Thread:Cyrannian/@comment-25890179-20180111235940/@comment-1073312-20180116103342

The Axis powers were colonial in their aspirations. Germany was involved in aggressive land grabs during the scramble for Africa, and its colonies had some of the worst conditions for the colonised. German aggression at the turn of the century was about Germany wanting to be recognised as a superpower with their own slice in the balance of power. That militerisation, plus the humiliation of defeat was one of the main factors that put the Nazi regime in power.

Imperial Japan wanted their own colonial empire that would extend beyond the far east, including China and South East Asia. I'm pretty sure that I read fascist Italy had dreams of rebuilding an empire in the image of the Romans.

I don't know why you are making this point about the Axis "liberating people oppressed by colonialism" because that was NEVER their goal from the onset. This was obvious to people at the time who inhabited continental Europe, Britain and Ireland, and the United States. The reason none of them acted immediately was complacency.

Say what you will about the British Empire, France and United States. They had been the cause of human atrocities and misery for centuries. But in and amongst themselves the European empires cannot be lumped in one category. The liberal democratic West harboured much more humanistic values by the second world war although we regard their actions as flawed today, these Allies were fighting to protect their values and were able to improve. It is true that many colonised subjects of the British Empire willingly served, because even many wanted indepedence, they knew the alternative that they faced. The Axis were demonstrably much more intolerant and dehumanising of their subjects.