Modern-Day Axis-Occupied Countries of WWII on a Map
With the help of a map, can you guess all modern day countries that were at one point controlled by the Axis powers and their co-belligerents during World War II?
Click on the map to zoom in.
Territories once loyal to the Vichy government in light gray. These are also excluded.
Axis members labeled as AX. Co-belligerents labeled as CO
Italian Libya consisted of the Aouzou Strip (at the time parts of modern Chad and Niger), which was ceded by France in 1935. I believe this strip of land was later given back to France after the war.
I'd be curious to know what percentage of the world's population this represented. Given how massively unequal the war was, the Axis did amazingly well. I mean the US and the USSR each individually outproduced all the Axis powers combined in tanks and aircraft, so the Axis was never going to win, but to conquer this much is pretty impressive.
This is a great quiz! Any chance of a feature that lets you highlight the countries you haven't guessed yet, like on the countries of the world quiz? That would help when you're down to the last few tiny pieces that are hard to spot, especially when playing on a phone.
The only reason I got it is because I thought the top of Chad was the top of Niger and was confused when the country I was looking at didn't turn green.
For me, it was the alphabetically organized answers that gave it away. The only missing country I had was between Netherlands and North Korea, so I went from there.
Technically not anymore by the time World War II started. In March 1939, the Czech part was absorbed into Germany as a "protectorate" while Slovakia became a puppet state of Germany that eventually signed the Tripartite Pact. Of course, Czechoslovakia was restored after the war.
What's the deal with that tiny little slice of Niger or Chad or whatever it is at the bottom of Libya? I assume post-war boundary redrawings and the Axis controlling "all" of 1942 Libya, rather than any battles actually going on that deep in the Sahara?
It was a part of Italian Libya that was actually ceded by France in through the Mussolini–Laval accord in 1935. A lot of maps erroneously depict Italian Libya during WW2 without that extra strip of land. This cession of territory was reversed at the end of the war.
Mainly Italy occupying lands neighbouring its colonies. There was also the Free French forces taking back land from the Vichy government, which are left out of this quiz.
There is no evidence that Finland ever cooperated with axis countries. Soviet had searched such documents but has found nothing. Although Finland was at war with USSR and British Empire, it was never an ally of axis countries.
It's a matter of fighting the same war on the same side; even if there isn't a formal alliance in place. In much the same way that the War of 1812 is part of the larger Napoleonic Wars (even though the US was never a formal ally of France), the Winter War fits within the larger umbrella of World War II.
As a Finn I don't understand your statement of Finland "never cooperating with the Axis", considering the fact that the whole northern part of Finland was in practice given to Germany for the warfare, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine were allowed to use Finnish harbours and airfields, there was a whole Finnish battalion in SS etc. And even without those attending the war on the same side is enough "cooperation" in my books.
Fun quiz! I believe the map could be improved with a couple of changes:
1) As much of the unoccupied landmass of Africa and Asia is displayed, I believe displaying other unoccupied portions of land could be beneficial in providing more visual consistency (i.e., I believe that the map looks odd with major portions of Europe and Oceania missing).
2) Perhaps the colours could be altered so as to make it more clear which nations are to be guessed and which nations have been guessed successfully.
3) As most of the map displayed is unoccupied (both literally, in terms of 'occupied territories' as well as what is being asked in this quiz), perhaps greater visual interest could be added to the large swathes of grey (maybe by colour or design).
Thanks! I'm currently working on updating the map to be more up to par with my newer work, which shouldn't require the quiz to be reset again. The recent update for this map only added territories that were part of the slightly poorly defined Mongolian borders at the time.
In reading the history of WW2, many people fail to account for Russia's alliance with Germany at the outset. If Hitler hadn't turned his army against them (which Churchill tried to warn them he would for years), they would have been working right along side him. The Russians paid for their mistakes with millions of lives, but we often gloss over their enabling of Hitler at the outset of the war.
Definitely not. While sympathetic to the Axis powers, Spain officially remained neutral during the war and was still recovering from the civil war. Volunteers (a.k.a. the Blue Division) were sent to join the German Army, but besides that remained at peace with the allies.
Japan also occupied the Northern Mariana Islands (USA).
I like the tricky answers like Yemen, Australia and India which are difficult to spot
Cool quiz BTW 👍🏻
Sorry for the late reply
1) As much of the unoccupied landmass of Africa and Asia is displayed, I believe displaying other unoccupied portions of land could be beneficial in providing more visual consistency (i.e., I believe that the map looks odd with major portions of Europe and Oceania missing).
2) Perhaps the colours could be altered so as to make it more clear which nations are to be guessed and which nations have been guessed successfully.
3) As most of the map displayed is unoccupied (both literally, in terms of 'occupied territories' as well as what is being asked in this quiz), perhaps greater visual interest could be added to the large swathes of grey (maybe by colour or design).
France was not fully occupied, as displayed on the map. It should only be partial like Russia, China and many others.
5/5 stars
I have translated the quiz into German. If you do not agree with it, please contact me.