Anti - Comintern Pact The Anti - Comintern Pact was an anti - communist pact concluded between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan ( later to be joined by other , mainly fascistic , governments ) on November 25 , 1936 and was directed against the ( Comintern ) . Origins . The origins of the Anti - Comintern Pact go back to the autumn of 1935 , when various German officials both within and without the Foreign Ministry were attempting to balance the competing demands upon the " Reich " ' s foreign policy by its traditional alliance with China vs Hitler ' s desire for friendship with China ' s archenemy , Japan . In October 1935 , the idea was mooted that an anti - Communist alliance might be able to tie in the Kuomintang regime , Japan and Germany . In particular , this idea appealed to Joachim von Ribbentrop , the Special Ambassador at Large and head of the " Dienststelle Ribbentrop " and the Japanese Military Attaché in Berlin , General Oshima Hiroshi , who hoped that such an alliance might lead to China ' s subordination to Japan . Lack of Chinese interest doomed the project ' s original intention , but October – November 1935 , Ribbentrop and Oshima worked out a treaty directed against the Comintern . The Pact was to be originally introduced in late November 1935 with invitations for Britain , Italy , China and Poland to join . However , concerns by the German Foreign Minister Baron Konstantin von Neurath and War Minister Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg that the pact might damage Chinese - German relations plus political disarray in Tokyo following the failed military coup of February 26 , 1936 led to the Pact ' s being shelved for a year . By the summer of 1936 , the increased influence of the military in the Japanese government , concerns in Berlin and Tokyo about the Franco - Soviet alliance , and Hitler ' s desire for a dramatic anti - Communist foreign policy gesture that he believed might bring about an Anglo - German alliance led to the idea of the Anti - Comintern Pact being revived . The Pact was initialed on October 23 , 1936 , and signed on November 25 , 1936 . In order to avoid damaging relations with the Soviet Union , the Pact was supposedly directed only against the Comintern , but in fact contained a secret agreement that in the event of either signatory power becoming involved with a war with the Soviet Union , the other signatory power would maintain a benevolent neutrality . Agreement . In case of an attack by the Soviet Union against Germany or Japan , the two countries agreed to consult on what measures to take " to safeguard their common interests " . They also agreed that neither of them would make any political treaties with the Soviet Union , and Germany also agreed to recognize Manchukuo . Formation of " Axis Powers " . On November 6 , 1937 , Italy also joined the pact , thereby forming the group that would later be known as the Axis Power s . Italy ' s decision was more or less a reaction against the failed Stresa front , the Franco - British initiative of 1935 designed to keep Nazi Germany from extending beyond its present borders . In particular , both nations tried to block " German expansionism " , especially the annexation of Austria , which was also in Italy ' s best interests to prevent . Distrustful relations and Benito Mussolini ' s own expansionism furthered the distance between Italy and the United Kingdom , as well as France . Italy invaded the Ethiopian Empire in October 1935 , an act of unprovoked aggression that was a breach of League of Nations policy . Nevertheless , Britain and France hashed out a secret agreement with Italy to give her two - thirds of Ethiopia , the Hoare - Laval Pact . When this information was leaked to the public in Britain and France , their governments were mired in scandal and the British Foreign Secretary , Samuel Hoare , was forced to resign . Consequently , the Hoare - Laval Pact was aborted . Attempts to improve Anglo - German relations . Earlier , in June 1935 , the surprise Anglo - German Naval Agreement was signed between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany . This marked the beginning of a series of attempts by Adolf Hitler to improve relations between the two countries , form a pact , and isolate the Soviet Union , while both the Soviet Union and Britain attempted to do the same and isolate Germany . Hitler also made an effort to influence the Poles into joining the Anti - Comintern Pact and spoke of his intention to settle territorial disputes between Germany and Poland . However , Poland refused Germany ' s terms , fearing that an alliance with Hitler would render Poland a German puppet state . At the time , many Japanese politicians , including Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto , were shocked by the Anglo - German naval agreement , but the leaders of the military clique then in control in Tokyo concluded that it was a ruse designed to buy the Nazis time to build up their navy . They continued to plot war against either the Soviet Union or the Western democracies , assuming Germany would eventually act against either of them . Hitler ' s efforts to develop relations with Britain eventually failed . Soviet - German agreement . In August 1939 , Germany broke the terms of the Anti - Comintern Pact when the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact was signed between the Soviet Union and Germany . However , by 1940 , Hitler began to plan for a potential invasion ( planned to start in 1941 ) of the Soviet Union . The German foreign minister , Joachim von Ribbentrop , was sent to negotiate a new treaty with Japan . On September 25 , 1940 , Ribbentrop sent a telegram to Vyacheslav Molotov , the Soviet foreign minister , informing him that Germany , Italy and Japan were about to sign a military alliance . Ribbentrop tried to reassure Molotov by claiming that this alliance was to be directed towards the United States and not the Soviet Union : This was welcomed by the Soviet Union , which went as far as to propose two months later to join Axis . The preliminary condition , unacceptable for Germany , was to greatly extend Soviet sphere of influence to include : Bulgaria , the Bosphorus , the Dardanelles , and further south " towards Persian Gulf " . Revised pact of 1941 . The Anti - Comintern Pact was revised in 1941 , after Germany ' s assault on the Soviet Union that commenced with " Operation Barbarossa " and on November 25 its renewal for another five years was celebrated . This time the signatories were : The government of occupied Denmark demanded four exemptions to make clear they took upon themselves no military or political obligations , that the only actions against communists would be police enforcements , that the actions would apply only to Denmark ' s own territory , and that Denmark remained a neutral country . The German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was furious and in a fit threatened the Danish Foreign Minister Erik Scavenius with arrest . In the end Ribbentrop settled down and the Danish addendum was accepted as a secret one with only a few minor changes . The secrecy was the German demand , to avoid diluting the propaganda effect ; this apparent full participation damaged Denmark ' s reputation as a " neutral " country . Several Danish diplomats stationed in Allied countries decided to distance themselves from the government after the signing .