Tripartite Pact

Tripartite Pact
Signing of the Tripartite Pact. On the left-hand side of the picture, seated from left to right, are Saburō Kurusu (representing Japan), Galeazzo Ciano (Italy) and Adolf Hitler (Germany).
TypeMilitary alliance
Signed27 September 1940
LocationBerlin, Germany
Signatories

The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano, and Saburō Kurusu (in that order) and in the presence of Adolf Hitler.[1] It was a defensive military alliance that was eventually joined by Hungary (20 November 1940), Romania (23 November 1940), Slovakia (24 November 1940), Bulgaria (1 March 1941), and Yugoslavia (25 March 1941). Yugoslavia's accession provoked a coup d'état in Belgrade two days later. Germany, Italy, and Hungary responded by invading Yugoslavia. The resulting Italo-German client state, known as the Independent State of Croatia, joined the pact on 15 June 1941.

The Tripartite Pact was, together with the Anti-Comintern Pact and the Pact of Steel, one of a number of agreements between Germany, Japan, Italy, and other countries of the Axis Powers governing their relationship.[2]

The Tripartite Pact formally allied the Axis Powers with one another, and it was directed primarily at the United States.[3] Because of the long distance between Japan and the two European Powers, the pact recognized two different regions that were to be under Axis rule.[4] Japan recognized "the leadership of Germany and Italy in the establishment of a new order in Europe". In return, Germany and Italy recognized Japan's right to establish a new order "in Greater East Asia".[5] But the pact's practical effects were limited since the Italo-German and Japanese operational theatres were on opposite sides of the world, and the high contracting powers had disparate strategic interests. As such, the Axis was only ever a loose alliance.[6] Its defensive clauses were never invoked,[7] and signing the agreement did not oblige its signatories to fight a common war per se.[8]

  1. ^ Signature of the Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy and Japan., You-Tube Video (italian), retrieved, December 8, 2023.
  2. ^ Cooke, Tim (2005). History of World War II. Vol. 1 – Origins and Outbreak. Marshall Cavendish. p. 154. ISBN 0761474838. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Axis Alliance in World War II". encyclopedia.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  4. ^ United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Major Alliances during World War II (1939–1945)". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  5. ^ History.com. "The Tripartite Pact is signed by Germany, Italy and Japan". History. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  6. ^ Folly, Martin; Palmer, Niall (2010). The A to Z of U.S. Diplomacy from World War I through World War II. Scarecrow Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-1461672418. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  7. ^ H. L. Trefousse (1951), "Germany and Pearl Harbor", The Far Eastern Quarterly, 11(1), 35–50. doi:10.2307/2048903
  8. ^ Tallgren, Immi (2014). "Martyrs and Scapegoats of the Nation? The Finnish War-Responsibility Trial, 1945–1946". In Morten Bergsmo; CHEAH Wui Ling; YI Ping (eds.). Historical Origins of International Criminal Law, Volume 2. FICHL Publication Series. Vol. 21. Brussels: Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher. p. 512. ISBN 978-82-93081-13-5. Retrieved 25 October 2020.