Before the Second World War, the Soviet Union was the largest individual world power in terms of territory, at over 21 million square kilometers. When the territories of the United Kingdom it's colonies and dominions are combined, then the expanse of the British Empire totaled at almost 35 million square kilometers, making it larger than the USSR. The Axis Powers, led by Germany, Italy, and Japan, controlled a much smaller share of the globe than the Allied Powers in 1938 - however, the majority of Europe was under Axis control by 1941, while Japan had taken much of the Western territory in Asia and pushed further into China by this time.
Estimated pre-Second World War territories of selected Allied and Axis countries and their possessions in 1938
(in 1,000 square kilometers)
An additional figure of 6,430,000 sq. km is given for "Near East and North Africa".
All figures refer to 1938 boundaries. Individual notes as follows:
British colonies: includes joint Anglo-French and Anglo-Egyptian colonies. Refers to many present-day countries in the Middle East, Asia, the Caribbean, and Oceania.
British Dominions: Australia, Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Zealand, Union of South Africa.
China: not including Manchuria.
French colonies: mainly in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Germany: Geographical boundaries of the Treaty of Versailles. Not including Austria (annexed in March 1938), or the Sudetenland (annexed from Czechoslovakia in September 1938).
Italian colonies: mainly Libya and Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
Japanese colonies: Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), and Manchuria.
For several countries, affiliations to the Allied and Axis powers changed over the course of the war - for display purposes the categories chosen here are based on historical consensus and which side they spent most of the war fighting for.
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University of Warwick. (January 1, 1998). Estimated pre-Second World War territories of selected Allied and Axis countries and their possessions in 1938 (in 1,000 square kilometers) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 21, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1333969/pre-wwii-territory/
University of Warwick. "Estimated pre-Second World War territories of selected Allied and Axis countries and their possessions in 1938 (in 1,000 square kilometers)." Chart. January 1, 1998. Statista. Accessed December 21, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1333969/pre-wwii-territory/
University of Warwick. (1998). Estimated pre-Second World War territories of selected Allied and Axis countries and their possessions in 1938 (in 1,000 square kilometers). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: December 21, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1333969/pre-wwii-territory/
University of Warwick. "Estimated Pre-second World War Territories of Selected Allied and Axis Countries and Their Possessions in 1938 (in 1,000 Square Kilometers)." Statista, Statista Inc., 1 Jan 1998, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1333969/pre-wwii-territory/
University of Warwick, Estimated pre-Second World War territories of selected Allied and Axis countries and their possessions in 1938 (in 1,000 square kilometers) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1333969/pre-wwii-territory/ (last visited December 21, 2024)
Estimated pre-Second World War territories of selected Allied and Axis countries and their possessions in 1938 (in 1,000 square kilometers) [Graph], University of Warwick, January 1, 1998. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1333969/pre-wwii-territory/
