Editing Tripartite Pact (section)

==Later signatories==
In a ceremonial speech following the signing of the pact on 27 September, Ribbentrop may have suggested that the signatories were open to accepting new signatories in the future. The ''[[Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung]]'' (DAZ) reported his words as follows:
<blockquote>
The purpose of the Pact is, above all things, to help restore peace to the world as quickly as possible. Therefore any other State which wishes to accede to this bloc (''der diesem Block beitreten will''), with the intention of contributing to the restoration of peaceful conditions, will be sincerely and gratefully made welcome and will participate in the economic and political reorganisation.
</blockquote>
The official ''{{ill|Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro|de}}'' (DNB), however, as well as most of the press, reported a slightly different version in which the words "having good will towards the pact" (''der diesem Pakt wohlwollend gegenübertreten will''<ref>http://epa.oszk.hu/01500/01536/00013/pdf/UJ_1984_1985_075-115.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704153802/http://epa.oszk.hu/01500/01536/00013/pdf/UJ_1984_1985_075-115.pdf |date=2018-07-04}} footnote on page 90</ref>) instead of "accede to" were used. It is likely that other nations were not envisioned to join the treaty and that Ribbentrop misspoke. The official record in the DNB, therefore, corrected his words to remove any reference to "accession" by other states but produced an awkward wording in the process.{{sfn|Macartney|1956|pp=439–42}}

The Italian foreign minister, Ciano, was resolutely opposed to the idea of adding smaller states to the pact as late as 20 November 1940; he argued in his diary that they weakened the pact and were useless bits of diplomacy.{{sfn|Macartney|1956|pp=439–42}}

===Hungary===
The [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Kingdom of Hungary]] was the fourth state to sign the pact and the first to join it after 27 September 1940. The Hungarian ambassador in Berlin, [[Döme Sztójay]], telegraphed his foreign minister, [[István Csáky]], immediately after news of the signing and of Ribbentrop's speech had reached him. He urged Csáky to join the pact and even claimed that it was the expectation of Germany and Italy that he would do so. He considered it especially important for Hungary to sign the pact before Romania did. In response, Csáky asked Sztójay and the ambassador in Rome, [[Frigyes Villani]], to make enquiries regarding Hungary's accession and its potential obligations under the pact. On 28 September, the German secretary of state for foreign affairs, [[Ernst von Weizsäcker]], informed Hungary that Ribbentrop had meant not a "formal accession" but merely "an attitude in the spirit of the Pact". The Italian answer was similar. Nonetheless, within a week, the Hungarian government had sent out formal notice of its "spiritual adherence" to the pact.{{sfn|Macartney|1956|pp=439–42}}

In the week after Hungary's "spiritual adherence", the [[Balkan]] situation changed. Romania granted a German request to send troops to guard the [[Ploiești]] oil fields, and Hungary granted a German request to allow its troops to transit Hungary to get to Romania. On 7 October 1940, the first German troops arrived in Ploiești. It is probable that Romania's accession to the pact had been delayed until the German troops were in place for fear of the Soviets taking pre-emptive action to secure the oil fields for themselves. In turn, Hungary's accession had been delayed until Romania's had been negotiated. On about 9 October, Weizsäcker delivered a message from Ribbentrop to Sztójay to inform him that Hitler now wanted "friendly states" to join the pact. In a telephone conversation with Ciano on 9 or 10 October, Ribbentrop claimed that Hungary had sent a second request to join the pact. Mussolini reluctantly consented. On 12 October, Ribbentrop informed Sztójay that both Italy and Japan had consented to Hungary's accession. Since the Hungarian regent, [[Miklós Horthy]], had specifically instructed Sztójay to ask for Hungary to be the first new state to accede to the pact, Ribbentrop granted the request.{{sfn|Macartney|1956|pp=439–42}}

===Romania===
The [[Kingdom of Romania]] had joined the [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers in World War I]] and had received [[Transylvania]] from [[Austria-Hungary]]. After Germany and Italy [[Second Vienna Award|awarded parts of Transylvania back to Hungary]] and [[Southern Dobruja]] back to Bulgaria and after the [[Soviet Union]] [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina|had taken Bessarabia and northern Bukovina]], the [[Fascist]] [[Iron Guard]] party came to power and Romania joined the Tripartite Pact on November 23, 1940, because of the Romanian desire for protection against the Soviet Union.

In Marshal [[Ion Antonescu]]'s affidavit read out at the [[IG Farben Trial]] (1947–1948), he stated that the agreement on entering the pact had been concluded before his visit to Berlin on 22 November 1940.{{sfn|Macartney|1956|p=441, n. 3}}

===Slovakia===
On 14 March 1939, the [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovak Republic]] was declared in the midst of the [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|dismemberment of Czechoslovakia]]. Hitler invited Monsignor [[Jozef Tiso]] to be the new nation's leader. Soon after it was formed, Slovakia was involved in a [[Slovak-Hungarian War|war with neighboring Hungary]]. Slovakia had signed a "Protection Treaty" with Germany, which, however, refused to intervene. The war resulted in territorial gains by Hungary at Slovakia's expense. Even so, [[Slovak invasion of Poland|Slovakia supported]] the German [[invasion of Poland]] in 1939.<ref>Dowell, S. (2018, September 1). Slovakian invasion: The long forgotten story of how Slovak troops helped Hitler defeat Poland. ''The First News.'' https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/slovakian-invasion-the-long-forgotten-story-of-how-slovak-troops-helped-hitler-defeat-poland-1997</ref>

Shortly after the signing of the Tripartite Pact, Slovakia, following the Hungarian lead, sent messages of "spiritual adherence" to Germany and Italy.{{sfn|Macartney|1956|pp=439–42}}

On 24 November 1940, the day after Romania signed the pact, the Slovak prime minister and foreign minister, [[Vojtech Tuka]], went to Berlin to meet Ribbentrop and signed Slovakia's accession to the Tripartite Pact. His purpose was to increase Tuka's standing in Slovakia relative to that of his rival, Tiso, although the Germans had no intention of permitting Tiso to be removed.{{sfn|Jelínek|1971|p=255}}

===Bulgaria===
[[File:Protokol-1.03.1941.jpg|thumb|upright|Official protocol of Bulgaria's accession into the Tripartite Pact]]
The [[Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946)|Tsardom of Bulgaria]] had been an ally of Germany and on the losing side in World War I. From the beginning, the Germans pressured Bulgaria to join the Tripartite Pact. On 17 November 1940, Tsar [[Boris III of Bulgaria|Boris III]] and Foreign Minister {{ill|Ivan Popov (diplomat)|lt=Ivan Popov|bg|Иван Попов (дипломат)}} met with Hitler in Germany. According to [[Hermann Neubacher]], Germany's special envoy to the Balkans, Bulgaria's relation to the Axis powers was completely settled at that meeting. On 23 November, however, the Bulgarian ambassador in Berlin, [[Peter Draganov]], informed the Germans that while Bulgaria had agreed in principle to join the pact, it wished to delay its signing for the time being.{{sfn|Miller|1975|p=33}}

The meeting with Hitler precipitated a visit to Bulgaria by the Soviet diplomat [[Arkady Sobolev]] on 25 November. He encouraged the Bulgarians to sign a mutual assistance pact that had first been discussed in October 1939. He offered Soviet recognition of Bulgarian claims in Greece and Turkey. The Bulgarian government, however, was disturbed by the subversive actions of the [[Bulgarian Communist Party]] in response to the talks, apparently at the Soviets' urging.{{sfn|Miller|1975|p=34}}

On 26 December 1940, the far-right politician [[Alexander Tsankov]] introduced a motion in the [[National Assembly (Bulgaria)|National Assembly]] urging the government to accede to the Tripartite Pact immediately, but it was voted down.{{sfn|Miller|1975|p=38}}

Bulgaria's hand was finally forced by Germany's desire to intervene in the [[Italo-Greek War]], which would require moving troops through Bulgaria. With no possibility of resisting Germany militarily, Prime Minister [[Bogdan Filov]] signed Bulgaria's accession to the pact in Vienna on 1 March 1941. He announced that it was done partly in gratitude for Germany's assistance to Bulgaria in obtaining the [[Treaty of Craiova]] with Romania and that it would not affect Bulgaria's relations with Turkey or the Soviet Union. Later that day, Ribbentrop promised Filov that after the fall of Greece, Bulgaria would obtain an [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] coastline between the [[Struma (river)|Struma]] and [[Maritsa]] Rivers.{{sfn|Miller|1975|p=45}}

According to Article 17 of the [[Tarnovo Constitution]], treaties had to be ratified by the National Assembly. In the case of the Tripartite Pact, the government sought to have the treaty ratified without debate or discussion. Seventeen opposition deputies submitted an [[interpellation (politics)|interpellation]] and one, Ivan Petrov, asked why the National Assembly had not been consulted in advance and whether the pact involved Bulgaria in war. They were ignored. The pact was ratified by a vote of 140 to 20.{{sfn|Miller|1975|p=45}}

===Yugoslavia===
{{Main|Yugoslav accession to the Tripartite Pact}}
On 25 March 1941 in Vienna, [[Dragiša Cvetković]], the prime minister of the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]], signed the Tripartite Pact.<ref>{{cite web|last=Sotirović|first=Vladislav B.|date=18 December 2011|title=Кнез Павле Карађорђевић и приступање Југославије Тројном пакту|publisher=NSPM|url=http://www.nspm.rs/istina-i-pomirenje-na-ex-yu-prostorima/knez-pavle-karadjordjevic-i-pristupanje-jugoslavije-trojnom-paktu.html|language=sr|access-date=25 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925215929/http://www.nspm.rs/istina-i-pomirenje-na-ex-yu-prostorima/knez-pavle-karadjordjevic-i-pristupanje-jugoslavije-trojnom-paktu.html|archive-date=25 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> On 27 March, the regime was overthrown in [[Yugoslav coup d'état|a military ''coup d'état'']] with British support. Seventeen-year-old King [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter II]] was declared to be of age. The new Yugoslav government under Prime Minister and General [[Dušan Simović]], refused to ratify Yugoslavia's signing of the Tripartite Pact and started negotiations with the [[United Kingdom]] and the Soviet Union. The enraged Hitler issued [[list of Adolf Hitler's directives|Directive 25]] as an answer to the coup and then attacked both Yugoslavia and [[Battle of Greece|Greece]] on 6 April.<ref>{{cite book | last=Tomasevich | first=Jozo | year=1975 | title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks | publisher=Stanford University Press | location=Palo Alto, CA | isbn=978-0-8047-0857-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoCaAAAAIAAJ | page=55 | access-date=2018-09-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327033659/https://books.google.com/books?id=yoCaAAAAIAAJ | archive-date=2019-03-27 | url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Luftwaffe|German Air Force]] [[Operation Retribution (1941)|bombed Belgrade]] for three days and nights. German [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|ground troops]] moved in, and [[invasion of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia capitulated on 17 April]].<ref>{{cite book | author=US Army | url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/balkan/intro.htm | title=The German Campaigns in the Balkans (Spring 1941): A Model of Crisis Planning | series=Department of the Army Pamphlet No. 20–260 | publisher=United States Army Center of Military History | location=Washington, D.C. | id=CMH Pub 104-4 | year=1986 | oclc=16940402 | orig-year=1953 | pages=63–64 | access-date=2018-09-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619234443/http://history.army.mil/books/wwii/balkan/intro.htm | archive-date=2009-06-19 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Independent State of Croatia===
The [[Independent State of Croatia]] (''Nezavisna Država Hrvatska'', or NDH), created from some former territories of the conquered Yugoslavia, signed the Tripartite Pact on 15 June 1941.{{sfn|Kolanović|2006|p=473}}