Political Leaders of World War Two

World War Two political leaders are generally split into two groups: the Axis Powers and the Allied Powers. These terms refer to those heads of state who fought for or supported each respective side between 1939 and 1945.

The Axis Powers

The Axis leaders originally consisted of political heads of state who had signed the Tripartite Pact - or Berlin Pact - in 1940, and are considered by historians to have had a largely nationalist ideology. The three nations that originally signed the pact included Germany, Italy and Japan, who signed under the leadership of political heads Adolf Hitler, Bernito Mussolini with King Victor Emmanuel III and Hideki Tojo, respectively. However, other nations eventually joined this military alliance including Hungary, Iraq, Romania, Thailand, Yugoslavia Slovakia, Bulgaria and Croatia, although not all of these nations signed the Tripartite Pact.

The Allied Powers

The Allied leaders were the heads of state in the countries that directly opposed the Axis Powers and worked to control their aggression. When the war began on 1 September 1939, the group consisted of the United Kingdom, Poland and France. However, political leaders from many other countries swiftly took up the cause and fought against the rise of the Axis. These included Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United States and China. Despite the growing list of allies, by the end of the war the 'Big Four' political leaders were considered to be Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, Winston Churchil of the United Kingdom, Chiang Kai-shek of China and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union.

Click on the links below to find out more about some of the key political leaders of World War Two: