Tripartite Pact
The Second World War is arguably one of the greatest features of international history. It occurred between 1939 and 1945. The war put two main groupings of nations against each other; the axis and the allies. The axis side was led by three main powers, Germany Italy and Japan and these three came together after a famous agreement named the Tripartite Pact (Lyons 22). The Pact created an alliance between the three nations and later came to be known as the Axis alliance or the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis (Gilbert 18). The signing of the Tripartite Pact was among the final events that precipitated a full-scale Second World War. This paper discusses the Tripartite Pact and its impact on the course of the Second World War.
Bradley et al explain that The Tripartite Pact was a diplomatic alliance between the Axis powers. It was signed on 27 September 1940 and recognized a new order in Europe and East Asia headed by Germany-Italy and Japan respectively. According to the pact, Japan was to recognize and respect Italy and Germany’s leadership in the new European order. The two would on their part respect Japan’s position in the Greater East Asia. The three agreed to ensure their cooperation in efforts towards ensuring the maintenance of power over the two areas and offer one another all economic, military and political support in case of attack by non-member parties. It established technical commissions jointly and members would be appointed by their respective governments. Relations with Russia were excluded from effects of the pact, meaning that their prevailing political relations with Russia would remain unchanged. It was to last ten years (54).
The three countries made a pledge never to wage war on one another’s behalf in case of intrusion by other powers that were not at that time involved in wars between Japan and china, and Europe. This clearly implied the United States as the Pact had excluded Russia. The fact that Japan entered into the pact was a major cause of conflict with the US and therefore resulted in the Pacific War. Considering the international politics of the time, the Tripartite Pact apparently sought to ensure that the US remained isolationist and did not join the Second World War (Gilbert 19).
Upon the signing of the pact, there was the official creation of the Axis powers of the Second World War. This set the stage for conflicts that would later arise with the opposing side. Italy, Germany and Japan became allies. It offered provisions for mutual assistance in case any of the three signatories suffered from attacks by any country that was not already engaged in the war (Lyons 22). According to Gilbert, Germany and Japan had thought the Tripartite Pact would eventually deter the US. However, Japan had invaded Northern French Indochina few days before its signing the pact was signed. This, in addition to various other acts was considered by the US as provocation to war, hence leading to an affect which was the opposite of its original intention. Afterwards Japan entered into a pact of non-aggression with Russia in April 1941. This enabled an invasion of Southeast Asia. A few months later however, Germany attacked Russia massively in 1941. Japan would then find the policy it upheld towards Russia as being in conflict with the actions that its principal ally took. Japan opted to stick to its nonaggression pact all through the Pacific War until August 1945 (21).
The pact did not succeed in creating an effective alliance. While there was much cooperation between Germany and Italy in Europe, Japan could not effectively engage in military cooperation with the two because of the distance. Some Italian submarines established bases in Japanese territories. There was also some exchanges of raw materials and technology. However, the inability to have an Allied blockade even using submarines made it difficult to attain the desired decisive results. Axis members also failed to trust one another and their relations with Russia tended to be uncoordinated even with the urgent need for such coordination (Lightbody 58).
The pact formalized the agreement between the three not to overstep one another’s sphere of influence. It included little details and simply defined Asia as a Japanese area the European area as the other two parties’. It did not specify their cooperation and agreed to mutual defense whenever there was need. There was no mention of the Americas or Africa even though a 1939 Germany-Russia non-aggression pact was accepted as a valid one in spite of a historical enmity between Russia and Japan (Bradley et al. 49).
Lyons explains that the ties that were created by the pact were less than those between the Allies during the Second World War. Instead of combining efforts towards the defeat of a common enemy and achievement of a common end, the Axis states only made the agreement not to be in opposition to one another. This revealed the existing mistrust amongst them. It therefore becomes a matter of debate as to whether closer cooperation might have changed the course of the war. However, sharing of intelligence, scientific developments and military strategy helped to ensure that they gained more confidence, stayed in the war and maintained the pursuit of their interests (28).
The three partners eventually stood out as the main elements of one of the two opposing sides, the axis. Although they did not develop institutions that would coordinate their military or foreign policies as was the case among the allies, the Axis members had two main shared interests. These were the destruction of Soviet communism and expanding their territories and creation of empires that were founded on military conquests and overthrowing of the existing international order. The grouping of parties that had shared aspirations helped to organize for battle during the Second World War (Lightbody 58).
The tripartite act polarized the world and led to a rapid growth in the axis side of the war. Lyons explains that when there was the opening of an Italo-Greek front in October 1940, Germany increased its pressure on the Balkan states and Hungary. Hoping to gain the Axis’ economic and military support in its future activities, Hungary joined it in November 1940. Romania also requested and got German military support and eventually joined the axis in November 1940. Slovakia a German dependant also joined in November 24. Under different circumstances, Bulgaria got into the axis in March 1941. Yugoslavia and Croatia also joined in 1941. Japan carried out a surprise attack on US vessels that were anchored at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Germany also declared war on the US, as did the axis powers. This created enough force from the axis side, making the pacific and Atlantic wars to degenerate into a real world war (29).
In conclusion, the tripartite pact was a ten-year agreement signed by Italy, Germany and Japan in 1940. Although war effort had begun in different fronts in 1939, its signing helped to collect nations that had shared enemies and avoid conflicts among them. It provided leadership in Europe and South-East Asia and therefore ensured the presence of opponents to the Allies in both the pacific and Atlantic. The pact led to the creation of a military alliance, and this helped to define the global nature of the war. It took the form of a European-type mutual defense treaty which bound the signatory countries. It called on the three to come together against possible aggressors who would violate any of the three nations’ sovereignty, excluding countries which were already at war with members of the alliance.
Works Cited
Bradley John, Buell, Thomas and Dice, Jack. The Second World War. New York: Square One Publishers, 2002.
Gilbert, Martin. The Second World War: a Complete History. London: Phoenix, 2009
Lightbody, Bradley. The Second World War: Ambitions to Nemesis. New York: Routledge, 2004
Lyons, Michael. World War II: A Short History. New York: Prentice Hall, 2009
