The Axis Powers was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. The alliance was headed by Germany, Italy, and Japan, and it originated in a series of agreements between Germany and Italy, followed by the proclamation of an “axis” binding Rome and Berlin, with the two powers claiming that the world would henceforth rotate on the Rome-Berlin axis. This was followed by the German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact against the Soviet Union. The connections among the Axis powers were strengthened by a full military and political alliance between Germany and Italy (the Pact of Steel) and by the Tripartite Pact, signed by all three powers on September 27, 1940, one year after Germany’s invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War II. During the war, a number of other countries joined the Axis, induced by coercion or promises of territory or protection by the Axis powers. These countries included Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Thailand.