Anti-Comintern Pact
The Anti-Comintern Pact,[1] officially the Agreement against the Communist International[2] was an anti-Communist pact concluded between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan on 25 November 1936 and was directed against the Communist International (Comintern). It was signed by German ambassador-at-large Joachim von Ribbentrop and Japanese ambassador to Germany Kintomo Mushanokōji.[3]: 188–189 Italy joined in 1937, but it was legally recognized as an original signatory by the terms of its entry. Spain and Hungary joined in 1939. Other countries joined during World War II.[4]: 49
Type
23 October 1936
25 November 1936
The Japanese signatories had hoped that the Anti-Comintern Pact would effectively be an alliance against the Soviet Union, which is certainly how the Soviets perceived it.[5]: 226 There was also a secret additional protocol which specified a joint German-Japanese policy specifically aimed against the Soviet Union.[3]: 188–189 [6]: 197 However, after the accession of Fascist Italy to the pact and especially the German-Soviet rapprochement after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, it gained an increasingly anti-Western and anti-British identity as well.[7]: 44 [8]: 13
After August 1939, Japan distanced itself from Germany as a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.[5]: 24 [9]: 40 The Anti-Comintern Pact was followed by the September 1940 Tripartite Pact, which identified the United States as the primary threat rather than the Soviet Union, however by December 1941 this too was virtually inoperative.[10] The Anti-Comintern Pact was subsequently renewed in November 1941 and saw the entry of several new members into the pact.[4]: 49 The Nazi regime saw signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact as a "litmus test of loyalty".[11]
The Anti-Comintern Pact ceased to exist with the end of World War II.