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Axis leaders Adolf Hitler and Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini meet in Munich, Germany, 1940. [LCID: 80504]

Axis Powers in World War II

The three principal partners in the Axis alliance were Germany, Italy, and Japan. These three countries recognized German and Italian dominance in continental Europe, as well as Japanese domination over East Asia. Five other European states joined the Axis alliance during World War II. All of Germany’s European Axis allies participated to some degree in the persecution and murder of Jews during the Holocaust.