The Axis powers also known as the Axis, were the nations that fought in the Second World War against the Allied forces. The Axis powers were united by their opposition to several Western powers and the Soviet Union.
The Axis grew out of the Anti- Commenter Pact, an anti-communist treaty signed by Germany and Japan in 1936. Italy joined the Pact in 1937. The "Rome–Berlin Axis" became a military alliance in 1939 under the Pact of Steel, with the Tripartite Pact of 1940 leading to the integration of the military aims of Germany and its two treaty-bound allies.