Axis Powers Facts & Worksheets

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Table of Contents
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    Summary

    • Origins of the Axis
    • Nazi Germany
    • Fascist Italy
    • Imperial Japan
    • Fall of the Axis

    Key Facts And Information

    Let’s know more about Axis Powers!

    The Axis Powers was a military alliance formalised during World War II through a series of diplomatic treaties. They were united due to a shared set of ideologies (particularly fascism, militarism and anti-communism), expansionist ambitions, and disagreement over post-World War I negotiations.

    The major Axis Powers were Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan. Their actions led to World War II and resulted in millions of deaths. However, they aimed for more than what they could handle, which ultimately led to their defeat.

    Axis Powers during the signing of the Tripartite Pact
    Axis Powers during the signing of the Tripartite Pact

    Origins of the Axis

    • Throughout the 1930s, the Axis Powers occurred gradually. Their alliance was formed from a set of shared ideologies consisting of:
      • Fascism - A radical and authoritarian nationalist ideology that emerged in early 20th-century Europe. It stressed a single and all-powerful ruler who led absolute authority of the state. It demanded total loyalty and obedience from its citizens and rejected both liberal democracy and communism, which were seen as weak and treacherous to traditional values.
      • Militarism - Militarism as an ideology placed significance on military strength and territorial expansion. It structured economies in a way that focused on military spending to prepare for wars. It saw a strong military power as a tool to dominate and achieve expansionist goals.
      • Anti-Communism - With the rise of the Soviet Union, the Axis Powers saw the communist ideology as a threat to their own power and the existing world order. Communist emphasis on class struggle, abolition of private property, and internationalism greatly contrasted the ideologies of the Axis Powers.
    • Aside from their shared ideologies, the Axis Powers also had the same desire to modify the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which they felt were unfair to them. Their alliance was strengthened through the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria and 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Although it was the League of Nations' job to prevent such attacks from happening, it was still too weak to stop them.
    • Under Adolf Hitler, Germany saw this weakness as a chance to expand power by collaborating with Japan and Italy, who shared the same ambitions. From 1936 to 1939, this alliance was tested through the Spanish Civil War, which saw both Italy and Germany providing military support to the Nationalist faction of Francisco Franco.
    • On 25 October 1936, an agreement drawn up by Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano was reached. The Rome-Berlin Axis informally linked the two fascist countries.
    • On 25 November 1936, an agreement was concluded between Germany and Japan, opposing the Communist International (Comintern). In essence, this alliance was specifically against the Soviet Union. A year later, Italy joined the pact and was legally recognised as an original signatory by the terms of its entry.
    • Initially drafted as a tripartite military alliance, the Pact of Steel was only signed by Germany and Italy on 22 May 1939 due to a disagreement with Japan. The two signatory countries wanted the focus of their pact aimed at the British Empire and France. The alliance of the Axis Powers was formalised through this pact.
    Signing of the Pact of Steel
    Signing of the Pact of Steel
    • Japan was initially hesitant with a formal alliance because it did not want to jeopardise its relationship with Great Britain. However, after facing criticism for its attack on China, it ultimately joined the Germany-Italy alliance through the Tripartite Pact signed on 27 September 1940. The pact formalised the Axis alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan. Their shared ideologies and expansionist ambitions ultimately started World War II.
    • The major Axis Powers were Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan. Other Axis states were the Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Romania, Tsardom of Bulgaria, Republic of Finland, Slovak Republic, Independent State of Croatia, and Thailand.
    • After the formalisation of their alliance in 1940, they fought against the Allied Powers, primarily composed of Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, during World War II.

    Nazi Germany

    • The Nazi regime, under Adolf Hitler's leadership, rose to power by leveraging effective propaganda techniques directed by Joseph Goebbels. Mass rallies, carefully controlled radio broadcasts, and a constant focus on nationalist sentiment effectively swayed public opinion. To address economic sufferings, the Nazis implemented public works projects like the Autobahn and ramped up rearmament efforts. These measures, while creating jobs, were accompanied by suppressed wages and the dismantling of independent trade unions, replaced by the Nazi-controlled German Labour Front.
    • The Nazi ideology enforced a rigid, traditional role for women, centred around home and family. Policies like the Lebensborn programme and marriage loans incentivised childbirth, while women were actively discouraged from pursuing careers or engaging in activities deemed 'unfeminine'. This emphasis on domesticity aimed to ensure the propagation of a 'pure' Aryan race.
    • Education, too, became a tool for indoctrination. Teachers were compelled to join the Nazi party and instil its ideology in their students. Young boys were groomed for military service through physical training and political indoctrination, while girls were prepared for motherhood and domestic life.
    • Hitler believed that a person’s attitude, behaviour and capability were determined by race. Aside from possessing physical and mental traits, Hitler and the Nazis adopted the Darwinian concept of 'survival of the fittest'. The Nazis believed that it was their obligation as a superior race to subdue and exterminate inferior races. For them, maintaining the purity of their race was vital, so they avoided interracial relationships to prevent degeneration of the Aryan race. Hitler believed that the Aryan race was superior to all other races.
    • By outlining their racial enemies, Jews within and outside Germany became their priority target. When WWII began, mass killings of Jews through the Final Solution were well recorded in history. Historians estimated that at Auschwitz alone, over 2 million people were exterminated. They were predominantly Jews who were gassed to death and non-Jews who died of starvation and disease. By 1944, about 12,000 Hungarian Jews were killed every day at Auschwitz.
    • On 3 September 1939, WWII broke out when Britain and France reacted to the German invasion of Poland. In around a month, Poland was completely under Nazi control, while Hitler publicly made amends with the Allies. However, Hitler was secretly planning the invasion of France.
    • In 1942, the British RAF Bomber Command employed a policy of area bombing, which targeted large industrial cities but not sparing civilian casualties. For the next three years, about 61 German cities were attacked and 25 million people were affected; 3.6 million homes were destroyed; 300–400,000 Germans were killed in the raids; 800,000 were wounded; 7.5 million were left homeless. German industrial production continued, however, until just before the war ended.
    • In order to keep the war effort going, the Nazis employed forced labour by transporting prisoners of war to concentration camps in Germany and other parts of Eastern Europe. When the war ended, there were about 8 million enslaved labourers and refugees in Germany. In addition, about 11 million ethnic Germans were displaced from Eastern European countries.

    Fascist Italy

    • Following World War I, when many people aspired for a united country and strong leadership, fascism developed in Europe. Benito Mussolini used his magnetism to create a strong Fascist regime in Italy.
    • In 1919, Benito Mussolini created the term 'fascism' to characterise his political movement. The first fascist government was founded by him, and others, notably Nazi Germany, quickly followed.
    • Mussolini, with his Fascist party, rose to power in Italy in the early 1920s. The Fascists used violence and intimidation to silence the opposition, targeting groups like unions and ultimately diminishing the public's trust in the existing government. Mussolini, influenced by philosophers like Nietzsche, sought dominance and power.
    • Although not a massive military operation, the March on Rome in October 1922, coupled with the Fascists' growing control and the fear of civil war, pressured the ruling class to cede power to Mussolini. He became Prime Minister and quickly consolidated his authority, establishing a dictatorship. The murder of Giacomo Matteotti, a socialist politician who spoke out against the Fascists, solidified Mussolini's grip on power and ushered in a period of Fascist rule in Italy that lasted until 1945.
    • Fascist propaganda was vital in moulding and manipulating the Italian masses before and during Mussolini's reign. Exhibits, radio songs, films, slogans and other media were employed in various ways. The themes covered differed substantially as well. Indoctrination in schools was one of the methods used to propagate Fascist ideals, which was critical to Mussolini and his Fascist dictatorship.
    • When Mussolini came to power, all propaganda operations were consolidated under the press office, and propaganda efforts were gradually institutionalised under the supervision of the Ministero della Cultura Popolare. Propaganda materials were distributed and could be seen all over Italy with the stated goal of telling the truth about Fascism, refuting its enemies' lies, and clearing up ambiguities that could only be expected in such a huge and active movement.
    • Moreover, Mussolini's cult of personality was, in many ways, the Fascist regime's unifying force. The Italian Fascist regime depicted him as possessing omnipotent or godlike qualities. Fascist publications also suggested that Mussolini had accomplished miracles. His persona suggested that he had enhanced the Italian people's moral, material and spiritual well-being.
    • The Italian racial laws, sometimes known as the Racial Laws, were enacted by Fascist Italy's Council of Ministers from 1938 to 1943 to enforce racial discrimination and segregation throughout the Kingdom of Italy. The Racial Laws primarily affected Italian Jews and native African citizens of the Italian colonial empire. The Racial Laws were preceded by a long publicity campaign and the publishing of the Manifesto of Race earlier in 1938, a purportedly scientific paper signed by scientists and National Fascist Party members.
    • The Manifesto of Race, released in July 1938, declared Italians Aryan descendants. It targeted inferior races or those who were not of Aryan descent. Jews, in particular, were barred from several professions.
    • Corporatism became a central tenet of Fascism, and Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy advocated collective economic management by state officials by integrating large interest groups under the state, a combination of crony capitalism and state capitalism. However, more democratic neo-corporatism frequently embraced tripartism.
    • In 1925, three years after taking power in Italy, Mussolini's Fascist administration attempted to grow the Italian population. The National Organisation took over the 5,700 separate institutions that cared for mothers and children for the Protection of Maternity and Infancy.
    • The Battle for Grain was a propaganda campaign by Mussolini in 1925 to establish self-sufficiency in wheat production and free Italy from the 'slavery of foreign bread'. This campaign successfully increased wheat output and lowered the trade balance deficit. Still, it was economically counterproductive for Italy's agricultural sector because farmers who grew other crops had to clear their land for grain cultivation, resulting in lower exports and higher food prices for Italian families.
    • Italy was ill-prepared for World War II despite continuous involvement in conflicts since 1935. The country faced economic difficulties, poorly equipped soldiers and low morale. By 1940, Italy's military leadership opposed intervention due to unpreparedness.
    • Italy's attempts to maintain an autonomous campaign from Germany failed by 1941, leading to dependence on Germany. German forces took charge in North Africa and were stationed in Sicily. Italy was pressured to send 350,000 'guest workers' to Germany for forced labour.
    • After the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini and negotiated an armistice. Mussolini was rescued by the Germans and placed in charge of a puppet state in northern Italy. Italy became a co-belligerent of the Allies, leading to a civil war. Mussolini was killed by partisans in 1945.

    Imperial Japan

    • The Japanese Empire, commonly referred to as the Empire of Japan or Imperial Japan, arose from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and underwent significant transformations through fast modernisation, industrialisation and militarisation until the end of World War II in 1945. 
    Map of Japanese advances from 1937–1942
    Map of Japanese advances from 1937–1942
    • The history of the Japanese Empire during World War II encompasses the aggression in Manchuria, the invasion of the Republic of China, the absorption of French Indochina, the subsequent invasion of British India, the Pacific War and the surrender of Japan.
    • On 7 December 1941, Japan launched simultaneous offensives against British and American colonies in Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific. The Imperial Japanese Army bombed American warships at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Guam and Wake Island, as well as landings in Malaya, Thailand and Hong Kong.
    • The Americans viewed the attack as a savage and cowardly deed and rallied against the Japanese Empire. The Japanese invasion of Thailand prompted Thailand to ally with Japan, and other Japanese attacks prompted the US, UK, China, Australia and several other states to formally declare war on Japan.
    • The US launched a full-scale attack on the European and Pacific theatres, with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini declaring war on the US four days later. Japan began offensives against the Allied forces in East and Southeast Asia, attacking British Hong Kong, British Malaya, Borneo, the Dutch East Indies, the Gilbert Islands, Thailand and the Philippines.
    • By 1942, the Japanese Empire had launched offensives in the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, Singapore, Burma, Yunnan, India, the Solomon Islands, Timor, the Aleutian Islands, the Andaman Islands, Christmas Island and the Solomon Sea.
    • On 25 December 1941, Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese, and the Japanese defeated an Allied army of British, Indian, Australian and Malay forces in Malaya. The Japanese captured an estimated 80,000 Indian, Australian and British troops as prisoners of war, and the Japanese took the late Dutch East Indies' critical oil production zones. 
    • The Battle of Midway was a decisive Allied naval victory and a significant turning point in World War II.
    • The US had multiple interests in the western Pacific, including access to the Chinese market and its colonies, the Philippines and Guam. Japan's victories in the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War heightened US hostility towards Japan. The US Navy began drafting war plans against Japan as early as 1897, later designated as the War Plan Orange. The Allies used an island-hopping strategy to invade Japan in accordance with the 1911 war plan.
    • The first successful Allied leapfrogging operation was Operation Cartwheel, which involved landing on lightly held beaches with minimum fatalities while cutting off Japanese soldiers hundreds of kilometres from their supply sources. This strategy allowed US forces to reach Japan swiftly while avoiding the time, personnel and supplies required to seize every Japanese-held island.
    • From 1942 until 1945, Allied troops conducted air strikes on Japan, causing considerable damage to the country's cities and killing between 241,000 and 900,000 people. Strategic bombing raids began in June 1944 and lasted until August 1945, when the war ended. The US Army Air Forces campaign against Japan began in earnest in mid-1944 and accelerated in the last months of the war.
    • The US, UK and China called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese military forces in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan late in the evening of 8 August 1945, in violation of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact.
    • After several days of behind-the-scenes discussions and a failed coup, Emperor Hirohito issued a recorded radio speech across the Empire on 15 August 1945, declaring Japan's surrender to the Allies. The Japanese Empire suffered greatly after the war. Devastation, economic upheaval, and a complete political and social overhaul plagued the nation. Japan began demilitarisation and democratisation following the unconditional surrender, ending its imperial ambitions and ushering in a new era under Allied rule.

    Fall of the Axis

    • The Axis Powers' expansionist ambitions and desire for more power led to World War II. They seemed to be unstoppable at the beginning of the war with their subsequent victories. However, their faith changed when they attacked the major Allied countries. 
    • Germany's decision to invade the Soviet Union in 1941 ultimately led to a disaster. They got stuck in a long and drawn-out conflict that eventually drained their resources. This became worse when the US, a nation equipped with tons of resources, joined the war after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
    • Italy was also not doing well in the war after Mussolini was overthrown in 1943. Their subsequent defeats made them switch sides with the Allies, which eventually deterred its relationship with the other Axis powers.
    • Japan, on the other hand, experienced multiple victories in Southeast Asia. However, they were weak when up against the US, as seen during their defeat at the Battle of Midway in 1942. Nonetheless, they did not surrender and kept on fighting, leading to the devastating atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The impact of the bombing forced them to surrender, ending World War II. 
    • The fall of the Axis Powers changed the world and led to the emergence of the Soviet Union and the United States as superpowers. World War II became a reminder of the consequences of totalitarian ideologies, unchecked aggression, and militarism.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    • Who were the Axis Powers in World War II?

      The Axis Powers were the coalition of countries that fought against the Allies during World War II. The main Axis Powers were Germany, led by Adolf Hitler; Italy, led by Benito Mussolini; and Japan, led by Emperor Hirohito.

    • When did the Axis Powers form?

      The Axis alliance began to form in the 1930s. The Rome-Berlin Axis between Italy and Germany was established in 1936. The Anti-Comintern Pact, signed by Germany and Japan in 1936, was later joined by Italy, forming a united front against communism. The Tripartite Pact of 1940 officially allied Germany, Italy, and Japan, creating the core of the Axis Powers.

    • Did any other countries join the Axis Powers?

      Several other countries joined the Axis Powers, though they played smaller roles. These included Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Slovakia and Croatia.