Anti-Comintern Pact

a treaty signed Nov. 25, 1936, in Berlin by Germany and Japan. Under the aegis of the struggle against the Comintern, the pact formalized a bloc of these two states whose goal was to establish world hegemony. The pact consisted of three articles and a supplementary protocol. In the first article the parties mutually pledged to inform each other of the activities of the Comintern and to struggle against it in close cooperation. In article 2, Germany and Japan invited other states to join the pact. Article 3 set the duration of the pact at five years. Along with other points, the supplementary protocol bound the parties to take stern measures against individuals who “directly or indirectly, within the country or abroad,” worked in the interests of the Communist international. This allowed aggressive powers to intervene in the domestic affairs of other states under the pretext of fighting against the Comintern. The pact was supplemented by a special secret agreement, the first article of which provided for joint measures in the struggle against the USSR.

On Nov. 6, 1937, Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact (by Oct. 25, 1936, Italy had already signed an agreement to collaborate with Germany that formalized the Berlin-Rome axis). On Feb. 24, 1939, Hungary joined the pact, as did the puppet “state” Manchukuo; Spain joined on Mar. 27, 1939. In 1939–40 the Anti-Comintern Pact was transformed into an outright military alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan. On Nov. 25, 1941, the pact was extended for five years and at the same time expanded by the addition of Finland, Croatia, Denmark, Rumania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and the “government” of Wang Chingawei formed by the Japanese in the areas of China that they occupied. The victory of the USSR and the other participants in the antifascist coalition during World War II brought about the liquidation of the Anti-Comintern Pact.