After World War I, a treaty was signed by the winning and losing countries, called the Treaty of Versailles.  Germany, which was a losing country, was badly hurt by the severity of the treaty.  Italy, one of the winning countries, was not satisfied with the territory that it gained.  And Japan, also a victor, was unhappy about its failure to gain parts of China.  The dissatisfaction of these three countries was one of the factors that lead to World War II.  Later Germany, Italy and Japan formed an axis coalition to gain territory and respect from other nations, that these countries felt they had not received from the Treaty of Versailles.

Germany

The Treaty of Versailles made Germany pay huge reparations to the winning countries for the damage that they caused.  Germany also had to give up land to specific ethnic groups to form new countries, which were weak and could easily be taken over.  Germany was forced to decrease the size of its army and the amount of military equipment it had, so that it would be less powerful. Another thing the treaty did was it blamed Germany for starting World War I.

             Germany had a hard time paying the reparations because of economic issues and problems with the Great Depression.  Because Germany had lost land in the Treaty of Versailles, there were too many people living in Germany, and not enough resources for them to live on.  Later on, Germany took over Austria, Sudetenland, Poland, the Baltic Countries, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France to expand and gain more territory for the German people. 

Italy

The Treaty of Versailles gave some land to Italy because they were on the winning side, but Italy gained less territory than it felt it deserved and wanted to become more powerful.  Benito Mussolini, the leader of Italy, wanted Italy to expand into a Fascist-Roman Empire and to rule the Mediterranean and African lands.

To achieve its expansion goals and to gain more living space and more resources for the Italian people, Italy took over Ethiopia and Albania.  Because Italy had the same expansion goals as Germany, it joined an alliance with Germany.

Japan   

The Treaty of Versailles gave Japan German territories in the Pacific, but Japan was not satisfied because it wanted to expand into China.  Japan was also angered by the peacemaker's failure to endorse the principle of the equality of all races.  The Japanese government wanted to expand into a Nipponese empire in the Pacific, extending into China and Australia.

To achieve its goals of expanding and gaining more land and natural resources for the Japanese people, Japan took over Manchuria, the northern part of China.  Japan had the same expansion goals as Germany, so Japan agreed to join an alliance with Germany.