalions become the "Jewish Brigade"
and go to fight with Axis in Italy. The Brigade helped many Jews escape Europe for Palestine.
Lebanon criticized the Vichy French government which ruled the country
at the start of the war and which also let Nazi aircraft and other
supplies into Iraq through Syria to be used against the British. In turn,
the Brits marched into Syria and Lebanon and subdued the Vichy government,
setting Lebanon on its way to independence. Lebanon later declared war on Germany and Japan.
In 1941, and with aid from the Germans and Italians, the Nazi-sympathising Iraqi
politician Rashid Ali overthrew the pro-British government, and so, in to maintain control of
crucial routes and oil supplies, the British responded by invading Iraq. Once they'd sent
Rashid Ali literally flying out of the country, the Brits prodded Iraq to declare war on Axis.
Another country controlled by the Vichy government after the fall of France,
Syria was invaded by the British, who -- motivated once again by that sweet,
sweet oil -- beat the Vichy government into surrender with the help of the Free French and,
like Lebanon, started Syria on its path to independence.
Imperial Japan was keen to expand its power in the Far East, and entered the war by attacking the US
naval base in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii on the 7th of December 1941. Japan’s strategy was to seize as
much of the Far East territories from the Allies and local countries (like the Philippines) as
quickly as possible to form a buffer zone against American counter-offensive,
which they knew would be fierce. This expansion went well until mid-1942,
when decisive defeats to the US navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway turned
the tide. The Japanese developed a reputation as the most brutal combatants of the war,
committing all number of atrocious war crimes, and when they refused to surrender
after everyone else had at the end of the war, 2 atomic bombs quickly changed their attitude.
With their country under Japanese rule, over one hundred thousands Koreans were forced to join the
Imperial Japanese Army. Dressing themselves for independence back in 1919, the Koreans had formed
a government, and in 1940 an army was born under that same and persisting government. In 1941,
this army, the aptly named "Korean Liberation Army" declared war on Japan. After Hiroshima
and Nagasaki and Japan's surrender, Korea was occupied by both the Yanks and the Soviets,
and disagreements between them inside of the country eventually led to the KoreanWar.
While the Germans took Denmark as a stepping stone into their attack on Norway, they didn't
actually occupy Greenland. After Greenland's "landsfogeder" -- its "sheriffs" -- invoked
an emergency clause and declared their territory "self-ruling," they requested
the aid and protection of the U.S. The Yanks set up traffic facilities, ratio beacons,
radio stations, weather stations, ports, and other infrastructure on Greenland,
and when they declared war, Greenland followed them. Throughout the war, Greenland exported
cryolite to the U.S., Canada, and Portugal; this boosted and stabilised the country's economy.
After Greece rejected Italian requests to use strategic positions, the latter
attacked in October 1940. The Greeks fought so well that the Italians needed
the help of the Germans 6 months later. With elite Axis reinforcements however,
the tough little country was taken over eventually, and was installed
with a puppet Government that was resisted by the populace until most Germans pulled out in 1945.
In 1940, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenians, Maronites,
and Latins banded together to make the "Cyprus Regiment," a unit under the British Army some
thirty thousand strong. They trod into the Western Front alongside mules, using the beasts
to shoulder equipment and supplies to places no vehicle dared travel. The regiment went on to
serve the Allies in the Greek Campaign, in North Africa, in France, the Middle East, and in Italy.
Bulgarian alignment jumped around a little. At first, Bulgaria was neutral, but after Italy
failed to invade Greece, the Nazis sort of forced Bulgaria to join them and let them pass through
to reinforce the Italians in Greece. With the arrival of the Soviets following the "9 September
coup d'état," theNazi-led Bulgarian government was overthrown, and the country declared war
on Germany, attacking them in Yugoslavia and continuing through Hungary and Austria.
Axis swept in and occupied Yugoslavia in 1941, creating puppet and client states out of Nedic's
Serbia, the Kingdom of Montenegro, and the Independent State of Croatia,
which we'll get to next. Resistance stirred, and two distinct parties formed, the Chetniks,
who were recognised as the official Yugoslav movement by the Allies, and the partisans,
who were communist-backed. In essence, the Balkans was pretty much a free for all in World War 2,
and there are many, many controversies that surround the different groups to this day.
The Independent State of Croatia joined Axis and signed the Tripartite Pact in 1941 and,
during the war, not only fought alongside Axis but also attempted genocide against the
Serbians in Croatia and Bosnia. The "Jasenovac death camp," an extermination camp they set up
in Slavonia, was also referred to as the "Auschwitz of the Balkans."
One hundred thousand Italians settled in Albania after Italy invaded it in 1939. The
Albanian population began in support of their fascist political parties,
though after Operation Barbarossa and Albania's declaration of war on the Soviets,
communist resistance groups rose up in Albania, aiming to reclaim their occupied country. A
year after these groups banded together to form a "National Liberation Army" in 1942,
the Nazis rained paratroopers on them, preventing their seizure of the capital, Tirana,
and sending them south. After regathering and reclaiming the bulk of Southern Albania in 1944,
and after most of the Germans had left Tirana, the Albanian communists hit Tirana and took it back.
Wih internal political upheaval after surrendering territory to the Soviets,
Hungary, and Bulgaria, Romania sided with Axis, feeding more than six hundred thousand men to
the German suicide in the Soviet winter and Stalingrad. Romania, on top of a great many men,
also supplied oil to the Germans. When Germany and Hungary declared war on Romania, Romania joined
the Allies, delivering almost six hundred thousand men again into war, but this time against Axis.
Before the war, the Soviets were in control of Moldova;
during it, they took the rest from Romania.
The attack of the Nazis -- and later the Soviets -- on Poland made World War 2
official. Of the Poles with military experience that escaped Poland, many fought for the Allies
in the Battle of France, and others ended up joining the British in the Battle for Britain,
earning huge amounts of respect for their piloting skills. Poland itself however,
suffered horrendous civilian casualties in the war, with a mix of both Nazi and Soviet
hatred toward them culminating in the deathsof over 6 million Polish citizens.
A symbol of bitterness and defeat in World War I, the free city of Danzig,
which had been stripped from Germany at the end of the Great War, was one
of the key motivators for Germany to invade Poland with such vigour.
Unfortunately for the Czechoslovaks who were ready to defend their country, their president in 1939,
Emil Hacha, was an old and quiet man who just didn’t want a group of Germans yelling threats
at him anymore, and gave up his country to the Nazis after 3 hours of political deliberation.
Of the Czechs who escaped the country, many fought in the free allied armies,
and were important to many battles, the most notable being the battle of Britain.
Following their in the Great Depression, and with similar political ideas and foreign policy to
the Nazis, it's no wonder Hungary signed the Tripartite Pact in 1940. After it was caught
negotiating a secret armistice with the U.S. and U.K., the Nazis occupied Hungary. Threatened by
the Soviets, Hungary also signed an armistice with them, but the Germans forced them to revoke it,
and eventually, the Soviets swept over and defeated Hungary and the Germans therein. More
than three-hundred thousand Hungarian soldiers and twice that many civilians perished in the war.
Liechtenstein kept out of the fighting and hung out with Switzerland, forfeiting the House of
Liechtenstein's landholdings in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Liechtenstein accepted around
four hundred Jewish refugees from Europe and made some of the wealthier among them citizens.
The Vatican City's army saw no combat, and the tiny country remained
unoccupied. The Vatican organised extensive humanitarian aid throughout the conflict.
Was used as a smuggling route for the Vichy French and Axis-aligned Spanish Personnel. Was
technically still at war with Germany until 1958, where they finally remembered to declare peace.
Luxembourg was neutral when France was invaded, though the Nazis marched in and took it anyway.
Switzerland was neutral, though it ended up at least preparing for war after the Nazis
took Poland. Hitler thought about invading Switzerland, but decided against it because
Switzerland's military would have an advantage on their home ground and in their mountains, and it
would end up costing him too much. While neutral, the Swiss did blow several German aircraft out of
the sky and detain -- and supposedly "abuse" -- Allied crews who landed in Swiss airports.
The Nazis blitzkrieged neutral Belgium when they blitzkrieged France, and after
resisting the Nazis in the Battle of Belgium, the country surrendered. In Nazi-occupied Belgium,
over twenty-five thousand Jews and Romani were extinguished in death camps, and the Belgian
Resistance -- which is distinct from the Free Belgian Forces -- toiled to sabotage the Nazis
and protect the Jews. Belgian forces fought for the Allies outside of Belgium too, and
the country was liberated by the Allies and the Free Belgian Forces towards the end of 1944.
Also neutral and also invaded by the Nazis, the Dutch of the Netherlands fought alongside
the Allies all over the world, including in East Asia, in battles in the Pacific,
and in the Battle of Britain. In 1942, Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies, holding it until
they surrendered in 1945, all the while subjecting the native Indonesians to the hardships of war.
The U.K. -- including England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland -- and all of Britain's
dominions and colonies declared war on the Nazis after they invaded Poland, and with Japan in 1941.
A heavyweight not only on the battlefield, Britain was also one of the primary contributors when
it came to intelligence and counterintelligence operations, with examples including the formation
of the Special Operations Executive and Alan Turing eventually breaking the enigma code.
Ireland was the only state in the British Commonwealth to stay neutral,
though its citizens were free to join foreign forces, with more than fifty thousand of them
going to fight alongside the Brits. There were also many Irish soldiers who defected
to help in the fight, and upon return were treated with contempt by their Government.
The British Overseas Territory and fortress of Gibraltar was used by
the Brits as an anchor and shield for the British Navy in Europe. From Gibraltar,
the Brits launched themselves into the Atlantic and Mediterranean Theatres.
Austria was a part of Nazi Germany before even the invasion of Poland,
with more than 1.2 million Austrians serving in German forces throughout the war.
After a humiliating loss and peace terms imposed after the First World War, economic destitution
set the scene for the Nazi rise to power in 1933. Hitler beefed up the German military and wanted
to expand his territory in surrounding states, and this led to a showdown with the Allies and
war in ‘39. After initial great success, the formidable German war machine stretched itself
too thin with major operations against Britain, Russia, and in North Africa. The tide turned,
especially when America joined the Allies in late 1941, and the war
ended in 1945 and Germany was split between the Western and Soviet spheres of influence.
Italy was on a conquest before the war started and joined on the side of Axis
after seeing the early success of the Nazis, intending to take its share of
Allied territory. Italy focused its military on the British in Africa and the Middle East,
though it also set up regimes in Spain and Croatia following the Invasion of Yugoslavia and invaded
much of Greece. Contested by resistance forces and the Allies on every front,
and running out of juice, the Italian Empire imploded. After Mussolini's arrest in 1943,
Italy surrendered, and its annexed territories were snatched up by the Nazis.
A vital air and sea base for the Brits in Africa,
the British colony island of Malta was pretty much pummeled into the Mediterranean. It was,
in fact, awarded the medal for the "most bombed place" in all of the war, and for surviving that
and not crumbling under the pressure, the whole country received the George’s Cross
The tiny principality of Monaco was sympathetic to the French before and during the German invasion
of France, but the Prince of Monaco, Louis II, tried to keep the country neutral. However,
the Italians occupied it from November 1942 until September of the following year,
when the Germans seized it after the fall of Mussolini’s regime. At this point,
the Germans started sending Jews from Monaco off to concentration camps. Losing the war,
the Germans withdrew from Monaco in September 1944.
When France signed the "22 June Armistice" in the Battle of France,
the country was sundered into two zones -- the German-occupied zone in the north,
and the unoccupied zone in the south. A puppet government was established in the
city of Vichy in Southern France, and while this Vichy-controlled zone was officially neutral,
it did collaborate with the Nazis. Led by the exiled French government, the Free
French Forces supported the Allies in the war, while the French Resistance toiled in occupied
France. The Liberation of France began on D-Day, 6 June 1944, with Operation Overlord and Dragoon.
Francisco Franco rose to dictatorship in Spain during the bloody Spanish Civil War of the 30s,
and he was supported with men and resources by his fellow fascists
Mussolini and Hitler. He considered joining the Axis effort at several points in time,
but he decided against it since the civil war left the country in economic
and military turmoil. He helped the Axis in small ways, but the war never came to Spain.
Portugal was under the arch-conservative autocratic rule of António de Oliveira
Salazar throughout the war and in 1939 announced its neutrality. Portugal managed
to remain neutral, despite pressures placed upon it by both the British
and the Germans over the islands of the Azores and their tungsten exports. Over
one hundred thousand Jews fled Europe via Lisbon, Portugal's capital city.
We covered some of the largest pro-Allied countries and all of the countries which signed
the Tripartite Pact in this video, and it goes without saying that Europe was the "main stage" of
the Second World War. With that said, we've really only skimmed the surface, so you can look forward
to subsequent videos going into much, much more detail on some or even all of these countries.