Who did World War 2 defeat?

Answer 1

The Axis alliance. Germany and Japan were part of it almost throughout the war but the rest varied. In the beginning Italy and Soviet Union and soon also Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Thailand and Iraq entered on the Axis side, some after a shift in rule. Some countries like France, Norway and Philippines got an Axis-friendly government after surrendering to the Axis, then giving support.

Finland was against the Axis in the beginning, as Soviet attacked 1939, but when Germany attacked Soviet in 1941, Finland did so too and were thus fighting on the same side, until the war with Soviet was over and they fought the Germans instead.

A number of the countries that had a pro-nazi administration were invaded and that rule overthrown towards the end of the war, and in some cases the own countrymen defeated such rulers (e.g. Mussolini). After such a anti-nazi take-over, the countries could fight the Axis instead, on the side of the Allies.

Some countries did have an early defeat without really get a victory at the end, e.g. Netherlands and the Baltic states, the latter losing their independence for decades.

So several countries were defeated by the Axis, then the Axis-friendly troops defeated and at the end the country could participate in defeating the Axis.

Basically Germany and Japan stood out as the defeated ones at the end, as most others had ceased to fight on their side, and weren't accused as strongly as the responsible for the war and war crimes. So Hitler and the National Socialists in several countries were defeated, the fascists in Italy, but not in Spain, were defeated. The Japanese government, but not the emperor, was defeated harshly. The Chinese had a civil war when liberated from Japan, resulting in Communist seizing of power. Even Churchill was defeated as he lost the election 1945 to Attlee. The only "winner" was Stalin that increased his empire largely, but his nation lost 20-30 million people. Possibly also USA that lost few people, never had serious homeland problems but profited from war industry could be said to have come out well.