Who were the Nations that Almost Joined the Axis in WW2?

Germany, Italy, and Japan. The trifecta of World War II's Axis powers. While they would eventually lose the war, the Axis started off with the appearance of a threateningly formidable trio, and they almost managed to convince some of the war's neutral nations to swing over to their side. Bribes from the Germans and prior support from Axis powers had a handful of countries weighing the idea of joining the alliance. Although, for the most part, this wouldn't really happen. However, more nations than many people realize almost joined the Axis. So, who were they, and why? Spain may be one of the most well-known non-belligerents who came inches away from signing off to join the Axis. Still, the case isn't quite that black and white, and it starts back with the Spanish Civil War, during which both Germany and Italy had supported the side of Francisco Franco, who now controlled the Spanish state. Sharing some similar ideologies, and having already established a form of friendship, Spain had a bias in favor of the Axis from the get-go of the war, but Franco nevertheless declared strict neutrality from the start. This still didn't change the fact that Franco himself preferred Hitler and Mussolini over the Allies, but his own government was split between pro-German and pro-British officials. The split was amplified by the fact that Spain, on one hand, was deeply indebted to the Axis for their prior help in the Civil War, yet attained much of their necessary imports from the West, namely, the United States. However, as the German side appeared to be making early headway, Franco started to replace some of his Anglophile officials with Germanophiles, and in the late spring of 1940, announced that he would be open to joining the Axis under certain conditions. Some of these conditions, which would be made clear in the following anti-Allied propaganda the Spanish media began pumping out, were the return of Gibraltar to Spain, in addition to the gift of French Morocco and Cameroon, the latter having actually belonged to the Germans before the French, hence throwing a wrench in the plan to work with the Axis. Hitler wouldn't initially do much to assure Spain of their demands, but he would counter by mandating the use of Spanish Morocco and the Canaries for German military bases. Now it was Franco's turn to be put off by such requests, and the prospects of Spain actually joining the war appeared slimmer yet again. An essential stalemate of negotiations would ensue for the next few months, and eventually lead to a face-to-face meeting between Franco and Hitler, which didn't exactly go well either. The meeting occurred on October 23rd, 1940, in Hendaye, France, and ended with the Fuhrer telling his Italian counterpart of Franco, "...I prefer to have three or four of my own teeth pulled out than to speak to that man again." Ultimately, there seemed to be less and less of a reason for Spain to become a belligerent nation, and Hitler was only angered by the hefty demands Franco made. Even when threatened with occupation by Hitler, Franco refused to back down, either due to pure stubbornness, or because he was actually intentionally sabotaging the alliance to keep his country out of the conflict. Future attempts by both Hitler and Mussolini to force Franco's hand would continue to fail, but then again, the Axis weren't the only ones trying to bribe the Spaniards. The Allies knew that Spain had a high chance of joining their rivals, and Britain's ambassador in Madrid, Sir Samuel Hoare, stated bluntly that "...Spain's entry in the war will depend on our quick action." This would eventually lead MI6 to spend a whopping modern-day equivalent of $200 million on bribes to keep Spain neutral throughout the war, and while it appears that this, among other factors, worked fairly well, Spain wasn't the only nation on the brink of joining the Germans and friends. For quite opposite reasons, the Brits nearly pushed Iraq into an alliance with the Axis. Prior to 1932, Iraq was controlled by the Brits via the British Mandate of Mesopotamia, and the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty signed at the end to grant Iraq independence was viewed with heavy scrutiny by Iraqis who still felt that they were under British control. These Iraqis would finally be heard in 1940, when Rashid Ali became Prime Minister and began to consider the idea of joining the Axis due to his personal opposition to Britain. A sudden spiral of political turmoil, however, would oust Rashid, but result in an eventual coup d'état to restore his seat. This time around, Rashid Ali launched a crackdown on all pro-British citizens and politicians in Iraq, and pushed to restrict British military movement through the country that had previously been allowed by the earlier signed treaty. The situation soon resulted into armed conflict between the Iraqis and Brits, but given that Britain was heavily preoccupied elsewhere, Iraq became a low priority. Still, the clash would result in an armistice and the re-establishment of a pro-British administration, which dashed any hopes of the Axis gaining an Iraqi ally. Nevertheless, nearby Turkey wasn't entirely off the table. In June of 1941, the German-Turkish Treaty of Friendship was signed, and it was intended to establish 10 years of non-aggression between the signing nations. By now, Hitler had already made a promise to the Turks that he had no intentions of invading Turkey, and was instead looking for friendship. While Turkey readily accepted the non-aggression agreement, there was no obvious need for it to join the war on either side, despite pressure from the Axis and Allies to do just that. Eventually, in the final stretch of the war, Turkey would join the Allies, entirely breaking off ties with Germany and the Axis, and ending any suspicions of the Turks potentially becoming part of Hitler's alliance, regardless of any friendship treaty. Looking back in the direction of Iraq, however, neighboring Iran was also a concern of the Allies. Despite officially being a neutral country, Iran's Shah at the time appeared to lean in favor of Germany. This didn't go unnoticed by the Allies, however, especially Britain, which was worried it would affect their use of Iranian oil. With Germany invading the USSR, and Iran eyeing the Axis side as possible friends, the Allies decided to invade Iran in what they considered a preventative measure. Despite putting up a good naval fight, the whole of Iran's forces were caught off guard and outnumbered by the attack, thus eventually succumbing to the Allied aggression. This took out the Shah, and ended Iran's chances of joining Germany, if it had ever really wanted to in the first place. By now, there was really only about one other country that may have joined the Axis, although still never came as close as Spain, its neighbor. Portugal wasn't necessarily a big fan of the Germans, but its leader, Antonio Salazar, was found of his neighbor Francisco Franco. Salazar had previously supported Franco, alongside Mussolini and Hitler, in the Spanish Civil War, and the latter two leaders were, in fact, fairly fond of Salazar. That being said, just as Spain had done, Portugal declared neutrality with the onset of the war, although Salazar had been accused of showing economic and material favor to the Axis. Still, the Portuguese leader feared going to war with the Allies, especially considering the fact that Portugal was continuing to uphold the centuries-old Treaty of Windsor, which maintained a long-standing alliance between the Portuguese and Brits. However, Salazar also feared entering the war on behalf of the Allies, because he knew that his neighbor, despite being indebted to him, was a good friend to the Germans and Italians, and thus could assist in an invasion by the Germans into Portugal. In the end, this fear kept Portugal in the middle, although that may have drastically changed if Salazar's friends next door had actually struck a deal with Hitler and Mussolini. When all was said and done, the Axis can be summed up as Germany, Italy, Japan, and, in lesser roles, new additions such as Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Croatia. While some nations made the ultimate decision to join the alliance, others would stop at consideration. In some cases, such as Iraq and Iran, the decision of who to join or if to join one side was made for them by invading Allied forces. In other instances, such as the Iberian neighbors under Salazar and Franco, fears of invasion and a lack of otherwise incentives led them to remain neutral, or at least non-belligerent. Even bribes of regained territory wouldn't be enough, although bribes in the form of 200 million dollars just may have been. Ultimately, we will never know how the war would have changed if Spain, Turkey, Iran, or any of the other almost-nations had pulled the trigger and joined the war alongside the Germans and their allies. But to see which and why the belligerent nations attempted to persuade some countries and not others to join the war can tell us a bit about the war itself and the perspective of those directly involved. But nevertheless, some of the most relevant countries in the world today remained simply as maybes in the Second World War.