With so many countries technically participating in World War 2 in some way,
shape or form, it’s a shame that they just don’t get any exposure. In this potential 5
or even 6 parter series, we plan to go through pretty much every country that
so much as dipped their toes in the waters of World War 2 and provide you
with the simplified highlights of what they were known for and what they did.
To reiterate if it wasn’t clear enough, these are simplified pockets of information.
We know that there will be country specific political, social and cultural context missing,
but this series isn’t going for depth, and rather, we’re looking to give a general view
on how the rest of the world participated in the war through fun snippets of information
that we’ll hope you’ll enjoy. Anyways guys, without further adieu, let’s get into part.
Thoroughly enjoyed their neutrality and made a
killing by exporting resources to both sides of the war. Argentina however,
finally joined the bandwagon and declared war against the axis 30 days before it all ended.
Then proceeded to harbour thousands of fugitive SS officers after the fact because why not.
Was one of only 2 countries to declare war on the Axis in 1943. Bolivian mines
supplied Tin to allies. Bolivia sent no other supplies or troops
The other country that declared war on the Axis in 1943, Colombia was a bit more involved in
the war and sent petroleum products to the allies. They saw one notable engagement in
1944 where a Comobian destroyer attacked a German submarine and came out victorious.
Perhaps the South American country the most actively involved with the allies,
Brazil helped to influence other Latin American countries to cut ties with the Axis and even sent
an expeditionary force of over 25,000 men to aid the allies in the Italian campaign.
Having an authoritarian Government and large German community, the country was sympathetic
toward the axis and only declared war on Germany 2 months before it was all over.
A South-American neutral, Uruguay leaned toward the side of the allies for most of
the war and cut off ties with the Axis powers in 1942. They
only dropped their neutrality and declared war against the Axis in February of 1945.
Surprise surprise, it’s another neutral South American country with close ties to
the axis. They eventually softened these ties and helped the allies economically,
but only declared war on the Axis 27 days before the wars end.
Proceeded to axe any ties with the Axis after pearl harbour,
and produced massive amounts of oil for the allies.
Breaking off relations with the axis early in 1942, Peru was rewarded with one of its port
cities becoming an American airbase and 2000 of its citizens of Japanese descent being shipped
off to internment camp for the rest of the war. Officially declared war on the Axis in 1945.
Allowed the United States to use one of their islands as a
naval base this one time… Oh and also declared war against the axis in 1945
Home to an artificial 82km canal that connects the Pacific ocean with the Atlantic,
Panama was vital in for moving new warships to the pacific to fight the Japanese Navy.
Already a country that leaned toward the Allies and against Naziism, when Pearl Harbour hit,
it pretty much sealed the deal and Costa Rica joined the war effort. Although Costa Rica
only had a small fighting force of 500 men that couldn't contribute to the war effort,
they did their part by interning all Germans, Italians and Spaniards to the wars end.
Another ally of the US and her friends who joined the war when the attack on Pearl Harbour occurred,
Nicaragua only got a response from Romania, who reciprocated Nicaragua’s declaration of
war to declare war themselves on the 19th of December 1941.
Unlike the other Latin American countries, El Salvador’s Government had fascist leanings.
With that said, due to strong economic ties with US, when Pearl Harbour hit,
they went with the flow and declared war on both Japan and Germany. It’s worth noting
that over 40,000 jews were saved by them being provided false papers of Salvadoran nationality.
Developing extremely strong economic ties with the Americans in World War 2,
Mexico was a silent ally that supplied many raw materials,
labourers and soldiers for the Americans. The Mexican Government allowed Mexican nationals
living in the US to join the war, which bolstered US forces by over 250,000 men, and eventually
even formed their own famous expeditionary flying squadron, known as the Aztec Eagles.
Declaring war at the same time as the US, the Cuban navy was an important bulwark of the
Carribean sea and came to be greatly respected by allies in the region. The navy escorted
hundreds of ships through hostile territory, conducted constant patrols of the region and
saved over 200 seemingly doomed American victims of U-boat attacks from the perils of the ocean.
By no means a major contributor to the allied war effort, the Dominicans at
least tried and offered up 112 Dominican soldiers for integration into the US army.
One of the biggest Carribean contributors of the war, the Puerto Ricans boasted 65,000 soldiers
ready for active service in the United States military. These soldiers were pretty much placed
anywhere the US wanted and therefore served all over the world in a variety of different roles.
The Big Daddy of the war, the United States of America was shocked at the brazen attack
at Pearl harbour and sent over 16 million American men to serve into both the Pacific
and European theatres. America’s true might in World War 2 however came from its power
house of an economy and subsequent industrial might that saw the equivalent of 700 billion
dollars worth of supplies sent to allied nations, the majority of it going to Britain.
The Crazy Canadians as I like to call them likewise declared war on Germany a week after
the United Kingdom did, marking the country's first independent act of war. 1.1 million
Candians served in the different branches of the armed forces and fought their way through Europe
all the way to Germany, with some insane stories along the way which Ill cover in a future video.
Being invaded by the British in 1940, Iceland although formally protesting this,
put up no resistance as their whole population only numbered 120,000 whilst the British
invasion force was 25,000. The Brits would then proceeded to build air bases there that turned
out to be extremely important in the Allied fight against U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Once again invaded by the Brits in 1940 as a response
to the German invasion of Denmark and Norway.
Stating their intention to remain neutral at the start of the war ultimately fell
on deaf ears and the Danes were invaded and overwhelmed by the German Blitzkrieg within
a few hours of fighting. Denmark however was the only country to save most of its
Jewish population, with only 51 out of a possible 8000 perishing in the Holocaust.
A strategically vital country for both sides, Norway was blitzed by Germany in
1940 as well. Although understandably not happy, the Norwegian Government still managed to escape,
and they helped to relocate the largest merchant fleet in the world to London, where the 1000 ships
would prove vital to the economic survival of the allies, especially in the early days.
One of the more famous neutrals of the war, Germany found no reason
to antagonise the Swedes with an invasion as it would only invite economic trouble,
as the Swedes had promised to blow up important iron mines if invaded. Sweden
however was not immune to diplomatic and political pressure, and was more or
less forced to economically cooperate with the German’s for the majority of the war.
The poor Finnish just didn’t want the Russians in their country,
and when they were ignored in 1940 by the allies when the Soviets were knocking at their door,
they naturally turned to Germany to help. This led to a 3 year period where Finland
was a co-belligerent with Germany against the Soviets. When the tide finally turned however,
Moscow demanded the Finns expel and disarm any German soldiers and diplomats remaining,
and so the opportunistic alliance between the Germans and Finnish ended in the summer of 1944.
Like Finland, Estonia was in the Soviet Sphere of influence. Unlike Finland however,
when the Soviets wanted to use their country in early World War 2 to build military installations,
there was no protest, as the Government was convinced it was impossible to win a war against
them. After war broke out between the Germans and the Soviets however, Estonia was quickly taken
over and around 70,000 Estonians were conscripted or joined the fight against the Soviets.
Receiving even heavier demands and more brutal treatment from the Soviets,
Latvia was yet another Baltic country forced to bow to Russian commands early in the war. Over
35,000 Latvian citizens were culled in order to “Sovietize” the country and subsequently, and
when Germany arrived 110,000 men were dragged to German controlled units,
while 70,000 were whisked away and drafted into the Red Army Units.
Yet another Baltic country stuck in between a rock and a hard place, Lithuania shares almost
the exact fate as the previous 2 mentioned, with the most notable exception being that the Germans
never managed to form a dedicated Lithuanian Legion, although, there were many Lithuanian
Nazi collaborators who hoped working with the Germans would restore indepedence as compared to
working with the Soviets, who nonetheless managed to draft a Lithuanian division into the red army.
Already a Republic of the Soviet Union before the war started,
Belarus was lulled into a false sense of security when the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was agreed upon,
and was among the first territories to be taken over by the Germans, only to be
reclaimed in the Soviet counter offensive during Operation Bagration in August 1944.
So those were our first 30 countries of the series,
and you may notice we’re doing geographically.