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The alliance defeated in World War II began with two countries -- Germany and Italy. As Nazi ruler Adolph Hitler powered up Germany's war machine in the 1930s, Italy's Fascist leader Benito Mussolini debated a relationship with the Nazis. Some speculate that Mussolini would have preferred to keep Italy neutral in the upcoming war. But the benefits of aligning the country with Germany seemed to outweigh everything for Mussolini, who had his own dreams of dominating the Mediterranean area.
On October 25, 1936, Hitler and Mussolini agreed to diplomatic cooperation between their countries, forming the Rome-Berlin Axis. This relationship, as well as the term "axis," was made public by Mussolini on November 1 of the same year in a speech at Milan's cathedral. Calling the alliance an "axis" hinted at their aspirations -- in mathematics, an axis is a straight line around which a geometric figure can rotate. Draw a line on a map of Europe between the two capitals, Rome and Berlin, and you can see how the two dictators wanted the rest of Europe to revolve around their regimes. While Mussolini widely publicized
the phrase, a Hungarian may actually have coined the term "Rome-Berlin Axis." According to contemporary Hungarian politician John Flournoy Montgomery and Admiral Miklós Horthy, the phrase was first used by the premier of Hungary, Julius Gömbös, to describe the relationship between Italy and Germany as it developed. Hungary was in a precarious position in the '30s, stuck between German-controlled Austria and not far from Italy. Gömbös favored closer ties to Germany, however, he died on October 6, 1936, and never lived to see the Axis formalized. Hitler considered Gömbös important enough that he accompanied the
deceased to the railway station and sent his minister Hermann Goering to Gömbös' funeral. The Axis quickly grew to include Japan, and Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in November 1936. This agreement allied the two countries against the "Communistic International" forces, presumably Russia. Italy officially joined the other Axis powers by signing a protocol on November 6, 1937. This agreement and another in 1940 between the three countries are known as the Tripartite Pact, which was the foundation of the Axis. In addition, Germany and Italy agreed to the Pact
of Steel on May 22, 1939, that cemented the relationship between the German Nazis and Italy's Fascists.
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